I just got back from the Pulse Arts/Worship Conference at Blackhawk Church in Madison, WI. We had a team of 6 people from our worship team attend the conference, and it really was a great event! We started Friday night with a concert by Stephanie Seefeldt and Fernando Ortega. It was a very intimate concert, with both Stephanie and Fernando singing and playing from the piano without any other instruments. If you haven’t heard Stephanie’s music before, I would check it out! I loved hearing Fernando’s stories about his songs – especially Laguna Beach and Mildred Madeline Johnson!!
This morning started with a time of worship led by the worship team from Mt. Zion Baptist Church. They did such a great job!! They had 6-7 singers, 2 keyboards, bass, sax and drums. The drummer was 11!! Great way to kick off the morning with worship! After that, Tim Mackie, one of the pastors at Blackhawk gave a very challenging talk about how God uses tension in our lives and art to cause us to grow.
My first workshop was about video venues with Joel Hassenzahl, the Director of Worship at BlackHawk. We’re talking about all kinds of different options for Bethel, so it was good to hear their story, and how they have used video venues, first as a way to overcome a space issue, but now they intentionally use them as a way to build community and be a big church with small communities. Very interesting!!
After lunch we had a session with worship led by Stephanie Seefeldt, and then Rory Noland spoke about “How to Grow as a Private Worshipper”. Rory is the author “The Heart of the Artist”, a great book for worship teams to read about having a servant’s heart.
My second workshop was on “Conflict in Ministry”, led by Steve Musto, another one of the pastors at Blackhawk. It was a good reminder about what to avoid and lean in to when conflicts arise.
The closing session was fantastic!! The worship team from Blackhawk led us in worship, and they rocked!! Also, Curt Cloninger led us through one of his one-man monologues on the life of Christ. That led us right in to a time of communion, and then we ended with a closing time of worship.
Overall, it was a wonderful way to spend a Friday night and Saturday! For only $30, it was a tremendous value! Great job to all the organizers of the event. Thanks so much!!
Barry Westman 