Regarding the MANY comments saying "What about the Holy Spirit"... This video actually demonstrates us being led by the Holy Spirit. In the beginning, Caleb talks about the song, and what he said was 100% inspired by God/Holy Spirit. The band was able to give him space to lead in that moment, and then we played the song. Regarding the song itself, I’ve found that most churches play the songs in the arrangement that they were recorded. We have space to repeat things at the end or linger in a moment if we’d like, but the click track and MD mic just let us all stay on the same page. And if we do decide to repeat something, it allows us to effectively communicate that to everyone in the band. To suggest that planning (and then executing that plan) is somehow squelching the Holy Spirit is foolish, in my opinion. The Spirit lead in our planning just as much as the Spirit leads in the moment. We believe that effective worship leadership calls upon the Holy Spirit's guidance both in the planning stages and in the execution.

In our band, we just look at each other, and we know what's up.

As a fellow guitarist, this mix is perfect and should be sent straight to front of house.

I’m just over here like what this dude is saying about God fighting our battles is fire 😭🔥

"give me an F....yyyeeaahhhhh stay there."

It's weird, as a drummer I've played at churches like this with in-ears and this kind of organisation. But I've also played at churches where all you have to rely on is a speaker/monitor and hand signals or a look lol. While I love the organised feel and I feel more content with my performance. I prefer the latter, with the hand signals haha. It just feels more natural. It also keeps you on your toes for any surprises, like when the Pastor is in the spirit and sings a song non of the musicians have heard of before 😂. We've all been there lol. All in all, ministering for God is always good.

I had no idea this is how a bigger church worship operates.... Ours is a smaller congregation. I usually play the piano and sometimes I play the Cajon. Since its a small band, we can communicate with our eyes LOL. I am self taught, and I want to be a good pianist one day. I play at a very basic level currently. Hopefully with God's blessings, I will make this year a much more productive year, and learn a lot more about music and piano.

the amount of focus and musicianship to follow the track and also be aware of everything going on is impressive

In our church, we often use hand signals. But most of the time, we just let holy spirit take over.

This was so interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes. Really appreciate all the hard work that all worship teams put in. And you can clearly see that they are still lead by the Holy spirit and feeling God's presence even though there is an MD talking them through the song! (For everyone commenting you don't understand how they still feel the Lord's presence while worshipping) Thank you for sharing. May God bless you all.

Hi all, I found Jesus one day by guesting at a rather large church one Sunday. As a musician it was the fantastic music from the band, the production and the level of musicianship that hooked me at first. I hadn’t been in a church since I was a kid but I kept going back to see the music. I just wanted to say that sometimes God works in completely obvious ways. Thank you Jesus.

You're such a good MD bro, I been one for a year or so in South Africa for our Hillsong campuses in Cape Town. I'm only 19 so it's a bit weird telling older, more experienced musicians what to do and where to go but I'm thankful for the position. Been growing a lot as a musician and a servant of God. This video was really insightful.

That transition to “raise a hallelujah” is just “chefs kiss”

having IEM MD and click doesnt mean that you can't experience the same presence, that doesn't mean that you're not being led by Spirit. Praise and Worship team is the one who lead the whole Praise and Worship, so it would be great that everything is also as good as possible, as we're giving Him the best one we got :)

Wow what musicianship and sensitivity to what’s going on! 😲 I don’t know how he can speak so freely with the metronome in his ear in the beginning 😆 What an interesting set of tools to facilitate worship!

WOWW! It is my first time to hear what musicians can here on an earpiece wow.. wow... soo amazinggg

This is a GREAT video for MDs & WLs who want to move forward and grow. I would love for my team to hear this to get a glimpse of our next step. I've read thru many of the comments and some almost sound judgmental, but we have to remember where they are currently. It's like going through the transition of the Praise & Worship era all over again. With the, "I don't like it" and "I prefer the fly by the seat of my pants worship". It's all good and I get it. I am 50 yrs old and very much accustomed to 'organized' worship with tracks and spontaneous worship with no clicks or tracks as well. You simply conform to your surroundings and what is able to be done. God is STILL God and He will move where He wants, when He wants. As long as we are in tune with His Spirit, that's all that matters. As the song says, NOTHING ELSE. LoL.

that 'oops' at 6:00 was actually pretty cool. it became a cool little dissonance with that octave B on the guitar resolving to the octave C.

The talkback is also great for dealing with unexpected songs from the pastor or for calling out spur-of-the-moment chord progressions when the Spirit is leading the worship a certain way. This way the whole band knows what to do next.

Woah!! Never knew this is what happens behind the scenes! 😮 I kinda wondered how the whole band knew what to play and when to play at some points of the worship ...even being so apart from each other... So this technique helps to tackle the sudden changes make with music in the middle of the song! Thanks a lot for sharing this! 😊 God bless you and your church!❤

This would be perfect because I have that "where are we again?" thought go through my head multiple times a service, lol.

Very familiar to me because I’m also part of a worship team as a bassist but it’s really nice to hear. Also great for those that don’t know what it’s like behind the scenes and how everything comes together so perfectly

Not gonna lie that metronome would drive me crazy lol (Before anybody goes off on my comment I understand the importance of it)

I'm glad you guys OOPS and LOL just like the rest of us.

This is why I never got into playing worship music. Songs can go on forever and ever. 7 lines, eleven times.. but to each his or her own. But they are are great at their craft! Bravo!

Great work guys! Using the tools and training of our times to serve the Lord and His people. Press on!! Salute! Carl & Leann.

For those new songs with lots of chord changes and with not enough time to practice, the direction is a life saver.

Also - how good is Caleb's setup for this song?! That's how you do it! If you're introducing this one to your church, steal what Caleb said. In Jesus' name! :).

Just play the click through front of house so everyone knows whats up.

I don't think I'd be able to get into it like this. I would want to hear what everyone else is hearing.

I've played guitar in a worship group for more than 10 years, but we recently got a new sound system. The drums are mic'd up, bass, guitar and piano are all finally in front of house. We got in-ears to hear whatever we need. I started using pedals which was much needed. The overall sound changed dramatically for better.

This is one of the best videos for what to expect for an in ear mix! Great job guys

I love this. Being prepared, smooth and having a high level of excellence can really aid in taking people on a journey worship. Great

Sounds pretty close to what I'm used to in my in ears too. Incidentally, we just did this song Sunday as well.

Caleb sure brought the 80s with that chorus effect and strat to sunday worship!

the best part of this whole thing was the "yeeeeah..." love the concept of this vid man. Not often do us smaller bands get to experience something like this. Very cool. God Bless!

I would have loved to hear Bradford's mix as the MD as well since he's directing the whole band. Would be interested to hear the difference between the two mixes. I found it interesting that you had the click but very little drums. Our drummer and I play off each other so much.

Our bass player usually is on the talk back during worship. When he’s not there it’s our keyboard player and I swear he sings the cues to us on beat. It’s pretty funny to hear.

i love Caleb’s lead line under the last big chorus. ripping, big, present, yet tasteful and not dominating. killer.

We aren’t using this at the moment in my church because we’re very small and also we aren’t professional musicians, but I think it’s amazing that some churches can use these type of tools to make their worship sound better. It’s good to try and perfection our talents and what we give to God because he deserves THE BEST. So congrats to that church for doing such a professional job!! God bless you guys ♥️♥️

Man. I’m gonna a be honest - some of you are saying some really judgemental and hurtful things. And it sucks to hear that about a gift we/I are/am offering the Lord. The irony. Our channel’s mission statement is that people would have excellent and authentic worship in their churches. We haven’t lost site of that. All of this is done to that end. We aren’t saying this is the only way to lead worship. It’s how *we* do it. And, furthermore, you are only seeing/hearing one song. We are on the same team. Let’s encourage one another in their ministries. Or at least not be buttholes to others and how they serve :)

How i missed this. Its like a battle ground you're wating your chief commander (md's) to command. When he says run,run when he says attack we attack. All the emotions all the intense all the joyfullness all are mix up togather to bring down God's presence/atmosphere of worship and his kingdom down.

I'm a guitarist in our local church so this is what professional musician be like

For those who think the Holy Spirit can't move because they're using tracks and an MD, you may want to check yourself and wonder if your view of God is too small. Also, it doesn't have to be excellence or worship. It can be both.

I MD for most of the bands and churches I play in while drumming. Click\Guides have made my life much easier. LOL Suggestion for Caleb. Run both IEM's in. I saw ambient mics on the stage; push those up to get the room. Friends of mine have hearing loss from years of running one in\one out. Take the time to dial in and pan your ears and it will make a huge difference and save your hearing.

Someone loves that cowbell 😂

His voice is so soothing! The problem with me is that I tend to get excited and sometimes raise my voice...but this is such an amazing example!

I play Bass guitar at our Church and the Pastor's wife is our singer and worship leader and she'll give hand signals for verse, bridge, chorus or keep playing what we are currently playing!! Works great!! Blessings!!

If any of our MDs talked this much I’d rip my in-ears out.

the biggest surprise was that instead of calling numbers you are calling the actual chords

It remind me, one of my church that I served during my college. Now, I am back from my hometown still continue to serve in worship team. What I found out was, we don't have the ear in monitor plus budget, planning to have this to bless the worship team. Pray that, everyone continue to serve in one heart to glorify Him.

Bro! Caleb! What you thought was a mistake at the end of the lead line was actually super dope! Sometimes it sounds sick when to slowly bend into it a tad bit late haha 😎 you’re killing it dude.

Love the shirt!

"Get ready, let's punch it!" 3:23 I *love* this enthusiasm! For those thinking this is distracting or over-produced, I can testify as an EG player, a good MD keeps the band tight and guides the energy 7:50. Psalm 33:3 teaches us to, "Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise" (KJV). To play "skillfully" is a matter of *excellence* that we bring to our Lord.

That's so awesome. So glad that God is able to not just work with us in the moment but also in the planning. He never leaves us!

It's like conducting an orchestra without being up in front! So cool! Thank you for sharing!

Whenever I run camera and see him talking, I always wonder what Brad is actually saying haha. But for real, that was a really cool behind the scenes look at the MD position

Wow, that's a lot going on! Seems detracting but you pull it off beautifully. Its cool to see the mistakes and know that no one would ever know unless you point out out. Well done, thanks for sharing! Gives me something to aspire toward as an MD.

Glad to see that I’m not the only one who makes mistakes when I play with the worship team on Sundays. 😊

Yes! Keep doing what you do brother! Ain’t nothing wrong with being organized!!!

I would transfer the click track to just a live cowbell. After all, never enough cowbell.

A bassist leading the behind the scenes worship?? What era is this?!?! Loving it!!

That was very interesting! I never knew that's what people using these in-ear monitors hear. I was suspecting that there could be a metronome but I never thought there's also someone guiding. Cool stuff!

I grew up on worship band with holy spirit guiding me, us, and just by looking at each other we knew what's up ❤️

I just wanted to comment again and encourage you guys! Ignore everyone saying that because of having this level of production means you aren't Spirit-Led. God uses all things - even plans and production(😱). God leads production also. God encourages us to bring our best fruits forward and if that is high production then it's high production and if it's all just band then it's just band. It discouraged me to see so many people commenting hateful things on this video. What a petty small thing to argue about 🤦. They are glorifying God. I know as a worship leader myself the click, ques, and tracks have actually help me greatly in even feeling a genuine worship moment myself, not alone the congregation. Before the clicks, tracks, and ques were introduced in my church I would be stressed out every Sunday. People might tell me just to practice more - hun.. I practiced four or more hours a day. The production helps me as a worship leader feel comfortable and have led to more Spirit-Led moments for me (wow.. who knew a click could help with that..) instead of no clicks and stressing out the the whole set. The tracks keep me in key and the click helps me stay on tempo. Fam, legit people need to calm down. God says to do everything for the glory of God and as long as you are, then you're all good.

It's all fun and games until something happens and the track queues come through the mains unexpectedly. We've had the PRIME app suddenly do this to us 2 weeks in a row. I'm guessing the congregation somehow is reminded of the "Milli Vanilli" incident

MD’s voice is so soothing

I’ve led worship over 4,000 times, with all kinds of audiences, from one to a million people. My most powerful experiences are those amazing times when God creates songs spontaneously, even entire albums “on the fly.” That’s when God ‘shows up’ the most. I’ve recorded many live worship albums (about 15) and none were rigidly planned, including several which went on to touch millions of lives (esp the gold and platinum ones). My greatest desire while leading worship is to be a prophetic conduit through whom God sings and plays, and the resultant music touches the people’s lives during their own individual worship experience. I can appreciate the technical excellence of what’s going on behind the scenes in this video. But speaking as a prophetic spontaneous song creator and worship leader, if I had to listen to a click track and follow a music director’s voice-instead of being able to flow with the Spirit, adjusting song forms and chords and keys as He leads me, and giving spontaneous chord changes to the band by hand signals or by musical feel, it would be a very restrictive experience. Form is good, but the ability to flow around that form, as the Spirit leads, spontaneously, repeating sections of the song at will depending on what is ‘catching fire’ in the congregation at that moment, is even better. And creating the Song of the Lord spontaneously, is the best. I hope your band also practices that. Talented musicians like yours should be encouraged to create new songs on the fly, which thanks to modern technology, would not only bless the live worshipping congregation, but through live-streaming and playback-on-demand, could go instantly around the world and end up becoming worship anthems in themselves. Go guys! May many new songs come forth as the Spirit guides and inspires you all.

How do you even focus on worshiping with all this stuff in your ears..i mean i'm all for being organized but at this point we'll end up being invested in just the music but not the object of our worship.

I love the wide range of topics you cover. This is something that isn't in our worship team's wheelhouse just yet, but it's still amazing to be a "fly on the wall" so to speak. God bless you all and the ministry you provide! BTW, do you have a shipping date on your Quad Cortex pre-order yet? I'm eager to see your review of the device!

A while ago our new worship leader brought in clicks and tracks. It was a long time before I got used to them, but I love them now. It has made worship so much more of fun experience (for me anyway). If you go off on a spontaneous moment most of the time it is easy to get off tempo the click has help me greatly in that respect. I used to have panic attacks from nerves before going onstage because there was nothing to fall back into, when you messed up you messed up big. Having the clicks has made me so much more comfortable on stage. I play rhythm acoustic and it is just so nice to have the click to fall back into. Before the click I would follow the drums, but they weren't reliable 100% It makes it a lovely experience to bring your best to God and to make the worship not distracting to the congregation.

I’ve played places where we don’t have any clicks or cues, I’ve played where the cues are built in to the track so there is no room for error. This is my favorite style of you have a team who’s all on board and who can adjust very easily. This is my favorite way of running in war mixes

In our church, the worship leader gives us hand signals

For those comments about too rigid, too structured, etc, you are doing the same thing with visual cues. A lot easier to give and receive cues when you aren't constantly having to watch someone which can take your focus away. Second, about those that say this doesn't leave room for the Holy Spirit, read in the Bible and study how worship was done in the Temple and Tabernacle when the Levites and Priests were literally in the visible presence (in the case of the Tabernacle especially, as much as one can be) of God. It was very orderly and structured. You couldn't just do what you wanted at any time. Also, worship isn't singing, it's literally getting on your face before the Most High and how we live our lives in obedience and reverence of Him through our Messiah everyday! This is corporate prayer and praise, getting into His presence. Let's see a bit more unity, understanding, and wisdom and stop all this "my way is better than yours" garbage please. Let's grow up in the image of Messiah and love one another.

This is fascinating. I grew up playing in churches small enough to fit in a trailer. Just a 3-piece set with washboards, tambourines, harmonicas, and a good ol stompnclap. So yeah, there were no clicks, monitors, MD's or even hand signals. Someone started singing and you jumped in. If one of the musicians starts feeling it, you play along. Totally organic jam.

Hi, to the community: If you were classically trained as a musician, this is not a far stretch from a traditional conductor, or even a choir director. Much of music expresses deep emotion, and some of the best performances out there are hearts and souls poured out in a performance. Whatever we decide to do as a culture in musical expressions, should always have mind, soul and strength in each worship event. Too heavy on any one of these and we are out of balance, that will be those times when you left saying something was off. You can’t please everyone, so make sure you are pleasing God with all that you do. 39 years of performing live has helped calm my heart, years ago this video might of fired me up, not anymore! Thanks guys for the video! 😎

This is just my observation: Drummer behind a plexiglass cage, a click track, someone in your ear telling you verse bridge chorus ... Then you have everyone going direct into the mixer and getting “in ear monitors”. Not a single amp on stage and no monitors. This might not be for everyone but I applaud the efforts. God bless your ministry

I love this..... I wish to implement this in my church someday... It's so orderly. I'm a fan of order and I believe God is too❤️

This is actually so smart, no wonder it sounds so good

I am in the video production side of our church services. It was a great experience to hear the audio side of the production. Thanks for sharing. Dwayne Alexander FUMC Murfreesboro Tn.

It saddens me to see so many comments saying, "You're doing it wrong, my way is the right way," or, "I would hate that and would never do it that way." When our church got a new worship leader, he brought these techniques with him. Of course people were resistant at first, change is difficult. But I now wouldn't have it any other way, and our worship team has never sounded or clicked (pardon the pun) better. We get comments all the time about how wonderful the music is and how inspired in worship they are. What God wants for you is to do what works for you.This doesn't work for you? FINE, don't do it, but don't criticize others if it DOES work for them, and don't insult them by saying what they're doing isn't worship, as if you have the monopoly on how to do it! *deep breaths* All that said, as someone who has never had an MD before, I now find myself in that role. I would love to hear what his mix sounds like; I am not overly confident in my role but am getting better at it (so they tell me). Our only rehearsal time is before services, so sometimes when things are a bit sticky, I'm able to guide a little more than the recorded guide. Also your transition to the next song was seamless, I love it! (edit - I see you have other videos related to the MD, I will check those out, thank you for posting these!)

Although some may like this way of performimg, it’s too mechanized. As a worship drummer, I (and the band) just rely on the worship leader. We practice the day before and the morning of service but things rarely go as planned, as the Holy Spirit has the final say :)

I appreciate this so much. To hear the nuances of live playing and how it’s never perfect. Refreshing. Human. Thanks. Great tips here.

I feel like we need a little more COWBELL

Playing in smaller youth worship groups I've always just used nods and mouthing words to everyone else to communicate but this definitely helps production value for such a large church

This is good for people to hear. Nothing prepares you for the sounds of in ears. Totally different world… But it is so much better than wedges. Great MD, too.

This is really cool. I'm used to just jumping on stage with skilled & unskilled musicians and playing. But I can see how necessary this is for big production worship, especially if you're recording the set to listen to and you can't afford to have pointless mistakes from simply forgetting parts.

That transition at the end was good!

I've played at some of the largest churches in my state using only physical cues and chemistry. This is foreign to me.

I like how this keeps everyone in tune. We definitely need this in some churches😂😅 but would still need some time to get used to

The beat at our church is more like a knock, but the rest is very accurate! This is so cool, because when your on stage all you can hear is the click, and so hearing both at the same time is pretty cool.

I like that you had only in your ears what was essential for your best performance so to say. The biggest mistake a lot of beginner in ear users make is to try to achieve a "CD mix" where every instrument and vocalist are in their ears. The main purpose of in ears is to eliminate the stage wedges, thus reducing on stage volume and feedback, and to have the ability to run click and tracks, but also to hear the key elements of each individual song, such as the click and cues, MD, their own instrument and worship leader for example. Singers typically would need their vocal and a pitch instrument like keys to help them sing on key as best as they can. In this instance, less really is more. The better you can hear, the better you will play

I heard someone play a sharp four on the downbeat going into verse 2 🧐

I love playing like this, since i do it this way i have to study harder than before and makes me avoid mistakes, because now i study the songs so carefully

im a guitarist on our church (christian) and we also have a band but we dont have much stuff like big churches have but with the grace of God everyone is doing really really great by just signals and looking at each other. It only means that no matter how much the things you have as long as its for the glory of our King, nothing is impossible! Also if you are playing for God, you are learning really different from others. You know the feeling that when someone is off beat or made a liitle mistake, you already know it even though you are not wearing anything on ear hahahhaha. You are not only advance musically but spiritually too. Im still learning with the help of God and hoping that me, the band, the church and the people of that temple to experience the new things in music. PS: im not saying that having advance music stuffs is bad, its actually a bonus. God's extra gift for them, for letting God work on their lives. PS: the question is, what do we hear everytime we playing it infront of a lot of people with big amplifiers and speakers besides us and dont have any in ear? We dont actually hear a thing but only the people singing. That is why before the service, all the people that will stand on the back of Christ on every service should pray. God's presence on you will not make you shiver in fear.

Epic song! Came from a church that didn’t use tracks and we sure could’ve used them sometimes. Hahaha. Those guitars sound killllerrrr

Your videos are very helpful 😄

I've been serving the Lord through the worship ministry at the age of 13 and I got used to 'eye communication' since we were kind of a small band. But around 3 years ago, I joined another worship ministry and they introduced these kinds of techniques and equipments. I was kind of skeptical at first and was way out of my comfort zone since the metronome keeps clicking on your ear. But when I got the hang of it, I realized it's importance. It's not easy to handle everyone on stage thus earning my respect for the MDs. It's not like they're "controlling" anyone. Actually, when you actually get used to using in-ears, the more in sync everyone will be. It also made me appreciate the worship song even more since I have to study it more because the MD just usually use cues like "1st verse", "chorus", "bridge 1", etc. Thus, you have to be very well familiar with the sequence of the song. I believe MDs are not only musically intelligent but awesome with people and work well with the Holy Spirit! Awesome video!!

Can I just point out that the mistake you made during the bridge transition was actually really nice and tbh I actually can't unhear it when I play/listen to the song because it's so awesome.

During worship We communicate with our Eyes, Head Nodding, 😁