5 Tips for Better Stage Presence When Leading Worship

Aug 6

Written By Leading Worship Well | Spencer Cormany

Better stage presence while leading worship

Stage presence while leading worship is all about setting the tone for the people you're leading. It's not about entertaining it's about modeling. What you do on stage shows the people you're leading what is appropriate for worship in your church.

Here are 5 tips for having better stage presence:

1 | Evaluate

First, you have to know where you're at currently. Take a video of your team and watch it together. Take note of what you like and what you don't like. Ask the question: if someone had never worshiped before, what would they learn from how we model worship?

2 | Watch others

Watch a video of another team leading. See what you like about how they lead and incorporate it into your own leading. This isn't for the purpose of copying what they do - but it gives your team an idea of what can be appropriate when it comes to modeling worship.

3 | Communicate

Give your team some ideas. It's easier to complain about what your team isn't doing than to communicate what you want them to do. If you think your team can improve, let them know! But don't stop there. Give them feedback. Maybe they're frowning while they sing and they don't realize it. Maybe their eyes are closed the whole time they're leading and they've never considered opening them before.

4 | Memorize Music

Memorizing music frees you up to focus on other things while leading. Instead of staring at your music the whole time, you can actually see where the congregation is at and adjust accordingly. You don't have to be tethered to your music stand. Memorizing your music frees you up to be more expressive in your worship.

5 | Practice

Give your team permission to practice stage presence. At rehearsal, talk them through pretending to actually lead worship during rehearsal. Too often, teams just run through the songs and head home. There's so much more to leading worship than just being prepared musically. Allow them to practice what to do with their hands, how to hold the microphone, etc.