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Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 1

Photo: Flickr, kanyjaxx//CCOne of the most often asked question I get as I talk with pastors, worship leaders and volunteers is "How do I grow my team?" What they usually mean is, "How do we find more musicians?" Here's six ways not to do it:1. Rely only on Sunday morning announcements.This is the " Read More...

Getting Kicked in the Teeth?

A month or two ago, I wrote a piece here at WorshipMinistry.com called How to Dump Your Worship Pastor. It was my (therapeutic) response to another Dear Jon email I had just received from a team member (a drummer, no less--it always hurts more when it's a drummer. Amen?). Apparently, you've had thos Read More...

Remove

I'm in the middle of an interesting read: Untitled: Thoughts on the Creative Process* by Blaine Hogan. Blaine is a professional actor and the Creative Director at Willow Creek. I bought the book because, a) I like anything about the creative process and b) it was only a few bucks on my Kindle.**Earl Read More...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #27

In these last few installments, we're looking at how to transition to the message. One simple way to segue to the sermon is by using scripture text that the pastor's message is based on. I touched on this segue last week by suggesting using video to present the scripture. That's one option.Another o Read More...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #25

For our last four segues, we'll be looking at elements we've already discussed but using them to transition to the message. #25 is prayer.Prayer before the message does a few things: 1) It gives time for people to prepare, both in their hearts and head. 2) It invites the Holy Spirit to work through Read More...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #24

In segue #23 - Videos, part 1, we talked about how to keep the beginning and end of video clips from boogering your service. Part two is a discussion on the DOs and DON'Ts of verbally transitioning the video.DO: If it is a movie clip, give enough background for people to understand the context.DON'T Read More...

Is Your Left Door Locked?

I grew up attending in a typical Mid-west, small-town, L-shaped C&MA church. At least I think it was typical of those kinds of churches in those days. Mostly hymns. A few "Alliance-approved" praise choruses worthy enough to sing in "real church"--you know, like Majesty and most anything from the Read More...

28 Ways To Create Great Segues: #23

At my first full-time ministry job, I was the youth and worship guy at a two-pastor church. By default, that also meant I was the substitute sermon guy. (Have you ever noticed senior pastors aren't into quid pro quo? They never act as the substitute youth-talk guy. Studies show this is actually Read More...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #22

I once attended a Sunday evening service at Parkside Church near Cleveland to hear Alistair Begg preach. A Scottish accent always makes a sermon better. It was a typical traditional pre-service time with soft music, dim lights and people chit-chatting with folks they hadn't seen for at least a week. Read More...

Forget Excellence...

...think "remarkable" instead.Excellence is subjective and overwhelming.Remarkable is doable: a small tweak and improvement to the "normal" that surprises people.The pursuit of excellence feels like a never-ending journey.     How do we know we've arrived?The pursuit of remarkabl Read More...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #21

We've been talking about the "pre-service." I suggested in the last post that the pre-service time is one big transition time - comprised of several of small segues - that moves people into our worship gatherings.We can try to spiritualize this time, but let's just be honest: it's sometimes like her Read More...

They Need Me, They Really Need Me...

They need me every hour, most gracious LordTo lose talent like mine, the team can't affordThey need me, O they need meEvery service they need meI'll bless them with my presenceUntil eternityI think this bastardized hymn sings in the brain of every worship leader - full-time, part-time, volunteer - i Read More...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #17 - 20

Segues #17 - 20: The Pre-Service, Part 1I look at the pre-service time as one big segue: it's a sequence of elements used to transition people into corporate worship. The issue with most churches in American culture is this: the majority of people don't actually come into the service until right at Read More...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: Segue #16

Vision and mission are two big buzz words that keep buzzing. They sometimes take on new forms or variation, like "missional" and "purpose." And they all get attached to a "statement." At worst, a church's vision/mission/purpose statement is ripped off from another church and then slapped on a banner Read More...

L.T.W.M. Part 3

Read Part 1Read Part 2Leave Them Wanting More is dependent on another well-worn axiom: Less is more.I've perpetrated the opposite - more is more - on several occasions in my ministry:More is More, Method 1: The Shoehorn"The senior pastor's only giving me 20 minutes for worship through music? OK, we Read More...

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