Graphics, Backgrounds & Video Loops

Here are some good sources for worship backgrounds, graphics and videos.  Enjoy!

1. Creation Swap: http://www.creationswap.com/
2. New Life Church: http://creative.newlifechurch.tv/
3. Worship House Media: http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/
4. Free Worship Backgrounds: http://www.worship-backgrounds.com/
5. Christian Collages: http://christiancollages.com/home
6. Shift: http://shiftworship.com/
7. Motion Worship: http://www.motionworship.com/
8. Share Faith: http://www.faithclipart.com/category/worship-backgrounds.html
9. New Worship Media: http://newworshipmedia.com/
10. Image Vine: http://www.imagevine.com/
11. Video Worship Backgrounds: http://videoworshipbackgrounds.com/
12. Kinetic: http://www.kineticfaith.com/blog/

Love Moves Slow

by Audrey Assad

The slow burn of intimacy.

Have you ever gone for months, or even years, without hearing God’s voice? I have. And I have seen dear, faithful friends and believers, other women who desire intimacy with God, do the same. It can be incredibly frustrating, painful, and discouraging, as I know from experience.

Not even six months ago, I was pouring out my vexation about this to my spiritual director. I am twenty eight, and I have been a fully invested Christian woman for nine years, raised in a Christian home for my whole life, and I still struggle with discipline in prayer on a daily basis. I have trouble desiring to spend time with God, which looks and sounds even more ridiculous than ever as I type it out on my laptop. It feels like I don’t hear from Him as often as I used to. If you asked me to list all the things I believe about God’s goodness and faithfulness, the list would be long, indeed. I have walked through mountains and valleys with Him in the last nine years that have proven His faithfulness to me over and over again. Yet even still, I fight a gruesome, silent battle with spiritual drought.

It turns out, I am not the only Christian who struggles now in this way, nor have I been the first. I, like many others before me, have “left my first love” again and again, times without number. It is no coincidence that my favorite hymn says, “Prone to wander ... prone to leave the God I love.” (- from Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing.) Sometimes daily, I vacillate on a see-saw between spiritual ardor and blasé. I always thought I would be long past that by now. I thought the “further up and further in” I traveled into God’s heart, the less I would struggle with seemingly simple things like ‘desiring God.‘ I thought that roller-coaster type of wavelength between those mountains and the valleys was just for teenagers. Yet here I am, a twenty eight year old woman, and still going up, and down, and up, and down again. So what’s the story?
 
Read more at: http://blog.worshiptogether.com/worshiptogether/2012/02/women-in-worship-audrey-assad.html

Breaking Out of the Worship Formula

Can you make authentic worship?

Growing up in a small Baptist church helped me learn something at an early age: Our gatherings as the Church tend toward formula. There are lots of reasons for it. It’s easier. It’s comfortable. It’s predictable. It fits inside of our “boxes.” It’s replicable. It allows us to attempt to recapture meaningful moments of the past.

But—like in all relationships—our encounters with God are meant to be progressive, not repetitive. That’s why I think I was so excited about the movement of a fresh approach to worship that was coming out of people like Martin Smith and Matt Redman in England in the early '90s and things like the Passion Movement here in the U.S. It wasn’t simply a stylistic change. It was something fresh in the expectation of the movement of God.

But now, 15 years and thousands of songs later, there seems to be a new homogeny throughout our churches and our worship gatherings. We’ve gotten to the point where we have made what was fresh into a formula once again. 


A familiar formula

Tell me if this sounds familiar for a worship song as played by the band at your church:

Loud intro.
 Come down for verse one.
 Hit it hard for the chorus.
 Keep it going hard up til the bridge.
 Drop out for the bridge. 
Build back into a loud bridge section.
 Come down for an ending chorus.
 Vamp low on the end (with some occasional builds).

This type of song formula takes people dynamically up for two minutes, down for one minute, back up, back down. It’s a constant roller coaster for the duration of the set.

There’s nothing wrong with this song structure, but it might point to a greater issue: Perhaps we’re relying on musical dynamics to elicit an emotional response more than we are pleading for the Holy Spirit to engage us in the spiritual realm.Obviously, the solution to what seems to be our new habitual formula is not another formula. But we should be aware of how songs really do affect us emotionally and how we can engage with God in different ways through a range of dynamics. It might help to think through what we think of as a time of “worship.” Are there times of celebration with the Lord as well as times of rest? Do we dwell on the joy of celebration and the peace of rest, or are those moments fleeting?

Who is worship for?

Ultimately, worship leaders are there to help foster moments where individuals can connect with God. And our goal as worshipers is to use that time to connect with God.

Sometimes, I think we get into the mindset that the worship is for the band—that we are present to allow the band to do what it wants or to help us hit an emotional high. There’s a time for high notes and guitar prowess, but it’s a matter of the chicken and the egg. Because those moments aren't all the time. It’s a continual balance of asking, “What is this moment calling for, and what will take us deeper?”

Music seems to be this strange thing that serves as a bridge between the natural and the supernatural. Because of that, our conversations about how to do what we do best involves both the earthly and the spiritual. It means not getting stale in what we think of as “worship.” But it also means fighting the temptation to judge whether or not the worship was “good” by criteria like, “They sang well” or, “That band was awesome.”

But the most important thing about worship is that it allows us to engage with God. It matters a lot less if everyone hits the right note, or if the band hits the right solo at exactly the right time or even if the particular song is the one you want to sing. What matters is if worship is providing you a space to connect with God—it’s not a formula or a series of easy answers. It’s letting God work through each of us to connect with Him both as individuals and as the Church.
 
Relevant Magazine:  http://m.relevantmagazine.com/god/worship/features/24146-breaking-out-of-the-worship-formula

Recruiting and Training New Members for Your Worship Team

Here are some guidelines I follow in recruiting new worship team members. The first six points apply to all worship team members and the last five points apply to worship team leaders.

Choose people who have a heart of worship.

Look for people who love God with all their heart, soul and strength. There is no substitute for this foundation. Out of that heart flows genuine worship and a desire to be a team player. These are the kind of people I want to raise up into leadership—people whose lives are devoted to Christ, His Church and His cause in the world.

Choose people who are full of zeal to serve.

Don’t mess around with people who aren’t ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. When a developing leader is full of energy to serve and grow, they have an appetite to learn. They’re not picky about the tasks they are given. They come early to meetings and stay late to absorb all they can.

In the various churches and meetings where I’ve led worship, I’ve played with all levels of musicians—everything from great players who have done lots of recordings to inexperienced players. I really don’t mind undeveloped ability as long as the attitude (in the Christian sense of the term) is professional. A person with a professional attitude shows up on time, takes seriously his or her responsibility, doesn’t pretend to know everything, pays attention during rehearsal and wants to fit into the big picture.

Choose people who are loyal and willing to follow your leadership.

You can’t lead people that don’t want to follow you. They decide who their leader is. Attitude is everything. The apprentice must be willing and eager to learn from the mentor. The most fruitful mentoring relationships I’ve had are those in which both parties have a mutual desire to cooperate as co-workers.

Choose people who are integrated into your church community.

Worship leaders are formed within community—by pastors, leaders and worship leaders—and by the hard knocks of life. I impart worship leading principles, but I depend on the power of the Church to form people into mature leaders. Worship leaders are, first of all, Christians; secondly, they are musicians. A lifestyle of worship encompasses everything from feeding the poor to setting up P.A. systems to leading a worship set.

Choose people who have musical ability

If you’re in a small church, you should start by looking for anyone who can play the right chords, keep rhythm pretty well and sing on pitch most of the time. If you’re in a big church, you can be much more selective—choosing people who are highly skilled. In a medium-sized church, you will probably have a combination of skilled musicians and beginners who have talent that is developing. Regardless of the size of your church and skill level of your team members, you can have a spiritually rich worship ministry. Don’t ever let the spirit and heart of worship be lost in a quest for a polished performance.

Release people into positions of responsibility gradually.

I’ve made the mistake of giving people too much responsibility, too quickly and watched those musicians and singers struggle because they weren’t ready for heavier responsibility. Ask someone to lead worship one time or to play an instrument in a rehearsal before they play in a worship service. Don’t give them a permanent or even a semi-permanent position at first. If they are called to a greater scope of ministry, they will first be “faithful with little things.”

Read more at: http://worshipleader.com/finding-timothys/

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