The Church as Family

I’ve just finished reading Messy Church and for the past week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of church as family. We often like to think of the church in one of the following different ways: a corporate entity (with strict lines of authority, structures, rules and regulations), a movement (a group of […]

Next Generational Leadership

I was off work today, recovering from a cold, and I spent a good deal of the day devouring Ross Parsley’s new book, Messy Church. Yesterday, I suggested that everyone should get a copy of it. See my post here. I’m about halfway through the book and what Parsley is advocating is to see the […]

Are you an AV Projectionist or a Visual Worship Leader?

When I was a teenager, a few of my friends and I used to be in charge of the overhead projector. Yes, an overhead projector. For those of you who haven’t been in church past the last decade, the overhead projector was a machine that projected acetate slides onto a screen. This was, in effect, […]

Lessons I Have Learned From Converge

Last night, the various Converge facilitators and leaders met for a debrief. It was a great time reflecting on the highlights, things we could change and do better, but above all reflecting on God’s faithfulness in taking the church in the city one step towards fulfilling Jesus’ prayer for unity. In that same reflective mode, […]

Another Awesome Rehearsal

I just got back this evening rehearsing with the band for Converge “Hear the Nations Worship” night. It was another time of refreshing in God’s presence. I came to the rehearsal with quite a great deal of stress. I was busy at work, but also busy trying to finalise everything for Converge and my mind […]

Sometimes Bossanova Just Happens: Lessons from Your Worst Nightmare

I love this clip of Martin Smith leading worship, because it goes to show that no worship leader is immune from the silliest of mistakes: I remember one time when I was leading worship and we had just transitioned into the song “At the Cross”. As we started singing, it was clear to me that […]

The Church in Visible Unity

Last night, I was chatting to a friend of mine who is part of the worship ministry of a young thriving church. He told me how he took a phone call from the worship coordinator of a small church who had a heart for worship ministry, but struggled with manpower and resources. We were actually […]

Worship Leader’s Hand Signals

Today, I want to look at the hand signals that worship leaders use. Having visited a number of churches, I have noticed that worship leaders (depending on how they were trained) approach hand signals very differently. I am not talking about the core shapes, because it seems that worship leaders around the world have somehow […]

When the Music Fades…

Despite the title, this post actually has nothing to do with Matt Redman’s famous song. Today, I want to write about what worship teams often do at the end of the service: the debrief session. I’m naturally a critical, um, I mean analytical sort of person so I like to evaluate things. But a debrief […]

The Team that Jams Together, Stays Together

During the years that I was in the leadership of a worship ministry, we used to put jam sessions on our yearly program, but most of the time, no one ever seemed interested and the whole idea of jamming, driven by the mandate of leadership, just seemed a little contrived. This afternoon, a few of […]