Amazing Piano Stairs From Around The World 1. Piano Stairs in Stockholm, Sweden blendingpoint.com “Piano Stairs” is an interactive playful musical stairway installation created into ... Read more

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What if a cloud could play the piano? This question is no longer as absurd as you would think, thanks to a new project by ... Read more

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Technology firm Google has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) piano capable of accompanying you in a duet. Unlike other piano-playing computers, Google’s AI plays using ... Read more

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It’s very important to instill good posture habits at the piano. Sitting squarely at the keyboard, feet on the floor (or on a low stool ... Read more

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The influence of Latin-American culture on music has been quite profound. It has gently filtered its way into nearly every genre of music from classical ... Read more

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Student loan cancellation was not a focus of the campaign for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, who steered clear of the issue at her political events.

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Magnolia, a two-week-old piglet, will require neonatal care for at least a month before she can be put up for adoption.

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Unlike today, where composers can receive or pitch for commissions from individuals, companies, or foundations, the options for funding during the Baroque Era were considerably ... Read more

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Rotten returns with a curious mixture of rage and nostalgia.

“This year’s two Nobel Laureates in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning,” said the Nobel committee.

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It won’t search for life, but rather determine whether conditions there could support it.

The post NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will scour Jupiter moon for the ingredients for life appeared first on Boston.com.

For the purposes of this article, I will confine my selection of violin works to the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods of music. Once you ... Read more

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The list of pieces for the above title could probably run for pages and cause all manner of consternation over what is considered to be ... Read more

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1. Autumn from “The Seasons”; Op. 67; by Alexander Glazunov Glazunov is not a name we readily hear these days in the concert halls and on ... Read more

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"It feels like you are actually in a fairy tale."

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The Mississippi river could be called America’s inland hydro highway. It carries US goods and commodities out to the rest of the world and allows trade flows to return. But up and down the Mississippi River, there are new pressures. The strain on the river system is only becoming more acute with the impacts of climate change. Reporter Jason Margolis recently traveled nearly 1800 kilometres down the Mississippi to assess the health of the river, its economy and its people.

(A fish is pulled from the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Further south, oysters thrive in brackish water, a mix of freshwater and saltwater in coastal Louisiana. Credit: Leyland Cecco/The World)

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, medical equipment is in short supply, and health workers in countries around the globe have had to ration care. Now, doctors and nurses in New York are treating patients in overcapacity intensive care units with dwindling supplies of equipment. The issue of how to ration scarce medical resources is forcing healthcare workers to make impossible decisions. But is there a best way to make those decisions? This is the subject of a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine; one of its authors, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, has some thoughts.

Also, we visit a primate research centre in Louisiana where scientists are working on a potential Covid-19 vaccine; we ask how temperature and humidity affects the spread of the coronavirus; we find out how people around the world are stocking up their pantries; and we check out the dating scene to find out how it’s surviving in this global pandemic.

Photo: Mirian Fuentes (L), a medical assistant, and nurse Laurie Kuypers check paperwork during a COVID-19 screening at an appointment-only drive-up clinic set up by the University of Washington Medical Center Northwest Outpatient Medical Center. Credit: Karen Ducey/Getty Images.

The coronavirus has fundamentally changed how we live our lives, but perhaps most heartbreakingly, how we deal with death. Around the world, centuries-old burial rituals have been abandoned. Even something as simple as a hug for a grieving friend is now essentially out of bounds. We look at how communities and individuals are adapting.

Also, writer and lawyer Wajahat Ali talks about faith in times of turmoil; many religious leaders are turning to video conferencing as an alternative to in-person services, but for orthodox Jews, that is problematic; we hear a Buddhist perspective on isolation and enlightenment in the time of Covid-19; and religious leaders tackle the big question: why.

Image: Pallbearers bring the coffin of a deceased person to be stored into the church of San Giuseppe in Seriate, near Bergamo, Lombardy. (Credit: Piero Cruciatti/Getty Images)

The former New England wedding singer won her “Battle” on Monday night’s episode — and will now also get help from Sting.

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Earlier this month, PEN issued a report that expands upon numbers released in September for Banned Books Week, when libraries and stores around the country highlighted censored works.

The post Jodi Picoult’s ‘Nineteen Minutes’ tops PEN America of books banned in schools appeared first on Boston.com.

The Russian Embassy called the officials' announcement “baseless” in an emailed statement, saying Russia “has not interfered and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the United States.”

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One is in Massachusetts.

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As homeland security secretary, Noem would lead a sprawling federal bureaucracy with a $60 billion budget and more than 230,000 employees.

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Back in 2011, Belgian harpist Anneleen Lenaerts, now a soloist at the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded an album containing harp arrangements of Chopin’s and Liszt’s most ... Read more

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The AFC U-19 Championship 2018 Qualifiers draw starts at 4pm, local time.

A total of 43 Member Associations (MAs) from across Asia will participate in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers, with ten (10) group winners and five (5) best second placed teams advancing to the finals along with the hosts. The AFC U-19 Championship qualifying stage is scheduled to take place from October 31 to November 8.

The 43 MAs will be separated into two zones, WEST (West, South and Central) with 22 teams and EAST (East and ASEAN) with 21 teams. Seeding for the draw is based on the rankings of last year’s AFC U-19 Championship in Bahrain. Teams that did not participate in the competition’s 2016 edition have been included but as the lowest-ranked sides. The host MA for the qualifiers will be drawn into separate groups.

The teams will then be drawn into three (3) groups of five (5) teams and seven (7) groups of four (4) teams.

WEST Zone:
Pot 1: Saudi Arabia (Host for Qualifiers), Islamic Republic of Iran (Host for Qualifiers), Iraq, Bahrain, Uzbekistan

Pot 2: Tajikistan (Host for Qualifiers), UAE, Qatar (Host for Qualifiers), Yemen, Palestine

Pot 3: Oman, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkmenistan

Pot 4: Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Syria, India

Pot 5: Kyrgyz Republic (Host for Qualifiers), Maldives

EAST Zone:
Pot 1: Japan, Vietnam, Korea Republic (Host for Qualifiers), Australia, China PR

Pot 2: Thailand, DPR Korea, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia

Pot 3: Timor-Leste, Singapore, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Philippines

Pot 4: Macau, Brunei Darussalam, Northern Mariana Islands

Pot 5: Cambodia (Host for Qualifiers), Indonesia, Mongolia (Host for Qualifiers)
*The remaining two (2) balls that are not drawn will be moved to Pot 4

The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship will be the third edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams will compete in the tournament. It is scheduled to take place 9–27 January 2018. China has been recommended as the hosts by the AFC Competitions Committee.

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 42 teams entered the competition. They are divided into two zones

• West: 22 teams, to be drawn into five groups: two groups of five teams and three groups of four teams.
• East: 20 teams, to be drawn into four groups: five groups of four teams.

The final tournament hosts China will participate in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament.

The draw will be held on 17 March 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The teams are seeded according to their performance in the previous season in 2016.

Qualifiers to be played from July 15-23 July, 2017.

West Asia :

Pot 1 - Iraq, Qatar, UAE, Iran & Jordan.
Pot 2 - Uzbekistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait & Oman.'
Pot 3 - Tajikistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Bahrain & India.
Pot 4 - Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka.
Pot 5 - Nepal & Turkmenistan

East Asia :

Pot 1 - Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia & Thailand.
Pot 2 - China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar & Laos.
Pot 3 - Malaysia, Cambodia, Timor-Leste , Chinese Taipei & Singapore.
Pot 4 - Mongolia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Brunei & Macau.
Pot 5 - Guam 

Player Eligibility :
Players born on or after 1 January 1995 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

The AFC U-16 Championship 2018 Qualifiers draw starts at 3pm, local time.

Some 45 Member Associations will take part in the AFC U-16 Championship 2018 qualifiers, and they have been divided into two (2) zones of WEST (West, South and Central) with 23 teams and EAST (East and ASEAN) with 22 teams. Both zones will have a total of five (5) groups.

Teams in each zone have been placed in five (5) seeding pots based on the rankings of the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016. Teams that did not participate in the 2016 edition have been added but as the lowest-ranked sides. The host nations for the qualifiers will be drawn into separate groups.

The teams will then be drawn into five (5) groups of five (5) teams and five (5) groups of four (4) teams.

Ten group winners and five (5) best second-placed teams will advance to the final stage of the tournament, along with the host MA. The AFC U-16 qualifiers are scheduled to take place from September 16 to 24.

WEST Zone:
Pot 1: Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran (Host for Qualifiers), Oman, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan

Pot 2: Kyrgyz Republic, Saudi Arabia (Host for Qualifiers), Yemen, India, Tajikistan (Host for Qualifiers)

Pot 3: Syria, Jordan, Afghanistan, Qatar (Host for Qualifiers), Palestine

Pot 4: Bangladesh, Bahrain, Lebanon, Nepal (Host for Qualifiers), Turkmenistan

Pot 5: Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka

EAST Zone:
Pot 1: DPR Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Korea Republic, Thailand (Host for Qualifiers)

Pot 2: Malaysia, Australia, China PR, Hong Kong, Laos

Pot 3: Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Mongolia (Host for Qualifiers)

Pot 4: Cambodia, Philippines, Macau, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands

Pot 5: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia

Top spot in the respective groups will earn direct qualification, while the four best second-placed teams will also advance to the 2020 Finals.

Should the yet to be determined host for the Finals finish either top of their group or among the best four second-placed teams, the next (5th) second-placed team in the ranking among all groups will qualify instead.

The Qualifiers will be played on November 2-10, 2019.

When was the last time we had good performance in the AFC U-19 qualifiers? Brandon, Naryan das batch i think 

The draw for the AFC U-16 Championship 2020 Qualifiers concluded at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur yesterday with the 47 teams discovering their opponents.

India have got tricky and difficult group comparing to other SAFF nations. Blue colts have qualified for last 2 editions, this time it looks difficult not just because of the draw but also because of our preparation. 

The Asian hopefuls will vie for top spot in their respective groups that promises direct qualification, while four best second-placed teams will advance to the 2020 Finals.

As the host for the Finals has yet to be determined, should the yet to be determined host finishes among the qualified as either top of their group or one of the four best second-placed teams, the next (5th) second-placed team in the ranking among all groups will qualify instead.

To say that Michael Farren is one of today’s top songwriters is a bit of an understatement. Besides penning “Let It Rain” which has sold a mere 2 million copies, been translated into multiple languages, and is impacting worshipers across the globe, Michael has written and is writing many of today's top songs for Christian Artists and churches. As a signed staff writer for Integrity Music he often writes and delivers as many as 100 songs a year. So how does he keep inspiration fresh? Here are some things I’ve observed: 

1. Gear is Ready to Go: Just like most of us Michael is always busy with something. Business, Church, Family, and just…life has its demands but he is always ready to record the moment inspiration does strike. Guitars are set out, keyboards are on, and the microphones are hot, just yearning for him to push the big red record button. Which he does, even if he only has 5 minutes before his next meeting.

2. Sounds that Inspire: The right sound can make all the difference. It can bend your ear towards a melody or strike your imagination. When he finds those products that do that, he buys them. Two of them are “The Giant” plugin by Native Instruments and a logic/mainstage instrument preset from Abel Mendoza’s company ‘That Worship Sound’.

3. Instruments That Have Songs In Them: How do you buy a guitar as a songwriter?  It’s not the best one or the most expensive. But You pick the one that has the most songs in it. Sounds dumb but it’s true. You play a bunch of them and see which one makes you want to sing a new song and which ones make you want to play an old tune. Then purchase accordingly.

4. Alternative Instruments That Play the Same as a Guitar: Don’t play the banjo or the Mandolin? No problem. As mentioned before the right sound bends your creativity in new directions but sometimes we are hampered by our playing abilities. A few easy solutions are two instruments that Michael keeps close by. The first is a Ganjo – a banjo that has the neck of a guitar. The second is a ‘Nashville Strung’ guitar – accomplished by taking a pack of 12 string guitar strings and then only using the higher string for each note. (hint: use the other strings for your regular guitar)

5. Listen to People's Prayers: If worship songs are supposed to communicate a person's heart to God, then it stands to reason we should be listening to more than just our own heart. When people pray, add your agreement and pay attention.

I’m sure I’ll have more nuggets of wisdom to share as I spend more time around the All About Worship offices and studio. Will pass them along as we go.

This is the first of a three-part series on team building. The ideas are simple, but the why behind the what is the secret sauce to growing a solid team. Like most people reading this, I’ve made mistakes. And those disasters have forged the conviction that we can’t be in ministry without being radically committed to loving Jesus and his church more, and on a daily basis.

Keep Jesus close, make sure that your family always takes the right priority (more on that in the future) and be willing to make your church better.  Notice I said better, not different. 

Better, Not Different

One of the biggest complaints I hear from worship pastors/leaders is that somehow, they have found themselves in a church that they really don’t like. 

They don’t feel appreciated by their lead pastors. 

They don’t like the weekend worship experience. 

They don’t like the people. 

At the end of the day, there is so much complaining that I am left scratching my head wondering if they even love Jesus.  If this is you, take some time to pray if you can make your lead pastors vision for your church come alive. If you aren’t in agreement, you may be in the wrong place.  Do yourself, your family and your people a favor and get connected with someone or something that is complimenting to your convictions and your philosophy.  God created you to be you, but we are servants before leading anything. Some of us carry the responsibility to make things different.  Most of us don’t.  Know your place.  Is it your burden to change things? …or is it your job to make things better.  Talk to your teams about this.  This is a fantastic “clarity” question that will free up your bandwidth.

Is it your burden to change things? …or is it your job to make things better.

OK, that is my soap box! ☺  As I give you these three helpful tips, it’s important for you to know that these are just tools.  You can’t fake or replace strong spiritual foundations of ministry leadership.  Love Jesus and use tools and resources to LOVE His PEOPLE better.  We try to change people or churches.  But what I’ve found is that when you develop people, things change. 

But what I’ve found is that when you develop people, things change. 

So, if it’s our job to make things better, what are some ideas that we can do to commit to improving? 

1. Develop a leadership pipeline

Developing a leadership pipeline is a helpful tool to bring clarity to “who’s responsible for who and who’s responsible for what”.  It’s really difficult for a worship pastor to carry the burden of a ministry on their shoulders alone…and they shouldn’t. I don’t have to tell you that the apostle Paul makes it clear that we are called to empower people to do the work of the Kingdom, not do it all on our own! (Ephesians 4:11-13) We also get a peek into Moses' anxiety in Numbers chapter 11, where he's at his wit’s end and well over his capacity. The Lord tells him to gather 70 of his most trusted and responsible people. Moses brings them to the "tent of meetings" and the Spirit of the Lord pours over them.

God helped Moses build his team. He will help you build yours.

A leadership pipeline helps you identify your 70 (or even 7 figuratively speaking). This is the pipeline our church utilizes.  

How this works:

In this chart, we document how responsibility falls within a team.

• An assistant is the first place in which we invite someone to be developed as a leader.
• A leader is the first level in which a person is responsible for a team.
• A coach is the first level in which a leader is overseeing other leaders.
• A director is responsible for directing a particular team.
• A pastor is responsible for care, culture and vision.

My favorite area to develop is our coaches. In worship ministry, I am so lucky to have some of the best coaches.

Here's how this role works:

Jordan Hicks is my guitar coach. He is responsible for developing all guitar leaders, recruitment and assimilating guitarists for all of our campuses, adult, youth and kids’ teams. He's responsible for all communication and administration for this group as well. Because Jordan is the leader I've poured into, he completely understands my values, our church’s values and culture, and our end goal. He's a volunteer, but he brings a priceless value of leadership and excellence to our church. Our worship leaders never should worry about who they are leading with. We are spoiled because of warriors like Jordan. He's just one example of Ephesians 4 coming to life in our ministry.

I grew up as a jazz musician—tenor sax. I loved John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk. C’mon somebody!  I was in high school when I first played in combos with some older pro musicians in our city. We started playing a blues tune when one of the guys stopped me and said, “In the words of Miles Davis, man…you can’t play blues because you haven’t hurt enough yet.”  Apparently, I lacked any sense of emotive playing ability as a teenager. And I hadn’t hurt enough yet. 

If playing jazz and blues is an expression of pain and hurt that we’ve experienced, then singing worship music is an expression of the HOPE we know. We can’t and shouldn’t do this alone. Lean on your team. Empower them. 

I am excited to share with you the next two tips over the next few months. You’ll be able to find them right here at allaboutworship.com.  If you have questions about developing your leadership pipeline, you can email me at mike@worship.coach.

For free development resources, check out www.worship.coach.

For thousands of younger Gen Xers and older Millennials who were raised in the church, much of our maturing as worshippers is marked by the poetic lyrics and fluid vocals of the duo known as Shane & Shane. I personally remember having Be Near on repeat during a difficult season of transition in my personal life. And I don’t know about you, but just about every guy in my high school youth group could be found working their double strum on acoustic guitar at any given moment.

But it wasn’t just their original songs that sunk deep into the hearts of their listeners. Barnard and Everett also have this uncanny ability to take songs recorded years earlier or made popular by big names such as Hillsong or Passion and make them fresh and accessible to our generation of worshippers. 

They are capitalizing on this significant gift through their latest ministry effort called The Worship Initiative (TWI). I recently got the chance to talk with Shane Barnard at length and hear more about their journey through ministry, how they juggle it all, and their hopes for the future. Hopefully you’ll find the perspective and insight he offered up as encouraging as I did.

When I asked him to share the story of how the vision of The Worship Initiative came to be, he jumped right into an impassioned explanation. They had been doing the touring, writing, and recording thing for years and gotten to experience worship from and with just about every kind of stage, venue, and demographic. As they got to know hundreds of worship leaders from everywhere you can think of, they began to see a gaping hole . . . that being the understanding of the true weight of the calling of the worship leader.

A scripture that they’d read hundreds of times and even used as a sort of mantra throughout their ministry also played an enormous role in their starting TWI. Colossians 3:16 says,

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

One day a word jumped off their pages in a way that opened their eyes afresh – THROUGH. These times of worship they were leading on a regular basis were not just a means to an end. They actually serve as one of the primary ways the Church conveys the message of Jesus to raise up a generation of Christ followers who can change the world. Yet somehow, this position has gotten watered down to nothing more than a song leader in most church settings. They suddenly felt a whole new level of responsibility.

So the two set out to discover a way to pour into worship leaders around the world, both spiritually and practically. They started by taking a more personal look at their own gifts and bents. Barnard says about Everett, “I can’t think of a better salesman or evangelist . . . He’s just loud, funny, always cutting up, and can win anybody over to do anything . . . and unleashing that in an overseer role and our relational PR person has been awesome to watch. I think God dumped the PR side and evangelist side of Shane so hard into him that I think we still have yet to see what God is going to do in that regard.” Whereas for Barnard, his skill in songwriting and producing contends with just about anyone you could name. Over the last 20 years of ministering together, they’ve learned to “embrace who God has made [them] and not be disappointed in that anymore but just know that this is how God has made [them].” They’ve worked incredibly hard to figure out how to balance all of the overlap between their personal and professional lives, which is inevitable when you’ve worked so closely together for that long. “You would think we would have some kind of system after 20 years, but we are getting better. I would say that a few words come to mind . . . simplifying, strategizing, doing things on purpose. These are the things that have kind of been a banner over our lives the last two or three years.”

For a long time, all the different aspects of their lives were spread out all over the DFW area of Texas. Their studio was far south, much of their steady worship leading opportunities were at a church in the heart of Dallas, and they were living a good jump from either of those. So they are in the process of bringing all of those components closer together so that doing life with the families, church community, and ministry partners is easier. Taking this step has made it easier to grow their efforts with The Worship Initiative more rapidly.

So what is The Worship Initiative and what does it look like for someone to participate or take advantage of these resources?

Basically, an individual can pay a yearly fee and access a list of over 150 (and constantly growing) worship songs that each have multiple tutorial videos and charts accompanying them. These videos break down how to play the songs in different keys, on different instruments, and with varying skill levels. A worship leader on staff at a church can also pay an annual group fee, based on the number of people, for his team to be able to access everything as well. There are also craft training videos for everything from the different instruments and vocals to tech/production and using the number system. If that’s not enough, the site has an entire section dedicated to heart training, where they break down all the different spiritual and practical components for worship leading with the likes of John Piper and Ben Stuart. There are even creative devotionals to accompany every song on the different TWI records. TheWorshipInitiative.com truly is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom for anyone looking to grow as a leader or team member, and there are still exciting things to come. Shane shared a bit about what’s ahead for TWI. “Our next phase of The Worship Initiative is to create what we’re calling learning paths. Some people love to be given a world of information to explore on their own. But most people would really love to be told what to do to get from point A to point B. We will take our existing content and add to it and give them a year long path to stick to and see measurable growth in both skill and leadership.”

Given the length of time and the platform they’ve had over these last two decades, I asked Shane how he feels his perspective of worship both personally and within the Church has evolved over the years.

“I think worship, and even the idea of worship, has come a long way, in a good way. I think we’ve seen a pretty good uptick on understanding the Romans 12:1 life of worship. I often think back to a time when I was leading worship in a basement or college dorm room for several years, and it was always the oddest songs ever.” He recalled singing, with hands lifted, Make It Right by Kenny Marks (and yes, I might’ve gotten a solid 30 second serenade over the phone . . . it’s fine!) and other obscure songs that really had no purpose or meaning to the one worshipping. Yet, what we see all throughout the Psalms is “this gut-wrenching, very honest, it is okay to pour out your heart to the one who cares for you mentality. . . and that language is okay.” He remembered hearing the words to Breathe for the first time, where it says “I’m desperate for you,” and thinking “is this okay to have this kind of language in front of people? But yes, it is okay even in a congregation or corporately to say ‘I am thirsty for You in a dry land where there is no water.’ In fact that can be really helpful to the person sitting next to you. That can be us ‘singing spiritual hymns and songs to one another’, just that opening up of the heart and the embracing of singing those honest songs and using them to allow ‘the message of Christ to dwell among us richly.’”

Learn more about The Worship Initiative, as well as Shane & Shane, at www.theworshipinitiative.com. Here at All About Worship, we believe in what these guys are doing and the ministry they are fostering. We can’t wait to partner with them in the future as God continues opening those doors.

Over the last few months we’ve tackled the topic of TEAM BUILDING.  As much as I would love to feel as if we have this one nailed, we don’t.  TEAM BUILDING is a muscle that every leader needs to continue to develop.  It’s easy to let this one slip away from us! Just when we start to feel like we are getting on top of this, something changes.  A vital team member leaves.  A leader needs to take on the responsibility of a different area.  Your best guitar player gets hired as the worship pastor at another church.  These are all real-life situations that happen in even the best teams.  They will happen to yours as well.

In our “Month One” blog on team building we presented the IDEA of developing a Leadership Pipeline within your worship ministry.  This IDEA helped support that idea that building an EMPOWERED TEAM is a powerful Kingdom tool.  “Who’s responsible for who?” and “Who’s responsible for what?” are two of the most important questions that needs to be answered in any team environment.  When you lead a team with clarity and spread out the responsibility for others to own your team, you ignite growth opportunities that might have went unnoticed. 

In “Month Two” we presented the idea of “Making Recruitment and Assimilation a Normal for Everyone”.  So many times, I bump into Worship Leaders and Pastors that feel the very unfair burden of building ALONE.  With this IDEA, we present the notion that every team can build better and faster when the team members who are on the teams are your best recruiters.  Make this a normal practice.  At my church, we practice asking new team members to “bring one” with you.  We have found that by making this a standard practice at ground level, we never have to ask for participation from the 10,000-foot level.  Whatever is visible is what replicates.  Empower your best leaders to build.

So here we are. Month Three.

Idea #3. Clearly Identify and Communicate Simple On-Ramps.

I love my city.  I live in Lincoln, Ne.  Home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  I love the youthful spirit and progressive nature of our city.  I have even grown to love and cherish the special college football atmosphere that engulfs our city on game day.  It’s addictive to say the least.  But one thing that I am not a big fan of is traffic on game day.  There is one primary road that leads into Lincoln and over 90,000 fans make the trek to our city on game day.  There are probable more if you include tailgaters.  THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM: The roads infrastructure needs to be able to support the traffic flow to the desired destination.  If there are too many confusing pieces of communication, it would put our city into emergency mode and have catastrophic effects.  I mean, the world might come to an end if people missed a Cornhusker Football Game! (No, but seriously) ;)

Having clear and simple communication about “what to DO next” can make or break your teams culture. 

Every month I host a worship leaders round table in Omaha Ne.  At this round table, Worship leaders from multiple different denominations gather for friendship and peer coaching.  These leaders have become family and they are amazing.  We discuss a wide range of worship ministry issues.  One topic that comes up regularly is “attracting the right volunteers”.  If a leader starts to pour their heart out to me about how they can’t get enough volunteers, I always ask one question to start the conversation.  “Can you tell me about your on-ramp?” This might sound overly simplistic, but what I have found is that sometimes we make it more complicated than it needs to be or we haven’t identified the answer to the most important question at all.  Every leader on your team, in unity, needs to be able to answer this question with clarity and simplicity.

 THIS IS THE QUESTION

“Where do I go and What do I do?”

 Having clear and simple communication about “what to DO next” can make or break your teams culture. 

 Here are a few suggestions when it comes to identifying your onramp into your ministry:

       1.     KEEP IT SIMPLE-

Keep it simple in language and communication.  Your “on-ramp” shouldn’t be riddled with complex forms, interviews and assessments.  Not yet anyways.  Create an “on-ramp’ that just answers the question, “where do I go and what do I do?”.  Worry about next steps later.  But for now, getting a “willing one” to show up is your biggest win. Make it simple for them.

For example, I person asks about playing guitar on the worship team.  Any leader in your department should be able to have the same simple answer. ”I am so glad you are interested!  We host all our new volunteers on Monday Nights at 6:30pm!  Would you be my guest?!”

       2.     USE WHATS ALREADY WORKING AS YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD-

­What is already working in your church?  Do you have a rehearsal process that is spot on?  USE IT!  Is God’s presence so thick in your weekend worship services that lives are being transformed?  USE IT! I’ve made the mistake of overthinking and over programming.  I’ve launched the “extra” visitor’s night or the quarterly worship night with the intentions of attracting new people.  Sometimes those things work.  But the problem is that even though they may be effective, it takes a long time for those events to represent the culture and team that we want people to be attracted to. 

Identify what’s already working and utilize those moments to “on-ramp” your team.

        3.     KEEP IT CONSISTENT-

Nothing can steal the wind out of the sails of progress like a good dose of inconsistency.  If you “welcome” new team members on Monday nights, keep that consistent for a season.  If you “welcome” new people to your choir rehearsal and you celebrate leaders that brought them, don’t change that unless you are communicating change.  Consistency, on this point, allows us the opportunity to get buy in from our team! Consistency builds reliability. Consistency gives our leaders tools to build with.  (Side note:  We will be talking about “embracing change” and reinvention in the upcoming months.)

Consistency tells our teams that we aren’t building a kingdom that only serves us, but we are leading an army that can fight battles when we share the burden.

Identifying your “on-ramps” could be a simple strategy that could help you engage people better.  Below is a sample of an “on-ramps” document that I created for our kid’s ministry at our church.  This idea isn’t just for worship/creative teams, but for everyone.

It is essential that you clearly communicate the “WHERE/HOW” to START whenever you are building teams.  Keep your communication clear and simple.  Try utilizing opportunities that your church is already doing well to interact with potential volunteers.  Lastly, be consistent.  Everyone should know the answer to this question: “Where do I go and What do I do?”.

 Having clear and simple communication about “what to DO next” can make or break your teams culture. 

Jesus, I pray today for the burden and stress that our worship leaders and pastors feel daily. We pray that you would continue to grow our capacity to shepherd well.  Thank you for entrusting us with big things.  We are honored to pastor your people.

Please feel free to use this resource or any that you find at worship.coach. Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions about these three helpful tips.  I am always glad to help. 

Michael King @michaelkingjr
free resources available at www.worship.coach

This is it ... a new beginning with the merging of two super-podcasts into one! The Worship Podcast is here, powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey). On today's pilot episode, all four hosts sit down to discuss the transition, as well as the resources and teaching they hope to provide to our listeners.  Listen in, and welcome to our brand new show!

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
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James & Dustin had a chance to sit down with Jonathan Brown - President of Integrity Music - to discuss unity and division among the people of God, and among worshipers in the church.

JB (Jonathan Brown) and Dustin both had the chance to be part of a tour with WeAreWorship, where they visited multiple church leaders in multiple cities.  There were so many great things experienced and along with that, there were so many things learned.  At the end of the day, we want unity in the the people of God and especially among the leaders of God's Church, and we need to have inspired conversation on this topic. 

Enjoy!

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The Worship Podcast is powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey).

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
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On today's podcast, we wanted to cover a very important topic. It's forefront in our culture, yes, but it's also important in the church, too. Specifically, in worship and songwriting.  That topic is ... women in ministry. 

We here at The Worship Podcast (All About Worship & WeAreWorship) completely affirm and believe in the ability, anointing and commission of women to minister to the church body, and of course, to others around them. In a way, it's strange to even feel the need to type that sentence.  But as society and culture is starting to have some real confusion and controversy over this gender topic, we believe as Christians we should lead the way in freedom!  We should set the example in empowerment, equal contribution in the Kingdom of God and a general attitude of preferring one another.

Now, this is a huge topic!  So we wanted to sit down with someone who is making a real difference in this world.  Her name is Krissy Nordhoff.  She leads a ministry called "Brave Worship".  She's also an accomplished songwriter, anointed worship leader, wife, mother, and lucky for us, a friend of The Worship Podcast ministry!  It doesn't matter what "side of the aisle" you believe you are on when it comes to this topic - we can all benefit from having genuine conversation and even more important, listening.  

Find out more about Brave Worship and make sure to check out their podcast, as well!

And oh yeah, last (and certainly least in this case), Dustin & James don't mince words about their travels to India ... stomach issues and all.  Enjoy!

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The Worship Podcast is powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey).

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
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On today's podcast: What do you believe? 

That's the question we discuss with Gabe Finocchio (The Royal Royal) as we dive into the, sometimes complex, worlds of doctrine & worship.  As worship leaders, we can easily neglect God's word & focus more on the songs themselves or our own church services.  Well today, we talk with Gabe about that journey between theology & our song.

We think what comes out could surprise you. Enjoy!

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The Worship Podcast is powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey).

Subscribe to the podcast and find the show notes:
https://linktr.ee/theworshippodcast 

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
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Malcolm du Plessis has quite an incredible resumé when it comes to worship.  He talks about his background in this episode of The Worship Podcast.  However, he also talks about something - we believe - that is critical for every worship pastor, leader and song writer to understand.

And that is the evolution of worship over the past few decades.  Malcolm has experience and studied knowledge in this area, like few others do.  Listen in today with a close ear, and you may just find some answers to the question, "Why do we do things that way?", you've been asking.

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The Worship Podcast is powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey).

Subscribe to the podcast and find the show notes:
https://linktr.ee/theworshippodcast 

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
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On today's podcast, we're sitting down with some powerful women in the faith - Krissy Nordhoff and Amanda Blankenship.  We're talking about an important subject for church leaders in general, but especially Worship Leaders, the motivation of ministry.  Enjoy!

The Worship Podcast is powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey).

Subscribe to the podcast:
theworshippodcast.com
linktr.ee/theworshippodcast 

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
The Worship Podcast on Facebook
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Today's podcast is a sit down with the hosts of All About Worship, Dustin Smith & James Galbraith, talking about the important of valuing people, over the titles or positions we hold.  God has asked us to be responsible - able to gauge a response - for the people we lead.  Enjoy!

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The Worship Podcast is powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey).

Subscribe to the podcast:
theworshippodcast.com
linktr.ee/theworshippodcast 

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
The Worship Podcast on Facebook
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Today's podcast is a car ride talk with one of our favorite people in the world - Michael Farren.  We're talking about the dangers of isolation ... it's a sneaky weapon of the enemy uses (many times) against creatives and leaders alike.  When you don't know you're isolating yourself from people and relationships, you need an answer; A shift.  Listen in to find out what that shift was for these guys, and what it might be for you too. Enjoy!

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The Worship Podcast is powered by All About Worship (Dustin Smith & James Galbraith) and WeAreWorship (Wisdom Moon & Morgan Shirey).

Subscribe to the podcast:
theworshippodcast.com
linktr.ee/theworshippodcast 

You can also connect with The Worship Podcast on social media:
The Worship Podcast on Facebook
The Worship Podcast on Instagram
The Worship Podcast on Twitter

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