Bruce Reyes-Chow is serving on the newly formed "Worship Market Team" for Apple, Inc. (The company formerly known as Apple Computer.) Adam wants your feedback to feed back to Apple.
Best comment:
Obviously, you want to set up a breakaway church to be called the MAC(USA), whilst us computer dinosaurs will have to remain in the PC(USA)...:)
Welcome to the ALL NEW LifeWayWorship.com!
LifeWayWorship.com is now open! Over 200 arrangements of top hymns and praise and worship songs are now available for download in WorshipChart, WorshipMedia and WorshipTrack formats
Plus, three arrangements are absolutely free:
These three titles also include a preview of our groundbreaking new SongMap™ feature.
If you have questions, please feel free to visit the Frequently Asked Questions (yes... there are already questions that have been frequently asked!) or our Customer Service page for more details.
Thanks again to those of you who participated in last week's beta test of LifeWayWorship.com--if you're curious to know how things are going, or if you had to miss last week's test, you're in luck--we've made some adjustments based on the feedback we received, and have scheduled a second round of testing on October 23, from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., CDT. (Yes, that's tomorrow!!)
Ten songs will be available for testing and downloading in their default versions for WorshipCharts, WorshipTracks, PowerPoint®, and basic worship planning. Of these ten, seven will be available for actual purchase and the other three available to test the SongMap™ application; mapped arrangements may be downloaded at no charge.
In order to properly test checkout, you will still need to use a credit card or your LifeWay account number, even to download the three free SongMap™ titles. If your order consists of free arrangements exclusively, your account will not be charged and your receipt will reflect no charge. The test is open to everyone!
To get started:
Take your time exploring the site and trying out all the features--those of you who participated in last week's test are encouraged to test new arrangements in SongMap, or perhaps features that you didn't test last week (like the basic planner tool).
Thanks to you, we're on target to release over 200 titles by the end of this month, with 100+ to be released at regular intervals beginning mid-November. Thank you again for your time--your contribution to LifeWayWorship.com's testing will help us become better servants for generations of worship and music ministries worldwide.
T. Ashton Reynolds begins asking "what does worship look like?"
Does it look like a bunch of people standing in, what in any other context would be considered a rock concert, with their hands lifted and their eye closed in that kinda worshipful squint? It is sitting in church singing songs composed 400-600 years ago? Is it a capella (no instruments) voices working for perfect harmony? Is it falling on our face saying nothing?
He answers it with an unexpected answer: Isaiah 58:6-7.
Bob Kauflin shares with us what he's learned over a decade of reviewing worship songs at Soverign Grace Ministries.
Stuff Christians Like gives us three alternative names for "blended worship."
I'm cool with blended worship. Honestly. Although I tease, I should probably warn you that the church I start, iGracePointeLifeTruthHouseNorthRiverElevate, is going to have blended worship. It's going to be a blend of awesome and wicked awesome.
Confessions of a Girl who loves Jesus... tells us that she bought a hymnal and a Bible this weekend. The Psalms she quotes would make a great devotional this morning. Her Why the blog? entry is pretty inspirational too.
Julie Reid compares her recent college football experience to our worship experience.
Christian Post has Billy Graham's response to the question:
I know I'm supposed to worship God when I go to church, but I can't say I always do. My thoughts wander, or I get to thinking about the people around me and I come away disappointed in myself for not really worshipping. How can I keep from being distracted?
Every so often, I'll find two posts about worship that sound like they might have been done by the same person, or two posts that are on the same topic. These sound like they might have been done by a worship leader and someone in their congregation. My guess is that these two don't even know each other!
Labourer in the Vineyard is a choir director n a Catholic church and is concerned about hit-and-run choir members.
Jason shares his experience of the irony of singing "Come... just as you are to worship" and seeing two mothers admonish their daughters for dancing.
BE603 recounts the current controversies about instruments and projection at his church, and how he remembers his father handling church controversies growing up.
David Gate is starting a series of posts on Worship Clichés. He has issues with the phrase "worship is a lifestyle," and not in the direction you might think.
Exotes Paremboles recommends reviving a time of family worship. The source he cites is more liturgical in nature. Does your family worship? How did you start?
Paul Glavic discusses the pitfalls of theology terminology and illustrates living a life of worship with a city metaphor.
Ken Leslie has hit on five areas that come together to create... a great experience in which worship happens.
Christianity Today has an interview with Ten Shekel Shirt talking about their new album Jubilee and its focus on "the inextricable connection between worship and justice."
The Ignite Worship Blog recaps Sunday's worship set, and communicate a very important message:
So please know - that we are not there on Sunday morning to provide you with entertainment - if you've come to be entertained, then you have completely lost focus and we haven't done our jobs as worship leaders to show and teach you that worship is not here to entertain.
Wow, so many directions to go. The style of worship isn't the issue here - it's what the worship leadership communicates. What makes a worship leading event where the creation is worshiped instead of the creator?
Chris Lazenby of Midlands Bible College and Divinity School writes on making the offerings of worship "the best we're capable of producing, and applying this to music."
His article continues to explore the significance of words in worship, acknowledging their essence, and also their inadequacy, but I'm struck by his initial assertion. What is "the best we're capable of producing?" The freeing thing to me about this is the "capable of producing" part. If you're capable of better... not in anyone else's estimation but your own, and not giving it, are you giving God your best?
Although Eric's post isn't specifically about it, he does mentioning using his Saturday night service as "part of preparation for Sunday mornings."
If you have multiple services, do you find yourself doing this? Does it at all shortchange the people in the first service... and shortchange could be in all kinds of areas?
Leadership Journal gives advice to churches who want to involve men in worship.
(Excerpt from How Women Help Men Find God.)
I debated titling this post "worship has gone to the dogs."
The Patriot Ledger reports on Pilgrim Congregational Church's (link good only to 10/31/08) and their Woof 'n Worship service. "All dogs were welcome."
Dear Friends,
I love hearing stories about the barn-raisings that took place in pioneer settlements; word would spread and an entire community, some traveling from miles away, would turn out to help their neighbor in need.
Now I'm putting the word out to those of you who have registered at the site that we here at LifeWay Worship have a need and could use some help. On October 16 from 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. (central time), we'd like to enlist your help in testing the brand-new LifeWayWorship.com
Ten songs will be available for testing in their default versions for the WorshipCharts, WorshipTracks, PowerPoint®, and basic worship planning tool components. In an effort to also test our checkout process, these will be available for purchase.
Three of these songs will also be available to test the SongMapTM application. These SongMapped arrangements may be downloaded at no charge.
Instructions for the testing process will be sent next week to those who have registered at LifeWayWorship.com. If you have not yet registered, we still need you, so visit LifeWayWorship.com and become a registered user of the site today. Your help and feedback would be so greatly appreciated as we prepare for our live launch--our "barn-raising," if you will--on October 27, when another group of songs, along with a SongMap™demo section, are made available.
As for a status update on other products,
Please pray for us as we continue to configure the songs for the mapping tool. This is, by far, the most challenging part of the entire process. We're making every effort to ensure that when SongMap is available, it will be right and effective for your ministry. It's our prayer and desire that we deliver the highest quality products and services in the most effective channels.
Mike Harland, Director
Jay McKenney recounts a dialogue between himself and a church member trying to define a "deep" song or a "shallow" song. Be sure to read the comments.
Hat tip: Man of Depravity
West Breedlove discusses "Contemporary Worship Music" or "CWM" in the context of John Frame's Contemporary Worship Music: A Biblical Defense.