So, how are things?

Happy Tuesday and welcome to the first day of October!

I had plans to share a long post today about my experiences at Leadership Institute 2013 this past week.  Unfortunately due to many different things it's just not quite ready yet.  I'm shooting for tomorrow.  

 
I've been busy with a few projects I have yet to share that I can't wait to explore with you.  One, is my new position of Contemporary Music Director at Central United Methodist Church in Lawrence, KS.  I have hit the ground running and playing a little catch up to prepare for worship for the last few weeks.  This hasn't left much time for writing but I am confident my schedule will settle down once a few more things are organized in advance.

I have also been doing a ton of reading about the United Methodist Church and the future of our denomination with an eye towards worship and the arts.  We are looking at ways to rethink what it means to be a church for the future.

In addition to all that reading I have created the rough draft of a vision statement that I have been mulling around for the past few days:

Connecting people of all ages and enriching people's lives with music 

in the church and the greater community.  

Easier said than done for sure but it's a great goal and one that I feel is worth striving for.  I can't wait to see this evolve in the next couple months.

So, how are things with you?  Are things getting busier for you this month?  What are you doing to stay sane?    

New Opportunities and Part-Time Employment

I have been looking for additional employment for the past year and have been working to network and get the word out to all my friends, family and colleagues. This last June I got a call about a potential job at the Cokesbury store at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City. After a couple successful interviews I began my part time employment journey in August with Cokesbury.

Cokesbury is the official store for the United Methodist Publishing House located in Nashville, Tennessee. If you are United Methodist you have probably ordered books, music or curriculum from Cokesbury at one time or another. We also service many other protestant denominations.

The Cokesbury at Saint Paul School ofTheology is a seminary store that also provides the text books to the many students we see on campus. The majority of students are also serving a church so we are there to help with resources and worship supplies.

Being a UM Church musician brings a different perspective to my work at the store and gives me an opportunity to help our customers with music and worship related questions. I am also very fond of the United Methodist Women's reading program and work to keep that section up to date.

I am excited by the new opportunities that have already come my way by working at Cokesbury and what the future holds. I am confident that this new found connection will continue to help me on my music ministry journey.

You're Invited to Christmas Open House

3 days only - November 9 - 11

Save 25% on all regularly priced in-stock merchandise in stores only 

or free shipping at Cokesbury.com

Look for Christmas Open House specials

only available at these extra low prices for 3 days, while supplies last. 

Worship Music Q & A: Sense of Calling

Please provide a narrative of your sense of calling to ministry. Also, share your understanding of your Spiritual gifts as they relate to the tasks of ministry. 

I have a God given talent with my singing voice and in my ability to interpret music and work with a group of people to make it come to life.  I hold myself to a very high level of excellence in everything I do and I share that same passion for excellence with the people that I work with.

With the invitation to lead music in 2001 at my home church in Lawrence, Kansas and an opportunity to study church music and worship at Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology, I started a journey 10 years ago that has brought me to the Kansas City community and to my current church family. I have grown closer to Christ in my time here and I have gained more confidence in my God given gifts and abilities. I have also been lead to a deeper understanding of whom I am called to be.

I am called to share my talents in the field of church music ministry. God has prepared me and equipped me these past 10 years to serve. I am convinced that this is not a coincidence. There are no accidents in God's plan. All of the trials, tribulations, and learning experiences I have had have strengthened my knowledge and experience and made me an excellent candidate to serve as director of any church music ministry program.

My current ministry has bore fruit as positive changes were made to create a healthy environment for our praise band to grow as worship leaders and musicians. We worked to support each other and improve our working relationship. With a new focus we were able to not only bring our congregation to new heights in worship but we were able to truly worship as well.

Free Worship Planning Pages!

Each worship service that I have ever planned or lead has always started with an outline or set of planning pages so all the important elements were organized in one place.  It really helped to keep things focused and made worship design go so much smoother.

With collaborative worship planning becoming more popular it's even more important to have a starting point for worship design.  It helps keep your meetings focused and give your new worship group members a good jumping off point for worship planning.  Customizable worship planning pages for both contemporary and traditional worship settings are the answer.

I am excited to share with you my Worship Planning Pages for both Contemporary and Traditional worship settings.  I have taken my 10+ years of worship planning experience in the United Methodist Church and designed my own dream worship planning pages.  Each set of planning pages is a Google Docs document that is available for download from the links below. 

I have also included a summary of the headings list for each set of planning pages.  I have based the worship elements of each set of planning pages from the basic worship outline included in the United Methodist Hymnal and then tweaked it a bit for modern worship. 

I can't wait to hear from all of you and see how you have used these Worship planning pages in your church's next worship meetings.  




Contemporary Worship Planning Sheet  (click to download)

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Contemporary Setting  ○  Worship Planning Sheet

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Date, Sunday, Sermon Series or Theme, Color, Visual Focus, Music Leader, Worship Leader, Prayer Leader

○ The People Gather

Opening Prayers & Praise: 

Opening Songs                                                     

○ Proclamation and Response

Prayer Songs                                                      

Scripture Selection (s

Message Title

Drama or Video

Special Music/ Offering                                          

○ Thanksgiving

Communion Songs

○ Sending Forth

Closing Songs

Traditional Worship Planning Sheet   (click to download)

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Traditional Setting  ◊  Worship Planning Sheet

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Date, Sunday, Sermon Series or Theme, Color, and Visual Focus

◊ The People Gather

Greetings

Prelude

Opening Prayers & Praise

Opening Hym

◊ Proclamation and Response

Prayer of Illumination

Scripture

        First Lesson

        Psalm

        Second Lesson

        Gospel Lesson

Anthem

Hymn

Sermon

Response to the Word

Prayers of the People

Prayers of Confession, Pardon and Peace

Offertory

◊ Thanksgiving

Communion Setting

Communion Hymns                                             

◊ Sending Forth

Closing Hymn   

Benediction

Postlude

Worship Music Q & A: Theology of Worship

What is your theology of worship?

Worship is fundamentally about God, then about our relationship with God, and then finally about us. We gather in community by the grace of the Holy Spirit with the powerful intention to worship our Lord, Jesus Christ. Our worship is to be full of dynamic, meaningful, and relevant experiences to honor and praise God. 

Corporate worship should be a thoughtful celebration. Everything we do should bring you back to that God-centered focus. 

• Our music helps people come to God and sing his praises. 

• Our scripture readings allow people time to think and contemplate God. 

• Our time of spoken prayer and silent reflection helps us to center our minds on God's presence in our lives and in our church and meditate on that relationship. 

• The message of the day brings the scriptures to life so that we can better understand God's personal message for each of us and the biblical history that has come before us. 

We come to worship to be with God and to participate and connect in as many ways possible. We are called to use new emerging technologies and new ways of expression as they become available so our worship is relevant to our culture and to our time.

Worship Music Q & A: Quality Worship Ministry

What in your opinion would be the key elements of a quality Worship Ministry? 
 

I believe it's in the church's best interest to have strong, consistent leadership in the area of worship arts so that our churches can grow and develop strong disciples. Our worship ministries need to be as varied as our communities are so we can best serve the people around us. Prayer and planning with a strong collaborative spirit are essential to any quality worship ministry. As well as mentor-ship programs to nurture new musicians and worship leaders.

Taking care of and adequately supporting our worship ministry participants, paid or volunteer is also a high priority. We would work to cultivate worship and music excellence with our worship leaders, praise band instrumentalists, praise chorus members and lead vocalists. All while creating opportunities for children and youth to participate in meaningful ways.

Worship Music Q & A: New Series!

A few weeks ago I was asked to complete a written interview for a music and worship position for a large church in Missouri.  Some of these questions really got me thinking about my worship ministry and what my core beliefs are.

I decided to share my answers to some of the more thought provoking questions of the interview in the hopes of inspiring you to think about what you would have said in my place.  It never hurts to form your thoughts on paper and it gives what you do a deeper sense of purpose.

I was asked about my thoughts on the subjects of:

• Quality Worship

• Worship Theology

• My Sense of Calling

Check back next week for this new Worship Music Q & A Series!