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About Lifepointe Church
Lifepointe Church is a Baptist church located in the St Louis Suburb of Wildwood. Known as Rockwood Baptist Church since 1987, Rockwood became Lifepointe Church in 2011 under the leadership of Rick Beisidecki who accepted the call to pastor the church in 2010. Rick has guided the church through many transitions and changes in order to increase it’s impact on the church family as well as the community in which it resides. In early 2012, Lifepointe found itself without leadership and support in the area of worship. It was at that time that Rick contacted Dave Milliken to request support in their Sunday service worship program. Since that time, Dave has led the Lifepointe Worship Ministry through three phases of growth that has enabled them to have an effective, organized, and spiritually driven ministry without a full time paid ministry leader.
Phase One - Support
Lifepointe was without a worship leader or a ministry leader and the current group of musicians were limited to just a handful of loosely organized individuals. There were no singers in the ministry. Dave provided three things to immediately support the weekend worship needs.
- Worship Leading: Dave met an immediate need by filling the Worship Leader role. Dave’s seasoned leadership experience brought a new level of energy and excitement to the weekend worship service.
- Partnering: After leading for a few weeks, Dave began partnering with the existing team members in the band, and tech ministries.
- Leadership: Because there was no ministry leader, Dave filled the leadership void by actively taking on the music planning, scheduling and rehearsal leadership needs.
Phase Two - Establish
Lifepointe was in need of an established ministry that could run efficiently and effectively without a significant amount of maintenance from Rick. It is important for Sr leaders to not have to worry about the stability or durability of the Worship Ministry. With a very small budget for staffing, Lifepointe needed a ministry that was volunteer led and systematized for success without exhausting it’s volunteers. Dave implemented three steps to accomplish these goals.
- Define Ministry Philosophy and Approach: Dave provided a framework from which he and Rick could define the foundation on which the Worship Ministry would be built. Dave worked in collaboration with Rick to define the core values, ministry purpose and approach for the Worship Ministry.
- Establish Processes and Systems: Organization is extremely important for a ministry to run efficiently and effectively. Disorganization can waste a volunteer’s valuable time and leave them feeling ill equipped for the task they have been asked to do. This inevitably creates frustration in even the most committed volunteers. Effective systems include processes and tools for auditioning, scheduling, service planning, music resource creation, rehearsal processes and many others.
- Identify and Invite Key Leaders: Defining the ministry framework determined the kind of leadership that was needed and the responsibilities they would need to fill. Defining clear and reasonable expectations allowed us to approach key leaders with confidence and pride in what the future might hold for the ministry. Through this process we were able to establish a key leader who was willing to oversee all aspects of the Worship Ministry while receiving important training and mentoring with Dave. Similarly, a key leader was established to oversee the technical teams as well.
Phase Three - Expand
A vibrant Worship Ministry is one of the most important factors contributing to the growth of the church. Once the foundation and leadership for a happy and effective ministry are established, then the ministry (and the overall church as well) is poised for growth. As the quality of the music increases, the more quality musicians, vocalists and technicians want to be involved. This is why it is crucial to break free from the status quo and set new standards for excellence. Since the time Dave began working with Lifepointe, The Worship Ministry has grown from just five musicians and no vocalists to twelve musicians and five vocalists as well as new tech volunteers. The church has also grown significantly since the improvements have been implemented in the Worship Ministry. Dave worked with Rick and the new ministry leadership to implement a number of important initiatives.
- Roles and Expectations: Dave collaborated with Rick to define the expectations for anyone involved in the Worship Ministry. These expectations are built from the ministry values and include accountability for spiritual maturity and moral living. Each participant commits to the agreement by signing the document. Among these expectations is the expectation for preparation which raises the bar for everyone in the ministry. This inevitably raises the quality as well.
- Training: In the pursuit of continuous improvement, regular training events are scheduled to address ongoing issues or to revisit ministry values and goals. The events also serve to underscore the desired ministry culture among the team participants. A culture of feedback is also established by asking participants to complete a simple feedback card whenever they serve in a weekend service.
- Technical Improvements: With the growth in participants, it has become necessary to upgrade the technical systems to support them. A full assessment was made of the lighting, sound, and video components of the system to determine the greatest areas of need. As a result initial improvements included computer and software updates as well as changes to the stage monitor system. Monitors were being provided through floor wedges which overwhelmed the small worship space they were meeting in. Dave designed and installed a simple headphone monitor system at a fraction of the cost of most systems. Dave has also designed and installed a simple lighting and drape system to make the stage an aesthetically pleasing and inspiring backdrop for the service. Through Dave’s connections, Dave was also able to aquire a professional Pearl drum set which was donated to replace the borrowed set that was being used. Future improvements include room lighting improvements, room tuning, drum micing, system and cable labeling, and template design for lighting and signal flow.
- Ongoing Opportunities: Excitement and growth are stimulated by occasional projects and opportunities. CD projects are such an example. Dave will be working with the Lifepoint Worship Ministry to record and distribute their very own worship album. Dave’s experience with recording and mastering multitrack projects in professional software environments allows this to be done at a fraction of the cost of paying a studio for such work. Dave’s experience with copyright law will make sure the project is copyright compliant and able to be distributed through itunes, Amazon and hundreds of other distribution outlets. Recording projects are also a great way to generate funds to finance additional equipment or resource needs for the Worship Ministry.
- Service Improvements: Dave’s observations about the worship service over the course of a couple months revealed a few areas that needed improvement in order to make the most of the Sunday morning time together. The issues related to service planning, order of service, service length and efficiency were addressed and improved by the implementation of a well tested service template that can be modified as needed.