All of our singers start on our Bridge Team (think quasi-choir minus all the goofy stuff) of 30-40 folks who sing every other weekend (1st and 3rd weekends). We stay away from the word choir because of stereotypes. Since our visual metaphor statement of existence is “We exist to bridge people into the presence of God” we reinforced it with a name selection. Why the extra effort of a Bridge Team?

1. Your ministry needs to be inclusive.

To shut out people who have a heart for worship and have a good but not “CD ready” voice just ain’t Jesus. Before we started Bridge Team 7 years ago, we had room for 12 vocalists. Now we have room for 100+.

2. You need a platform for vocal development and confidence building.

Bridge Teams are a great way to develop vocalists. It fosters confidence and deepens relationships. Often if we need a Vocal Team sub, we’ll pull someone up from Bridge Team in whom we see potential and see how they do for a week.

3. You need the energy, variety and creativity it brings.

The visual energy and worship modeling a Bridge Team provides is amazing. Our Lead Pastor was a little skeptical about “returning to the choir thing” when we first proposed it. Now he asks, “Is this a Bridge Team week? Alright!” A Bridge Team makes mincemeat of the power anthem. It also give you some cool arranging features (such as the breakdown on My Glorious where Bridge Team carries the load sans vocalists for a rawer sound on the breakdown section). By doing it on odd weekends only, it offers a nice week to week contrast. We always have our S.A.T. three frontline Vocal Teamers + WL.

4. It helps avoid the superstar vocalist mentality.

All of our frontline Vocal Team members (3 per week) sing on their team once a month and are required to sing on Bridge Team once a month. This inbreeds the Vocal Teamers into the Bridge Team for relational unity. We often rotate people off of Vocal Team for a full 6 month run on Bridge. It keeps everyone humble.