Rehearsal is not worship.
I want to live my life honoring God and worshipping him through obedience and servitude in everything I do. Therefore, I will never actually stop worshipping because everything I do is honoring God. With this in mind, when entering into "worship," it's just a more focused exercise in praising God that flows naturally from our daily living. (Easy for me to say but I'm very much preaching to myself.)
So when I say, "Rehearsal is not worship," I'm speaking of the kind of focused worship that supersedes the focus on music. If the focus during rehearsal is about the music and organization, real worship can only distract from the task at hand. There are times that rehearsal can naturally lead into worship and delegated worship time for the team is important, but the focus on rehearsal should be clear: rehearsal is practice, not worship.
Now that I've cleared my meanings, below is a loose outline of what I believe rehearsal should encompass:
Preparation
Before worship begins and before even coming to church, worship leaders should prepare themselves. This means an active prayer life, staying in scripture and maintaining a life that reflects Christ.
In addition, preparation includes maintaining the necessary skills to play an instrument, use your voice and memorize music. Knowing your instrument and the song inside and out will make practice nearly effortless.
Arrive Early
This seems like a simple thing but it's actually very important. If everyone arrives at least 15 minutes before rehearsal starts, it allows for a more relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. This also allows you to set up your equipment, warm up and settle in.
On the other hand, lateness creates concern and anxiousness in addition to upsetting other musicians. This makes rehearsal very difficult and can lead to problems during worship as well.
Sound Check
For some churches this means vocal warm ups. Other churches need to sound check the drums, bass, guitar, vocalist, keyboard and many other amplified instruments. No one likes to interrupt a rehearsal, stop everything and wait in order to solve a sound problem.
Prayer
Everyone is ready and prepared, the sound check is done and it's time to start rehearsal.
Not yet.
Say a prayer. It doesn't have to last half an hour and it doesn't have to be a short grace like, "God's neat, let's eat." This is simply a time for the worship team as a whole to thank God and ask for help during rehearsal.
Rehearsal
Rehearsing is getting from the beginning of a song to the end and doing it well. Whatever it takes for you to accomplish that, do it.
Break
This is a short rest time. A mental break. Time to prepare yourself emotionally, physically and mentally for the upcoming worship. Relax.
Prayer
This brings the worship team together again and establishes much needed focus. The team is leading the congregation in holy worship: a great responsibility and privilege.
Worship
Worship God with all you have while not sacrificing the quality of the music you're playing. This is the most difficult part of leading: maintaining a balance between the heightened focus of worshipping God and the primary focus of leading those who are looking to you to help them accomplish that very kind of intimate worship.
