WorshipRises – Can I do this?

Almost every week I get an email, tweet or phone call from someone asking if they can do a writing event like what we’ve done with WorshipRises. The short answer? Of course you can!

They’re not looking for permission, obviously, so here are a few things that I encourage people to pursue as they explore the idea of gathering worship leaders to write songs for the church.

1. Start invite-only
If things go well, you’ll have lots of opportunities to fling the doors wide open and gather anyone interested in coming. For the first time, keep the invite list small – our first event had 12, our second 15. I wouldn’t go any bigger than that the first time.

2. Be very open-handed
Nobody has the songwriting process patented. Be willing to explore different ideas as you run your events. We’ve found a process that works for us but it did not come from divine revelation – we’ve made tweaks and changes as we’ve learned what people enjoy, what people respond to, what gets good results.

3. Value people above product
At the end of the day, whether you write a bunch of songs or not the bigger goal should actually be that you would remain friends. Songwriting can be a tension-filled exercise and you shouldn’t take that lightly. Value the people in the room and your friendships above the songs you may or may not write together. Great friendships lived out for the glory of God will probably have much more Kingdom impact than any songs you write together.

So many of you are new to the blog since last summer, would you consider supporting WorshipRises by spending $4 of your new music budget on the WorshipRises EP?

Here are the links where you can find the music -

iTunes Canada – http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/worship-rises-ep/id376445343?uo=4
iTunes USA – http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/worship-rises-ep/id376445343?uo=4
Amazon mp3 – http://www.amazon.com/Worship-Rises-EP/dp/B003PVU2S6/