Should a Church Use Non-Christian or Nonmember Worship Musicians? PART ONE
PART ONE: Should non-Christians serve on the worship team? Few ministry decisions are as practical—and as emotionally charged—as deciding who may serve on the worship team. A church may have a skilled instrumentalist who does not profess faith in Christ, a paid singer...
Before We Change Worship: A Listening Series for Church Leaders – PART THREE
PART THREE:From Listening to Faithful Worship Renewal Be sure to have read PART ONE and PART TWO before engaging in this post. Listening is essential to worship renewal, but listening is not the final step. Eventually, leaders must discern what they have heard,...
Before We Change Worship: A Listening Series for Church Leaders – PART TWO
PART TWO:Worship Renewal Requires Listening Beyond the Loudest Voices Be sure to have read PART ONE before engaging in this post. A worship leader receives an email after Sunday’s service. The message is direct. A church member is unhappy about the songs, the volume,...
Before We Change Worship: A Listening Series for Church Leaders – PART ONE
A Word from My Heart For many years, I have had the privilege of walking alongside churches and worship leaders in seasons of growth, uncertainty, and change. Again and again, I have found that conversations about worship eventually touch something deeper than songs,...
Multitracks in Worship: A Tool, Not a Theology
Multitracks can be a helpful tool for churches—particularly for teams that lack key instrumentalists or need support in creating a clear, cohesive musical foundation. Used thoughtfully, they can strengthen a small team, provide needed musical texture, and give...
CCLI Lyric Videos Promotion
CCLI Offering Free Lyric Videos and Discounted Annual Subscriptions to SBC ChurchesI am planning to do a full review in the next few weeks of CCLI's Lyric Videos. I am very excited about these resources for churches that do not have adequate musician resources as well...
Worship Books now available in online Discount Book Shop
WorshipBooks.com: A New Discount Hub for Renewing Worship Resources Renewing Worship book resources now have a new online home at WorshipBooks.com, a discount worship book shop created in partnership with WorshipLink Publishing, to help churches invest in the next...
35 Questions a prospective worship pastor should ask the search team
Here is a list of 35 questions a worship pastor candidate can use when being interviewed by a church search team. The questions are broken down into categories to ensure all major aspects of the role are covered. This list is also a great resource for church search...
5 Ways This Series Can Help Your Church Grow
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the Healthy...
What Healthy Worship Looks Like in Real Life
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the Healthy...
Healthy Worship Podcast from Ministry Focus: Worship Essentials, Part Two
NC Baptist worship leader, Bryan Foster, recently interviewed me for his podcast: Ministry Focus--Worship Essentials to discuss the new Healthy Worship project. In part one of this season finale, we discuss why the church needs a clearer, more biblical vision of...
Healthy Worship Podcast from Ministry Focus: Worship Essentials, Part One
NC Baptist worship leader, Bryan Foster, recently interviewed me for his podcast: Ministry Focus--Worship Essentials to discuss the new Healthy Worship project. In part one of this season finale, we discuss why the church needs a clearer, more biblical vision of...
Why Worship Sends Us Out
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the...
Why Worship Builds Unity Across Generations
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the...
From Spectator to Participant
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the...
Why Healthy Worship Matters for the Church
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the...
How Worship Forms Our Heart
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the...
Everyone Worships Something
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the...
What Is Worship, Really?
Over the next several posts, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy, biblical understanding of worship — not just in Sunday services, but in everyday life, in the church, and in our walk with Christ. Each article will introduce a key theme from the...
Let the People Sing: A Story of Congregational Singing
This video presentation, titled "Let The People Sing," explores the historical and spiritual significance of congregational singing in the American church. It addresses a perceived decline in active participation, where worship has shifted from a communal act of...
New Book and Video Series Coming Soon
For the past few months, I have been working on a new project that I am so excited about. It is called Healthy Worship. This is the first major project I have worked on that targets the everyday worshipper, not just the worship leaders. It stems from a great passion...
Holding Tight and Holding Loose: A Call to Discernment
This series has unpacked essentials commanded in Scripture—like proclaiming the Word, prayer, singing, and fellowship—from nonessentials like choir robes, organs, pulpits, pews, and attire that must serve our gospel mission. We've asked if these practices equip...
Holding Tight and Holding Loose: Attire in Worship
In this series, we’re distinguishing between essentials—those elements clearly commanded in Scripture for gathered worship—and nonessentials, practices shaped by culture, history, or preference that must serve our mission. We’ve examined choir robes and the organ as...
Holding Tight and Holding Loose: Pulpits and Pews in Worship
In this series, we’re distinguishing between essentials—those elements clearly commanded in Scripture for gathered worship—and nonessentials, practices shaped by culture, history, or preference that must serve our mission. We've examined choir robes and the organ as...
SBC Worship Survey Now Live Through April
What if I told you the last time there was a meaningful survey of what worship music looked like in the life of SBC churches was in 1938? I'd be telling you the truth. At that time just over 1,000+ Southern Baptist churches participated. It asked about 24 questions...
Holding Tight and Holding Loose: The Organ in Worship
In our series on essentials and nonessentials in worship, we began by distinguishing biblical mandates—like Scripture, prayer, preaching, and congregational singing—from cultural practices that serve the church only when they advance the gospel. We then applied this...
Holding Tight and Holding Loose: Choir Robes in Worship
In the previous post, we explored how churches can discern between essentials—those things clearly taught and commanded in Scripture—and nonessentials, those practices that have entered church life through culture or preference over time. Let’s look at one practical...
Making Baptism Services Memorable
Baptism is a powerful, living picture of the gospel. On April 12 North Carolina Baptists are participating in Fill the Tank, a special statewide emphasis designed to help new believers take their next step of faith. Join the movement and find resources for your church...
Holding Tight and Holding Loose: Essentials and Nonessentials in Worship
Essentials of Christian worship are those God-prescribed realities and responses without which worship ceases to be truly Christian; nonessentials are contextual practices and preferences that may serve worship but are not required by Scripture for it to be faithful....
Invest in the Next – Training Future Worship Leaders – Part Five: A Pathway and Tools to Mentor Future Worship Leaders
The Invest in the Next journey has walked you from urgency to action—now this final step is about putting tools in your hands so you can actually build a mentoring pipeline, not just dream about one. The Worship Ministry Guidebook resources were designed precisely to...
Invest in the Next – Training Future Worship Leaders-Part Four: ENCOURAGE – Why Most Mentoring Fails (And How to Fix It)
If training provides the tools, encouragement fuels the heart behind them. Many mentoring relationships fail—not because the mentor doesn’t teach enough—but because they forget that young leaders don’t just need knowledge. They need someone in their corner. (Note: If...
Invest in the Next – Training Future Worship Leaders-Part Three: Train – 5 Pillars Every Worship Leader Must Master
In the first week of the series, I talked about the shortage of worship leaders and why we must invest in the next. You've identified your potential leaders (from Article 2). The next step is TRAIN— the essential phase of building competency across five lifelong...
Worship Resources for Lent & Easter
Ash Wednesday will be on February 18 in 2026, and it is the start of the Lenten season (see Why Baptist Churches Should Celebrate Lent). I have updated and compiled below some helpful links as you begin planning your worship services for the coming weeks. Remember...
Invest in the Next – Training Future Worship Leaders-Part Two: Identify – 6 Qualities That Mark Future Worship Leaders
Last week, I talked about the shortage of worship leaders and why we must invest in the next. The next step is to IDENTIFY potential worship leaders who won’t identify themselves. They see you on stage and think, “That’s for special people, not me.” Your job?...
Invest in the Next – Training Future Worship Leaders-Part One: The Worship Leader Shortage – Why We Must Invest NOW
Across North America, churches face a growing crisis: we have fewer worship leaders today than five years ago. Church plants desperately need trained leaders. Established churches battle turnover as people move, retire, or burn out. Renewal movements lack facilitators...
Trying to Start a Fire From Scratch Every Sunday
By David Manner In the 2000 movie Cast Away, Tom Hanks played Chuck Noland, the lone survivor of a plane crash on an uninhabited island. Early in the movie, Noland realized he couldn’t survive without fire and offered us a glimpse of his resolve, despair, anger, and...
Resolved to Grow: Embracing the Worship Discipleship Pathway in the New Year
A new year is a powerful moment for worship leaders to choose growth, not just new songs or new gear, but a renewed commitment to become the kind of disciple who can lead a disciple‑making, worshipping church. A better resolution than “do more” Instead of resolving to...
Is AI-generated worship music acceptable in the church?
An AI-generated “Mississippi soul” singer named Solomon Ray, created by Mississippi Christian hip‑hop artist Christopher “Topher” Townsend, has hit No. 1 on iTunes’ Christian/Gospel charts and topped Billboard’s gospel digital song sales, triggering a wave of...
Global Missions Training for Worship Leaders
OVERVIEW OF THE TRAINING North Carolina Baptists have launched Global Missions Training for Worship Leaders—a specialized program designed to equip worship leaders to serve effectively in both international and domestic ministry contexts. This initiative provides...
The Story of Uzzah: What David Got Right and What David Got Wrong
This message was delivered by Joe Crider at the Renewing Worship EXPO in 2025. It focuses on the biblical understanding and practice of corporate worship. Crider uses the tragic story of Uzzah touching the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel 6 as a cautionary tale...
The Church Model That’s Dead: Attractional Church and 3 Shifts Every Leader Must Know
Carey Nieuwhof explains the shifts in culture and ministry that have happened over the last few years that have made the attractional model ineffective, what's replacing it, and what aspects of the attractional church model to keep as you try to reach your community....
50 Questions a Search Team Can Use in Interviewing Potential Worship Pastor Candidates
Here is a comprehensive list of 50 questions a church search team can use when interviewing a worship pastor candidate. The questions are broken down into categories to ensure all major aspects of the role are covered. This list is also a great resource for worship...
3 Things Worship Leaders Can’t Do
by David Manner Those who lead worship each Sunday are often the most talented in the room. Their worship leading abilities and actions, consequently, can sometimes convey that worship can’t occur until they initiate it. Surprise! Worship can actually occur without...
The Worship Ministry Guidebook is now available in Spanish
The Worship Ministry Guidebook has seen wide usage in churches, universities, seminaries and overseas work in the last two years, with over 4,000 books in circulation in the U.S. Now, with the recently-released study guides for mentoring, team studies and cohorts, the...
Free Resources to Help You Invest in the Next
Last week, I talked about the great importance of building a pipeline to raise up worship leaders. If you have not yet read that article, please do so before checking this one out. So often, we have great intentions—wanting to mentor someone or lead our teams in a...
Invest in the Next: Training Future Worship Leaders
At this year's Renewing Worship EXPO, we launched a campaign that I hope will ignite throughout our state and beyond: Invest in the Next: Training Future Worship Leaders. We are experiencing a significant shortage of worship leaders nationally, partly because we have...
10 Markers of Strong Worship
By Chuck Lawless I preach in a lot of churches. Sometimes the portion of worship prior to the sermon is superb, and sometimes it’s not so good. I admit that my assessment is entirely subjective, but here’s what makes the worship so strong for me that I can’t wait to...
Podcast from Revitalize and Replant: Why Churches Are Moving Back to One Style
Mark Clifton, Mark Hallock, and Dan Hurst share some reasons why churches are moving from multiple worship services with different worship styles to a single worship style. Some Highlights: Multiple worship styles created an “us-versus-them” mentality. The church did...
The Pitfalls of Polling Your Church on Worship Style
Church leaders often feel the pressure to meet the expectations of their congregation. A common reflex is to take surveys or polls, asking members what they would like worship to look like—what songs to sing, what style to adopt, how long services should be, and even...
Worship Leaders, Not Cheerleaders
By David Manner If you are familiar with cheerleading, then you understand that its goal is to generate spirit. A cheerleader’s routines are usually scripted or repetitive. They are coached, practiced, and performed in order to rally enthusiasm, create energy, and...
The Centralization of Modern Worship Music: Why a Few Voices Dominating Worship Music Is a Danger
I have great concern about the facts released in a recent article by Relevant Magazine, Inside Worship’s New Power Structure: How the Industry Has Quietly Shifted in 2025. The article is based on a report from Worship Leader Research. by First, let’s explore the...
A Great Resource to Determine Theological Strength of Song Lyrics
In the worship leader training I do as well as articles I write on this blog, I stress the importance of being sure the lyrics of the songs we sing in worship are theologically sound and align with the doctrine of your church. Unfortunately, there are many popular...
Worship Announcements: Measure Twice, Cut Once
One of my pet peeves is poorly done announcements that detract from our corporate worship experiences. Today, I share with you a post by my friend, David Manner, a frequent contributor to this blog: By David Manner Worship that occurs outside of the service is just as...
Wilson Pro AVL to Teach Three Key Classes at Renewing Worship EXPO 2025
The Renewing Worship EXPO 2025 is shaping up to be a must-attend event for worship leaders, tech teams, and ministry professionals seeking to enhance their skills in creating meaningful and impactful worship experiences. Among the standout presenters is Mike Wilson...
Bring your children and youth with you to the Renewing Worship Expo
This year's Renewing Worship Expo on September 27 (with bonus events on September 26) is a great place to bring your kids from kindergarten through 12th grade! Training and encouragement for your student band and choirs. Your student band/vocalists should sign up for...
Finding the Best Keys for Congregation Songs (Free eBook)
Much of this post is reprinted from a previous post - updated and expanded. Free eBook offered. One of the greatest reasons people are not singing in worship today is because many worship bands are pitching songs in keys too high for the average singer. The post, 9...
Top 5 Hymns for Modern Worship
I have followed Don Chapman's blog since its inception in 2002. His worship resources have been a great blessing to me and worship ministries worldwide. Don specializes in creating contemporary arrangements of hymns. You can check out his resources at HymnCharts.com...
SBC Worship platform now live
I am really excited to announce the launch of a resource that has been in the works for a long time. SBCWorship.com will provide curated resources for worship leaders--much of it at no cost. Take time to explore the new site and find resources to help equip you in...
Creating Practice Tracks for Your Choir or Vocal Teams
One of the best ways to help your choir or vocal team be successful with their music is to provide a powerful learning aid for them that continues beyond the weekly rehearsal times. I have found choirs will attain a higher level of excellence and be able to memorize...
How to print choral music that only comes in downloadable PDF format
Today, many choral music publishers are not providing an option for print music in lots of their titles. Digital distribution has become a popular method for sales. Unfortunately, if your choir members do not all have tablets to use for their music, you must purchase...
The Renewing Worship EXPO 2025 UPDATES
Friday & Saturday, September 26-27, 2025 Western Avenue Baptist Church, Statesville, NC In the last weeks, many details of the Renewing Worship EXPO have fallen into place and some activities have been added. Take a look at all that is going on at this epic...
EXPO Night of Worship on Friday Evening
On Friday night, September 26, 2025, as part of the Renewing Worship EXPO, there will be a Night of Worship featuring three amazing groups. This will be a night for worship teams, who are usually busy fulfilling their calling to lead their congregations in worship, to...
EXPO Kids Worship Camp
This year's Renewing Worship EXPO will include our first ever EXPO Kids Worship Camp for children in kindergarten through sixth grade! Now parents can bring their K-6 kids with them and give them a world-class worship & music experience as well. The camp will take...
A Choir Retreat with Joseph Martin will be offered in October
NC Baptists have two amazing opportunities for their choirs this fall. A one-day retreat with Bradley Knight at the Renewing Worship EXPO. This event will lean more towards the modern worship choir, singing more contemporary Christian worship music that will be...
Scripture Sings!
Worship leader, are you developing a pipeline to raise up worship leaders in your church? Are you obsessing over the discipleship of the children in your church? Whitney Head has some great thoughts pertaining to these questions. Whitney will be leading breakouts at...
Two Instrumental Festivals to Be Held in August 2025
Two of our churches offer excellent weekend festivals that work around your church schedules to give orchestral players a wonderful opportunity to use their gifts to glorify God with a full orchestra in a worship experience. Reach out to either Connie and/or Michael...
How to win the worship wars
Dr. Joe Crider, in an episode of Ministry Now from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, discusses how ministers can navigate the conflict between traditional and contemporary worship styles. Dr. Crider will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Renewing...
EXPO will hold choral reading session on Friday afternoon
Choirs are on the comeback in churches all over the nation! Publishers are producing amazing arrangements to help these choirs lead worship in their local churches. This year's Renewing Worship EXPO will have FIVE of the top publishers present sharing their great...
Free Software for your church needs
The company ChurchApps desires to see your church grow by giving you access to the latest technology solutions, logistics, instructions, mentoring and spiritual content--AT NO COST TO YOU! They have built a number of free and open-source solutions to help you with...
EXPO offers help for church pianists to adapt to lead sheets and chord charts
Church pianists are being called upon more frequently to realize accompaniments for songs from a chord chart or lead sheet. This skill requires a thorough knowledge of chords, chord voicings, and chord inversions. Since the piano keyboard is the ultimate audio-visual...
Breakout Classes at the Renewing Worship EXPO 2025
Here is our final listing of nearly 60 breakout classes being offered. At the bottom of the page is a listing of class title by period taught to help you in your registration process. KennyGENERAL WORSHIP LEADERSHIP 7 Rhythms of Corporate Worship - Joe Crider - In...
Real Men Sing
By David Manner Singing badly is not an excuse not to sing in church. When I was a child, the melodies I heard my dad sing during our church worship services weren’t close to the melodies the rest of our congregation was singing. But my dad was modeling for me and...
Children’s Choir Training coming to the Renewing Worship EXPO
At this year's Renewing Worship EXPO, we will be offering training for children's choir leaders with two amazing clinicians. There will be a track for preschool leaders and one for elementary leaders. Participants in this training will attend the general sessions with...
Worship leaders, turn the lights on in the sanctuary. It’s biblical.
I have seen a great rise in the number of churches that turn the lights off in the sanctuary during corporate worship, while keeping strong lighting on the worship leaders. I have been shocked to see that this practice is now also being adopted by many older,...
Choir Retreat led by world-renowned, Dove Award-winning Bradley Knight at the Renewing Worship EXPO
The choir retreat offered at this year's Renewing Worship EXPO is a great opportunity for your church choir to get refreshing, encouragement, equipping and to have a great time making music! This is a great way to encourage your choir in their ministry and get them...
Important Update: Charity Gayle unable to attend 2025 Renewing Worship EXPO
This post has to be one of the hardest notices I have made in my many years of worship ministry. I cannot tell you how excited I have been about having Charity Gayle as part of this year's Renewing Worship EXPO. The excitement across North Carolina and beyond was...
The NC Baptist Singers and Orchestra is taking applications for new members and an assistant director
The NC Baptist Singers and Orchestra, the worship choir for NC Baptists, is taking applications for new members for the 2025-26 season as well as looking for a new male director to replace Kenny Lamm, who is stepping down from that role to free up time for many new...
Four Steps to Care for Your Voice
by Sheri Gould, Sheri will be leading breakout classes for the upcoming Renewing Worship EXPO on September 27th. At our last EXPO, her classes were packed out with over 100 people in each. Register now to take advantage of lower pricing. BASIC HEALTH CARE FOR YOUR...
Social Media Shareables
Today, I want to share with you a number of social media shareable graphics that get at the heart of worship. Feel free to download and use these in whatever way can help you.
Moving Beyond Playlist Worship – PART SEVEN – EXAMPLE
It has been a while since I posted the series on Getting Beyond Playlist Worship. As mentioned, so often our times of worship feel disjointed due to a stringing together of separate songs that don't take the worshipper on a journey of worship, but feel more like a...
Worship Drums: How to talk to your drummer as a worship leader
This resource is from WorshipMinistryTraining.com and is republished here with permission. Have you ever stood in front of your drummer, making random mouth noises and flailing arm gestures, hoping they'll understand what you want them to play? If you struggle...
Verses of Praise
One of the best ways worship leaders can encourage the congregation is to quote the Bible. Below is a list of 144 Bible verses about praising God. Commit some of these verses to memory and use them in your times of worship leading. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due...
Worship Service Songs Don’t Just Set the Table for the Sermon
by Dr. David Manner Setting the table in baseball slang is when a utility hitter walks or gets a base hit so the power hitter that follows him in the line-up can drive everyone home. Setting the table for a meal is when we put utensils in place so everyone will be...
Preparing for Holy Week, Part One
Earlier, I discussed the importance of celebrating Lent in the Baptist church. Today, I will begin to flesh out some ways that you can make Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, become a very special time in the life of your congregation. The primary days of...
Preparing for Holy Week, Part Two
This week, I am sharing with you a Good Friday Service that will take some preparation but can be a very meaningful service for your church. Select songs from your congregation's repertoire that will fit each place in the service. The songs here all come from the...
Preparing for Holy Week, Part Three
This week, I would like to guide you in putting together a Maundy Thursday service. Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus, so part of the service would involve the congregation partaking of the Lord's Supper. I will present a few ideas, and I encourage...
Podcast: The heart of worship: A guide to unified church worship
This podcast summarizes the first chapter of Kenny Lamm's The Worship Ministry Guidebook and explores the foundations of worship. It begins by defining worship, emphasizing that everyone is a worshipper, often misdirecting their devotion. The text advocates for...
Embracing Lent: The Spiritual Benefits of Fasting
For many Baptists, the concept of Lent is somewhat unfamiliar. Check out my earlier post about Why Baptist Churches Should Celebrate Lent. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that I would encourage all Christians to practice from time to time. The following post gives...
The Heart of a Worship Leader: Giving God the Glory
As worship leaders, we have the incredible privilege of helping to facilitate the worship of God's people. We spend hours preparing, rehearsing, and planning, all with the goal of creating an atmosphere where people can encounter the transformational power of God. But...
10 WAYS NOT TO GET READY FOR WORSHIP THIS WEEKEND
by Chuck Lawless As you and your family think about gathering with others for worship this weekend, here are some ways NOT to get ready: Don’t do any preparation at all. Just show up for worship because it’s the right time, and you might get out of the worship service...
Are worshippers looking for more authentic worship void of high-production elements?
This article is a repost of the original that came out in early 2023 when God was moving across college campuses. It gets at areas of worship that are still being abused today keeping our people from truly encountering God in transformational times of worship.Are...
Developing a missional DNA in your worship ministry
Note: This is an updated post from 2023, brought back to help stress an emphasis to get on mission in 2025. I believe we would all agree that our churches mustn’t be primarily inward-focused—just taking care of the needs of the church body. Churches that fail to...
Discipling the choir in rehearsal while bringing great impact to worship leading
Discipleship is an important part, perhaps the most crucial part of choir preparation. A major responsibility of the worship leader is discipleship---discipleship of the congregation through corporate worship and discipleship of the various worship teams in the...
Calling worship leaders to help renew worship in mission contexts
Whether you go along with your church missions team to another country to do medical, construction or evangelism and at the same time provide training for worship leaders and teams in that same area, or you want to take your worship team on mission to another country...
Projecting? Punctuate, Please!
The vast majority of church lyric projection I see are without punctuation. David Manner makes a great argument in his article below of why that may be compromising our discipleship by blurring the true message of the lyrics, perhaps at times rendering them incorrect...
New Year’s Resolutions for Worship Leaders
The beginning of the year is a time people traditionally evaluate their lives and determine areas of needed change or improvement and then resolve to do something to achieve goals to improve. Today, I bring a four considerations for you as you begin this year. The...
Christmas Carol Nightmare
Sometimes, you just need a laugh... Thanks to Musicademy.com for sharing these: Note: This is one of my favorite Christmas songs (not done in this way) Warning: Do not try this in your church.Click the play button above for O Holy Night - an unforgettable experience!...
Consider singing songs taken directly from the Bible with your congregation
I was recently introduced to Scripture Hymnal, a project where every song come directly from God's Word, and was VERY impressed with this resource for congregational singing. With their hymnal, sheet music, and chord charts of 106 songs, the Scripture Hymnal team...
Free Getty Christmas Hymnal with Audio
RING IN THE ADVENT SEASON WITH 15 FREE CHRISTMAS SONGS Downloads include sheet music & MP3s Getty Music is offering a wonderful gift for Christmas. Read on: Countless songs refer to Christmas in some way, but only some are worth singing through the ages. The best...
How to improve your church’s livestream mix and vocal quality
This resource is from WorshipMinistryTraining.com and is republished here with permission. Does your church's livestream mix sound bad? You're not alone. Most church's don't have professional audio engineers on staff. It's usually a volunteer who's managing the "front...
Learn to hear and sing HARMONY (and teach your vocalists)!
Today's resource comes from the WorshipMinistryTraining.com. Most worship leaders can sing...but not all can sing harmony. The same is true with the singers on your team. You might have a singer with a strong voice, but they struggle to find the correct harmonies. How...
Do You Really LOVE Your Worship Team?
I wrote this article about seven years ago and ran across it again this week. I thought it would be a great reminder to all of us of the importance of love within our worship teams. KennyI just returned from being in Asia for over two weeks. It was the fourth year in...
Marketing and experiential consumption
By David Manner Marketing is an intentional process of identifying who the consumer is, determining the wants and needs of that consumer, and offering a product that satisfies those wants and needs in order to secure their loyalty. Marketers have realized that...
Planning a Worship Event for People with Diverse Worship Styles
I often lead worship in events that have participants from many churches. These churches represent very differing worship styles and worship music repertoire. Some sing only from an open hymnal and do not utilize many if any, modern worship songs. Some sing only the...
A calling to worship ministry, part three
As worship leaders, it is important for us to identify God’s calling on our lives to the worship ministry. Over the next three weeks, we will take some time to understand God’s different calls on our lives. Much of the material I will be sharing with you comes from a...
A calling to worship ministry, part two
As worship leaders, it is important for us to identify God’s calling on our lives to the worship ministry. Over the next three weeks, we will take some time to understand God’s different calls on our lives. Much of the material I will be sharing with you comes from a...
A calling to worship ministry, part one
As worship leaders, it is important for us to identify God’s calling on our lives to the worship ministry. Over the next three weeks, we will take some time to understand God’s different calls on our lives. Much of the material I will be sharing with you comes from a...
3 Challenges to Prepare Well for Worship During the Week
by Chuck Lawless Most of us, I suspect, don’t think about getting ready for worship until much later in the week—if we truly prepare at all for gathering with the people on Sunday. It’s Monday, so it’s early in the week; yet, that fact also gives us time to prepare...
5 Questions Before a Ministry Move
By David Manner Most of us don’t begin a new ministry position believing we will only stay for a few years. Our intentions are noble to plant our lives for the long haul. But after exhausting our good ideas we often get bored, our ministry initiatives get stale, our...
Reawaken Hymns — a great source for modern arrangements of classic hymns
Reawaken Hymns is a worship resource from musician Nathan Drake that provides classic hymns in a modern setting to help your church not only connect the generations, but expose the younger generation to the great theological depths of many of the old hymns. As Nathan...
The End of Finale: Premier Music Notation Software Going Out of Business
After nearly four decades of equipping composers and arrangers with premier software for musical composition, MakeMusic, the company that produces Finale, has announced they will quit producing the software--no more updates and only one year of support remaining. The...
When Ministry Is Hard…Remember
by David Manner When ministry feels like being caught in the force of a riptide that pulls you away from the safety of the shore; When the current drags you under again and again and rolls you around on the sandy bottom; and When it seems to take longer each time for...
Check out these podcasts involving Renewing Worship
Over the past months, several podcasts have been produced related to the ministry of Renewing Worship. If you missed one or more, here is a compilation for you to locate ones that might be helpful to your life and ministry.
9 reasons people (still) aren’t singing in worship
This podcast first appeared on NCBaptist.org. We realized that many of our Renewing Worship readers may have missed this, so we are posting it here as well.10 years after its release, Kenny Lamm’s article “9 reasons people aren’t singing in worship” continues to...
Removing Obstacles to Congregational Singing
In this interview, The Worship Initiative's Andrew McKinney talks with NC Baptists' Kenny Lamm. Topics include: Why vibrant, participatory, congregational worship is important; the pitfalls of "Playlist Worship;" the differences in festival, personal and corporate...
9 Signs Your Church Is Legendary
By David Manner A legend is an iconic story that occurred in the past but continues to resurface in order to remember the actions or activities of an individual or organization. Legend is based on a shared history of revered and renowned collective experiences that...
A great search engine for worship and preaching ideas
Planning worship goes well beyond choosing great songs that will disciple your congregation and give them voice to their worship and praise with theological integrity. Finding the right reading, prayer, sermon illustration, service ideas and so much more can be a...
Now a Free ProPresenter/Proclaim Alternative Is Available for Churches
Churches that are attempting to run their church video with PowerPoint have long been at a terrible disadvantage to those that are using software like ProPresenter, Proclaim, Easy Worship and others. Unfortunately, these better solutions can cost a lot of money--more...
Mentoring Worship Leaders to Become Mentoring Worship Leaders: Summary (Part Six)
Mentoring novice worship leaders is a crucial part of our work as experienced worship leaders. As you will see in this series of posts, education alone falls short in providing much-needed direction in the life and ministry of worship leaders. In these six posts, my...
Mentoring Worship Leaders to Become Mentoring Worship Leaders: Three Practical Areas Necessary in Mentorship (Part Five)
Mentoring novice worship leaders is a crucial part of our work as experienced worship leaders. As you will see in this series of posts, education alone falls short in providing much-needed direction in the life and ministry of worship leaders. In these six posts, my...
Mentoring Worship Leaders to Become Mentoring Worship Leaders: The Shortfall of Academia (Part Four)
Mentoring novice worship leaders is a crucial part of our work as experienced worship leaders. As you will see in this series of posts, education alone falls short in providing much-needed direction in the life and ministry of worship leaders. In these six posts, my...
9 Reasons People Aren’t Singing in Worship – Revisited and Updated
Ten years ago, I wrote the article, 9 Reasons People Aren't Singing in Worship. Little did I know that this article would turn viral multiple times (in one day, over 100,000 people accessed the article), be published in eight languages, read in over 220 countries and...
Mentoring Worship Leaders to Become Mentoring Worship Leaders: The Biblical Foundation for Mentorship (Part Three)
Mentoring novice worship leaders is a crucial part of our work as experienced worship leaders. As you will see in this series of posts, education alone falls short in providing much-needed direction in the life and ministry of worship leaders. In these six posts, my...
Podcast: 9 Reasons Your Church Isn’t Singing
10th Anniversary of Viral Worship Article Today, June 11, 2024, marks exactly 10 years since the post, 9 Reasons People Aren't Singing in Worship, was released. The article has been read by over 1.5 million people just on our site (it is also published on other sites...
Mentoring Worship Leaders to Become Mentoring Worship Leaders: What is Mentoring? (Part Two)
Mentoring novice worship leaders is a crucial part of our work as experienced worship leaders. As you will see in this series of posts, education alone falls short in providing much-needed direction in the life and ministry of worship leaders. In these six posts, my...
Mentoring Worship Leaders to Become Mentoring Worship Leaders: Why the Need (Part One)
Mentoring novice worship leaders is a crucial part of our work as experienced worship leaders. As you will see in this series of posts, education alone falls short in providing much-needed direction in the life and ministry of worship leaders. In these six posts, my...
Offering Ourselves: Toward a More Meaningful Offering in Worship
In my recent series, Moving Beyond Playlist Worship, I talked about the importance of utilizing creative elements of worship and helping people be more participative in worship. Just recently, I read an article by Mike Farley, Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Central...
Podcast from Ministry Focus: Worship Essentials, Part Three
NC Baptist worship leader, Bryan Foster, recently interviewed me for his podcast: Ministry Focus--Worship Essentials. I had a blast talking with Bryan--he has a way of putting people at ease. The interview was lengthy, so Bryan has divided the discussion into three...
Podcast from Ministry Focus: Worship Essentials, Part Two
NC Baptist worship leader, Bryan Foster, recently interviewed me for his podcast: Ministry Focus--Worship Essentials. I had a blast talking with Bryan--he has a way of putting people at ease. The interview was lengthy, so Bryan has divided the discussion into three...
Podcast from Ministry Focus: Worship Essentials, Part One
NC Baptist worship leader, Bryan Foster, recently interviewed me for his podcast: Ministry Focus--Worship Essentials. I had a blast talking with Bryan--he has a way of putting people at ease. The interview was lengthy, so Bryan has divided the discussion into three...
Six Ways Preachers Can Help Their Congregations Worship
I often speak about the great importance the senior pastor has in influencing a culture of participatory worship in the church. Dr. Linn does a great job of lining out some of the important ways the pastor can help the congregation really worship. Kenny Lamm By Dr....
9 Reasons Your Church Might Need a Choir
On Monday night of the annual meeting last November, we involved a choir, orchestra, rhythm section (praise band) and vocal team to lead worship. I have heard so many comments about the powerful worship Monday night being probably the best worship experience they have...
20 Prayers for Our Pastors
Too often, we are critical of our pastors/worship leaders. Too often, we expect superhero abilities from them. What if we all took time to pray earnestly for our leaders? I believe God will not only answer our prayers to enable our leaders to serve better, but He will...
NC Baptists Partner with the Worship Initiative
As you know, we are passionate about corporate worship in our local churches. As an expression of this passion, we are committed to helping you thrive as a minister and musician within the context of your local body of Christ in various ways through online and...
Worship Ministry in the Smaller-Membership Church
Dr. David Horton interviewed NC Baptist Worship Ministries Strategist, Kenny Lamm, for a new course that will be offered at Fruitland Baptist Bible College. The interview's content is so relevant to smaller-membership churches that it was adapted for use here. The...
Moving Beyond Playlist Worship – PART SIX
Too often, we, as worship leaders, can get into a rut in our worship planning. In this series of posts, I want us to evaluate our methods and thought processes as we design our times of worship. Our church’s corporate worship times are the primary means by which the...
Moving Beyond Playlist Worship – PART FIVE
Too often, we, as worship leaders, can get into a rut in our worship planning. In this series of posts, I want us to evaluate our methods and thought processes as we design our times of worship. Our church’s corporate worship times are the primary means by which the...
Moving Beyond Playlist Worship – PART FOUR
Too often, we, as worship leaders, can get into a rut in our worship planning. In this series of posts, I want us to evaluate our methods and thought processes as we design our times of worship. Our church’s corporate worship times are the primary means by which the...
Moving Beyond Playlist Worship – PART THREE
Too often, we, as worship leaders, can get into a rut in our worship planning. In this series of posts, I want us to evaluate our methods and thought processes as we design our times of worship. Our church’s corporate worship times are the primary means by which the...
Moving Beyond Playlist Worship – PART TWO
Too often, we, as worship leaders, can get into a rut in our worship planning. In this series of posts, I want us to evaluate our methods and thought processes as we design our times of worship. Our church’s corporate worship times are the primary means by which the...
Moving beyond playlist worship
Is your church's worship in a rut? Are you basically choosing a few songs that you like and hitting play on Sunday mornings? It should be SO MUCH MORE than that.Too often, we, as worship leaders, can get into a rut in our worship planning. In this series of posts, I...
Podcast from Revitalize and Replant: 9 Reasons People Aren’t Singing in Your Worship Gathering
Recently on Mark Clifton's Revitalize and Replant podcast, Mark was joined by Kyle Bueermann to discuss my blog post, 9 Reasons People Aren't Singing in Worship--an article I wrote almost 10 years ago. It was great to hear their commentary on this! Listen and review...
Why Baptist Churches Should Celebrate Lent
The Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday (March 5, 2025). In the past I have posted this article about Baptist churches and Lent. I thought it would be timely to update and repost this as we are approaching the Lenten season. Whether your church is online or in...
Charles Spurgeon’s Insights into a church’s hymnody
One area of controversy in the church that I have written about here and in the book, The Worship Ministry Guidebook, is that of singing songs from "questionable" sources. That is not a new battle in the Christian church as we may think. Indeed, Charles Spurgeon wrote...
Join us for the NC Baptist Disciple-Making Conference
2024 DISCIPLE-MAKING CONFERENCE Hickory Grove Baptist Church Hickory Grove Baptist Church (Mallard Creek Campus), Mallard Creek Road, Charlotte, NC Tuesday, February 27th, 2024 Most ministry leaders are squeezed into a mold of measuring success by what happens at...
50 Questions Worship Leaders Should Ask Before Sunday
By David Manner As worship leaders, we don’t often consider evaluating our own leadership until we receive complaints about something we are or aren’t doing or singing. When those criticisms occur, consequently, our responses are usually defensive rather than...
Check out the recently-released Top 100 worship songs from CCLI
The listing of the top 100 worship songs from North American churches based on reports to CCLI was just released. It comes out every 6 months. Check out the list along with good congregational keys, listening links to Spotify and much more on our page devoted to this....
New Year’s Resolution: Improve as a Worship Leader
Many of us take an inventory at the first of the year to determine areas of our lives that we want to improve and make definite plans for reaching those goals. This year, if you are a worship leader, I encourage you to consider taking part in training designed to help...
“All is well, All is well.” How to worship when all is not well
By Randy Lind Here we are in the Advent Season again. It is a time of waiting and anticipation as we celebrate the birth of Christ. This season is filled with so many things! There are parties and gatherings at school, work, and in our homes as we not only anticipate...
Top Selling Christmas Songs from LifeWay Worship
Still looking for the perfect Christmas song to use in an upcoming worship service? Here are the top-selling Christmas songs from LifewayWorship.com divided into contemporary carols and Christmas worship songs. Click on the link to learn more about each selection. I...
10 Encouragements When Ministry Is Hard
I am sharing with you an article written by my friend, David Manner today. After a season of piling on too many things in ministry, I needed to hear these words, “Come to me those who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Shut off all the busyness of life...
EXPO 23 Breakout Session Audio – Choir Leadership/Songwriting/Student Worship
Here is the fourth installment of the audio recordings of the breakout classes at the 2023 Renewing Worship EXPO. Check out the previous posts: General Worship Leadership Band/Pianists Production/TechChoir LeadershipChoir Leadership – David Hamilton How to lead your...
EXPO 23 Breakout Session Audio – Band/Pianists
Here is the third installment of the audio recordings of the breakout classes at the 2023 Renewing Worship EXPO. Check out the previous posts: General Worship Leadership Production/TechBANDDrums and Bass - Daniel Sibrian & Justin Tweito Find the heartbeat of the...
EXPO 23 Breakout Session Audio – Production/Tech
Here is the second installment of the audio recordings of the breakout classes at the 2023 Renewing Worship EXPO. Check out the previous posts: General Worship Leadership Band/PianistsPRODUCTION/TECHSimple Steps to Increase Production Value - Adam Dye / Aidan McKernan...
EXPO 23 Breakout Session Audio – General Worship Leadership
Here is the first installment of the audio recordings of the breakout classes at the 2023 Renewing Worship EXPO. Check out other posts: Production/Tech Band/PianistsGENERAL WORSHIP LEADERSHIPWe Have a Point! - Carrie Greening Working with your pastor & other...
Beyond the EXPO
The Renewing Worship EXPO was held a couple of weeks ago and was met with great enthusiasm as people were encouraged, equipped and inspired in their calling as worship leaders. The feedback continues to pour in from teams that had great experiences and can't wait for...
Two Worship-Leading Achille’s Heels
THIS POST COMES FROM OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER OF THE UPCOMING RENEWING WORSHIP EXPO, TO BE HELD IN APEX ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30. By David Manner The legend is told that when Achilles was an infant, his mother dipped him into the river Styx to make him immortal. But since...
Be Vocally Prepared for Leading Worship
by Sheri Gould Sheri will be one of many leaders at the Renewing Worship EXPO on September 30 in Apex, NC. Come learn from her in the three breakout classes she is leading. Be Prepared! Being prepared for your worship/singing experience can make all the difference...
Cheap Church Attendees
This post comes from our keynote speaker of the upcoming Renewing Worship EXPO, to be held in Apex on Saturday, September 30. By David Manner We seem to have forgotten or maybe ignored that being part of the body of Christ often requires sacrifice. So, instead of...
Podcast: Healthy Worship. Healthy Church. (Part 2)
What is your worship ministry culture like? Is your church struggling with gaining and retaining volunteers in your worship ministry? How is the health of your staff? In this episode, N.C. Baptists’ worship ministries strategist Kenny Lamm and David Manner, executive...
Podcast: Healthy Worship. Healthy Church. (Part 1)
How is your church’s worship doing? Worship health gives an insight to the overall well-being of your church, and intergenerational worship plays an important role. I had opportunity to discuss the connection between worship health and church health with my friend,...
My thoughts on Lifeway Worship’s recent announcements
Last week, Lifeway Worship posted this message:July 18, 2023 Dear lifewayworship.com customer, At Lifeway, we exist to honor God and serve churches by designing trustworthy experiences that fuel ministry. That's why taking anything out of print or discontinuing any...
Q&A: New book offers comprehensive worship resource for church leaders
By Chad Austin, Biblical Recorder Managing Editor Churches around the world are experiencing a lack of congregational participation during corporate worship, and the reason might surprise you. Worship leaders with good intentions may be unknowingly contributing to the...
Linking Worship Songs Musically–Final Thoughts
This post is a part of a series on Providing Seamless Transitions Between Songs in Your Worship Set, Please begin with the first article as these build upon one another. In past lessons, we have looked at connecting songs in the same key, a half or whole step apart...
New Worship Book Launching Soon
On July 13, 2023, The Worship Ministry Guidebook: Engaging Your Congregation in Transformational Worship will become available to worship leaders and teams around the world. The book is the culmination of 20 years of worship leader training curriculum refinement to...
Seamlessly Connecting Songs a Fourth or Fifth Apart
This post is a part of a series on Providing Seamless Transitions Between Songs in Your Worship Set, Please begin with the first article as these build upon one another. In past lessons, we have looked at connecting songs in the same key or a half or whole step...
Seamlessly Connecting Songs a Half or Whole Step Apart
This post is a part of a series on Providing Seamless Transitions Between Songs in Your Worship Set, Please begin with the first article as these build upon one another. Take a look at this short explainer video:Note: It is generally best to move up in keys, not...
Seamlessly Connecting Songs in the Same Key (Part Two)
This week we continue to consider ways to seamlessly connect songs in your worship set to provide a smooth transition or journey of worship. If you missed the previous lessons, check out part one first. Last week, we looked at connecting songs in the same key....
Seamlessly connecting songs in the same key (part one)
This week we continue to consider ways to seamlessly connect songs in your worship set to provide a smooth transition or journey of worship. If you missed the previous lessons, check out part one first. The easiest way to connect songs is obviously when they are in...
Using Planned Spontaneity to Connect Songs in Worship
If you did not read our last post on Providing Seamless Transitions Between Songs in Your Worship Set, take a look now. Each post will be building upon the previous information. Planned Spontaneity describes a planned connection between two songs where it seems as you...
Providing Seamless Transitions Between Songs in Your Worship Set
Too often today, worship teams lead congregations in two or more songs in succession, but the connection between the songs is often disjointed and awkward. The flow stops while musicians adjust capos or change their music. Sometimes it is like shifting into reverse...
Developing a pipeline
In the Resourcing Worship virtual worship conference held a few years ago, Dr. Jonathan Rodgers led this great breakout session on training up the next generation of worship leaders. While we are so focused on making it through these next months, we cannot lose sight...
A resource for finding new worship songs for your congregation
Keeping up with the latest worship music can be quite a chore for worship leaders. We try to make that task much easier for you! Each week, we publish the top 20 worship songs from three primary sources: CCLI - coming from their weekly reports of songs being sung in...
The Children Are Our Future
by Dr. Will Whittaker Whitney Houston was on to something when she sang, “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” If we’re going to a church of all ages, we will have to invest in our students and children. The old adage is...
Online Community for NC Baptist Worship Leaders Being Launched
A community of worship leaders striving to lead our congregations in transformational worship NC Baptist worship leaders are encouraged to join our online community on WhatsApp. This will allow participants to share prayer concerns, ask questions to the community,...
Worship Leader: You’re an Usher, Not the Bride
This is a repost of an article by David Manner run on this site some time ago. David will be our keynote speaker at the upcoming Renewing Worship EXPO on September 30, 2023.By David Manner Most Protestant churches have rejected the old covenant practice of recognizing...
Securing Clearances for Copyrights on a Recording Project
If you want to record or distribute a song that you do not own or control, U.S. Copyright Law requires that you get a mechanical license. This is required regardless of whether or not you are selling the copies that you make. If your church wants to produce a CD with...
Worship Journey with Paul Baloche
I ran this post five years ago after we hosted Paul Baloche for a worship conference. I am reposting this because the wisdom in this teaching is timeless. Take some time to find ways to improve your worship leadership. KennyWe were recently blessed to host a...
Preparing for revival
If you are a worship leader, click here for a page written especially for you.Revival is breaking out in various places around the US, a movement that seemed to have been birthed at Asbury University this month and is spreading to many college campuses. Most recently,...
Worship leaders, let’s fan the flames of revival!
This post is targeted at worship leaders. If you are not a worship leader, click here for an article written for you.Revival is breaking out in various places around the US, a movement that seemed to have been birthed at Asbury University this month and is spreading...
Paul Baloche Instructional Videos
Paul Baloche is one of my favorite worship leaders. He has a gift for connecting with the congregation and making them feel at home in their times of corporate worship. He also does and amazing job of leading a journey of worship with the congregation. A few years...
15 Songs to Consider for Easter and Lenten Worship
Easter will be here soon, and now is the time to be planning out a new song or two we may want to introduce to your church in the next weeks. I have compiled a list of 15 songs (some old, some new) that may be new to your congregation and deserve a hearing as you...
LifeWayWorship’s Top 40 Songs of 2022
LifeWayWorship.com just released the top 40 bestselling congregational songs for 2022. Take a look and get familiar with the ones you do not know. You might find some great new songs for your congregation to introduce in 2023. Check out the Songs for Worship series to...
Worship evaluation checklist
When was the last time you did an honest evaluation of your worship service? I’m not talking about just sitting around on Monday morning asking, “How did it go Sunday?” While that kind of evaluative interchange can be helpful, doing a much more intensive evaluation...
Who’s your Alice?
This post is hard for me to write but one I feel is of great importance to relay to each of you. Think for a moment of all the people in your life who have poured into you, discipled you, loved you, encouraged you, and been great cheerleaders as you have journeyed...
3 Points of Focus for the Christmas Production Season
I ran this article several years ago, but I think it is valuable to remind ourselves of these things as the busy times of Christmas production is ramping up. Thanks to my friend, Mike Harland, for contributing this. Kenny By Mike Harland It’s the time of year...
Worship Times at the NC Baptist Annual Meeting 2022
Nearly 1,800 people gathered together for the 2022 NC Baptist Annual meeting in Greensboro, NC. I have had many inquiries about these times of worship, so today I will outline what we did and give you links to resources for various song arrangements. Check out a...
How Your Church Can Strengthen Your Pastors
by Tobin Perry, news correspondent, Biblical Recorder In recent months, conversations about pastoral burnout have moved from lunch counters where pastors talk over a meal to the front pages of national news organizations like The New York Times, The Washington...
Modern Songs for Intergenerational Worship
For several years, I have been compiling a list of top CCLI songs and the best keys for congregational singing. This listing is referenced by leaders in many countries in determining keys that will engage the congregation best in singing their praises. Some time ago I...
Dear Non-Singing Pastor
By David Manner Dear Non-Singing Pastor, We depend on you as a primary worship leader for our congregation. We agree that your leadership centers more on worship through the Word and Table than through the music. And we also understand and affirm that worship can’t be...
7 WAYS TO EVALUATE THIS PAST WEEKEND’S WORSHIP SERVICE
By Chuck Lawless Too often, we spend little time evaluating our worship service. We may critique based on attendance, but seldom do we review it with intentionality. Use these questions to evaluate your church’s worship service this past weekend—including evaluating...
A Theology of Technology for Worship Teams
This is Zac Hicks' keynote presentation from the November 2021 Churchfront Live event. Zac's presentation contains helpful information and advice for everyone that is involved in worship ministry. Zac discusses how to bridge the gap between technology and theology,...
Renewing Worship Training Goes to Cambodia
Twenty years ago, I found that my two greatest passions in ministry, worship and missions, could come together when I was invited to take a team to Malaysia to lead IMB missionary families in worship during their annual conference. Little did I know that that trip...
The Future Is Now
By Will Whittaker In their book, Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids, Powell and Clark found that students crave affirmation and relationships with adults in their community of faith.[i] It makes them feel valued. They want to get...
Join for a Night of Worship with the NC Baptist Singers & Orchestra
While many churches are seeing a decline in choirs and many have abolished the choir, I still believe that a vital worship-leading choir can be a great catalyst to gathered worship. A backdrop of a multitude of people actively praising God encourages the congregation...
20 Blessings for Continuous Worship
By David Manner Worship isn’t just our response to God’s revelation through the songs we sing on Sunday, it’s also our response through the rhythms and harmonies of life on Monday. Worshiping as we gather here and scatter there are both biblical and necessary if we...
Sing! Conference Speaker Highlights
The Sing! Conference, produced by Keith & Kristyn Getty, is a great annual worship conference. They have curated some of the best speakers from some past conferences in the videos below. Take some time to view/listen to these videos. Each video is only 5-10...
Top Resources by Specific Needs of Your Church
MY WORSHIP LEADER NEEDS HELP/LACKS TRAINING. Training for worship leaders Comprehensive Worship Leader Training Speaking Between Songs and Other Elements of Worship A Week in the Life of a Worship Leader Catalog of Online Training Resources for Worship Leaders 10...
Navigating Conflict in Worship Ministry
Great numbers of churches are sensing God's leading to lay aside *ageism in order to seek unified, multigenerational and perhaps multiethnic congregational worship. Often the result is conflict caused by people who are unwilling to sacrifice preferences for biblical...
Transposr – Transpose Your Audio Files and Chord Charts for Free
Often, we have demo tracks or backing tracks that are not in the correct key. Now there is an excellent online resource to transpose your audio files and chord charts easily. Transposr.com allows you to copy and paste a text chord chart to transpose to any key in one...
Staying Current with Today’s Worship Songs
As worship leaders, we want to find the best new songs to introduce to our congregations. I recently wrote at length about places to find new songs and how to filter them to see if they are suitable for your congregation. Today I want to feature a simple way for you...
Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The Clash of Ministry Calling Versus Contentment
Most of us don’t begin a new ministry position believing we’ll only stay for a few years. We have noble intentions to plant our lives for the long haul. But then Covid hits and we get beaten up from one side or the other and sometimes both sides at the same time. Or,...
Determining Pay for the Interim Worship Leader
I am often asked about the amount a church should pay an interim worship leader. After discussing this with a number of other consultants on this issue, I present two "formulas" for determining a pay range. #1 - TASK-BASED DETERMINE BASELINE SALARY If the open...
Being Salt and Light in Social Media
I think we would all agree that the influence of social media has the power to adversely change people. One article points out that the use of social media can lead to depression and anxiety, cyberbullying, the "fear of missing out" (FOMO), unrealistic expectation,...
The Greatest Worship Leader
The Greatest Worship Leader: Discovering the Paradox of Kingdom Greatness was written to paint a biblical picture of what true greatness looks like for worship leaders and their teams. The book is broken up into bite-sized chapters that work wonderfully for weekly...
Using Context as Gutter Guards
By Dr. Will Whittaker No matter what size, location, or style your church is, you must consider your church’s history, culture, and context. While we should always hold fast to the biblical foundations of worship, we cannot forget that each church is a unique body....
Updated Listing of Top Worship Resources
This week, as I begin my 13th year of ministry with NC Baptist churches, I have been looking back over the resources that have been published on this site and analyzing web traffic. I have compiled a list of posts, webinars and ebooks that readers have found most...
Should My Church Sing Songs From Bethel and Hillsong?
Over the past months, more and more people are talking about whether or not we should utilize songs coming out of various churches that are embroiled in controversy or known heresies. Bethel seems to be at the forefront of discussions, but Hillsong is also often...
Better Sundays Begin on Monday: Worship Evaluation
The book, Better Sundays Begin on Monday offers foundational worship considerations to help leadership teams ask questions evaluatively rather than defensively. These weekly reflections encourage worship leaders and their teams to think beyond style to biblical and...
Question: Is Your Church a Worshipping Church?
By Chuck Lawless Several years ago, I wrote the book, Discipled Warriors: Growing Healthy Churches That Are Equipped for Spiritual Warfare. In my posts this week, I want to help you assess your church’s health by providing questions to evaluate your church’s approach...
Sources for Choral & Instrumental Music for the Church
The choral & instrumental music production and distribution has been an ever-changing world in the last few years. I was trying to find a definitive listing of the companies currently producing music and also the non-publishers that are fulfilling orders for...
Some Newer Players in the Choral Music World
There has been much concern over the decline of many of the largest providers of sacred choral music for evangelical churches in the last months. This Baptist Press article noted, "Brentwood Benson became the latest in a line of major church music publishers closing...
Why an Intergenerational Model is Better than a Multigenerational Approach
By Dr. Will Whittaker Romans 12:5 (ESV) so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Over the last several years, I’ve noticed a huge push in choral literature for churches with the specific purpose of using multiple generations...
A Song and a Devotional for Holy Week
A modern hymn that has been one of my favorites for several years is The Power of the Cross (Oh, to See the Dawn) by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend. If your congregation is not yet singing this song, I highly recommend it. For this Holy Week edition of the blog, I...
Advanced Worship Leader Training Rolling Out for NC Baptists
There is a tremendous need to equip worship leaders for NC Baptist churches. There is currently a great shortage of worship leaders, and many worship leaders are in need of training or getting refreshed in their leadership. Beginning in July, NC Baptists will have...
Improving Scripture Reading in Gathered Worship
Many churches have renewed interest in the reading of scripture in worship services. Using Bible readings in worship is vital to discipleship of our congregations. Unfortunately, the delivery of scripture readings is often drab and boring, not bringing the Bible to...
A Case for the Church Choir: Where Have All Our Choirs Gone?
By Dr. Will Whittaker Chorus America, a nationally-known advocacy, research, and leadership development organization that supports choral art, has written much on the benefits of singing. Most recently, an article came out in June of 2019 that lauds the benefits of...
Song Lists for Planning Worship
Songs are a major part of your church’s worship. They give your congregation a voice to their worship and praise, and they are vitally important to the building of disciples. People worship best with songs they know. (You do need a regular diet of new songs as well.)...
Post-Pandemic Church: Think Leaner Not Smaller
By David Manner Churches are lamenting the numerical losses they have realized during the last two years of the pandemic. Most are beginning to accept the reality that 2022 numbers are not coming back to 2019 numbers. So, instead of wishing for things to get back to...
Check Out Some Great Modern Worship Songs from People & Songs
In a recent series on Songs in Worship, I talked about sources for worship songs for your church. One source that has really ministered to me in the past months is People & Songs. There are a number of great songs that I believe many of our congregations would...
5 Reasons the Word of God Needs to Saturate the Corporate Worship Gathering
My friend, Dr. Joe Crider, Dean of the School of Church Music and Worship of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, discusses why your corporate worship should be saturated with Scripture. This brief video should definitely get a hearing ASAP! For more great...
Finding a Part-Time Worship Leader for Your Church
Probably one of the most often-asked questions about worship coming to the worship ministries of the Baptist State Convention have to do with finding part-time worship leaders for churches. Many churches have had to move from full-time to part-time positions because...
What to Say Between Worship Songs
Worship leaders are tasked with creating an environment that helps people to worship freely. What we say can be powerful in drawing people in to worship or it can be very distracting. Paul Baloche, in my opinion, if probably the best worship leader I know for putting...
Ministry Prayer for 2022: Lord, Deliver Me From Myself
By David Manner Humility is one of the most difficult qualities for those of us in ministry to embrace and sustain. It is always a challenge to be both up-front and unassuming. In the name of excellence we are often unwilling to take a secondary and supportive role....
NC Baptist Leaders Needed to Provide Brief Updates on Worship Practices in NC Baptist Churches
I often get questions about worship practices in our NC Baptist churches. During COVID, those questions greatly increased--especially concerning COVID practices--masking, congregational singing, choirs, etc. I had no system in place to quickly gather data from a large...
Transform Your Rehearsal
Explore powerful principles that will immediately raise your effectiveness as a rehearsal technician, musical director, and spiritual shepherd. About the presenter: Joseph Bolin Dean, Collinsworth School of Music California Baptist University Over the past 24 years,...
Congregational vs. Festival Worship
Have you ever heard someone say the worship service feels more like a concert than a worship service? We may initially judge the comment as insensitive or out of touch, but in fact, there may be theological implications behind what they are experiencing. We will take...
Looking forward to being on mission together
Today, I am departing from my usual posts designed to help your church's worship to let you know about the future of seeing NC Baptist churches on mission together. I will continue to develop resources and provide training for our churches as I come alongside our...
Are You Serving as a Volunteer or One Called of God?
I often hear worship leaders talk about having problem with the commitment of those on their team--everything from being on time to being prepared. I firmly believe that a person's commitment is strongly connected to the person's sense of calling to that particular...
Helping Your ProPresenter Operators
ProPresenter is quickly becoming the most-used worship presentation software in our churches. Helping volunteers learn to use it well requires training. A new training video has just been released to help with this. Take a look:This video was created to help teach and...
Big Enough Club: Help Your Children In Their Move to “Big Church”
Many churches provide care and specialized worship and discipleship experiences for their preschoolers during the churches corporate worship times up to a certain age. At that time, the children transition to what many refer to as "big church." For many of them, this...
Instruction Videos for Pianists in Worship Band
The Resourcing Worship Virtual Worship Conference held last year had lots of great content. Wyndy South, Contract Keyboard Consultant for the Church Music Department of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board produced an amazing 3-session video series to help...
Song Keys for Maximum Participation
I have written much about churches around the world that are singing congregational songs in keys outside of their singable ranges, turning congregants into spectators. Check out this article for more information. I have updated a resource to help worship leaders...
Worship and the Racial Divide: Panel Discussion
Imagine your church filled with people of multiple colors, nationalities, economic levels, and political beliefs all worshipping God together. The problem with that scenario is that most of us imagined how great it could be as long as they made the needed changes to...
SBC State Consultants Repurpose Worship Resource Website
SBC worship consultants at the state conventions across our nation meet together regularly to discuss topics impacting our churches and strategize ways to help equip our churches. The Resourcing Worship Virtual Worship Conference and the Children's Worship University...
Is Hallmark Planning Your Worship Services?
By David Manner, a frequent contributor to this blog. This article is an excerpt from his new book described at the end of this post. Some congregations and even entire denominations have not embraced the Christian calendar as foundational to their worship planning...
Songs for Worship: How do we introduce new songs in a way that will capture the hearts of our people and help them adopt the song as their own expression of worship?
An important concept to grasp is how we introduce new songs and the follow up to help them become part of the congregation’s vocabulary of worship.Introducing new songs can kill worship. Therefore it is important that we introduce and reinforce new songs in a way that...
Songs for Worship: How Do We Determine the Best Keys for Congregational Singing?
In my last post on song selection, I discussed the importance of selecting songs with great lyrics. This week, I dive into the often-abused area of correct keys for congregational singing. Read on! The Reason why many people are not singing in worship is because we...
Worship: The War That Never Was
By Jonathan Smith I have heard the phrase. You have heard the phrase. "Worship wars." For over twenty years, church members have debated whether traditional hymns or contemporary songs are more worshipful. But the phrase "worship wars" has always been the wrong...
HELPFUL HINTS FOR YOUR JULY 4TH WORSHIP SERVICE
Scott Shepherd is a great friend and colleague. He is my counterpart in Tennessee. He has just written an article about worship in our churches on July 4 that I believe every one of our church worship leaders should read. With his permission, I have reposted the...
Songs for Worship: How Do We Filter New Songs for Our Setting?
Last week, I discussed how to begin your search for the best new songs to introduce to your congregation by discovering the possibilities as we look at a number of key sources. This week and next week, I will begin to discuss filters to determine if the song is right...
Songs for Worship: How do we find the BEST songs in a pool of hundreds of new songs?
As you begin searching for the best new songs to introduce to your congregation, remember that your church's worship DNA is not the same as the church down the street or the one you watch on YouTube. Knowing your congregation is vitally important to choosing the right...
Congregational Singing after COVID: They Need Help
Ukrainian Translation: ЦЕРКОВНИЙ СПІВ У ПОСТ- COVID-19 ЕПОХУ: ДОПОМОЖІТЬ ЇМ! I obsess over how we can better engage our congregations in participatory, transformational worship. The post, 9 Reasons People Aren't Singing in Worship, was born out of my looking at what...
It’s Time to Bring the Choir Back! Rebooting the Choir After the Pandemic
I have received lots of contacts since COVID restrictions have been lifted concerning the reboot of choirs in our churches. I have compiled a number of articles and resources below that I hope will help you work through these times as we bring back the choir. Thanks...
Songs for Worship: A Comprehensive Guide – INTRODUCTION
The songs we sing in worship are vitally important to the building of disciples in our congregations. Many people are not part of a discipleship group. Many do not meet with other Christians except for corporate worship. Many never open their Bibles during the week....
New NC Baptist Database to Help Match Churches to Interims and Fill-In Worship Leaders/Musicians (and Permanent Part-Time)
Churches are needing people to fill in (and permanent part-time) worship leadership roles across NC, whether for just a week at a time or for several months. Unfortunately, available people are hard to find, so we are launching a database for people who are willing to...
forScore app for iPad – My Music Reader of Choice
From time to time I like to share with you tools that I find extremely helpful in worship ministry. One of my favorite apps is forScore. I am able to keep my entire library of music within this app and have many powerful tools at my disposal. In a brief overview, I am...
Worship Leader Ageism: Stick the Landing!
By David Manner, a frequent contributor to this blog. This article is an excerpt from his new book described at the end of this post. Ageism has impacted most of us serving in worship leadership. Churches seem to be on the lookout for a younger platform presence or...
A Song for Your Mother’s Day Service
Mother's Day is coming soon! As you make plans for that service, and most churches do some kind of acknowledgment of the day, consider using the song, A Mother's Prayer from Keith & Kristyn Getty. You can hear in the video embedded below. Check out the Getty's...
Think Outside of the Box for Ways That Your Worship Ministry Can Impact the World (UPDATED)
During these months of COVID restrictions, we have had to find new ways to engage our musicians in using their gifts to help people worship. We have also seen that online engagement has greatly increased and, in the future, we will need to lean into online ministry...
Recapture Joy in Your Ministry by Focusing on These 3 Things
My colleague, Sandy Marks, wrote a powerful article for pastors who have lost their joy in ministry. I have talked to numbers of worship leaders who are have struggled this past year. Take time to read this and regain your joy in ministry. Kenny By Sandy Marks As a...
Restarting Ministries? Don’t Overdrive Your Headlights
By David Manner Overdriving your headlights is when you are driving so fast that the stopping distance is farther than you can see down the road with your headlights. Moving faster than you can see can also cause you to miss or misread important road signs. Some...
Worship During COVID-19 and Beyond
This breakout session video was part of the recent NC Baptist Disciple-Making Conference. The way churches conducted in-person and online worship during COVID-19 presented a number of challenges. This session will explore the various aspects of in-person and online...
A Letter to the Younger Worship Leading Me
By David Manner, a frequent contributor to this blog. This article is an excerpt from his new book described at the end of this post. Dear Younger Worship Leading Me, In a few decades you are going to look back at your years of worship ministry with a desire for a...
ATEM Mini Can Revolutionize Your Church’s Livestreaming
Blackmagic Design has recently released a family of video switchers that can be a game-changer for churches streaming their services. Pricing is incredibly affordable for what they offer. I will be adding additional information about these products in the weeks to...
CCLI Adds Long-Needed License to Cover Master Recordings!
Churches have worked hard to stay compliant with copyright laws. One area that was extremely difficult due to the lack of blanket licenses was the use of master recordings, backing tracks, accompaniment tracks, multitracks, etc. in your online services. In the past,...
Church Livestreaming 101
Travis Currin, Media Technology Associate, Carmel Baptist Church, Matthews, N.C.If your church has suddenly been thrust into the world of livestreaming and you find yourself utterly confused by its intricacies — such as the difference between encoders, switchers, SDI,...
Which Package Delivery Service Will Your Church Emulate in the New Year?
With all the COVID restrictions, I believe we made more online purchases than ever before this Christmas. We had packages delivered by UPS, FedEx, USPS and Amazon. I was particularly interested in the way each carrier responded to the increased volume of packages and...
Worship Leader: Throw Your Cap Over the Wall
By David Manner Our calling to lead others in worship during this strange season of ministry hasn’t changed even though how it had to be manifested has. Now that some of those worship leading strengths or sweet-spots we so depended on and were revered for may no...
CCLI Offers a Wealth of Information on the New SBC Copyright Hub
Over the past months, CCLI has been meeting with SBC state worship consultants to produce the SBC Copyright Hub. We are so excited about this cooperative work to get copyright information into the hands of our churches. The hub is designed to be a convenient, single...
Get Ready for Advent/Christmas With a Family Devotional Guide
The Christmas Advent devotional allows you to take your family through 25 devotions surrounding the coming of Christ to the world. Beginning on November 28, each day’s short readings, discussion questions and prayer prompts will inspire you and your family to put...
A Modern Parable for Worship Leaders
by David Manner The Master Worship Leader called three novices with various gifts, passions, and capabilities to lead worship in three churches with distinct characteristics and needs. To the first novice worship leader the Master gave a worship band that included...
Engage Your Choir with a Virtual/Live Hybrid Experience
With all of the COVID restrictions to keep our choirs safe and the news of outbreaks in choirs, we might want to throw up our hands and say we just have to wait this out to engage our choirs in worship ministry. That wait might be many more months to a year before it...
Children’s Worship University Brings the Nation’s Leading Teachers to a Virtual Conference
The worship consultants from the SBC state conventions across the USA worked together to produce the Resourcing Worship Virtual Worship Conference in August. Over 1500 people virtually attended the conferences with over 70 breakout sessions and outstanding teachers...
How to Help Our Pastors in This Hard Season of Ministry
Many pastors would agree that the last 6 months of ministry have been the hardest of their entire ministry career. Oh, it wasn’t the nightmare of having to do church online or balancing a hybrid of online and in-person ministry that made this season the most...
Free Dial-In Phone Numbers, Closed Captioning–Some of the Perks of Facebook Live Producer
. Facebook's Live Producer provides some great perks for our churches that are livestreaming on Facebook. A couple of features improve accessibility of your services--a toll-free dial-in phone number to hear the stream and the option to provide closed captioning in...
Sermon Slide Designs: 5 Easy Ways to Improve
Over the last months, I have been able to virtually visit a number of churches. Our churches strive for a great online presence that represents their church, their message and their ministries well. However, one thing I keep seeing that turns people off today is the...
Cheap Worship
Better Sundays Begin on Mondays: 52 Exercises for Evaluating Weekly Worship offers foundational worship considerations to help leadership teams ask questions evaluatively rather than defensively. These weekly reflections encourage worship leaders and their teams to...
9 Things Regathered Churches Are Realizing
By Chuck Lawless As I talk with more and more pastors whose churches have regathered, I’m hearing some common themes about what their congregations are learning. Here are some of them: What’s been frivolous. Churches do a lot of “stuff” that doesn’t matter much –...
What Are You Going to Do With Christmas?
In my meetings with worship leaders in the past weeks, there is much questioning about what we can do for Christmas this year. With all the social distancing, concerns about large groups singing, etc., it certainly cramps the usual Christmas presentations. You don't...
7 Reasons an Unexpected Short Phone Call from a Pastor/Worship Leader Can Be Encouraging
In my many conversations with worship leaders during these COVID-19 days, one frustration is being able to stay connected. Several have mentioned the old school method of making telephone calls. Dr. Lawless wrote this article and I have reposted it with permission....
Economize: Worship Service Verbal Transitions
By David Manner If churches have learned anything during these last few months of online worship services it is that words and music had to be synthesized. A succinct, refined, and consolidated economy of sermons and songs was necessary since the service time online...
9 Ways to Pray for Church Leaders This Week
By Chuck Lawless Yesterday I began as interim pastor at Wake Crossroads Baptist Church here in Wake Forest, NC. Consequently, I’m even more aware today of the need for others to pray for me. Indeed, I wonder what might happen if congregations begin to pray the...
Resourcing Worship Virtual Worship Conference This Weekend!
AUGUST 1, 2020 DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS AMAZING CONFERENCE These are unprecedented times in the life of the church. Training events as we have done in the past are not a possibility in these days of social distancing. Once I had to cancel the Renewing Worship EXPO, I...
Before You Pick Up a Microphone…
by Mike Harland … be sure you have put it down first. You don’t see carpenters without a hammer, and you don’t see shepherds without a staff or fishermen without a fishing pole. In worship ministries these days, you don’t often see worship leaders without a microphone...
What to Do With Your Choir During These Days
During this season of social distancing and prohibitions on normal choir activity, worship leaders are seeking ways to keep their choirs together and involved in ministry. Technology has become a backbone of continuing many ministries in the church, and the virtual...
How Can Social Distanced Worship Be Good?
By David Manner (one of our breakout leaders for the Resourcing Worship Virtual Worship Conference) Even before the COVID-19 physical shutdown of gathered worship services, congregations were constantly trying to discover and create good worship. So, they expanded...
Thinking About the New Normal After COVID-19
The COVID-19 period has temporarily turned our churches upside down by essentially canceling the way churches fulfilled their missions. No more in-person small groups. No more masses of people for corporate worship. No more youth camps, children’s activities,...
How About Engaging in an Online Worship Course and Get a Certificate in Worship Leadership?
With the current coronavirus crisis driving millions of people to isolation in their homes, this is a great time to work on a self-improvement strategy without the normal daily disruptions. Renewing Worship has partnered with Fruitland Baptist Bible College to offer a...
Worship and the Racial Divide
Imagine your church filled with people of multiple colors, nationalities, economic levels, and political beliefs all worshipping God together. The problem with that scenario is that most of us imagined how great it could be as long as they made the needed changes to...
Webinar: Worship Ministry in a Pandemic
Recently, faculty from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's School of Church Music and Worship teamed up with several of our state convention worship consultants to present this webinar.
Regathered Worship: Laying Down Self
By David Manner Most churches are trying to figure out how to safely gather in person again after a couple of months of online services. Leaders and congregants are realizing how they gather, how many they gather with and what they offer as they gather won’t look the...
If We Can’t Sing
by David Manner Most of us have seen the articles, blog posts and videos this last week indicating the potential for a higher level of asymptomatic spread and aerosolization of COVID-19 through choral and congregational singing. The emotional responses from music and...
Regathering & The First Amendment: Celebrating Freedom, Exercising Wisdom
By Brian Upshaw Team Leader, Disciple-Making Team, Baptist State Convention of NCOn Saturday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, effectively lifting the restrictions on indoor religious services as outlined in N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order...
Simple Steps to Livestreaming Your Worship Service
Now that churches all over the world have been asked to cease meetings, leaders are scrambling to get their worship services online to stay connected with their congregations and to help meet the people's worship needs. Last week's post (scenario 3) discusses ways we...
Five Unintended Consequences of Worshipping From Home
By David Manner Unintended consequences can be positive or negative outcomes in response to unforeseen or unplanned events or experiences. We certainly didn’t choose this season of worshipping from home. But most of us have unintentionally learned some valuable...
Before You Panic: Thoughts on Congregational Singing and Choirs in Light of the Pandemic
We are hearing from several sources that choirs, and even singing in church, should not occur until there is a cure for COVID-19. Our guest writer has some great thoughts to help us navigate all this confusion. KennyBy Robert Pendergraft, PhD Assistant Professor of...
How to Create a Virtual Choir (Band, Praise Team, Orchestra) Video
The song, Thou, O Lord is published by Prism Music and arranged by Bradley Knight. Copyright permission was granted for the use of this song and track.During the COVID-19 period, churches have been looking for ways to keep their choirs and other musician groups...
What Will Worship Look Like as COVID-19 Restrictions Reduce?
As government restrictions on public gatherings begin to lessen, we need to plan for what our corporate worship services will look like. The suggestions below will help you strategize within those guidelines what will work best for your congregation.This article...
15 Encouraging Keys (And 10 Benefits) to Family Worship
I often say personal worship is a prerequisite to corporate worship. In addition, family worship should be a strong priority in your lives. Discipleship begins at home. I often hear people say they have no time to develop this habit with our busy lifestyles. While we...
Improving Your Online Worship Experiences
Churches are adapting to these trying times by changing how they present themselves online. In the last days, I have spent much time researching and talking with others to find some of the best practices and learnings from the first few weeks of online church with a...
Is Your Church Copyright-Compliant in These COVID-19 Days?
With so many churches moving to streaming their services in this COVID-19 period, I have put together resources to help you navigate these times and copyright licenses. Take a look at the seminar (recorded at our live online event this week) and find many resources...
Is Going Live on Facebook or YouTube Too Stressful? Consider Scheduling a Premiere Instead.
Many churches have entered the livestreaming arena in the last weeks since COVID-19 has prevented our worship gatherings. There are lots of things that can go wrong in a live broadcast. I have heard from many churches of issues they have and the stress the process is...
What Does Shelter-At-Home Mean for Worship?
Many communities have shelter-at-home orders that severely limits the reasons people can leave their homes. As more stringent restrictions escalate, what does that mean for our livestreaming worship services each week? Today, churches have gone to a variety of models...
Don’t Let the Pandemic Paralyze You
by Dave Carroll This pandemic does not have to paralyze you. Oh, it can. But it shouldn’t. Not you, person of God. Not the Church! We have all of Heaven cheering us on and providing everything we need for life and godliness in this season. Let me provide you some...
Awesome Source for Worship Song Lyric Videos That Can Be Used in Livestreaming
During this time that churches cannot meet, many churches are moving to livestreaming their services to their congregations at home. In many cases, one or more musicians lead the congregational songs in the livestream. With more stringent "social distancing" being...
What Do Worship Leaders Do in the Covid-19 World?
By Phil Gifford For two years I served on our state convention staff in the area for equipping worship ministries and leaders for our 500 churches. As I woke up this morning, I was burdened for worship leaders specifically in this COVID-19 world. I had ten fresh...
Corporate Worship Amidst the Coronavirus
Everyone is well-aware of the impact the coronavirus is having around the world. We are seeing hardest hit areas moving to extremes of asking people to not gather in public assemblies, work from home, stay in their communities, keep distances from people when around...
How Can I Keep From Singing?
Although worship can’t be contained in one expression such as music, it is evident from scripture that singing is a significant response to God’s revelation (Ps 63:5; Eph 5:19; Col 3:15-17). One of my former seminary professors once joked, “People who don’t sing...
Extreme Training Opportunity for Worship Leaders
My recent mission trips to Asia strongly confirmed in me that spending time going deep into worship material with a few individuals has great value and importance. (Take a look) We are now offering a great training opportunity for NC Baptists--Worship Leader Boot...
Training Opportunities for Worship Leadership in 2020
One of my greatest passions is helping our church worship leaders bring great renewal to their churches' times of corporate worship. We are offering many opportunities for everyone associated with your church's worship leadership to gain knowledge, skills, passion and...
Three Things Worship Leaders Should Never Waste
by Mike Harland The skills of your team. Do you have someone in your ministry that plays oboe? Find a way to use them. How about someone that writes songs? Ask them to write a special one for the Thanksgiving Banquet. Do you have a former band director in the...
Another Great Song for Intergenerational Worship – Behold Our God
I see a trend in churches across the country of bringing the generations together in worship rather than dividing our congregations by age and style preferences. Some songs rise to the top as songs that resonate with all generations. I previously lifted up two songs...
Are You Called to Lead Worship?
By David Manner What is compelling you to be a worship leader? Are you leading because you love to play and sing; because it is a great way to supplement your income or provide for your family; because of the notoriety of being on the platform; because you have a...
What We Can Learn From the Shepherds at Christmastime
By Milton Hollifield, Executive Director-Treasurer, Baptist State Convention of North Carolina In the synoptic gospels, Luke 2:8-20, Dr. Luke records the glorious announcement that Jesus Christ had been born in Bethlehem. There was nothing ordinary about this special...
An Imperative Question to Consider This Weekend
by Chuck Lawless I’m not one to rely much on feelings and emotions when trying to listen to God. I love His Word, and I’m grateful for His Spirit who indwells and guides us. But, I will never forget my overwhelming sense of God’s speaking to me some years ago in a...
Music May Be Killing Intergenerational Worship
How can congregations expect to have healthy intergenerational worship on Sunday when they segregate by age in all of their other ministries throughout the week? Then the only time various generations connect is during an hour on Sunday around songs one generation or...
Can We Sing “Their” Songs
By Mike Harland This is a complicated question with a simple answer. Restated, the question is, “Can we sing songs written by someone that believes differently than we do?” The question is all too common these days. A powerful, amazing song is written, and we love it!...
Worship With Limited Musician Resources
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
Two Great Songs for Intergenerational Worship
I see a trend in churches across the country of bringing the generations together in worship rather than dividing our congregations by age and style preferences. Some songs rise to the top as songs that resonate with all generations. Two songs that I have seen this...
Platform Presence for Worship Teams
NOTE: I posted this several years ago, but it seems I have people contacting me regularly asking for this video, so today I am reintroducing this to the Renewing Worship audience. The way our worship leaders look on stage can aid in or greatly distract from our times...
How to Mic a Choir
Micing a choir can be a challenging task. The following excellent videos will walk you through basic concepts of choir micing. The videos are from Audix, and excellent source for choir mics, but other manufacturers produce great mics as well. How to Mic a Choir Part...
10 Minutes to Prepare for Worship This Weekend
by Chuck Lawless I know that “10 minutes to prepare for worship” probably sounds silly. Worship is so important that taking only ten minutes to get ready to encounter God feels almost sinful. My goal here, though, is to help those busy, busy church members who take...
7 Questions to Ask About the Length of a Worship Service
by Chuck Lawless When I’ve taught classes on pastoral ministry, it’s not uncommon for a student to ask at some point, “How long should a worship service be?” My answer is perhaps not that helpful—“I don’t know”—but I’d rather offer evaluative questions than give a...
A Look at a Multicultural Church That Finds Great Expression in Worship
We know that heaven will be eternal worship with every nation and every tribe worshipping God together in unity, yet we rarely see cultures worshipping together on Sunday mornings in our churches. I long to see our churches find ways to get a taste of heavenly...
Trends and Paradigms in Worship with Mike Harland
In part two of the first night of our Renewing Worship EXPO, Mike Harland, director of LifeWayWorship, shared general trends and paradigms in worship. Take a look at the first part of the presentation. NOTE: The audio problems have been repaired in the video and audio...
Mike Harland on Corporate Worship
This is the video of Mike Harland, director of LifeWay Worship, speaking on corporate worship at the 2019 Renewing Worship EXPO. Hebrews 10:19-25 is the text for his message.Click here to download audio file. Go deeper by reading Mike's book, Worship Essentials,...
Worship Essentials with Mike Harland
The first night of our Renewing Worship EXPO, Mike Harland, director of LifeWayWorship, shared four essentials for our worship ministries. Part two of the presentation will be available soon. Click here for audio file. Below are some of the points from Mike's...
Childish Response to Worship Change
When the disciples asked Jesus who the greatest is in the kingdom of heaven, he responded by calling a little child and asking him to stand among them. Then he said, “Whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest” (Matt 18:1-4). When churches start discussing...
In Harmony: How Worship Works in Concert With Other Church Ministries to Make Disciples
By Mike Harland [Mike will be our featured speaker at the Renewing Worship EXPO August 2-3.] I love singing in church. For more than 25 years, I’ve served as a worship pastor in a number of churches, large and small. I’ve led choirs and worship teams and helped plan...
4 Tips for Cultivating an Effective Multigenerational Worship Service
By Mike Harland [Mike Harland will be our headliner at the Renewing Worship EXPO August 2-3.] Sometimes we focus on facts. Sometimes we focus on trends. The best news is when the two work together. The fact is multigenerational worship has been God’s intention all...
What’s the link between worship and discipleship?
Mike Harland has served as the director of worship at LifeWay Christian Resources since 2005. He is a Dove Award-winning songwriter, a published author, and a worship leader who sings and speaks nationally and internationally. Harland will provide equipping and...
Treat Your Choir to a Choir Retreat with Mike Harland
This year's Renewing Worship EXPO will feature a retreat for your entire choir led by Mike Harland, director of LifeWay Worship. On Saturday, August 3, choirs from across NC will come together to learn seven new anthems and receive great inspiration and motivation as...
Making Vocal Rehearsal Tracks from LifeWayWorship Finale Files
The video gives explicit instructions on the process of creating vocal rehearsal tracks from Finale files. Below are links and step by step instructions for additional help. 1You will need Finale software to read and edit the files. 2You will need the JW Staff...
35 Questions First-Time Worship Guests Are Probably Asking
by David Manner We are often good at considering worship details during the services but don’t always consider worship distractions before and after those services. We assume the theological depth of our worship will encourage first-time visitors to return and even...
The Greater Work
by Mike HarlandPrayer does not equip us for the greater works – prayer is the greater work.Oh, how I wish I knew more about this. It seems that as the years go by, we get better at virtually everything we do. … better at managing a budget. … better at understanding...
Renewing Worship EXPO – Unprecedented Training Opportunity for Your Entire Worship Team
Friday and Saturday, August 2-3, can be two days that dramatically improve your worship and music ministry. The event will be held at Calvary Baptist Church - West in Advance, NC (near Winston-Salem). In the Renewing Worship EXPO, we will offer training in the...
A Few Thoughts About Families and Worship
By Mike Harland, Director of LifeWay Worship and keynote speaker for the upcoming Renewing Worship EXPO. There are many good reasons to provide an age-appropriate worship experience for kids at church. Here are a few of them: The teaching time can be designed to be at...
Catalog of Online Training Resources for Worship Leaders
There are many great sites to find training for worship leaders online today. This page will give you links to sites I am aware of. Their listing here does not necessarily carry my endorsement. Check out these sources to see which best meets your needs.Worship Leader...
MultiTrack worship backing track systems compared
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
Where Are the True Worshippers?
By Joshua Waggener, Ph.D.It’s been said that everyone worships, and everyone is a worshipper. Some worship pleasures. Some worship popularity. But everyone worships something.In His encounter with the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus declared that God the Father was...
Six Levels of Worship Response, Part Two
My good friend, Steve Hamrick, director of Worship and Church Technologies for the Illinois Baptist State Association, has written and spoken on the levels of worship response. I asked him to write a guest blog post for me, and he has provided this insightful look...
Six Levels of Worship Response, Part One
My good friend, Steve Hamrick, director of Worship and Church Technologies for the Illinois Baptist State Association, has written and spoken on the levels of worship response. I asked him to write a guest blog post for me, and he has provided this insightful look...
Multitrack Sources for Worship
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
The Prime App from LoopCommunity.com
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
WorshipSong Band Is a Powerful Free Multitrack Player
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
What to Do About the Shortage of Instrumentalists in the Church
Churches across our nation are experiencing a shortage of instrumentalists, which is greatly affecting the quality of worship. For many, the pianist has retired or moved away and there is no one in the church with the skills to fill the position. For churches with...
Fly Worship Offers Unlimited Songs and Their Player Through Subscription Service
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
Homegrown Worship Leaders
Congregations tend to plan and implement in the moment since Sunday comes every. single. week. So thinking about finding future players, singers, or even a primary worship leader is rarely a consideration…until a vacancy occurs. Player development is what Major League...
Ten Modern Worship Songs Your Church Should Be Singing This Lenten/Easter Season
There are many great modern worship songs that your church can use in the weeks leading up to Easter, as well as your Resurrection celebration on Easter Sunday. Here are ten songs (in no particular order) for multi-generational worship you should consider as you plan...
Worship Backing Band – A Great Multitrack Solution for Worship
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
Worship Band-in-Hand Is a Great Multitrack Player Solution for Live Worship
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
iSingWorship: Flexible backing tracks with lyric projection
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
High Quality Worship Lyric Videos and Audio Tracks to Use in Worship
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
LifeWayWorship.com: Perhaps the Worship Ministry’s Greatest Resource
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
Additional Classic Hymn Accompaniment Resources
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
New Year’s Resolution: Take Advantage of Training Opportunities
Many of us take an inventory at the first of the year to determine areas of our lives that we want to improve and make definite plans for reaching those goals. This year, if you are a worship leader, I encourage you to consider taking part in training designed to help...
UMC Offers Hundreds of Free Piano Accompaniment Recordings of Hymns
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
SmallChurchMusic.com Offers Free Music Resources for Congregational and Small Group Singing
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
SingHymns.Net Products Are a Great Resource for Hymn Accompaniment
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
The Hymnal Project/Instrumental Piano Hymns on CD
Churches with limited musician resources seem to be occurring in epidemic proportions. Also, many churches want to be able to utilize modern worship songs in their times of worship, but find it difficult to do so without proper instrumentation. Today, we have...
Worship Essentials: Growing a Healthy Worship Ministry Without Starting a WAR!
NOTE: Mike Harland has just released a great new book on worship!!! It’s not exactly War and Peace. The classic book by Tolstoy, famously known for its length, looks like an encyclopedia up beside my book. You could read Worship Essentials a few hundred times before...
Top 25 New Christmas Worship Songs in 2018
Looking for some new songs for Christmas? PraiseCharts recently released their list of the top 25 new Christmas worship songs. If you use any of these with the congregation, make sure you select a congregationally-friendly key (see this post for more). Take a look:...
Advent: A Season of Waiting
The celebration of Advent begins Sunday, December 2. The purpose of this season of the church year is to look toward the coming of Christ to earth--a season focused on waiting. It is a time of preparing for the glory of Christmas day. Today, I want to share with you a...
The Mirror Effect
by Mike Harland Let me start by saying that authentic worship is not always visible. For sure, someone can be sitting and staring in the congregation and be engaged in pouring their heart praise out to the Lord. We should not and cannot measure worship only by what we...
Renewing Worship Top Resources
Assembled here on one page are many of our most-sought-after resources as well as links to our associated websites. Take a look and pass this along to others who will benefit. Our Associated Websites Training Opportunities Worship Leader Boot Camps - many options for...
Newly Updated: Top 100 Worship Songs from CCLI
The top 100 CCLI listing of top songs coming out the last half of this year has four songs making it into the listing for the first time. All others merely shuffled around or returned for a reprise. Here is a listing of the songs with a Spotify audio link for each...
Free Resource for Church Pianists
Todd Billlingsley is offering a well-written, practical eBook to help church pianists at no cost. This little book is chocked full of easy-to-implement tips for playing piano in traditional and contemporary worship. For traditional pianists, it provides ideas for...
Great Opportunity for Training Student Worship Leaders Coming Next Summer
One of my passions is training up students to be worship leaders. Unfortunately, this is an area of mentoring that is often overlooked in the local church. Launching in the summer of 2019, the Student Worship Academy will be a five-day training camp for high school...
Online Worship Leader Training Now Live
A self-paced, fully online version of the Worship Leader Boot Camp is now live. This is the same training that has been experienced by thousands worldwide--now on video. This course includes 29 videos with 6.5 hours of instruction recorded at live Worship Leader Boot...
Ten Great Books on Worship You Should Read
Worship leaders must continually stay fresh in our work. One great way is to read books on worship. I have compiled a two-part list of some of the best books for you to read. The first ten books are considered by many to be the best place to start. Only one title per...
To Stream or Not to Stream
By Mike Harland It’s easier to live stream than ever before and will only get easier, as evidenced by more and more churches streaming their services. To quote my friend and legendary songwriter/producer Greg Nelson, “Not everything that can be done, should be done.”...
What Every Pastor Wishes His Worship Leader Knew
By J.D. Greear A few weeks ago, one of our leaders asked me to come speak to a group of worship interns, telling them “everything I thought pastors wanted worship leaders to know.” When I agreed to do it, I thought it would be a stretch to come up with three or four...
Help for Worship Pastor Search Teams
Finding a full-time worship pastor/minister of music for your church can be a daunting task. I have created a page with lots of resources for the search team here (full-time) and here (part-time)
A Week in the Life of a Worship Leader 1
I have been looking closely at the tasks a worship leader must do each week to plan, rehearse, and implement a worship service with excellence. Over the next few weeks, I will present a practical guide that can help you as you move a worship service from conception to...
Kids Worship Arts – Worship Renewal in Children’s Choirs
A good friend of mine, Royce Wilder, just blew me away with what has happened in the children's worship ministry of his church in Mississippi. I asked him to write a guest post for this blog to share with you a model for children's choirs that may be just what your...
How to Transition Your Church’s Worship Without Dividing the Church, Part 1
The vast majority of churches today are plateaued or declining. A large number will be closing their doors in the next several years. Many are now awakening to the realization that they have refused to make necessary changes along the way to reach the world around...
Preparing for Holy Week, Part Three
This week, I would like to guide you in putting together a Maundy Thursday service. Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus, so part of the service would involve the congregation partaking of the Lord's Supper. I will present a few ideas, and I encourage...
Worship Wars
(This is the first article of a 10-part series) Worship wars are nothing new to our decade. As long as we have had organized churches and people with personal preferences, there has been conflict. As James 4:1 says, What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't...
