Hiring a worship leader

A Step-by-Step Guide for Hiring Your Next Worship Leader

Hiring a worship leader can feel like a murky topic. You know what you want, but you’re not quite sure how to find them. 

And after you find a candidate, what is the process supposed to look like?

In this article, I’ll walk you step by step through the process of hiring a capable and called worship leader!

Step 1: Define Your Needs

What sort of role are you hiring for? Consider the following:

  • Is it part-time or full-time?
  • Is the role combined (youth and worship) or strictly worship?
  • Do you primarily need a musician (because you already have admin support staff in place)?
  • Or do you need an organized leader (because you already have a gifted band in place)?

Clearly outline all responsibilities and requirements in a job description. If you need a job description template, click here.

Step 2: Determine Your Budget

There are not many excellent worship pastors in the world. If you want someone with the head, heart, and skill to truly build a thriving ministry, you need to be willing to spend more than you think. The days of simply placing anyone with a guitar in front of a microphone are over. You need a wise, godly, confident leader of teams—someone who thinks strategically and pastorally about building their ministry and discipling the church through the corporate worship experience. Unfortunately, those types of people are few and far between. So if you want to find a gifted candidate, be ready to compensate fairly. This means they will likely be on the higher end of the pastoral pay scale for your church.

Step 3: Get the Word Out

Now that you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to get the word out. Consider these options:

Then say a prayer and trust God to bring in some good candidates!

Step 4: Review Applicants

In your job listing, ask candidates to submit:

  • A cover letter
  • A resume
  • A sample video of them leading worship, including a few songs and a speaking or prayer moment

As you review applicants, start by reading about the candidates’ experience and theology before watching the videos. Avoid being impressed by a candidate’s talent to the point where you overlook their theological shortcomings or lack of experience.

If you like one of the candidates, see if their current church has other livestream recordings you can watch to get a better feel for their leadership style.

Here’s what you should look for: The two key factors of a good worship leader are humility and excellence.

As you watch the video(s), ask yourself:

  • Does the person seem to want the attention for themselves, or are they genuinely more concerned about the congregation’s experience of encountering God?
  • Are they a “pass-through” to God, or are they blocking God because they’re too busy soaking up the limelight?
  • When they perform the songs, do they do so with undistracting excellence?
  • Are they able to emote and encourage engagement through skillful execution of the music?

Step 5: Send a Theological and Cultural Survey to the Best Candidates

Once you find a few candidates you feel good about, send them a theological and cultural survey. Include questions that:

  • Are important to your church’s theological distinctives
  • Illuminate what they are like to work with
  • Determine if they’d be a good fit for your current staff team

Give them a deadline of 7 days to get it back to you. Some worship leaders may disqualify themselves by being unresponsive, providing incomplete answers, or failing to meet deadlines. Note their attention to detail and excellence even in their communication with you during this process. If they are leaving a bad impression this early on, you can only expect things to get worse once they have the job. Be sure not to compromise if you don’t find a candidate that will be a good fit. It will be a bad situation both for your church AND for them. Save yourself a lot of heartache and let the catch get away.

Step 6: Conduct Virtual Interviews

Once you have a candidate you feel good about, hop on a virtual video call (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.). During the call:

  • Go over some of the answers from their questionnaire and explore any areas you feel are important.
  • Give them time to ask questions about the church or role as well.

If the initial interview goes well, schedule a second Zoom call that includes other key staff members who will later provide feedback on the candidate. This call should include staff that will be working with or overseeing the Worship Pastor. If everyone feels good about the worship pastor, it’s time for step 7.

Step 7: Bring Them Out to Lead Worship

Invite the candidate AND their family out to your church to lead worship. Before they arrive:

  • Put them in touch with the tech/production person to iron out all the technical details.
  • Connect them with the band members and singers they will be serving with to coordinate rehearsal times and songs.

Set them up for success by giving them as many details as possible and being available to answer questions every step of the way.

When they arrive:

  • Put them and their family up in a nice hotel (if they are traveling from out of town).
  • Take them out to a nice dinner.
  • Compensate them for leading worship that weekend.
  • Be extra hospitable.

For rehearsals, introduce them to the band and the tech team, and make sure they feel comfortable.

Spend time with them in different settings (around people and alone, in formal and informal settings). Try to get a feel for them as a person. While it’s important to spend time with them, it’s also important to give them and their family space to explore your town and debrief their thoughts and feelings with each other.

Step 8: Debrief with Key Stakeholders

After they lead, get the opinions of key staff, worship team members, and congregants. See if everyone felt good about the candidate or if there were any red flags. Take in all sides and perspectives. If it was heavily weighted one way or another, trust the group’s consensus.

Step 9: Call References (DO NOT SKIP!)

If the worship leader passes everyone’s sniff test, you could either invite them back to lead again or move on to calling references. Do not skip this step. Many candidates make a strong first impression but can be difficult to work with over the long term. Call previous employers to find out about the candidate’s work ethic and character.

NOTE: You will need to dialogue with the candidate about how to best approach this because by contacting their current employer, you may be putting them in a compromised position. It may be that you have to call prior (not current) employers to protect the candidate’s current employment.

Step 10: Present the Official Job Offer

After final negotiations with the candidate about salary, benefits, job role, moving cost reimbursement, etc., write and send a formal offer. If they accept it, congratulations—you just hired your newest key team member!

Now comes the hard work of helping them integrate into the church family well. But with time and intentionality, they will become an integral part of your church’s discipleship culture!.

Final Notes:

Every hiring process will look slightly different based on circumstances. I tried to be thorough yet broad. God will guide you in the specifics and fill in any gaps that were not mentioned in this article. 

If you need more in-depth guidance, I do offer coaching to churches who are struggling with the hiring process or who want to do a better job. Contact me here.