Sometimes it’s really hard to worship corporately.
I don’t like the songs.
The band is awful.
The people around me are annoying and can’t sing.
“Make a joyful noise” = “Make a noisy mess”.
Archives for January 2011
How To Find New Songs For Leading Worship
[This post is part of a series on Your Guide to Selecting and Leading Songs for Worship. Check out the rest here.]
One thing that worship leaders can never rest from is searching for new songs. Most of us are leading every weekend of the year and, though we may have tried, we can’t do Everlasting God and How Great is Our God every weekend. We’re always looking for the latest hit song that our congregation will respond to. We long for a freshness to permeate our worship experiences. And we want our people to be engaged at the same time.
So where do we look? How do we create a system where we’re constantly inspired by the best songs? Because let me tell you: there is no shortage of worship songs. The hard part is finding the best ones.
Before I give you some practical suggestions, make sure you pray through and ask the question, “God, what do our people need to be singing? What phase of life are they in and what truth do they need to apply?” That will definitely determine which songs you should choose.
Your Guide to Selecting and Leading Songs for Worship
This turned out to be such a great blog series. One of the things we can never rest from is selecting songs and leading them. We do it so often that it becomes a routine where we lose the heart of the matter – encountering God. My goal was to help us maintain vision in the midst of our routines.
We walked through practical steps to selecting songs, leading songs, and moving people into a place of true worship. Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- How to find new songs
- I see songs everywhere. Which ones should I choose?
- Writing songs for your local church
- Common mistakes in choosing songs
- Navigating the “Hymn Wars”
- How to Create Continuity in a Setlist
- How to Move Your Congregation Beyond the “Sing-a-long”
Do you have any ideas of a future series you’d like me to cover? Let me know in the comments.
10 Scriptures From Jeremiah To Use When Leading Worship
Ever been in a worship leading situation where you needed a Scripture but you just couldn’t think of the right one? That’s why I think memorizing Scripture is so important for worship leaders. Matter of fact, it may be more important than learning songs.When a worship leader understands the scope Scripture and commits much of it to memory, he is better able to lead people in “spirit and truth” worship. Otherwise, he(she) merely relies on a songlist to do the job for him.
Sometimes worship leaders can speak too much and distract from worship. But other times the right Scripture spoken at the right time can unlock something powerful.
7 Free iPhone Apps For Your Worship Ministry
I love how efficient the iPhone is. With a few amazing apps, you essentially have your personal computer with you wherever you go. In a previous post, I outlined some of my favorite apps.
In this post I wanted to highlight 7 apps that I use on a continual basis as a worship pastor. There is some overlap between posts, but here I’d like to highlight why and how I use it in a worship ministry context.
Did I say they were stinkin’ free?