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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. The term was coined in a now deleted Washington Post article. As the article mentions, I too heard a few years ago that MegaChurches were on the decline, and would…

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. Financial problems were cited as the primary concern. I visited the church several months ago. Nice people, cutting edge contemporary music and a good video…

Catholics, Creeds and Compromise

Oct 30, 2007

Back when I read newspapers (does anybody still read newspapers??) an issue of USAToday had an interesting editorial by a Presbyterian minister who bemoaned the decline of mainline churches. What’s worse, churches are dropping “Baptist,” “Methodist” or whatever from their names in order to attract a wider audience! *Clutches pearls*…

Committing Murder

Aug 27, 2007

I’ve heard it said that the average tenure of a worship leader is two years. I own several subscription websites, and sometimes I’ll personally call the church when their subscription is up for renewal. I’m shocked at how often I hear “the worship leader no longer works here” – it…

The WalMart Effect

Oct 23, 2006

A quick update… Back in June 2006 I wrote a blog called “The Next Big Thing” which described the new multi-site video church concept. As of right now [late October 2006], only 4 months later, Andy Stanley’s church network now has a partner church in Greenville that shows videos of…

Time Capsule

Oct 4, 2006

I took a trip to the past last Sunday. Remember when Brooklyn Tab was all the rage? I think every choir in America had a copy of “He’s Been Faithful” in the early 90’s. Funny, when something was “it,” that something tends to stay “it,” thinking that it’s still “it.”…

Postmodern Stations

Aug 8, 2006

A few weeks ago I talked about how Seacoast Church is doing the new postmodern stations thing [read “Postmodern Path” below.] What’s so new about Communion and prayer? Here’s what: Seacoast’s version is optional and interactive. The modern service order is linear – announcements, music, offertory, sermon – insert whatever…

LifeChurch.tv

Aug 1, 2006

Want to visit a cutting edge church to recharge your creative batteries? How about Saddleback? Status quo. Mosaic? Overrated. Willow Creek? They had their heyday in the late 90’s. Surprisingly, I found the most innovative church I’ve *ever* visited not in a major metropolitan area like LA or Chicago, but…

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