You know those moments while you're leading worship where you get to the second verse of a song and the right words are coming out of your mouth, you're playing the right chords, but your mind is focused on something completely different? You're wondering why people are still out in the lobby. You're listening to the baby crying in the back row. Or you're trying to remember if Chik-Fil-A is open on Sundays (pst... it's not!)…

When it comes to leading worship, having your music memorized has some major benefits. It helps you be more engaged in what you're doing because you aren't worried about reading from a piece of paper the whole time. Plus, it forces you to be more prepared because you have to spend a little extra time learning the song…

Often times, the biggest things in worship ministry get the most attention. It's easy to think that if you just bought that next piece of gear, learned that new skill, or added that extra person to your team - THAT'S what it would take to improve.

The truth is it's actually the small things that make the biggest impact. The key is that you have to do these small things consistently over a long period of time…

As a worship leader, you probably know what it feels like to introduce a new song to your church. No matter how you introduce it - whether you explain the lyrics or start with the chorus - at some point, you're simply going to have to play it for the first time during a worship service. And chances are, your church is not going to be familiar with it. But, what if there were a few things you could do to prepare your congregation for a new song before you ever sing it during a worship gathering?…

You finish your last song before the message and your pastor walks up on stage. You find your seat in the congregation... now what? Obviously, you can sit there and listen to your pastor preach along with the rest of your church. But what if there were other things you could do that would help you lead worship well when you come up to lead that final song or two after your pastor is done?…

The topic of this week's posts are all about being a full-time worship pastor. Now that we've appropriately framed what a worship pastor does (if you missed those posts. check them out here: How I Became A Full-Time Worship Pastor and 3 Surprising Facts About Being A Full-Time Worship Pastor), let's talk about how to become a full-time worship pastor. There are some obvious steps you can take in the process: get a degree in a major that relates to ministry, apply for a job at a church, etc. Let's take a look at some tips outside of the obvious…

Yesterday I shared my story about how I became a full-time worship pastor. If you missed that post, check it out here: How I Became A Full-Time Worship Pastor. As I stepped into that position, I learned a few things about becoming a full-time worship pastor that might surprise you. Keep these things in mind if you plan on becoming a full-time worship pastor in the future…

I don't typically talk about myself too much here on Leading Worship Well. You may know me from the Instagram stories that I post but allow me to introduce myself if we haven't met. My name is Spencer Cormany and I'm a full-time Worship Pastor at Merge Community Church.

Recently I've been getting a lot of questions from people about how to become a full-time worship pastor. And before I give some practical tips about the process (those will come later this week), I thought I'd share my story of how I became a full-time worship pastor. Hopefully you can glean some insight from my experience…

Last week we took a look at "3 Tips For Leading Worship With Just An Acoustic Guitar.” What can you do if you have TWO acoustic guitars? This is a common instrumentation set up in churches. When done right, it can sound great!…

It seems like most of our problems as worship leaders would be solved by one solution: getting more people on our worship team. In the end, you know that having a larger team won't solve all of your problems but it does seem like it would help. So how can you grow your worship team?…

Whether you serve in a large or small church, you will likely have the opportunity to lead worship in smaller contexts outside of a normal Sunday morning gathering. Leading in a smaller setting allows you to lead differently than you would in a larger setting. Something you might do on a typical Sunday morning when leading your whole congregation may not work as well if you're leading worship during a small group bible study…

Planning a worship set-list is a week-in/week-out task. Another Sunday service is always right around the corner. For most worship leaders that means it's easy to get behind in your set-list planning. It's hard to move out of your comfort zone and onto new things when that happens. In the end, you find yourself just picking songs on a week by week basis simply because you need to and you don't have any real plan for how you do it…

Praying in public can be nerve-racking the first few times you do it. You compare yourself to all of the worship leaders you've heard pray before and you think to yourself, "I sound nothing like that!" But, there are a few things you can do to prepare to pray in public and calm your nerves…

As 2019 begins, it's a great time to take a step back and reevaluate what's working and what isn't working in your worship ministry. Maybe the way you did things in 2018 worked for a season but now it's time to take the next step. Or maybe what you tried to incorporate last year simply didn't work at all. That's okay - you learn from failure. The failure isn't the important part it's what you do with it. So pick yourself up and ask the question: how can I make this better?…

Leading worship with just an acoustic guitar can be a great experience. There's a certain atmosphere that it creates that's different than having a full band lead worship. At the same time, it can feel like you're at a disadvantage when it's just you and your guitar…

Do you have any songs in your worship leading repertoire that are getting old? You've played them a hundred times and it's starting to feel like you're doing "the same old thing."

The truth is, while the song might be getting boring for you, your congregation is probably just starting to sing it. For every 4 or 5 times you've played a song, the average person in your congregation has only sung it once. Therefore, it's important to keep songs in the rotation longer than just your personal preference…

Here are the top 10 books for worship leaders…

Start this year with gratitude by thanking God for what he's done in the past.

In fact, I've put together a list of 5 Questions You Need To Answer To Crush Your 2019 Worship Leading Goals and the first question on the list is all about celebrating 2018. It's really that important. So, if you haven't made some goals for your worship ministry in 2019 yet, CLICK HERE and download the FREE worksheet with 5 Questions You Need To Answer To Crush Your 2019 Worship Leading Goals…

I wanted to give you some examples of what some goals might be. Remember goals should be specific, measurable, and attainable. A lot of leaders struggle in crafting goals because they're goal essentially boils down to: I want to do better. The problem is that you can't MEASURE that statement because it's not SPECIFIC and therefore, you'll never be able to tell if you've ACHIEVED it…

Starting in December, worship teams rush to learn a bunch of Christmas songs. They play them for a few weeks and then throw them back in the closet until next year rolls around. So the question is: how long should you use Christmas songs in your worship services? Is it okay to sing Christmas songs after December 25?…