Every week, when we plan for worship, we have to take into account what we want to share in our service. You might follow the Christian year, the pastor's preaching plan, or search each week for exactly the plan that will help your congregation respond to God this Sunday.

This year, there is a Sunday with new significance; September 11th is the tenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself as you make your plans.

How much do we let it influence our service?

Probably the biggest driver to the answer to that question is rooted in the people who are in your congregation. How were they touched by the attacks? Do you have military connections, or even church members whose families were affected by the lives lost?

Look at how your church responded to September 11th ten years ago. If you can locate the plan or a recording for September 16th, 2001, you can see what was said and sung immediately after the incident. If you're new, or don't have records back that far, talk to long-time church members and see what they remember.

Once you've got that picture, decide what is important for you to recognize based on the people in your church today. You may want to use some of the same songs or scripture, or go a totally different direction.

What kind of theme should the service take?

Again, the members of your congregation will largely influence this. Here are some options to consider:

• Thanksgiving and Celebration - focus on God's provision and protection. Celebrate how He has blessed our families, churches and nation in these past ten years. (Isaiah 43:2)
• Remembrance and Hope - make the message of the service one that lifts up God's creation of human life, challenging the congregation to share in the redemption story by sharing the hope that we have in salvation through Jesus Christ (Isaiah 55:6-11)
• Declarative Praise - exalt the name of the Lord, proclaiming that He rules over all things and all people, that even in the face of tragedy, we will rejoice. (I Thessalonians 5:18)

Should we do something patriotic?

There's no problem with including patriotic material in your plan for Sunday if it's something that will connect with the members of your congregation. Remember that the primary purpose of our worship is to respond to God's revelation, so be sure that the core of your worship plan is rooted in scripture.

Resist the urge to do something out-of-character for your church this Sunday just to impress people. If you normally have a praise band and worship team, have a praise band and worship team. However, you may want to engage people differently, using different media or combinations of people to create a special worship moment. If you do pre-recorded videos, consider interviewing some of your members about their experiences since 2001, and how God is working through their lives. Think about how members of your church are gifted, how they were personally affected by the events, and what the intersection of those two could create to help point people to God.

What should we sing?

This Sunday is probably a good day to focus on songs that your congregation already knows - songs that they can sing and not be distracted. You may find that this Sunday draws in irregular attenders and visitors, and you want your congregation to be engaged in worship so that they can see it modeled well.

Depending on the theme of your service, you can search for topics at LifeWayWorship.com. Here are some songs of thankfulness, songs of deliverance and songs of exaltation. If you click on the "I" button for any of these songs, you can see the themes we've attached to them in the "tags" section.

As we get closer to September 11, we'll be posting some service orders for the Sunday here at LifeWayWorship.com. If you'd like to submit one, paste it in on the feedback form on the homepage, message it to @lifewayworship, comment on our post at facebook.com/lifewayworshipdotcom or email it to worship@lifeway.com.

Everyone who's choosing songs for a worship service is confronted with some of the same questions... do I pick things that everyone knows? Do I sing an "oldie but a goodie?" What if there's a song that I know will speak to my congregation, but no one knows it yet? What are the emails going to be like this week?

Even if you're afraid something will break if you try it, here are three simple things that might help bring new songs into your church's worship experience:

Sing new "old" songs

If there are hymns or worship songs that your congregation loves and adores, why not try new arrangements of them in worship. We try to cover some of that at LifeWayWorship.com with our Contemporary Hymn arrangements: songs that you already know the melody and words to, but with new instrumentation.

By using words and melody that are part of your church's "heart song," chances are, you'll be able to expand the stylistic part of that song.

It's okay to be "special"

Even if you have concerns about a "featured soloist" spot in your service, there are lots of opportunities to introduce new music to your congregation without having them sing it first:

• Use the song as an offertory
• Use the lyric of the song as a sermon illustration
• If it's a scripture song, make that scripture your emphasis for a series
• Print part of the lyric in your bulletin, and use it as part of a devotional time
• Have the choir or praise team sing the song
• Post a link an official video of the song on your church's Facebook page
• If the song was recommended by someone in your congregation, have them share about what the song means to them in a testimony time

Put the focus where it should be

If you're introducing a new song, it shouldn't be for the sake of the song, it should be to help people see who God is. If you're introducing something because you're tired of the old stuff, because "it's what the young people want to sing" or because the church down the street did, then you're not planning worship, you're planning songs.

When you do choose a song to add, make the choice to make it part of your personal worship to God first. Sing it in your quiet time (even if you choose to sing it silently!) Look at the scripture that is related to the song, and make it part of your devotion. We list associated scriptures for every song on our site in the "i" screen - the little blue button that comes up under search listings. Ask God, "what would you have us do with this song, this Sunday?" Ask God, "what are you planning to do with this song, this Sunday?" And most of all, trust Him to work through it, and don't lean on your own understanding.

Pastor's Worship Questions is a series of blog posts designed to help the small church pastor, non-musician or anyone else who's been asked to lead worship in their congregation. If you've got a question for us, post it in the comments, and we'll answer it in an upcoming blog post!

It happens a lot: your church has been functioning with few or no musicians, and suddenly... you're blessed with a guitar player. What do you need to equip him or her so that they can accompany your worship from Sunday to Sunday?

First questions

• Do you have an acoustic guitar, or an electric guitar? (or both?) - There are a couple of reasons to ask this question. First, you may have a preference for which one he would use to begin with, especially if it's the first appearance of a guitar in your church. The second reason to ask is so that you can inform the person who's running sound in your church (which, of course, might be you...) so that they can make the correct connection between the guitar and the sound system. While an "electric guitar" may conjure up thoughts of musical destruction, worship or otherwise, there are tasteful, unique ways to use it to play songs for worship.
• Have you ever played in a band, or just alone? - Usually, when someone's played in a band, they understand the difference between "performing" and "accompanying." A guitar player needs to be sensitive when playing in worship to the purpose of the playing: most of the time, it's an accompaniment to worship. From time to time, there may be opportunities to play the melody line or a unique improvised line ("solo,") but the majority of the time, it's to support and accompany.
• What kind of music do you like to use? - Depending on the guitarist, this answer could range from "whatever you have" to "none at all." The latter usually isn't preferred, especially when they're playing with other musicians. At LifeWayWorship.com, there are three main charts that we have for guitarists:
  1. The QuickChart:
     This is the minimum amount of information that we can put on a page and have a playable piece of music. It consists of all of the lyrics to the hymn or worship song, and chord symbols that tell the guitarist which chord to play. The advantage to the guitarist is there is a lot of room to make notes on the page, and usually, a whole song fits onto two pages, so there are no page turns... something kind of difficult when you're playing with both hands. In addition on hymns and songs where harmonies move quickly, the QuickChart leaves out "passing" chords so that the guitar player isn't having to change on every beat of the song. They were created by guitarists, for guitarists.
  2. The Lead Sheet:
     This is the next level of musical information added to the chart. It includes lyrics, chord symbols and the written out melody on a treble clef. This isn't Guitar Tablature, which tells the guitar player which string to play, it's just the melody line. Especially if your guitar player wants to sing along, or you want him to play the melody on a verse or chorus, this might be the chart to get.
  3. The SuperChart:
     A SuperChart is something that we came up with at LifeWayWorship.com. It includes everything you get on a Lead Sheet, plus additional harmony parts for vocalists, plus instructions for band members (including the guitarist) that helps everyone by having them be able to see the exact same page when they're leading worship with a song. It also has the advantage of coming in 12 keys, so that if your guitar player wants to play with a capo for a different sound, you can just print the key that he needs the song in. If a player's advanced enough to be using a capo, they should be able to tell you which key they need.

Pastor's Worship Questions is a series of blog posts designed to help the small church pastor, non-musician or anyone else who's been asked to lead worship in their congregation. If you've got a question for us, post it in the comments, and we'll answer it in an upcoming blog post!

@Maurilio Amorim shares his perspective on what, when and how you should plan an outreach-centered Christmas celebration at your church.

The first thing might be something you have only thought about from a "who can be there to help lead" perspective. LifeWayWorship.com can certainly help with the second thing... but has the third thing even crossed your mind?

Originally posted at MaurilioAmorim.com.

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!

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.

All of the tracks created by LifeWay at LifeWayWorship.com are available in split track format so that no matter your church's style, sound or personnel, you can have a successful music experience each week... that we hope leads to a worship experience with our God.

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!

David Manner gives an exhaustive explanation of why it's important to understand the principles behind why you worship the way you do at your church.

That leads me to the next question... how do you evaluate? Is it whenever you get around to it? Do you have a set time each week where "iron sharpens iron" in your church?

This post by a couple visiting a Baptist church in New Zealand refers to the worship leadership there as "curating" the worship.

The wikipedia entry for curator says that it "means manager, overseer." I've always understood a curator as someone who preserves.

Is worship something to be curated?

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.

Oh my. Has it really come to this? Check out this spoof of a contemporary worship service from Whisper Productions and North Point Media..

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Questions: Is this funny? Does it sting?

Note to email subscribers: This entry is primarily a video, which does not automatically go to our email subscribers. To see the video, please visit LifeWayWorship.com/pleasestayontherock.