Saturday, January 29, 2011

How To Lead Praise and Worship That Flows

If you want to learn how to lead praise and worship that flows there are some things that you can do to encourage this. One of the most common problems I see in many praise and worship leaders is that the service does not flow naturally and gently from song to song, either because of the church service format all because of the leaders in experience.

How To Lead Praise and Worship by Programming the Church Service

One of the most significant barriers to learning how to lead praise and worship that flows can be the church service structure. Many churches see the music as punctuation around the other areas of the service, so the church service program allows only one or two songs to be sung in a sequence before the flow is broken up by other activities, such as announcements, the offering, prayer, missionary spots, and so on.

If you want to learn to lead praise and worship that really flows, the first step is to approach the pastor about the format of the meeting. Ask him if he would mind combining all of the above listed activities into one particular place in the service, allowing you to run three or four songs together in worship. This simple change in format can change the way you learn how to lead praise and worship very significantly.

How To Lead Praise and Worship by Blending Songs

One of the key elements in learning how to lead praise and worship effectively lies in song selection. If you select songs in a similar key, or songs that are easily able to be blended together, then you will be going a long way towards a worship service which flows naturally from song to song. This can transform your church because they would no longer be singing a selection of songs that they will be able to flow from song to song and enjoy an entire worship experience. Learning how to do this effectively is one of the great keys in learning how to lead praise and worship in an anointed way.

How To Lead Praise and Worship by Speaking Less

One of the most frequent problems I see with inexperienced leaders who are learning how to lead praise and worship is that they speak too much. If it is not going well they speak to the audience, in telling them to get involved or praying with them. Please do not misunderstand, I am not saying it is wrong to speak during the worship service.

However, my experience is that as you learn how to lead praise and worship you will also learn how to keep quiet and let God draw people's hearts into the service, not your words. This allows people to concentrate on the world and not on your thoughts, prayers or opinions. Most of the truly great worship times I have ever experienced, with myself or someone else leading, have involved little or no talking between songs.

There is much more to learn about how to lead praise and worship effectively, but these three points can start you getting the right direction.

And for more info, check out our site, worshipleaderonline.com

Monday, January 24, 2011

3 Keys on How To Lead Praise and Worship

How To Lead Praise and Worship by Programming the Church Service

How To Lead Praise and Worship by Blending Songs

How To Lead Praise and Worship by Speaking Less

There is much more to learn about how to lead praise and worship effectively, but these three points can start you getting the right direction.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Pray for Queensland- We're Wet but Smiling!

This may be a site for worship leaders, but I still want to take the opportunity to ask for your prayer for our people and our state.

Over the last several days, I have personally had to travel through flood waters several times and our town has bee cut off from the outside world many times also.

Yet, despite the incredible disaster in our state, us Aussies are still able to smile and see things in a positive light.

I am so proud to be an Aussie tonight. Despite the disaster, and many losing homes, income and even loved ones still have a smile, a joke and a helping hand to those around us even more in need. My family hurts, as does every Queenslander, but us Aussies are a resilient bunch. In the face of disaster, we always have a laugh and a helping hand to others... it's the Aussie way.

So, in the middle of the heartache and difficulties, we are sharing homes, giving to each other, praying for each other and doing what we can to help those more affected than we are. Unlike Hurricane Katrina, there is no looting, no murders and no fights to report. It's not our way. We generally pull together as a country.

So, appreciate your prayers if you are elsewhere in the world. My family is high and dry, and we have plenty of provisions. I am scheduled to go to Maryborough next week, if the Mary River behaves itself.

Bless you Guys!

DARIN

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Worship Leader Pod: off to a flying start????

Hey the pod is off to a flying start...

I SENT YOU THE WRONG LINK.

You can get there with another click, but for those of you who are somewhat tired, inattentive of challenged, here is the one click link to the new pod...

http://worshipleaderonline.com/worship-podcast/podcast-worship-leading-tips-for-small-groups

Bet that one works!

Have a great day

DARIN

WOW! The Worship Leader's Podcast Is Up and Away!

Hi Gang,

Yes, the long awaited worship leader's podcast where we reveal all our worship leading tips and secrets has finally hit the airwaves... well, the cyberwaves, or whatever they are!

It's a free download, and we had a ton of fun recording it, so you can hear it at...

http://worshipleaderonline.com/praise-and-worship-leader-blog

The topic for the first week is...

Leading Worship in a Small Group.

It features Erick Buma as a guest, there's a Top 5 and a couple of surprise and slightly strange extra guests, so if you want a laugh, and to learn a thing or two about worship,come join us.

OK, it may not be the BBC or CNN, but it does actually have some useful information in it, and if you are a worship leader, or if you want to be, you may find some useful worship leading tips

Oh, and I apologize in advance for the jokes. Well, my sense of humour has been suspect for sometime, as those who know me well can attest.

So, click here to check it out

http://worshipleaderonline.com/praise-and-worship-leader-blog

Blessings Guys

DARIN

How Long Should You Worship Lead For?

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When worship leading one of the key questions you face, indeed one of the greatest sources of criticism for worship leaders in general, is how long the worship time should go for. A second and related question is, “How long should you leave people standing?, which will be deal with in another post”

The first thing to point out is that we worship leaders come from a different perspective to most of the congregation, and also the pastor. We love to worship, it is our passion and that's why we became worship leaders in the first place, so as far as we are concerned, long worship times are just fine. However, not all the people in church share our enthusiasm or passion, so for many of them the worship time is the preliminary act to the main show, which is the preaching. Most pastors feel this way too, because to their perspective, the preaching is the main part of the service.

When you are called to worship leading you may think that your most important role is to lead people into worship. That's not strictly true: it is your main role, but it is not the most important role! The most important role is to serve, the Lord, the pastor and the congregation. So, as a general principle, if a large number of your congregation, and your pastor think the worship service was too long, then it probably was!

I have written hundreds of pages on worship leading in my manual “Worship In A Nutshell,” to teach practical, useful and easy to apply techniques that will transform your worship leading starting the very next time you lead. I would now like to share an extract of that discussing this very issue...

1. Length of worship service

While we all want to be flexible enough to allow the Lord to work in our church service, we cannot escape the fact that everyone has an opinion as to how long a worship service should be. Be aware that worship leaders and musicians will always think it needs to be longer, while many of the congregation believe it ought to be shorter. Most churches I visit have very long worship times, which resemble endurance tests or in some cases even torture as people are made to stand with their hands in the air for hours.

To sit during one of these sessions seems to convey either weakness of lack of spirituality! The reality is it probably conveys cramps and commonsense. Any fool could see that this is not appropriate, but apparently not some worship leaders, who continue to drag out worship times to the max.

I once ministered at Hills Christian Life Center, the Mecca for Aussie musicians (do we all face Hills when we pray?), and saw Darlene lead worship. It lasted 20-25 minutes. Shock, amazement! They were straight into the Lord's presence from the first song, and they did not labor the worship as some do for over an hour. This should speak volumes to those of us who lead worship. Worship needs to be ENJOYED, not ENDURED!

So, in the name of time management and common sense, here are a few ideas on timing in worship:

1. Start on time:

Regardless of how many or how few are in the room, START ON TIME. This may not be applicable in some 3rd world situations when people travel hours on foot to be there, but for the rest of us, let's get it right and start on time. It is not a performance, and you are doing this as unto the Lord, so it should make little difference how many are in the room. To start late and then encroach on the pastor's sermon time is an affront to the pastor.

2. Be prepared to reduce the length of the worship time.

You are there to be a servant, not a star, so always be the first to volunteer to cut back. If something else goes overtime, you should volunteer to reduce what you are doing. When I lead worship at Bill Newman meetings, if time is tight I am always the first to volunteer to cut back, because that’s what real servants do! And, at least half the time, Bill kindly refuses the offer and asks me to sing my full quota of songs. You see, there is a blessing in serving a Man of God!

3. Have a couple of songs up your sleeve:

It is often a good idea to have a couple of songs in reserve, just in case you need them. So, when you choose the songs for the service, you don’t have to play them all!

4. Don't get locked into a programme:

Be flexible enough to change songs, cut songs or even add songs if the Spirit permits. I am always wary of the printed orders of service. Sometimes they are timed, which is even scarier! Now, I know we need some sort of order of service, and that everything needs to be done in order, but let's not sacrifice the move of the Spirit on the altar of an orderly programme! If something happens, we need to be free to change.

5. When do you stop the worship?

I always tell the pastor, "Please come up on to stage at any time for any reason and feel free to take over." I am subject to the pastor, so whenever he is good and ready (or if he feels things have changed) he needs to feel free to stand up and join us in worship or take over. Again, it is all about being a servant, not having your own way!

6. Ask yourself, "How many times do we need to do this song?"

One of the most frequent criticisms of worship leaders is that they repeat songs or sections of songs to the point of frustration. It is a song of worship, guys, not a mantra!

So, when preparing for a service, consider these ideas and be sensitive both to the Spirit and also to those in the congregation. You are called to lead worship, not perform and not torture. In the end less is usually more when it comes to leading worship.

FOR THE VERY BEST WORSHIP LEADER TRAINING CHECK OUT Worship Leader Online and get free instruction books!