articles

I enjoy reading articles written by people in mainline denominations who are baffled/amazed by contemporary church growth. Here, a retired Methodist minister lists his observations on the reasons behind the growth of Evangelical churches: 1. Music. The first half hour of worship often resembles a rock concert as talented vocalists…

Doug Lawrence at ChurchCentral.com compares worship planning to the movie making process: Classic Story: There is no story as compelling as God’s Word. There is no human emotion or troubling dilemma left out of its vibrant chapters. Producers always have to start with a really good story—not a problem for…

Worship Leader Magazine lists their picks for the top 20 worship albums of the past 20 years: 20. Offerings Third Day Essential Records (2000) 19. Break Through: Live At Saddleback Tommy Walker (2006) 18. Eternity Misty Edwards Forerunner Music (2003) 17. Worship Michael W Smith Reunion Records (2001) 16. Hungry…

Doug Lawrence of ChurchCentral.com offers 3 unique ideas for shaking up your service. Especially touching is the video about the end of a particular Methodist ministry. When I was a child, I thought as a child, and had lots of ideas, but when I grew up and worked in a…

Worship leader David Santistevan writes the article you wish every potential musician in your church could read.

Recently I visited a church where I had to jump over a few unnecessary hurdles before I finally took my seat in their worship service. Does your church have any of these barriers to visitors? Ineffective website. Right off the bat, I almost couldn’t find this church’s website – it…

Tony Morgan has some great thoughts about his recent visit to Starbucks and how it relates to church outreach. Continue reading.

Joe Cameneti Jr. of allaboutworship.com talks about when worship leaders start worshiping the act of leading worship: I’m convinced that songwriters, worship leaders and even music enthusiasts can fall so in love with the act of worship that it can become just that… simply an act. I want to be…

Matthew Starner talks about using tracks with the church praise band: Generally speaking, I’m not in favor of replacing key instruments digitally. Our normal team consists of drums, bass, electric guitar and keyboard. Even if one of them were missing, I wouldn’t be comfortable replacing any of them with digital…

Url Scaramanga from outofur.com discusses a possible cause of the decline of the Crystal Cathedral – nepotism: The post mortem on the Crystal Cathedral continues. The iconic southern California megachurch pastored by Robert H. Schuller once represented the innovative and market-savvy dexterity of American Christianity. Schuller started his church at…

Matthew Starner reveals how and where he finds the best worship songs for his congregation: There’s no shortage of songs that you could play in worship. The challenge is finding good ones and that’s why it’s important to have a process by which you can objectively evaluate your potential songs.…

Bob Kauflin has a great post on leading worship, bringing up a few thoughts that have never occurred to me: Specifically, I haven’t learned anything from Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) about leading congregational worship that I didn’t learn first in Scripture. But in his day, Aristotle sought to help speakers…