Qualifications of a Worship Pastor at The Resurgence
by Matt Heerema | Posted in Ministry Philosophy, Theology | 2 Comments »
Excellent article kicking off a series at The Resurgence on the qualifications of a worship pastor.
At Stonebrook / The Rock, we don’t have a specific “worship pastor” (and I don’t think one is required for a church), rather we have volunteer, mature(ish) men leading bands, but I believe strongly that this kind of character is something each member of a “worship band” needs to be growing in and toward, and desire to obtain.
Book Review: Lost and Found by Ed Stetzer
by The management | Posted in External Links, Ministry Philosophy | No Comments »
One statistic that surprised me was how little a churches style of music or service mattered in a “young-unchurched” person’s decision to attend a church or not.
Read my review over at my personal Web site.
Coming Soon: Epiphany!
by The management | Posted in Liturgical Calendar, Ministry Philosophy, Song Selection | No Comments »
January 6 is Epiphany, marking the end of the 12 days of Christmas, it commemorates the revelation of the Messiah, and in some traditions also celebrates the visit of the Wise men to the Nativity scene (called “Three Kings Day”).
The Sojourn Music blog has a good little write-up about Epiphany and why we should recognize it.
It’s a time to focus on the gradual revelation of Jesus’ person and mission in the minds and hearts of his disciples as He ministered on earth, and a time to realize our own mission: to spread the gospel, declare “the Kingdom is at hand,” and carry the “ministry of reconciliation” wherever we go.
Liturgy: The Work of The People
by The management | Posted in Ministry Philosophy, Song Selection | 1 Comment »
The Worship Community has a great post on Liturgy for Non-liturgical churches. An important one to check out.
The literal definition for “liturgy” is “the work of the people.” It come from the Greek Leitourgia. In Ancient Greece, before Jesus came, this word referred to work done by citizens of a community, for the community. When we assemble together as a community of faith, our “liturgy” is the work we do together. The reason it’s helpful to think of our worship service in this way and to instruct our congregations is that it helps us all to remember that corporate worship is not a concert or a spectator sport.
Top 5 things I miss about 90s worship
by Matt Heerema | Posted in History, Ministry Philosophy | No Comments »
I missed posting this the other day. ABSOLUTELY hilarious. If you have a few free moments and need a laugh, check this out.
Top 5 things I miss about 90s worship.
17 Common Worship Leading Mistakes
by Matt Heerema | Posted in Ministry Philosophy, Production, Song Selection | 3 Comments »
AllAboutWorship.com recently posted 17 common Worship Leading Mistakes and how to avoid them. They’re worth a look.
Key takeaways:
- Use a click track
- Pay attention to tuning
- Pay attention to dynamics (and arrangements in general)
- Pay attention to transitions
- PREPARE
Check out the list.
Top Ten Ways to Write Bad Worship Songs
by Matt Heerema | Posted in Song Writing | 1 Comment »
Bob Kauflin shares the Top Ten Ways to Write Bad Worship Songs over at WorshipMatters…
- Aim to write the next worldwide worship hit.
- Spend all your time working on the music, not the words.
- Spend all your time working on the words, not the music.
- Don’t consider the range and capabilities of the average human voice.
- Never let anyone alter the way God originally gave your song to you.
- Make sure the majority of your songs talk about what we do and feel rather than who God is and what he’s done.
- Try to use as many Scriptural phrases as you can, and don’t worry about how they fit together.
- Cover as many themes as possible.
- Use phrases and words that are included in 95% of all worship songs.
- Forget about Jesus and what he accomplished at the cross.
(Via WorshipMatters.)
Worship Life as Metropolis
by Matt Heerema | Posted in Ministry Philosophy, Theology | No Comments »
Great little article by Paul Glavic over on Nueue about the complexities of a life of worship.
He shares my perplexity over the term “worship” and “worship leader” and gives a very helpful analogy to describe it. Worship life as a metropolis:
While no metaphor is perfect, this analogy helps us to understand worship. Consider the terms proper and metro: In the metropolis of worship, there is a worship-proper which consists of seeking God in prayer, learning the Judeo-Christian story as told in Scripture, and talking with God through the mysteriously vulnerable language of song–all of those “churchy” things. These things are the core, the urban center, of the worship metropolis. From this core, Christians “commute” from worship-proper out to worship-metro – to the suburbs of the Christian life. Suburban sprawl is a good thing in this context–it’s called building God’s Kingdom.
Check it out: The Metropolis of Worship.
What It Takes To Be A Worship Leader
by Matt Heerema | Posted in Ministry Philosophy, Theology | No Comments »
This fall marks my seventh year as a “worship leader”, 8th as a member of the music team. I was brought in to the team way too early, and given leadership of a band far prematurely by our current standards. However, after talking with pastors and leaders looking back at that time, I believe we were well within God’s will in making those decisions.
This letter is an attempt at defining a few points of what it takes to be a worship leader, lead worshiper, and maybe on more general terms, a mature follower of Christ. I believe that at a very basic level, a growing follower of Christ with musical skill and some leadership skill (that is a combination of organizational and relational skill) can lead worship. However, throwing a young (immature) Christian in this position too soon can lead to pride “the condemnation of the devil” (1 Tim 3:6). By the grace of God alone, I have made it thus far (why Come Thou Fount is one of my favorite hymns) and I want to attempt to identify some key areas in which God is working on me that sustain me in this ministry.
I hope that this letter will help challenge, instruct, and motivate young and aspiring worship leaders, as well as older members of the music ministry in understanding what it looks like to “offer your life as a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship” which I believe is what will happen if one has truly accepted God’s grace (the gospel).
This list is not comprehensive and I should probably go and put the scripture references I draw this from in-line, but it’s a list of things I see the young guys in our church who want to lead worship needing, and thing I myself need constantly.
Continue ‘What It Takes To Be A Worship Leader’ »
What It Takes To Be A Rock Musician
by Matt Heerema | Posted in Ministry Philosophy, Theology | No Comments »
I thought I’d share with all of you the document we hand all potential new music ministry members (as well as current members from time to time) communicating to them the standard we expect of music ministry participants. I hope you find it helpful.
Continue ‘What It Takes To Be A Rock Musician’ »
