The purpose of chapel at Ambrose is for students, faculty, and staff to worship God and be spiritually nourished; the role of chapel worship leaders is to help facilitate this by leading musical worship alongside a team of musicians. The Chaplain and the Chapel Worship Coordinator oversee all chapel worship services but work closely with the student leaders in planning and leading. We view chapel worship leaders as pastoral musicians, with both pastoral and musical duties.
- Attend every scheduled chapel, and encourage members of your Chapel worship team to be present at every scheduled chapel no matter which team is leading that day.
- Lead musical worship in chapels. Chapels are scheduled every Tuesday and Thursday from 11:15am to 12:00pm; worship teams will normally be scheduled once every two weeks. Duties before a chapel: communicating with the Chapel Worship Coordinator and Chaplain about song choices, readings, and prayers; sending lyrics to a tech team member; guiding the team through set-up and sound-check with the Sound Tech (usually starting between 8:30-9 am); helping take down and put away equipment after the chapel
- Lead rehearsals. Leaders will lead their bands in at least one rehearsal before each worship event. Rehearsals are for musical preparation, but are also intended to be for musical skill development, prayer, and building team relationships.
- Lead their team. The leader should communicate schedule info to their team, let the Chaplain and/or Chapel Worship Coordinator know about any issues as needed, and model spiritual and musical leadership.
- Meet with the Chapel Worship Coordinator (monthly) as well as with the Chaplain and other chapel leaders (also monthly) to pray, plan, evaluate, and learn.
- Attend the Worship Leaders Bootcamp and part of the Student Leader Retreat (joining with other student leaders at Ambrose). Both are scheduled during the week before Fall Term classes begin.
- Attend the Winter Student Leader Retreat (scheduled before Winter Term classes begin.)
Reports to: Chapel Worship Coordinator & Campus Chaplain
Audition Process: The Chapel Worship Coordinator will contact potential leaders to schedule an audition. As this is a leadership position, you will be expected to talk about your understanding of musical worship and team leadership. Please also come prepared to show how you might outline the “road map” of a song, assign musical parts, give musical direction, and evaluate songs as worship. We don’t expect you to be a musical virtuoso or a worship scholar! However, you will need a basic knowledge of how common instruments can work together, a basic understanding of the theological content of songs, and an openness to learning more.
For more information, please contact the Chapel Worship Coordinator: John.Vooys@ambrose.edu