Dealing With Tech Arts Burnout, Part 1

I could have just as easily named this post “Tech Arts staff – Make time for Worship!”, because burnout happens a lot less when we spend time in corporate worship – away from the knobs, sliders and buttons.

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TWC Bridge

This is a test post to test the bridge functionality between the articles and forums.

Idle Words: The Destruction of Teams

Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

I honestly believe if a negative word was never spoken during a rehearsal, during a service or during team meetings, teams would be so strong nothing would destroy them.

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Join Us for Pure Praise – Jan 12

ATTENTION WORSHIPERS!

Join us here on TheWorshipCommunity.Com for a meaningful, in-depth study of God’s Word through “Pure Praise”, a heart-focused Bible study on worship by Worship Leader and Author, Dwayne Moore.

This is a 9-week study that we will begin the week of January 12, 2009. Each day we will share our thoughts on the daily devotional and then participate in the Group Discussions each week – right here on TheWorshipCommunity.Com in the forums.
(daily and weekly discussion will take place in this thread of the TWC Forums)

“The goal of this study is not to help us fall more in love with worship. Rather, these daily, intimate encounters with God can help us fall more in love with our Father – which is the very essence of biblical worship”. (Darlene Zscheck, Hillsong Church, Australia)

“Dwayne Moore has a desire to see the body of Christ truly understand what it means to honor God with our worship and let our lifesongs sing to God in spirit and in truth”. (Mark Hall, Casting Crowns)

“Dwayne Moore’s ‘Pure Praise’ gets at the heart of true biblical worship. If you’re looking to grow your worship ministry team in it’s understanding and desire to worship our Creator in spirit and truth, this book is for you. The weekly studies are practical, insightful, and full of biblical wisdom aimed at getting the reader to grasp how our Creator designed us to worship. This book is a must-read for any worship ministry team, and I’m glad to recommend it”. (Rick Muchow, Pastor of Worship, Saddleback Church)

“Dwayne Moore has a writing style that makes you feel like he’s right there with you, walking you through each devotional. ‘Pure Praise’ is highly relational and delivered in a way that will minister to you in your personal worship journey as well as find its way into your worship training resource library. This book will help you understand not only the meaning of worship, but also provide you with real tools for leading and ministering in your role as the worship leader.” (Julie Reid, former Executive Editor of Worship Leader Magazine)

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to study with your fellow worshipers.

Purchase your copy of “Pure Praise” at Next Level Worship’s website here:
http://blog.nextlevelworship.com/pur…worship-study/

Cost is $14.99

UPDATE:  Group Publishing now has this available as an e-book for $11.99 at:
http://store.grouppublishing.com/OA_HTML/gpEntry.jsp?go=item&minisite=10002&item=2274179&section=18444

Once you get your book ordered, post a response in the “Pure Praise” discussion area of the forums so that we know you’re with us! Be sure to check the box to subscribe to the thread!

Looking forward to our study together starting January 12, 2009.

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon, Founder

Charles Spurgeon Says …

“I can admire the solemn and stately language of worship that recognizes the greatness of God, but it will not warm my heart or express my soul until it has also blended therewith the joyful nearness of that perfect love that casts out fear and ventures to speak with our Father in heaven as a child speaks with its father on earth.  My brother, no veil remains”.

(from “The Power of the Cross of Christ” by Charles Spurgeon)

My friends, this quote expresses the tension that we often find our contemporary worship services.  There is an aspect of God’s greatness that requires the highest regard, respect, and solemn posture; yet, this stately King of the Universe has also called us his friend, and has embraced us as His very own.

I invite you to click the “comments” area below and express your thoughts about this quote and how this tension plays out in your churches.

Share your thoughts!

Engaging Youth in Worship- Give Them Ownership

I remember very distinctly in High School when my youth director sat across the table from me as we munched on chips and hot sauce. She looked at me and said, “I want you to consider leading the youth worship team.” What did that entail? Basically I would be the one responsible for a team of youth that planned the worship services for our weekly meetings, and any special services we had on retreats or other times. I chose songs, recruited musicians, found skits, and put the service in order.  And I was the one responsible. I am still not sure that she knows to this day how important it made me feel and how much it meant to me to do what she did. I can tell you that it was a turning point in my life and today I am grateful.

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Heart Check

Is it time for a heart check in your worship team?
I was at our Sunday morning fasting as I heard my pastor say, “An empty vessel cannot give anything”. That statement really touched my heart and stayed in my mind for a while.
It eventually lead me to 1 Samuel 16: 6, 7. 6 When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”

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The Work Of The People: Liturgy For Non-liturgical Churches

“Liturgy.  That’s a High Church thing, right?”

“It was an Old School way of having a lot of ceremonial stuff in worship services.”

“No, I think it’s just like a Greek Orthodox thing.  Or Catholic?  Something the priest does?”

In recent years elements of contemporary evangelical Christianity have begun to study the purpose of liturgy in corporate worship — often for the first time.  Many others still don’t know what it means or how it would be relevant in modern worship, but are pretty sure that they serve in a non-liturgical church.

In the truest sense though, any church that has an order of presentation and a way for the congregation to participate can be said to have a liturgy.  For instance, Church A might conduct services like this:

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TWC Featured on All About Worship Podcast

Hello Worshipers,

Just had the honor of being interviewed by the folks over at the “All About Worship” podcast (www.allaboutworship.com)

They featured our site, “TheWorshipCommunity.Com” in their “Worship Toolbox” segment.

This is an excellent podcast and a great resource.  Check it out and signup for their mailing list, podcast, and stay in touch with the guys AllAboutWorship.Com.

Be sure and catch the interview segment in today’s podcast, dated 12/10/08 – “Interview with Darrell Evans”.

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon, Publisher

TWC – Staying Connected

Hey Worshipers!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Can you believe it’s December already?

How many of you have heard of “Twitter”?  Twitter is an incredible tool for social networking, communication, and “micro-blogging”.

For those who have discovered Twitter, you can follow TheWorshipCommunity.Com’s actions on Twitter – just follow @theworshipcomm

What gets “tweeted”?  Well, for now I’m manning the @theworshipcomm twitter account (along with my own @fmckinnon personal account) … so I’ll put out some updates and praises.  In addition, every new forum thread and article that hits our “RSS” feed also gets “tweeted”, so it’s a great way to get updates on new action that’s happening here at TWC.

Are you a social-networking/twitter guru?  Though I’m manning the @theworshipcomm account right now, I’d love to see one of our faithful members of TWC step up and become our “@theworshipcomm Twitter Ambassador”.  You’d need to have the availability to be online often, be familiar with Twitter, and manage/add followers and tweets.  If that sounds like desktop fun for you, let us know!

We’ve got lots of new reviews coming up – and forums are still alive and buzzing.  So stay connected, and if you’ve got material you’d like to see published on TWC, contact us!

For the Kingdom,
Fred

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