Different Scenarios of Time Management and
Expectations
for the Part-time and Full-time Music Minister
Prepared by Don Doss
March 23, 2001
INTRODUCTION
Since I left my last full-time Music Ministry position, I have come across quite a few situations where congregations were considering hiring part-time or interim ministers but didn’t have accurate data in order to make the best choices. I decided to put together some thoughts as an aid for those people who are in the position to direct those personnel decisions. Many factors go into the calculation of how much time the Minister of Music (MOM) needs to complete the expected job. Similarly, the decision of how much to pay the MOM tends to me more of a subjective decision rather than one gained through concrete facts and figures. God expects us, especially his Bride, the Church, to be thorough and fair in paying for work that is done. James 5 has some very stinging comments about being fair in paying employees. For this discussion, I will use my experience in full-time ministry and my time spent with other prominent MOMs throughout the country to hopefully put some kind of reason and order to this subject.
Of course, I must first admit that every MOM situation is different, and every church that pays the MOM does so with different values and expectations. So, even though I am trying my best to be as objective as I can, you need to understand that I am human, and my experiences are mine and belong to no one else. Please use this information as only one ingredient that will be added into the mixture of the information you will need to make your decision.
QUALITY = TIME
In my opinion, the most important ingredient, besides raw talent, in doing a quality job for any person in any job is the time to do it. You simply can’t expect a person to perform a job requiring 4 hours of study to do a good job if they only spend 30 minutes with it. What the general church membership doesn’t understand is that the MOM just can’t walk into a library of music and randomly select a song for the choir to sing. It takes time to do a study of the text meaning, musical difficulty, potential voicing problems with a particular set of singers, and a knowledgeable decision of the chances of seeing the piece successfully performed in the time allotted.
You understand that given more time to construct a meaningful song service, the MOM can weave together a group of songs that work as a unit rather than arbitrarily thumbing through the hymnal and pulling out several hymns. With the advent of contemporary worship, there’s even a greater need to work through the newer choruses that come in many different books to find the right version and key that will complement the other songs in the worship time.
A well-trained professional choral technician can be given a piece of music and immediately begin to successfully rehearse a choir. But to select multiple songs that will be sung over a period of two months, and plan how much time to spend on each piece during a selected weekly rehearsal takes much planning, even for the pro. Add into that the periodic larger work or full musical dramatic production for Easter and Christmas or some other event, you exponentially increase the necessary planning… it doesn’t happen without much thought.
So how much time does it take? Well, based on my experience, I can tell you that on some occasions you can plan successfully in a pretty short time, but more times than not it takes much longer than you actually have to do it. The church and the MOM need to decide what are the priorities of the position… the things that are most important… and then work down from there the individual tasks that need to be accomplished so that the priority is met. On the next page I have listed the different aspects of the MOM’s job, and the average time I would budget to each area. This is a very simplistic table, so once again, realize that every position is different, and that many of the smaller items are dumped into one of the larger ones rather than go into too much detail. For the purpose of this discussion, I have assumed that the MOM is a full-time, 40 hour per week employee.
MOM TIME
MANAGEMENT IN HOURS
|
||||
Item |
|
Year |
Quarter |
Week |
MOM
Organizational Planning |
572 |
143 |
11 |
|
|
Weekly
Newsletter Preparation |
156 |
39 |
3 |
|
Website
Update |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Volunteer
Leadership Organization |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Membership
Communication |
104 |
26 |
2 |
|
Calendar
Planning |
104 |
26 |
2 |
|
Staff
Meeting |
104 |
26 |
2 |
Worship
Service Planning |
624 |
156 |
15 |
|
|
Topic
/ Scripture Study |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Song
Selection |
104 |
26 |
2 |
|
Compose
/ New Song Study |
208 |
52 |
4 |
|
Praise
Team Music Charts |
104 |
26 |
2 |
|
Instrumental
Charts |
104 |
26 |
2 |
|
Solo/Ensemble/Choir
Correlation |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Actual
Worship Time |
156 |
39 |
3 |
Adult
Choir Planning |
260 |
65 |
9 |
|
|
Song
Selection |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
New
Anthem Selection |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Library
Management |
26 |
6.5 |
0.5 |
|
Officer
Planning/Meeting |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Special
Presentation Planning |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Missions
Ministry |
26 |
6.5 |
0.5 |
|
Actual
Rehearsals |
208 |
52 |
4 |
Youth
Choir Planning |
208 |
52 |
5 |
|
|
Song
Selection |
26 |
6.5 |
0.5 |
|
New
Anthem Selection |
26 |
6.5 |
0.5 |
|
Library
Management |
26 |
6.5 |
0.5 |
|
Officer
Planning/Meeting |
26 |
6.5 |
0.5 |
|
Special
Presentation Planning |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Missions
Ministry |
52 |
13 |
1 |
|
Actual
Rehearsal |
52 |
13 |
1 |
TOTAL TIME |
1664 |
416 |
40 |
I would argue that the organizational end
of the MOM position is nearly as important as the worship planning. The bulk of the work of a church’s music
ministry is accomplished not by the MOM, but the volunteers that participate in
the music program. Otherwise, there
would be no choirs – just a solo person.
Of the organizational hours spent, most of the time is in communication
to the members. No group can function
adequately without prompt and quality communication to its members.
In this setting, about 38% of the MOM
time is spent in preparation of the worship services. The main task of the congregation of believers is to worship the
God of all creation… so it is proper that the biggest piece of the time pie is
given to worship planning. I believe
that much time should be spent discovering new worship songs as well as finding
old songs that can be used again. In my
particular case, I wish to write songs so some of that time will be used in
writing new material to use in worship.
In the ideal situation, the pastor would have already delivered to the
MOM his sermon topic or basic premise or scripture so that the entire service
can connect together. In either event,
the MOM will spend study time to develop a scriptural context for the worship
experience.
Few people understand the kind of time it
takes to successfully coordinate a choir program. If the MOM doesn’t deliver a quality ‘product’ whenever the choir
performs, there will be fewer people wanting to join the group, and morale in
the choir will plateau or dwindle away.
A choir can grow in vitality and membership when they sing well-planned
music that fits their voices and isn’t technically beyond their grasp… but
still has movement and meets the needs of the listeners. For this reason, the MOM must take time to
carefully choose songs to place in front of the choir. It doesn’t happen by flipping a coin or
eenie meenie minie mo. Also, publishing companies send out tons of new anthems
and songs that have to be waded through to find the few jewels. There are music conventions across the
country that introduce the new material so you can actually see it rehearsed
and listen to it, but without that introduction, most MOMs just have to go
through the songs one at a time.
The other and very important aspect of
developing a choir is the ‘away’ trips that bring the group together into a
single unit. I fully believe that every
church organization, including each choir, should be active in missions locally
as well as long distance. Periodic
mission trips to community venues as well as interstate / international
locations need to be planned, which also takes much time to nurture volunteer
organization and fund-raising. It’s not
just for youth, although they tend to be more flexible to do the dirtiest and
time-consuming work. Adults, also, need
to jump in and find themselves arm in arm helping their community in some
obvious and recognizable way that makes a difference in people’s lives.
FULL-TIME VS. PART-TIME
With all of the above time requirements
stated, now comes the decision of what parts of the MOM’s position can the
church afford to buy? In my last
full-time ministry job, I spent over 60 hours a week at work. My family suffered, and there was no one to
blame but myself for how much time over 40 hours I put into my work. I wasn’t required to do it, I just wanted to
do the best job I could which means spending more time… remember – QUALITY =
TIME. The church must be very careful
how much time they expect an individual to complete their work or they run the
possibility of underpaying the minister… getting more than what they pay
for. It’s unfortunate that most
churches expect more than what they are willing to pay for, causing the MOM to
suffer financially or in family time spent to complete the work. For some reason, the church members that
tend to make the decisions about financial support to the music minister are
not knowledgeable of the work that must be put in. Let’s be realistic, let’s be biblical… plan for what you want,
then be willing to pay the person for that service.
On the next several pages I have outlined
a typical MOM schedule for a 40 hour, 20 hour, 10 hour and 5 hour person. Don’t expect a person that you will only pay
for 10 hours of work to supply you with a full-time program. That’s unfair and just not pleasing to God –
you basically get what you pay for, period.
To help illustrate how the amount of time is important to the services
provided, I have used the full-time schedule and taken away certain items to
cut down to the reduced total.
As it turns out, it’s pretty obvious that
the 20 hour person can work with a choir, but the other organizational needs to
grow a vital ministry is very much hampered, and that the time to plan for a
second choir or Praise Team is virtually non-existent. The ten-hour person has very little time to
organize and plan, and what time they have to do the job is not enough so the
quality is greatly diminished. All that should be expected of a five-hour
person is leading music for two worship services, and the planning for those is
almost not at all.
|
|
TYPICAL 40 HOUR MUSIC MINISTER SCHEDULE |
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|
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday Saturday |
9:00 |
Worship |
Music |
Personal Org |
|
Member |
|
10:00 |
Preparation |
Composition |
Staff |
|
Contacts |
|
11:00 |
WORSHIP |
(at home) |
Meeting |
|
|
Average once per month |
Noon |
|
|
|
|
Lunch Meet |
choir activity… |
1:00 |
|
Newsletter & |
|
|
Youth Choir |
mission work, trips, |
2:00 |
|
Update |
Worship |
Adult Choir |
Planning & |
retreats, fund raising, etc. |
3:00 |
YC Prep |
Website |
Planning |
Rehearsal |
Preparation |
|
4:00 |
Youth Choir |
(at home) |
|
Preparation |
|
Time will be offset from |
5:00 |
Rehearsal |
|
|
|
|
regular schedule through |
6:00 |
WORSHIP |
|
Praise |
WORSHIP |
|
the year as needed. |
7:00 |
|
|
Team |
Adult Choir |
|
|
8:00 |
|
|
Rehearsal |
Rehearsal |
|
|
9:00 |
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7 hours |
7 hours |
10 hours |
8 hours |
8 hours |
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TYPICAL 20
HOUR MUSIC MINISTER SCHEDULE |
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|
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday Saturday |
9:00 |
Worship |
|
|
|
|
|
10:00 |
Preparation |
|
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|
|
|
11:00 |
WORSHIP |
|
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|
|
Average every other |
Noon |
|
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|
|
month choir activity… |
1:00 |
|
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|
mission work, trips, |
2:00 |
|
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|
retreats, fund raising, etc. |
3:00 |
Praise Team |
|
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|
4:00 |
or |
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|
Time will be offset from |
5:00 |
Youth Choir |
|
|
|
|
regular schedule through |
6:00 |
WORSHIP |
|
Adult Choir |
WORSHIP |
|
the year as needed. |
7:00 |
|
Worship Plan |
Rehearsal |
Adult Choir |
Newsletter & |
|
8:00 |
|
(at home) |
Preparation |
Rehearsal |
Website |
|
9:00 |
|
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|
(at home) |
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|
7 hours |
4 hours |
3 hours |
3 hours |
3 hours |
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TYPICAL 10
HOUR MUSIC MINISTER SCHEDULE |
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|
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday Saturday |
9:00 |
Worship |
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|
|
|
10:00 |
Preparation |
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|
11:00 |
WORSHIP |
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Noon |
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1:00 |
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2:00 |
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3:00 |
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4:00 |
Adult Choir |
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5:00 |
Planning |
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|
6:00 |
WORSHIP |
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|
WORSHIP |
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|
7:00 |
|
Worship Plan |
|
Adult Choir |
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8:00 |
|
(at home) |
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9:00 |
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6 hours |
2 hours |
|
2 hours |
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TYPICAL 5
HOUR MUSIC MINISTER SCHEDULE |
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|
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday Saturday |
|
9:00 |
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|
10:00 |
Worship Prep |
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|
11:00 |
WORSHIP |
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Noon |
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1:00 |
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2:00 |
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3:00 |
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4:00 |
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5:00 |
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6:00 |
WORSHIP |
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7:00 |
|
Worship Plan |
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8:00 |
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(at home) |
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9:00 |
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3 hours |
2 hours |
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SO HOW MUCH?
It doesn’t take rocket science to
determine what a MOM is worth in terms of an hourly rate. There are only a few determining factors,
and those are basically in talent and experience. Talent not only in vocal, choral and instrumental music skills,
but also in management and volunteer relationship skills. Experience not only in how many times they
have stood up in front of a congregation to direct hymns, but also in knowledge
of instrumentation, travel arrangements, sound engineers, electronic and
musical equipment, computer usage and much, much more.
Just to make it easy, I’ve come up with
three levels of people in an MOM position.
The first is someone with little experience and some talent… someone
like you would hire around minimum wage, say around $7.50 an hour. MOM#2 has
some experience and some talent, probably even degreed in music. They can read music and can hold their own
in front of a choir, but their experience is limited. This person would probably be at the same professional position
as an entry-level teacher making around $22,000 per year. Number 3 is professional – having served in
positions with over ten years experience with Master’s level degree or
training. This person would respect a
position at the same level with other professionals in other work areas like
personnel, accounting or management bringing home $40,000 per year. Now with these three individuals, let’s see
how the expectations and pay scale shape up.
|
WEEKLY
PAY COMPARISON |
|
|
|
MOM #1 $7.50 p/hr |
MOM #2 $10.52 p/hr |
MOM #3 $19.23 p/hr |
5 Hours per Week |
$ 37.50 |
$ 52.88 |
$ 96.15 |
(per year) |
$ 1,950.00 |
$ 2,750.00 |
$ 5,000.00 |
10 Hours per Week |
$ 75.00 |
$ 105.77 |
$ 192.31 |
(per year) |
$ 3,900.00 |
$ 5,500.00 |
$ 10,000.00 |
20 Hours per Week |
$ 150.00 |
$ 211.54 |
$ 384.62 |
(per year) |
$ 7,800.00 |
$ 11,000.00 |
$ 20,000.00 |
40 Hours per Week |
$ 300.00 |
$ 423.08 |
$ 769.23 |
(per year) |
$ 15,600.00 |
$ 22,000.00 |
$ 40,000.00 |
Now the trick is to match up what kind of
MOM you are looking for, and decide what services you want for this person to
perform for the church. Keep in mind
that the more experience they have, the more they can do just because they know
what they’re doing. That fact can skew
the totals quite a bit in favor of the higher qualified individual. It for sure brings home the idea of getting
more bang for the buck!
CONCLUSION
The old idiom holds true… “You get what
you pay for.” Smaller churches can
easily get caught up in a catch-22 where the decision makers don’t understand
that the church has to make an investment to see a successful music ministry
develop. Short-range thinkers see the
outlay of money rather than see the return on the investment. With a quality music ministry brought about
by a professional MOM that knows what they’re doing, a church which has
previously suffered at the hands of inexperience will see a membership and
giving boost that will more than pay for the added position expense. If a congregation can never get over the
hump of paying for quality, the membership will level off and see no
appreciable gain over the period of time.
The biggest gains in membership can be
seen in a quality music program for youth. Students are the fastest at joining in where there is something
pretty cool. I can tell you first hand
that two steady years of hard work more than double the size of the choir.
Parents soon follow as they come and see the musical programs their kids are
performing. As the parents come, so
come the elementary children and larger families. As families get more involved, they tell their neighbors and word
of mouth spreads the news that something’s happening over at the neighborhood
church. The bigger the choirs grow, the
better the quality becomes and the more they are seen in the community as they
venture out on concert trips. Quality
music programs make exciting churches. But
to have a quality program, you have to bring a quality MOM… and there’s no getting
around the fact that good MOM’s go where they are fairly compensated. Don’t think of how much can you get for the
money… think of how much money you should to invest to build a quality program.