Our Praise and Worship Team

We have a set of rotating music team members on our praise and worship group at Walk of Grace Chapel, my church in Council Bluffs, IA, but for me it tends to be a family event.

The only constant members of the team are myself, and my wife, but in some ways, you could even say my wife fills the only consistent spot.  I'll explain...

We have two services a week at our church:  Sunday morning worship and Wednesday Evening Bible Study.

Our Sunday morning team stays the same pretty much every week.  My sister Angie is the worship leader, and she does the lead singing.  My wife Amber is the piano player, I play the guitar, my nephew Nathan plays the drums, and my friend Eric plays the bass.

During our Wednesday services, though, we have two different alternating music lineups.  On the first and third Wednesdays (and the fifth Wednesday, when there is one) of the month, my dad (the pastor of the church) sings and plays guitar.  On those nights, my wife is (as always) on the piano.  Most of those nights, another one of my nephews, Derek, plays the drums while I play the bass.  Sometimes, though, Derek's work schedule keeps him from being there, and in those cases I move to the drums instead.

On the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, my wife and I co-lead worship.  I play guitar and she (as always) plays the piano.  Again, my nephew Derek plays the drums when his schedule allows it.  On other nights, we use a drum machine (actually, it's a drum machine app on my Android phone).

Derek, as well as his wife Lexi, have filled in on Sunday mornings from time to time as our backups for various positions as well.  Both of them play the drums, Lexi can play the bass, and both of them have filled in on a keyboard before to add layered sounds (string sections, etc), in certain circumstances, like during special services with themes, or something like that.

But one thing you can be sure of... Amber will always be at that piano!

What kinds of instruments are on your praise team?

I was just curious, if anyone out there is reading this, what kinds of instruments are used on your praise team.

Tomorrow I'll write an entry explaining my setup in more detail, but I'm always curious if anyone is doing anything "outside the ordinary".

I tend to be interested in more exotic instruments being used in praise and worship, like hand percussion, brass, or anything besides the norm.

In case you're wondering, my setup is pretty much inside the norm... usually

Verse of the Day

Welcome To The Priase Team

I have been on church music teams for nearly 20 years now, and I wanted a place to discuss some ideas that I have used, as well as some ideas that I'm considering, about church music.

I don't know exactly what direction this blog will take or how often it will get updated, but my hope is that it becomes a place for me to work out some ideas, for others to benefit from my ideas, and maybe even for others to push me into new directions.

Welcome the The Praise Team!