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Don't let worship become a noun

It's very exciting to see the explosion of worship in the church at large. We get a taste of heaven when we experience powerful corporate worship. And once we have a taste, we can't forget the sweetness.

As musical worship has erupted over the last 25 years, it has become a main ingredient for most churches and there is an entire industry that has developed to support it. This is not a bad thing, but we must be careful not to let worship become a noun - this thing that we program and build our services around. Instead let the noun be who we are (worshipers) instead of something we plan.

Worship is something we will do for eternity in heaven. There, it will be only a verb.

What's my line?

I'm constantly reminded how much the success of our worship services hinges on the small things that most people don't notice. Unless, of course, they are not done well, then everyone notices!

Nobody thinks much about lighting until the stage goes black in the middle of a song. Very few people compliment the sound tech if the sound is perfect. And nobody thanks the lyric projection person for anticipating the next lyric so that singing is not interrupted.

I'm amazed that even at large worship events, there are problems getting the right lyric on the screen. There's nothing more awkward than that moment where the band drops out and the worship leader exhorts everyone to sing out, but nobody knows the lyric! Instead of a powerful statement of praise, you get "waaa bbaa eeeooo".

Here are some pointers on helping your lyric tech:

-Lay lyrics out as close to the order you'll do them as possible. Worship Leaders are the worst about vamping a song different every time they do it :), but at least get it as close as you can.

-Give your tech a heads up if you are only singing the chorus of a song or only the second verse and chorus. This will prevent the distraction having the wrong lyric displayed while they search for the right one.

-Make sure your line breaks make sense with the song. You don't want to leave a word hanging until the next slide. This will require someone entering the lyric that knows the song.

-Train your lyric tech to anticipate the slide changes and to get familiar with the songs in advance of the service.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of embarrassment!   

Worship Tracks

I was teaching a seminar on building youth worship teams at the Thriving Musician Summit in Sacramento, CA last week and the topic of using worship tracks came up.

Many in the seminar were struggling to find musicians who could play instruments well enough to help out with worship. According to a recent survey by CCLI, this is the biggest challenge facing worship leaders.

Only a couple of people in the seminar were utilizing worship tracks either by themselves or with accompanying vocals or live instruments. This seems like a decent option of you have no players. Are any of you using tracks to carry or enhance your worship services? If so, how is it working?

Where in the world are you?

Let us know the city, country, and church where you are serving.

What if the church couldn't pay you?

If your church could not or would not pay you for leading worship, would you do it anyway? Would there be a noticeable difference in the quality of the worship?

Kristian Stanfill Live!

We caught up with Kristian Stanfill and band last night at Thompson Station Church just south of Nashville, TN. They were a part of a student outreach night at the church.

Kristian's song "Beautiful Jesus" was huge. Here's some more of his set list:

-We Shine (Fee)
-Jesus Paid It All (Stanfill)
-Faithful (Fee)
-All Because of Jesus (Fee)
-Salvation Is Here (Hillsong)

David Crowder*Band LIVE in Theaters on August 18th!

Maher and Leeland at NWLC

Matt Maher and Leeland led worship tonight and it was epic. The crowd of 2,000 was primed and ready to go for it from the first song.

We were watching from side stage so the unique angle allowed us to see the congregation fully worshiping. It was an awesome sight. God is doing some amazing things this week.

Here are the worship sets:

Maher
-Your Grace Is Enough
-As It Is In Heaven
-Hosanna (Hillsong)
-Great Things

Leeland
-Wake Up
-Yes You Have
-Enter This Temple
-Nothing But the Blood (Hymn)
-Angus Dei (Michael W. Smith)

Day 2 at NWLC (Gum Shoe)

Day 2 of the National Worship Leaders Conference turned out to be fantastic. Despite the heat (103 today), the AC finally caught up overnight. However, with the approaching tropical storm in the Gulf, the event coordinators decided to move all the exhibitors indoors in case of torrential rain. Much thanks to the guys who moved our stuff while we were in the worship service!

The only negative of the day was I (Jimi) stepped in a big wad of gum and didn't realize it until I had gotten in the rental car and stepped on the brake pedal. Between the brake pedal, the gas pedal and my shoe there was a string of hot sticky gum. There was no getting it off the car pedals, so I just stuck a napkin on it. I'm sure the rental car people are going to love that.