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I came to the ministry from a background in radio—for many years I played the hits. Lo and behold, Rockin' Randy winds up pastoring and forming worship bands in two different Presbyterian churches. God has a sense of humor.

It would take an entire issue of Leadership to detail the lame-brained mistakes I have made. Here's a distillation of what I have learned about worship team development.

Don't start putting a team together until you have a vision and "feel" for the sort of service you are going to develop. The first time I attempted the worship team enterprise, I was in a large, very traditional Presbyterian church. Our vision was to gently move the church toward new ways of worshiping. We wanted more singing than in a typical service and a wider range of songs, not just hymns.

We wanted a montage of songs strung together for an experiential worship event, not with a rock beat, a smoother sound like the music of Mariah Carey or Michael Bolton. The team we assembled was very "soft rock," keyboard driven, and pretty inviting to traditional church goers.

Several years later, I found myself planting a church in the heart of the arts community, in the city that birthed Jimi Hendrix, Heart, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. Seattle's rock isn't for wimps!

In this setting our vision was to be much more "edgy." We wanted a lot of beat, a lot of drive, and pretty high volume. We desired 15 to 20 minutes of non-stop singing that ranged from the nearly-frenetic to the sublime. We wanted to include hymns, choruses, and praise music delivered by a guitar-driven band.

Get a vision. You need a predominant sound. Are you pop, hard rock, alternative, folk, R&B? You pick. But do pick. You can't do it all.

With patience, you can assemble a team. Unless you live in Hollywood or Nashville, though, you'll have to pay, but you can do well with a team of "stipended" musicians ($25-$100 per week). Many musicians subsist by piecing together small gigs. Playing for free can be next to impossible. And I find that people with artistic temperaments are much easier to direct when they are paid than when they are not.

Advertise for talent in church bulletins, local music magazines, or newspapers. Here's a typical ad:

Innovative Protestant church forming a worship team. Must read charts. Need guitar, bass, keys, drums, vocals. Experience is good, passion and willingness to be a team player is better. Call Randy @ ________.

Get applications and begin interviewing. I look for those who are spiritually open, will take direction, and can play by ear and transpose on the fly. A band member must be a quick study.

Tall order? You bet. It takes time to build a team like this, but these criteria are essential, as you'll see. Now you're probably saying, "How do I know where they're at spiritually?"

My answer: "You won't right away. Relax." In a four to six-person band, you need at least one member with church experience and three who are committed Christians. If you have up to three who are non-converted but at least spiritually open, don't panic. Think of it as a relational evangelism opportunity.

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