Barry Westman

The Online Worship Leadership Training Course – A Great Resource for Worship Leaders!!

I’d like to bring your attention to a great online resource that’s available for worship leaders beginning in February 2011.  The Online Worship Leadership Training Course, taught by author Dwayne Moore, is an excellent resource for worship leaders at all stages, whether you are just beginning your position as a worship leader, or if you have been doing it for years.  I just completed the course this month, and it was well worth my time and money.  I first heard of Dwayne Moore at the All About Worship Retreat back in May in Kansas City. He was the main speaker at the retreat, and brought those of at the retreat tremendous teaching from God’s Word in the area of worship. Dwayne is the author of the best-selling book Pure Praise: A Heart-Focused Bible Study on Worship, which is an excellent study for worship teams. He also has recently freely distributed his Praise Portions, which are free weekly worship and ministry team devotionals.  I’ve been using the Praise Portions devotionals with our team for the last month, and everyone enjoys the short 5-10 minute devotionals during our rehearsals each week.

The Online Worship Leadership Training Course is a 10-week online class, taught by Dwayne, on a variety of topics related to the worship leader’s role.  Our class met Tuesday nights from 8:00 – 9:30 p.m., and I looked forward to it each week! The topics were very practical, and Dwayne’s teaching was excellent. But, I also enjoyed getting to know the other people in the class, and we were able to connect during the discussion times in the class, as well as stay connected during the course of the week through social media.  It was great to make new friends who are invested and passionate about the same areas.

The session topics challenged us both practically as well as spiritually.   Session topics include:

• “Developing Your Team to Be Ministers Through Music”
• “Preparing and Leading Weekly Rehearsals”
• “Dealing with Conflicts, Negativity and Immorality in Your Group”
• “Developing Your Personal and Leadership Skills”
• “Understanding the Five Goals When Leading Worship”
• “Planning Effective Sets That Flow”
• “Teaching Your Team Proper Stage Presence and Presentation”
• “Communicating Well With Your Pastor and Worship Teams”
• “Teaching Your Congregation about Worship and Worship Styles”
• “Understanding the Keys to a Long and Successful Ministry”.

I wasn’t able to make it to class each week, but the nice part was that each session was recorded, so I was able to watch it later in the week and stay up to date with the class.

If you’re looking for a way to grow in your knowledge of what it means to be a worship leader, to be challenged to take your ministry to the next level, and to connect with other worship leaders who are on the same journey as you, I would highly recommend registering for The Online Worship Leadership Training Course. I know Dwayne likes to keep the class size small so space is limited. I was not disappointed, and I’m sure you will enjoy it as well!

I also wrote a similar post for the All About Worship website, and if you register for this course through their website, you’ll get 20% off the registration fee. Just follow this link, and when you register use the code “allaboutworship” to get the discount.

 

 

 

This morning was the final Sunday in our series on Stewardship, and it was a powerful way to end.  We finished up talking about “A Tithe of Treasure” with a series of songs, the message with two videos, and a unique way for us to do the offering to close it out.  We had our fourth and final video testimony from Alice Reimer, one of our congregants. These videos were produced by Brian Thompson, who is a professional videographer here in Janesville. He and his wife Barbara have done an excellent job producing videos for us, and are actually on their way to the mission field to produce videos for missionaries in Hungary. You can learn more about their ministry at their website.

The other video we used just before we took the offering was one of the best ones that I’ve seen in relation to giving. It’s called “The Plate”, from Restoration Videos.  It shows what happens with the offering once it’s put in the plate. Very powerful!!

After that, we issued the church a 90 Day Tithing challenge, asking people to commit to tithe for the next 90 days as a response to this whole series. We had the offering plates at the front on tables, and as the worship team sang, people were asked to bring their offering and tithing commitments forward. It was so powerful to see people, families, kids bring their offering up and place them in the plate as a sacrifice.

Contemporary Services

“Love the Lord” (Lincoln Brewster)

“Glorified” (Jared Anderson)
– This song is quickly becoming one our favorites – easy to sing, great lyrics, and moving melody.

“Everlasting God” (Brenton Brown)
– We did the Lincoln Brewster version this morning, except we changed the ending. We went through the guitar solo, but then instead of ending with Lincoln’s version, which I think can be confusing for the congregation, we just ended with the chorus twice. It worked much better, and allowed the congregation to continue singing with confidence.

“Forever Reign” (Jason Ingram, Reuben Morgan)
– Another one of our current favorites!

“Open Hands” (Matt Papa)
– I love this song, and we used it today as people brought their offerings up to the front. It fit perfectly, and tied in so well with the message. If you’re not familiar with this one – check it out!

“You, You Are God” (Walker Beach)
– From Gateway Worship’s Living For You album. Good way to end, following what just took place in the service. Nice high-energy powerful way to close it out! We usually use this one as an opener, but works great as a response song, too!

You can watch the video of this service (sorry, I noticed some of our pre-service warm-up also got recorded…), as well as see the Planning Center details.

Cafe Connection Service

Adam led the team this morning in the Cafe, and from what I heard, they did a great job!! Here’s the songs he picked out:

“Blessed Be Your Name” (Matt and Beth Redman)

“Forever” (Chris Tomlin)

“Offering” (Paul Baloche)

“Mighty To Save” (Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan)

You can see the Planning Center details for this service.

Traditional Service

“Rejoice, Ye Pure In Heart”
“Count Your Blessings”
“My Savior’s Love”
“I’d Rather Have Jesus”
“Something For Thee”
“Living For Jesus”

You can watch the video for this service, and see the Planning Center details.

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist Blog gathering at The Worship Community, where worship leaders share their setlists.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this week, even though we didn’t travel at all! We have usually gone back to Minnesota to visit family, and although we love to do that, we just felt it was best this year if we stayed home.  So, it was just the 5 of us – Mom and Dad, and the 3 kids.  It was nice to have all the great fixings, and we had a great time preparing the food together, enjoying a time of thanksgiving, enjoying the meal, then a great time of just hanging out and playing games. We also tried to make a Skype call with our family in MN, but it didn’t work so well. Very choppy.

Friday was another fun, low key day with just our family. Two in a row – that’s almost unheard of!! The second Thanksgiving meal with leftovers was almost just as good as the first!!  Another lazy day today, but we discovered a leak downstairs under the kitchen sink, so a big chunk of the day was spent trying to figure out what we’re going to do about that! Just put band-aids on it for now, since we can’t really afford anything more.

We have so much to be thankful for, though! I’m so thankful to God for , the firm foundation we have in Jesus Christ, my family, a home to live in, the ministry that He’s given me to serve in here in Janesville, and so much more!! I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very full day of worship at Bethel, with our morning services plus a special Pie and Praise Thanksgiving Service in the evening.  Everyone did a great job on all the teams!! This was the third week in our series on Stewardship, and we had another video testimony on our focus for today, which was “A Tithe of Treasure”.  Sue Whitson did a great job on that!

Contemporary Services

“Let God Arise” (Chris Tomlin)
– Even this is not a new song, it was the first time we’ve done it here. I thought it would be trickier to put together, but it’s actually an easy song to learn, and it went pretty well.

“Glory To God Forever” (Steve Fee and Vicky Beeching)
– One of my favorites, and the bridge really fit well with our theme of stewardship – “take my life and let it be all for You and for Your glory”

“Surrender” (Marc James)
– A beautiful song of surrender, and with the lyrics, the instrumental guitar solo and the moving melody, it was a powerful moment in the service.

“Lord Over All” (Gary Sadler)
– An older song, but still a great song of commitment and dedication to make Jesus Lord over all.

You can watch the video of this service as well as see the Planning Center details.

Cafe Connection Service

“Our God Saves” (Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown)

“How Can I Keep From Singing” (Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Ed Cash)
– This was the first time we’ve used this song, and the Cafe team did a great job! I’ll have to consider this one for our Contemporary services.

“Glorious One” (Steve Fee)

“The Heart of Worship” (Matt Redman)

You can see the Planning Center details for this service.

Pie and Praise Service (Thanksgiving Service)

This service takes place the Sunday night before Thanksgiving, and it typically consists of music, testimonies, and videos all related to Thanksgiving. The testimony time includes both some prepared testimonies from people in the church, as well as some open-mic times for people to share from the congregation.   Last night’s service was great! We used the Thanksgiving Verses Countdown at the start, and then “The First Thanksgiving” video by The Skit Guys (which is hilarious, by the way!!). The testimonies were very powerful, and the worship team did a great job!

“New Doxology” (Thomas Ken and Thomas Miller)
– This song is on Gateway Music’s “Wake Up the World” album, and it’s the first time we’ve used it. It really is a neat way to incorporate the familiar tune and words to the Doxology that we all know into a contemporary feel. They include several verses, with an original chorus. Very nice!

“Forever” (Chris Tomlin)
– An oldie, but a goodie! We read Psalm 136 before this, with the congregation echoing the pastor on “His Love Endures Forever”.

“We Will Remember” (Tommy Walker)
– This has become a song that we do each year at this service. It’s such a powerful song, and the words lend themselves so well to a service like this.  With the congregation’s response to this song, it was a highlight of the night!

“How Great Is The Love” (Paul Baloche and Meredith Andrews)
– This was also the first time we’ve used this song before, and it’s really a great song! Zack and Bekah sang the first verse as a duet, then we all joined in for the rest. Powerful words and melody.

“You Never Let Go” (Matt Redman)
– One of our congregation’s favorites!

You can watch the video of this service as well as see the Planning Center details.

Traditional Service

“We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer”
“For the Beauty of the Earth”
“I Am Thine, O Lord”
“Take My Life and Let It Be”
“I Surrender All”

You can watch the video of this service and see the Planning Center details.

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist Blog at The Worship Community.

I just read a great article on worship that I wanted to pass along. I first saw a tweet by Ryan Rotman about it.   It was written by Brian Doerksen and published in Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox, a great resource for pastors, back in September of 2009.

Brian gives us a great expanded definition of worship that extends far beyond singing a song on Sunday morning. Read the full article here.

We had a great morning of worship at Bethel today (except for a stressful incident involving coffee, a loose cap, and my shirt!) Today was our second week in Pastor Tim’s series on stewardship called “Stewards of the King”. This morning’s topic was “A Tithe of Talent”, and featured a great video by Brian and Barbara Thompson (which they produced) about how they are using their talents in media in a really neat way!

Contemporary Services

Since it’s the second Sunday of the month, we had our worship choir sing along with the worship team this morning, and they did a super job! They always add an extra level of excitement and energy. You can watch the video of this service and also see the Planning Center details.

“Let The People Praise Him” (Troy Kennedy)
–  We pulled this song out again after not doing it for quite some time, but it’s a great opener, and a fun song from the Rick Muchow and team from Saddleback!

“Promises” (Jared Anderson)
– Another high energy song proclaiming the promises of God are unfailing!

“Glorious” (Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown)

“Your Love Is Unconditional” (Eduardo Coronado and Patrick Knock)
– This is one of those great songs that I had forgotten about until recently! It was written in 2000 by a crew from Christ for the Nations, and I’ve used it once at my former church, but this was the first time here. Eric really nailed the solo, and the choir had a lot of fun singing this one!

“Everyday” (Joel Houston)

Cafe Connection Service

I was able to lead worship in this service this morning with a great team with piano, percussion and vocals. We had a team visiting from another church this morning, just checking out how we do the Cafe service, so that was a bit nerve-wracking, but I’m glad they were able to come. You can see the Planning Center details of this service.

“This Is How We Know” (Matt Redman and Beth Redman)

“My Savior Lives” (Jon Egan and Glenn Packiam)

“Jesus Messiah” (Chris Tomlin)

“Everyday” (Joel  Houston)

Traditional Service

Rob led the team in our Traditional Service this morning since I was in the Cafe.  They also did great! You can watch the video of that service and see the Planning Center details.

“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”
“To God Be The Glory”
“Leaning On The Everlasting Arms”
“No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus”
“Make Me A Blessing”
“I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go”

This recap is part of the Sunday Setlists group at The Worship Community, where worship leaders share their weekly worship recaps.

We had an eventful morning at Bethel during our worship services! Through it all, God was faithful, and He came through for us in all these circumstances, but Satan was hard at work this morning in throwing every obstacle he could today to keep us from worshiping! It all started at 7:00 am when I turned on the main projector in the sanctuary, and the lamp inside exploded! I called Eric, our custodian, and he came to the rescue, getting a different lamp installed in time for the service. Then, just minutes before our Cafe service was to start, someone came in and said the video feed wasn’t working.  Again, within a few minutes of that service starting, we figured out which cable was bad and replaced it.  Then, our camera operator for the first service didn’t come, so I had to jump back and run those for part of the service. Then, one of our worship team members (who had a solo, of course…) was sick and couldn’t sing for our last service, but another singer on our team filled in. So, it was anything but smooth – but, God met all of our needs, and still His name was praised!!

Also, Pastor Tim began a new series today called “Stewards of the King”, which looks to be a great series on stewardship. Each week, we’ll be sharing a video testimony from someone in our congregation. This week, Todd Berg shared his testimony on how God has called him to serve others with “A Tithe of Time.”

Contemporary Service

“Let the Praises Ring” (Lincoln Brewster)
– Zack did an awesome job on the guitar solo today! The band sounded great as started the service with this upbeat opener. Unfortunately, the livestream mix wasn’t the greatest this week, and the electric guitar doesn’t come through too well.

“A Mighty Fortress” (Christy Nockels and Nathan Nockels)
– This was the song that Shanna sang in the 9:30, but was not able to sing at 11:00. The livestream recorded the 11:00, where Bekah stood in for the solo. They both did a great job!

“The Stand” (Joel Houston)
– A great song!

“How Deep the Father’s Love For Us” (Stuart Townend)
– The words to this one get me every time! What a powerful song, and I love this version by Sarah Sadler.

“Beautiful the Blood” (Steve Fee and Louie Giglio)
–  One of my newest favorite songs to use for communion!

You can watch the Livestream video from this service, as well as view the Planning Center details.

Cafe Connection Service

“Love Is Here” (Tenth Avenue North)
– This was a new song for us this week. Zack was leading in the Cafe this week, and he chose this song. Their team did a great job! I’ve included a little video I took this morning during sound check.

“Awesome Is the Lord Most High” (Chris Tomlin)

“Mighty Is the Power of the Cross” (Chris Tomlin)

“Offering” (Paul Baloche)

You can see the Planning Center details for this service.

Traditional Service

“O Worship The King”
“He Lifted Me”

“Freely, Freely”

“Behold the Lamb (The Communion Song)” (Keith Getty and Stuart Townend)
– This song is wonderful! It was written in 2007, and is another great song for Communion.  Jeanne did a beautiful job on the solo! If you haven’t heard this one yet, it’s worth a listen.

“There Is A Fountain”

You can watch the Livestream video from this service, as well as view the Planning Center details.

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist over at The Worship Community, where worship leaders share their setlists each week.

Here’s our Sunday Recap from this morning at Bethel.  I actually wasn’t there today because I’ve been on vacation this week, with today being the last day.  But, I’m confident that things went well, given the excellent team of leaders and members that were in place today. I know we had some issues with our livestream today, but it was working for our last service, so I’m looking forward to watching the service later on today to see how things went. This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival over at The Worship Community where you can read other worship recaps.

Contemporary Service

“You, You Are God” (Walker Beach)

“Matchless” (Aaron Shust)

“Forever Reign” (Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan)

“Hosanna” (Brooke Fraser)

“Lord Reign in Me” (Brenton Brown)

Thanks to Marv for leading the team this morning! You can watch the livestream of this service and also see the Planning Center details.

Cafe Connection Service

“Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble” (Martin Smith)

“Enough” (Chris Tomlin)

“Glory To God Forever” (Steve Fee and Vicky Beeching)

“Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” (Chris Tomlin)

Thanks to Adam who led this service this morning, and for the whole Cafe Crew! You can see the Planning Center details for this service.

Traditional Service

“Rise Up, O Church of God”
“At The Name of Jesus”
“My Faith Has Found A Resting Place”
“He Keeps Me Singing”
“A Christian Home”
“Take the Name of Jesus With You”

Thanks to Randy for leading this service! You can see the Planning Center details for this service.

 

Since I was on vacation this morning, I headed over to CrossPointe Community Church in Whitewater this morning for their worship service. I have heard a lot about it, and it’s also another GLBC church.  It was kind of frustrating, though, because I was about 20 minutes late to the service.  It’s a fairly new building, and our GPS and Google Maps couldn’t find the address.  I did miss most of the music (Uggh…), but I expected to miss all of it! The service today was over 2 hours! They only have one service there on a Sunday morning, so they have the freedom to have longer services. With our four services, we’re very confined to a certain time schedule. Even though I got there 20 minutes late, there was still 30 minutes of music left after I got there!

So, there was about an hour of music, then about an hour message. Whitewater is a college town, and they were having a special college emphasis this morning. It was great to hear their worship team (made up entirely of college students) sing “The Stand” (Joel Houston) and one other song I didn’t know. Since there was no copyright info on the screen, I wasn’t able to tell the name of it. I had wanted to connect with the worship pastor there, but the college pastor was leading worship today, and they had a guest speaker, so I wasn’t able to meet him.  It was refreshing to go to the service today, although I was really bummed I missed most of the music.  I was stressed out (for them) about the time, and how long the music was going, which is sad. I realized I’m so consumed with worrying about things going smoothly, even when I’m not in my own church, that I miss out on just worshipping.  If I had known the music was going to go for an hour, I probably would have been able to enjoy it much more. It really got me thinking about our own situation. We really only have time for 4, maybe 5, songs in our 60 minute service. Our structure is also very formal compared to the flow of this service. I have some things to think about. Thanks for reading, and I hope your services went great this morning!!