If a song makes it through the gauntlet, that means its lyrics are biblically sound, the melody is singable, my music team and I can play it, it fills a gap in my church’s worship, and it comes from an artist I trust.
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One of my most important duties as a worship pastor is managing our repertoire of songs and hymns and selecting new songs to introduce to the church. The songs we sing on Sunday teach our people, and they’re a worship pastor’s primary teaching platform. It’s an influential one. After all, the songs we sing in worship are often rehearsed by our members (and their children) long after they leave the service. Selecting songs is a task we dare not take lightly.
How does a pastor decide which songs to introduce? Why one song and not another? Here are a gauntlet of questions I ask when considering a new song for my church. If we’re going to sing a song on Sunday, it’s got to pass all the way through.
