Worshipping God is what every person was created to do and that's why there are high expectations for the worship leaders and musicians at FreeChurch. We're worshiping the living God and his Son, Jesus Christ—and we want to do that with sincerity, integrity, and quality. What follows are the values, expectations, responsibilities, and practical considerations for those leading and participating on the worship team at FreeChurch.

A Servant Attitude

A servant attitude is essential for serving in the church. Musicians serve the congregation, the tech team and each other. This is not only Biblical, it’s practical too. A servant attitude looks out for the best interests of all participants of the worship service—even when things do not go the way we’d like them to.

Let’s be honest, maintaining a servant attitude isn’t easy. Singing through a song without being able to hear yourself because the lead guitarist is too loud can be really frustrating. When the tech team isn’t flipping the slides fast enough or a singer can’t get the right harmony, you might feel the urge to set a few people straight at the next available opportunity. In these situations, it’s important to remember that we are servants. We’re performing these roles to glorify the God of the universe. That’s the challenge for all of us—to live and serve God and others in this life with a servant attitude.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

   — Philippians 2:6–8

Planning Center

We schedule musicians through an online system called Planning Center, www.planningcenter.com. 

Planning Center provides you with the musician schedule, service orders, set lists, chord sheets, audio files, and more. Once on the team, you will be provided with an account to access these materials. You will also receive scheduling requests through Planning Center via email, which you will respond by accepting or declining the requested dates. 

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings consist of plugging in, soundcheck, and running through the set list. 

• Musicians are required to show up on time at 10:00AM to begin setup (subject to change)
  
• Soundcheck begins at 10:20AM
  
• Run-through is from 10:20AM to 10:40AM
  
• Announcements run-through begins at 10:40AM
  
• Service begins at 11:00AM & ends at 12:00PM

Be Prepared

Worship leaders work hard to plan ahead and allow extra time for each piece of the service to work together. It's our responsibility to equip you with chord sheets, recordings, YouTube links, and other resources—well in advance of the weekend you are scheduled to serve.

It is your responsibility to be prepared for rehearsals. This includes downloading and printing out chord sheets from Planning Center, listening to the linked songs, and practicing to be ready with your parts. You know yourself better than we do, so we won't tell you how much you need to practice. However, you do need to come to weekly rehearsals and Sunday mornings with all of the music prepared.

The Sunday morning run-through is not the time to learn your music. If you have questions, please communicate with the worship leader well in advance. We do not expect perfection; but we do expect that you will have worked on your part to the best of your ability—in advance.

Rehearsals

Currently Tuesdays @ 7PM

Location

Brighton Presbyterian Church

1775 East Ave

Rochester, NY  14610

Map

Midweek rehearsals are mandatory. They allow time to fine tune song arrangements, transitions, work on key changes, and cues.

Rehearsals are not for practicing or learning your part. You should come prepared, having worked out chords and an understanding of the basic structure of each songs. Come ready to play through the set with the basics already under your belt. 

We Don’t Live in a Utopia

Obviously, all of these things will not go perfectly every weekend and that’s why we need grace. People sometimes show up late, technical difficulties arise, equipment will break and people have bad days—life happens. All this to say that the first section of this document is the most important: having a servant’s attitude. It’s crucial that we all have the same goals in mind each weekend: to glorify God, proclaim the gospel, and serve each other. If we keep these things as our priorities, everything else will fall into place.