articles

Robeless Choirs

Nov 5, 2009

Choir robes were no doubt invented to give a unified look to the group. Hundreds of years ago highly decorated robes with elaborate stitching added pomp and ceremony to liturgy. If you’re ministering in an ornate, stately First Baptist-type church, choir robes no doubt approriately fit the bill. However, if…

My New Recording Studio

Sep 20, 2009

A few weeks ago I wrote about how your ministry might benefit from recording. Read the article and watch a video. This week I’ll give you a tour of my home studio and give you some ideas of equipment to be using. When I first started HymnCharts.com several years ago…

Chris Sligh Sings “Vessel” on the Hour of Power

Sep 18, 2009

Christian artist Chris Sligh sings his song “Vessel” on the Crystal Cathedral’s Hour of Power TV show. by Don Chapman Back when Chris Sligh was working on his debut album he talked uber-producer Brown Bannister into using me to orchestrate some of the songs (which is a miracle in itself…

Recording for Worship

Sep 10, 2009

How can recording help your worship ministry? It’s not a top priority, but if your worship ministry is under control and well managed, recording can speed up the learning curve for your musicians and enhance the worship experience of your church. Is your ministry managed and under control? By this,…

Hip Hop Senior Adult Choir

Jun 2, 2009

My favorite part is around 3:07 – their rendition of the Pussycat Doll’s “Don’t Cha” (Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me.) If you haven’t wet your pants yet, wait until 4:06 when they sing Nelly’s “It’s Getting Hot in Here.”

Time for Change

Part 1 | Part 2 No, this isn’t an endorsement for Obama! It is time for change or will be time for change at some point in all our worship leading lives. Last week we talked about a worship leader I know who said his music didn’t “sound right” –…

What’s Wrong With Your Music

Part 1 | Part 2 I was talking to a worship leader about his music. He couldn’t put his finger on it but there was something wrong. It just didn’t sound right. Not contemporary enough or something. Looking at his set list, I figured he was probably trying to do…

GigaChurch

Jul 28, 2008

I heard a cool term the other day: GigaChurch. It’s a word for a church of 10,000 people or more. This guy claims to have coined the term in a Washington Post article. As the article mentions, I too heard a few years ago that MegaChurches were on the decline,…

Loud Music

Jul 28, 2008

On Sunday, Newspring worship leader Tom Pellerin read us an email from the old man I mentioned in the previous post, the guy who approached the stage and wanted the music turned down seconds before the service started. He was indeed a visitor from another (presumably traditional) church in town,…

Instant Church 2

Jul 24, 2008

1470 people attended the second Sunday of NewSpring Greenville (last week the total was 1710) and I’ll guess that’s where attendance will hover for awhile. A funny anecdote: as the countdown video reached zero, an old man approached the edge of the stage. Meghan, a vocalist, knelt down to see…

Instant Church

Jul 14, 2008

Can you imagine arriving in a town, renovating an old grocery store into a church, opening the front doors and hoping people show up? Then, what if 1700 did show up? (and several got saved on top of it!) That’s exactly what happened to NewSpring Greenville last Sunday in Greenville,…

Church & Movies

Jun 30, 2008

A while back I wrote the article at WorshipIdeas.com called “Music=Growth?” I used to think that good music grows a church. While it doesn’t hurt, I don’t believe that anymore. Here’s another example. When was the last time you went to a movie or watched a TV show because of…

Praise Band Paradox

I know of a megachurch with 5,000 people that has state-of-the-art everything… projection, speakers, music equipment and the same $ound board as the local arena. Their drummer is your typical middle aged guy who works a regular job, and probably hasn’t played drums since his high school garage band days.…

Death of a Church

Apr 19, 2008

This week the 2 year old Andy Stanley Catalyst video church plant here in Greenville sadly announced that April is their last month of existence. Here’s the blog of one of the pastors, Casey Ross. Financial problems were cited as the primary concern. I visited the church several months ago.…

Cookies

Apr 13, 2008

I’m sitting here at Panera Bread Company working on a redesign of the WorshipIdeas website, and this guy comes up and offers me a free cookie. Not one to resist free food, I eagerly accept. He then hands me a business card and says “I’m starting a new church in…

articles

Worship Polls