[As I mentioned, the closing few days of 2011 will be reposts of the top posts of 2011. Regularly scheduled posting will resume on Monday, January 2. And, yes, you won’t want to miss it!]

In addition to reading your favorite blog in the blogosphere :), there are a few others that are seriously worth your time.

Part of what makes a leader a great one is relentless learning. A great leader is never satisfied, never stagnant, but always pressing onto new things. 

One way I do that is through reading these blogs.

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[As I mentioned, the closing few days of 2011 will be reposts of the top posts of 2011. Regularly scheduled posting will resume on Monday, January 2. And, yes, you won’t want to miss it!]

As you look ahead to 2012, you’re probably wondering how you can take your team to the next level. But it’s difficult to know where to start, isn’t it?

Sunday comes too quickly for you to get your head above water and catch a vision.

This post is a landing page for the blog series Tips for Taking Your Worship Team to the Next Level. Take some time to read through a few post as you plan 2012. Many of these were top posts.

We’re not all called to look the same but we are called to excellence.

There is not a “one-size-fits-all”, worship team mold we all should fit in. God moves in different ways and uses different methods to accomplish His sovereign purposes. My purpose here is to simply “stir the pot”, get you thinking, and help you figure out what would work best for your team.

As always, I love when you leave comments and I promise to read and respond to every one and help in any way I can. That’s the reason I do this!

As for the series, here’s what we covered:

• What is your vision?
• How to improve your rhythm section
• Developing a culture of desperation for God
• How to recruit new musicians and attract skill
• Interview w/ worship artist Andrew Ehrenzeller
• Interview w/ Shane Barnard & Clayton Brooks [Oaks Worship]
• Simple Loops: How To Set Up A Click Track Using Garageband
• Creative musical ideas to inspire freshness
• 3 Values You Need To Embrace For Your Worship Team To Grow
• How To Pursue Excellence AND Authenticity in Worship
• 5 Essential Websites For Using Loops in Worship
• The best resources for scheduling & planning
• How to make your volunteers feel valued & significant

Question: Are there other topics I should have addressed? Let me know in the comments!

How do you know if Sunday was a success?

How do you determine if, as a worship team, you are hitting your goals? That you’re serving your congregation effectively?

As Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Examining your performance as a worship team is tricky.

We want excellence…but we also know worship is so much more than that.

It’s already too easy for us to get lost in our passion for perfect bass and kick drum synchronization and insatiable desire for innovation.

Where’s a good place to have these discussions?

Say hello to the review meeting. It’s time to get acquainted because you two should be spending a lot of time together.

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It’s part of what it means to be a musician.

We stand on a stage. People look at us. People love us. We’re too awesome.

At least that’s what we think.

But the worship team is much more than a gig. Matter of fact, viewing it as such is devastating.

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We all know that we want more than just great music on Sunday morning.

We desire more than a tight band, innovative programming, and well executed services.

We want the presence of God. We desire for God to be lifted up and glorified in our midst.

We want to decrease as the glory of God increases. But how does that happen?

For my entire life, I’ve heard a particular word mentioned in the church.

Every worship leader wants it, whether you know what it is or not.

It’s the anointing.

So when we speak of the “anointing”, what do we mean?

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