Futulele (Ukelele App for iPhone and iPad)

I've seen many a ukelele used in worship.  For those of you who travel with your iPhone and iPad I'm sure this might come in handy.  If anything it's pretty cool!



Confessions of a Former Worship Leader

What is our worship music really pointing to?

Growing up as the oldest son of a pastor, as well as a trained musician, the use of music as an expression of worship has been an integral piece of my church experience. I can vividly remember, as an eager fifth-grader, my excitement and anticipation over the opportunity to play bass guitar in a worship band for the first time. From that point on, as I became competent on instruments such as guitar and piano, my life would become dominated by musical, corporate worship. Whether it was at summer youth camps, university chapel services, informal gatherings around a campfire or meetings at newly planted churches, I happily assumed the title of “worship leader.”

For many years I felt no need to carefully examine how I approached corporate worship in the church. After all, I loved playing music, I seemed to be an effective leader and I was happily giving my talents back to God. However, I eventually realized it was not that simple.

As a freshman at a Christian university, I spent the majority of that first year “church shopping.” I quickly became enamored with one of the church communities near my university campus; its seeker-sensitive approach, flashy light shows and blaring music created an exciting change of pace for a straight-laced pastor’s kid. The worship leader this particular morning nailed the Christian rock-star image: good looks, styled hair, faded jeans and an expensive acoustic guitar. About halfway through the second song, I noticed an unused microphone, which was set-up at approximately his waist level. “What purpose could that serve?” I wondered in a quick moment of curiosity, and then I quickly raised my hands and lost myself in the tunes. The sound was mixed wonderfully, the vocals were outstanding and the set of music was carefully constructed to serve as a powerful crescendo to the last song: “Hungry” by Kathryn Scott. As the leader belted out the final refrain—I’m falling on my knees, offering all of me—he acted on his words and literally fell to his knees. It was at this point that the aforementioned unused microphone came into play. It was preemptively placed at the perfect height and angle so the leader would be able to sing while on his knees without stopping his guitar-playing.
 
Read the rest of this article at:  http://m.relevantmagazine.com/god/worship/features/23692-confessions-of-a-former-worship-leader

Easter Worship Songs

Can you believe Easter is just 5 weeks away from this Sunday? Whether you're in the middle of or just getting started planning your Easter worship services - we've got 10 powerful and timely songs for you to download FREE this week from worshiptogether.com

Re-thinking the Words of Worship

Are we thinking about what we say to God during worship?

You scratch your head, you look around, and you ask your friend, “Wait, what did he just sing?” You just heard a theological lapse from the mouth of the well-intentioned worship leader. Somewhere in the middle of that epic bridge he declared, “Thank You, Father, for dying on the cross for my sins.” Wait, shouldn’t he have said the Son? You stare straight ahead trying to remember if you overslept the morning the church leaders voted to change the church’s position on the Godhead.

We’ve all experienced this to some degree in that dimly lit sanctuary—surrounded by outstretched arms, eyes closed tight, and voices lifted in song. Perhaps our faux pas included something other than an absent-minded misrepresentation of the Trinity: maybe we came just shy of Will Ferrell’s dinner table prayer in Talladega Nights when he praised that sweet little baby boy in a golden manger up there in heaven. We must realize our worship leaders teach us as much about God and our relationship with Him as our preachers do. The only difference—worship leaders use songs, words and prayers.

The words we sing unite our hearts, our minds, and our congregations in the vertical and visceral act of worship. Songs and Scripture serve as vehicles to the throne of the Almighty. Worship leaders have the task of pointing people in the right direction.

 
Read the full article by Relevant Magazine:  http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/worship/features/25963-rethinking-the-words-of-worship

hope.glory – challenging worship perceptions and practices in Salvation Army gatherings

By Phil Laeger

As I write this, I’m listening to the near final mix of our live worship recording that took place in November of last year. I can’t wait to release the album and DVD. This project is—for me anyway—the culmination of the hopes and dreams and prayers and tears and frustrations and vexations and sweat and optimism and roadblocks and open doors of the past 10 years. Wow. Maybe I need to unpack that run-on sentence a little…

I have been so privileged to be part of music ministry in The Salvation Army over the past nearly 15 years. It has been a great journey and the groups I have played in and led have been given incredible leeway in a lot of ways. We’ve led worship at youth councils and conferences, camps, retreats, etc, etc. Some of those times have been life transforming for me. We have seen people give their life to Christ, people broken free of addiction, people transformed in a very real way by the power of God in worship. It has been humbling to be used by God in that way. We have had extended times of energetic praise and extended times of reverent and precious worship, dripping with the presence of God.

Read the rest of the article at:  http://www.phillaeger.com/hope-glory-challenging-worship-perceptions-and-practices-in-salvation-army-gatherings/

StudyBass.com

Yes, for all you wonderful low-end boom providers.  Today I bring you a website I came across just last week.  A comprehensive step by step curriculum on how to play bass.  I love it.  Very detailed. 

Passionately Listening

From worshiptogether.com

I’ve read of Beethoven that, when his hearing was lost, he sawed the legs off his piano and laid its body down on the floor; then, with his head pressed against the floorboards, he pounded on the keys in an effort to hear the notes. He continued to write his symphonies even when one of his greatest tools—his hearing—was taken from him. Passion and perseverance are an explosive combination.

I should pray with that kind of unquenchable desire, especially when it sounds like God is silent. Like Beethoven, I ought to press my ear to the floor; I ought to search for the sound of His footfalls. I am “...a deaf man with my ear to the ground, listening for what You say.”

I sort of love it that God dances with us like this. He weaves like the shuttle on a loom, coming close, pulling back, and irresistibly drawing all of us little threads into the tapestry created by His dynamic movement. By it we learn to ache for Him when He feels far off, and cherish Him when He draws near to us.

Even when God is whispering instead of shouting, He is relentless in His pursuit of the human heart.