by Don Chapman 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 contemporary worship with golden oldies like “He Is Exalted” and “I Love You, Lord.” I was shocked to see he was doing current worship hits from Hillsong United and Lincoln Brewster. “You’re [...]
by Glenn Packiam For all who love the Narnia books, we cannot help but see Lewis’ rich theology coming to life in the characters and conversations of these books. One might be tempted to think that Lewis scripted the “message” he wanted to communicate in each book — or even in the series as a whole — before he was writing. But this was not the case: “Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say [...]
by Darlene Zschech My heart leapt when I read the theme for this edition of Worship Leader magazine. For one of my life’s greatest privileges has been serving as a worship pastor, and with this responsibility my eyes have been opened to so many different facets of what the job really requires, as opposed to what I imagined it required. I believe in my heart of hearts that the worship pastor of a team does not have to be the [...]
by Fred McKinnon Why can’t you just sing some of the older songs? If you’ve been a worship leader for more than two weeks, you’ve likely had this question. It’s rarely asked in a sincere tone and usually comes with a sting of harsh judgment. I’ve been involved in worship ministry since I was a teenager. I watched the birth of what we would call the “modern worship music” and have seen it’s blessings over the years. I’ve also been caught [...]
by Russ Hutto The life of a worship leader is a happy one. These people get all the fame, the royalties, the best-looking girls (or boys), they get to travel around the world and sing their carefully crafted compositions to lots of loyal followers. They are perfect in every way… No. The truth is they get irritable, they have bad breath, and sometimes, they do write some quite awful, cringe-inducing songs that sound like pallid impressions of (most) Coldplay [...]
by Fred McKinnon Growing up as a kid of the church (my dad was a youth pastor, worship leader, pastor), I’ve heard just about every church cliché you can think of. Being a youth pastor and media/music pastor myself for most of my adult life has also led to me probably BEING some of those clichés at times. I think one of the most misused, yet well-intentioned, churchy phrases is “Worship is not a performance.” Most of the time (if [...]
by Jeremy Smith Churches have fully integrated with technology within the church services with the sound equipment, projectors or televisions, and computers. Of course, this has created a culture around how to use this technology within a church service. Whether it is the worship team using PowerPoint so that the church is in unison with their praises to the Lord or a video is shown of missionaries working overseas with a Compassion International camp with a hundred students to provide [...]
by Tom Lawson “So, you got your wife a diamond ring for your 25th anniversary?” “I sure did. Two and half carets.” “That’s great, Bill. One thing though, I thought you said she wanted a new SUV?” “She did. But, where was I going to find a fake jeep?” Accidents and Substance Gifts of love are wrapped in marvelous subtlety and nuance that dramatically change them. The change is more fundamental than the fabled curse of King Midas, turning ordinary [...]
by Chris Huff Don’t let your backing vocal mixing be an afterthought. Backing vocals can define the quality of your mix. Looking back at my last twenty years of mixing, I’ve seen worship teams with anywhere from one to five backing vocalists. Backing vocalists can sing in different ways for supporting the song and/or the lead vocalist. Let’s get down to mixing… Before jumping into the top seven ways, let’s first look at where backing vocals can sit in the [...]
by Don Chapman Yesterday I talked to a worship leader who told me he was planning on leaving his ministry. It’s typical for this time of year—worship leaders have come off a stressful month and many are just plain in shock. Shock and stress alone are no reasons to leave a ministry. Over the years I’ve found two major indicators of when I should expect to see a change. 1. Restlessness. I have a cousin who was a pastor in [...]
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