Yesterday at 8:00 a.m. I sang in my first worship service since becoming a member of the praise team. All of the songs went really well except for one; in that song, there was a repeat that I didn’t catch, but unfortunately I wasn’t way off. I thought I was supposed to be at a measure-or-two rest, so instead of singing the wrong words, I wasn’t singing at all. So, while not a great thing that I screwed up, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.

Here’s what I learned from my first service:

  • It’s warm on stage. Even though it is autumn (and sometimes feels like winter), I need to wear short-sleeved shirts when we sing.
  • Grab a bulletin before going on stage. For our contemporary service, we don’t have a bulletin per se, but we do have a green sheet of paper (an insert for the traditional service’s bulletin) listing announcement and prayer requests. Even more important is the sermon note sheet that’s inside; since I didn’t have one, I wasn’t able to take notes on what ended up being a really great sermon.
  • The soundboard (and the person running it) is your friend. At first I felt like I needed to sing as loud as the woman next to me who has a really loud singing voice. I realized that wasn’t going to happen (at least not my first time singing) so I sang as loud as I comfortably could. After the service, one of the people running the soundboard told me that they’ll adjust my levels so that I’m coming through the speakers loud enough. What a relief!

I won’t be at practice this week because of the Switchfoot and Relient K concert, but I should be at church next Sunday to perform (depending on when I leave for Virginia to visit my family). All I can hope and pray for is that it will go as well as this week’s performance went.