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Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 2

Read part 1Photo: Kandyjaxx, FlickrThe third lousy way to get more musicians:3. Let Your Non-Musical Pastor do the Recruiting.Senior pastor to me, the worship leader: "Say, Jon, there's a new family that just started attending and I heard that the wife played piano and sang at their last church. Inc Read More...

Upper and Lowercase Vision

For an introduction to this series, check out my article The Preferred Future (or Why I Get up at 5am) at WorshipMinistry.com I want to make a distinction between two kinds of vision. (And this distinction is somewhere between "thinking out loud" and a working hypothesis. So if you don't agree, that Read More...

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...

Canceling MySpace

I just canceled my MySpace account. Did you feel the earth tremble?No, I didn't either.I hadn't logged in for at least a year. Every so often I'd get an email telling me some doorknob from a "cutting-edge" hip-hop/emo/jazz/metal band wanted to be my friend. Other than that, it was off my radar. I in Read More...

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 3

Read Part 1Read Part 2 11. Make it fun. Recently, I became the subject of the youth band's joking--actually, my mother did. Somehow "your mom" jokes started flying and stuck to me. Soon a theme song emerged: "Jon's mom is greater, Jon's mom is stronger..." I'm not sure if Chris Tomlin intended that Read More...

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 2

Read Part 1 (#1-5)6. Create a standard form for each song. And don't deviate from that form (at least until #16 starts to happen). By a standard song form, I mean the order of the verse, chorus, bridge and other parts of the song. Use the original recording arrangement when possible. (And check out Read More...

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 1

I've been working the youth band at our church for last couple years. As a former youth pastor, it's fun to mix it up with the kids and NOT have to plan lessons or participate in lock-ins. Over the next few days, we'll look at some things I've been learning.Start with who and what you have now. If y 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...

Whining, Dreaming & Just Dealing With It

[Jon's latest article at WorshipMinistry.com] Last week we talked about getting real with our current reality. Jim Collins in his business book, Good to Great illustrates this idea with Admiral Jim Stockdale's story. Stockdale was the highest ranking US military officer in the "Hanoi Hilton," a POW 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...

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...

RadioShack Sound Systems & Faith-Infused Realism

Most leaders (volunteer or paid) find it easy to think about what they want to do and have and be after their ministry or organization grows. A preferred future is fun to think about. The current reality, especially for those in small churches, well, not so much. Here was reality at my first church: 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...

DOs & DON\'Ts of Being Dumped, Part 2

It's inevitable. People leave. Whether they move, get mad, get dead or otherwise decide that the worship team is no longer for them, people eventually exit. Handling this well isn't always easy. Here are some DOs and DON'Ts for when people leave. Let's pick back up with #4. If you haven't read the f Read More...

Worship Guitar Workshop

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