Worship Leaders of The Bible, Part 2: King David

I’ve decided David wouldn’t have made it as a worship leader in today’s church. Not that his songs wouldn’t hold up. Oh, they’d hold up, alright! But there’s just not enough grace. King David was one messed up dude, y’all. Lies, murder, adultery, and that’s just the beginning of it. With all of the systems of accountability we have in place these days, I can say with a good deal of confidence that David would be banished from most churches’ stage for life- and rightfully so, maybe. After all, serving in a position like lead worshipper means you are now called to a higher standard. But, somehow, David persevered. He messed up; there’s no questioning that, but he also rose from it. The question, then, is how is that even possible and can a resurrection like that happen in my life and my career as well? Read more

Orchestrating an Effective Rehearsal

Rehearsals are one thing that every single worship leader in any capacity cannot get out of. If you are on staff, you lead rehearsals. If you are a volunteer, you need rehearsals. If you are a tech guy (or gal), you attend rehearsals. And since we all can’t get away from them, we should take a look at how to make rehearsals effective. Effective rehearsals lead to encouraged and motivated teams.

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Planning Ahead

I heard a great quote the other day that was aimed at pastors who plan sermons last minute week to week. It went something like, “When pastors wait until the last minute to plan a message, is it them or the Holy Spirit who does the procrastinating?”

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Church’s Got Talent - Hiring a Worship Leader

Face it. It’s bound to happen at some point. Maybe your church is beginning to grow and the needs cannot be properly fulfilled by a volunteer. Perhaps you have a staff transition and you find yourself in need. Maybe that talented high school student is graduating and moving away to college and you find yourself ….

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Worship Leaders of The Bible, Part 1: John the Baptist

A lot of people think John the Baptist was Baptist. You know, like, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention or the Georgia Baptist Convention or whatever- you get the idea. This, obviously, is not the case. “Baptist” here means something more like baptizer or washer. A preacher who communicates regularly for my church often refers to him as “John the Washin’ Man.” He was the one who baptized followers of Jesus’ way- even before Jesus arrived on the scene! And, just as a side note, John’s worship leading is of a much different style than you’d find in your average Baptist church- the one I grew up in included. John the Charismatic could have been a more appropriate term were his name a reflection of his denomination or worship flavor as some have supposed. Maybe John the Pentecostal, I don’t know. Anyhow, John the Baptist is an extremely influential lead worshipper we see in scripture, yet there’s not one mention of him sitting at a piano or holding a guitar. John did two things well, two fundamental, essential things well, and if you or I ever hope to become effective lead worshippers for God’s glory we’ve got to begin modeling our worship leadership in large part after what we find John (a) implementing and (b) having success with. 

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10 Tips for Worship Leaders: How to Enhance On-Stage Presence

If you’ve ever seen a group of children perform a song for a gathering of parents and spectators, you’ve seen the teacher or leader who places his or herself directly in their line of vision and proceeds to mouth (very clearly and expressively) every word and indicate every gesture at the appropriate time so that the children can follow along and all look like they know what their doing.

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The Importance of Understanding Music Theory

We’ve all been there.  It fills us with fear and stops us in our tracks.  It makes us wonder why we ever got into this job in the first place.  It is a question that we dread hearing.  “How do you play a Cdim7?”

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Constructive Criticsm: Are You Simon, Paula, or Randy?

I’m not an expert on leadership by any means. In fact, I’ve got a lot to learn. One thing I do know, however, is that I can learn by observing others. If you want to be great at something find someone who is already great and do what they do. Read more

Worship is a Risk

I believe that the heart of worship is sacrifice. God’s glory demands personal humbling and the exaltation of Him above all else. Yet, we often subliminally assume that this sacrifice does not involve risk. We stand in our pews on Sunday and sing tentatively, hands down to our sides, trying not to stick out or do anything embarrassing, and assume that we have fulfilled our responsibility in worship. Just exactly what is it about sacrifice that doesn’t sound risky (sarcasm implied)? Surely Abraham was taking an incredible risk as he climbed a mountain to sacrifice his firstborn to God. Read more

Beating The Summer Slump

Memorial Day to Labor Day is the summer season here in the U.S. Typically it’s prime time for families to vacation and be in and out of church. Most churches experience a little dip in consistent attendance during these months and tend to use the time to gear up towards the fall season.

We are in the middle of an experiment here at my church. Instead of doing the same ol’ thing with the worship team, we decided to try and bring a little variety to our look, feel, and sound. Typically, we have a band/singer setup not unlike the typical medium to large size church, but this approach can be adapted by any size church, and might even be more effective if used in a smaller church. Read more

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