Worship Leader Blog

5 Things To Remember About Melody When You Write Worship Songs

April 23, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

I have been having a blast writing this series focused on helping you write worship songs and the response from worship songwriters has been incredible. Thanks to everyone who has shared these posts and passed them along to songwriters and those who are writing worship songs for your local churches.

So far, we’ve talked about inspiration, co-writing, conversations and begun to talk about lyrics and melody. Today’s post is going to focus on five things you need to remember when it comes to melody as part of writing worship songs.

Know the rules then break them
A classic sign of a beginning songwriter is the rulebreaker attitude: “Rules? I don’t need rules! I’m an artist!” Of course you’re an artist – that’s why you need rules! There’s all kinds of time in your life to be creative, play outside the box, colour outside the lines but the ones who are truly successful at this are the ones who know the rules of songwriting and push the boundaries within the boundaries.
From C to shining C
Remember that you are writing melody for your congregation not for you. How many minutes of actual singing do you think the typical Sunday morning attender does outside of the songs you are singing together? In an average week? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Zip. Not one. You are not writing songs for singers, you are writing songs for talkers who are being asked to sing.As a general rule, the majority of your melody should remain in a one octave range “from C to shining C.” For women, this is middle C up one octave. For men, this is middle C down one octave. There are definitely exceptions and there’s nothing wrong with a low Bb or a high D but your melody shouldn’t live up there.
Keep It Simple!
Stop for a second and hum the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Seriously. Do it. I’ll wait….

How many notes in that melody? Six. Six notes in that melody. What about “Mary Had A Little Lamb”? Four. Four notes in the melody of that song. Complexity is not memorable. Simplicity is memorable.

This applies to worship songs as well. Think of the chorus of “Mighty to Save” – five notes. Chorus of “Blessed be Your Name” – four notes. Chorus of “How Great is Our God” – five notes. When is the last time you wrote a melody which includes only four or five notes? Up for the challenge? You might create the most memorable melody you’ve ever written.
Melody serves the lyric
Earlier in this blog series I mentioned this idea that “lyric is king, melody is queen” – the lyric of our worship songs is what makes them distinctive. The object and subject of our worship is Jesus and this is what makes our worship songs what they are.

As you write, remember that the melody needs to serve the lyric. If the words of your song are focused on celebration, rejoicing, exalting God for His attributes and His activity but the melody of your song is a slow, droning, mournful line, you may not get the response you’re looking for. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad melody, it just doesn’t serve the lyric. If it IS a good melody, there is another, better lyric which it can serve in another song.
Capture Ideas
I mentioned this same thing when it comes to lyrics but from time to time you will have a melody just drop in to your brain and if you are like me you may think to yourself, “No problem, that melody is so great I will remember it!” No, you will not! Get yourself a way to remember your melody ideas in a way that makes sense to you.

I love the Evernote app for iPhone and us it to record audio notes all the time. You could also use a standard voice recorder like the Roland R-05 or any other kind of voice recording app for your phone. You could even call yourself on the phone and leave a voicemail with the melody idea to retrieve later.

Five things to remember about melody when you write worship songs: Know the rules then break them, from C to shining C, keep it simple, melody serves the lyric and capture ideas. Share & Re-Write & Share – Great Songs Are Re-Written

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

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5 Things To Remember About Lyrics When You Write Worship Songs

April 19, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

There is no question that the most meaningful part of the journey as you write worship songs will be developing lyrics. The lyrics of our worship songs are what makes them unique – the subject, the object, the topic, the focus should all point towards God, glorifying and honouring Him because of who He is and what He does. The church’s responsibility is to sing the praise of God with songs that speak clearly of His attributes and His activity.

Lyrics can also be a real sticking point for new songs and there is no shortage of controversy when it comes to the lyrics of worship songs. To be honest, sometimes it feels like there are songwriters who are using odd words and phrases simply for their own sake rather than for the purpose of writing a better song. At the same time, certain words or phrases can quickly become trite, overused and lose any kind of significance for our churches as they sing.

Here are five things you need to remember about lyrics when you write worship songs:

Jesus is the centre
Don’t run from it, don’t deny it, don’t hide it and certainly don’t try to be clever. Make Jesus famous with your songs. Proclaim His goodness and mercy. Write about His compassion and His grace. Tell the story of the gospel – the whole story! - through the lyrics when you write worship songs.

Lyrics focused on Jesus is the hallmark of Christian worship and really the only distinctive that makes a worship song a worship song. And no, capitalizing You and He is not enough! Be clear, be specific!

Rhymes are a two-edged sword
Rhymes help your audience remember the song and give our brain some hooks to grab on to when we are learning a new song. Rhymes can be very helpful and you should learn about rhyming patterns and structure as your write worship songs. Do you have the last word of each line of your verse rhyme? The 2nd and 4th lines? The last line of each verse rhymes? The structure should serve the song but use rhymes in a way which will help your audience remember the song.

At the same time, rhymes can very quickly become cliché and every songwriter has had the experience of tearing a song apart because he just can’t find a way to get out of the face/grace rhyming trap! Don’t go to a familiar rhyme too quickly. Look for alternatives, find a different way to say what you’re trying to say and find a better word to use.

Lyric ideas are everywhere
Expect words and inspiration to find you at the strangest moments. Sitting in the chair at the dentist. Waiting at a red light. Eating the first bite of a great meal. Be on the lookout for phrases or word combinations which catch your attention. I’ve heard Paul Baloche describe this as having your “antennae up” – always expecting that a conversation or book or movie might produce a line which could eventually find its way to a song.

Be ready for this inspiration. Don’t dismiss a phrase which comes to mind after you hear it. If it’s caught your attention it might be a signal that there is a deeper significance to this phrase which could be used as you are writing worship songs.

No, you will not remember!
I don’t know how many great song titles or ideas have been lost forever but great songwriters because they were never captured. I know my first reaction when I come across a word or phrase which grabs my attention is “Of course I’ll remember that!” No, of course you will not. You need a way to capture these ideas quickly that will allow you to process them later.

At the end of this post I’ll show you three tools you must have to remember lyric ideas.

Lyrics live on
The last 10 years or so has brought a resurgence of rewriting old hymns of the church. The interesting thing for me from a songwriting perspective is that when we talk rewriting we are really talking about new melody – in most cases we have kept the lyrics the same but found a way to make the melody more singable, more accessible, more memorable for a modern audience.

The point of this is not to say that this is what should happen but this is what is happening. The lyric lives on, the melody is temporary. Should you ever write a worship song which is being sung after you are dead it will probably be due to the lyric – what the song says about Jesus, how it encourages followers of Christ in their faith and how it proclaims different attributes of His character.

Here are three tools that I use to help remember lyric ideas and inspiration:

Notebook: I have a Moleskine notebook with me almost all the time. I have several Moleskines filled with notes, ideas, conversations and all kinds of scribbles. I review these often and go back to ideas I’d captured years ago.

Evernote: I know people who love Evernote and people who hate it. If it works for you, make it work! I have mine setup to receive new notes via email and use the iPhone app all the time to capture lyric ideas. Again, I go back every now and then to review these ideas.

Voice recorder: This might be an app on your phone or maybe a voice recorder like the Roland R-05. The beauty of a voice recorder is that you can quickly explain what it is about the idea that captured your attention.

Of course the key to any tool is that it must be easily accessible all the time. If you always have your phone with you, get a voice recorder app. If you are able to always carry a notebook, do that. Any tool is only going to be as good as its accessibility.

Five things to remember about lyrics when you write worship songs: Jesus is the centre, rhymes are a two-edged sword, lyric ideas are everywhere, no you will not remember and lyrics live on. Next up: five things to remember about melody when you write worship songs.

—————————————-

This post isn’t intended to be a biblical defense of how to write worship songs or writing lyrics for worship songs but if you are interested in this, you should read through some of these passages of scripture:

Psalm 33

Psalm 92

Psalm 150

1 Chronicles 15

Nehemiah 12

Ephesians 5

Colossians 3

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

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Where Do You Start – Lyrics Or Melody?

April 18, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

When it comes to writing songs in general but writing worship songs specifically I’ve found there are all kinds of “yabuts” that come from new writers or those who are considering beginning to write worship songs for their church. Yabuts – you know what I mean.. “Yaaaa… buuuut…” Yabuts!

Yabuts can unveil some hidden assumptions or insecurity when it comes to actually beginning the process. (Sidenote: If you are an artist and have not read The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield, you owe it to yourself and your community to do this, now!) When new songwriters bring up concerns or questions about the process of actually writing worship songs together, it can often be a red flag that the person wants to find the perfect step-by-step outline rather than just doing the work of writing worship songs.

Although there are several concerns and questions which are raised, I’ve found the most common one is this: where do I start, lyrics or melody?

I get the question – Is it better to spend time finalizing lyrics which are accurate, helpful, inspirational, instructive? Or it is better to start with a melody which is singable, familiar and memorable? The next two posts in this series will talk more about lyrics and melody specifically when it comes to writing worship songs but in a general sense here is how I answer this question.

Where do I start, lyrics or melody?

Yes.

Start. That is the important part. I know great songwriters who start with lyric and feel like a single phrase can become the cornerstone of an entire song and they will work, work, work until they nail down that phrase, build it into a chorus and develop verses around it before they go to melody. I know other writers who just record melody idea after idea after idea – they have a bank of melody ideas just waiting for lyrics and have spent hours and hours refining melodies, trying different notes on top of different chord progressions to come up with music their congregation will be able to sing.

The key to each of these options? Start. You must start.

You can spend all day debating whether it’s better or more helpful to start with lyrics or melody when you write worship songs but if you debate more than you write, you’re wasting your time. So write! Start!

When it comes to lyric and melody – both are very important when it comes to worship songs. The melody needs to be singable, the lyric needs to be accurate. The melody needs to be memorable, the lyric needs to teach. Both are important but both have different roles. You’ll sometimes hear the phrase “the lyric is king, the melody is queen” from those who write worship songs.

The lyric is king – this is really the distinction of what makes a worship song a worship song. The lyric must be focused on Jesus, accurate in its theology, teaching for the believer, instructive for the skeptic – all of those things. The lyric is king.

The melody is queen – don’t neglect the role of melody as you write worship songs! The melody is actually what helps us memorize songs. We remember the notes, the hook, the phrasing of our favourite songs even if we don’t remember all the words. The melody is crucial to help our congregation actually sing these songs we are writing.

So don’t neglect either – both are important! But don’t get so tied up in asking questions that you neglect to actually do the thing you are trying to do: write worship songs!

Where do you start, lyrics or melody? Yes! Next up: five things to remember about lyrics as you write worship songs.

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

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3 Reasons To Write Worship Songs With People Outside Your Church

April 17, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

The previous post in this series focused on helping you to write worship songs focused on co-writing with people from your own church. What about co-writing with people outside your church when it comes to writing worship songs? I’ll give the same caution I gave yesterday – choose wisely when it comes to co-writing relationships but don’t be afraid of pursuing this. If you have a dream to write worship songs for your own church, here are three reasons to write with people from outside your church -

Fresh perspective
Whatever is happening in your own church it’s good to remember that God is alive and at work in every other church around the world. Getting together with a friend and beginning to write worship songs together gives you a chance to hear about what’s happening in their own church, giving you a new perspective on what God is like and what the church is called to.

They will also help give you a fresh perspective on what’s happening at your own church. As you talk about things happening in your own congregation and why writing worship songs for your church is part of your journey, they’ll be able to encourage you along in the process. Fresh perspective can be very helpful!

Expand your network
Let’s assume that the co-writing session goes well and you actually manage to put together some different ideas which are eventually turned into a worship song that your church is able to sing. This is a win! You’ll both feel great about the experience and begin to build a new level of trust – you will be more willing to recommend them as a songwriter to other people looking to co-write and they will do the same. You’ll be introduced to people in your co-writer’s network who you didn’t know before.

Even if the process doesn’t go well and you struggle through a songwriting session with no tangible ideas when you come out the other side, good songwriters will recognize times when it was just a bad fit and they may know some other writers you should reach out to. I can think of times when I’ve gone to a co-writing session and although we didn’t manage to put a song together we each knew songwriters the other should get to know and have a chance to write with. That’s a win!

Shared ownership
I’m not talking about copyright (although that should definitely come up and we’ll talk about that later in this series) but a co-written song immediately has twice as many champions than a song written by a single writer. If you are both worship leaders at local churches, that means there are now two churches where the song can be tried out. It’s not my song anymore, it’s our song – and when it comes to writing worship songs, that’s a big distinction.

Writing worship songs with people from outside your church gives you increased ownership of the song and its success when it is released as a finished product.

Three reasons you should write worship songs with people from outside your church: fresh perspective, to expand your network and shared ownership. Next up: where do you start – lyrics or melody?

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

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3 Reasons To Write Worship Songs With People Inside Your Church

April 16, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

As you start to write worship songs for your church, you would be wise to make co-writing a regular part of your songwriting process. One decision I made early as a songwriter is that I wanted to find songwriting collaborators and not try to tackle writing worship songs completely on my own. This has helped form new friendships, allowed me to discover new creative opportunities and given me the chance to cheer on other songwriters.

When you are thinking of the kinds of people you’d like to start writing songs with, don’t jump in too early. Songwriting is a delicate process and even strong friendships can be damaged by a songwriting session gone bad. Co-writing can definitely be beneficial and one of the best places to start is by writing worship songs with other people inside your own church.

Listen very closely – don’t jump too quickly into a songwriting relationship because there are all kinds of stories of friendships which did not survive but don’t be scared of pursuing this as an option. Co-writing is not for everybody and there are lots of great worship songs which are written by individual songwriters but if your hope is to write songs which speak directly to your congregation, here are three reasons why you should consider co-writing with people from your own church -

They know you
Don’t underestimate the power of relationship. Writing songs with strangers or new friends can be exciting and energizing but there is something special about writing songs with people you know. You share common experiences, common struggles and if you’re part of the same church you share a unique history as members of the same congregation.

Coming at a topic or a theme for a song from the perspective of relationship could be a real unique advantage for your songwriting and may give you a headstart as you write worship songs for your church.

They know your congregation
The most direct opportunity for singing new worship songs will be within your own congregation and by co-writing with another member of your church you won’t have to go through any kind of education process on the past, present, future of your church’s congregation.

There are definitely songs which speak to universal issues for any follower of Christ and these are the songs which go global and can be sung in any church around the world. But as you write worship songs for your own congregation, remember that there are songs which will only be able to come from within your own congregation – some of those global songs just won’t capture the right words that your church needs to sing.

They know your pastor
Remember that your relationship with your pastor is more important than whether or not one of your songs gets sung in your church. As you bring creative ideas or direction to the table for a particular song, someone from your church may be a great source of wisdom when it comes to encouraging you to purse a specific idea or to look for an alternative. Consider them your first line of defense when it comes to ideas which may be pushing the envelope.

At the same time, if you are writing a song with someone from your church and come up with a lyric which may get some resistance, you can approach your pastor together with some of your reasoning behind a particular word choice. Having someone from your church as part of the process creates trust all around.

Three reasons to write worship songs with people inside your church: they know you, they know your congregation, they know your pastor. Next up: three reasons to write worship songs with people outside your church.

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

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3 Ways The Bible Inspires You To Write Worship Songs

April 12, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

So you’ve got this idea to write worship songs for your church, you’ve had conversations with three key people and you’ve asked God to search your heart as you begin. There is no inspiration like the inspired word of God and it is an endless well of ideas, encouragement, teaching and motivation.

So many great worship songs throughout the history of the church have been written either directly from or inspired by scripture and this will not end anytime soon. Every generation needs to hear the voice of God through His word and discover what it is He is speaking. Songwriters and other creatives have the opportunity to read the Bible, pray that the Spirit of God would speak and form some of those key thoughts into creative art forms which inspire and inform those who know Christ and those who don’t.

Here are three ways the Bible can be an inspiration to you as you write worship songs -

Write worship songs for a sermon series
This is one of my favorite ways to get inspiration for a new worship song. I’ll talk with my pastor about an upcoming sermon series and what book or passages he’ll be using for that series. As I spent time thinking about songs we could use during that series I’ll usually spend some time looking at the passages and the overall big idea for the series and ask if there is the opportunity to write a new worship song just for that series.

Read through the passage, look at the context and what the author is trying to say. Think about how this will apply to your congregation and how your pastor is going to relate it as part of his message. You may want to write a song which could act as an introduction to the whole series, as a lead in to one of his messages or maybe as an opportunity for your congregation to respond to what they’ve heard during the sermon.

Write worship songs which help memorize scripture
Scripture memory is incredibly important and our brains remember melody and lyric much easier than we remember verbatim text. Help them learn and memorize more passages of the Bible by putting them to music word-for-word.

Remember that the Bible was not written to be put to music so the authors were not thinking of you and your need for a verse/chorus/bridge structure but that’s okay. Find the key phrase of that passage and build your chorus around that. Build verses which support the main chorus idea.

When you introduce a song like this to your congregation, tell them right up front that it is directly from scripture and so it may not sing like other songs you do as a church but if they’re able to memorize songs like this they will actually be memorizing scripture.

Pay attention to verses God brings to mind
There are times in my life when I see specific verses or passages more times than normal in a short period of time. I’ve learned to pay attention when I see or hear verses mentioned by different people. I take this to mean that God is trying to get my attention and there may be an opportunity to write a worship song out of what this verse would have to say.

Don’t ignore these times when a verse or passage seems to impact you in a unique way and it shows itself in your life multiple times. I know this has happened for me with Psalm 121, Colossians 3, John 4, Luke 24 and other passages. Every time I’ve recognized this I’ve spent time writing a worship song out of these passages – sometimes it’s a song I’ll use in personal worship, sometimes it’s a song I’ll share with others.

Three ways the Bible can be an inspiration to you as you write worship songs: write worship songs for a sermon series, write worship songs which help memorize scripture, pay attention to verses God brings to mind. Next up: three reasons to write worship songs with people inside your church.

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

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The Most Important Conversation Before You Write Worship Songs

April 11, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

As much as you love your congregation, love the people you are trying to reach, love the musicians on your team and love the leadership of your church I promise you there is someone who loves them more. As much as you care about the songs that you sing and the process of how you will write worship songs for your own congregation, you need to be reminded that Jesus cares about your church, your people, your music, your mission much more than you ever will.

This is a good thing.

The success of new worship songs is not dependent on your own talent. Important to develop as a songwriter? Of course! But if bringing new worship songs to your church is only about marketing, you’re missing the point. You want to give your church worship songs which allow them to give praise, honour, adoration and glory to God and to Him alone. We pour our heart and soul into these songs and the hope is that the acclamation goes to Jesus, not to us.

This is a good thing.

As you begin to write worship songs, before making plans or coming up with strategy, bear your heart before the Lord. He knows your plans better than you do. He knows the steps which have been set out before you. He knows if you are coming at this from a place of integrity or a place of selfishness.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble. Proverbs 28:14

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

Speak with God about your plans and your desire to write worship songs for your church. Pray that God would be honoured, that your church would be given some new words to sing as an expression of their worship, but above all pray that God would search your heart and that you would be coming at this from a right place.

The most important conversation before you write worship songs: talk with God about this hope and dream and desire that He’s given you and ask Him to speak to your heart clearly. Next up: 3 ways the Bible inspires you to write worship songs.

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

Click here to add your comment and join in the conversation.

3 People To Talk With Before You Write Worship Songs

April 10, 2012

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

When you begin to write worship songs for your church you should have conversations with THREE people. Having these conversations will give you some incredible perspective, it will go a long way to show that you are serious about doing this and it will also hopefully give you some encouragement as you begin the process.

Your Pastor
Speaking with your pastor about your desire to write worship songs for your church as soon as possible is a great move. This allows your pastor to encourage you, to pray for you, to cheer you on. It also gives him the opportunity to talk with you about some future sermon series he may be working on – perhaps there’s a certain series that needs a song which just isn’t written yet.The pastor/worship leader relationship is not always perfect but if you can go to your pastor with more than an “I wanna” when it comes to your desire to write worship songs, chances are he will be excited and will want to see you pursue this.

Make sure your pastor knows that you are coming at this from a place of serving your congregation and not your own career – if there’s the sense that you only want to use your position as a platform for your original songs, that’s going to put a bad taste in your pastor’s mouth from the very beginning. Allow your pastor to speak in to the direction of new songs and maintain communication as songs are being written. He will appreciate the opportunity to look at lyrics, give some early feedback and encourage you along the way.

Key Member Of Your Worship Team
Getting buy-in from another worship leader or solid musician on your worship team is great and will help as songs get finished and begin to be introduced to your congregation. Having a conversation with someone from your team early in the process to get them excited about the idea of writing original worship songs will give you someone to cheer you on and help develop music ideas as you write worship songs.

Involving other musicians and songwriters from your church is a great idea and we’ll be talking about that later but at this point I’m not necessarily talking about someone who is a songwriter. They should be someone who is respected by other musicians in your worship ministry and can help encourage the implementation of these new worship songs.

Key Leader In Your Congregation
This isn’t about making the right people happy but you should have a conversation with a key leader from your church and explain to them that you sense this new desire to write worship songs and that you really feel there is an opportunity for your church to be involved in helping to write these songs. I promise that as you pursue this songwriting adventure there will be times of questioning and discouragement – to have someone on your side who is one step removed from the songwriting process but who also understands the blessing that these songs are to the congregation will be huge.

Keep this person updated. Don’t come at it from a place of self-promotion or blowing your own horn but if you do get to the place where you are teaching new original songs to your congregation, send this person an email before the Sunday comes to let them know. Maybe you’ve got a rough demo of the song you can send them so at least one person in the congregation is familiar with it before you sing the song.

Three people you should talk with before you begin to write worship songs: your pastor, key member of your worship team and a key leader in your congregation. Next up: the most important conversation before you write worship songs.

[This post is part of my Write Worship Songs blog series.]

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

Click here to add your comment and join in the conversation.

Write Worship Songs: 10 Steps from Inspiration to Completion

April 9, 2012

Worship leaders wear many hats and one of the things we get asked to do is write worship songs for our churches. This is a good thing – writing worship songs that come from our congregation’s own experience and speak to our congregation in its own language is a privilege for worship leaders and an opportunity they should definitely pursue. To write worship songs for your own church is to help give them the language of praise.

Over the last few years I’ve had the opportunity to spearhead a network of Canadian worship leaders called WorshipRises. Our mandate has been to develop worship resources for & from the Canadian church and a big piece of that has been writing original worship songs. We’ve done songwriting events all over Canada and have had around 150 worship leaders & songwriters participate in our network.

Some of the songs from the WorshipRises network are being sung in churches all over North America, we released an EP of four original songs last year and we continue to push forward as we write worship songs for our churches in a way that helps their congregation express praise to God.

I’m no songwriting expert but I do get asked if I have advice to give to those who would like to write worship songs for their church so I’m going to write 10 posts as part of a new blog series: Write Worship Songs – 10 Steps from Inspiration to Completion.

3 People To Talk With Before You Write Worship Songs

The Most Important Conversation Before You Write Worship Songs

3 Ways The Bible Inspires You To Write Worship Songs

3 Reasons To Write Worship Songs With People Inside Your Church

3 Reasons To Write Worship Songs With People Outside Your Church

Where Do You Start – Lyrics Or Melody?

5 Things To Remember About Lyrics When You Write Worship Songs

5 Things To Remember About Melody When You Write Worship Songs

Share & Re-Write & Share – Great Songs Are Re-Written

Resources To Copyright Your Worship Song

So here we go. Write Worship Songs: 10 Steps from Inspiration to Completion

Come back tomorrow to read the first post in this series or subscribe to the RSS feed to get posts sent directly to your blog reader.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

Click here to add your comment and join in the conversation.

Easter Worship Media Round-Up

April 4, 2012

I know lots of worship leaders are looking for ideas on Easter worship media that you can use for Easter Sunday. You might be looking for that perfect video to open your worship service or maybe a motion background for a presentation song. You probably have your “go to” site when it comes to worship media but maybe you’ll find some new inspiration with these options.

Alive! from thr-ve media: “This powerful and inspiring mini-movie is a great way to kick off your Easter services.”

The MOMENT from Flickering Minds Media can be purchased at WorshipVue: “Imagine you where there, at the crucifixion, for just a moment? What was it like? What did it mean? ’The MOMENT’ challenges you to venture into these questions and follow them down a path that might just lead you to your own moment.”

Grace from the Skit Guys is an extremely powerful video: “In this conversation between Jesus and Peter, grace is illustrated when Jesus forgives the unforgivable.”

Read about how we used this video for Easter 2011 - I promise that it will get people’s attention!

Easter Morning from Centerline New Media is a great combo of graphics and soundtrack. “A moving retelling of the first Easter morning from Matthew 28:5-9. Works great as an intro to your Easter worship service or sunrise service.”

Follow was released last year from Igniter Media and was a huge hit with lots of churches showing it on Easter Sunday. “The Easter Story… 140 characters at a time.”

BONUS: WorshipHouseMedia does a great job of gathering all the best seasonal content and you can find lots more great content at their Easter Store.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm currently on sabbatical this summer - you can read more about my sabbatical here: Personal Update - What's Next

Since I'm away from the blog I've decided to close comments. I love the interaction and discussion that happens with readers and since I'm not able to do that this summer, I'll be very much looking forward to that when I return in August.

Click here to add your comment and join in the conversation.

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Chris Vacher Married to Sonya, dad to Avery, Emmy, Isabelle and Anderson. Director of Worship at Orangeville Baptist Church near Toronto. Founder of WorshipRises and doing my best to follow Jesus in the midst of it all.

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5 Things To Remember About Melody When You Write Worship Songs

5 Things To Remember About Lyrics When You Write Worship Songs

Where Do You Start – Lyrics Or Melody?

3 Reasons To Write Worship Songs With People Outside Your Church

3 Reasons To Write Worship Songs With People Inside Your Church

3 Ways The Bible Inspires You To Write Worship Songs

The Most Important Conversation Before You Write Worship Songs

3 People To Talk With Before You Write Worship Songs

Write Worship Songs: 10 Steps from Inspiration to Completion

Easter Worship Media Round-Up

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