Worship Leader Magazine
A few months ago Alastair over at Live To Worship asked the blog world a few questions -
How do you guys rate Worship Leader Magazine? Do you think it is worth subscribing to? What are the enhanced song CDs like? How many songs are on each CD?
A few of us answered and the responses were.. well.. less than stellar. Hop over to the site and check the comments. You’ll see that the folks at Worship Leader Magazine found Alastair’s post and our comments and decided to respond -
Hey Guys,
Great feedback. Thanks! I will share this with our Song Discovery Editor who listens to about 1000 songs every listening cycle to get down to the final 30 or so that go to the Board. To dispel any concern regarding getting on the CD, no one vote (including my own) can sway a panel, nobody can vote on any song which comes out of their own church or they have any bias, and the board switches every month – including often moving from regions throughout the US. We work hard to make sure the magazine are both must reads and must listens, but welcome any and all of your input to make it better for our readers and for those who are ready to give us a shot (or another shot). I would love to hear from any of you directly on specific feedback just so we can improve – our primary goal is to equip the churches we serve (approximately 45,000) so we want to be in touch!!!!
Thank you all.
Julie Reid
Executive Editor
Worship Leader Magazine
So I’ll ask the questions as well. How do you rate the magazine? Do you read it? Find it helpful? Post comments here or over at Alastair’s post and let’s see if we can put some thoughts together for the folks at WLM.
just did the same thing – and tagged your discussion as well.
http://blendingworship.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/worship-leader-mag-wants-to-hear-from-you/
Already commented at Mandy’s and Alastair’s but I’ll do it here too, just because Chris is such a cool guy!
“My 2¢, I’ve been a subscriber for a long time, and I’ve always enjoyed reading and hearing what’s new this month. I can mainly think of what I would like to see LESS of, therefore providing more room for the other stuff already being produced.
I would like to see fewer “big name” artists on the CD. Like Leeland was on the CD last time around. These guys are going to get the big advertising push necessary to make us all aware of them anyway. Feature more of the “small time” signed artists, and independent artist.
Same thing with the magazine. Let CCM cover the “big time” worship leaders that everybody already knows about. If you want to interview them fine, but don’t forget that we’re interested in what else is going on in the churches around the country. I miss the worship leader interviews, which is part of the reason I started doing them on my blog. I want the coverage of the next big thing alongside that little small thing over there that no one but God has noticed yet.”
I have been a subscriber to WL magazine and Song Discovery for quite a while. I would imagine that it’s nearly impossible to create products like these that consistently meet the needs of worship leaders across the incredibly wide spectrum of churches. I commend the editors and writers for striving to speak to the hearts of leaders as well as to issues that surround the ministry of worship in our churches.
Honestly, here’s how I use these products: I glance through the magazine, paying the most attention to new music reviews. If there are articles that speak to issues of actual congregational worship, I’ll read them. Some issues have been more applicable for me than others, which is totally to be expected. To be fair, there aren’t any magazines I currently receive that I read cover to cover without fail, which is more a product of working part-time and having a family than a reflection on the publications. :)
I always have a pile of SD CD’s lying around waiting to be listened to. When I listen to them, there may be 2 songs or so that I’m interested in that I haven’t heard before… but usually I don’t end up using them for congregational worship. There have been a few exceptions. I most often turn to the WL website if I hear a song I like and I suspect that I actually might have it on an SD CD; there is an online list of all the songs that have been included, so it’s easy to search for songs by title. I usually don’t access the pdf charts on the CD. If I’m going to use pre-made charts, I’ll go to the CCLI site b/c they are transposable.
All that said, I will probably keep my subscription for a while, as both the magazine and the CD’s have been helpful resources over time. If I had any requests, it would probably be for ideas for resourcing volunteers that don’t require taking a team to a conference.
thanks for hosting a part of this discussion, Chris!
Jeff & Kim – thanks for your comments. Wow – today was a bit of an unexpected whirlwind!
Seems like there is lots of opinion out there and people are definitely willing to share it. Cool to hear that WLM at least seems to be willing to listen and talk through some possible next steps.
my thoughts chris http://cecworship.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/worship-leader-magazine-part-2-my-thoughts/
klampert – Thanks for linking that!
I’d love to invite you to upload any original songs that are well produced to worshipsong.com. It’s a place for your songs to be heard and for you to be able to sell downloadable mp3′s rhythm charts, etc.
Blessings…
Holland Davis
hi
please let me use your magazine and site and increase my knowings of church and listen
songs and have some freinds,if possible
thanks
march iran