Why Worship Auditions Fail (And How To Fix Them)

Worship Auditions.

Just the mention of this topic causes me to flinch a bit.

Most leaders I know need a deeper worship team bench, but dread the “live tryout” vibe that feels like a bad episode of American Idol. You block off a Sunday afternoon, sit through hours of back-to-back auditions, and by the end, maybe one or two people make the cut. This is likely why video submissions have been winning the audition template lately. However, even this direction overlooks two significant aspects: the relationship and the deeper character aspect. Can you afford to skip these steps and risk long-term headaches on your team?

So what do we do? Do we need more checklists? Systems? Or how about the opposite of it all and put less structure

For a while now, I’ve landed with a longer, more robust audition pathway that rethinks the aim of worship auditions.

In fact, worship auditions can be life-giving if we stop treating them like a stage formality and see them as an invitation into discipleship.

In this post, I’d like to share with you my thoughts on what robust, life-giving worship auditions can look like and how I set them up on my worship team.

Out With the Old, In With the Renewed

When I ran auditions at a large church, I noticed a pattern: people joined excitedly, but two years later, they stopped accepting PCO invitations.

Turns out they didn’t just want a Sunday platform—they wanted to belong, grow spiritually, and be part of a healthy community. But how could they be a part of that when they didn’t even fully understand the vision and mission of the team?

So I stopped rushing people onto the stage. I slowed down. I built relationships. I began to realize that belonging is a journey, not a process. I intentionally changed how I talked about it and moved away from process or systems language (process = mechanical) and latched onto journey and destination language (journey = relational and personal).

Like Jesus walking with the disciples in Luke 24, I wanted to take the long way—connecting personally before granting access to a platform. Jesus could have revealed Himself instantly to those disciples, but instead He walked, listened, taught, and shared a meal. Time wasn’t wasted—it was invested. So I ditched the old way of doing things in favor of a renewed way. A pathway instead of a process.

After making the language shift, the next step was to properly map out a healthy worship audition pathway. If a spiritus vitae were to be present in the pathway, then an ecosystem would need to facilitate it. Before God made Adam, He made the garden. The environment came first. That’s how I think about auditions now—setting a stage (figuratively and literally) where people feel seen, heard, known, cared for, and musically stretched. I also interspersed short online videos in the steps to teach our worship values and expectations before anyone sets foot on the stage. These videos were followed up by live interactions with me, allowing us to discuss the content. It is more important that those auditioning don’t just know what we do—they need to know why we do it and who we are.

The 5-Step Worship Pathway

So what does a robust worship pathway look like? For me, I’ve found success in having a 5-step pathway from audition to onboarding to serving. The five steps are titled: Practical, Musical, Rehearsal, Relational, and Onboarding.

1. Practical – We start with the basics: a church serve application, background check, and a worship questionnaire that goes beyond “What instrument do you play?” I want to learn about their spiritual journey, their purpose, and the influences on their worship. At this step, I also make a personal connection—either in person or via video—explaining the whole journey so they feel welcomed, not processed. Starting off by communicating expectations from the beginning will help the auditionee know what they’re getting into and that it’s not a short pathway. Intentionality takes time.

2. Musical – Once the paperwork’s in, I send them two short videos: one with tips for recording a great audition and another about our church’s worship culture. I try to balance most steps with a practical/technical video accompanied by a teaching/discipling video. They then choose from a song list that includes both uptempo and slower options. This step is all about gauging musical competency, and I usually have two or three leaders review submissions with me, so it’s a team decision—not just my taste. At this point, I’m less concerned about how quickly I receive the video submissions. I might even evaluate them alone first to provide the auditionee with some critical feedback, in hopes that they will redo and send an updated video audition. This first form of feedback can help set the tone of our team’s culture of fearless feedback. Never is there a step or interaction that is thoughtless. Intentionality takes persistence.

3. Rehearsal – If and when they pass the musical step, the auditionee is invited to at least two full rehearsals. Before they attend rehearsals, I will send them a couple of videos on what to expect, how to practice like a professional, how to use our in-ear equipment, and some rehearsal tips to keep in mind. This step is where the audionee sees our culture in action: how we prepare, how we interact, how we handle mistakes, and how to succeed. I often record the auditionee’s rehearsal run-through and review it with them—not to nitpick, but to highlight their strengths and areas for growth. If they respond well to feedback, that’s a great sign. Like the previous step, there is no rush to get them out of the rehearsal step. This step is full of formative challenges and moments. Intentionality takes coaching.

4. Relational – Before anyone is officially “on the team,” we sit down over coffee and exchange life stories, answer questions, and unpack more about our worship team culture. David Augsburger famously said, “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” And it’s not just about their story, but also sharing mine. I have found it is just as important for me to open up about my life, struggles, disappointments, and joys because transparency begets transparency. In my experience, this is a particularly enjoyable step because you have transitioned from the steps of character and competency into the high step of calling. Intentionality takes relational equity.

5. Onboarding – The final step is all about celebration and consecration! I love taking new team members out for a meal, thanking God for their journey, and marking the moment to acknowledge all that the Lord has done through them. They worked hard to secure a spot on the team. I don’t take that lightly. We also take communion together as a way to seal the work of God done throughout the pathway (a slight nod to Luke 24). I firmly believe that in this pathway, it’s not just the auditionee who has worked (along with me), but the Spirit has been at work the whole time (Philippians 2:13). These communion moments have been holy, often accompanied by peace, laughter, and tears of joy. It’s safe to say that by this point, they haven’t just been evaluated—they’ve been discipled, encouraged, and equipped. Intentionality takes a journey mindset.

The Takeaway

Clearly, this pathway takes more time than a quick tryout, but it pays off in healthier, longer-lasting team members. It’s a front door for discipleship.

When you slow down, create a healthy environment, and walk with people personally, you don’t just end up with better musicians—you end up with spiritually alive, culturally healthy team members who are ready to serve with purpose.

Do you have something like this? If not, perhaps the Lord is inviting you to exchange the old process for a renewed pathway.