Wow, it seems as if you are telling my story. I know exactly what you are going through. These are the same things that I faced when I started praise and worship at my church. The only difference is that I was only playing for about 3 years before we started.
FYI - This may be kind of long.
I play at a traditional baptist church and we're in a transition when it comes to worship. My goal is to help lead them into a deeper place, they're conservative and they have a hard time expressing themselves during praise and worship. I understand not everyone worships the same, but the majority of them are not getting it, if that makes sense.
I understand what you are saying. When I first started out I would get these dull looks from the congregation. They also (and many still do) had a hard expressing themselves in praise and worship. There are a few factors that can affect this. One is that they may not know the songs. The more familiar they become with the songs, the more they will express themselves. If you don’t have power point at your church, you can use a projector to show the words to the songs. If you don’t have a projector, you can print the words to the P&W songs and place them in the bulletin. You can also try to blend some older traditional devotional songs with your newer P&W songs. In transition, showing how the old relates to the new is always a good place to start, because some older saints may feel that the new is trying to replace the old.
I'm exalting from the keys as well as leading songs at times. I'm having a hard time finding people in the church to take the lead. I put it out there but their shyness prevents them even trying. How can I help them come out of their comfort zone?
I had this same problem. This often would affect P&W, because we would end up having these silent moments in between songs (even though sometimes silence is good). This is one that you can’t force on the members of the praise team. As much as you may want them to get involve with taking the lead, they still may be timid because they feel that they are not capable of doing such a thing. In addition, you don’t want to put someone in that position and they aren’t ready. You may end up having to deal with the “spotlight” issues or they may end up becoming discouraged. I would start with your pastor. See if he has someone in mind that may be good for being the exalter. I noticed that when my pastor would interject words, in-between songs that the congregation would become more attentive to listening. So we asked the pastor to exalt, on a regular basis, during worship and help the congregation to plug-in. He was fine with that and it helped out tremendously. The disadvantage is when my pastor wasn’t there, we had like a crash. The congregation started to get used to having him plug in, that when he wasn’t there, it was like dead air with music going.
I am the only musician besides the drummer right now.
I try to stick with songs that have a worship feel: Israel Houghton, Madelyn Berry...
I also try to stick with songs that have very few lyrics, Should I try something different?
No, your song choice approach seems to be ok. You want to have simple songs that the congregation can catch on to, because you want to emphasis corporate worship. My friend, who is a pastor, uses the “KISS” expression, when he is witnessing. That means to “Keep It Simple Saints”. I follow the same rules for leading worship. I find that the songs that repeat phrases are also good.
The singers on our praise team are ok. They sing well but there is know expression. I personally believe smiles are contagious.
You are right, smiles are contagious. I deal with this now. Our praise team, doesn’t show that much expression as well. They are getting better, but still have a long ways to go. I try to instill the importance of them being P&W members. The more they understand that the more they tend to show expression. I let them know that the congregation will feel the song, if you feel the song.
I've been playing for over 15 years. I can play without looking at the keys. I think God is taking me out of my comfort zone when it comes to leading worship.
He may be. Comfort zones can be a hindrance in worship, because worship is so spontaneous. You have to be ready to go in all different directions. You may get to church one Sunday and on your first song the congregation is finished. You may have to plug-in where necessary and add songs as you are ministering because they will be at a point that they are ready to receive. Always be ready to move left or right, when God drops it in your spirit. I was one, who just wanted to play the keys. I didn’t want to lead, because I felt like it was too much and I couldn’t play the song the way I wanted to.
Most of all stay prayerful about your song choices, playing and flowing in the atmosphere. Stay in the word of God as well. I often recite scriptures that the song relates to. That opens up additional doors during exaltation. The more scripture you know and understand, exaltation will become like second nature.
Be Encouraged.
