Praise and Worship musicians... I need your input

[tysonh]

This question has been sitting on the burner now for a while. Its awkward for me to ask people in person. Anyway, I am toying with the idea of asking for us support musicians bass, keys, singers, for some small compensation. Our main musicians, a husband and wife, team get about 800/mo for their efforts and they are absolutely pros. So I understand their time is compensated and they probably work about 10 hours/week. I think its reasonable that us support musicians receive something as well. I havent brought this up yet as the church is not doing as well as they have in years past. We have two services weekly and I am the other musician that comes to the early service,Hence I have to drag around a 65lb amp, bass, music book ect. Its becoming a chore and not such a fun one.

Getting to my question, I know its a personal thing, but maybe some of you paid people could share with me what you get ? If you're not comfortable posting pm with it and I'll keep it to myself.

The church is small but I was thinking I'd be happy with something like even 150/mo. that would at least cover my gas, strings, with a little something in my pocket.

 

[bottomzone]

Monetary compensation would be really nice for me, but I love grooving for HIM for free! The only musician in our church who is paid is our Music Director. If the church decides to pay the other musicians, cool. My mission is still the same-GIVE HIM GLORY, HONOR AND PRAISE THROUGH MUSIC!!!

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

 

[bamabass]

I have been in both areas, payed and non-payed....this is a really slippery slope because there is no right or wrong. It is all about the individual person and the individual church. Me personally, if this is my home church, I agreed to play without compensation, and I know that they are financially tight right now, I wouldn't ask for anything at this time. For me it is my offering of time and talent to God and my church. God provides more than I could ever ask the church for.

 

[eots]

I've been playing on our team about 18 years or so.
I leave my gear there except to rotate my bass with a different one every few months.
It's a part of the body of Christ just like being a sunday school teacher, secretary, deacon, or even witnessing and recommending your own church to others. To expect to take from the church when we should be giving...well, I'd rather be a giver.
I've also been taking care of the landscaping the last 15 years for no cost.

 

[cb56]

At my church, only the music director is paid. I personally wouldn't take pay for just playing bass on a volunteer basis. The difference being the music director is expected to get the music and the band together and be there almost every week. I on the other hand can decide to take a sunday off whenever I want. I also do lawncare on a rotating basis at no cost and run the soundboard first sunday of every month.

 

[capnsandwich]

I have been in both areas, payed and non-payed....this is a really slippery slope because there is no right or wrong. It is all about the individual person and the individual church. Me personally, if this is my home church, I agreed to play without compensation, and I know that they are financially tight right now, I wouldn't ask for anything at this time. For me it is my offering of time and talent to God and my church. God provides more than I could ever ask the church for.

This my opinion as well, pretty much word for word. I've been playing at my church for over 10 years now and I've never asked them for a dime. I'm not against the idea but it's not my place to ask. They do compensate me for strings from time to time though.

 

[tysonh]

Like I said before what would be nice is basically to cover some gas I would not be asking to make a living off of this. Right now, this is my only way to give back to the church. We are not able to financially at the moment. I do a lot of other stuff to volunteering on work days, clean up, ect. which I should be doing of course. Its just becoming a chore I play weekly two services on sunday plus practice on thursdays. The early service is at a different location about 15 mins away from the church and I have been dragging my 65lb amp and set up to that weekly for well a while as it has no pa support and leaving my stuff there is not an option. I was curious about some of your experiences ect. Thanks

 

[cdginger]

At my home church I get $50 a weekend but there are 5 services. When I play at other churches I typically play without pay. But i kind of know what you mean because i started playing at this other church where the keyboard player was making $25 an hour, and was the only one on payroll for the entire church. Just pray on it. Youll find an answer

 

[Exploiter8]

No offense, but I think the real problem, which you stated in two posts, is:

"Its becoming a chore and not such a fun one." and "Its just becoming a chore..."

I made a similar comment about 25 years ago. I stated, "I have more fun at work than I do at practice."

It wasn't long after that, the band broke up, only to reform...without me.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

X8

 

[bamabass]

No offense, but I think the real problem, which you stated in two posts, is:

"Its becoming a chore and not such a fun one." and "Its just becoming a chore..."

I made a similar comment about 25 years ago. I stated, "I have more fun at work than I do at practice."

It wasn't long after that, the band broke up, only to reform...without me.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

X8

Big +1

 

[mkandolf]

No offense, but I think the real problem, which you stated in two posts, is:

"Its becoming a chore and not such a fun one." and "Its just becoming a chore..."

I made a similar comment about 25 years ago. I stated, "I have more fun at work than I do at practice."

It wasn't long after that, the band broke up, only to reform...without me.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

X8

Seconded +1

 

[timendous]

Agree with the guys above. Considering why you're playing (hopefully to worship God), I don't think that you being compensated monetarily would make it any less of a "chore".

A few weeks ago I had to have a heart to heart with God about why I play on my worship team and I came to the conclusion that the only reason is for me to offer to Him what he has blessed me with. Since then I find myself enjoying playing at church more and more because it's an intimate time between God and I.

So, I guess I'd try and figure out why it is that you want to play at church. If you view it simply as another gig, then I guess asking for compensation is fine. But I would recommend sorting out why you wanted to take on this "chore" in the first place.

 

[elavate7]

its a personal thing.its my home church and we are like family, so it would feel like im robbing my own home. i think alot of churches (except mega churches) are tight right now, so asking for comp might be out of order.

 

[1954bassman]

Like I said before what would be nice is basically to cover some gas I would not be asking to make a living off of this. Right now, this is my only way to give back to the church. We are not able to financially at the moment. I do a lot of other stuff to volunteering on work days, clean up, ect. which I should be doing of course. Its just becoming a chore I play weekly two services on sunday plus practice on thursdays. The early service is at a different location about 15 mins away from the church and I have been dragging my 65lb amp and set up to that weekly for well a while as it has no pa support and leaving my stuff there is not an option. I was curious about some of your experiences ect. Thanks

Are you saying that you are not able to support your church with tithes and offerings? If so, this is the heart of your financial woes.

As far as payment, all churches large or small should be paying their musicians, but then all Christians are not paying their tithes, so churches cannot meet the burden of all their responsibilty. Read the scriptures, and you should find that as church musicians, we are part of the tribe of Levi.

Mark

 

[tysonh]

Are you saying that you are not able to support your church with tithes and offerings? If so, this is the heart of your financial woes.

As far as payment, all churches large or small should be paying their musicians, but then all Christians are not paying their tithes, so churches cannot meet the burden of all their responsibilty. Read the scriptures, and you should find that as church musicians, we are part of the tribe of Levi.

Mark

I certainly understand what you are saying and its well said. What you don't realize is I've been playing for years now being well underemployed as far as financially. I don't expect the church to chip in now to help me. I am going to take off a few weeks and then go to a rotating schedule bi monthly playing. I am the only bassist we have, who is willing to play currently. I do appreciate those of you who have chimed in on either being paid or not. I was curious how it worked out there for some of you.

 

[jaywa]

Since lugging your amp seems to be a big issue (and I've been there, so I feel your pain), maybe instead of asking them to pay the musicians you should approach them about buying a "house amp". That still doesn't cover your gas expenses but at least it would cut down your effort also reduce wear and tear on your amp. The church I play for does not pay their musicians except for the on-staff worship director, but they provide a bass rig, drum kit and piano (all pro quality) so for the support musicians it really is a "plug and play" deal.

I think asking for something like that would be better received than proposing that all the support musicians get paid.

 

[T. Alan Smith]

I certainly understand what you are saying and its well said. What you don't realize is I've been playing for years now being well underemployed as far as financially. I don't expect the church to chip in now to help me. I am going to take off a few weeks and then go to a rotating schedule bi monthly playing. I am the only bassist we have, who is willing to play currently. I do appreciate those of you who have chimed in on either being paid or not. I was curious how it worked out there for some of you.

I feel where your coming from ...and reading thru this thread somewhat made me miss playing for worship... but even just taking one weekend off a month is big. At least it was plenty for me when I started feeling burnt out.

 

[T. Alan Smith]

Since lugging your amp seems to be a big issue (and I've been there, so I feel your pain), maybe instead of asking them to pay the musicians you should approach them about buying a "house amp". That still doesn't cover your gas expenses but at least it would cut down your effort also reduce wear and tear on your amp. The church I play for does not pay their musicians except for the on-staff worship director, but they provide a bass rig, drum kit and piano (all pro quality) so for the support musicians it really is a "plug and play" deal.

I think asking for something like that would be better received than proposing that all the support musicians get paid.

When I was playing worship services, I had my SWR 350 head w/Son of Bertha & Goliath Jr cabs. The SOB worked perfectly for rehearsals with the band I was in at the time, and the Goliath Jr worked perfectly for church, so I would leave it there. All I would have to bring was my head unit & ax.

 

[jaywa]

When I was playing worship services, I had my SWR 350 head w/Son of Bertha & Goliath Jr cabs. The SOB worked perfectly for rehearsals with the band I was in at the time, and the Goliath Jr worked perfectly for church, so I would leave it there. All I would have to bring was my head unit & ax.

The first few years I played at my current church I brought a spare amp of mine and just left it there too, with the understanding that other bassists could use it on weekends I had "off". It did need a couple of repairs during that time which my church graciously paid for... but if I had been on the hook to repair damage someone else caused to my gear I wouldn't have been too happy. IME it really works out best for everyone (players, sound guys and the church) if the church just provides one amp, that it owns, for everyone to use.

 

[tysonh]

Thanks you guys for all your input.

I am a regular craigslist junkie and I was kept eyeballing a nice Carvin BX600 and 210 cab listed for quite a bit. I saw it listed for probably a few weeks then for whatever reason shot the guy and email and offered a reasonable reduction in price, much to my surprize he said yes. So I sold an old Fender acoustic of mine in a day and bought the amp in less than 48 hours. I am really happy with this its much lighter and easier to handle and the guy even threw in a collapsible dolly for me. Pretty cool deal the guy was another P&W musician sorta from the area. I didnt pray about this but it sure did work out well, perfectly hmmmm... heh