Hello, everyone! My name is Jeff Batson.

I am a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. I have been playing the guitar for over 30 years. I have participated as a member of many worship teams over the years, both as a guitarist and vocalist.

I began leading worship in churches and small home groups in 1984 and have been a worship leader ever since. Throughout these years of leading worship, working with bands, and being involved in music ministry, I have learned so much and grown both as a musician and as a person. I thoroughly enjoy working with other musicians, bands, and worship teams, both as a participant and as a leader. I value the opportunity to impart what I have learned over the years and what I know, to others who are either exploring worship as a team member, a team leader or who are already involved in worship ministry.

The purpose of this column is simply to take what I have learned over the years from a player’s and leader’s perspective and share with you what I have experienced that I believe will be helpful and encouraging to you in your pursuit of being a part of a music ministry. I look forward to the opportunity to serve you.

Some of the subjects I’ll be covering in columns to come are things like appropriate song selection for the church service, arranging songs (which may include instrumentation, chord voicings, vocal harmonies and more), musical dynamics, maximizing your rehearsal time with your band, developing a good relationship with your pastor, songwriting for worship, plus many other subjects that are relevant to this wonderful field we call Worship Music Ministry.

Here’s a story of something that came off as slightly awkward for me during a Sunday morning church service. I was preparing to lead worship one morning, about to begin the first song of the set, when I realized that I had not yet put in my earpiece for the in ear monitors. When I noticed it I simply said to the entire congregation, “Just a minute while I get myself wired here”. Needless to say, I got a good laugh from many in the congregation. Thankfully, they forgave me and invited me back next time.

So what can you learn from this? Because the little things almost always are a big deal, we have to be mindful to double check, even triple check our setup, from making sure the guitar is plugged into the amp or direct box (for an acoustic), to checking our monitor mix during rehearsal to be sure it is well balanced.

And it is always a good idea to getting on stage a couple minutes before the start of the service/performance, and checking everything to make sure it still works, is plugged in and, in the case of my IEMs, actually in the ears!

That’s it for now, until next time….

Your fellow musician and worship leader,

JB