Archive - For Worship Leaders RSS Feed

Time For Some Fun Discussion!

July 24, 2008 in For Worship Leaders with 4 Comments

As I was recently re-listening to Come Weary Saints I couldn’t help but notice an interesting choice of instrumentation on the title track.  I’m not sure exactly because I purchased the mp3 set and don’t have the pdf handy to check instrumentation, but I’m pretty sure they are using a harp at the end of the song.  It very well could be a nylon stringed guitar – but I think it’s a harp.  I had never thought of using harp as a worship team instrument before, but now I think I could definitely find some ways to do it – which leads me to my question:

Apart from David Crowder’s crazy rigging of a Guitar Hero© controller, what is the most different or unusual instrument you’ve seen used by a worship team? I’d love to hear it all – even if you’re from another country and think that using a guitar is unusual!

Let’s hear it!

Brett Harris on Worship and The National Worship Leader Conference

July 22, 2008 in For Worship Leaders with 0 Comments

I hope you’re all enjoying a lovely Tuesday morning!  I wanted to point you to a few resources today:

From the Rebelution: Brett Harris just posted this great article on worship. Very cool to see the younger generation stepping up.

National Worship Leader Conference: If you’re like me and have a hard time getting to any worship conferences lately, you can “go there without going there” in a couple of different ways.  A couple worship leaders I’ve connected with are currently attending the National Worship Leader Conference in Austin, TX.  Jim Drake is keeping a pretty regularly updated twitter feed. And Fred McKinnon will be blogging and posting to his twitter feed as well.  Slake, Worship Leader magazine’s new blog, will be blogging from the conference as well.

Also, I will be preaching at our church this week.  For the rest of the week, I’ll blog on thougths that God leads me to as I prepare for the message.

Five Questions on Worship

July 17, 2008 in For Worship Leaders, How to be an Offering with 1 Comment

Fred McKinnon just shared a link to his answers to five questions on worship he was asked by The Worship Journals and asked that we comment on his post with the answers to our questions.  I thought this would make a better blog post than a comment so here we go:

Five Questions on Worship

1. What does Worship Mean to You?

Worship means exalting something greater than we currently or previously have exalted it in our own mind.  We could worship a situation.  We could worship an experience.  We could worship a thing.  To me, I try above all else to worship God.  This means surrending myself, my thoughts, whatever I might be exalting at any given moment in time and exalting Him above it all.  This means letting myself decrease and Him increase.  This means letting God be the object of my worship every minute of each day.

2. What Causes You to Worship?

Ultimately – the Holy Spirit.  I can’t worship without the power of God prompting me to do so.  It’s impossible, so the Holy Spirit is what causes me to worship.  But as far as what the Holy Spirit uses to prompt me to worship:  music is a given for me.  So many types of music are used to prompt me to worship.  It helps immensely if the music directs my thoughts toward God and who He is, but I can also be prompted by the beauty and design of orchestral music or the spontaneity and skill of jazz music.  I can see the Creator’s hand in the creativity and complexity of both of these types of music.  I am also prompted by seeing people honor and glorify God in decisions they make and situations they’re in.  Mountains also prompt me to worship.  They show me how puny I am and how amazingly huge God is.  If the mountains are that majestic – how much more the One who Created them!

3. How is Worship Displayed in Your Life?

I hope that it is displayed in the way I live it.  I desire to live a life that exalts God every day and puts to death everything that doesn’t.  I want to offer my life as a living sacrifice to Him.  I hope that worship is displayed in my marriage, my relationship with my daughter, my relationship with my church and pastor, my relationship with my co-workers and through every interaction I have with people.

4. What is Your Favorite Song and Why?

Can it be the top 50? :-)   I think at the moment the song that the Holy Spirit is using most to speak to me would be “Let Your Kingdom Come” by Sovereign Grace Music off of the Valley of Vision album. I keep coming back to it and it keeps replaying in my mind.  It is such a good declaration to lift God’s cause higher than our own and to get my priorities out of the way and make my life about His priorites.

How would you answer these four questions?  (You can be brief, if you like!)

The Pitfalls of Teaching Piano Players to Play By Chord

July 15, 2008 in For Worship Leaders, Leadership, Music, Training with 37 Comments

Hand playing piano keys.

For a long time I’ve subscribed to the school of thought that playing by chord off of lead sheets or chord sheets is a much better way to go for piano players than playing straight from the actual piano music.  You only have to have a couple of pages to turn through, you learn how to play chords just in case the piano music is unavailable, and you develop your ear.  However, there is a problem:  it’s much harder to lead if you don’t have experience.

Without Rhythm and Melody – Chords Don’t Go Anywhere

As I’ve begun to teach several piano players how to play by chords instead of by the piano music I’ve run into a problem that I completely didn’t expect.  Chords, without being driven by rhythm and melody, don’t really go anywhere. I can tell the piano player to “just play by the chords on this one” and it leads to a great fit when I’m leading from the guitar.  I can carry the rhythm from the guitar and let the piano color and accent the song.  But if I say, “I’d like to you lead this one on the piano,” many of the piano players are not quite sure what to do.  They can play the chords, but haven’t really been taught the rhythms to apply the chords to – so the song lacks movement.  They can play the chords, but haven’t really been taught how to break them up and use passing tones to create interest – so the song lacks character.

What to Do?

I guess that is my dilemma.  I can show the piano players what to do by saying, “Let me sit for a second and show you what I’d like.”  But then they’re just watching me do something instead of actually learning how to do it.  I would love to know what you’ve done to teach piano players how to play chords but play them rhythmically and melodically – able to lead a song well.  Some things I can think of might perhaps be:

  • Writing out piano parts for them for a while – then saying, “Okay – your turn to apply it – make up your own now.”
  • Having a workshop with piano players on how to do these things – which is something I’d like to do – I just lack the time at the moment.
  • Have the piano players listen and watch professionals to try and develop their ear and mimic what the professionals are doing
  • Create an online youtube / vimeo video to help train – another thing I’d love to do – again with a lack of time

Are there any other suggestions that could help?

Shoutout to “Part-Time” Volunteer Worship Leaders

July 11, 2008 in For Worship Leaders, Leadership with 8 Comments

I’ve been realizing lately just how amazing it is to actually get paid to be on staff as a worship leader – because I don’t anymore.  After four and a half years of being paid to lead worship, organize volunteers, plan services, pick music and live and breathe all things music and worship and after working a new job and volunteering to do many of those things now, I’ve come to realize just how much I took my last job for granted.

I never realized the time and effort and dedication that volunteer worship leaders who oversee an entire ministry put in.  As I’ve begun to balance planning and vision in the local church with working a job and making sure I honor and put my family first, I’ve come to realize how amazing volunteer worship leaders really are.  So the purpose of this post is two-fold.

First – Thank You Volunteers

Thank you for working an entire day at your “real” job and still giving the energy to pick music and lead a rehearsal all night long for church.

Thank you for having vision to see what needs to be done in two places (both at work and in the church.)

Thank you for supporting your pastor and your team members even though you are probably running out of energy.

Thank you for your selflessness in deciding to make time available to the church instead of your own pursuits.

Thank you Jordan Volk, for your tireless passion at Abiding Savior.  Thank you Paul Stigge, for the time and effort you spent developing a worship and music ministry at Lord of Life.  If you know a volunteer worship leader that you’ve never thanked for their time, stop right now and figure out a way to do so.

One word of caution – however, as someone just mentioned to me the other day – it’s easy to burnout if you are working full time and leading a worship ministry as a volunteer.  Be careful, prayerful and intentional about keeping yourself healthy and epsecially keeping your family healthy.  I need to remember to heed those words as well.

Second – An Encouragement to Paid Staff

Those of you who are privileged to be on a staff as worship leaders – don’t ever forget that is what it is – a privilege and an honor.  You are given the privilege to:

  • Plan services so that there will be minimal distraction so that God will be exalted
  • Pick and suggest music for the local church
  • Love on, encourage and recruit volunteers for the team
  • Serve God completely as your profession
  • Help others live lives that glorify Jesus Christ

The best privilege of all is that we, staff and volunteer alike, get to honor and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ – together.

Page 20 of 37« First...10«1819202122»30...Last »