Song Leading and Paperless Hymnal

I have had a few questions about why as a song leader I don’t use Paperless Hymnal.

First of all I take my responsibilities as a song leader very seriously (not that others don’t). I’m going to pick out songs that I think will encourage and uplift the congregation. I am not going to lead songs that I have difficulty leading or songs that I don’t think the congregation know very well.

Since I am responsible for uplifting the congregation I want total control over the song service and with Paperless Hymnal I don’t have that. If I make a mistake during the song service then that’s on me… but if the mistake is on anyone else then I’m not happy.

Paperless Hymnal doesn’t give me the flexibility I need as a song leader. I may have picked a song with a strong Alto/Base lead for instance and then come to services and find out my strong Altos/Bases are not in attendance. When I pick songs I have back-ups picked for just that sort of occasion.

The other day before services I noticed that a member who had been out for six months or more while she was receiving chemotherapy was in attendance. I happened to know her favorite songs so I had the flexibility (without Paperless Hymnal) to change it up at the last minute and did change it.

Sometimes when I’m inspired during a sermon I think of a much better invitation song than the one I have selected. It’s not uncommon for me to change the invitation song at the last minute to better stir the hearts of those listening.

Sometimes we might have a long prayer or long comments at the Lord’s Table. As a song leader I am also trying to manage the song service so I can get the Preacher up there when he needs to be up there. I like to get Marc up to preach at 11:00 am but have seen times when he didn’t get up there until 11:10 am and the Paperless Hymnal song leader is locked in to singing every verse of every song.

I take leading songs very seriously and think I can do a better job of inspiring and uplifting the congregation without Paperless Hymnal and that’s why I don’t use it.

My next article will be why I use my book and not Paperless Hymnal when others are in charge of the song service.