“Oh Lord You’re Beautiful” by Jesus Culture

Don’t ever believe the lie that “old songs” have nothing left for the church today.

“…for my reward is giving glory to you.”

What is the Bible Basically About?

Article – “Music That Encourages Participation”

Someone sent me a link to this article from Worship Leader Magazine and I loved it so I wanted to pass it on. Curt Coffield wrote this piece called “Music That Encourages Participation” and talks about his personal growth in the area of worship leadership as it relates to actually leading his congregation on Sunday morning.

He has some great stuff to say and I’d encourage you to read the whole article here – http://www.worshipleader.com/index.cfm?tdc=dsp&page=features_detail&aid=185 (The top of the page is a solid article from Sally Morgenthaler but keep scrolling down to find the article from Curt.)

I won’t quote the whole thing – go read it for yourself! – but his first paragraph is great:

In recent years I have observed brave worthwhile attempts at convincing the worshiping masses that “worship is not singing.” We, of course, have meant to say that there are far more ways to worship than simply singing. We have invested much effort in educating the church to see the many different ways to worship. I have whole-heartedly joined in the efforts at educating, and I have been thrilled to see the church at large growing in its theology of worship. However, I have chuckled at times because it has felt on occasion as if we’re leading worshipers to believe that “singing is not worship.” So let me shout this loud and clear:

Singing is a great way to worship the Lord!

Go read the article to find out more about what he has to say about each of these:

• Use Singable Songs
• Arrange Songs Mindful of the Novice Singer
• Ask Nicely

Good stuff.

As well as being a clinician for Maranatha’s Worship Leader Workshop and a workshop teacher at multiple National Worship Leader Conferences, Curt Coffield has led worship for Promise Keeper events around the country, has been a part of numerous recordings, and has penned nearly 50 songs that are used in churches around the world. Curt Coffield is currently the Pastor at Sewickley Valley North Way Christian Community in Pennsylvania.

Matt Ridley: When ideas have sex

Wow. Love it. How the “meeting & mating” of ideas has had a profound impact on cultural development since the very beginning of human history.

Thoughts on leading your family in worship

Tim Smith has some great thoughts for those of you who lead worship at your church and also have the privilege and responsibility to lead worship for your family at home. Check out the whole article on the Resurgence blog here – http://theresurgence.com/leading_your_family_in_worship

As a pastor who leads others in worship through song and teaching, there is an overwhelming temptation to value what happens in public over what happens in private. It’s so easy to value public gifts over private faithfulness, and what happens on a stage more than what goes on in your closest relationships. This is true in many areas, but one of the most troubling is the neglect of fathers in leading their families in regular times of family worship.

“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

I’ve recently gathered my summer reading list and am really looking forward to it. This year I’ve got four books on my desk to read over the summer:

• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
• Leading in Prayer: A Workbook For Worship by Hughes Oliphant Old
• Rework by Jason Fried

Each of these books has come up in different conversations (in real life, on the blog, twitter or facebook) over the past year and I’m looking forward to each of them for different reasons.

I started reading “The War of Art” the other night and never has a book had such profound impact on my life within so few pages – with the exception of the Bible, of course. The first part of the book explains something that is very well-known to artists but hard to express – Resistance. He makes the case for the clever, sneaky ways that Resistance pulls us away from our task of creating. Resistance takes on many forms – distractions, laziness, success, etc – but always comes once we make the commitment to create. (As a sidenote, I’m not one of those who thinks that “artist” is a specialized category of class of people. I believe we are all artists and every single person will face Resistance in some way, whether or not they believe that they are gifted creatively.)

He moves from this incredible discussion on Resistance and its power to an exploration on the differences between amateurs and professional. The general view of “amateur” is that they are someone who is doing something because of their love of the activity. Pressfield’s argument is that it is the amateur who does not love the activity enough and that the professional, while he may get paid for his work, is actually the one who is creating because of his love. Even if the professional were not being paid, he would still be compelled to create.

One of the fun ways to take a book like this to a new level has been to share some of my thoughts and some of the quotes on twitter (@chrisfromcanada) and to have a second level of interaction with people who are either new to the book or who have read it before. If you’re interested in following along, I’m attaching the #WarOfArt hashtag to all of my tweets about the book.

Here’s a series of tweets and replies that have been happening on twitter the past few days -

“It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.”#warofart

I’m 10 pages in and I’m already convinced that this book could change me. #warofart

“The best & only thing that 1 artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.” #warofart Thanks, artist friends, …

“We will never cure our restlessness by contributing our disposable income to the bottom line of Bullshit, Inc.”#warofart

“Fundamentalism and art are mutually exclusive. There is no such thing as fundamentalist art.” #warofart

Resistance and fear. What’s the step I’m afraid to take right now? What’s the journey that is too fear-filled? #warofart

“If you’re paralyzed with fear, it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.”#warofart Thankful for the enduring perfect love of God

From @JeannaMiller – RT @chrisfromcanada: “If you’re paralyzed with fear, it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.”#warofart

From @derricklogan – RT @chrisfromcanada Summer reading begins now. #warofarthttp://twitpic.com/1ylkf3 // Top 5 all time for me.

Some more #warofart reading tonight. Lots of things stirring in my brain from the first 50 pages.

From @anidolheart – RT @chrisfromcanada Some more#warofart reading tonight. // I have been told to read that book. Thanks for the reminder.

“Seeking support from friends and family is like having your people gathered around at your deathbed.”#warofart Thankful 4 deathbed friends

“Tolstoy had thirteen kids and wrote War and Peace.” #warofart He must have had one great wife.

I wish I could tweet all of page 57. I think I need to rip it out and frame it instead. #warofart

From @christopherbmac – @chrisfromcanada I dare say Tolstoy’s family life was probably the inspiration for the book, with that many kids.#warofart

“The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not.” #warofart Little over the top. I get it

The exploration of amateur vs. professional has so much to say for those of us leading teams of “volunteers.” Good stuff. #WarOfArt

“The professional, though he accepts money, does his work out of love. He has to love it.” #WarOfArt

“Technically, the professional takes money. Technically, the pro plays for pay. But in the end, he does it for love.”#WarOfArt

“The professional masters how, and leaves what and why to the gods.”#WarOfArt

I totally get Piper’s “we are not professionals” but I am now sold on Pressfield’s “we are not amateurs”#WarOfArt

From @ChurchTechGuy – @chrisfromcanada I was once told the only difference between amateur and professional art is who gets paid. I do it for the love of art.

From @b_rewster – RT @chrisfromcanada:”The professional masters how, & leaves what & why 2 the gods.”#WarOfArt/Another awesome person reading “The manifest”

From@sabbatical – @chrisfromcanada Karl Marx had seven kids, but at least 3 of them died because he was so poor due to his writing/philosophizing.

From @charlie_mcevoy – @chrisfromcanada The first time I read that book I wanted to copy the entire thing in a note book.

From @wdkunkel – @chrisfromcanada Isn’t that one of the longest books EVER. With 13 kids, could it have been his ‘garage project’ before there was a garage?

From @marcjolicoeur – “War of Art” is quite good, eh @chrisfromcanada?

I’m looking forward to working my way through the rest of the book. As you may be able to tell, I have a feeling that the impact of this book is going to last for a long, long time.

David Crowder’s Fantastical Church Music Conference

A brief description of what to expect at David Crowder’s Fantastical Church Music Conference.

More info & tickets at www.davidcrowderband.com/fantastical

Perry Noble – “Seven Reasons Why I LOVE Our Worship Leaders!”

Perry Noble is the senior pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina. He posted this on his blog last week and I loved it –

#1 – The Church Is Not “Their Gig,” – it’s THEIR CHURCH! They love NewSpring Church…they pray for it, work on it, support it financially and do not want to use it to boost their CD sales. They don’t run to it when they can’t find a “better opportunity,” they are here serving each and every week. They love the people in this church and have a heart to reach the community in which they are in!

#2 – They Have A Servants Heart – Our worship leaders do WAY more than sing on Sunday’s. In fact, they would be willing to do ANYTHING to advance the ball down the field. I am not kidding when I tell you that I could call any of them right now and tell them we are scrubbing toilets this afternoon and they would do it.
If a worship leaders thinks “their job” is to just sing then you don’t have a worship leader…you have an arrogant performer who wants people to worship them rather than leading them to worship Jesus. Worship is WAY more than singing…it’s serving Jesus by doing whatever it takes to make His Name known!

#3 – They KNOW the Scriptures – Our worship leaders know God’s Word…they read it, memorize it…CRAVE IT…and it shows as it FLOWS out of them in natural conversation and in their leadership on Sundays.

#4 – They Are Always Striving To Improve – I love that none of them are ever satisfied with the way things are…they are always striving to improve as vocalists and musicians…none of them believe they have “arrived” vocally/musically!

#5 – They Are Not Afraid To Try Something Different – I have gone to them a few times and asked them to attempt a song that isn’t quite their style…and they always says “yes!” They are not afraid of hard work…and if something isn’t familiar to them they will bust their rear ends to make sure that they absolutely kill it when it comes time to make it happen.

#6 – They Call Each Other Out – They love each other enough to tell each other when a vocal or musical part just isn’t right. AND…they also challenge and call each other out OFF of the stage. (Which is essential for a great worship team…if they are only concerned about one another ON stage and not OFF the stage then their obsession is the performance…not the person.)

#7 – They Write Awesome Music – Yes, we do other people’s music…I think it is both arrogant and stupid to not do a song that has a great message; however, our worship leaders also write their own stuff…which is SO pleasing to me because hearing their lyrics gives me a front row seat to what Jesus is doing in their hearts.

Now, listen. Don’t read this post and think “MY senior pastor never says nice stuff like that about me!” Instead, read these seven things and ask if those are things that could be said about you as a worship leader and about the rest of your worship team.

“Everlasting Light” from WorshipRises

“Everlasting Light” from WorshipRises
Co-written by Drew Brown (music director at The Meeting Place in Winnipeg, MB – blog|facebook|twitter), Bob Cottrill (worship pastor at North Park Church in London, ON), Luke Holst (ministry intern at West Park Church in London, ON) and Keith Sparrow (worship pastor at The Campus Community Bible Church in Aurora, ON – twitter)

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Romans 6 – Arise!

We are still working our way through the book of Romans at OBC and this week we are spending our service in the first 14 verses of chapter 6:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Pray for us. We are in a very exciting season here at OBC. People are digging in to God’s word, responding to God’s goodness, coming to faith in Christ. Pray for us to be bold as we speak and live the gospel to people who need to hear it.

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Uncover the Color – new resource site

This looks pretty interesting – Uncover the Color.

 

 

From their website:

Uncover the Color is a collection of artists committed to creating high quality art in a wide variety of visual, auditory and live media. Whether in a worship gathering, in print or part of an original project, we believe that art is meant to reflect the deep creative heart of God. Our artists seek to challenge The Church into deeper expression and authentic experiences through a renewed depth in the creative process.

Our website features a combination of completed works, elements for use in your original works, services and training tools – all designed to help you do what you do more effectively.

Worship Confessional – Sunday, May 23, 2010

We are in a pretty sweet season at OBC and our Sunday mornings are hitting a really nice groove. We’re not satisfied, of course, with just letting things go well but it is definitely encouraging to have bands that sound good, tech people who know what they’re doing, and services that bring glory to God.

Here’s what we did on Sunday -

Romans 5:12-21- “Pandemic”
You Are – Mark Roach – F
Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomin – G
Meet & Greet/Announcements
Congregational Prayer
Romans 5:12-21
What The Lord Has Done – Reuben Morgan – C
Psalm 51:1-3, 10-12, Psalm 32:1-2, 10-11
Worship Rises – Joshua Seller & Chris Vacher – A
Message – “Pandemic”
Jesus Paid It All – Kristian Stanfill* – Bb

Overall, we were trying to make a few things happen in this service: 

• Last weekend we ended with a real tone of celebration and in our call to worship I encouraged people to continue in that. You may not have heard “You Are” before but if your church likes to sing Tomlin or Matt Redman, you should definitely check out Mark Roach‘s music. 

   

   

• The passage from Romans that we were focusing on led us to spend some time in confession during our service. We had our pastor come and lead our congregation in prayer and then read the passage he was preaching from – we don’t always do this. We sang two songs between that spot and his message and as part of that section we read together from two confession psalms. I had people take a few moments and reflect on that last verse of Psalm 32 and meditate on the words – “Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!”

   

• The end of our service was just a great opportunity to respond to this truth from Romans 5 that our righteousness is from Christ alone, not from our own good works, our own keeping the law, not even from our faith in Christ – our righteousness is a “free gift” given by God for our good and His glory. “Jesus Paid It All” was a great song to close our service and people definitely made the connect from the truth of that passage to the truth of the words.

   

 

Great morning. You can read more Sunday recaps like this over at TheWorshipCommunity.com.

*I realize that Kristian isn’t the writer of this song but it was his version that we played. Most people would be familiar with the original hymn and this version has an extra chorus added by Alex Nifong. You can find it on the “Everything Glorious” CD from Passion.

 

5 things the worship team wishes the sound team knew

Yesterday I posted an article “6 things your sound team wishes you knew” that my friend Peter Bruce had written. Peter is one of the guys who heads up our AV teams at our church and he’s also one of our acoustic guitar players so he’s got thoughts on this subject from both sides of the stage.

Check out some of his thoughts about what the worship team wishes the sound team knew -

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Things the worship team wish the sound person knew :

1. We are a team. We need, appreciate and value honest and tactful feedback. If you hear something is wrong let us know or pull us down in the mix if it is during the service. We are trusting you so that we will not be a distraction to the worship.

2. Get to know us and make a note of what we typically need in our monitors and preset them before soundcheck. We are artists and knowing you have taken time for each of us goes a long way
3. If you explain why you want us to do something we will trust you more and follow your direction.
4. Please don’t expect us to be warmed up vocally at 7:30-7:45 AM. We know you need to get levels set on the board but we need to warm up for a few songs first.
5. If we see you on sound, set up and tear down regularly we get to know you better and trust you more. Be on time, we know that you are usually the first people in and the last to leave and we appreciate you for that but if you are always scrambling at the last minute it makes it hard for us to get comforable.

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More great thoughts from Peter on this. I love how people at our church are dedicated to serving together in team and finding ways to make the experience more valuable for people who come to our church.

Thanks for all your hard work, Peter! (And Rebecca, too – I’m sure your great wife was a part of putting this list together.)

What do you guys think? Any thoughts to add to this?

6 things your sound team wishes you knew

One of the real privileges I have at OBC is working with an incredible group of people who are dedicated and passionate for our worship ministry. Our teams are committed to leading people in worship, to developing their own ability and are always willing to try new things. This isn’t limited only to our musicians – we have some of the most dedicated and talented people serving on our AV/tech teams.

I asked Peter Bruce to put together a couple of blog posts that I could share with you. Peter is unique in that he’s one of the guys who heads up our tech teams but he’s also one of our acoustic guitar players, so he has some insight on the worship team experience from both sides of the stage.

Today he’s written some thoughts  about what your sound team wishes you knew and tomorrow we’ll post some things that the worship team wishes the sound team knew. Some of you have great relationships with your tech team, some of you do not. Hopefully this is helpful for you.

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A while back Chris asked me to give some suggestions for Worship Teams and Sound Teams. As a sound person and guitar player I have been on both sides of the board. My wife who also takes part in both and I talked about some of the things that each team would benefit from knowing about the other.

Things the sound team wish the worship team knew:

1. We are a team,  we process every sound that comes off the stage and send it to the speakers. We are all working together to produce the best audio mix that we can. Invite us to join you during your pre-service/practice prayer times etc. If you need something just ask, we will do what we can to help, but remember we don’t like last minute surprises. Think of it like being handed a new song that you have not practiced two minutes before the service.
2. Know what you need not want in your monitor. If you have too many instruments or vocals you will have a hard time hearing yourself. Less is more. As a guide, pick 3 things that you must have and a couple more that would be nice but not necessary. Until we get levels set don’t keep stopping and asking for adjustments, once you have gone through a song and we have set our levels we can then make any adjustments you need.
3. Trust your sound person to do the mixing, Things sound different for you on stage especially if you are using in-ear montiors. We are in the congregation ( or we should be, but that is a whole other topic for sound booth position) and will be mixing for what sounds best out there.
4. Please be aware of your monitor or amp level.  You may like to “feel” the music and want your monitor loud but that noise bleeds out into the room and deminishes the quality of the mix for the congregation.
5. Please be on time. We will do our best to have everything ready for you to start the sound check so we ask you show up on time especially if you need time to set up your own gear.
6. Please use proper mic technique and hold your mic close, where we tell you to and not keep dropping it lower because of your own insecurities and issues.

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There is some good stuff here. What do you think? Any thoughts to add? Tech guys, what do you wish your worship team members knew?

Easter Sunday responsive reading

Here is a responsive reading we used on Easter Sunday at Orangeville Baptist Church. We took the traditional Paschal greeting and added some resurrection scripture to it. Great way to start our services together.

Leader:
Christ is risen

Congregation:
He is risen indeed!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3
He is risen indeed!

Jesus has come that we may have life, and have it to the fullest. John 10:10
He is risen indeed!

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
He is risen indeed!

God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Acts 2:24
He is risen indeed!

Christ is risen
He is risen indeed!

 

Image from Flickr

 

Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

Last summer there was a video that went a little crazy, viral-ing its way around the world. Have you seen it? It’s the one where a brave, shirtless soul is dancing all by himself on a hillside at some music festival. There’s a crowd sitting on the grass near him, most of them chuckling at the dancing guy, impressed with his moves but unwilling to join in.

Until..

The first follower.

Derek Sivers put together a 3-minute video with some beautiful insight into what may be descriptive for a new era of leadership, helping us to get a better understanding of followership, as well. You can read the transcript of this video here –

Gungor – Beautiful Things

I will have some posts coming this week to talk about my experience at re:create but, first, let me tell you about one of the most profound things I was a part of.. ever.. in my entire life.. in the history of the world. Seriously.

If you follow Christian/worship music, then you are probably familiar with the name Michael Gungor. He has written songs that are being sung in churches all around the world – Friend of God, Say So or Wrap Me In Your Arms. You may know those songs and maybe you even sing them but, I promise, you have not heard the best of what Michael Gungor has to offer.

This week at re:create we were part of what I could only describe as a holy moment. 10 incredibly talented musicians, 13 songs, 60 minutes of creativity, passion, devotion and honesty packed in to one incredible holy moment.

“Beautiful Things” is the name of Gungor’s new CD (which releases tomorrow) but it is also the live experience that they have created to accompany the CD. You might call it a concert.. but you’d be mistaken. “Beautiful Things” tells the story of creation, fall, redemption and restoration through music, video and spoken word in a way that brought a room full of “creatives” (whatever that means!) to its knees, figuratively, and to its feet, literally. There was weeping, whooping, silence, cheering and the realization that we were witnessing the birth of something new – something very real – that is about to invade the world.

Am I going over the top on this? Honestly.. No. The only thing that I would be able to compare “Beautiful Things” to would be the U2 tour that came through town in the fall. And yes, there’s been much hype on that tour – justifiably so. The Gungor experience left me in the same kind of place as my night with Bono and the boys. Someone said to me this week that the only thing that they could use to compare Gungor was a live show by Sigur Ros. “And,” they continued, “it compares.” That is high praise.

So, can I give you a taste of what it was like? Sort of. Check this out –

How can you find out more?

Gungor – www.gungormusic.com
Twitter – www.twitter.com/gungormusic
iTunes – “Beautiful Things”

So what can you do? Let me suggest three things –

1. Buy the CD and support the band. You might feel it’s your God-given right to steal music and “share” it from friend to friend but.. honestly.. these people need your money. Quit being selfish and vote with your wallet.

2. Go and be a part of the live experience. There are tour dates listed now on their website.

3. Tell someone else about the CD and the “Beautiful Things” events. If music like this is going to spread around the world it will only happen because people who have been moved by it introduce it to others who will be moved and will tell other who will then be moved. So do it – introduce Gungor to someone who loves good music and good artistry. They will not be disappointed.

And, finally, let me say that this experience, for me, would not have happened if it wasn’t for the community and the event of re:create. Worship leaders, you know that there are a zillion worship conferences for you to attend every year. There are all run by good people who have good intentions and good desires for the church. But if you are looking for something more, something different, something challenging, you owe it to yourself to investigate re:create and be a part of it. More on that later.

Image from stripspiritual

“We Are More” by Shane Koyczan

Hundreds of millions people tuned in to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics opening ceremony last night and witnessed an incredible display of Canadian history, heritage, culture and talent. I watched the ceremony this morning with my family and was amazed at the production at the event as well as at the ability of the performers to really capture the sense of what being Canadian is all about.

I watched with great pride as Canada was represented so well in so many ways – from the First Nations welcome to the fiddlers from every region of Canada to the incredible use of staging and projection to bring BC Place alive. Beautiful. 

My favourite moment had to be Shane Koyczan’s spoken word piece, “We Are More” – it captured so much of the heartbeat of Canadians and told a side of our story that is not often told. 

This is not video of his actual performance but if you missed it, you need to watch this video - 

“Recording 48 Tracks with Studio One and the FireStudio”

Feb 5th, 2010 | ideas, tools, worship, youtube | 3 Comments

If you are thinking about doing any kind of live tracking of your church services, you need to watch this video from PreSonus to see how you can do it without spending a ton of cash. These are solid products and pretty straightforward to use. We are hoping to install a similar system to this (24 channels instead of 48) to be able to live track our services on Sunday morning.

Videos for Worship

Jan 27th, 2010 | ideas, tools, worship | 4 Comments

Someone (sorry, I don’t remember who!) linked this site on twitter and I thought it was pretty interesting. If you do any kind of “mood” or architectural projection in your sanctuary or if you are just looking for some video content to use in your worship services, check out this channel on Vimeo – Videos for Worship. Very cool.

Here are a couple of examples –

Check it out. There is some very, very good stuff here. Awesome to see people producing incredible content and then sharing it for the benefit of other churches.

Great work, guys!

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