Do you feel like you keep doing the same things over and over again in your worship leading and making very little improvement? We've all been there. We all go through stages of stagnation. So, how can you break out of that funk and actually improve?…

One of the things that new worship leaders often feel uncomfortable with is praying in front of people. They hear other leaders who pray elegant prayers and always seem to pray the right thing at the right time. Maybe you think, "I could never pray like that."

If you lead worship for any amount of time, chances are you'll have more than a few opportunities to pray. So what should you pray? How do you do it in front of the people you're leading?…

We're about a month out from Easter. On the one hand, that seems like a lot of time to prepare and it is. But that fact makes it easy to want to put off preparation until the last moment…

Easter will be here before you know it! It's time to start preparing if you haven't started already.

But, where do you start? You've got songs to pick out, volunteers to schedule, special elements to create, and a team to lead through the whole process. There's no doubt that Easter can be one of the busiest seasons of the church year. What if there was a way to prepare in advance that set you up to be stress free - not just on Easter morning - but during the entire week leading up to Easter?…

One musical element that has become increasingly popular over the years in modern worship music is the octave jump. That's when a song starts in a lower octave and then jumps up to the next octave halfway through the song.

Octave jumps can be great for musical arrangement. They help move the song forward by adding more energy. They create dynamic differences between parts that might otherwise sound similar. So, from an arranger's perspective, they're amazing. But, from a worship leader's perspective, they are often seen as a challenge…

You've spent all week preparing for Sunday. You've memorized lyrics. You've learned chord progressions. You've ironed out your transitions. You've rehearsed with your worship team. Musically, you're ready to lead on Sunday.

But, as worship leaders, we know that leading worship is about much more than simply being prepared musically. It's not just about learning chords and what notes to sing - it's about being prepared spiritually…

Do you ever lead worship with just an acoustic guitar or just a keyboard - a stripped down environment? On one hand, it can be intimidating because there's nothing to hide behind. On the other hand, these can be some of the most powerful moments in worship…

Everyone in your church has a story. They are all real people with real lives, real struggles, and real victories. One of the benefits of serving in the church is that you get to learn these stories. This is not a random group of people you're leading in worship - this is YOUR church. So, take advantage of the fact that you get the opportunity to learn people's stories. Find out what's going on in their lives. Build relationships with them - learn their struggles and successes. Then, use the knowledge of what's going on in their lives to better lead them in worship…

It's time to start planning for Easter if you haven't already! We're only 6 weeks away. I'm sure your next few weeks will be full of picking songs, planning creative elements, and getting everything ready. It can be easy to simply look at what you did last year, make a few minor changes, and call it good. Here are a few things to think about incorporating into your service this year…

This past Saturday I played at a funeral of a close family friend. I've only played at a few funerals in my life but they are one of the hardest settings a worship leader will ever have to play in. Right in the midst of tragedy and despair, the question always comes up: what am I supposed to sing?…

Now that you know how to recognize if you're burning out, what can you actually do about it? The most important step in the process is training up other people. If you don't have people trained up, you will be the only one who knows how to do what you do and therefore, you'll never feel like you can take a week off…

The thing about burnout is it's really hard to recognize it when you're in the midst of it. Burnout doesn't just suddenly happen. It happens over the course of weeks, months, or even years. Slowly but surely the wick of your ministry candle burns shorter and shorter until, eventually, there's nothing left to burn at all…

Sometimes we spend so much time LEADING worship that we don't TEACH what worship is. It's always easier to sing songs with people than explain why we're doing what we're doing. The problem is it doesn't seem like there is much time to teach. After all, you've only got a few minutes at the most to speak between songs and you don't want to overload people with information. So how can you teach them?…

Easter will be here soon and it's time to start introducing some new songs. Don't wait the week before to introduce a song you plan on doing for Easter. If you teach your church the song in advance, they'll be able to focus less on learning it on Easter Sunday and more on the words they get to sing…

Every church has a unique voice. There are specific things going on in the lives of the people of your church that need to be responded to. That's why it's so powerful to write songs for your own church. You may not be the best songwriter in the world but only you can write songs that respond directly to what's going on in the life of your church.

Maybe you agree but don't know where to start. Answer the following questions and you will know what words you need to write for your church to sing…

If you haven't heard yet, Jake from Churchfront and I have been doing a weekly live Q&A for worship leaders. This past Tuesday we hopped on the Churchfront YouTube channel to answer some questions…

There is so much that goes into worship leading. It can be hard to know what to focus on. Unfortunately, what often ends up happening, is worship leaders become distracted by small things. These are the things that take up a ton of time but don't really move your mission forward. The first step to breaking the cycle is to recognize what you get distracted by…

Do you ever feel like leading worship has become a routine? It's just something you do. You've got the process down. You pick the songs for the week. You show up for rehearsal with the rest of the band. Then, you show up early on Sunday morning to run through the songs again. Then, you lead worship and go home. Finally, Monday comes and guess what? It's time to do it all over again. You're prepared and you do a decent job but it feels like you're just doing the same thing over and over again…

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…