Gangai Victor's Blog, page 9

4 Secrets of the Most Admired and Sought After Worship Leaders

Leading worship is a lot about serving people, and a lot less about our cool musical chops.

Worship leaders with a servant's heart are usually the best ones—not necessarily in music/singing, but in prayerfully engaging people with the Lord.

Here are four right practices that I believe can help us get there.

4 Essential Practices of Highly Respected Worship Leaders Practice 1: Putting on the mind of Christ

We need to see people the way God sees us.

Our human minds see tall people, short people, fat people, thin people, dark people, fair people and so on. When we put on the mind of Christ, we will see the image and likeness of God, the image and likeness of God, the image and likeness of God, the image and likeness of God... real human persons, not another statistic in the crowd.

The mind of Christ enables us to treat people fairly, without discrimination. We will seek what Christ desires, and love what He loves!

A worship leader who practices putting on the mind of Christ is always the more congregational worship leader.

Practice 2: Joy

One of the most beautiful promises of Jesus is to fill us with joy—a joy that is fulfilling and complete (John 15:11). This joy needs to be expressed when we lead worship too—let go of anxiety, stage-fright, doubts, and just dive in with joy! Let the oil of gladness of Christ (Hebrews 1:9) overflow out of us—it will draw people closer to the Lord in worship. Worship should also be a joyful celebration among other things.

A happy worship leader who practices joy is always the more welcomed worship leader.

Practice 3: Conviction of the difference between Pushing on with our limited willpower vs. moving in the limitless power of the Holy Spirit Banking fully on past experience vs. humbly depending on the anointing despite our experience Working to score spiritual marks vs. ministering out of a deep love for the Lord Reading scripture mindlessly vs. hearing His voice in silent contemplation of the Word Using music to score emotional highs with the congregation vs. desiring to see Christ present and glorified in our worship

I could go on and on, but you get the idea: A worship leader with authentic conviction of the things that really matter is always the more believable worship leader.

Practice 4: Zeal

There are few things more convincing than genuine, fired-up, passionate zeal for Christ! Zeal overcomes personal preferences, self-interests, and wrong motivations. Zeal moves us to live in love. Zeal causes us to minister for the glory of the Father, and for the good of others.

Jesus first Others next Self last

People love to follow those who are selfless and passionate about serving others—and passion is a magnet for people. A zealous worship leader is always a more evangelistic worship leader.

There you have it—the 4 essential practices of the most wanted worship leaders. What would you like to add to this? How can we express these qualities through music and song?

Image: Flickr

13 Online Resources to Get Free Chords for Praise and Worship Songs

1. Worship Together

A treasure-trove of worship songs, chords, videos by artists from Six Step Records, Kingsway, and Hillsong. A useful site to discover new songs! 2. We Are Worship

Get free mp3 downloads with chords and sheet music every week here from popular worship leaders and songwriters—mostly from Kingsway. 3. Worship Tutorials

Easy-to-learn song video tutorials and chord videos instead of charts. Has many of the popular worship songs, with new material added regularly. 4. Ultimate Guitar

Here, you can find chords and sometimes guitar tabs for almost any popular worship song out there. 5. Christian Guitar Resources

Thousands of chord charts available here. Also has a cool bass tabs section! 6. Praise Town

Good collection of worship song chords searchable by artist or song name. There’s also a song finder by specific key—choose an alphabet and find songs in that key! 7. Guitarmann

A guitar and bass lesson site that also has hundreds of free praise and worship chord charts.

8. Tabs For Worship

Excellent database of 3000+ praise and worship song chords and tabs neatly organized by song and artist name. 9. Hymn Chords

If you’re looking for chords for old hymns, this is a good place to look up. Chord charts are downloadable in PDF and Word formats. 10. The Guitar Hymn Book

Another useful site to get guitar chords for hymns listed alphabetically. 11. Christmas Carols For Acoustic Worship

A free chord book published by Praise Charts that has simplified chord arrangements for almost all the most loved Christmas carols. 12. Catholic Songbook

A unique online resource to find lyrics and chords for liturgical songs apart from praise and worship songs. Useful to plan set-lists for liturgical worship like the Catholic Mass. 13. Gospel Song Chords

Beautiful collection of older praise and worship songs with simplified chord arrangements.

Found anything you like? What sites do you use to get chords for worship songs?

100,000+ Downloads Would be Well-Deserved for These 9 Android Apps

1. Jet Audio As a pure audio player, this is just about the best app out there. The free version has almost all the features of the Plus version with ads. 10-band graphic equalizer with 32 presets, great collection of sound effects, compatibility with almost any audio file type, playback speed control, cross-fading, AGC and much more. Download link . Price: Free, Plus version costs USD 3.99.   2. Any.do Still the easiest app out there to manage tasks. Seamless cloud sync, speech recognition, alerts, snooze, Google Task sync, notes, sub tasks, widgets, repeating/recurring tasks, missed call, auto complete, in-app actions, gestures, and much more make this one feature-packed app! Download Link . Price: Free.   3. AndrOpen Office This is the world's first, fully featured port of OpenOffice for Android to view, edit, and export office documents. Better used on a tablet than a phone imo. Includes Writer (a word processor), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentation graphics), Draw (drawing), Math (equation editor), and Base (database). Download Link . Price: Free.   4. Google Keep Apart from creating notes, photos, and checklists, this can easily double up as a portable songwriting tool too! Makes it super easy to write lyrics or record melody ideas using voice notes.   A standout feature in Keep is voice notes are transcribed automatically! Also comes with widgets, color-coding of notes, reminders, and syncing. Download Link . Price: Free.   5. Music Maker Jam The only free app of its kind makes it easy to start playing with music and mixing your own songs. Provides access to thousands of professionally produced loops, live editing on an 8-track mixing board, adjust tempo and key or apply cool sound effects in real time. Includes 4 free styles: Hip Hop, Dance, Electric Jazz, and Rock Ballads.   The interface is easy to use too. All-in-all, a cool app to try your hand at making music—especially for songwriters. Download Link . Price: Free.   6. Ultimate Guitar Tabs & Chords   The mobile version of the world’s largest catalog of guitar tabs and chords! That’s over 600К tabs! Features include daily updates, offline access to favorite tabs, search, chord diagrams with variations, auto-scroll, and more.   Also has app extensions for more functionality like interactive tabs, metronome, instrument tracks, etc., which need to be purchased separately. Download Link . Price: USD 2.99.   7. Timely Alarm Clock Probably the best looking alarm clock for Android with a beautiful user experience, and cloud integration to backup and synchronize alarms with multiple devices! A swipe and drag is all you need to do to set an alarm. Provides a delightful waking-up experience with hand-crafted, high quality sounds. An innovative Smart Rise feature greatly reduces the pain out of waking up!   Also had color themes, design-tool, snooze, stopwatch, tablet compatibility, widget, Google Now inte gration, animations, and more. Download Link . Price: Free.   8. Newsblur A personal news reader that easily replaces Google Reader on a mobile device. Share stories, read feed subscriptions, and talk to like-minded people with this free app.   Features include sync, RSS feed support, sharing and commenting with friends, access from mobile or desktop, save, multiple viewing options, and more. Download Link . Price: Free.   9. Swiftkey The best alternative keyboard app for Android, period. Type, swype, sync words & phrases, and more. Apart from significantly faster text input, the app actually makes the text creation process comfortable, and even enjoyable. The more you use it, the better its text predictions become across devices.   Multiple language support, themes etc. are its other notable features. Download Link . Price: USD 3.99.   Have you tried any of these? What are your favorite Android apps?

A Brand New VotivePraise to Begin a Brand New Year!

Dear Votive Praise reader, wish you an abundantly blessed new year! I pray that “your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Phil 1:9-11)

If you're a regular here, you would’ve noticed the makeover in the site design. In fact, every aspect of the look and feel has been revamped, and I believe it looks better than ever! Here’s what’s different Site speed

The page load time has been improved a great deal, and you should find it noticeably faster now! Content focused

The new design puts the spotlight back on what you look for the most: the articles. Instead of 2 sidebars, there’s just one now with only the most useful widgets retained for a better reading experience minus the clutter. The fonts and their sizing have also been revised to improve reader friendliness. Fully Responsive

With mobile devices like smart-phones and tablets being used to browse and read web content more and more, it was about time Votive Praise switched to a responsive design. Now, the site is fully responsive—so whether you access the site on a PC, smart-phone or tablet, it will automatically adjust itself to fit to your screen irrespective of your screen size or browser width. Better Site Search

The search feature has been improved so you can find the content that you’re looking for more easily.

Thanks to Templateify for the new design, it’s worked out really well! Finally, a couple of requests to you When you read something here that you like, kindly take a few moments to share it on any social sites that you use like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc. it’s the best way, in which you can help me keep this blog going. If you have any suggestions on what kind of articles need to be published here, please drop me an email at connect @ votivepraise.com

That’s it, thank you for reading my blog, your support means so much to me, God bless you!

The Value of Scripture and Squashing the Mystery Out of Using the Word in Worship

The gift of God’s Son is so amazingly marvelous that words are simply inadequate to fully describe the miracle of the incarnation, and the generosity of our God.

In fact, there’s nothing left for God to reveal about Himself because the culmination, fulfillment, richness, deepest depths, and fullness of divine revelation, by which God made Himself known to us, is Jesus Christ, the eternal Word made flesh!

This also means that there is no need for us to wait for any more new revelation from Him, though we do joyfully look forward to His forthcoming manifestation—the second coming of our Lord. Until then, scripture will be our great aid to gaze at the face of our God!

Incorporating scripture in worship should be one of the top priorities for worship leaders. It gives us the opportunity to partake in the light of God’s divine revelation. When we listen to the Word attentively, the Holy Spirit moves us deeper by opening the eyes of our hearts and minds (Ephesians 1:18-19), so that our worship is made real through an authentic response to the Word—a response of believing and assenting to His truths, and a submission of our will to His. I believe that our surrender in faith is the most effective invitation for the presence of God (Luke 1:38).

To use scripture in congregational worship, we first need to be personally connected to the Word. Public outflow of the word can best come from a private inflow of it into our lives. So here are a few simple steps to get there:

The 4 R's of Engaging With Scripture Personally 1. Re-Read

Read the whole Bible at least once continuously like any other book. Then re-read it again daily, this time systematically and slowly—short portions of few verses at a time. Look up the Internet for a variety of Bible reading/study plans.

2. Reflect

Reading must be followed up with study of the word. Have you seen people in love reading their emails or text messages sent to each other? Well, the Bible is God’s love letter to us… so treat it like one... and enjoy it! Read, reflect, and meditate on the words till they become easy and familiar.

3. Remember

Practice memorizing verses, and make it a habit. It’s okay if you can’t remember the exact citation of where the verse is. What’s actually important is remembering the words themselves. Read, re-read, and re-read to commit the words to memory.

4. Recite

Don’t keep what you learn to yourself—God’s word is always to be shared! So discuss it with someone else… your spouse, children, friend... someone! Speak it out in public worship too… maybe between songs, during a song, and so on.

A strong connect with the word enables us to speak, pray, and teach during worship under the necessary regulation of sacred scripture driving away error, delivering the truths of God with power, uplifting our church, nourishing our souls, and strengthening our faith.

The goal here is for the word of Christ to "dwell abundantly" in us personally, and in our church corporately (Colossians 3:16). The examples of Jesus, the Apostles, and the early Church are important guides for us to learn how to connect our congregations with the word. Here are a few principles that we can learn from them to get you going:

5 Best Practices to Incorporate Scripture in Corporate Worship 1. Word of mouth

God’s medium of communication was predominantly oral. The first of His writings was probably the commandments written on the stone tablets with Moses. In the New Testament also, we find that Jesus proclaimed the Good News. Then, after the Church was born, the Apostles too started with word of mouth proclamation. Faith comes by hearing the word (Romans 10:17), so let’s not neglect speaking out carefully chosen Scripture verses in our worship sets.

2. Emulate

Yes I know ‘tradition’ is not a cool concept today; but the fact of the matter is the Apostles taught what they had learnt from the Lord—including worship practices. Acts 2:42 for example, shows us the four main ingredients of Christian worship practiced and taught by them:

A. Corporate Prayers

B. Proclamation of the Word

C. The Eucharistic Meal

D. Fellowship

Emulating the early Church and its observances by building our worship around these elements—more than others—will connect us with a great past, while staying relevant in the present.

3. Listen

The Apostles were probably doctorate holders in waiting on the Lord and moving in the Spirit! While it’s hard to formulate exact principles on listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, I can say that He brings to mind scripture verses at appropriate moments provided we have them recorded within us. Think of Bible verses like seeds that we plant in the soil of our hearts and minds. When needed, He will make the Word flow out of us to teach, encourage, correct, console, warn, inspire, and more!

4. Sing

The early Christians sang songs with lyrics that were straight out of Scripture. Worship leaders and songwriters would do well to choose and write songs that are strongly rooted in Scripture. The payoff for us is an increase in the richness of the songs, and the quality of the worship, while also helping our congregations to memorize verses easily.

5. Write

If the Apostles and early disciples had not written down our faith, imagine what we would have lost! In the age of the Internet and ebooks, it’s easier now than ever before for just about anyone to write and be read. If you like to write, and God is your passion, get started with a blog, or write your own worship songs… who knows how the Lord will use your writing! Everyone has a unique voice, it’s time to hear yours.

My friend, let’s renew our focus on the Word in our worship—personally and corporately “so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere” (2 Thessalonians 3:1); that Christ may be glorified more and more; that we may rejoice in the gospel with awe, wonder, and gratitude; that we may be stirred by the holy flame of the Spirit to love the Lord; that we may hear His voice today… and obey.

How important is Scripture in your life and ministry? How do you think can we bring about a better connect with the Word to enrich our worship? Why not leave a comment below and share your thoughts?

Image: stock xchng

Waging War Against Soul-Bleeding Compromise—A Look at 'Integrity' for Worship Leaders

“It is always the right time to do the right thing.” - Martin Luther King

What is ‘Integrity’?

…being honest and having strong moral principles?

…being consistent in actions and values?

…displaying good and positive character?

…practicing what we preach?

All of these are more or less right because ‘integrity’ means many things to many people.

Here’s how I prefer to understand it: ‘Integrity’ is eliminating the gap between who I am in public and who I really am. 'Integrity' is living in authenticity. 'Integrity' is living without compromising Christ. 'Integrity' is keeping it real.

As worship leaders or any other ministers, I believe we should focus on at least these three categories of integrity.

3 Kinds of Integrity 1. Pastoral

Good worship leaders consider what people need to sing. Lousy worship leaders on the other hand are more into Christian entertainment—playing a bunch of songs because people know them and/or like them. They may call it ‘worship’ but we know it isn’t that!

Integrity demands pastoral conviction—a resolute desire to do the right thing especially when it’s unpopular. We do what we believe is the best thing for our people because we care more about them than their opinion of us.

For e.g. Generally, people love to attend healing services, but there are not so many takers for repentance & surrender services. Leaders with pastoral hearts know the importance of the latter and serve accordingly.

We ought to remember the example of David who “…shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” - Psalm 78:72

2. Theological

From a congregational worship perspective, whether it’s a choir in a Catholic Mass or a contemporary worship leader in an Evangelical service, all of us have a huge responsibility to ensure people are taught to sing sound theology… nothing less! You see, there are songs, which express our own feelings, and others that convey our disposition towards God and teach truths about Him. I believe our set-lists should be skewed more towards the latter type of songs.

This also means a song with even the slightest compromise on correct theology should not make it to our set-list either. For e.g. there’s this song with these lyrics:

You stand alone
I stand amazed
Jesus, only Jesus

Excluding these lines, the rest of the song is fantastic, with catchy melodies, and is totally congregational. But we cannot ignore the theology that Jesus is never alone—He’s in perfect and perpetual communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Maybe the songwriter meant something else, but I am not getting it. Maybe I could consider changing the lines to something like

You stand above
I stand amazed
Jesus, only Jesus

But it involves the cumbersome process of contacting the songwriter for permission. The easier option—simply pick some other song!

3. Personal

Sure, we can listen to all the sermons, read all kinds of scripture verses, and sing the most wonderful of songs with the greatest of skill… but personal integrity is simply about who I am when I am off the stage, away from the spotlight. My friend, integrity is practicing in the dark what we claim to be in the light.

Personal integrity is all about holding on to the Gospel and Christian principles especially when it costs us. This is one of the best lessons that the Jesus in the gospels can teach us—it cost Him His very life but He wouldn’t budge from doing the right thing… from doing God’s will. The early Christians we read about in the rest of the New Testament teach us nothing less… follow Christ at any cost!

I value personal integrity most of all, because without the practice of personal integrity, we are nothing more than bona fide fakes... hypocrites even.

I believe personal integrity is a sure path to personal holiness… the key to unlock pastoral and theological integrity.

5 Best Practices to Live With Personal Integrity 1. Transparency

Be totally transparent with at least one other person—someone with whom we can share all our struggles, and count on for good counsel and prayer. Except in the case of a spouse, it’s advisable this sharing partner is of the same gender. The more we hide our weaknesses, the more scope they acquire to take deeper root in our lives. Light always drives away darkness!

2. Forgiveness

We need to stop beating ourselves down whenever we compromise (and we will!). Instead, we would do well to repent, forgive ourselves, and seek the Lord’s grace… we need to believe that His grace is truly sufficient!

3. Ending Self-Justification

Our minds have tremendous abilities to rationalize and justify our compromises and convince us that "it’s okay"… we need to stop that and simply admit it’s not, and take it from there. Trust me, every compromise, no matter how small or insignificant it is, will invariably lead us to a far bigger sin… it’s only a matter of time!

4. Discarding Masks

Once I was conversing about attire with a female worship leader and she happened to mention that she wouldn’t wear a particular type of clothes on stage, but wouldn't mind wearing it elsewhere. Then she paused as the implication of her words dawned on her!

We need to consciously be the same person on and off the stage—let’s get rid of those masks that we tend to wear, especially inside the Church!

5. Hope

We need to stop depending on our own willpower—it only makes us smug, self-righteousness, legalistic, and vain. Instead, the Bible teaches us to hope in the Lord, for then “integrity and uprightness” will protect us (Psalm 25:21).

Integrity can be consistently lived out only when it's inspired by the Holy Spirit—we desperately need Him to move inside us—let's never cease calling out to Him with utmost hope!

 

Attracting people is in many ways easy, but keeping and shepherding cannot be done without integrity. See what St. Paul said: “Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.” - 2 Corinthians 1:12

With every compromise, we turn ourselves over to the dark side… allowing our souls to bleed. Preserving integrity is our war against compromise… and the time to start this war is now!

My friend, does integrity matter? Why don't you share how we can live and minister with integrity?

11 Tips to Transform Your Worship Leadership From Annoying to Amazing

1. Read… a lot!

It’s kinda horrible watching worship leaders run out of things to say and keep repeating whatever was said last week, and the week before, and the week before… Reading books and blogs is a useful habit to pick up new ideas, fresh insights, and will help put in some thought into what we say… words matter, let’s make them count!

2. Know, understand, and remember

we are not, we are not, we are not, we are not, we are not… the preacher (keep repeating that). Worship leaders need to stop rambling on and on and on before and after every song, and work on other song transitions instead.

Yes, there really are alternatives to speaking/praying between songs… let’s put in some training hours and learn them, our Church is depending on us. In fact, moments of silence are super helpful too!

3. Sing and play from memory

Drop that song/chord sheet you keep look at all the time, it’s distracting the rest of us! Learn everything by heart, so your focus can be on leading worship and people instead of music and songs… trust me, memorizing is not difficult.

4. Seventy times seven? Nope... not what Jesus meant!

Stop that incessant repetition of your favorite line in a song... it's terribly boring, not to mention predictable, and you're all the while beating the poor song to death. There is such a thing as 'vain repetition' and this might just be it!

5. Learn a few new songs

Seriously… those 10-15 songs that some of us keep repeating week after week are just not enough… not even close!

We can buy worship songs for a measly Rs. 12 a piece or whole albums for Rs. 100-120 in iTunes. Buy, listen, and learn a decent range of songs to fit into a variety of themes, your worship sessions will be so much richer.

6. Kill those clichés

We hear and use them all the time, right? “Lord God even as we just sing Lord God even as we just praise Lord God even as we just lift our hands Lord God…” Let’s work on brevity and clarity, no one’s earning any extra marks for word count! If you’re stuck, see (1) again.

And btw, if a worship leader tells me to “sing it like you mean it” one more time, I’m going to fling my Bible at him/her… seriously (OK, maybe not so seriously)!

7. Put a lid on creepy 'Christian' speak

Some of us speak oh so differently when on stage! 'Clap offering' anyone? Or is it 'hand praise' now?! You know what I mean... I'm sure you can come up with more of these! Be conversational, and keep it real, simplicity is the key.

8. Restrain those ad libs

Our role as singers of the main melody cannot be overstated. People look to us most to follow the song's tune. Ad libs therefore, should be more like seasoning on the food—used sparingly for added taste or in our case—expression. If sprayed all over the song, ad libs challenge people's willingness to sing along and distract them from the worship.

In church worship, while there is a place for artistry, there is far more space for simplicity.

9. Use hymns too

While contemporary 4-line choruses are great to sing along, there’s a different realm of depth and beauty in hymn-style songs whether written by today’s Townend/Gettys or those passed on to us from generations past.

Use a hymn every now and then—younger people will learn something grand, and older people will connect with the worship more easily.

10. Dress well

Don’t over-dress so much that people assume you’re probably getting married on stage; don’t under-dress like you’re walking the ramp either.

Yes I know God looks at the heart, but we’re ministering in the midst of people and they will look at our clothes. So let’s take care of what we wear or don’t wear!

11. Practice belonging

Once your worship on stage is done, don't leave. Join your congregation, and continue to worship by listening to the sermon, receiving communion, and so on... you need all of it as much as anyone else attending your Church. In fact, you need to be seen in Church when it's not your turn to lead worship too. A worship leader who's not perceived as belonging to the Church is well and truly a turnoff... not cool!

I am sure you can add to this list and it’s fun hearing from you! So why don’t you leave a comment and share your pet peeves with respect to worship leaders?

A Long Overdue Tribute to Women Worship Leaders

"Do anything and everything you can to get rich and famous."

That pretty much sums up all contemporary philosophies/values in our world today.

Ask Miley Cyrus—by now she could probably write a bible on this concept! From Hannah Montana to getting into the list of probables for Time’s ‘Person of the year-2013’, she’s seen it all I guess. Like her or hate her, she got what she wanted—worldwide fame (or is it notoriety?!), a chartbusting new record, and a massive bank balance.

But you see, this post is not about Miley Cyrus.

It's about women like these, do you recognize them?

Yup, they are worship leaders... and darn good ones too!

Many years ago, it was during a worship session that I committed my life to Jesus—a session that happened to be led by a female worship leader. When I see the huge contrast between women worship leaders and people like Miley, I get the feeling these wonderful ladies don’t really get the respect they absolutely deserve.

So here’s a tribute to all women worship leaders out there—those who’ve chosen to take the Christian road and live without conforming "to the pattern of this world" (Roman 12:2).

Dear women worship leaders, we want to honor you for leading us to Christ carrying yourselves with dignity and grace using your talents and gifts to promote Christ and not yourselves choosing not to sell your skin to get ‘ahead’ pursuing the anointing rather than money loving the presence of the Lord than the empty presents of the world your passion to sing and make music for the Lord for teaching us that your self-worth is far more than just a “hot body” valuing chastity and not trading your sexuality like it's some commodity respecting yourself as a person rather than an object

…and more!

Thank you and God bless you for being a bright light in the midst of a lot of darkness.

We need more women like you; the church needs you; the world needs you... keep on shining!

Have you been inspired by a female worship leader? I’d love to hear from you. Why don’t you leave a comment and share who she is and why she’s your inspiration?

18 Thoughtful Quotes About Worship

".. Worship doesn't happen when a guy gets on a stage with a guitar. It happens when faith-filled eyes behold the glory of Christ" - Matt Pappa

"Whenever the method of Worship Becomes more Important than the Person of Worship, We have already prostituted Our Worship." - Judson Cornwall

“Don’t let your life give evidence against your tongue. Sing with your voices… sing also with your conduct.” - St Augustine

“You cannot divide human beings into those who worship and those who don't. Everybody worships; it's just a matter of what, or whom, we serve." - Paul David Tripp

“Ultimately, it is the very life of man, man himself as living righteously, that is the true worship of God, but life only becomes real life when it receives its form from looking toward God.” - Benedict XVI

"When you put biblical truth to the songs used in churches, you'll have the congregation leave singing the sermon. You'll have God's thoughts, things that are God-breathed, stuck in their heads. It's sad to think about a really catchy tune paired up with bad theology because that could, honestly, do a lot of damage in church "      -. Laura Story

"Worship leaders, let's choose to praise rather than perform when leading." - Tim Hughes

""As we see the beauty of God and feel His weightiness in our hearts, our hearts begin to desire Him more than we desire sin. Before the Bible says," Stop sinning, "it says," Behold your God." - JD Greear

"My vocation is love" - Mother Teresa

"Praise is the Rehearsal of Our eternal Song By Grace We learn to Sing, and in Glory We Continue to Sing." - Charles Spurgeon

"I desire only Him and to be wholly His." - Brother Lawrence

"Worship is love on its knees before the beloved; just as mission is love on its feet to serve the beloved" - NT Wright

"Let's determine to finish well by helping facilitate a lifelong conversation and sense of community between God and the people He has called us to serve." - Paul Baloche

"The desire is your prayers; and if your desire is without ceasing, your prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer." - Augustine

"He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."  - Louis Nizer

“We don’t just show up on stage; we bring along the oil of praise in jars of practice and rehearsal so that when the Lord shows up, our worship shines as the light with which His Church shall welcome Him!” - Gangai Victor (yes, shameless self reference!)

“As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience
saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life.” - Richard Foster

"We must never rest until everything inside us worships God." - AW Tozer

7 Great Books Every Worship Leader Should Read

“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.” - Oscar Wilde

Reading is an indispensable life practice for anyone in any ministry.

No other habit helps us to learn as much as reading. It helps us to go beyond what we know, tap into the insights and knowledge of others, and broadens our thinking and perspective, apart from many other benefits.

Here's a list of some of my favorite reads (the book descriptions are excerpts from Amazon), which I believe are useful for worship leaders, in no particular order:

 

The Ragamuffin Gospel – Brennan Manning

"The world assigns value to people using measurable standards. Someone is a successful student if she receives As. Someone is a strong athlete if he runs five miles a day. The Lord, however, knows nothing of standards. The Ragamuffin Gospel was inspired by Brennan Manning after he discovered firsthand what it means to live by grace instead of performance. His words bring new life and sweet refreshment to Christians who are tired of never measuring up."

 

 

 

Godsongs – Paul Baloche, Jimmy & Carol Owens

"This instructional book by songwriters Paul Baloche and Jimmy & Carol Owens covers basic songwriting principles like how to develop a song after inspiration comes, 30 characteristics that make a song memorable, 16 shared qualities of great worship songs and 12 keys to unlock writer's block. You will also learn how to gain the listener's attention quickly, find fresh ways of expressing worship and choose just the right words. God Songs also contains advice on how to make your song its best before releasing it, how to get your songs heard and used by others, and ways to minister most effectively with your music."

 

 

To know you more – Andy Park

"Practical advice, experienced counsel and inspiring ideas on a variety of issues like

songwriting pulling together a team staying humble planning the flow of worship what to do in times of dryness... and more

Above all, Park will help you discover what it means for you as a worship leader to be first and foremost a worshiper."

 

 

Confessions of St. Augustine – St Augustine

"Confessions is one of the most moving diaries ever recorded of a man's journey to the fountain of God's grace. Writing as a sinner, not a saint, Augustine shares his innermost thoughts and conversion experiences, and wrestles with the spiritual questions that have stirred the hearts of the thoughtful since time began. Starting with his childhood in Numidia, through his youth and early adulthood in Carthage, Rome, and Milan, readers will see Augustine as a human being, a fellow traveler on the road to salvation. Though staggering around potholes and roadblocks, all will find strength in Augustine's message: when the road gets rough, look to God!"

 

The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence

"BROTHER LAWRENCE of the Resurrection (c. 1614 – 12 February 1691) served as a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris. HE is remembered for the intimacy he expressed concerning his relationship to God as recorded in the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God."

 

 

 

 

Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God – Bob Kauflin

"Bob Kauflin covers a variety of topics such as the devastating effects of worshiping the wrong things, how to base our worship on God's self-revelation rather than our assumptions, the fuel of worship, the community of worship, and the ways that eternity's worship should affect our earthly worship."

 

 

 

 

 

The Imitation of Christ – Thomas à Kempis

"The spiritual classic by à Kempis, the second most widely read spiritual book after the Bible, has had an astonishing impact on the spiritual lives of countless saints, peasants, and popes for centuries. Even today, the soul-searching words of the fifteenth-century cleric Thomas à Kempis continue to resonate, unbounded by time or geography. Drawing on the Bible, the Fathers of the early Church and medieval mysticism, his four-part treatise shrugs off the allure of the material world, blending beauty and bluntness in a supremely spiritual call-to-arms."

 

 

I know I haven't read enough, so I'd like to hear from you! What books have you read that have inspired you? Leave a comment below and let me know!