Browsing: For Worship Leaders

Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other. -1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 In this article I want to share some very practical ways…

The basics. These are the foundations of music that many people never get a chance to learn. When I was growing up, I remember our school never had music theory classes. This confused me, because my church always had music programs to teach kids musical instruments and musical theory. Since I was 6 I had…

As someone who is more interested in leadership and community than artistic excellence, team building is something that I get super jacked about. After almost 15 years of being on worship teams, I have noticed that too often team building is overlooked. If it isn't overlooked it is something that is done out of obligation…

Introducing new songs to the congregation is important. Congregations, as well as the individuals within them change. It is the very nature of being human, and our ascribing worth to God will invariably change as well. Hopefully, we will continue to mature and grow spiritually, and our ability to express our devotion will become ever-more…

One of the hardest things for me to do as a worship leader is to find replacements. Part of the reason is because I was never trained by anyone. I cut my teeth leading worship from the moment I decided to learn the venerable G-C-D chord progression. From the very beginning I was the guy.…

Like almost anything else in life, there is not a simple answer to how to start a second campus in a church. There are so many factors that go into launching church campuses that the approaches must be tailored to fit your context. For example, a church of 2,000 people, that is financially stable, and…

When I was a teenager, just starting to play the guitar and leading worship, I was often met with resistance from “traditionalists.” Their arguments against “contemporary” worship was that it was too repetitive, was not substantial, lacked theology, was not sacred enough, and a whole bunch of other claims arguing for modern music’s inferiority to…

There are two ways I am going to address the tension between art, or perhaps creativity is a better word, and worship. The first is for the sake of artists and musicians who are serving on worship teams, and the second is for the sake of the congregation. I have to separate these two groups…

Stage design has become a staple in many churches today. It is a way to keep things fresh, and there has been an increasing amount of time, energy, and resources devoted to these designs over the past few years. The pursuit of cool stage designs can be both addicting and expensive, both in money and…

I lead worship at a medium sized church. We do things as well as we can, and oftentimes do so with an excellence that far exceeds the “classification” we are in. To put it bluntly, we execute some things better than a church our size often does. Do we have light years of improvement ahead?…

While I don't see these issues as prominently as I did in the mid to late 2000's I still feel a tension not only in my church but the churches I visit when it comes to worship styles. Over the 12 years i have played guitar I have heard nearly every argument and been the…

My path to becoming a worship leader was unique…sort of. I grew up in small churches where my parents served as pastors. We were a musical family, and for the most part, I was asked to do music in some way or another since I was barely able to do more than stand. I remember…