Each Sunday when our church gathers, we spend almost half of our time together singing. Music is such a fundamental part of our faith, and it is our worship team that has the privilege of leading this experience for our community. While we try not to take ourselves too seriously, we are very serious about this responsibility. What an honor it is to play this small part in leading people to draw closer to Jesus. As we seek to reach more people in our city, our team has to expand to serve our growing community. This means getting more people involved as we work to stay in step with the growth of our church.

Our worship onboarding process has evolved over the years. We have tried many different approaches and are always looking for ways to sharpen and refine this process. Our hope is that, at VOUS, people would find the intersection of their gift and someone else’s need. Whatever someone’s strength may be, our desire is that our community would provide them with the opportunity to serve the people around them by doing the thing God has uniquely designed them to do. Because we value excellence and strive to bring our best to all we do, our worship team follows a simple audition process to ensure we put our best foot forward. Here’s what that looks like these days…

AUDITION INFORMATION FORM

Anyone interested in joining the team first signs up to audition in Step 4 of the Growth Track. (You can find more on Growth Track here.) Before we host an audition, we gather important information about those interested in serving via our Audition Information Form. Along with their basic information, we ask questions like:

• Describe your relationship with Jesus.
• Are you currently serving in or attending another church?
• How long have you attended VOUS?
• Have you completed the Growth Track?
• Are you a part of a VOUS Crew?
• Do you have experience leading worship? If so, explain.
• Are you a part of a local band?
• What is your Instagram handle?

These questions are so important to us because leadership is about much more than just gifting. That’s why we make it a point to ask direct questions that help us to get to know those auditioning on a personal level. The Audition Form helps us to begin to gauge the heart, commitment, and experience of those interested in joining our team. There are some answers that could disqualify someone from moving forward in the audition process. Maybe the person auditioning currently serves in another church, or maybe they’ve only been attending VOUS for a couple of weeks, or maybe they only recently got saved. As with any servant leader, we want our worship leaders to love Jesus, to understand and embody our church values, and to be committed to serving in our house.

THE AUDITION PROCESS

Along with the Audition Form, auditioners submit a video through our audition landing page. If they receive a callback, their next step is to audition in their potential serving environment. Everyone auditions on stage with in-ears—instrumentalists on their respective instrument and vocalists with a microphone. (We provide drums and keys but bassists and guitarists bring their own instruments.) From here, they play or sing their audition song and vocalists sing a harmony.

Following the audition, the candidates engage in a conversation with a staff member or servant leader on our team. This is where we review the Audition Form with them, ask additional questions, spend time getting to know them, and provide an opportunity for them to ask any questions they might have. We follow up with them via email within three days of their audition. Those who are invited to join the team move on to the next step, and those who do not make the team are redirected to serve in another area.

SHADOWING & SERVING

Those who make the team are scheduled to shadow a worship servant leader on a Sunday to get acquainted with how a Sunday service runs. They get a tour of their serving location and attend sound check, rehearsal, Run Through, Platform Huddle, and service with an in-ear pack throughout. During our pre-service process, vocalists sit in the front row to observe and instrumentalists sit with their instrument. The intention behind shadowing is to help familiarize new servant leaders with how the worship team operates and to give them space to ask questions. After shadowing, they are scheduled to serve, usually at an event like Team Night or I Love My City to help them get comfortable before jumping into serving on Sundays.

This is a process we are constantly reevaluating and adjusting. Our hope is that this process will set our team and our servant leaders up for success by asking and answering the right questions up front, establishing clear expectations, and finding the right fit for everyone. We hope that this breakdown of our process will help you to develop or refine your own.