Archives for December 2010

Dec 31 2010

Best of the Blog 2010

Can’t believe today marks the end of 2010. While I should be relaxing, reading, sleeping, or hanging out with my wife, here I am blogging. I’m obsessed 🙂 Well, I wanted to leave you this year with YOUR FAVORITE POSTS from 2010. These were the posts with the highest traffic this year.

Enjoy. And Happy New Year!

11 QUESTIONS EVERY WORSHIP TEAM MEMBER SHOULD ASK

In a previous post I talked about questions worship leaders should be asking. Here are some questions if you’re part of a worship team: Am I listening to the other musicians or lost in my own world? Is my heart right with God? Do I hold my ideas loosely and submit to the worship leader?

Read the full post here.

7 DISCIPLINES OF A GOOD WORSHIP LEADER

Yesterday at the Ignite conference I taught a breakout session on 7 healthy disciplines of a good worship leader. I hope these are helpful to you. 1. Lead out of your story

Are you leading out of a ‘NOW’ faith or yesterday’s encounter?

What has God brought you through?

What is God currently doing in you?

Read the full post here.

DATING QUESTIONS

Last night at APEX we tackled the controversial issue of dating. Quite fun. I shared a number of principles that I offer for your viewing pleasure. Much of this is from the teaching of Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church. Enjoy: Christian Dating Principles for Both Men & Women

Maximize your singleness for God.

The most important thing about the person you are dating is their relationship with God. How are you helping that?

Don’t pursue a relationship until you are ready to marry

Be reasonable – don’t set your expectations too high or too low

Read the full post here.

5 WORSHIP ALBUMS YOU NEED TO HEAR… IF YOU WANT TO

LESSONS LEARNED FROM 4 GREAT SONGWRITERS

I’m of the belief that the best way for you to become better at what you do is to seize it. Don’t wait for a mentor to approach you, seek out your mentors. As a worship songwriter, I always observe other writing styles – what melody works, what doesn’t, what lyrics are unique, which aren’t, etc. In this post I just wanted to outline a few worship music songwriters that I admire and what I’ve learned from them. My desire is that you use the same curiosity with the music you like and apply what you learn from them. And also, study these guys. They’re the best.

Read the full post here.

THE BEST WORSHIP SONGS…EVER

I always wonder who comes up with this stuff. The best worship songs ever? Who decides? Is this God’s top 50? In all seriousness, what is your current favorite worship song?

Read the full post here.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE – MIA FIELDS (HILLSONG)

*Mia Fields is a songwriter from Hillsong Church in Australia. Hillsong wasn’t just given great songwriters… they are people living in community, challenging one another. Songs come out of righteous living, but also out of grace. Why songs?

Read the full post here

HOW TO PLAN A GREAT WORSHIP SET

A great worship set does not just consist in the type of songs you choose, though that is crucial. A great worship set must also have space for the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do. I understand that some reading this post may come from an evangelical tradition that is more liturgical in form and not so contemporary. I hope we can all benefit from these tips:

Read the full post here.

THOUGHTS FROM A TOURING BASS PLAYER ON PRACTICING WELL

I don’t know about you, but I started out with a pretty glamorous view of music. The stage, the lights, the ripping guitar solos; that’s what I saw. What I didn’t often hear was the amount of work it took to get to that point. I was always attracted to the finished product but never wanted to think about the time spent alone home practicing. Well, now we recognize that if we want to be great, it’s going to take some practice. Here are a few points that have helped me greatly in my journey to be deliberate about my practice time. Hopefully they’ll help you in yours.

Read the full post here.

COMMON WORSHIP LEADING BLUNDERS

Besides the ever so subtle shouting of “crap” instead of “clap” from the stage (who has ever done this?) there are some common things that worship leaders do that I’d advise against (and I think your senior pastor would appreciate it too).

Read the full post here.

Dec 30 2010

The Top 10 Worship Songs I Led This Year

I thought it would be helpful to list my favorite songs from this past year. All of these are great and come highly recommended. There were a handful of other songs we did but these stand out in my mind (in no particular order).

1. Our God

2. Forever Reign

3. Christ is Risen

4. Healer

5. Holding Nothing Back

6. How He Loves

7. With Everything

8. No One Higher/The Stand

9. Yahweh

10. Glory to God Forever

What favorite songs did you do in 2010?

Dec 29 2010

Lessons Learned From 4 Great Songwriters

I’m of the belief that the best way for you to become better at what you do is to seize it. Don’t wait for a mentor to approach you, seek out your mentors. As a worship songwriter, I always observe other writing styles – what melody works, what doesn’t, what lyrics are unique, which aren’t, etc.

In this post I just wanted to outline a few worship music songwriters that I admire and what I’ve learned from them. My desire is that you use the same curiosity with the music you like and apply what you learn from them. And also, study these guys. They’re the best.

MATT REDMAN

I appreciate Matt for his masterful lyricism and unique melodies. Matt can take complex theological terms and use few words to express it. His writing is deep, yet accessible. All of his albums are great, but for starters, I’d recommend his live album “Facedown” and even his most recent “We Shall Not Be Shaken” .

Lesson learned: immerse yourself in God’s Word and express its truth using as few words as possible.

PAUL BALOCHE

I think the strength of Paul’s writing is in its accessibility. His songs are immediately singable to anyone and build masterfully in emotional strength. His songs are about one thing, easy to follow, make sense, and connect with what you want to say to God. My favorite album from Paul is “A Greater Song”.

Lesson learned: think about the comman man/woman in your songwriting. Will this make sense to them, do they want to sing this, and is it singable for the average vocal range?

REUBEN MORGAN

Reuben Morgan writes the best melodies of anyone I listen to. If you’re not familiar with Reuben, think Hillsong. He’s written incredible songs like Mighty to Save, My Redeemer Lives, Eagles Wings, and Stronger. People love his songs because they just make sense, they are also immediately engaging, and musically innovative. He writes very simple, anthemic melodies around big truths. I love his solo project “Everyone”, which sadly is out of print.

Lesson learned: write melodies that ‘soar’. Don’t settle on the first melody that comes to you. Tweak it until it is singable, cool, unique, and emotional.

BRIAN DOERKSEN

Brian thinks deep and expresses poetically. A lot of Brian’s songs introduced me to theological concepts that weren’t ‘on my radar’ but should be. Many young songwriters simply rehash the same phrases over and over. You can tell Brian seeks God and lives his songs as he writes them. Can’t say I have a favorite album here, but check out this live record to start.

Lesson learned: Write out of your life. What is God speaking to you and your church? Think deeply about it and find fresh ways to express it.

WHAT SONGWRITERS/ARTISTS HAVE INSPIRED YOU?

Dec 28 2010

How Worship Leaders Can Prepare for a New Year

A few days ago my friend Brad Leach wrote an insightful post called “5 Things I’m Doing to Attack the New Year”. Practical, helpful, and wise. It got me thinking about what worship leaders can do to prepare well for a new year.

I have a heart for worship leaders to do more than just lead worship. I’m not talking about being busier for the sake of busyness. Don’t just fill up your schedule with tasks to keep you occupied. Do the right things. Do the things that make the biggest difference. And do them well.

As worship leaders, we are often preoccupied with music and scheduling. We have to pick a killer setlist out each weekend, we need to schedule the band, we need to prepare for Easter, we have that week of special services coming up. Great.

But what else?

What is your strategy for discipleship? What apprentice worship leaders are you raising up? What are you going to do in 2011 that will have some major impact?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to reflect on 2011 and simply say, “well, we played some cool songs. We had a killer Easter production. We used loops, got tighter jeans, and sound better than ever.”

Let’s go deeper.

The start of a new year is a perfect time to figure that out and prepare yourself for what’s ahead. So here’s a list of things you can do to attack your new year with fresh vision.

1. FAST

I love fasting at the beginning of the new year. Well, I don’t always love it when it’s happening because I love food, but the spiritual focus it offers is amazing. When I fast, I’m realigning my heart with the first commandment – to make sure I’m loving God above all else. And also to wean myself off of distractions to that goal. As a worship leader, is so important to keep your heart alive in God as you lead people to encounter him. Btw, I always get focused with this hilarious video on fasting.

2. WRITE DOWN YOUR WORSHIP TEAM DISCIPLESHIP PLAN

This may seem like ‘duh’, but a lot of times we just mirror what everyone else is doing. What is your church and culture all about? What are the things you want to see happen? What are the big events that will make a huge difference this year? Write more songs as a worship team? Go on a missions trip together? Do a recording? Start a new campus with your apprentice worship leader? Seek God. Write it down.

3. TALK WITH YOUR SENIOR PASTOR

After you’ve written down your ‘main things’ – the things you want to see happen in your worship team, meet with your senior pastor. It’s important that your vision supports his. They should be the same. He needs to agree on what your doing. Even if he doesn’t agree everything on your list is necessary, he’ll appreciate that you’ve prayed it through and planned it out. He may even suggest some things to work on.

4. FOLLOW A BIBLE READING PLAN

Part of what makes certain worship leaders great is their depth in God. They’ve walked through trials. They devour Scripture. They read great books. It’s easy to coast through a year without read much of the Bible, if any at all. Don’t let that happen to you. Make one of your goals to grow a deeper passion for the Word of God. The Word of God is the fuel for your ministry. Everything else will let you down. For a suggestion, I always read THIS.

There are other things I could add, like pursuing a tighter sound and deeper creativity, but that is really secondary to these four things. It will really help you to zoom out and think about your year before you start living it.

Are there other things you would add to the list?

Dec 27 2010

15 Ways to Spend Your New iTunes Gift Card

I know all you Apple fanatics out there got one or twenty iTunes gift cards from Santa and are sitting at your Macbook or iPad right now wondering, “What should I get?” I don’t know about you, but I want to make my iTunes cards count. I don’t take it lightly 🙂

So here’s what I’d recommend from some music I’ve enjoyed in 2010.

How would you recommend I spend my iTunes gift card (if I had one)?