Every worship leader needs tools...
To keep growing
To be inspired
To develop the band
To pastor the team
To find new songs
To lead well
In some ways, the Worship Fertilizer is a toolbox containing many such tools - articles, resources, training events, etc. I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite tools. I’d love for you to share your tools with me. (Especially folks like Chad Fisher - he’s a tool nut!)
After you read through this, would you simply post a comment to let the rest of us know what your favorite tools are?
Blogs (I subscribe to all of these)
Rob Rash gives really great advice, training, and thought leadership.
Jon Nicol over at WorshipTeamCoach.com give provocative, compelling, and informative stuff!
Books
Dan Wilt’s book How To Lead Worship is an excellent all-in-one tool to develop your worship leadership. I've never met a leader with the breadth and heart of Dan Wilt. I want every worship ministry to be influenced by his teaching. Scholarly ideas, everyday language. It’s brilliant, really.
Tom Kraeuter is a long-time worship teacher and seminar presenter. His stuff is biblical and simple. Often funny. I know churches that use his book, Becoming a True Worshiper, as required reading as part of the application process to serve in the worship ministry. He also has aworship ministry devotional service for the whole team and a free video series. (he’s prolific!)
Bob Kaufflin’s book Worship Matters (and hisblog) focuses readers on the essentials of God-honoring worship, combining biblical foundations with practical application in a way that works in the real world.
The Heart of the Artist by Rory Nolandis a classic dealing with... (as the title says). Some chapters include: *Servanthood Versus Stardom *Excellence Versus Perfectionism *The Spiritual Disciplines of the Artist *The Artist in Community.
3 Word Lessons For Worship Leaders and teams is a collection of simple (and often humorous) ideas meant to inspire you, make you laugh, give you food for thought, and generally help you get better at what you do. Super short, these would be great to use as discussion starters at your weekly rehearsals.
Training
Gateway Worship Trainer is the training program that Gateway Church created to train their leaders. It’s free and there is a whole video curriculum to develop your CORE, CHARACTER, and CRAFT. Wow!
WorshipTraining.com is fantastic! Just check out the wealth of courses and training videos available. The deal is that for $299 per year, the whole church gets access to unlimited everything! It’s very, very worth it. (you can even get limited, but worthwhile, access for free!)
Rehearsal Coaching. I bet your band is in a rut. Your keyboard player hogs the middle, acoustic player beats the guitar at one volume, bass player is bored, drummer doesn’t signal the sections, electric player noodles, singers all sing melody all the time. And everybody overplays. Well, maybe it’s not that bad. You may not know how to fix what ailing your band, or you may know, but you’re in that spot where you’re so used to a certain player’s bad habits that you feel weird addressing it. We’ve all been there. Whether it’s your worship band, garage band, or touring band, you can have Ad Lib Music come to a rehearsal and get you unstuck! We’ll be gentle.
New Songs
WorshipTogether.com is a great resource for new songs. They created the “New Song Café” that shows videos of the songwriters teaching their song. Subscribe to get a new one about every week.
CCLItv is a free source for new songs and training. Browse three Channels: OpenMic - Fresh new worship songs...straight from the churches themselves. Instruct - Brief video workshops covering worship leading, worship teams and musicianship. FirstTake - Great new worship songs from the worship artists, songwriters and companies you trust.
Websites (subscribe for regular updates)
ChurchLeaders.com has lots of regular articles for worship leaders.
MinistryMatters.com is a site dedicated to supporting Christian ministry with resources, community and inspiration.
So, what are your favorite tools? (and hey, if you can't quite figure out how to post a comment, shoot me an email at dave@adlibmusic.com)
