What's the SHAPE of your worship service?

Liturgy. Order of worship. Whatever you want to call it. Every church has a SHAPE to their service. They all have a regular way they do things on Sunday mornings.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, their liturgy reveals what they believe about worship…

You already know I've been asking the same question to myself over and over again for the past few months: "What is the nature of God's presence in our worship service?"…

I've been asking myself a lot of questions about worship leading over the past year...

I'm not talking about questions like: which flannel shirt should I wear to church on Sunday?

I'm talking about FOUNDATIONAL worship leading questions. The kind of questions that don't just change small facets of your worship leading but have huge implications depending on how you answer them…

Remember the worship wars? Maybe they're still going on in your church...

In the early 2000's, there was a decided shift in the landscape of corporate worship…

Ready to run a worship team workshop now that the Fall ministry season is here?

As you know, taking your team to a conference or bringing someone into your church to run a workshop can be expensive. So the next best option is to run a workshop yourself…

What are we supposed to do when we gather together for worship on Sundays?

While the Bible doesn't give us step-by-step instructions and an order of worship for how to lead a church service, it does specifically tell us WHAT we should be doing when we gather…

September is here which means a new ministry season is upon us!

People are back in their regular routine, things kick back up at church, and... surprise!... you're extremely busy again. (Don't worry! Christmas will be here soon... at least you'll get a break then 🙃)…

My friend Jimmy Cooper (@heyworshipleader) doesn't use Bethel music at his church. So, I drove all the way to North Carolina to confront him about it...

Who is the church service for? When we lead worship, are we leading believers? Unbelievers?

Both at the same time?…

Applying for a new worship leading position soon?

I know it can be nerve wracking walking into the interview...

Want to include more Scripture in your worship leading?

Should you just open up your Bible and read a random verse? Is there a WRONG verse to read at the wrong time?…

Do you know the Gospel?... Okay... then tell me what it is.

Knowledge of the Gospel is essential to worship leaders…

Is God present in our worship service?

There is much talk today about the "presence of God" felt and experienced during our corporate worship gatherings. But what does that phrase "presence of God" actually mean?…

"God, we welcome you here today... *awkward silence* I mean... we know you're already here but would you come... wait that doesn't make sense... Uh... God, we JUST welcome you here today." (Ah... yes. Adding the word JUST fixes the problem!)

Please don't start your service this way on Sunday…

The average service attendance in Evangelical Protestant churches is 65 people.

The majority of worship leaders serve in SMALL churches. In fact, that is my target audience for the content I make for Leading Worship Well. (worship leaders in churches under 200 people)…

She sounds like a dying cat! I've just been muting her mic..

I constantly hear about situations like that from people who send in their questions for Real Talk…

Don't listen to a new song before you introduce it to your church!

Wait... let me correct that: Don't JUST listen to a new song before you introduce it.

There is a danger in only listening to a song before we introduce it to our church…

Struggle with what to say at the beginning of your worship service?

Those moments can be some of the most awkward as the countdown hits 0 and we try to wrangle everyone out in the lobby to come into our worship space and find a seat…

I wish every worship leader could watch the video I just posted. It would bring so much freedom in how they lead worship.

Do you feel that heavy pressure of having to perform every single Sunday over and over and over again? Then, you wake up on Monday and realize in six short days you have ANOTHER service to plan for. Plus, this time has to be bigger and better than the last one…

Ever heard that "God inhabits the praise of his people?"... well I'm not buying it.

I know I know... the King James Version translation of Psalm 22:3 says God inhabitest the praises of Israel. But I want to suggest that that either 1. isn't a good translation of the verse OR 2. it simply doesn't mean what we think it means.

And, to be honest, it wouldn't be a big deal if we didn't understand these 5 words of the Bible. But it HAS become a big deal when we've based our entire understanding of contemporary corporate worship theology on 5 words that don't really mean what we think they mean…