Worship Leader Blog

Tonight's Night of Worship was opened by One Sonic Society, followed by Tenth Avenue North, and finally Matt Redman and his band. Let's just say the evening began good and just got better and better.

I had heard of Tenth Avenue North, but I probably had only heard one song from their set before tonight. But I was impressed with how singable some of their stuff was, and with how fresh and powerful their sound was, particularly the three-part harmonies.

Matt Redman was (not surprisingly) brilliant. Maybe it's me, maybe it's not, but there are some worship leaders who are able to just take me with them into the presence of God. I suspect it has to do with what I perceive to be their degree of authenticity, but it could be some other factor or combination of factors.

In any case, we worshiped God tonight, and it was good.

Catch you later.

Today was the first full day of workshops and stuff, and for me, it was songwriting day. I wasn't writing songs (though that would have been enormously cool, too)--I was attending workshops about songwriting. The first was a workshop on writing modern hymns by Keith Getty (who wrote "In Christ Alone" with Stuart Townend). I was very impressed with his heart for the church and for people in general. One Getty nugget (paraphrased): "Put words of substance in their (the worshipers') minds. And help them sing."

He also gave us a copy of a beautiful communion hymn that he co-wrote with his wife, Kristyn and Stuart Townend, titled "Behold the Lamb (Communion Hymn)." He played as the workshop attendees sight-read and sang (except for me, of course, because I'm a lame non-music-reader)--it was beautiful--spine-tinglingly so (if that's a word).

After that came a songwriting workshop with Laura Story (who wrote "Indescribable," made huge by Chris Tomlin. I actually had a few minutes to chat with Laura--she saw my name tag and noticed I was from Lawrence, KS, and she had played there with Andrew Peterson years ago. Cool. She was humble and real, and extremely encouraging to those of us who wonder whether we have anything of value to offer our congregations by writing songs. She had a lot of practical advice about collaboration and co-writing and such, too.

Finally, there was yet another songwriting workshop with Matt Redman ("Blessed Be Your Name," "Heart of Worship," "You Never Let Go" and many others). Redman is always funny, and he was generous and practical, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing him play tonight--in about 45 minutes he'll be doing the Night of Worship concert with Tenth Avenue North and One Sonic Society.

If I've got any gas left in my tank after the concert tonight, I'll recap later.

Keep it real.

Today is songwriter day. I'm hoping to be able to attend three workshops by three different songwriters (Keith Getty, Laura Story and Matt Redman). But experience tells me that you don't always get a seat in the workshop of your first choice, so we'll see.

Tonight, Matt Redman, Tenth Avenue North, and One Sonic Society leading worship. Looking forward to a good day.

Okay. I think I might be part Irish.

I had no idea that Keith and Kristyn Getty (Keith is the co-author with Stuart Townend of "In Christ Alone") were Irish, but Irish they are, and their part of tonight's Night of Worship concert was nothing short of remarkable. Uilleann pipes (Google it), an Irish flute, one of those Irish hand drum things you play with a stick thing, and a fiddle, plus drums, bass, electric and acoustic guitars, synth and acoustic piano, all backed by the NWLC conference choir, fronted by Kristyn Getty on lead vocals--the sound was big, the cadences were infectious, and these guys are creating what I suppose you would describe as hymns for a new generation. They are passionate for corporate worship, and they are creating songs that are truly cross-generational in style.

My own dubious Irish ancestry notwithstanding, I really liked the Gettys. I was taken by their authenticity--something that isn't always readily discernible in some artists, but which just shines in others. I believe that they are doing a hymn writing session this week, and I might just be there, if for no other reason than to hear those Irish accents again.

The Gettys occupied the last segment of the night--they were preceded by Pastor Steve Berger of Grace Chapel, who spoke from Psalm 40 about how God ministers to people in pain. He lost his 19-year-old son to an automobile accident about this time last year, and has written a book (Have Heart: Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and Earth) about heaven. His talk was heart-rending and encouraging at the same time. He brought along the gifted Grace Chapel worship team, who led a remarkable worship set after Berger's talk.

The first artist of the night was Phil Wickham, who kicked off the evening with a great set, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. Kudos to the sound crew for mixing his Taylor big and full, and to Phil for his tasteful, innovative, beautiful playing. (He's an amazing singer as well, and he wove several of his own worship songs together in a set that had great "flow" as we worship leaders are wont to say.) In what one Tweet during the set described as a "humble and powerful way to begin," he led the crowd in "How Great Thou Art," arranged in an updated style that just worked very well. Wickham knows his way around a worship set.

I was pleased to see my good friend, Phil and his wife Penny--I hadn't seen Phil (a fine keyboard player and singer I worked with years ago) for years, and he showed up in the parking lot next to me at last year's conference. I hadn't seen him since last year, but was glad to see his name tag on the registration table this afternoon, and he somehow found his way to my row in the darkened auditorium a few minutes after the festivities started tonight.

That's all for now--it's after midnight and I've got to hit the road early tomorrow for Day 2. Catch you later.

I'm here early (if you know me, well, of course I am), and the place is beginning to hop. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS is a big church...let me re-state that...a BIG CHURCH. Last I heard there were 20,000+ in their congregation, and it has all of the atmosphere and amenities you would expect in a modern mega-church: a large lobby/atrium with a coffee shop and a bookstore, a huge main auditorium (at least 4,000 seats), and an impressive and beautiful multi-building campus. I'm sitting in the Rezlife building at the moment (not sure if that's what they call it, but that's the name of their student ministry, and this is where that happens), which is where the exhibitors and vendors have set up the "trade show" area for the conference. There's wireless access here. Thanks, CoR!

Even now, as some of the exhibitors are still getting their booths set up, the place is getting noisy--tomorrow it will border on chaotic between sessions. There are some cool booths here--Roland and Yamaha are showing off keyboards and guitars and other electronic music gadgetry; various vendors of sound and stage equipment are here, along with Christian music publishers, software publishers and yes, even the National Guard is recruiting here. I've made a quick pass to see what sorts of give-aways and such are here to be harvested, but nothing really caught my eye just yet. However, several vendors are reportedly planning to have drawings for iPads, and I promise you I'll find them. (I am believing Jesus for an iPad--pray for me :-)

There was a pre-conference session today (I didn't go), but the real kick-off of the week is tonight's "Night of Worship" concert--the first of four. Each evening there is a worship concert featuring several worship artists and a speaker, and tonight (according to my nifty conference notebook) the artists are Phil Wickham, Keith & Kristyn Getty and the NWLC Conference Choir. The speaker will be Steve Berger and the Grace Chapel Team--not sure exactly what that means.

I'm looking forward to tonight, and the whole week, really--as any worship leader who reads this might imagine, a conference like this can be a major battery-charger for a busy worship leader. It can also be overwhelming, because there is so MUCH content, so MANY workshops to choose from, and so many ideas floating around. Having been here last year, I have some idea of what to expect, and I already know that it's not going to be possible to take notes on everything, absorb all the input and ideas, or even begin to implement much of what I am exposed to here. My goals are (1) to worship God authentically (and not be leading!), (2) to see what others are doing in the field, (3) to take in as much helpful content as I can, for me and for my team and my church, and (4) to engage in meaningful conversations with others who do what I do.

I'm also going to try to attend one or more of the sessions on songwriting--some of the church's greatest modern songwriters are here to teach this week: Matt Redman, Laura Story, Chris Tomlin, to name a few.

I'll keep you posted. I'll be tweeting to lfmcpb from time to time (I hope).

Seriously? I've been so busy that an entire year has passed since I posted anything here? I guess so...here I am, getting ready to leave for the opening session of the 2010 National Worship Leader Conference, and my last post here was after the last day of last year's NWLC. I'm not sure whether that is evidence that I'm way too busy or just a slacker. I suspect the latter.

Nonetheless, my intention is to blog a bit this week about this year's NWLC. And the first thing I want to point out is that several general sessions will be streamed live this year. If you want to watch, go here:

http://video.worshipstream.com/channel/NWLC2010

On that page there is a player for the video, and there is a schedule indicating which sessions will be streamed live and when. Right now I'm listening/watching a session from the Albuquerque NWLC which took place back in June--Buddy Owens is talking about the importance of the continued, fresh filling of the Holy Spirit in the worship leader's life. Good stuff. And I'm stunned that I actually spelled "Albuquerque" correctly.

If you want to see a great talk from last year's NWLC, go to http://www.316networks.com/nwlc2009 and look for Leonard Sweet's talk. Very good stuff.

Anyway, as I prepare to leave this afternoon and drive over to the Church of the Resurrection for the conference, I'm praying that I will have an open heart and mind to the things that God wants to say to me this week. I'm also praying that I'll be able to bring back some useful ideas and inspiration (and music) for my team and my congregation at home.

Until next time...