Director of Worship and Creative Communications

Gurnee Community Church

Gurnee, IL

Category: Worship Leader, Music Minister, Worship Pastor

Posted on: July 17, 2018

Job Description:

Gurnee Community Church is a non-denominational evangelical church in the far North suburbs of the Chicago area that is currently searching for a full-time Director of Worship and Creative Communications. We are seeking a candidate with the capability to lead the congregation in biblically-rooted worship though both modern and classical forms of church music, as well as be an integral part of an overall church leadership team. Experience leading or interest in learning audio/visual technology and other visual arts_noemailmunication is desired.

This particular role is somewhat unique when_noemailpared to similar positions at other churches. The part that is probably the most unique is that we have two very different services with very different styles of music. 

Our first service at 9am is a traditional or "classical" style of worship. This service features hymns a_noemailpanied by piano,_noemailan, and other classical instrumentation.  While we try to introduce new music to this service that was written recently, and desire to do that even more in the future, it is still music that broadly fits into that same genre of classically styled church music.  Whenever possible, we put together a four-person vocalist team for this service that can lead the singing in SATB harmony.  The Director plans the music and rehearses these teams and is sometimes (but not automatically) one of the singers and/or the a_noemailpanist.  Occasionally, just because of scheduling, the Director is the only one leading vocally.  The Director is also the one choosing arrangements and working with any additional instrumentalists that are playing (violin, viola, brass, and flute are some of the most_noemailmon for us).

Then the Director of Worship, along with the rest of the leadership team, does a type of "quick change," and we prepare for our contemporary worship service at 10:45am.  This service is much more casual and is driven by modern worship music.  We have a variety of very talented musicians that are arranged into worship bands that are scheduled out on a rotating basis.  We have anywhere from one to six vocalists on any given Sunday, based on availability.  The Director often (but not always) is providing vocal leadership and also leads the band from either the piano or guitar.  The Director is the one rehearsing this group during the week, including working on arrangements, harmonies, etc.  This service and its preparations would be identical to most other contemporary services at evangelical churches.

We have placed a heavy emphasis on the Director raising up, coaching, and utilizing the gifts of others.  We try to resist the natural temptation to think, "I'll just do it myself, because that is easier."  Much of the ministry that happens as a result of our Worship Ministry is happening within the people involved, not just in what they produce for the rest of the congregation.  Because of this, the Director is seen as the pastor-shepherd for this group of people. Worship Ministry probably has the most number of volunteers when_noemailpared to every other ministry at GCC (currently around 35 active volunteers).

Some other parts of this role that make it somewhat unique include:

Directly participating in the service-specific and long-range planning of our worship experiences together with the pastoral staff (i.e. not just the "music part").

Responsibility/oversight of our "Technical Arts" and the volunteers who make that happen (Sound, lights, video projection). This includes producing the on-screen visuals for song lyrics (MediaShout is our current software).

Responsibility for drama and video production/editing (something we are only starting to push into).

Responsibility for minor graphic design (primarily the graphics for sermon series).

Responsibility for driving our social media presence (although not our website).

Direction of the Adult Choir for the Traditional service.

Direction of the Handbell Choir for the Traditional service.

All of the planning of music, scheduling of musicians and technical arts, and recruiting of those volunteers.

Part of the overall team of Directors which provide leadership for the church as a whole. There 10 Directors and 3 Pastors that make up the church Staff. Some of our staff are paid employees, others are volunteers.

Responsibility for_noemailanizing (not necessarily personally providing) music/worship support for other ministries like Preschool, Student Ministries, VBS, Alpha, etc

Big picture, we need more than just a skilled musician.  We need a ministry leader.  We are much more likely to choose the person with the most mature overall ministry leadership abilities (among the candidates who have a baseline of musical gifting) than we are to choose the best musician at the expense of leadership maturity.  To put it bluntly, someone looking primarily for a platform to showcase their performance abilities will not be successful in this role.

 

About Gurnee Community Church:

GCC is a congregationally governed church led by a Board of Elders. The Senior Pastor reports to the Board of Elders, and all other Staff report directly or indirectly to the Senior Pastor. This particular role reports directly to the Senior Pastor, and the Senior Pastor is solely responsible for this hiring decision (i.e. there are no committees or congregational votes involved).

Our core beliefs and other details about GCC can be found on www.gcchome.org. We encourage candidates to review these core beliefs to confirm alignment before expressing interest in the position. Interested candidates should begin a dialog by contacting the Senior Pastor, Chris Stephens, at ChrisStephens@gcchome.org. 

Qualifications:

The music-related elements of this particular job description should be considered "essential." The graphics arts, social media, and other elements should be considered "desired but open for discussion." Our experience has shown that once a person has gone through an initial learning curve, the music-related elements of the role by themselves do not constitute a full-time position. But we are committed to maintaining this as a full-time employed position, so if strong candidate has a different mix of ministry gifts than the one described here, we will welcome the opportunity to discuss tailoring the role to match those gifts and maintain this as a full-time position. 

Position Information:

Job Title:
Director of Worship and Creative Communications
Time Type:
Full Time
Job Category:
Worship Leader, Music Minister, Worship Pastor
Salary:
Organization Type:
Church
Denomination:
Non-Denominational
Worship Style:
Other
Church Size:
250 - 500

Contact Information:

Organization Name:
Gurnee Community Church
Contact Name:
Christopher Stephens
Address1:
4555 Old Grand Ave
Address2:
City:
Gurnee
State or Province:
IL
ZIP Code:
60031
Country:
United States
Map this Organization:
Contact Email:
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