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What’s Wrong With Your Music

Part 1 | Part 2 I was talking to a worship leader about his music. He couldn’t put his finger on it but there was something wrong. It just didn’t sound right. Not contemporary enough or something. Looking at his set list, I figured he was probably trying to do…

GigaChurch

I heard a cool term the other day: GigaChurch. It’s a word for a church of 10,000 people or more. The term was coined in a now deleted Washington Post article. As the article mentions, I too heard a few years ago that MegaChurches were on the decline, and would…

Instant Church

Can you imagine arriving in a town, renovating an old grocery store into a church, opening the front doors and hoping people show up? Then, what if 1700 did show up? (and several got saved on top of it!) That’s exactly what happened to NewSpring Greenville last Sunday in Greenville,…

Church & Movies

A while back I wrote the article at WorshipIdeas.com called “Music=Growth?” I used to think that good music grows a church. While it doesn’t hurt, I don’t believe that anymore. Here’s another example. When was the last time you went to a movie or watched a TV show because of…

Praise Band Paradox

by Don Chapman There’s a curious phenomenon among churches of different sizes. Small churches sometimes have stellar worship bands, gigachurches have polished pros—yet many mid-sized megachurches seem to, let’s say, struggle musically. I know of a megachurch with 5,000 people that has state-of-the-art everything… projection, speakers, music equipment and the…

Death of a Church

This week the 2 year old Andy Stanley Catalyst video church plant here in Greenville sadly announced that April is their last month of existence. Financial problems were cited as the primary concern. I visited the church several months ago. Nice people, cutting edge contemporary music and a good video…

Catholics, Creeds and Compromise

Back when I read newspapers (does anybody still read newspapers??) an issue of USAToday had an interesting editorial by a Presbyterian minister who bemoaned the decline of mainline churches. What’s worse, churches are dropping “Baptist,” “Methodist” or whatever from their names in order to attract a wider audience! *Clutches pearls*…

Committing Murder

I’ve heard it said that the average tenure of a worship leader is two years. I own several subscription websites, and sometimes I’ll personally call the church when their subscription is up for renewal. I’m shocked at how often I hear “the worship leader no longer works here” – it…

The WalMart Effect

A quick update… Back in June 2006 I wrote a blog called “The Next Big Thing” which described the new multi-site video church concept. As of right now [late October 2006], only 4 months later, Andy Stanley’s church network now has a partner church in Greenville that shows videos of…

Time Capsule

I took a trip to the past last Sunday. Remember when Brooklyn Tab was all the rage? I think every choir in America had a copy of “He’s Been Faithful” in the early 90’s. Funny, when something was “it,” that something tends to stay “it,” thinking that it’s still “it.”…

Postmodern Stations

A few weeks ago I talked about how Seacoast Church is doing the new postmodern stations thing [read “Postmodern Path” below.] What’s so new about Communion and prayer? Here’s what: Seacoast’s version is optional and interactive. The modern service order is linear – announcements, music, offertory, sermon – insert whatever…

LifeChurch.tv

Want to visit a cutting edge church to recharge your creative batteries? How about Saddleback? Status quo. Mosaic? Overrated. Willow Creek? They had their heyday in the late 90’s. Surprisingly, I found the most innovative church I’ve *ever* visited not in a major metropolitan area like LA or Chicago, but…

Postmodern Path

A few weeks ago I talked about a new phase of my life – I’m now working with the music team of Seacoast Church here in Greenville. You can read more about it at this blog. At my first staff meeting, campus pastor Chris Surratt announced that the Seacoast campuses…

Worship Leader Mentoring

By Tom Lane Two things I remember from very early in my life, one is I loved my music and two, my identity was heavily attached to it. It was a challenge any time someone else got promoted or was praised besides me. I felt less than for some reason,…

The Next Big Thing Part 2

Last week we talked about the new multi-site church movement that’s happening all over the country, and specifically about Seacoast Church in the southeastern part of the USA. The brand new book “The Multi-Site Church Revolution” by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon and Warren Bird talks in depth about this phenomenon,…

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