Okay... we've all been there at least once in our worship leading: It's Saturday afternoon (or Sunday morning) and you realize you haven't picked out what songs you're going to lead at church.

Hopefully, after leading worship for a little while, you realize that it's best to plan your set list out a little further in advance than that. And so, you start preparing at the beginning of the week.

But, what if you took it even a step further and started planning your set lists for the entire month?

Here are 3 benefits of long-term worship set list planning:

1 | Batching saves time

When you can "batch" similar tasks together, it helps you accomplish them faster and you waste less time. Every time you have to switch from one line of thinking to another, it takes a little while to get in the right mindset.

You have to pull up your song list... and get your guitar out... and think about what songs you did last week... and all of those little things add up each time you do them.

So, if you only have to get in the "worship set list mindset" once a month, you end up saving a lot of time because, instead of switching to that mindset 4 times a month, you only have to switch to it once a month.

2 | You get a bigger picture of what songs your church is singing

When you plan short-term, you think short-term. You start thinking on a week by week basis.

But, when you make the commitment to long-term planning (monthly basis or quarterly basis), it affords you the opportunity to get the bigger picture.

You can line up your set lists for the month right beside each other and see an overview of where you church is headed musically.

3 | It gives you more time to let your ideas marinate

Good ideas take time to develop. Planning your set lists out far in advance helps give you time for marination.

Even if you aren't consciously thinking about your future set lists, your brain is working in the background to make connections to improve them.

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