At Connect Church we value adding new worship/tech team members for a lot of reasons. New members:

✓     Bring fresh voices, sounds, ideas and perspectives to the team.

✓     Create new opportunities for shared ministry with others in community.

✓     Help us avoid the sense of entitlement that creeps in after people have been in a ministry for a period of time.

✓     Raise the level of commitment and skill throughout the ministry.

✓     Help us staff multiple services and rotate weekends to avoid burnout.

✓     Most importantly, team members are provided with opportunities to use their gifts and skills to worship and serve the Lord.

What should you expect as you seek to become a worship/tech team member at Connect Church?

1.     We are looking for character, craft (skill), chemistry, calling, commitment and connection.

2.     Applying for and joining the worship and tech team is a process, and therefore it will have several steps.

During the application and audition process there's a possibility of hearing “not at this time” or “maybe you should serve in another ministry” or even “no”. At Connect Church, we value getting people into the right place to serve, and we pray and work diligently to find those ministry opportunities for everyone.

1. We prayerfully identify character, craft, chemistry, calling, commitment and connection.

Character – This involves someone’s integrity and spiritual walk, etc.

Craft – This involves 

✓     musical skill and experience, or production skill

✓     the musician’s ongoing commitment to their musical growth

✓     the tech person’s ongoing commitment to the growth of their skill

✓     platform presence and expression for worship team members

✓     leadership ability at various levels

We believe 1 Chronicles 25:6-8 sets a precedent that our team members need to be skilled. Because of that, we have a specific process to qualify potential team members.

"All these men were under the direction of their fathers as they made music at the house of the Lord. Their responsibilities included the playing of cymbals, harps, and lyres at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman reported directly to the king. They and their families were all trained in making music before the Lord, and each of them—288 in all—was an accomplished musician. The musicians were appointed to their term of service by means of sacred lots, without regard to whether they were young or old, teacher or student. - I Chronicles 25:6-8

Chemistry – This involves how well people fit together with each other and the culture of the worship team at Connect Church. As we grow larger, we understand not everyone will be “best friends” on our team. A person may click better with some more than with others. However, there needs to be respect and camaraderie between members in order for us to create and maintain a great team culture.

Calling – Calling is a “tough-to-determine” qualifying factor, but is important to us. Essentially we are looking for someone who has a sense that God is leading them to serve in this ministry.  

So what are some aspects of calling that apply here?

✓     You have a sense that God is leading you to serve with the worship/tech team, not just be on the team to perform.

✓     You have an affirmation of your call by our leadership. The leaders of the ministry have the sense that you are a good fit and are truly being led by the Spirit.

✓     You have an availability that allows you to serve. The validity of anyone’s call to the worship and tech team is questionable if they can’t attend our rehearsals/training and services. 

✓     Honoring God and serving His people are at the heart of your desire to be on the team.

Commitment – King David, in 1 Chronicles 21:24 says that he will not make an offering that costs him nothing. There are many things vying for our attention (family, work, hobbies, etc) and we are looking for people willing and able to put in the practice, spiritual preparation and offer the reliability that will be asked for as you serve on the team.

Connection – This aspect specifically focuses on your place with Connect Church. Do you truly want to serve the Lord at our church, or simply play music or work with tech? Are you engaged and connected in other areas of the church, and actively following God's purpose for you with us as a church?

If you are newer to Connect Church, we will move ahead slowly, and may ask to talk with a previous pastor or other church leader when possible.

We look for at least a few months of regular attendance at Connect Church before we will invite someone on the team. However, we do occasionally make allowances for people to participate sooner or as substitute members if they meet other aspects of qualification.

2. The application/audition procedure really is a "process".

Becoming a worship musician or tech team member is a process that we use to determine if a person is right for our team. The leadership needs to get to know you and how you might fit best with our ministry. And you need time to make sure this ministry is a good fit for you. The process looks like this: 

Step One:

Application 

After reviewing the remainder of this page, if you are still interested in being part of the Dream Team Worship and/or Tech Team, you will be asked to complete an online application. After we receive and review your application, we will contact you to continue the process.

Step Two:

Initial Interview 

This step involves meeting with our worship ministry leaders/team members to get to know you personally and musically. 

✓     If you are a musician, you'll be asked to sing or play a few pre-determined songs that we will give you when we contact you. If you are a techie, we will discuss your interests and experience in our various audio, video and lighting ministries.

✓     We'll discuss why you feel God might be calling you to be a part of the team.

✓     We’ll answer any questions you might have about serving on the team.

Step Three:

Live Band Audition/Tech Audition

This step involves singing or playing with a group of musicians from the team or participating in the tech support for a rehearsal. This is a time when we will observe:

✓     how well you connect with others, relationally and musically

✓     how musically strong you are in a group setting - i.e. can you sing and play in time with drums/click, can you complement the other voices/instruments, etc. or as a tech person, can you understand our culture and process and show some competence/aptitude on our equipment.

✓     As worship team members, we look for platform presence and expression, especially from vocalists.

Step Four: 

Invitation

We will take a few days to pray and seek the Lord's will, and if things are looking like a good fit, we'll invite you to be a part of the team. At that time, we'll ask you to affirm your commitment to our culture and ministry by signing our worship team covenant.

Step Five: 

Acclamation

During this step, you'll get used to our systems and ways of doing things, such as:

✓     Learn how to use Planning Center Online, our online worship portal and other apps that help in preparation.

✓     Use in-ear monitors and our digital monitoring system

✓     Learn to play with click and multi-tracks.

✓     Participate in rehearsals so you know what to expect

✓     For our tech team members, you will begin to be trained and have an aggressive apprenticeship on our equipment.

We'll also be working at getting you on the schedule during this step of the process.

Please note: Our schedule is often set up to two months in advance. While we'll look for openings to include you, we may not be able to fit you in to the current schedule for a few weeks.

Step Six: 

Participation and Follow-up

As you begin to participate on the team, we'll check in after each Sunday to see how things have gone. We also want to take regular opportunities to talk about ways that the leadership can serve you better and identify any areas we may need to help you develop and grow in your leadership.

3. Please understand there's a possibility of hearing “no”.

There are a number of reasons why someone wouldn't qualify to be on the worship or tech team:

✓     Musical ability not at the level needed

✓     No current openings for the area you desire to serve

✓     Issues of character or the calling toward this ministry isn't clearly understood.

✓     Interpersonal issues - if someone doesn't mesh well with current team members, this is a red flag for us

✓     Too “new” to our church with no other solid ministry and/or references from other churches or leaders

The leadership will be honest and forthright with applicants on what they observe. Here is our approach to saying no:

1.     We will say "no" or redirect the process as soon as it is apparent this is not a good fit for you in ministry. We do not wish to lead anyone along or give false hopes.

2.     We may say "Not yet, but please try again later" if we believe that someone has potential with some work and development. We will give them constructive feedback for things they can work on.

We believe everyone is called to serve somewhere in God’s kingdom. If our worship and tech teams are not a good fit, we will prayerfully help a person, if they would like, to take the first steps to find another ministry here at Connect Church.

That's it! Thanks for taking time to read though our process. If you have specific questions before you apply, please contact Pastor Randy Vandemark at rv@connectchurch.xyz.

If you’re ready to apply, we are ready to hear from you! Click the appropriate button below.