Worship Podcast & Blog
This video is hilarious.
It’s always healthy to imagine what guests (unaccustomed to expressive worship) are experiencing when they come to our services. As leaders, we need to be “students of the room” – engaging our ‘front row fans’ while ministering to the back row spectators. Pastor Steven Furtick brilliantly describes this idea in his post: “The Danger of the Front Row” (worth the read).
Think about your unchurched guests for a minute.
Brad & Rebekah are full-time traveling worship leaders. They write their own music, do their own booking, social media, graphics, & a host of other things. What I appreciate about these guys is that they work extremely hard at what they do. While their core value is to trust God and rely on Him to open doors for new opportunities, they are not passive about it. They go for it.
I wanted to record this interview for a couple reasons. First, I want you to get to know Brad & Rebekah. Buy their music. Lead their songs. Consider inviting them to lead worship at your church. You won’t regret it.
Also, maybe you would like to tour someday. Hopefully you can glean some insight into what it takes.
Here are the three poins Brad outlines to be a successful touring artist:
Question: If you tour, what are the key things that make you successful? If not, do you have any desire to tour someday?
Everyone has influences. These were records that changed the way I led worship and pursued God.
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Question: What albums have been your biggest influences?
I could be naive, but I imagine the word “worship” used to be a lot simpler. Worship today is a buzzword, an industry, a brand. While I’m thrilled that the worship of God is immensely popular and prominent, I wonder if we are losing the heart. Is it possible to go through the motions of worship services, program massive productions, build bigger churches, and God not be worshiped?
What comes to mind when you think about worship?
[This post is part of a series on Your Guide to Selecting and Leading Songs for Worship. Check out the rest here.]
I never knew the phrase “we should do more hymns” would feel like a stab in the heart. It hurts even more when it’s followed up with the leg sweep of “we don’t like your songs”.
So as I lie there bloodied and battered down, I wonder, “Do these people know how much time I put into worship for Sunday morning?” Praying through the setlist, scheduling the band, preparing for a great rehearsal, praying for God to move, showing up early, getting nervous, pouring my heart out.
And then I hear it echoing through my head like an annoying baby toy: “we should do more hymns, we should do more hymns, we should do more…”
I know that was maybe slightly dramatic. But in all honesty, it’s how we as worship leaders feel when it comes to hymns: it’s an all-out war! The elder segment of the church desire the rich theology of the songs they sang when they were saved, while the young people desire the new, fresh expressions of worship because they just don’t “get” the hymns.