articles

Dr. Thom S. Rainer on a church in decline: I was their church consultant in 2003. The church’s peak attendance was 750 in 1975. By the time I got there the attendance had fallen to an average of 83. The large sanctuary seemed to swallow the relatively small crowd on…

Russ Hutto: What does the word perform even mean? Is it a bad word? Growing up as a kid of the church (my dad was a youth pastor, worship leader, pastor), I’ve heard just about every church cliche you can think of. Being a youth pastor and media/music pastor myself…

Joe Porter on inexpensive communication ideas: “If I had an unlimited communications budget, then I would _______.” I would make a pretty confident bet that no church has dedicated an unlimited amount of funds to communications. In fact, most of us operate on what we consider a limited budget. This…

Chris Vacher describes his Good Friday service: At Compass we do a Good Friday service where we focus squarely on the crucifixion of Christ and what it means for us. Good Friday is a holiday in Canada and most people are able to attend a daytime service. Good Friday becomes…

Matthew Hoskinson on ministry salaries: It seems awfully unspiritual to talk about pastoral remuneration, especially during the candidating process. After all, if the Lord wants you to minister somewhere, hasn’t he promised to provide for you? And didn’t George Mueller pray meals to the front door of his orphanage? Why…

Phil Cooke on the new show “The Moment” for the USA Network: Our team at Cooke Pictures recently spent a few days in San Jose working with Grace Hill Media shooting a promo for NFL great Kurt Warner’s new show “The Moment” for the USA Network. It’s a program that…

I have yet to meet anyone who has a full and clear understanding of copyright law. One thing I know for certain is that most people (and this includes churches, schools, businesses, and pretty much everyone) take liberties beyond what the law allows. In a church situation, this can be…

During tax season many Americans review their 2012 finances, including a look at how much and to whom they donated money last year. In a new poll from the Barna Group, more than half of Americans said they have donated money or items (or both) to a cause they cared…

WorshipIdeas editor Don Chapman was interviewed last week on the nationally syndicated radio show “Speak Without Fear” by speaking coach Deb Sofield. In the interview (starting around 26:20) Don shares tips for artists on marketing their music, the decline of CCM and newsletter/blogging tips. Listen to the podcast at iTunes…

David Stagl on trying to mic the choir: I think I’ve turned a corner in my career. Earlier this year our music department approached me about trying a choir at one of our PM services. Historically I haven’t been a fan of choirs, but I was actually into the idea…

One of March’s media stories has been the success of the History Channel miniseries, The Bible. The first episode, which premiered on March 3, had 13.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen, making it the highest entertainment (read: non-sports) broadcast of 2013. The interest in a cable series makes it clear…

Almost every church in the world will see an attendance spike this week. In the this-is-really-obvious-research-finding, we found that Easter was the highest attended day of the church year. (OK, really, it was about Mother’s Day, as USAToday reported in a front page story on our data, but Easter was…

Do you ever stop and ask yourself, “Why do people visit my church?” Do you ever ask yourself, “Why don’t they come back?” Why is it that churches across the country see people coming in the front door only to have them exit the same door and never return? I…

In the mid to late 1990s, the “Modern Worship Revolution” was in full swing. I was finishing up college and the very first Passion album (Live Worship from the 268 Generation) was being released. Rock bands were becoming increasingly common in churches and the church music landscape was evolving significantly.…