A Blog For Worship Leaders Who Lead Normal People In Normal Churches ||| RealWorldWorship.Org
Honestly, I wish this was the question being asked. Should I? But the question is usually phrased more along the lines of “which effects should I use?” This assumes that any should be used at all.
To that end, I want to first ask the question “should I?” and use that to answer the “which ones?” question.
Continue reading “Should I Use Effects With My Acoustic Guitar”
Recently, I noticed a google search that lead someone to this blog: Can a non-christian worship God? I’m assuming that google lead them to either THIS POST about whether or not a non-Christian can be on the worship team, or THIS POST about the arguments over sacred vs secular in church music. While I hope that either of those articles was helpful to the person’s Google search, I realized that both flirted with the question, but never answered it directly: Can a non-Christian worship God? Yes or no.
I’m posting a video of the music at my church from a few weeks back.
It’s not to show how good I am or brag. Hopefully this will be an encouragement and a resource for you.
We’re an average church. I’m a very average singer and musician. I am surrounded by some very talented folks who help cover, but aren’t we all.
What I love about this video is that while the service generally went well, it still shows us warts and all. I’m flat at parts, the sound mix was 100% all the time. We made mistakes. All of the stuff that happens at Real churches all over the world every Sunday.
A couple of things I think you (and I) can take from this video.
A lot of times we talk about how we can better serve God and our churches in our worship, song and playing. But what if we could better serve the other members of the church band? What if we could be a servant to our worship leader instead of expecting him to march to our drum?
What if by making a few small changes we could better love and serve each other? Wouldn’t that be an act of worship to the Father who would see his children “playing nice” together? Wouldn’t that be an act of service to our church if we played better and gave them a better platform to express praise, awe, love and devotion?
Continue reading “How To Make Your Worship Team Better… Even If You’re Not In Charge”
Every so often I like to look over the Google searches that bring people to this blog. It’s interesting what people look for, and what brings them my way. There are a few great questions, and a few ridiculous questions. What questions are people who stumble upon this blog asking? Let’s find out.
One of the things I had to learn when I started leading worship was how to take a compliment. God is gracious to use us as tools and instruments to bless and minister to his church, the people then in turn will often respond to the ministry and the minister with a thankful heart. How we respond to this makes all the difference in the world, both for us, and for the church we serve.
What If? This series looks at real world situations that come up in worship leading. They may not happen often, but they happen often enough to talk about and plan ahead for. This week we’ll talk about speaking in tongues in a church service.
IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU
Someone might have read the above paragraph and said “what’s the big deal?” If you come from certain charismatic traditions you might not find this blog post applicable. In your church this may be a very common occurrence, but for a majority of churches, even churches like mine that believe and embrace the gifts of the Spirit as valid for today, someone speaking in another tongue during a worship service isn’t the norm.
Someone else might have just read the above paragraph and said “not at my church!”. Says who? This is the “what if” series, so play along with me here. Let’s say you lead worship at a baptist or reformed church that holds to a Cessationist viewpoint, and after your third song, a person you’ve never seen before begins to cry out in a language you don’t understand. “We don’t do that at my church” you might say, and sure, that may be the accepted procedure. But let’s say that this person walked into your church not knowing that, and for whatever reason decided to speak out in this way, what do you do?
Editor’s Note: This post while written by me, originally appeared over at the Worship Links blog, so check them out.
Eight thoughts on bringing the next generation into your worship community.
1. IT’S NOT AN OPTION
The church has two main callings: 1. To preach the gospel 2. To make disciples. The discipleship process isn’t all spiritual, it’s also practical. Paul, Peter, Barnabas, and other major players in the early church always travelled with young men, letting them learn in a practical, hands on setting how to fulfill the ministry that was given to them (1 Timothy 4:14). The same is true for those of us who minister in music. I’m always looking for my replacement. Who’s the young man or woman that God is raising up in my church? Discipleship is not optional for the christian, neither is making disciples. As worship leaders, music directors, and worship pastors, we need to have our eyes, ears, and hearts open to see who will lead the next generation in praise and worship of our King.
I’ve heard and read a lot lately on how to introduce a new song, but the Worship Links blog posted a link to Jon Nicol’s thoughts on the Lifecyle of a song, or better yet, how to put a song out of our misery.
RECOGNIZE THAT SEASONS EXIST
“To everything there is a season” the Bible tells us. This is also true for worship songs, although not everyone seems to have read Ecclesiastes 3:1.
They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. If you don’t recognize that every song has a season, then you won’t be aware and watching for when that season has it’s end. This doesn’t mean that every song you’d played last Sunday is out of date. But out of the songs you did lead, some where at the start of their life cycle, some where in an undefined middle, and some were quite possibly past their prime.
Author’s Note: I really, really hate the look of the stage pictured, but I wanted a very ‘average’ looking stage.
I’m going to fully admit that this post is pure opinion. Someone somewhere probably has an equally valid opinion that is the complete opposite of mine. But it’s my blog so I’m gonna say it: Generally speaking churches (and parents) should ban kids from the stage.
SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN?
Ban the kids from the stage? Didn’t Jesus say “suffer the children and forbid them not?” (Matthew 19:14). Yes, yes he did, and I believe ever word. But I do not believe that Jesus meant that we should let our children run wild and turn the stage, filled with band instruments, music stands and microphones into a scene from the Lord of the Flies. Suffering the children is not a prohibition against teaching our children to walk in obedience and to respect the property of others.
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