With COVID-19 just in the rearview mirror for some of the country, and still in the midst of lockdown for other parts, it can be a challenge to keep morale high.

If you have a large worship team, there may be some people who have not had much of a chance to serve over the last few months, leaving them possibly wondering, "What am I here for anyway? Do they really need me?"

When things are rough—and it can happen more often than we realize—sometimes the people on our team just need a boost of confidence to keep them going. There are many ways you can foster feelings of self-worth within your ministry, and you can start today! Here are three simple ways to help your team get a confidence boost.

1. Make someone an MVP for the day: When everything went into lockdown a few months back, two people on our worship team put their heads together and decided to spotlight one person each day from either the band, vocal team or sound production team in our group chat. One of these two people would start out by naming the person and then sharing how much that person means to them or things that they admire about the person and what they bring to the team.

What happened was amazing! I found out so many things about people I served with week in and week out. I had no idea how extremely talented and gifted some of these people on the team are with other things in their lives. On a large team, it's hard to find the time to personally get to know every person who serves in the different areas of worship ministry. Just by reading what other people wrote, I felt like I learned so much about that person who was being spotlighted that day, and instantly felt closer to them as a result.

When it was my turn, I was so incredibly blessed by all the things people said; not just about my voice or the anointing God has on my life, but sometimes even little things I said in a passing conversation had made a huge impact on someone, and I had no idea. I think it took a good month and a half to get through all the people on the team, so it was a great way to also stay connected during a time when we could not meet face to face. I am so grateful for those two members of our team and their obedience to do what they felt God was leading them to do.

"Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend" (Prov. 27:17).

2. Plan special events: It's easy to get so caught up in the weekly routine of rehearsal and services that we don't make time very often for special events. What can happen is that the weeks start to drag by with the same monotony. If this is happening in your ministry, try changing things up and plan a special event.

If your state is allowing you to meet face to face, why not plan a picnic or some other event away from the platform? This will not only give you all time to get to know each other away from microphones, in-ears and instruments, but it will also help foster a sense of community. Have some team-building games or put people in small groups from different areas of the ministry to do some activities and get to know each other better.

If your state is still not allowing gatherings, or not enough to have the whole team meet up, plan a party online. Make it a point not to talk about ministry-related things unless it is necessary. The whole point is to invest some time in getting your team to know each other; just in doing that, I am sure there will be confidence-building conversation, and people will walk away with more respect and care for one another—which is always a plus!

3. Tap into their gifting: When you are a leader in worship ministry, you always have "holes" that need to be filled. And if it's not a wide, gaping hole, it's having a backup plan in case of emergencies. But I think it's easy for us to see our volunteers as pieces of a puzzle that we are trying to put into place so the whole picture looks great and works together. But what about the gifts and abilities that your team members have that don't necessarily fit into those "holes"? I bet there are people within your ministry who have things they can bring that can benefit the ministry in ways you haven't even thought of yet. Sometimes it's because we don't know that they have them; but other times it might be because we don't know how to use them in their gifts.

What do I mean by this? Let's take songwriting for an example. Chances are that if you have musical people on your team, you have at least one person (and I would venture to say some of you have many) who are gifted songwriters. But how can they use that gift or talent if you only sing famous songs by other ministries and never take the time to have a songwriting session or even listen to their songs to see if they might really bless your church?

Staying with that songwriter example, if that person has been sent to your ministry to serve, then God has things in that person to flow out and minister to the people in your church community. The local church may be the only way that they ever have an opportunity to share that gift. Not everyone can just pick up and travel full time to get their music out there, and they may not feel called to do that anyway. They will never feel fulfillment in that area of their gifting if nobody ever gives them a chance.

Take time to see what other abilities and talents your team has other than singing, playing an instrument or turning knobs, and you might just find a well of untapped potential that can be used to take your ministry—and that team member—farther than you thought it could go.

"God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another" (1 Pet. 4:10, NLT).

If your ministry team needs a confidence boost, I encourage you to try some of these things out. It can't hurt; it can only help!

Cathy Sanders has been involved with music for over 27 years. She is an anointed worship leader and psalmist who regularly leads worship for community and church events. She has produced three albums, and her music was played on the radio for over six years in the Northeast. She is also a prolific writer who has authored or co-authored five books. Cathy holds master's and doctorate degrees in Christian education, graduating with honors. Cathy and her husband, Andy, reside in New York with their two teenage children.

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