Worship’s Dirtiest Word

In recent posts, I have been ruminating about worship auditions. Over the years, worship ministries have accepted auditions as a completely legitimate way to vet and induct new candidates into the ministry. But whenever you talk about auditions, you also bring up another concept, which to mention in the context of worship is virtually taboo. […]

Audition Success!

I was really thrilled yesterday to get an email yesterday as follows: Congratulations! You have been successful in the FCC worship audition. Welcome to the team! It was a good thing my wife ordered me some in-ear earphones from Catch of the Day! My joining the Faith Community Church worship team is significant to me […]

From the 10/40 Window to the 4/14 Window

As a person who feels his calling is worship, I actually get simultaneously excited and intimidated by missions. On the one hand, I believe that missions and worship are completely interconnected in the way that John Piper describes, that is, worship is both the fuel and the goal of missions. So it excites me whenever […]

Worship in the Heart of the Perth Cultural Precinct?

Yesterday afternoon, we were walking home from the Perth CBD after doing a bit of shopping and we happened to walk through the Perth Cultural Precinct. They were playing Olympic highlights on the big screen outside the State Library. The setting actually reminded me of an amphitheatre. An amphitheatre for worship! And then the thought […]

My First Audition

I did my first worship team audition ever last night. I was so nervous that when the guitarist told me to change key, my mind went blank and I couldn’t remember the lyrics to Beautiful Saviour’! And I went flat during some harmonies. Good thing the judges were nice. Of course I’ve done lots 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 […]

Speak to One Another

As I continue my series on Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, I want to explore a common key thought in our two key passages: to speak to or admonish one another. Here are the passages again. Ephesians 5:18-20: Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking […]

A Historical-Prophetic Approach to Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Today, I want to continue the series on Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs. As a recap, I introduced two key texts. The first is in Ephesians 5:18-20: Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music from […]

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, […]

Worship: Treasuring God Above All Else

Here is a great definition of worship I recently came across whilst reading John Piper’s Let the Nations Be Glad. Piper says (at 231): Worship is not a gathering. It is not essentially a song service or sitting under preaching. Worship is not essentially any form of outward act. Worship is essentially an inner stirring of […]