Tempo, the worship killer

When I started my position as worship leader, I remember having many concerns: would I choose the right songs, would my singing and playing be up to snuff, will I say the right things between songs, will I have the band needed to do the quality of service I desired in my head? In the end, like I hope all worship leaders think, I just wanted to please God by creating a worship atmosphere where people could connect to the living Spirit of the Holy One.

In all of that fretting, the one enemy I never saw coming was tempo. The inability of a worship leader to control tempo can destroy every bit of time spent in song selection and rehearsal. It is like a disease of sorts, spreading from one band member to another at unfortunate times. Thus, it has become a preoccupation with myself and my team. From my own observations, I have found that tempo increases occur in 1 of 2 primary ways:
1. Members of the team are not singing the song in their heads but simply playing their instrument. To me, just playing an instrument seems like missing out on the event and greatness of worship. But, even worse, it disconnects the musician from the heart and soul aspect of the song which is where the tempo is born from.
2. Many worship songs gain and give back energy during the course of the song. All bands are prone to picking up tempo during the build up in energy. If you do not have a spot to pull most of the instruments out, musicians will keep the increased tempo into the quieter parts. This is the ultimate worship killer. A congregation shouldn't have to think about how they will get the words out, but rather how the words are a praise to God coming from their heart. They need time to 'think' about each word.

So what is the solution? The direction most people are going is to feed a metronome click track into the ear buds of the musicians onstage. But what if due to personalities, finances, or equipment/logistics this isn't an option? Then what you are left with is that the worship leader must be in full control of a song and they must have the discipline to maintain tempo. Everyone, especially those holding rhythms must, for lack of a better word, submit to the authority of the worship leader. The worship leader must be loudest element in any mix going to the stage. Sink or swim, they are responsible for the feel of a song.