Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast

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.

[Read more…]

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:

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.

[Read more…]

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?

A Simple Solution For Discouragement

Do you remember why you started leading worship? What gave you the desire to stand before people and lead them into the presence of God?

As I sit here this morning, I’m reminded of my own journey. I felt called. Not sure exactly what that means but I can tell you the moment my life’s trajectory changed was during worship. I don’t remember the sermon that night. I remember God reaching out to me in a moment of intense revelation.

I remember telling myself then, “I want to do that for the rest of my life. I want to lead people to know this amazing God.” Nothing is more worth my time and investment than pursuing Jesus and seeing people transformed in His presence. Nothing.

If you’re discouraged today, remember where you began. Revisit the feelings. Remember the word from God. Relive that “all-or-nothing” mentality. God is using you for a special purpose, even though you may feel lost in a sea of the same, week in and week out.

Don’t become so professional that you don’t pray. Don’t become so skilled that you don’t sing with tears. Don’t become so focused that you forget the Gospel and where God has brought you. Ministry rises and falls on that.

I’m praying for you today. And believing God that the best years of worship leading are ahead.

QUESTION: what do you do when you feel discouraged? What inspires you and focuses your heart?