Comments on: Worship “Plants”

By: eric

eric — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:01:52 +0000

I love what Fred is saying here. I’ve noticed a difference between our first and second services. It’s funny, because our first service is a more “spiritually mature” group of individuals and our second is less mature. Which would lead you to think the 1st service would be more expressive in their worship, right? Not at our Church. I think it has something to do with the people’s inclinations/gifts. We do the same set, same band, usually same energy both services. 2nd service is way more expressive.

By: Fred McKinnon

Fred McKinnon — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:39:20 +0000

Good stuff, Alex -
I’ve not done ‘Plants” yet, but it’s a good thought. I’m definitely more strategic about who I place in the front line of singers, etc., on the platform. I have some singers who are much more expressive than others.

The only thing I have to keep in mind is that as TOTALLY HARD AS IT MAY BE for us to grasp this, there are some folks who are totally lost with music … meaning, they are completely illiterate … they can’t sing, even if they try, they know it sounds bad, which makes them somewhat uncomfortable. They have no rhythm, so they don’t want to clap – it frustrates them.

We have to keep in mind that although we love and encourage physical expression, and the Bible clearly exhorts (ooh, Bible word!) to do it … the lack thereof doesn’t necessarily suggest that the people aren’t “worshiping”.

Fred

By: betterthanblank » Blog Archive » Modeling Worship

betterthanblank » Blog Archive » Modeling Worship — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:46:37 +0000

[...] wrote a little blog about “worship plants” to bounce the idea around – we had some good responses. This kind of got me thinking more [...]

By: WorshipCity

WorshipCity — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:19:05 +0000

I’ve never thought about this before but we talked about it last week at worship rehearsal so it’s something we are thinking about now
I’ve definitely seen it work. Our pastor is very expressive in his worship and when he’s on vacation there’s not someone in the front worshipping and it makes a difference.

By: eric

eric — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 07:28:09 +0000

definitely plant… I have always encouraged people with the fact that they are just as much a worship leader as I am regardless of whether they’re on stage or not.

Our choir director, JDubb had a cool vision for this. He would encourage us to strategically place our things (Bibles, purses, jackets) in the congregation so that when we were done with our songs we could intermingle with the crowd.

Basically, he was strategically placing us as worship leaders in the congregation, so that during worship we could spur on others to worship by example.

I think it’s a great idea. When you’re choir’s not singing on stage, encourage them to be an example and sing in the seats!

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:51:45 +0000

I’ve thought about this before myself. The people in the front influence the mood of a crowd. When I mentioned the idea to some co-workers they thought I was crazy. In my opinion the problem would be if the person that was “planted” was truly experiencing worship or if they were putting on a show because they knew they were being counted on. How can you plant someone without them knowing you want them to be planted?

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:54:56 +0000

You’re on to something here, people tend to follow and when they see others they join in. They don’t want to be the first ones at the party

By: mandy

mandy — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:49:03 +0000

alex: one of my team members isn’t the best vocalist but he’s one of our most expressive members.
so, i have “planted” him on the platform with us do be a worship leader – leading the people in their PHYSICAL expressions of worship.
its not just about singing, ya know!