What's does a worship leader's Sunday routine look like?

Written by Bryan Nelson | posted in behind the scenes, church | 2 Comments

• 5:40am alarm goes off, hit snooze
• 5:45am alarm goes off again, turn it off
• 5:50am backup iPhone alarm goes off, my wife nudges me, so I get up and do the morning routine (shave, shower, and other misc I won’t mention here)
• 6:15am out the door with my laptop, MP3 player full of click tracks and loops, backup MP3 player, and briefcase
• 6:20am pray in the car being honest with how I feel that morning and how inadequate I am to do this without God’s help
• 6:30am arrive to church, unlock 3 exterior doors and one padlock to back door for musicians to get in (if it snowed, shovel a path to the electric guitarist’s regular parking spot, if he’s already there, dump the snow on the car)
• 6:45am hookup laptop to internet, print final worship outlines and distribute to two bands and all techs, plug in MP3 click track and loop player (give it juice if the batts are low)
• 7:00am grab a water bottle, unhook computer, setup guitar and effects, put a fresh battery in my RF, extra picks on the boom, recall Aviom settings, tune guitar, play a little, clear my throat, review any tricky music spots since I don’t use a music stand, say hi to incoming musicians and techs
• 7:15am prayer and sound check and rehearsal kick-off
• 7:45am clear the stage, check with techs if there’s anything different we need to do
• 7:55am 5-minute countdown begins, time for the last bathroom break
• 7:59am I better be backstage and about ready to strap in with the IEM and guitar, check tuning one last time, flip mic on
• 8:00am launch worship
• 8:30am turn off RF mic, exit stage right and review with musicians before they head to breakfast between worship hours
• 8:40am review last song to close the message (usually me singing from piano)
• 8:50am touch base with lyric tech about the final song and review the 1st hour quickly
• 9:05am be backstage to hear pastor’s final message points
• 9:10am lead final song and close with prayer
• 9:15am greet the musicians coming back from breakfast
• 9:25am 2nd worship hour 5-minute countdown begins
• 9:29am I better be backstage and about ready to strap in with the IEM and guitar, check tuning one last time, flip mic on
• 9:30am 2nd hour launch
• 10:00am turn off RF mic, exit stage right and review with musicians
• 10:10am find my wife in the auditorium and sit with her and listen to the full message
• 10:40am lead final song and close with prayer
• 10:45am rub shoulders with non-musicians if nothing needs to be taken care of
• 10:59am I better be backstage and about ready to strap in with the IEM and guitar, check tuning one last time, flip mic on
• 11:00am 3rd hour launch
• 11:30am turn off RF mic, exit stage right and thank them for the great morning (or say, “wow, that was a morning” if it wasn’t so great)
• 11:40am review what needs to be done immediately after the 3rd hour (if the stage needs to be taken down, touching base with anyone, etc.)
• 12:05pm be backstage ready to roll on the final song
• 12:10pm lead final song and close with prayer
• 12:15pm if stage needs to be taken down, do that — if not, then take down my guitar rig, turn off RF, cover piano (usually forget that), power down drums/keys/Aviom, clean up any mess backstage or in the green room
• 12:30pm find my single mom wife and kids to find out where we are going for lunch today
• 12:45pm leave for lunch
• 1:30pm get home, put the kids down for a nap
• 1:45pm put myself down for a nap