Last night we had our weekly worship team rehearsal. Everything seemed normal except for a new soprano and a new acoustic guitar player. I’ll have new team members occasionally, but almost never two new members at the same time. The new singer I had heard sing several times in different settings, and each time I was impressed with her abilities as well as her heart for worship. The acoustic guy I had heard play classical guitar at a wedding and was aware of his involvement in one of our satellite campuses, although on electric guitar. That particular campus’ worship leader was confidant he could pull it off, and since I had heard his classical chops and that he was easily holding his own on electric guitar for over a year now, I was comfortable in bringing him on for rehearsal and the subsequent weekend services.
As the rehearsal got underway, two things quickly became apparent: the singer was holding her own and seemed very comfortable, while on the other hand the acoustic guitarist was struggling and clearly not comfortable. The struggles were to the degree that his involvement in the worship for the upcoming weekend needed to be re-evaluated.