Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast

What is the Primary Purpose of Corporate Worship?

I’m curious to know what your thoughts are on corporate worship. What is the primary purpose of us gathering together to sing?

Do we gather primarily to sing and align our hearts with truth?

Do we gather primarily to experience the breakthrough power of the Holy Spirit?

Do we gather primarily to sing well performed worship songs?

Do we gather primarily because we like the worship leader?

Do we gather primarily to give our praise to God?

Do we gather primarily to receive blessings from God?

I’d love some comments here. Where do you stand when it comes to corporate worship?

How to Write Better Worship Songs (Part 2)

*If you are a songwriter, consider these posts a ‘songwriting checklist’. By no means is it an exhaustive dictionary on songwriting. For the first post on how to write better worship songs, go here.

  • Always Be Prepared to Capture Ideas – remember that time you had a great idea but you waited to write it down only to forget it? Maybe you don’t remember that. But it happened. I think. Oh well, I don’t remember. The point is to set up a simple system for capturing ideas. I personally use Evernote. I can capture ideas in different ways – write out lyrics, sing melodies, etc. Plus it syncs to all my mobile devices. Brilliant. But you could also just use a notebook, voice recorder, etc. Just carry something with you at all times.
  • Sing Your Prayers – don’t try to be too innovative or cool in the early stages. Start by just singing your honest prayers to God. Listen to what others are praying. What is your pastor preaching? Write what you hear.
  • Write with other people who are better than you – it’s OK to admit it. Actually, if you want to improve you need to realize right now that you are not the best. Many promising songwriters are stifled by their pride & arrogance. They won’t adjust their ideas. Another person can you give you some much needed perspective on your song. Plus they may be better at lyrics, melody, theme, etc.
  • Test your song – the best songs are songs that people engage with. But how will they engage if they’re only sung behind the scenes? Here’s my suggestion: find small groups of people to test your song on. A small group. A prayer meeting. Your spouse. Your church staff. Start small and see how it goes. Not every song you write needs to be done corporately. Maybe it will need more work. But go ahead and test it. I once heard someone say, too many ideas are born and lost in isolation.
  • Spend time worshiping
  • Revisit your ideas the next day – when struck with inspiration, your emotions are high. You think you’ve just written the greatest song ever. Chill out and revisit your idea tomorrow (given you’ve captured the idea in Evernote). You won’t be quite as impressed but it will force you to work hard and make it a great song.
  • Check your theology – run the song by your pastor for theological insight. A great melody mixed with lots of passion and bad theology is not a good song, whether “God gave it to you” or not. A trusted pastor can help you determine if your song is actually true, if it’s too me-centered, or if you’re just worshiping your own worship 🙂

Songwriters, help me out. What helps you write better songs?

How You Can Create Great Art Every Day

Do you ever feel bogged down by having to go work for another day? Are you overwhelmed and not slowing down enough to actually enjoy what you do?

I think all of us find ourselves in this place from time to time. Allow me to challenge your thinking.

You are an artist…and everyday presents an opportunity for you to create great art. But you may not consider yourself an “artist”. I mean, you don’t write songs, sing, play an instrument, paint, sculpt, listen to the Beatles, grow your hair extremely long, or just chill out for a living. Maybe you do. Or maybe you’re a pastor. Or a business man or woman. Or a nurse. A doctor. A sales clerk. A retail salesman. A waitress. A computer programmer. A teacher. Fill in the blank.

Seth Godin so brilliantly conveys in his book, Linchpin, that the world of work is changing. If you want to stand out and really make a difference, you need to create art. No longer are you just a replaceable cog in the machine who is told what to do. You are an artist.

What does this look like?

  • Ask, “Who can I bless today?”
  • Bring solutions to your boss instead of problems.
  • Focus on people.
  • Don’t just generate ideas. Get them done.
  • Don’t just say. Do.
  • Ask, “What’s something I could do that’s different or ‘out of the ordinary’ for my line of work but would make a positive difference?”
  • Pray over your projects.
  • Pour passion into your projects.
  • Ask, “What can I do to be remarkable today?”
  • Ask, “What one project will make the biggest difference today?” and do it.
  • See every interaction as an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to use you.

See? No paint brushes or guitars required. But by all means, use them if you can.

What art will you create today? What difference will you make today?

How To Practice Better

Have you seen all the posts on practice?

I think we all know that what makes a person better at what they do is practice. In the book “Talent is Overrated”, Geoff Colvin talks about the massive amount of hours it takes to make someone an extraordinary performer; however, it’s not just practice that makes perfect, it’s what he calls “deliberate practice” that makes all the difference. It’s not just sheer hours; it’s utilizing those hours wisely.

For example, if I practiced worship songs on the piano 4 hours a day for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t make me an extraordinary pianist. It might assist in making me a good worship leader, but in order to be an extraordinary pianist, I need to deliberately practice scales, arpeggios, finger-strengthening exercies, repeat difficult passages till my hands hurt, study music, hire a piano doctor, etc. It’s not just practice; it’s deliberate practice.

Now, I understand your goal may not be to become the Tiger Woods of your field, but are you improving? We should all always be improving what we do in order to better serve God and increase our effectiveness.

Here’s some simple tips:

  1. Study the greats – whether your area is ministry, business, music performance, worship leading, etc, study those who are outstanding at what they do. Great performance starts with intense learning. Ask the question, “Why are they so successful?” I’ve tried to develop a lifestyle of learning. Wherever I am, whomever I’m with, I want to learn something new. Another key: listen more than you talk 🙂
  2. Cut out the non-essentials – I think part of what makes someone a great performer is concentration. They aren’t trying to live a ‘balanced’ life. While the rest of their friends were hanging out, they were practicing. I understand this may sound intense, but practically speaking, if you can let go of that 1 hour of TV (which won’t enrich your life in any way), use that time to practice. Great performers use their time wisely on what matters.
  3. Hire a coach – this may not apply to everyone, but great performers have coaches. Find someone who knows more than you do who can see your weakness and help you get better.
  4. Apply it – make sure you get in the game. Take what you’re learning behind the scenes and apply it to what you do. This is the gauge as to whether your practice is working or not.

What else would you add? What are some ways that you practice?

How Cooks Forest Helped Me Stay Focused

For the past week, Emily and I have been leading worship for a couple’s retreat in Lancaster, PA with our great friends Brad & Rebekah. On our way back to the ‘Burgh, we decided to drive a couple hours out of the way and spend a night at the Gateway Lodge in Cooks Forest, PA.

Beautiful place. Quiet, serene, peaceful, slow.

Did you hear that? Slow.

Mini excursions like this help me re-focus my life on what is most important. For me, it’s not that my job is extremely busy (though there are seasons, for sure) it’s the way I go about my job.

  • I make it busy
  • I’m stressed when I don’t need to be
  • I don’t spend enough time simply waiting on the Lord in prayer
  • I do things I could delegate
  • I race about doing menial tasks rather than focusing on people
  • I spend too much time doing what Scott Belsky calls “Insecurity Work” (Twitter, Facebook, Reading Blogs, checking stats)

Cooks forest is reminding me to focus on what matters. So I decided to write out a mini-list of some of my ‘main things’. I want to use my time wisely to focus and accomplish goals in these areas. Hopefully it will inspire you to write a list yourself.

  • Seek God’s face first thing every morning
  • Spending time with my wife, the most important person in my life
  • Continue to write songs for the church to sing
  • Make this blog an encouraging resource for worship & church leaders
  • Continue raising up worship leaders and musicians at APC
  • Invest myself in creating a culture of worship at APC
  • Raise up leaders and make disciples of young adults in the Pittsburgh area
  • Loving people and leading them to Christ

So what’s your list? How do you keep yourself focused on the ‘main things’ in your life? I encourage you to find a peaceful spot (doesn’t have to be cook’s forest :)) and think, pray, & write. It will go a long way. Go ahead, you have time. Just do it. You can’t afford not to.