articles

Shalon Palmer asks if being relevant is simply copying ideas from cool concerts and TV shows: Now-a-days in church, the big thing in service planning is being “relevant.” You know you’ve heard this. It seems everywhere I go, people are using all of their resources to make their services cool…

Ed Stetzer says the next 20 years are going to be a challenge for churches. Despite what many think, the church in America is not dying (and no serious researcher thinks that). However, there are some challenges and changes to be considered. When we consider missiology, part of the discipline…

Most worship leaders agree that songs for congregational worship should be “singable,” a made-up word that means “easy for a congregation to sing together.” But it is tempting for many of us to subtly change that definition to “songs I want to sing.” And so worship leaders who dislike hymns…

Jesse Saunders offers ideas for children’s worship. My name is Jesse Saunders, I am the Austin Stone KIDS band coach, and I lead worship with our grade school students (1st-5th grade) at the St. John campus. In our KIDS large group worship times, we have 4 primary goals. Teach sound…

Jaime Brown on awkward salary conversations. Several years ago I posted some thoughts on a “worship leader’s job description and pay“. And of all the posts I’ve ever written in almost five years, that one post has gotten the most hits, the most Google searches, prompted the most interesting conversations…

Greg Steir talks about those churches who are stealing your congregations. I’m not talking about churches full of red-lipped, pale-skinned Draculas (that would be creepy!) No, I’m talking about churches that live off the lifeblood of other churches (well, I guess that’s creepy too.) This breed of church flies into…

Last week, worship leader Jamie Brown’s post lit up the Internet: Last week I spent a couple of days attending the National Worship Leader Conference, hosted by Worship Leader Magazine, featuring many well-known speakers and worship leaders. The conference was held about 15 minutes down the road from me, so…

Just why is congregational singing so important? David Mathis answers. Worshiping Jesus together may be the single most important thing we do. It plays an indispensable role in rekindling our spiritual fire, and keeping it burning. Corporate worship brings together God’s word, prayer, and fellowship, and so makes for the…

David Santistevan encourages praise bands to play from memory. When you hear the word “memorize”, you probably have one of two reactions. I can’t do that. Not a chance. There’s something about memorizing that is scary to us, but I don’t think it has to be. We all know there…

Shawn West offers ideas to help your church stay connected in the digital age. “Why should we stream our church services?” People often ask me this question, usually followed by a quote from their pastor saying, “If people can stay at home and watch church in their pajamas & slippers, why…

Matt Boswell from 9marks.org asks: can we sing any kind of song when gathered together? Christians are a singing people. Muslims don’t gather to sing. Neither do Hindus, Buddhists, or Rastafarians. Christians do. Also, while not everyone preaches, or leads in prayer, or publicly reads Scripture, we all sing.[1] But…

Jamie Brown offers helpful tips for your praise set. Each week, worship leaders are given a fresh opportunity to choose songs to put on people’s lips when they come together on Sunday. In a church with an informal liturgy, the slate is more blank than at a church with a…

David Santistevan tackles a difficult topic. I’m hoping this post will help you process why, when, and how to approach this difficult experience we all face. 1. Lack of Respect for Leadership – Something I look for in a high pressure rehearsal setting is the “rolled eye”. If a musician…

David Mathis: new mercies, new music. We all love old music. Whether it’s centuries old or even just a few months, the tunes we enjoy most are unavoidably the ones we already know. And there’s no getting around it. Music has a strange power to capture thoughts and feelings from…

Russell Moore asks: Do we choose Millennials or Jesus? From time to time we hear some telling us that evangelical Christianity must retool our sexual ethic if we’re ever going to reach the next generation. Some say that Millennials, particularly, are leaving the church because of our “obsession” with sexual…