Posts Tagged ‘leading worship’

sundry things…

1 Comment » Written on July 9th, 2011     
Filed under: Architecture, Arts, Better Together, Intergenerational, Leadership, Liturgy, Local Church, Multicultural, Music, Order of Worship, Resources for Worship, Style of Worship, Technical Arts, Theology, Visual Arts
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It’s been a busy week over on the Better Together Facebook page for lead worshippers and those who think about worship in the Covenant. Many things were discussed; I used the word ‘sundry’ above, but now realize that can mean ‘trivial’ or ‘unimportant’. I’ll leave it up to you, dear reader, to make up your own mind how trivial these are.  A brief survey of the topics includes:

Heritage Hymns (“how did you get to be a worship pastor when you don’t know………..?” fill in the title of your favorite Swedish hymn or song)

“when will the HymnBook/Book of Worship be available/searchable online?” Continue Reading »



Strength in diversity

Post a Comment » Written on June 10th, 2011     
Filed under: Better Together, Leadership, Liturgy, Songwriting, Style of Worship, Writing and blogging
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In encouraging fellow worship leaders to sign up and start commenting on the Facebook discussion page, “Better Together”, I don’t think any of us anticipated the breadth or depth of topics that might be covered. Today there are 135 of us from various churches across the Covenant, and the diversity of topics and perspective is amazing. During this week alone, posts ranged from practical issues to deep theology and philosophy.

Examples of the practical side would include:

- what type of instrument and equipment the guitarists use,

- our preference and the acoustic effect of stage platform coverings (more reflected sound from a wooden stage is better for a choir, but for a rhythm section it’s best to use carpeting) and

- the disposition and timing of going to two services, with or without simultaneous Sunday School classes.Throughout these topics, we’re reminded that this forum is populated with skilled musicians and artists who make technical and pragmatic decisions every day, encouraging and enabling ministry through the arts and leading by example. Continue Reading »



Joining the Conversation

Post a Comment » Written on June 3rd, 2011     
Filed under: Better Together
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There’s been a lot of good discussion this past week over in the Better Together Facebook group, from technology questions (“What type font do you use for projection - worship lyrics, sermon content, etc.?”) to worship programming discussions (“What does everyone typically do song-wise for communion Sundays? We have communion once a month, and I’m looking for new ideas for contemporary songs as well as hymns.”) to music recommendations (“not everyone will agree with me, but i think i just found the coolest worship record ever made and it’s not even out yet. check it out… theroyalroyal.tumblr.com“). We’ve talked about instruments (“Does anyone lead worship with a classical guitar instead of a steel string?”) and aesthetics/theology (“Where do you normally put your drums? As I visited different churches last summer, I noticed that the drums and the cross seemed to switch places from church to church…”). And one member brought up the concept of Call and how we understand it (“I’ve always struggled with the idea of “call” in my life. How did you end up leading worship in whatever capacity?”). Continue Reading »



Leading worship? It’s like being… a doctor.

Post a Comment » Written on August 19th, 2008     
Filed under: Leadership, Music, Style of Worship
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Without the pesky 8 years of postgraduate study, of course. (Thank the Lord for that, I have enough college debt as it is.)

But it is, sorta. People come to your “office” on a regular basis (or a not-so-regular basis, for some folks) in order to receive something that will help them with the various ailments that plague them. And despite their nice Christianese to the contrary about relying on God and only looking to him, the reality of the situation is that they come to YOU. They walk in those doors, and in most cases you are the first person they encounter.

Continue Reading »