LEXINGTON, Ky. (BP)
Harley Cannon, being blind, doesn't read music.
But that doesn't stop him from playing a crazy clavichord or a mean trumpet.
"That Harley is a piece of work, a talented musician," said Mike Hoover, minister of music at North View Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. "Not only does he play keyboards and trumpet, but he sings too."
Hoover and Cannon have been the worship-leading team at North View for nearly five years -- in a match made in digital heaven.
Hoover uses the Worship Project on LifeWayWorship.com to coordinate all the music for the church. LifeWayWorship.com is a set of resources designed to provide the tools worship leaders need to create a rich and full worship experience for their churches. LifeWay Worship is a department of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Hoover, unlike most ministers of music, is quick to admit that he, too, doesn't read music.
"No, not at all," he said with a chuckle. "I've depended on technology to help me do worship planning since the days of the 'Celebrate Jesus' book with split tracks!"
Being bivocational, Hoover doesn't have a lot of time for planning. He spends his mornings and afternoons driving a school bus route, working at the school bus garage in between.
Hoover and Cannon learned to use LifeWayWorship.com to quickly and seamlessly create an order of worship that both of them can follow.
Hoover prepares the order of worship on Monday and Tuesday nights.
"What I love about having access to the resources on the Worship Project," he said, "is that I can find out from the pastor what the Scripture passage for the week will be and then go online and find music that will coordinate with it.
"I can download the order of worship and music and put it in a dropbox for Harley to download," Hoover said. "Once he gets it, he translates the order of service into Braille and listens to the music two or three times and he's ready to play. It's so easy!"
Cannon said he usually listens to the music while he's exercising.
"I walk on the treadmill for about 45 minutes every day," he said. "Having the music to listen to helps. By the time we get together, we've heard the same music and we're ready to go."
Hoover said LifeWayWorship.com has revolutionized the musical worship for North View.
"It just makes so many things possible for us," he said. "I can find the music I want, download it for Harley and send it to him. I can download the song from the digital hymnal portion of the Worship Project so my choir can listen to it. I can get printouts of the music for the choir. It works!"
Cannon agreed that the resource makes things simple, adding, "You don't have to be blind to appreciate the convenience of it. It'd work for anybody."
One Wednesday night, for example, Hoover had some cold and allergy issues and couldn't sing. He needed to introduce a new song to the choir for Sunday morning. So he played the MP3 and had them sing along while Cannon played the keyboard and added in a trumpet part.
"Without the technology that LifeWayWorship.com offers, I couldn't have made all that happen in the time we had," Hoover said.
Having had time to go over the music in his head for a couple of days, Cannon has the opportunity to experiment with some sound.
"Every once in a while, I'll throw in something Mike doesn't expect," Cannon said with a laugh. "I'll drop the keyboard and just let the choir sing a chorus or a verse or maybe improvise a variation on the melody, but they are good to just follow along wherever I take them. I just tell them to keep up!"
North View isn't a large church, running about 100 on Sunday mornings. Hoover said as helpful as LifeWayWorship.com is, he imagines it would seem almost like a miracle for smaller churches.
"My brother is the pastor of a tiny church in Viney Fork, Ky.," Hoover said. "He does everything -- preaching, teaching and music. He uses LifeWayWorship.com too. He doesn't have musicians. He may just have three or four people in the choir, but he'll have good music."
Mike Harland, director of LifeWay Worship, noted that many Southern Baptist churches struggle to find musicians. "LifeWayWorship.com could be so beneficial to these churches, giving them the means to provide a quality worship experience no matter how many worshippers they have," he said.
"It was our hope and prayer from the inception of LifeWayWorship.com that ministers of music, as well as the single staff member churches, would be able to have a quality worship experience for their members, no matter how many or how few," Harland said.
Polly House is a writer for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention
For more information about the Worship Project, the digital hymnal and other worship resources, visit LifeWayWorship.com.
Recently in Site Feature Category
Church's Music Duo Sings Worship Project's Praise
Faster, Stronger, Better!
Wednesday afternoon, we pushed out a quick update to LifeWayWorship.com that should fix some of the problems that a few of you contacted us about in the checkout process. In addition, we're going to add some more bells and whistles in the coming days that will help you plan worship more quickly and easily. Stay connected with us on Twitter and Facebook for all the details!
Tommy Walker "Pursuit of God" premiere event - 2:00 pacific!
Join us at 2:00 Pacific, 3:00 Mountain, 4:00 Central or 5:00 Eastern for the premiere of Tommy Walker's "Pursuit of God" project. Based on the work by A.W. Tozer, this new collection of worship songs features a couple of familiar titles, but mostly brand new worship songs that help point people to the worship of our holy and loving God.
On the homepage of LifeWayWorship.com, just click the "WATCH NOW" banner, and you'll be connected to the streaming concert.
And, if you like what you hear, you can get charts and tracks for EVERY song! Plus, we have original string charts from the recording available for many of the song, and the complete orchestration for "Taste and See." Just search for "Pursuit of God" in the "Search for Anything!" box on the homepage!
Special thanks to our friends at Maranatha Music who are distributing the record and our friends at TommyWalker.net who are also carrying the concert!
Now available: Lead Sheet PLUS charts!
LifeWay's Lead Sheet PLUS chart gives your worship ministry the ultimate flexibility with the newest songs at the right price! For only $1.99 per chart, you get:
- Every melody and harmony note written out for your singers
- Complete lyrics and chord symbols
- Directions for band members (drums in, lead guitar solo, bass walkdown, etc.)
- Cued instrumental "hooks" for intros, segues and transitions
- A "notes" box that you can type instructions into before you print to give everyone the same information (requires the free Acrobat reader.)
- As few pages as possible
- Every song in all 12 keys so you can pick the one that fits your moment!
Download a sample Lead Sheet PLUS (not printable)
Lead Sheet PLUS charts are available for all of the newest worship songs like today's new releases from Matt Redman, and for all of our worship songs at the site... over 500 titles!
If you'd like to try out Lead Sheet PLUS in your ministry, use the promo code PLUSMYBAND to download two free charts from LifeWayWorship.com. The code expires 7/31/2011.
If you've used our SuperCharts before, you're probably noticing that these features are very similar... in fact, the same! What we've found is that people in churches know what a "Lead Sheet" is, but not what a "SuperChart" is, so we're helping more people discover the great resource that we have available for your worship ministry.
If you've purchased SuperCharts in the past, you'll still find SuperCharts in your media library, but when you purchase new song titles, they'll be listed as Lead Sheet PLUS.
Do you have a comprehensive song list?
Kenny Lamm has a great post on his blog "renewing worship" about creating a comprehensive song list.
With LifeWayWorship.com's Media Library, you can have always-on access to all your worship songs anywhere you have an Internet connection. You can even filter the list by the words in the title to find things quickly.
FREE SuperChart Download for May: "Immortal, Invisible"
Chris McClarney has created a great new version of the Walter Chalmers Smith smith hymn "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise." It's CCLI song #5705467, and you can get the charts for FREE this month from LifeWayWorship.com! Writers John Hartley and Chris Eaton have helped shape a fresh, new version of the classic hymn that will help your congregation worship the "most glorious Ancient of Days." Just log in to your account, add it to your cart, and check out with the rest of your order. If it's the only thing in your cart, we still require a LifeWay account number or credit/debit card to verify that you're a human being and not a machine.
The SuperChart for this song comes in all twelve keys so no matter how the flow of your service is going, or who's leading, or who's playing... you'll have every option available to you for key choice.
Twenty-two new songs at LifeWayWorship.com
- Always
Kristian Stanfill / Jason Ingram - Create in Me
Margaret Becker / David M. Edwards - Deep in Love with You
Christa Black / Debbie Smith / Michael W. Smith - Glorified
Shaun Griffiths - I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)
Chris Tomlin - Immortal, Invisible
Chris McClarney / Chris Eaton / John Hartley / Walter Chalmers Smith - In You
Dave Hunt / Michael Boggs - Jesus Is the Lord
Travis Cottrell - Joyful (The One Who Saves)
Brenton Brown / Jason Ingram / Henry van Dyke / Ludwig van Beethoven - My God
Stuart Townend - No Greater Love - III
Brian Gene White / Chris Lockwood / Ian Eskelin - Now unto the One
Evan Wickham - O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing - III
David Crowder - Our God Is Love
Joel Houston / Scott Ligertwood - Prepare the Way - II
Darrell Evans / Eric Nuzum - Savior's Love
Jason Cox / Michael Boggs - Shine
Matt Redman - The Highest and the Greatest
Nick Herbert / Tim Hughes - Total Praise
Richard Smallwood - We Cry Out
Jeremy Camp / Brenton Brown - When I Think of You
Michael W. Smith - Your Great Name
Krissy Nordhoff / Michael Neale
Coming Tuesday, May 3 - Nicole C. Mullen "Captivated"
Every track, every Superchart from Nicole C. Mullen's newest release "Captivated" is coming to LifeWayWorship.com on Tuesday, May 3!
You may know Nicole C. Mullen as an artist, as a songwriter, or as a speaker, but you probably know her best from her songs. Her songs "Redeemer" and "Call on Jesus" have become favorites in worship ministries around the world.
With "Captivated," Nicole says "Often I write songs that are more horizontal instead of vertical where I'm talking to the people about the Lord, but in this case I found that I kept writing more vertical songs. Before I knew it, I had a body of work and as I looked back I saw that I had a worship album here."
Be sure to come to LifeWayWorship.com on Tuesday for the exclusive launch of this brand new set of songs!
Available Tuesday April 19: Love Divine - The Songs of Charles Wesley for Today's Generation
Love Divine celebrates the legacy of one of the most significant voices in church hymnody: Charles Wesley, connecting the dots between two centuries of the worshipping church.
Each of the thirteen tracks on Love Divine has been arranged by Chris Eaton and John Hartley, and recorded by some of the most well known contemporary vocalists today, including: Aaron Keyes, Brenton Brown, Brian Johnson (Bethel Live), Chris Eaton, Chris McClarney, Chris Quilala (Jesus Culture), Jason Roy (Building 429), Jenn Johnson (Bethel Live), John Ellis, Kim Walker-Smith (Jesus Culture), Leigh Nash (Sixpence None The Richer), Mark Roach and Tim Hughes.
"Our church society throughout the world has maybe become too 'familiar' in our expression of worship at times," says Chris Eaton. "I longed to paint a musical picture in production of these new melodies, that truly enhances the text, born out of great liturgy, so that our modern experience of worship links us directly to the passion of the early hymn writers.
Producer and LifeWay Worship songwriter John Hartley says "Love Divine may be rooted in a time before the industrial revolution, but Wesley's songs can be communicated with just as much passion and purpose as when they were first aired."
Featured Free Download for April: "Holy Rain"
No coupon needed!
This month, we're featuring the song "Holy Rain" by David M. Edwards and Regi Stone as a featured FREE SuperChart download!Holy Rain
In dry and barren land,
Our fields have turned to sand.
Before you now we stand.
Lord, come and heal this land.Let your holy rain fall down,
Let your holy rain fall down.
Wash and cleanse within, without.
Water our soul's thirsty ground.
Let your holy rain fall down.The wells of our supply
Are broken and run dry.
With desp'rate hearts we cry;
Lord, open up the sky.Let your holy rain fall down,
Let your holy rain fall down.
Wash and cleanse within, without.
Water our soul's thirsty ground.Let your holy rain fall down.
Let your holy rain fall down.
Let your holy rain fall down.Copyright © 2006 Van Ness Press / Experience Worship Music Publishing /
Belden Street Music Publishing / ASCAP.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. CCLI # 4742933
Just add the SuperChart to your cart and check out! You'll need to enter LifeWay account information or a credit card to verify that you're a human being, but once you go through checkout, the SuperCharts will be added to your media library free of charge!
Now available: CentriKid Worship Charts!
Bring the worship songs of the 2011 CentriKid camps home to your church with the new CentriKid Worship Charts series! Chosen specially for CentriKid camps this summer, these songs are made for first through sixth graders to lift up the name of the Lord in worship.
You'll find well-known worship songs from writers you know with lead sheets for singers and players and QuickCharts for your guitarist or bass player (no page turns!), ready for your kids' worship team to play.
New Worship Song from MercyMe, Jars Of Clay, Matt Maher, Thousand Foot Krutch, The Afters and Lecrae
April Fools!No, we're not expanding our content to include Beatles songs! Just playing along with the fun of the day.
If you got this far, why don't you use the promo code NOFOOLIN to download up to two free tracks for your church to sing with this Sunday! Expires 4/4/2011.
#final4 @lifewayworship #worship #song #bracket #challenge!
We're down to the final four songs in our LifeWayWorship.com bracket challenge! Vote for your choice in the two games below and get a coupon good for TWO free downloads at LifeWayWorship.com!
Next Monday, we'll announce the championship game, and vote on it for 24 hours. Then, at noon on 3/31, we'll announce the winning song, and it will be FREE for download for 24 hours at LifeWayWorship.com!
This round is closed... vote in the Championship Round!
St. Patrick's Day = Free downloads!
Planning worship for St. Patrick's day is probably not a high priority for you. We don't often look for worship songs about luck or green or the gold at the end of the rainbow. If you really wanted to sneak St. Patrick's day in your setlist, you could be looking for songs that have scripture references for chapter 3, verse 17. The good news is that if you were looking for any of these terms at LifeWayWorship.com, you'd find results... but chances are, you're not.
Luckily, all is not lost on St. Patrick's day... you can use the code ENDOFTHERAINBOW at LifeWayWorship.com for three free downloads up to $1.99 each, expires on 3/18.
And, as a special bonus, our friends at GettyMusic.com have made three songs available for free today on their website. Download the MP3 and lead sheet from their site, and then come back and use your ENDOFTHERAINBOW coupon on the tracks, media or orchestration of Communion Hymn, The Power of the Cross, or Come People of the Risen King.
Today is your lucky day!
#Elite8 voting now open @lifewayworship!
Round 1 is in the books... with some upsets, and some great songs in the tournament!
A recap of the rules: Watch each week and vote for the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship. Your vote determines the most popular song at LifeWayWorship.com. On March 31, the winning song or hymn will be announced and made available for FREE - ALL DAY LONG!
The final four will be listed from March 22 - 29, and we'll have the Championship Game - March 29-30 and announce the winner on March 31. When the winning song is announced, we'll offer FREE Downloads of the winning song all day long!
Help us get to the final! Choose your winners for each matchup below, submit the form and you'll get a code good for a FREE DOWNLOAD at LifeWayWorship.com!
Voting is closed! Look for the Final 4 post!
Announcing: Improved Search at LifeWayWorship.com
Better searches
When we launched LifeWayWorship.com back in 2008, it was with about thirty songs. At that point, searching was kind of a moot point - you could almost see everything on the site on the main search page. Even then, one of the goals we had for the site was to make every search count. We never want you to have to use the immortal words of the modern day theologian: "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."To that end, we've totally reworked the search algorithm at LifeWayWorship.com. We're indexing information we've never indexed before, and we're returning searches the way you expect them.
Song Titles
When you search for song titles like Our God or In Christ Alone, they'll be among the first results you see, followed by other song titles that contain the phrase, and then song titles that have the phrase in a lyric, description or other information that we've captured about the song.Themes and Topics
Subject searches like missions or evangelism give you all the songs in that subject in alphabetical order so that you can browse them to find the title that you want. If you're wondering the kinds of things that you can search for, try some off the top of your head, or hit the
button on any search result and look at the "Tags" field. Lyric matching
If you want, you can search for any lyric of any song, so if all you remember is that line "When perils o'ertake us You will not forsake us", we'll take you straight to the song it came from.That's just the tip of the iceberg for our search. Look for more posts about tips and tricks to make search work for you. We're always looking for ways that we can improve LifeWayWorship.com for you... let us know how we can help you in your worship ministry!
@lifewayworship #marchmadness #sweet16 Open for Votes!
You voted, and what a great set of matchups there are in this round! We had a TON of votes... and there are a few surprises from some you might not expect to see in the big dance!
Our top seeded songs are:
- In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)
- There Is No Sin That I Have Done
- I'd Need a Savior
- Revelation Song
- Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
- Our God
- How Great Is Our God
- Mighty To Save
- Amazing Grace
- It Is Well
- Everlasting God
- How Great Thou Art
- I Will Follow
- Blessed Assurance
- Glorious Day (LIving He Loved Me)
- How Deep the Father's Love for Us
Just knowing the diversity of votes we got, I bet there are a few titles in there you may not know. Just click through the links in the above list - we've got samples of every title on the site.
A recap of the rules: Watch each week and vote for the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship. Your vote determines the most popular song at LifeWayWorship.com. On March 31, the winning song will be announced and made available for FREE - ALL DAY LONG!
Just like in any bracket challenge, the top seed plays the bottom, number 2 plays number 15 and so on. Choose your winners for each matchup below, submit the form and you'll get a code good for a FREE DOWNLOAD at LifeWayWorship.com!
Voting is closed! Cast your vote in the Elite 8 round!
@LifeWayWorship March Madness!
Nominate your favorite worship song or hymn below and get a FREE download!
For the next week, we'll be taking nominations for titles to put into our "Sweet 16" single-elimination tournament bracket. You'll cast your vote for each title, and when we're down to the championship round, the winning song will be free for download for an entire day!
Nominations are closed!
Brackets will be posted at 1:00 p.m. today!
20 Featured Easter Songs: You Gave Your Life Away (Baloche / Scott)
Today's promo code is: BEYONDABOVE
Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!
You Gave Your Life Away
"You Gave Your Life Away" was written as a complement to Paul Baloche's "Above All," another featured Easter song at LifeWayWorship.com. Watch the video posted above for the story behind the song!
Use today's promo code BEYONDABOVE to download "You Gave Your Life Away" today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/27/2011.)
International Ordering now available at LifeWayWorship.com
If you're serving in a church in Canada, if you're a missionary to Namibia, or if you're going on a mission trip to Suriname, you can now make purchases directly from LifeWayWorship.com!
There are two ways that you can now purchase from the site outside of the United States:
- With your debit or credit card - just add a song to your cart, choose what you need, and then enter your address and Visa, MasterCard or American Express card number.
- With a LifeWay account - contact us and let us know that your church would like to set up an account that you can use at LifeWayWorship.com and LifeWay.com. We'll take care of the rest. Then you can use your account number and PIN code to purchase at the site.Once you've checked out, your purchases will show up in your Media Library, ready to download and use in worship!
20 Featured Easter Songs... resumes Monday morning!
Join us on Monday for the next featured Easter song... and FREE download code!
Griffin announces the iPad mic stand
Today at CES, Griffin Technology announced a product that you might find handy in a contemporary worship service. The Griffin Mic Stand Mount allows you to mount your iPad onto a standard 5/8" microphone stand mount so that you can use it as a music stand.
Since LifeWayWorship.com charts and tracks have been tested with the iPad, you can put your iPad onto this new mount and use your favorite PDF reader, music reader or iTunes to lead worship right from your tablet! The mount will be available this January.
New for the New Year! Free downloads!
First of all, happy new year! Thanks for making LifeWayWorship.com part of your worship ministry. 2011 is shaping up to be a great year at LifeWayWorship.com, and there are several things we want to share with you to kick things off.
All Facebook Official!
If you're like most of us, the first place you go on the web these days is Facebook, and now you can connect with us there more easily than ever. Just visit facebook.com/lifewayworshipdotcom. If you "Like" us on Facebook, you'll get two free downloads!Pastor's Worship Questions
Lots of you have told us that LifeWayWorship.com has become a lifeline for you each Sunday. Whether you're a church planter, a small church pastor, or someone who's been asked to lead music... many of you have told us that what we have to offer at LifeWayWorship.com has revolutionized your worship experience.To take that to the next level, we're starting a series of blog posts entitled "Pastor's Worship Questions," where we'll look at some of the things that you might have wanted to know about worship planning and philosophy but were afraid to ask. We'll look at everything from musical terms to choosing and teaching songs to Biblical models for worship, but we'll keep it simple and easy for you to use each week. All of them will be tagged with the phrase Pastor's Worship Questions, so they'll be easy for you to find and search through. And, we want to know what you need to know too!
We'll start with seven... one a day for the first week of the year, just to give you the idea of where we'll be going. Post your questions in the comments, and we'll address them in upcoming posts.
Better International Ordering
Look for news very soon about International ordering. That includes you, Canada!Music, music... and more music
If you're a frequent visitor to LifeWayWorship.com, chances are, it's because of the music. You know that you can download charts and tracks for just about any kind of musical need... from classic hymns to the newest praise and worship music - in keys that you want to use in worship! To kick off 2011, we're featuring 20 top worship songs, and a free download code to download one absolutely free over the next 11 days! We'll feature a couple of songs and post a new promo code each day on the blog, Facebook and Twitter.And much, much more...
This is just the tip of the iceberg for LifeWayWorship.com in 2011... we've got lots more planned, so keep in touch here, on Facebook and on Twitter to see what's new in worship!FREE webinar this Thursday at 1:00 p.m. - "Planning for Christmas with LifeWayWorship.com"
Whether you're a small church pastor or have a team, come join us and find out how you can make your December worship moments memorable, simple and affordable! Just come to the LifeWayWorship.com homepage or this post for the link to the webinar. No pre-registration required, and it's absolutely FREE!
Tell us what you think... and you could win!
On the homepage of LifeWayWorship.com this week, we've got a quick, five question survey about some of the new features we've rolled out at the site. Let us know your thoughts, and we'll enter you in a drawing for a LifeWay gift card worth $50!
Also, be on the lookout for a very special offer this week... you won't want to miss it!
Better all the time...
Stop by LifeWayWorship.com and see how we've been listening to you! Two of the top-requested feature by worship leaders are now available right on the homepage of the site. You'll be able to see the top downloads by title, and new releases. Plus, we've included a direct link to the CCLI Top 100 titles that are available at the site, and quick links to seasonal selections so that no matter what time of year you're planning, you can find everything you need to lead worship at LifeWayWorship.com.
But wait, that's not all! We want to hear from you how you're using the site, and what you need to make it your favorite place to go each week when you plan worship. Leave us a comment, send us an email or give us a call at 800-436-3869 and tell us how we can better serve your ministry!
Hundreds are registered for the free 10/21 webcast... don't miss out!
Many of you joined us last year as Mike Harland and Ed Stetzer presented the special online event Worship: Reverence vs. Relevance. If you missed it, the whole webcast is available for streaming at http://LifeWay.com/RvR.
On October 21 at 1:00 PM (Central), Mike and Ed will return to discuss Transformational Worship in a Transformational Church in a special edition of The Choir Room. What role does worship play in having a ministry that truly helps transform lives for the Kingdom? Can you "jumpstart" your ministry with a change in worship style? How do you know when your church is worshiping? The answers might not be the ones you expect... you won't want to miss this one!
Pre-register at LifeWay.com/TheChoirRoom and get a free gift!
FREE Christmas webinar today at 2E/1C/1800 UTC in "The Choir Room"
Every month, LifeWay has a free, online webcast for worship leaders and music ministers called The Choir Room. It's an hour-long show that shares with you some of the people behind the music, and some of the music that you can use in your church.
As you might guess by the title, some of the show is focused on churches that have choirs as a part of their music ministry, but that's not all we discuss. Last month, Keith Getty stopped by to share about his song "Joy Has Dawned" which serves as the core of our new Christmas musical by the same title.
This month, several LifeWay folks including LifeWayWorship.com's Ken Barker will be sharing new songs your church can sing this Christmas. Plus, it's a great time to share ideas with the hosts, and other guests in the chat room.
Next month, mark your calendars for October 21, because Mike Harland and Ed Stetzer will be hosting a whole hour on Transformational Worship in a Transformational Church. It's the sequel to their first webcast Worship: Reverence vs. Relevance which has been viewed by thousands of worship leaders, pastors and seminaries over the past year.
Follow LifeWayWorship.com on Apple® Ping!
Yesterday, Apple announced their new social network for music called Ping. It's a way for you to share your musical interests and tastes from right within the iTunes application.
Starting today, you can follow LifeWay Worship on Ping to see the iTunes original artist versions of the new worship music that we're adding to our site... and maybe some more titles that we haven't added yet as a sneak preview.
More importantly, we want to follow you on Ping... we want to know what songs are working in your church, and what you'd recommend that we consider next for the site. Follow us, and we'll follow you back. And don't worry about what you're sharing in your feed... we won't be confused if you "Like" the latest Taylor Swift album or a Van Halen album or two... we'll just be looking for the worship songs!
Ping requires iTunes 10, so you'll need to install that first, but once you do, and you get Ping set up for your profile, just search for "LifeWay" or "worship." Or, click this link and be automagically transported to our profile in iTunes. Our full name is "Worship Ping from LifeWay Worship.com" (get it? worshipping?) Once you Ping us, we'll Ping you back!
Apple and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Dick and Mel Tunney, Dennis Jernigan at #lwlc10
We're having a great week at Glorieta Conference Center, worshipping and equipping churches to serve in ministry through music. All of the music being used in the worship times is available... or will be shortly... at LifeWayWorship.com. Dick and Mel Tunney's "Life and Breath" is available today! Plus, you can download a slew of Dennis Jernigan songs too!
New Charts and Tracks: "Came to My Rescue" (Hillsong)
With over 1.8 million views on YouTube, Came to My Rescue is one of Hillsong United's most requested new worship songs, and now you can get the complete orchestration for it at LifeWayWorship.com.
Tech Week: SongMap™ in a Haiku
Add it to your cart
Rearrange sections at will
Save, checkout, print, sing!
SongMap™ is about that simple. If you want the five minute version, watch this video. Then give it a try today. Use the promotional code BLOGFREEBIE7910 at checkout for four free downloads of mappable parts. Visit LifeWayWorship.com to map away!
Tech Week: Using a Split Track
If you're new to using tracks in worship, you may never have heard of a "split track" before. The good news is... they're really easy to use, and can make a huge difference in the sound in your church.
Most church installations are either mono or two-channel sound installations. When you're presenting audio to a large group, most times, it makes sense to go with a mono installation so that the entire listening area hears the same sound. Maybe it's easier to see why at this sound reinforcement site. In addition, you probably have one or more monitor sends - speakers that point back at the people on the stage area of your church instead of the congregation.
With a split track, you can do your own mixing of vocals and instruments on an accompaniment track. The diagram on the right shows one possible setup. You can see at the top, we have a CD player or MP3 player that has a left and right out. In this case, the left channel has the instruments and the right channel has the voice. Be sure to check... because this can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
From the CD or MP3 player, we go into two channels of a mixer. Yours may be similar to this layout, or it may be all knobs, or even have some digital features. In this illustration, the instruments are turned all the way up on the slider - the main mix or the "house" mix. The vocal parts are turned all the way down - none of the vocal recording is being played in the "house" mix. However, on the vocal channel, the monitor send is turned up, so the vocal parts are being heard only through the monitors that point back at your choir or praise team.
Using a split track this way allows you to reinforce your singers' confidence, whether they're a choir or a praise team, by letting them hear the recorded vocals in their monitor, but the mics they're singing into pick up their voices... with maybe a trace of the monitor vocals... so that your congregation hears your singers, not the track.
FREE online training TODAY for LifeWayWorship.com 2E/1C/12M/1P/1800UTC
FREE ONLINE TRAINING - HOW DO I USE LIFEWAYWORSHIP.COM?
Thursday, July 7, 2010, 1:00 pm (Central)
Walk through the main features of LifeWayWorship.com with Technical Rep Daren Wells; including Find & Buy, SongMap, purchasing and downloading WorshipCharts and WorshipTracks, and accessing your Media Library.
Space is limited, so don't miss out! Register today!
Tech week: Music at LifeWayWorship.com: 100% iPad compatible
We've tested, and all of the music that you purchase at LifeWayWorship.com, or for that matter, LifeWay.com/worship, is 100% compatible with the iPad. Lead sheets, SuperCharts, Tracks, PowerPoint... you name it... you can use it. There is one notable exception... until Finale is available for the iPad (which doesn't seem imminent,) you'll have to output to PDF from Finale to make use of those files.
Click the play button on the video to the right to see the iPad displaying a chart directly downloaded from LifeWayWorship.com, or take a look at a screenshot of one of our instrument parts being displayed on an iPad with the GoodReader application.
If you are iPadding it at your church and have any questions about how you can use our resources on it, give Scott or Daren a call at 800-436-3869 and they'll help you through!
iPad™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.
GoodReader™ is a trademark of Good.iWare, Ltd.
Day 27: What Faith Can Do (Kutless)
Now available at LifeWayWorship.com, "What Faith Can Do." You probably recognize this song from Kutless's "It Is Well" album. This inspirational anthem of second chances reaches into our human experience and encourages us with the testimony of a living, moving God in our midst.
This post is part of the 21 27 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com
Tech Week: LifeWayWorship.com on Same Page
This week, we'll be posting a couple of posts about new (and sometimes geeky) ways you can use the resources from LifeWayWorship.com and new technology at your church.
The first new innovation for your music ministry we want to share with you is the Same Page Performance Stations. The fine folks at Same Page have vetted our LifeWay Worship Project files available both at LifeWayWorship.com and on CD-ROM at LifeWay.com/Worship and made sure that they work seamlessly with their Performance Station products. In fact, they've come up with a way to take all the work out of prepping your Same Page stations with the core music that makes up Baptist Hymnal and The Worship Hymnal, plus the extended collection arrangements. But that's just the tip of the iceberg with the SamePage system... if you're considering an in-ear monitoring solution, you get one bundled in when you purchase their performance stations... and get this, it gives you flying faders that are preset for the song you're playing on the page! Got a song where you don't need to hear as much bass? It's set!
To find out more, contact them at 877-211-0610, visit them at the Glorieta Worship Leadership Week or Music in the Mountains, or stop by their website at SamePageMusic.com.
Day 24: How He Loves (McMillan / David Crowder Band)
A quick entry today on Independence Day... full charts and tracks are now available for the John Mark McMillan song How He Loves, as you have probably heard on the David Crowder Band release Church Music.
This post is part of the 21 24 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com
Day 23: Awakening (Tomlin / Morgan) - now mappable!
Day 23 of 21 days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com, gives us a chance to introduce you to our new arrangement of Awakening, from the Passion: Awakening album, written by Chris Tomlin and Reuben Morgan. You might remember that on the day that the record released from the Passion project, we made SuperCharts available for every song, in every key. That's how committed we are to getting you new music first at LifeWayWorship.com.
However, we know that not everyone can use a SuperChart. If you just have guitar, bass and drums, you might just buy three SuperCharts and be ready to go. But, if you have a pianist who needs notes on the page, or maybe you have brass players, woodwind players, string players, or even a harpist, the SuperCharts are just part of the picture.
That's why, when we find out which SuperCharts are being adopted and sung by churches, we sometimes go back and create all of the other parts, record our own version of the song for an accompaniment track, and add a PowerPoint presentation to match. It also lets us create a version you can use with our cutting edge SongMap™ tool.
This post is part of the 21 23 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com
21 Days of New Music - Day 22: Overcome (Desperation Band)
For those of you who've been following us from the beginning, you might remember that we promised 21 straight days of new songs at LifeWayWorship.com. Over the course of that 21 days, we've showcased songs from Starfield, Charlie Hall, and many more. In one blog post, we told you about three new songs from Fee, and in others, we told you about whole batches of new songs... lots more than 21 songs in those 21 days... and we haven't run out of new titles! But wait! There's more!
Today's featured new release is Overcome, written by Jon Egan, and recorded by Desperation Band. This powerful worship song helps your worshippers express the victory we have through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
This post is part of the 21 22 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com
Ridgecrest Thursday Song Feature: Michael Adler
Thursday's Worship Leaders at Ridgecrest Worship Leadership Week are being led by Shades Mountain Baptist Church worship leader Michael Adler. He and his wife Linda have just released a hymns record that is filled with great new settings of texts you and your congregation will know and love... and thanks to our Custom Producer Program at LifeWayWorship.com, your church can sing eight of these great new arrangements!
Click here for the new Michael Adler hymn settings available at LifeWayWorship.com.
This post is part of the 21 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com.
Ridgecrest Wednesday Song Feature: Dick and Mel Tunney
Wednesday's Worship Leaders at Ridgecrest Worship Leadership Week are LifeWay Worship songwriters Dick and Mel Tunney. This husband and wife team have been making music together since their days in the Christian music group Truth, through the ministry of the group First Call and now in their own writing, singing and their own worship leadership training and consulting ministry.
Today, we're proud to announce that fourteen of their own worship arrangements have been added to LifeWayWorship.com through our custom producer program. These are "road-tested" demos and leadsheets that Dick and Mel have used in their worship ministries that you can now use in your church! You'll find familiar worship songs alongside brand new expressions of praise for every occasion.
This post is part of the 21 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com.
Ridgecrest Tuesday Song Feature: PraiseGathering Music Group
This week, we're going to feature music that we're presenting at the LifeWay Worship Leadership Week at Ridgecrest Conference Center. Today, we're honored to have Randy Vader and Jay Rouse leading in worship and sharing about their company, PraiseGathering Music Group. PraiseGathering is now exclusively available from LifeWay Worship, and that means that their congregational worship arrangements are now available right here at LifeWayWorship.com.
You'll find quite a few parts available for each song, along with accompaniment tracks for churches with no or few musicians. No musicians? No problem! And... when you have musicians join your church, you can move them to the print parts smoothly... playing the exact same arrangement you've been singing along to the track!
We're kind of cheating a bit on the 21 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com, because we did mention PraiseGathering when we loaded their new songs onto the site, but with the breadth of titles that they have to offer, not to mention the number of top 100 CCLI songs that they have to offer, I'm sure you'll find several songs that are new to you... if not just fresh new versions of songs you already know.
July 4th is a Sunday?
Disclaimer: this blog entry is about the American Independence Day holiday. If you are reading this from one of our global neighbors... feel free to skip to the next entry!
According to WikiAnswers, July 4th has fallen on a Sunday in 1779, 1784, 1790, 1802, 1813, 1819, 1824, 1830, 1841, 1847, 1852, 1858, 1869, 1875, 1880, 1886, 1897, 1909, 1915, 1920, 1926, 1937, 1943, 1948, 1954, 1965, 1971, 1976, 1982, 1993, 1999 and 2004... and 2010! As worship planners, it presents us with some interesting challenges. Your church may be hauling out the red, white and blue bunting, you're busy googling "indoor fireworks," and you need the most patriotic program you can muster. Others will choose to leave the patriotic portion of the day to be outside of the worship service.
The good news is that no matter what you need, you'll find it at LifeWayWorship.com. Just search for the word "patriotic," and all of the songs, hymns and worship songs that we've tagged with the word will automagically appear! And, if you're looking for other themes or topics, head over to the home page, and type in whatever words you like. The site will search every theme and topic, along with every lyric of every verse of every song to help you mine through and find the perfect song for your worship moment!
TODAY! Free online training for LifeWayWorship.com
Join us today, Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 1:00 pm (Central)
Walk through the main features of LifeWayWorship.com with Technical Rep Daren Wells; including Find & Buy, SongMap, purchasing and downloading WorshipCharts and WorshipTracks, and accessing your Media Library.
There's still room, so don't miss out! Register today!
FREE online training - June 24 at 2E/1C/12M/11P/18UTC
FREE ONLINE TRAINING - HOW DO I USE LIFEWAYWORSHIP.COM?
Thursday, June 24, 2010, 1:00 pm (Central)
Walk through the main features of LifeWayWorship.com with Technical Rep Daren Wells; including Find & Buy, SongMap, purchasing and downloading WorshipCharts and WorshipTracks, and accessing your Media Library.
Space is limited, so don't miss out! Register today!
New Song: Follow You (Leeland)
NOW AVAILABLE at LifeWayWorship.com, "Follow You" by Leeland from his recent release Love Is on the Move.
Download the SuperChart today for $1.99 per copy!
This post is part of the 21 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com.
21 Days of New Music at LifeWayWorship.com
Why don't you guys put some new music up?
Guess what? We do!
For the next 21 days, we're going to announce a new song on the site that you can purchase and download immediately... some with tracks, others without. Most of them will be SuperChart™ releases. SuperCharts™ come with cues for every band member and every vocalist, a space on the PDF where you can type instructions before you print it out, and all 12 keys so you can pitch it wherever you want. Plus, we show you the original artist key, and then recommend a playable/singable key for us mortals to use.
I hope you find new songs that not only sound great and are fun to play, but messages that connect with your congregation and community, leading them to worship the One who saves!
Free Webinar May 27: How To Use LifeWayWorship.com
Our last How to Use LifeWayWorship.com webinar was such a success, we decided to do another one on May 27 at 1:00 pm central.
Be sure to register for this free webinar today. We'll see you there.
*Note: This blog post consists mostly of video. If you are reading this in an email and the video is not showing, please visit the blog by clicking the link above.