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Take a Seat

Often, as worship leaders, we get so wrapped up in the minutiae of the job – charts, schedules, planning, tech and everything else – we lose sight of the big picture. When I was working at a megachurch, involved in the weekly worship grind, I once had a rare Sunday…

Does Good Music = Growth?

I used to think that really good music grows a church. Get the hottest band and singers in town and the people will come. I don’t think that anymore. I love to visit churches to see what they’re doing. I’ve been to huge megachurches with thousands of people and so-so,…

Keyboard Player Needed

The above picture is a real sign from a real church right down the street from me. They need a keyboardist but might as well get in line – all churches need a keyboardist and good ones are in short supply. I know of one big church with multiple campuses…

Starting with Click Tracks

In my previous article I talked about the magic of a click track and how it can turn a band of amateurs into something special. But how can you start? Here’s a list of 3 evolutionary click track steps from my own experience – from easy to high tech: 1.…

Click Track Magic

I’ve discovered one of the secrets to why the big megachurches have (usually) great music. And it isn’t necessarily because they have money to hire pros (although that is sometimes the case.) It’s the click track. I’ve seen firsthand how click tracks can turn ordinary, amateur players into something quite…

Songwriting Horror

I have a tale of horror that will terrify every Christian songwriter! Songwriters, if you ever get to the point in your career when publishers are interested in your music: beware. A few weeks ago I received a royalty statement in the mail from Universal Music Group that brought back…

Song Keys

Oct 4, 2010

I’ve been on a worship flow crusade lately. You visit these famous megachurches and expect to be wowed by their expertise and it isn’t necessarily so. On several occasions I’ve sat in a congregation of thousands only to see the worship leader and band sing a song, come to a…

Looking for a Worship Leader?

Sep 28, 2010

Often I’ll get emails from pastors wondering where they can find a worship leader. I have no idea, they’re a scarce commodity. I wrote an article a few years ago that said you can almost commit murder and still find a job as a worship leader! Schools haven’t been much…

Finale or Sibelius?

Do you use notation software for worship? My recent poll shows 44% use Finale, 11% use Sibelius and 40% don’t use any at all (the rest use a variety of other notation software.) From what I had always heard, Finale was supposedly the “industry standard” and it looks like most…

Should Kids Be Allowed In Worship?

After attending church with my parents the inevitable question came: “so where do you want to go to lunch?” My dad replied “Let’s go to that restaurant in North Carolina!” The Olde Salty restaurant in Carolina Beach, N.C. made national headlines a few years ago with their “Screaming Children Will…

Rocking Grandma

Over the past few weeks as I’ve been teaching worship conference classes I’ve been intrigued by the change I’ve been seeing lately. There seems to be a greater desire among churches to become more relevant and contemporary. I think this is the next phase of worship – ministries are discovering…

Tips for Smoother Worship

Jul 20, 2010

It’s 2010 and nearly every church (except for the die-hard traditionalists) has jumped on the contemporary worship bandwagon. Some do it better than others – here are 3 tips that separate the sheep from the goats: 1. Plan ahead. I can’t believe it when I hear of praise teams that…

Robeless Choirs

Nov 5, 2009

Choir robes were no doubt invented to give a unified look to the group. Hundreds of years ago highly decorated robes with elaborate stitching added pomp and ceremony to liturgy. If you’re ministering in an ornate, stately First Baptist-type church, choir robes no doubt approriately fit the bill. However, if…

My New Recording Studio

Sep 20, 2009

A few weeks ago I wrote about how your ministry might benefit from recording. Read the article and watch a video. This week I’ll give you a tour of my home studio and give you some ideas of equipment to be using. When I first started HymnCharts.com several years ago…

Chris Sligh Sings “Vessel” on the Hour of Power

Sep 18, 2009

Christian artist Chris Sligh sings his song “Vessel” on the Crystal Cathedral’s Hour of Power TV show. by Don Chapman Back when Chris Sligh was working on his debut album he talked uber-producer Brown Bannister into using me to orchestrate some of the songs (which is a miracle in itself…

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