Interactive Worship Stations

I've been thinking for a while now about how to more comfortably allow people to participate in worship. As a worship leader, sometimes you look out into the congregation and see people who maybe aren't connecting in a vocal or physical way. That doesn't, however, mean they aren't worshipful.

As I've spent a great deal of time speaking to people on how they worship, etc... I've found that some say:

1.) I am uncomfortable singing.
2.) I am uncomfortable raising my hands or dancing, or whatever physical form of worship is going on around them.

Why can't we be innovative as worship leaders and come up with some innovative ways for this group of people to be interactive in worship (if they choose).

Some ideas I have had are:

SIN & PRAISE BOARDS
1.)Place two coruplast boards up front of the auditorium on easels. One white and one black.
2.)The white board is the praise board. The black board is the sin board.
3.)Have black markers at both boards for people to write. (The black will show up invisible on the black board.)
4.)As the praise band plays a song related to forgiveness of sin and praise for the grace extended to us as sinners.... people would feel free to move about the auditorium and pray (for themselves or with others). As they feel led, they come to the front and write the weeks praises on the white board and give up their sins on the black board.


SIN SHREDDER
This one works similar to the idea above, except tables could be placed around the auditorium for people to write their sins on. As they feel led they could make their way to the shredder and shred them for good. Just how Christ blots out our transgressions. Also set up a microphone for people to spontaneously speak praises to the Lord while all this is going on. All the while, the worship team is singing or playing a relevant song.

What ideas do you have?

What Churches are Singing

This month... the top five songs in churches are:

How Great Is Our God

Blessed Be Your Name

Here I Am To Worship

Mighty To Save

Open The Eyes Of My Heart

Who are you exalting?

9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” LUKE 18:9-14

As worship leaders, in the spot light, and holding a number of others attention.... let us be humble and know who must increase and who must decrease.

The Worship Community

I found a neat forum where anyone involved in worship production can read, ask questions, comment, discuss, study... just about anything to do with worship. Check it out! I've been having lot's of fun there.

http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/

Church Marketing

What if Starbucks marketed like your church? Would it look something like this?



I found this on blog that I read every now and then. It really made me think.

Do these five things!

1 Chronicles 16:8 Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.9 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works

1.) Give thanks the Lord

2.) Call upon His name

3.) Make known His deeds among the people

4.) Sing to Him

5.) Talk about His wondrous works

As a worship leader or member of a worship team, make these 5 things the ingredients of your day.... EVERY DAY! It's the recepie to a healthy worship life. Naturally, there is more involved than just this. I challenge you, however, to work these 5 things into your every day life. See if you can tell the difference as the weeks go by, as you lead worship. You will be a better worship leader because of it!

Word Like Fire

"Is not My word like fire?" declares the Lord......

A new friend of mine, and fellow church musician/leader/ songwriter, Joel Hinck has a website that I want to recommend. Joel says on his website, "I decided to quit my job and commit totally to doing what I knew God was calling me to do. " God had been calling Joel to write Christian music. I know many of us could learn a valuable lesson from that simple statement. COMMIT to doing what God wants us to do. Is His word not like FIRE? I know when He speaks to me it certainly is!

Let's support Joel in following God's command for his life and visit his ministry at http://www.wordlikefire.com/ , check out what the Lord has laid on his heart. I've listened to a lot of what is offered for musical selections and believe you will be blessed by it too. Who knows, you may find your worship set for Sunday on the site. Some great stuff at a minimal expense.

Check it out! http://www.wordlikefire.com/

TEAM

Teams are organisms in themselves. They start in infancy and hopefully grow into a fully functional, usable, and profitable bodies within the church. There are various types of teams, each with their own purpose. If you are reading this, however, you are most likely part of or leading a "worship team." Your team may still be in it's infancy, others may be full grown, and some may be in old age. Where ever your team is in maturity and growth, I want to challenge you to asses the health of the "team" or body. Just because you are full grown doesn't mean you are in good health just the same as being in your infancy doesn't mean you aren't perfectly healthy. I've seen 70 year old men in better health than some 25 year olds. The same can be said about your worship team. So this is about HEALTHY teams not success or numbers or anything like that.

Answer the following on a scale of 1-5. If certain areas score low from several team members, it could be time to do a "check up" and find opportunities to build individually and as a group.

SCORING
5 = Strongly Agree. Fully operational and exceeds the description.
4 = Agree Operational and meets all or nearly all aspects of the description, but not ideal.
3 = Slightly Agree Operational, but incomplete. Partially meets the description.
2 = Slightly Disagree Nearly operational, but some way to go. Doesn't yet really meet the description.
1 = Disagree We have started on this, but there is a long way to go. The descriptors do not apply.
0 = Strongly Disagree Nothing has been done - this does not apply at all to our team.

Purpose / Direction
a. - The team has a clear mission/purpose, known by all team members.
b. - The team has a vision and success criteria which are challenging, meaningful and exciting to the team.
c. - The team understands how the work of the team fits into the larger picture.

Team Leadership
d. - Balances appropriate direction with support and openness.
e. - Discusses key issues with the team.
f. - Delegates responsibility and leadership to individuals in their area of expertise.

Understanding Differences
g. - Team members understand what their roles are, and where these overlap with other team members.
h. - Team members are clear about what is expected of them individually by the rest of the team.
i. - Team members are clear about what individual strengths each member of the team brings.

Processes
j. - Team meetings are effective.
k. - The team has found and implemented better ways of working.
l. - The team has an efficient process to solve problems and take decisions.
m. The team has sufficient resources (people, money, time) to do its work.

Communication
n. Everyone feels their ideas and input are listened to by the rest of the team.
o. Differences and conflicts are resolved openly and constructively.
p. Members' interaction is open and honest.

Relationships
q. The team's different experiences, skills and gifts are accepted and used.
r. There is trust and openness between team members.
s. New members feel valued and quickly become productive members of the team.
t. The team takes responsibility for its successes and failures, and avoids blaming other people or groups.

I've used this with worship teams at conferences and various consulting opportunities. If you can spend some time on this, an all day session or a series of "enrichment classes" with your team.... I know you will see results happen quickly. I first began using this when I was the pastor for education & students at a very established large church who's teams within the education department were established, experienced, equipped, and STAGNATE. The church had been there for 100 years and had a lot of great things going for it. Healthy team participation wasn't one of those things. You can be a church plant or the oldest church in town... taking assessments of where everyone on the team is can and WILL prove itself to be an excellent tool in serving others and Christ.

CCLI

Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) was established in 1988 to provide churches with simple, affordable solutions to complex copyright issues. CCLI helps churches maintain their integrity and avoid costly lawsuits, while also giving churches the freedom to worship expressively and spontaneously.



If you aren't currently reporting your song usage for copyright purposes, you may want to consider http://www.ccli.com/



The copyright law is very clear on copying music. If you do not have express permission from the rightful owner of the song, you cannot make a copy. Many church music leaders who have made efforts to honor the law and have tried to obtain permission first from the copyright owner before making copies have found this to be a time-consuming challenge and in many cases, an administrative nightmare. CCLI is an excellent solution and the right thing to do.

What You Can't Do if your church doesn't have a license.
Print songs, hymns and lyrics in bulletins, programs, liturgies and songsheets for use in congregational singing.
Create your own customized songbooks or hymnals for use in congregational singing.
Create overhead transparencies, slides or use any other format whereby song lyrics are visually projected (such as computer graphics and projection) for use in congregational singing.
Arrange, print and copy your own arrangements (vocal and instrumental) of songs used for congregational singing, where no published version is available.
Record your worship services (audio or video) provided you only record live music. Accompaniment tracks cannot be reproduced. You may charge up to $4 each for audiocassette tapes and CDs, and $12 each for videotapes and DVDs.

Projection Software

Download a free 30day trial today!

CLICK HERE FOR A FREE TRIAL

I would like to recommend this product to anyone who uses projection lyrics, dvds, and other media types during worship service. This takes all the difficult planning and hard work out of the logistics portion of your job. In addition, your media volunteers will love you for making their job a no brainer.

Trust me on this one. No more interruptions while they change DVD's or switch between hardware. This allows you to do EVERYTHING from the laptop. There is not a better software package on the market and you can purchase this for under $300.

Visit www.easyworship.com