Preparation To Lead Praise & Worship (A Guide)
Hello, I thought I should post helpful tips on how a growing worship leader can prepare to lead a praise & worship session for a church service/event. Here is me writing from how the Holy Spirit has helped me, time and again. I wasn’t really taught all of these things, but I picked them up as the Holy Spirit helped me. Fundamentally, your offering of praise & worship to God must be given your best efforts at all times....
Reconsidering Why We Sing, Part 5: Target Practice
Part 5 | What about Target Practice By Dave Yauk In Review… Before you read this visit Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 and Part 4. In previous posts we’ve looked at reconsidering the nature of our corporate singing in church. We’ve considered our singing through the use of these words: total, text, tone and target. I’ve also provided a resource called the Song Selection Rubric, that enables one to plug in their songs and categorize them...
Reconsidering Why We Sing, Part 4: Songs For The Forgotten
Part 4 | Songs for the Forgotten By Dave Yauk What about the affections… Before you read this visit Part 1 | Part 2 and Part 3. Recently, I found myself sipping beer and carrying on conversation with some good Christian blokes around a table at a local restaurant. We were philosophizing over the state of singing in the church, and talking about how the church has grown too “happy.” On a typical Sunday morning, a Western church goer...
Reconsidering Why We Sing, Part 3: Text Is Important
Part 3 | Text is Important By Dave Yauk The Total Story in Text… In case you haven’t tuned into previous posts, In Post 1, I introduced our series by considering Paul’s exhortation in Colossians as to why and how he thinks we should sing as Christians. In Post 2 I first explored how a good approach to singing would be to first ensure that we are singing the total scope of God’s story. I included a document for Corporate Worship...
Reconsidering Why We Sing, Part 2: Total In Scope
Part 2 | Total in Scope By Dave Yauk See Part 1 for Series Introduction A (c)anon within a (C)anon…. I heard a Professor in college once say that most Christians are struggling deeply with their faith because they believe in a “canon within a Canon.” He made this statement while teaching the history behind how we received the 66 book Canon of The Bible. What he meant in this statement is that most Christians are like flower pickers...
Reconsidering the Worship Leader, Part 5: Jesus: The Worship Leader of Culture
What is culture anyway? Etymologically, the word culture comes from the Latin verb colere, which refers literally to agriculture, tilling the ground in order to grow things. “Culture is not only what we grow what we make, both with our hands and with our minds. It incudes our houses, our barns, our tools, our cities and towns, and our arts and crafts. It also includes the systems of ideas that we build up: science, philosophy,...
Reconsidering The Worship Leader, Part 4: Jesus: The Worship Leader of the Church
We began in Part 1 of our 5 part blog series concerning Jesus as Worship Leader by considering the writer of Hebrews reference to Jesus in Hebrews 8:2 as “minister.” Not only is Jesus’ identity that of High Priest in the heavenly realms, but the work he performs on our behalf is that of ministry. I’d encourage you to check out why Jesus is the only one able to bear the title Worship Leader (Part 1). Secondly, we considered in Part...
Reconsidering The Worship Leader, Part 3: Jesus: The Worship Leader of the Cosmos
His call to worship is the rising of the Sun, his Benediction, the Moon. In our previous posts (Part 1 & Part 2) we have looked at Jesus as the supreme and only Worship Leader (High Priest) worthy of such a title—its who he IS. In Part 2 of our series we considered what he does as our worship leader. Understanding Jesus’ role is crucial in the universe because the form and duties that he observes and preserves in his kingdom...
Reconsidering The Worship Leader, Part 2: Jesus’ Priestly Liturgy
Jesus IS a High Priest, but what does He DO? In our last post we looked at the fact that Jesus in Hebrews 8:2 is identified as the sole minister (leitourgos) of heaven. Our High Priest! This is one major aspect of his Identity. Therefore, it was our conclusion that the only One worthy to receive the big “T” title of Worship Leader is Jesus Himself. It’s who he is. No one else can claim this ontologically (in being). However,...
Reconsidering The Worship Leader, Part 1: Jesus The High Priest
You know, the one in skinny jeans, designer hair, with the voice of a Nightingale. Remember the famous bully party line; “sticks and stones will break your bones, but words can never hurt you.” It sounds nice, but any person knows this phrase is chalked full of deception. The truth is, words are like containers. They are filled to the brim with meaning, and they are profoundly forming. Words shape the way we see life. Words filled...
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
The words of the band The Clash have been in my mind for a while now. Should I stay or should I go now? Should I stay or should I go now? If I go, there will be trouble And if I stay it will be double So come on and let me know Now while this song is about a relationship and really has nothing to do with discerning God’s will, it is an interesting question to ponder. We all know that God has a plan, and our lives are just a part of...
3 Steps for Introducing New Songs at Church
As someone who leads worship and chooses what songs our church is singing, I have a huge problem on my hands: there are so many good worship songs! Does anyone else have this problem? There’s only 52 Sunday services a year, and you can’t introduce multiple new songs every single Sunday, so what do you do? I’ve wrestled with this dilemma before, but it seems more than ever there are just some amazing songs being...
Getting Hired as a Worship Pastor – Part 2
Ask the average church goer what a worship pastor does during the week and you’ll likely get answers like, “play guitar”, “drink coffee”, “pray all day”, “work on his hair”, or for most people “I have no idea, doesn’t he have a real job somewhere else?”. And while a couple of those may occasionally apply, reality is more complex and less sexy. In this series we’re identifying areas of craft that aspiring worship pastors and leaders...
Preparing For Easter: Becoming Invisible
Easter is one of the big ones. Every church across the nation is in the midst of preparations for their own Easter services. Every pastor combing over page after page of sermon notes, volunteers are planning egg hunts, and worship leaders are piecing together setlists. There is so much detail to pay attention too that I feel my head may actually implode at times. It can all stack up and completely exhaust us weeks before the...
WMC-0149 – Kathryn Scott on Worship Leading
Kathryn Scott on Worship Leading In this episode, we had the privilege of interview Kathryn Scott. She has written many of the songs we sing in our churches today, including “Hungry” “At The Foot of the Cross” and “I Belong.” In this episode, we discuss how worship leaders need to approach choosing and preparing songs for the congregation, especially in the context of having those who don’t...
It’s A Man’s World, Even In Worship Music
Here’s how it happens for me. I hear the most AMAZING new song and I can’t wait to put it in the rotation for worship. The words are moving, the music is tugging at my soul…this song is PERFECT! Then I start to sing along. It’s too low for me. *sigh* (Can I get an Amen, ladies?) I’m just going to go ahead and say it. The majority of worship songs are sung by men. And I completely get it. The majority of worship leaders ARE men....
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