I responded to an email yesterday asking us how Westside structures our Worship Arts Department. This is one thing we are proud of as we have a great team and our chemistry together is priceless. So for all you church junkies that like this stuff, this is for you – our Reader’s Digest Version of our team
How we have staffed our Worship Arts Dept is something we are proud of and I’ll try to give you the Reader’s Digest version of what each role brings to the team.
:: TEACHING PASTOR ::
- Mouthpiece of vision and direction to the church
- Responsible for the entire weekend teaching
- Responsible for teaching direction and integration.
:: WORSHIP PASTOR ::
- Is the CEO of the worship dept.
- Responsible for all things Tech & Arts.
- Champion for weekend excellence
- Rehearses the vocal team cause it’s his strength.
- Plays guitar / Lead vocals
:: MUSIC DIRECTOR ::
- Responsible for the band
- Creates arrangements
- Runs rehearsals
- Works in tandem with the Worship Pastor and communicates with him prior to rehearsal to achieve overall goal. Our worship pastor lets him run rehearsals and submits to his leadership in the rehearsal environment. (But it comes out as the Worship Pastor originally communicates to the Music Director)
- Plays guitar
:: PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR ::
- Responsible for entire weekend.
- Responsible for communication and managing timelines relevant to each weekend
- Project manager for each series and holds all parties accountable to deadlines
- Responsible for set design and implementation
- Responsible for brainstorming and guiding the series execution process
- Supports the Teaching Pastor and Worship Pastor.
- Communicates with artists who are involved in weekend programming
:: TECHNICAL DIRECTOR ::
- Responsible for all areas of audio/video needs in the church
- Leads the production team of audio engineers, camera men, video directors, video switchers, graphic operators and lighting technicians.
- Responsible for reproducing and training production volunteers.
- Manages video support for weekend messages to campuses.
- Manages weekend video support: Bumper videos, testimonial videos, lower thirds, announcement videos.
- Manages video editor(s)
:: ASSISTANT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR | VIDEO EDITOR ::
- Weekend technical director for troubleshooting problems for campuses
- Main role as video editor for weekend video support.
- Manages video shoots and is responsible for the weekend product.
That is the full time staff we have.
Our weekends run with volunteer power. Without them we wouldn’t be able to execute at the level we do. Positions we have volunteers filling can be broken down in the following.
:: BAND ::
- Drums
- Bass Guitar
- Electric Guitar (x2)
- Acoustic Guitar (used every once in a while)
- Keys (Keyboard, Rhodes, Organ)
- Various instruments when appropriate (strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion)
- Selected through individual auditions with music director
:: VOCAL TEAM ::
- Soprano, Alto, Tenor
- Most weekends we only have one vocalist (female, matches our style of music better)
- Every 4-5 weeks we will have our entire Vocal Team on stage (25 members)
- They are selected through a group audition that 3x’s per year (Jan/May/Sep)
:: PRODUCTION ::
- Technical Director – Every weekend our TD’s are available
- Video Director – directs camera shots
- Video Switcher – operates video switcher
- Graphic Operator – Lyrics and message support (lower thirds)
- Cameras (x4) – 3 stationary cameras in house and 1 mobile on stage
- Front of House – mixes audio
- Lighting Operator – operates lighting console to create appropriate environment
- No experience is required for any position (we have a good training program)
:: STAGE / ARTISTS::
- Construction volunteers
- Painters
- Sculptors
- other various artists