On Tuesday, we had planned to work on artwork for the upcoming “Overcome” CD release. Cory and I started going through some design ideas that were going to look pretty good, but nothing was changing our world yet. I was talking with Jamie about how we could use this CD’s release as an impact to our community (more on this …
Yesterday, we introduced a new song to North Side called “Nothing is Impossible.” My lovely wife sang the lead on it and sang her face off! This song has been our worship song and prayer over the last year in our family, and it was such an honor to share it with our church family yesterday. We still believe that …
Week 2 of recording – hope you enjoy the progress:
Worship is all about God. Whenever we serve in a manner to get attention for ourselves, we are attempting to rob God of his glory. People who are called to lead others in worship must be bent on leading humbly before God and his people. In the humility department of leading worship, I believe 3 things are absolutely key: Genuine Faith – …
We started recording for “Overcome” this week! I uploaded all loops and finalized all arrangements with Anthony Gravley. I laid down scratch guitars and vocals on all tracks to serve as a guide. Jamie has started to come in and lay down some sick beats! Here’s a video for you to enjoy to update you of our progress – please …
Yesterday, we introduced a new song at North Side called “Worship You.” Written for our upcoming album, this song is all about lifestyle worship. Angela McCall sang it for us and will be singing it on the album. I liked the song as a simple tune with my acoustic guitar, but as I worked on finding the right key …
What a great Sunday! One of my favorite things was we got to ordain Luke Tolbert into the ministry. Luke, Patty, and Anna Kate have just finished seminary and accepted the call to service at Malvern Hill Baptist Church in Camden, SC. I LOVE this family so much and wherever they go, the church is better discipled – excited about …
Our worship team has recently been through some changes. A few months ago, I felt the need to step it up a few notches. So I fired everybody. Everybody. I even fired my wife. No matter how long everyone had played or sang, everyone lost their job. I told them I would be willing to rehire them, but the commitment …
Last night, we had the members of the North Side Worship band over to the house. We canceled normal practice to eat, hang, sing, dream, and pray. We have been planning to record again this summer, and this was the official meeting to kick things off. Sitting around a circle in the floor last night, I laid out the plan …
My buddy at the South Carolina Baptist Convention office, Mark Powers, called about a month ago to ask a favor. He is the director or worship and music for the state. Each year, he puts on an event called the Worship Summit (click the link to sign up for the conference) which equips worship teams to go further in their ministry …
As our worship team strives to be available by leading with presence, this month we have focused on praying for different sections of your church. This week, I want you to continue to pray for church members, but I want you to do something unusual: I want you to pray for the ones you don’t know. I have given our …
You know those moments. It’s those times when you wish the song wouldn’t come to a close. It’s those times you feel like you are going just to be caught up into glory. It’s those times when you choose to worship when everything isn’t alright. It’s those times when no one is around to impress, and you just get after …
Continuing in our quest to learn how to pray, I want to encourage you to pray for other church members this week. You might have a long list – there are a lot of people to pray for! But that doesn’t mean you can’t get started. Don’t pray: “God bless all the church members.” That’s good, but it’s hard to …
Continuing in this month’s focus for our worship teams to pray fervently and specifically, I have another prayer point this week: pray for the members of your worship team. Every Sunday before we lead worship, our team huddles up, grabs a hand, prays for the person on their right, then on their left. Prayer is a big deal, but it …
Excited to tell you today that “Coming Home” has been released on iTunes and Amazon! This musical endeavor was a labor of love comprised of songs that I have written at our church and in our home. I recorded it to serve as a fundraiser for our adoption effort of Eli. I’m now praying to see how the proceeds can …
The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, was once asked about the secret of his success and he stated, “My people pray for me.” In this month’s worship team training focus, availability – leading with presence, I want to focus on being available to one another through prayer. Today, I want to challenge you to pray for your church staff. North …
How does a worship team balance performing and leading worship? As a group, you are called to engage the congregation, but you engage them not to rally them around your team but point them to God. So how do you know the difference? Once again, I will let the worship leading guru, Paul Baloche, instruct us today:
I get the privilege to talk with worship pastors concerning their worship teams a bunch lately. It is a huge blessing. One of the common questions I hear is: “what if my worship team won’t practice?” This is a temptation for any musician or any vocalist in the system for a while. We tend to get used to the opportunity …
North Side is having a ministry fair this Sunday night in the FLC at 5:30. This fellowship time full of food and such will also be a place where you can get more info on how you can get involved in all things North Side. Have you ever wondered if your place to serve in ministry is on our worship …
Today is the day! “Coming Home” is available for your listening pleasure. We are so pleased with how this project came out, and we pray that this CD will be a blessing to you. We pray that it will call you closer in worship, encourage you to say “yes” to God’s call, and think seriously about your role concerning the …
“KING OF KINGS” Leading up to Tuesday’s release of “Coming Home,” I wanted to post a few early mixes of some of the songs. This first one is a new song called “King of Kings.” Not the final mix but close. This song is my attempt to worship the matchless majesty of Jesus. Take a listen below and leave a …
As worship team’s strive to lead with excellence, oftentimes, it is a good thing to make sure you have a spring cleaning. Update, plan, organize, and remind. So this week’s training is all about updating your information in Planning Center, our online scheduling database. Watch this video for the updated tutorial: Volunteer Training from Planning Center on Vimeo. Do your …
Easter is this Sunday. Hopefully you have been thinking upon the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus a bunch. I pray you get overwhelmed with it yet again. But many people haven’t experienced the life that can be found in Jesus, and many of those people will go to your church this Sunday since it’s Easter. So how can you …
This Easter Sunday we are kicking off a brand new series entitled “30 Days to Live.” The concept comes from a book written by the Shooks, and the graphics came from a campaign that Life Church did a while back. The concept is simple: if you had 30 days to live, what would you do? What would you stop doing? …
In this week’s worship training, I wanted to discuss when God hates worship. There are times when God states he wishes someone would just close the doors to block people from gathering together. He wishes that we would simply lock the doors and stop gathering together. Seems shocking? Listen to his words from Isaiah 1: 11 “The multitude of your …
I announced last week about the upcoming CD I am releasing called “Coming Home.” Since then, I’ve had some of you ask about what songs are going to be on the CD. The CD will be 10 tracks. 3 of the tracks are songs that have been previously released. “Hallelujah (O What a Savior)” I recorded on a project I …
In this week’s worship team training, I wanted to focus on making amends before offering worship. 23″Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” …
I have some pretty exciting news this morning: I am releasing an album in a few weeks. While the final details are still being worked out, I’ll give you what I got right now. Back when we accepted the call to adopt, I wrote a song for our coming son. Without ever seeing his picture or knowing his story, I …
This week’s worship training tip has to do with value #2: credibility – leading with integrity. Never let your public worship exceed your private worship. At my first Passion event years ago, I hear Beth Moore say that she never wanted her public worship to exceed her private worship. She said that it is very easy to get excited about …
Last night, I got the privilege to take some friends to Passion 2011 Live Link. The event was hosted at Center Stage in Atlanta but was being broadcasted all over the world. Passion was celebrating their CD release, “Awakening,” which is out today. So thousands of people joined in live over the internet from all over the world. We were …
This is part 3 of a blog series on why we sing. You can check on the other posts here. WE SING BECAUSE IT MAKES GOD SMILE. [Tweet “We sing because it makes God smile.”] Obedience is when we do something God says we should do. The Bible repeatedly instructs us to sing in worship. So when we sing, we are …
This is part 2 of a blog series on why we sing. You can check on the other posts here. WE SING BECAUSE IT MAKES THEOLOGY MEMORABLE. Another reason we sing is because a worship song can make the complex memorable. In Col. 3:16, Paul wrote, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and …
Sunday, I introduced a new original worship song entitled “No Greater Love.” We are planning on leading it again this Sunday due to some very encouraging feedback. I told you why I tend to shrink back from leading with original songs a couple of weeks ago, but as God continues to stretch me, this is one of the songs I …
It’s one of my most anticipated and most dreaded times of the week all at the same time. It’s Sunday mornings. I walk across the stage, tune my guitar, turn on my microphone, and attempt to lead people in worship. What’s so conflicting about my job is that so many people are continuing the song they have been singing all …
I’ve been a songwriter since I started playing guitar. I love it, but when I became worship pastor, a dilemma arose. If I have the choice to lead with a song that I have written or Chris Tomlin has written, if I defer to quality, we would always play Mr. Tomlin. I love his songs, and our people love singing …
At times in my life, there has been one song that has impacted me. Someone wrote the words that my heart had been singing. At high school graduation, it was Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Speechless.” In Japan, it was Vineyard UK’s “Hungry.” A year ago, Leeland’s “May Our Praise” was my daily anthem. Right now, Phil Wickham’s “Cielo” brings me …
Who loves the North Side Worship Team? I, for one, do! And I bet you do too. Take for instance the tech team. Without those talented techies, you wouldn’t be able to hear or see a thing on Sundays. They are amazing team players! Or what about the music team? Such gifted and yet humble people. They take us to …
It has been a few weeks since I posted a worship team training thought on here, so I wanted to post something I had been working on. This month’s value is unity: leading with selflessness. We are a team. The musicians, technicians, and host team. We all work together to make one thing happen: we want to create an environment …
Someone shared this with me a few weeks ago. I thought you would enjoy it:
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