With all the demands placed on modern worship leaders, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed coming into the mid-week worship practice, let alone Sunday services. Here are 7 easy ways to make your worship prep less stressful, so you can focus more on what’s really important:

1. Schedule

Many times what most stresses us out is not our work, but are lack of managing our workload. Make a schedule at the beginning of the week, and give yourself time to get everything done. Remember to leave time open for unexpected tasks, and don’t jam in too much.

2. Cut

Now that you’ve given yourself a schedule, start cutting out work that simply isn’t important, or can be avoided without damaging your career or those around you. If you’re like me, this is difficult since I often feel that everything on my todo list is important, but it’s absolutely essential to keep your workload down by taking a hard look at what is really necessary. Be ruthless!

3. Delegate

Does your task absolutely require that you do it? If it doesn’t, hand it off to someone else. For instance, I often hand off scheduling, bill paying, and other items to keep my workload manageable.

4. Bundle

Group common tasks together (i.e. worship planning, song prep, and sheet music assembly for several Sundays). By staying in the same frame of mind, you’ll be able to finish your tasks sooner than if you split the same items into shorter times throughout several weeks.

5. Prep in Advance

Worship leaders often fall into the trap of throwing things together at the last minute, making them feel stressed. Give yourself artificial deadlines, and you’ll come into worship more relaxed and focused on Him. For instance, if you know the choir needs music next Friday, set a todo to finish the sheet music by Monday, and then give yourself time in your schedule to do it.

6. Rehearse

In addition to rehearsing at home, make sure you give yourself time before everyone shows up to rehearse at the building. If you can, check mics, your gear, and even the powerpoint before everyone arrives for practice to keep from having unexpected problems arise during practice or service.

7. Don’t sweat it

We often give ourselves permission to stress out about stuff that really isn’t that big a deal. We need to constantly rely on Christ as our rock of stability, and choose to relax in His peace instead of our own strength.