My current Top 5

It’s been far too long since I’ve written anything on here, for a number of good reasons that I won’t elaborate on now. Hopefully I’m finding some rhythm again that will allow me to dedicate more time to writing out thoughtful posts here more often, but for the sake of keeping this site from accumulating too many cobwebs in the meantime, here’s a little something that I hope is helpful to someone out there.

I thought it would be kind of fun to quickly highlight my “Top 5” most helpful resources that I use right now as I plan and lead worship. So without further ado, here they are:

5) Facebook Groups (facebook.com) Ok, I know – this is probably a no brainer but I’ve loved how easy FB makes it for me to communicate thoughts, link to articles, post videos etc. to my team. Before I discovered FB Groups, for example, there were so many times I would come across an article or blog post that I felt would be really helpful to share as an encouragement or resource to my team members, and sending an email with a link works but is a bit clunky. Facebook makes it super easy – and honestly, the likelihood of most of the people on my team seeing it is much higher on FB than if it would be if it were to land in their inbox. Plus, Facebook allows comments, so it enables discussion to take place on posted content that wouldn’t really be possible elsewhere. I haven’t utilized this feature as much, but FB Groups also lets you create documents for the group, so if I wanted to I could post the current team schedule, etc.

4) Evernote (evernote.com) It took me a couple tries of downloading, deleting, then downloading Evernote again before I finally got the hang of how useful it really is, but now it’s one of my favorite tools. I use it to organize thoughts, lists, bookmark things I want to check out later – whatever. The best part is that it syncs in the cloud between my laptop and my iPhone, so I can literally take a note (text, web clips, audio, picture) any time I have an idea, wherever I am, and I know it will be stored across all my devices. I don’t have to worry about manually syncing or losing notes – they’re just always there.

3) Shift Worship All Access Plan (shiftworship.com) These guys create great content and they have a package that is too good to pass up. For just $149 you get an entire year of unlimited downloads of everything on their site. The highlight for me are their “mini movies”, which are short 3-5 minute videos that can be used as calls to worship, sermon illustrations, or elsewhere in a service. Even if you just use a few of these you’ll get your money’s worth, and we have used at least a dozen in the six months since starting Redemption. They also have a large number of stills and motion backgrounds. One helpful thing I enjoy is the “service planner” feature, which suggests “bundles” of media pieces that would work well together in a service.

2) Creation Swap (creationswap.com) This is a great site with tons of high quality free graphics that are perfect for use as lyric backgrounds, sermon series artwork, etc. One thing that’s particularly nice about this site is that the content is mostly all generated by artists who create with churches in mind. That makes it a bit easier to find content that will work right “out of the box” for church use. Translation = less stock hunting and Photoshop work for Ryan.

1) Spotify (spotify.com) This is unquestionably the resource with the most “game changer” potential that I’ve come across recently. For those who haven’t checked it out yet, Spotify lets you legally stream pretty much any song ever recorded. What this means for worship leaders is that we suddenly have access to an enormous library of artists, arrangements, and new music. In the past if I were to go searching for, say, a fresh hymn arrangement, I had a few options available to me – do a YouTube search and hope to get lucky, dig through the iTunes Store and try to find something useful from a 30-second preview clip, or rely on the bands and albums that I already had in my library and were familiar with. Sticking with that same example, with Spotify, I can simply type in the name of a hymn, and *bam* I have a whole list of recordings that I can listen to in their entirety! And, what I’ve found as I’ve used this method is that I almost always end up discovering a new artist or album that I wasn’t aware of before, so the potential for expanding my exposure to worship artists and songs for the church is exponential. Literally, every “new” arrangement that we did during Advent/Christmas this past year was something I discovered through Spotify. And there were more that I found that I am already planning to use next year!

Additionally, Spotify lets me create sharable playlists. What this means for worship leaders is that I can make a playlist of the current week’s songs and simply email the link (or post it in our FB Group) to my band members that week. Then they have instant, free and legal access to (multiple) artist recordings of the music we’re doing that week.

The free version alone would earn Spotify the top spot on this list, but I love it so much I happily shell out the $9.99/month for the Premium version (ad-free streaming plus use of the mobile app on my iPhone). If you haven’t checked out Spotify – do it.

These are just a few of the great resources out there that make my job just a bit easier. If you happen to be reading this and are a worship leader, what are your few favorites? I’d love to hear what others are finding to be helpful.

March 3, 2012 0

Fighting off formula

One of the things I find myself regularly struggling with as a worship leader is how to avoid settling into a formula when it comes to planning worship. Honestly, it’s far too easy to do. And there are good reasons for having methods for planning – there are a host of things to consider each week as I plot out a service. For example, here’s a sample of the grid I tend to work from each week:

Consider the topic – are there songs that tie in well with the biblical themes being preached on, or that compliment them in some way?
Flow – how do we want the service to move along?
How do we want the service to “sound?” What range should the songs be in, and what voices/instruments should be most dominant?
Transitions – this takes into account keys, tempos, what instruments start/stop each song, thematic shifts, etc. How can we minimize “downtime?”
At the same time, are we leaving space to allow for the unexpected, i.e. to give the Holy Spirit room to direct with spontaneity?
Is the basic truth of the Gospel being preached or sung some at some point in each and every service? Are we including songs that contain the Gospel?
Are we doing a good blend of songs that encourage people to worship in spirit as well as in truth?
Who is on my team? What songs work with the style or vibe of music that this team is best at? Are there certain songs that I should or should not try to pull off with this team?
Are there any unusual elements in this week’s service? Baptisms, announcements, etc.? How will they affect/fit into the flow?

Clearly there are many elements that play a vital role in meaningful service planning. Yet if I get so focused on my grid and settle into “planning by formula” I have crossed over into dangerous territory where I can very easily miss out on the Holy Spirit’s leading. Now, of course the Spirit can and does work through the very use of planning to accomplish His work, but there is certainly a line between relying solely on my own devices and operating in obedient submission to His guidance.

I read a great interview/article yesterday from a few Acts 29 worship pastors that contains helpful thoughts on being led by the Spirit in our worship gatherings. I’ll post a link to the article in its entirety below, but here were some of the main things that I found helpful from their various insights.

1. Know the Spirit

The ability to hear the Holy Spirit comes from knowing Him. How much time this week have I spent in the Word? On my knees? Listening? Repenting? Growing? Rejoicing? This is my job, after all – I’ve been tasked by my church to cultivate my relationship with God to the point of being able to effectively shepherd our church in the direction of His leading.

2. Listen to the Spirit

Be prepared to go into each gathering listening for the Spirit. As worship leaders we are often listening for a lot of things while we are leading – tempos, blend, intonation, etc. Are we just as attentive to where the Spirit may be leading, and ready to respond accordingly?

3. Expect the Spirit

In Acts 4:31, we read how a worship gathering was literally shaken following a time of prayer and worship. If something like that were to happen in our churches today, would it surprise us? Most likely. I want to be continually raising the bar of expectation when it comes to seeing the Holy Spirit move in tangible and powerful ways in the worship gatherings I help lead and plan, so that rather than being surprised when the Spirit moves, it’s expected.

The full Acts 29 interview from The Resurgence can be found here.

August 17, 2011 0

Getting men to sing, pt. 2

This is a continuation of a post I began a few weeks back. I’ve continued to process this and here are a few more things that I have found to be true. Again, these are generalizations and some of them certainly apply to women just as much as they do to men, but I think that we will do well to focus on these things as worship leaders, specifically as we are trying to reach the men in our churches.

4. Men like to feel like they have accomplished something

Are there ways we can structure our gatherings in such a way as to inform our congregation what we’re going to do, tell them when we’re doing it, and then let them know what we’ve just done? There’s something about the feeling of accomplishment that I think really resonates with guys.

5. Style matters – but excellence is the trump card

I’ve heard people claim that in order to get guys to sing you have to use a certain style, tempo, or volume. I’m not convinced that this is true. Going back to my first point, the reality is that men can sing, and trying to say that men can only sing or enjoy a certain style seems a bit short-sighted. Generally speaking, if you were to browse the music library of a typical guy you would likely find a pretty wide range of styles musically. Sure, occasionally you will have your niche crowd that only gets excited about a certain type of music, but in general when it comes to church music style is important – but it isn’t the end-all factor (see John 4). However, what we should worry about is that whatever style we create is as well-executed as it can possibly be. For better or for worse, I know my own tendency is to “check out” as soon as I sense something being “off” with the music, but I think I’m like most guys in that I can at least appreciate a variety of music if it is done well. Now, with that said, this certainly doesn’t minimize the need for the worship pastor to act as a cultural “concierge” of sorts – he needs to know his congregation, understand what’s relevant, and be able to discern what seems to work and what doesn’t. For the past five years at the church where I lead worship, our musical style has been constantly evolving to the point where, I feel, we are just now starting to click with where our congregation is at. It is a combination of factors – the style I am comfortable with, the style the musicians at my church are capable of executing well, the style that my congregation gets…it’s certainly a process. So style is absolutely important and is intrinsically connected to the “vibe” of each individual congregation, but here’s the bottom line – be stylistically sensitive and know your congregation, but don’t feel like you have to limit yourself as a worship leader simply in an effort to get guys to sing. Rather, find the style that works in your context and make sure you are doing it to the absolute best that you can. The men in your church will have a greater appreciation for authenticity coupled with excellence than they will with music that is simply fast or loud.

6. Be real

I think men tend to be particularly turned off to inauthenticity – and sadly, worship leaders are notorious for this. I think too often we feel like it’s our job to be “cheerleaders for God”, and while we are in fact called to set the tone of joyful, exuberant praise, a lot of times the “let’s sing that again, this time like you mean it!” sentiment can come off a bit fake-ish. Paul Baloche has wisely pointed out that “people don’t like being yelled at, manipulated, or artificially hyped up” and that worship leaders should strive for a more “conversational” tone in their leading, and I think he’s right on (see his full article here). The challenge for those of us with personalities that are maybe a bit quieter, is to find the balance between potentially losing the excitement that must accompany passionate praise to the Creator of the universe with an overhyped style that can be received as inauthentic. Simply put – men will respect and respond to leaders who challenge them, who inspire them, but perhaps most of all, who are clearly real.

June 14, 2011 0

Consider the cost

A friend sent this article to me this morning and I found it to be pretty interesting. On the one hand I REALLY feel for this church, partly because I’ve had my own share of dealing with an unpleasant neighbor at home whose tone and demeanor strikes me as eerily similar to the neighbors quoted in this article. Add that to the fact that the church has probably had to deal with their own share of internal complaining about style, volume, etc. and I can only imagine how tiring and frustrating this must be for the church staff.

On the other hand, it raises an interesting question – when it comes to being missional, at what point do our practices begin to undermine our principles? I don’t know anything about this church other than what I read from the article, but it seems that they are passionate about reaching people and are effectively doing so in creative and relevant ways. Yet when you begin thinking missionally in order to reach people, there will almost certainly be a cost – in this case, it comes in the form of a lack of respect from (and potential to reach) a handful of neighbors (and of course now that the local media is running the story there will be a whole new set of polarized opinions about this church…some positive, others negative). And as frustrating as it may be, this church needs to be (as I’m sure they already are) weighing the cost of whatever methods they choose to use in order to spread the Gospel.

Now with that said, while I don’t think He would have gotten into an argument with anyone over 1st Amendment Rights, Jesus didn’t really seem to worry about losing anyone’s respect. He actually pretty consistently offended people by His teaching and actions. Yet his goal was never to offend, but rather to convict, to teach and to show. So I guess maybe that needs to be the metric or the filter through which we run our methods and practices in order to determine whether they are still serving our principles – does whatever it is that we are doing still effectively display Gospel priorities by imitating Christ? If the answer is yes, then by all means we must soldier on, understanding that we will get opposition that we will simply have to patiently and lovingly manage. If the answer is at all a no, then it’s time to rethink our practices.

Here’s the article: Seattle Times – Loud music at sheriff’s church rocks neighbors

June 2, 2011 1