DAY 2-3 MWLC
DAY 2 started out with Shannon Wexelberg leading a room full of worship leaders on solo piano. Takes guts to do that, and she did it like a champ. A true heart shines through when the worship leader is in it for God alone and not for personal gain.
Quinton Shultze reminded us all of the worlds oldest profession . . . stewarding. He recalled Adam’s reaction to the parade of animals God placed in front of him to name, and the delight and amazement of that moment . . . and related it to He-Man underpants. Brilliant.
“Leading others into experiential worship “ workshop was once again a reminder to me that my time at Ginghamsburg was invaluable for worship planning. Every church has a worship method and needs to discover how to dream it, refine it, evaluate it and make sure it remains fluid. There is a big world to draw from. God places ideas in front of us every moment of every day. We have to stay aware and awake and be prepared to collect those moments and draw from them when we plan worship.
I had to miss the songwriting session with Chris Tomlin . . . because Sunday is coming, and there is music to be planned. I understand that it was a good session, and that he announced his engagement. Sorry I missed that.
Louie Gigilio was up next. He’s just crazy good. As he said, this crowd of leaders was different than his usual college age crowd, but he was still at ease.
I have two great sentences from his talk.
-“we are the door holders saying, ‘there is something fantastic waiting for you, come on in’ “
-“don’t push your dead grandpa in a wheelchair through the service”.
You had to be there.
DAY 2 evening was the best night all around. Jonathan Lee . . . I am buying the cd. Awesome and strong leader. Laura Story . . . funny and courageous leader. Chris Tomlin . . . frankly I have seen him many times and thought his reception was lukewarm at first. There is a reason he so is contagious. By the end of the evening I did not want it to end. He can lead a room full of leaders into the presence of God whether ripping Sing Sing Sing or slowly building Our God. Loved it all.
DAY 3
A full day of workshops.
Top online tools . . . man I am getting old. I thought Facebook and Twitter were it. I am going to start a social networking site called fannoogledadoodle.com. I think it will catch on. It was great learning about the gazillion resources for church to announce, educate, discuss and share.
“Liturgies that breathe” may not have been the best choice after lunch . . . drowsy. But a guy with something to say about most any subject can keep you awake.
The best workshop for me was last one . . . “leading worship between the songs”. This was penance for all the ridiculous things I have personally said between songs. And if you are a worship leader and are reading this . . . you have done it too ☺.
Highlights included leading from your strengths and temperment, leading from your gifts, and “duh” . . .practice it. Silly me.
The last evening music session. . . . hard to put into words. Frankly a rough start, which was still a learning lesson for me. Programming is KEY. Know your audience and where they are emotionally, acknowledge the timeline (being aware that this was the last session), don’t let your tech team get tired on the big last night. Buzz killing, and don’t let it become your personal talent show. I know, harsh words, but I almost left during the first hour.
Calvin saved the day.
Then Starfield came on and tore it up. I am a new fan.
I love Israel, and was excited to finally see him in person., When I saw that the drumset had no cymbals, then saw the small percussion set up, I started to get disappointed. Then they started. Loved it. Reggae version of Mighty To Save. Say So. You Are Good. Just Wanna Say. FOG. Moving Forward. Yeah . . . it was killer.
I met some very cool people that I know I will keep up with forever. Had KC BBQ and sushi. Won a set of Senheiser earbuds and got a PCO t-shirt. Learned many things, felt many things and encountered God over and over. A great trip
On to the last METHODIST ROUND TABLE.
Peace
Paul
Friday, July 23, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
DAY TWO - National Worship Leaders Conference
DAY TWO
The first full day of events of the conference.
We start with worship lead by Billy and Cindi Foote and Matt Papa. Good low key worship for tired people. Heartfelt and genuine.
Marcos Witt is a dynamic speaker and a grammy award winning musician. So funny. Great spirit. Nothing held him back. Great message for for worship leaders on finding your own voice, and not just being an imitator, laying down our crowns and becoming as low as possible . . . if you can find a lower floor, get on it to get lower so that God can be lifted even higher.
Attended 3 workshops:
-FLOW in WORSHIP. This was more of an affirming time for me, with no ah ha moments. I still believe contrived flow can be distracting. Choosing a song for flow sake is a big no no in my book.
-MIDNIGHT OIL guys . . . visual communication. Being at Ginghamsburg for 4 years really drove this home for me. Although I had heard of Len and Jason for many years, it was a treat to get to hear them speak their thoughts and experience on communicating the gospel with metaphors via the LRAGE screen we all have in the middle of the room. Funny guys, insightful and a great resource for churches.
-Songwriting with Matt Redman - funny drummer and Chris Tomlin jokes and great insight on songwriting. Your whole life is about collecting the material for the songs. Always collect, always look out for inspiration. Don't accept normal. Have a purpose when writing.
The worship session in the evening was a mixed bag. Began a bit slow. Then Tenth Avenue North lit it up. Those guys are powerful worship leaders, even if they look 12 years old. Matt Redman is always a treat. How do I say this . . . even on the songs that we have FRIED in worship, it is fun to hear him live offer them up.
FULL DAY TODAY . . . . Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Experiential worship.
PEACE
Paul
The first full day of events of the conference.
We start with worship lead by Billy and Cindi Foote and Matt Papa. Good low key worship for tired people. Heartfelt and genuine.
Marcos Witt is a dynamic speaker and a grammy award winning musician. So funny. Great spirit. Nothing held him back. Great message for for worship leaders on finding your own voice, and not just being an imitator, laying down our crowns and becoming as low as possible . . . if you can find a lower floor, get on it to get lower so that God can be lifted even higher.
Attended 3 workshops:
-FLOW in WORSHIP. This was more of an affirming time for me, with no ah ha moments. I still believe contrived flow can be distracting. Choosing a song for flow sake is a big no no in my book.
-MIDNIGHT OIL guys . . . visual communication. Being at Ginghamsburg for 4 years really drove this home for me. Although I had heard of Len and Jason for many years, it was a treat to get to hear them speak their thoughts and experience on communicating the gospel with metaphors via the LRAGE screen we all have in the middle of the room. Funny guys, insightful and a great resource for churches.
-Songwriting with Matt Redman - funny drummer and Chris Tomlin jokes and great insight on songwriting. Your whole life is about collecting the material for the songs. Always collect, always look out for inspiration. Don't accept normal. Have a purpose when writing.
The worship session in the evening was a mixed bag. Began a bit slow. Then Tenth Avenue North lit it up. Those guys are powerful worship leaders, even if they look 12 years old. Matt Redman is always a treat. How do I say this . . . even on the songs that we have FRIED in worship, it is fun to hear him live offer them up.
FULL DAY TODAY . . . . Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Experiential worship.
PEACE
Paul
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Day one National Worship Leader Magazine Conference
The first day of the worship leader conference is done. It started early this morning with a pre conference seminar called Stewards of Technology. It was a mixed bag of thoughts and presentations. It is true that we should not use every piece of new technology that comes along without asking the questions "is this healthy for our church" and " will this bring people closer to God or become a distraction". Frankly I kept being distracted with thoughts of how i had just seen facebook become a powerful tool in the passing and remembering of a 22 year old man. A powerful tool for sharing stories, relating feelings, helping healing and witnessing to others using this man's life has to be shared with the people of faith communities.
I also get that a tool meant for good can go bad. I kept thinking that somewhere an unfiltered session of "tweet the pastor" during a service, shown LIVE on the screen, has probably turned ugly. I have seen a pastor's blog meant to share thoughts and powerful God stories to show good turn ugly with hate speech. Yeah . . . We need to think through it before we use it. But don't let the negative turn us away from finding the positive.
Matt from Houston agreed to take me to the apple store in kansas city to get a folio for my new iPad. I had been a resister, but after typing on it like a fool during the workshop . . . I love this thing. We also took a spin through the local guitar center. I think it is the same guy that goes from music store to music store cranking the gtr amps up and mindlessly trying to shred like the poor fill-in chef at a japanese steak house, hoping to be discovered in the aisle next the $200 guitars. Oh well.
(shh. . .media shout for mac. We will know more tomorrow. )
A meeting of the top attended methodist churches for contemporary worship was next on the list. It was an honor to be there with people from Granger church, Frazer UMC and Ginghamsburg church. Kim Miller is always fun to be with in meetings. We had some good KC BBQ and then launch into a discussion of designing a Methodist track for the 2011 conference. I kept thinking about the man who came up to me at the last annual conference we played who said that his church barely had 100 members but wanted to start something just like this at his church. But they have limited resources and support. Where should he start? What should be an energizing question can be troubling at the same time. He needs resources, not just iTunes and ccli charts. To hear a room for of music leaders say it's not about music was encouraging. It is not about adding some drums and a backbeat and some electric instruments and saying "hey, now we are contemporary. Everybody stand and sing" As Kim said. . . . It is about the worship and the story. This will be an interesting week with this group.
Phil Wickham opened up the worship set - just him on guitar. And i could feel the collective "oh no" before he started. I have always thought of him as the feature song guy. I was wrong. This guy is a powerful worship leader and his songs are going into our rotation.
Here's a tip . . . At a worship leader seminar with vendors from Shure, Media Shout, lighting companies, etc . . . .have your tech A-team ready to go. The preachers mic not being on. . . that's ok . . . We even see that on american idol. But messy lyrics and abrupt lighting cues and the poor guy's keyboard not being hooked up . . . . Oh well. We all prayed for the tech team . . .after the pastor's mic came on.
The 2nd worship team was from Grace Chapel. They were awesome. A 3 song set of healing music. Loved every song, and had never heard 2 of them. New Songs for the list. Heard a message about the pit and the privilege to be in it. Amen brother.
Keith and Kristyn Getty finished out the evening. A bagpipe joke, an impromptu riverdance and some pretty cool Irish licks made it fun. The highlight for me was a room full of several thousand worship leaders singing In Christ Alone. I called Terri and held up the iPhone so she could experience it with me. Moving.
Day two tomorrow.
Peace
Paul
I also get that a tool meant for good can go bad. I kept thinking that somewhere an unfiltered session of "tweet the pastor" during a service, shown LIVE on the screen, has probably turned ugly. I have seen a pastor's blog meant to share thoughts and powerful God stories to show good turn ugly with hate speech. Yeah . . . We need to think through it before we use it. But don't let the negative turn us away from finding the positive.
Matt from Houston agreed to take me to the apple store in kansas city to get a folio for my new iPad. I had been a resister, but after typing on it like a fool during the workshop . . . I love this thing. We also took a spin through the local guitar center. I think it is the same guy that goes from music store to music store cranking the gtr amps up and mindlessly trying to shred like the poor fill-in chef at a japanese steak house, hoping to be discovered in the aisle next the $200 guitars. Oh well.
(shh. . .media shout for mac. We will know more tomorrow. )
A meeting of the top attended methodist churches for contemporary worship was next on the list. It was an honor to be there with people from Granger church, Frazer UMC and Ginghamsburg church. Kim Miller is always fun to be with in meetings. We had some good KC BBQ and then launch into a discussion of designing a Methodist track for the 2011 conference. I kept thinking about the man who came up to me at the last annual conference we played who said that his church barely had 100 members but wanted to start something just like this at his church. But they have limited resources and support. Where should he start? What should be an energizing question can be troubling at the same time. He needs resources, not just iTunes and ccli charts. To hear a room for of music leaders say it's not about music was encouraging. It is not about adding some drums and a backbeat and some electric instruments and saying "hey, now we are contemporary. Everybody stand and sing" As Kim said. . . . It is about the worship and the story. This will be an interesting week with this group.
Phil Wickham opened up the worship set - just him on guitar. And i could feel the collective "oh no" before he started. I have always thought of him as the feature song guy. I was wrong. This guy is a powerful worship leader and his songs are going into our rotation.
Here's a tip . . . At a worship leader seminar with vendors from Shure, Media Shout, lighting companies, etc . . . .have your tech A-team ready to go. The preachers mic not being on. . . that's ok . . . We even see that on american idol. But messy lyrics and abrupt lighting cues and the poor guy's keyboard not being hooked up . . . . Oh well. We all prayed for the tech team . . .after the pastor's mic came on.
The 2nd worship team was from Grace Chapel. They were awesome. A 3 song set of healing music. Loved every song, and had never heard 2 of them. New Songs for the list. Heard a message about the pit and the privilege to be in it. Amen brother.
Keith and Kristyn Getty finished out the evening. A bagpipe joke, an impromptu riverdance and some pretty cool Irish licks made it fun. The highlight for me was a room full of several thousand worship leaders singing In Christ Alone. I called Terri and held up the iPhone so she could experience it with me. Moving.
Day two tomorrow.
Peace
Paul
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