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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...

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...

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: #26

Connecting to the Message, Part 2A few segues ago, we talked about the ins and outs, literally, of using videos. In that case, the clip was the service element we were transitioning to and from. But now we're using a video to get us to the next thing: the message.Since the decisions for this segue a 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...

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: #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...

Bigger Than Bono...

I wrote this article for my own worship team's monthly newsletter. Rather than transfer it to the blog, I kept it a PDF so you can distribute it more easily to your own team. Click on the graphic or download the pdf here. Read More...

Worship Guitar Workshop

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