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Jesus Can Melt Hearts of Stone
Much of my childhood was spent sitting in a minivan. A Dodge Caravan to be exact. In 1994 we upgraded to a stylish Toyota Previa (and by “stylish” I mean “hideous”) which we took all around the country...
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14 Crucially Important Experiences for A Worship Leader’s Development
No worship leader ever stops growing. If they do, they’re in trouble. There’s always more to learn, more to understand, and more experiences to have. Likewise, no worship leader becomes “seasoned”...
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Ten Things Worship Leaders Should Never Do
Leading worship provides so many opportunities to make mistakes and be humbled and grow in maturity. I’ve made so many mistakes I’ve lost count. The benefit of those mistakes is that I now have an idea...
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Ten Worship Leading Non-Negotiables
There is so much good and helpful advice for worship leaders out there that I thought I’d try my hand at condensing it all down into 10 non-negotiables. You are not the center. You make Jesus the...
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Learn to Read a Hungry Room
Yesterday morning at my church, our 11:00am service went long. And when an 11:00am service goes long — you have a room full of hungry people to deal with. By the time our pastor got to the end of his...
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Follow Through On Stuff That’s New
I am oftentimes guilty of teaching a new song to my congregation on a Sunday, without either committing myself or making sure it’s possible to use that same song the following Sunday. I’ll teach a song...
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What To Do When You’re New
Your first year as a worship leader at a church is critical. How do you lay a solid foundation with your fellow staff members, your pastor, and your congregation? Here are four crucial tips for your...
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Keep Your Focus on the Congregation
As a preacher’s kid and someone who’s been leading worship either as a volunteer or paid staff member since I was 12, I’ve had the opportunity to see the inner-workings of many church staffs, with all...
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Ten “Always Bad” Worship Leader Ideas
Us worship leaders are the creative types who like to think outside the box, like to do things artistically, and like to have new ideas. Some of those ideas are good. Some of those ideas are terrible....
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Making Adjustments For One Person
Let’s say you’re leading worship and you’re about to wrap up a chorus, when you notice a guy who had been sitting on his hands for the whole song just start to stand up and put his hands in the air in...
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Selah (Oh No. I Just Broke a String!)
Here’s a story (and audio clip) about how I broke a string in front of 1,400 people while recording a live CD and used a joke I stole from a worship leader’s Facebook group to salvage what could have...
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Not Guilty
It was a normal day at my job at my church several years ago, and at the usual time I packed up my things to drive home. I got in my car parked along East Fairfax Street and proceeded to the stop sign...
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When You’re Out of Ideas
What do you do as a worship leader when you’re all of ideas? Particularly when picking songs for yet another service seems to be next to impossible? Here are some suggestions: Take a vacation One sign...
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And Now Please Admire My Musicianship
We’ve all experienced that awkward moment when someone tries to say something nice about you but you take it as an insult. You’re not quite sure how to take it, how to respond, or how to process what...
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The Appeal of Invitational Worship Leading
Don’t you like a good invitation? Someone has free tickets to sit behind home base at a baseball game and they want you to join them. Someone has a beach house they can’t use and they want you to have...
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Keep Trucking
Yesterday morning at our 11:00am service we were halfway through our opening block of songs when I heard a crazy noise coming out of the speakers that seemed to make the whole room jump. No, it wasn’t...
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When a Congregation Resists a Worship Leader
The dream of every worship leader is to serve a congregation who makes their job easy. They sing every song with gusto. They never complain or gripe. They learn every song after singing it once....
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Too Many Toppings
Within one mile from my house there are two frozen yogurt places. Directly across the street from each other. My two oldest daughters (four and almost-three) would eat at one of these places every day...
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Three Common Worship Leading Errors
It can be dangerous when the role of a worship leader is over exaggerated. If we’re not careful, the worship leader can be elevated to the role of an Old Testament High Priest. Likewise, it can be...
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How to Approach Guest Worship Leading
This coming Sunday I’ll have the privilege of filling in for a friend who’s the worship director at a local church. He’s on vacation and asked me to be the guest worship leader. Since he’s filled in...
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