articles

Millennials are not necessarily inclined to attend a church that mixes sacred tradition with secular trends, says Christian writer and author Andrea Palpant Dilley. Dilley, who is familiar with being a member at both a mainline Presbyterian church and a modern, non-denominational congregation, advises churches to carefully consider their outreach…

Kevin West says the volume music is played at can have a direct result in how engaged a congregation is in worship. I have noticed a shift that has taken place musically over the past 30 years, which greatly affects us as worshippers — since it affects us as worshippers,…

Dave Barnhart gives excellent reasons for alternate worship times: I had to struggle to close down evening services at the last two churches I served. Both were holdovers from a previous era, a time when people would go to church several times a week. These services had dwindled to a…

Ligon Duncan encourages greater use of Scripture in our worship: The congregation that aims to be biblically directed and informed in its approach to public worship will gather weekly on the Lord’s Day for Bible reading, Bible preaching, Bible praying, Bible singing and biblical observance of the sacraments. These things…

Russ Hutto: God truly loves the praises of His people. When we gather together to sing our songs of praise and worship to the Lord it is a wonderfully beautiful thing. God truly loves the praises of His people. The type of praise in this scripture is the HALAL (Hallel)…

Jason Vana says when it comes to your church communication tools, the quality of your graphics matter. Just take a look around. High quality graphics are everywhere. They’re on our phones, on our TV’s, found throughout our favorite websites. Schools, organizations, even neighborhood associations have stepped up their game and…

Matt Slocum offers help to pastors and worship leaders afraid they’re not doing it right. Using presentation support media like PowerPoint can be challenging and often intimidating for pastors and worship leaders. Many are worried that they “won’t do it right,” and the PowerPoint could therefore become a distraction. This…

Barry Whitlow says the impact of video use in the church is greater than most church leaders imagine. 1. Video is the #1 information delivery tool in the world today. With over 3-billion videos viewed on Youtube every day and 80 million hours of videos being watched daily the impact…

Tim Adams offers advice for novice sound mixers: One of the hardest things to teach a new sound operator is how to mix. It requires the development of an “ear” for what to change, when to change it, and what levels are appropriate. The best advice I usually give is…

George Bullard identifies ways denominations start to decline. For decades we have known that persons who smoke multiple packs of cigarettes per day are slowly committing suicide. Many of these people did not want to commit suicide. Some claim they did not know they were committing suicide. At some point…

Dan MacIntosh interviews Chris Tomlin. Dan MacIntosh (Songfacts): Looking over The Essential Collection, I notice that a lot of the songs are collaborations. Is collaborating with other songwriters your preferred method of writing songs?Chris Tomlin: Yeah. It has really become that. I love that. Not just anybody, but I have a…

Andy John Smith has tips to help those who want to provide fresh servant songs for the church. 1 Write from an authentic heart. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life Proverbs 4v23 “Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living…

Russ Hutto explains his writing process: Songwriting, to me, is a discipline. It’s a set of skills that you have to continue to hone. You have to work out your songwriting muscles regularly to keep them from atrophying. I’m sure there are those who write gold and platinum hits with…

Rob Carona says worship music culture is starting to stagnate because of our fear of releasing our own sound. As I meet with more and more worship leaders and teams, teaching them about songwriting, I have noticed a certain mentality amongst musicians and in worship services that troubles me. It’s…