What's Better Than 1 North Side Worship Album This Year?

Exciting stuff in the works with North Side Worship this year. As a worship ministry, we are really focusing our efforts this year to help disciple our church through worship. I have shared some of what that means, but I thought I would clue you in a little bit more today.

Today, you can pick up THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD: SERMON REMIX 2011 on iTunes or you can get a hardcopy at North Side. That is just the 1st step of projects that we are working on as a worship ministry this year. Months ago, I gathered the band together and asked them, “What would be better than 1 worship album this year?” Someone got bug eyes, and replied, “2?” The answer was correct as I shared what would be album #2 for us. But then it went to 3. And then even to 4.

Yep, we are planning on releasing 4 worship albums this year through North Side.

Let me put that in perspective for you. Since I have been worship pastor, we have done 4 albums in 4 years. This year, we are going to attempt 4 albums in 1 year. The reason? Discipleship. Lifestyle worship. Equipping our people with God’s Word buzzing in their ears all day long.

While we have also been blessed to work with some great friends in our precious projects, this year we have challenged one another to see how much of this can we actually do in-house. We are going to attempt to record and produce these albums here at North Side for 2 reasons: 1) We can utilize people’s gifts and abilities in our church better, and 2) We can save money in the budget and actually raise money for other ministries when we are not having to use those funds on these projects. By purchasing these albums, you are taking care of cutting our worship ministry portion out of the budget so we can free up more for ministries and missions we support – and that’s a good thing!

Honestly, when the economy hit, every church faced trying times, yet we have been overwhelmed at how God has continued to bless our church. While we hear statistics of how we should be cutting our budget because people aren’t giving anymore, North Side recently had the biggest giving month in our history – we are constantly amazed at how God’s people are giving!

But, even with that generosity, as a worship pastor, I have a difficult time come budget time each year. When you have an auditorium that seats 1200 people, you have to have certain equipment just to be seen and heard to get the message across. My dilemma is I have a hard time saying we need a new this or a better that when we also need to send missionaries over to an unreached people group in Africa. No one has asked me to cut our budget, we are not in financial strain, but I still want to free up more resources.

So, if we could actually cut spending and produce some revenue for our worship ministry while encouraging and equipping our people, everybody wins in this scenario! Scary? Yep. The right thing to do now? Absolutely.

But wait? What are the other 3 albums going to be? I’m glad you asked! I can’t give all the details today, but I can share some with you:

#1 – The Manifold Wisdom of God: Sermon Remix 2011. Out and available – go get one. This turned out so much more powerful that I ever anticipated. Give one to a friend!
#2 –Enter His Gates. This project will be a collection of North Side original worship songs. Some of them brand new. Some of them are from way back in the day. Some of them are going to a new arrangement of a song we’ve been singing. They are coming together, and I can’t wait you to get your hands on this one. More details in the weeks to come.
#3 – The most ambitious project we’ve ever worked on. I want to tell you more, but I will let our team tell you more about it this coming Sunday. We have a portion in the service where we are going to share the theme of this project and how it’s going to be an incredible ministry opportunity for our church.
#4 – You just have to wait on this one, but just know that I have a huge grin on my face. I’ll tell you sooner than later, I promise.

I will be sharing more details soon, but make sure to join us Sunday for a special presentation and I will keep you informed on the others in the weeks to come. Right now, I would appreciate your prayers as well as your support of sharing this album below on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Help us get the Word (uppercase “W”) out!

JUST RELEASED: THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD: SERMON REMIX 2011. While you can still get you a hard copy for the low price of $7 at North Side’s bookstore or front office, you can also get you a copy today on iTunes. Check it out here.