What does liturgy mean to you?

Does it remind you of boring, irrelevant, outdated religion?

Aaron Niequist, worship leader at Willow Creek Community Church, reminds us of its importance and relevance to corporate worship today.

Aaron is the creator of a new series of recordings called, A New Liturgy – experimental worship albums designed to pastor you throughout your day. Seriously some of the most unique worship music I’ve heard in a long time.

In this episode we discuss the meaning of liturgy, talk about the project, and discuss ways to move corporate worship experiences beyond just singing.

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Though great gear is important, it doesn’t make you a great musician.

Great music comes from the heart, mind, and hands of a hard working person.

I had the opportunity to sit down with my friend Ben Gowell and discuss all things musicality, local church ministry, working with Paul Baloche, and electric guitar gear.

Ben is a massively talented producer, mixer, worship leader, songwriter, and lead guitarist. He plays guitar for Paul Baloche, Sara Groves, Michael W Smith, and does a host of session work as well.

Pull out the moleskins, folks. Time to take copious notes 🙂

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The idea of flowing in the Spirit can be a turn-off to many.

We’ve seen enough crazies to know we don’t want to be “that guy.”

The problem is that worship isn’t simply a performance of worship songs. It’s participation in the living, ever-present, life-changing presence of God.

Yea, that changes things.

In today’s episode, that’s what we discuss. There’s also an interview with Shalon Palmer, creator of a great new flow resource called  Pad Loops.

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Theodore Roosevelt once said,

“You may worship God anywhere, at any time, but the chances are that you will not do so unless you have first learned to worship Him somewhere in some particular place, at some particular time.”

We know that congregational worship is important, but let’s be honest. Sometimes as worship leaders, we wonder why we do what we do.

With such great worship albums out there, why are we needed? If we can have such great worship experiences in our homes and in our cars, why is congregational worship so necessary?

That is the question we tackle in today’s podcast. In addition, I also interview husband and wife duo, Brad & Rebekah about their new album “When We Gather“, which is now released!

At the end of the post, I’ll let you know how you can win one of 5 copies.

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Worship Leaders, it’s easy to get discouraged, isn’t it?

When you survey the landscape of modern worship around the world, oftentimes all you see is large churches with incredible talent, massive budgets, and resources you can only dream of.

But the truth is, most churches in America are small churches.

And there are steps we can all take to raise the excellence level of our teams.

This post will outline 9 steps you can apply today no matter how large or small your church.

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