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Willow Creek Pastor Shares Succession Plans

Aug 13, 2012

Willow Creek Community Church Pastor Bill Hybels, speaking during the opening session of a global leadership summit, took the occasion on Thursday to say that he and his church elders were formally engaged in a succession process.

“The elders at Willow Creek are quite aware that I turned 60 this last year … They know my family history of heart disease. They know that I travel into high risk areas so they brought the subject matter of succession several times in recent years,” Hybels explained to several thousand in attendance at his church in South Barrington, Ill., and a huge online audience watching the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit.

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Singable Songs

Ever wonder why your congregation isn’t singing? Your songs may be the culprit.

Find a congregational praise song with a great melody and lyrics and you’re set, right? Not quite. Many new worship songs only sound good when sung by professional singers, not average congregations. I believe this is one of the biggest problems with today’s music, and why your congregation might not be singing like you think they should.

Right now, pick up a songbook with the latest cutting-edge worship songs. Just look at the typical melody — it’s a syncopated frenzy, and probably way out of your congregation’s vocal range. How can the average person sing that? They can’t, at least not with any confidence. And isn’t one of our goals as worship leaders to encourage our congregations to sing, and sing with all they’ve got?

The next time you sing one of these hot songs in your church, listen closely to the congregation (or record the service.) You’ll probably be shocked to hear your congregation struggling to keep up.

One time at my previous church I led worship from the keyboard for a small prayer meeting of about 20 people, and my eyes and ears were opened. One chorus in particular was a complete train wreck — no one could follow the melody because almost every note was on the off beat. I hadn’t noticed during church with the band blaring, but the problem was quite obvious in this casual setting. The song had great words and a nice melody, but the extreme syncopation was nearly impossible for the average person to sing. From then on I tried to select songs that were reasonably simple to sing and within a normal vocal range. Maybe that’s why hymns are making such a comeback – they’re full of quarter notes!

Size up your congregation, too. A church body filled with 20- and 30-year-olds can handle much more adventurous songs than an older congregation. If your congregation is rhythmically challenged, find songs that, while still contemporary, can bridge the gap. “Our God” and “Here I Am to Worship” are so popular because they come from the more contemporary world yet can cross over to more traditional settings – they’re simply singable.

Bottom Line: Choosing worship songs that are singable by normal mortals will create a more unified, participatory worship experience for your church.

Church Profile: Trinity of Fairview

Aug 6, 2012

Last Sunday I enjoyed worshiping with the praise team at Trinity of Fairview near Asheville, NC. They premiered my new arrangement of All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (download it for free.)

Trinty runs about 700 with a choir of around 40. Music director Ed Frisbee leads along with a typical 3 part vocal praise team (soprano, alto and tenor.) Vocal talent is above average for a church this size and I was surprised at how polished the choir was and how well they blended.

The unique octagonal worship space sets Trinity apart but does cause acoustic problems. Ed’s invested in acoustic treatments to help the sound.

Like most ministries in the summer, Ed struggles to maintain a full band and uses multitracks powered on his Macbook with Ableton Live to fill in the holes. The band uses Aviom for their in-ear system. I’ll be talking about multitracks soon but you need to lay the groundwork first with click tracks.

Ed stresses to the choir the importance of not being a performance group but a worship leading group. They use Prism music choir arrangements along with top CCLI worship songs. This past Sunday’s set list:

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name: HymnCharts.com
Friend of God: Houghton
10,000 Reasons: Redman
God You Are God: Prism Music
My Great God Cares for Me: Prism Music

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10 Secrets to Grow Your Worship Team

Aug 6, 2012

Trying to grow a worship team can be like nailing Jell-O to the wall.

It’s nebulous. And frustrating. And can even be demoralizing. But I want to encourage you and help you get your growth-mode juices flowing.

Contained in this list are some ideas, strategies and tactics. But remember: what works to in one church may fail miserably in another. You are the expert on your team and your culture. Adapt and rework these to fit your ministry.

Secret #1: Make it tougher to get in.

“Make it – what?!” I know. It doesn’t seem right. But the idea is to create a qualification process that does it’s job: truly get to know the potential musician’s skill and heart, and also gives her a chance to know what she’s committing to.

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Is Sibelius Kaput?

Aug 6, 2012

A WorshipIdeas subscriber recently posted that Sibelius’ days could be numbered. I checked Wikipedia and found this:

In July 2012, Avid announced plans to divest its consumer businesses, closed the Sibelius London office, and laid off some employees. Avid has claimed it is still committed to Sibelius.

A Facebook pressure group has been formed to protest against the closure of the London office. A website dedicated to encouraging Avid to sell Sibelius to ensure its continued development is now live.

Read my article Finale or Sibelius?

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Churches Shifting to Wednesday Worship

Aug 6, 2012

Summer has a way of thinning out pews on Sunday mornings as the sun-loving faithful take to trails, outdoor markets and backyard projects. The predictable pattern poses challenges, especially for smaller congregations.

More and more, however, churches are rediscovering Wednesday — a traditional midweek church night — as a prime time to gather the flock for casual worship in summer. Early adopters report improved attendance, slightly fatter coffers and invigorated spirituality as curious newcomers drop by and join in.

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The Good (and Bad) News About Small Church Worship Ministry

Jul 30, 2012

Worship leader Jon Nicola is right on in this article:

I always like to hear the bad news first. Don’t sugar-coat it. Just lay it on me so I can deal with it. So for those of you who are like me, here’s the bad news about small church worship ministry:

People aren’t coming to your church because of the music.

Typically, if your church is less than 200 people, you’re in what’s called a “relational church.” (For more on this concept, see “Taking Your Church to the Next Level” by Gary McIntosh). While there might be a variety of things that get people in your front door, the glue that keeps them coming back is the relationships with others. Continue reading.

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Why I’ve Stopped Singing in Your Church

Jul 30, 2012

This blog post by Bill Blankschaen has lit up the Internet for the past few weeks. In it he talks about why he’s sick of contemporary praise songs:

I love music. Truly I do. I love to sing. But you wouldn’t know it on Sunday morning when I’m visiting your church.

I’m not talking to all of you, of course. I’m sure many churches, maybe even yours, get it right. I just haven’t been there that often, I guess. My experiences with modern worship music in evangelical Christianity often leave me not just silent, but wondering if I should be joining George Bailey in making a quick exit from the agony. Continue reading.

Pastor Jeff Mikels counters:

Earlier this week, a discussion among the worship band members at my church pointed to this article where Bill Blankschaen describes his frustration with worship songs sung in churches on Sunday mornings and tells us “Why I’ve stopped singing in your church.”

As of this writing right now, he has 241 comments, and he only wrote it three days ago (July 15). Clearly, he has struck a nerve—a nerve deep enough to get my worship band talking about it, and a nerve deep enough to make me blog about it. Continue reading.

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