To download the video from this podcast, click here.

The Main and the Plain

One of the main issues is that of rhythm and groove. An unrehearsed band often ends up a clash of competing grooves, with everything pulling one way or the other. The best way to avoid this is to Keep It Simple (the KISS principle, but I’ll leave out the last S). The idea of disciplining oneself to basic beats of each measure may sound regimented and uncreative, but it gels a team together into a more consistent rhythm and serves the congregation more effectively as a result.

Here are some more detailed principles you can follow in the band:

1. Play the changes: If there’s a chord on the chord chart, play it. Everything else isextra (more on extra later).
2. Bassists: Keep it low and legato (look that up if you don’t know what I mean). Play the downbeats and the changes. Think of yourself as the mortar between the bricks of a wall – you need to spread yourself out and hold together all the elements of groove with all the elements of harmony.
3. Drummers: Play the main elements of the rhythm consistently and repetitively; consistency is more important than variety.
4. Guitarists: Play the changes and keep it simple. Don’t play too hard or across all strings all the time.
5. Keyboardists: Play the changes. Stay around one region of the keyboard and keep away from the melody.

Choose your moment, and use dynamics.

Sometimes, because of the way songs flow into one another, there is a tendency for musicians to fidget their way into an arrangement. That tends to loosen the structure of a song and make it harder to demarcate its different sections. This is mostly relevant for bassists and drummers, so here are some tips:

1. Bassists & Drummers – keep eyes on eachother and negotiate your entry together at an appropriate moment – that will often be settling into a groove after the first verse or chorus. Further to that, bassists, in general don’t leave drummers out on their own. They get lonely.
2. Don’t fidget in and out of sections, but also don’t switch on and off like a light; use dynamics eg. drummers: changing between closed HH, semi-open HH, ride cymbal etc gives you a broad range of dynamics without having to changeanything else about the groove.

Giving it something extra

If it is at the expense of the main and the plain, simply: DON’T. It’s like putting soft furnishings inside a house that has no doors or ceiling. However, if you’ve got that covered, think of anything extra as being like spices while cooking – use them selectively and sparingly. Too much will result in something indigestible, but just enough will liven everything up and make it more exciting.

Et Voilà!

These musicians who have just about managed to overcome all the technical issues fighting them all morning suddenly start sounding like a rehearsed band. These principles can act as standing orders to the extent that, unless you’re a vocalist, you can pretty much handle any song that might be thrown at you as long as you know its key and time signature. Go do it, and bless you as you serve your communities by leading them into the presence of the living God!

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Jesse is a professional musician and a worship leader at the Kingdom Vineyard in East Fife, Scotland, having recently left London where he grew up. He has played guitar on several Vineyard Records UK productions, such as New Songs Vol.1, New Songs Vol. 2, Great Big God 3 and  Small Group Worship Vol.1

To download the audio from this podcast, click here.

To download a chord chart for “Who Is Like Our God,” click here.

To watch a video tutorial of the song click here.

To view a video tutorial for “He’s our KIng”, click here.

To download the Vineyard Worship Podcast featuring “He’s our KIng”, click here.

We were filled with anxiety (would anyone come?) as well as anticipation (God had encouraged us with Luke 12:32: “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom”). At the end of our cleanup, before we left for the evening, our young worship leader, Andy Park, pulled out his guitar and led us in simply expressing to God our fears and longings for His presence and Kingdom. Though worship in the midst of piles of flies was hardly the ideal set up for a “magic moment,” the Spirit of God surprisingly brought tears as He softened and called our hearts to the “song” of His Kingdom. This became a repeated experience as often as we gathered over the ensuing months and years: as we turned our hearts and voices to God, He would faithfully come near us in loving and intimate ways. It was increasingly during this time that He gave to Andy, as well as a young man in our family named Brian Doerksen (and eventually to many others), songs that gave our souls language for these encounters.

Of course, at that time, we had no idea of the extent to which God would sovereignly breathe on these songs and use them to invite others around the world into an intimate encounter with Himself. The songs were simply an out- growth of our desire as a people to be fully captured by His heart of mercy and to tangibly walk it out – they gave us language and melodies with which to express the joy and the terror of that pursuit!

As I look back on that time, I realize that there was a simplicity and wonderful naiveté that can realistically never be re-lived. Yet as I observe these same worship leaders and song- writers almost 20 years later, I am thrilled to see even greater vibrancy, relevance and authority in their songs and in their lives today. And I believe there is a simple reason for this: they have not lost the heart to do what their worship language describes, causing their lives to sing as loudly as their voices.

The Importance Of Worship As Expression To God
This is not to minimize the importance of our honest, heart expression to God. Corporate worship is the central activity around the eternal throne of God (Rev. 4). In other words, the Lamb of God is worthy and must be praised. Aligning our hearts and voices with that reality powerfully invites the presence of God’s Holy Spirit to continually transform us; and it proclaims to the spiritual world our allegiance to Christ, causing rejoicing among God’s angels and trembling among Satan and his demonic forces.

It also powerfully nurtures and deepens our relationship with God. Against all reasonable expectation, He has in His mercy invited us into a loving relationship with Himself. Therefore worship for us does not need to be grudging acknowledgement (Phil. 2:9, 10; James 2:19); it can be a celebration of intimacy. This intimacy is to be marked by rich communication – worship is the love language that nurtures and deepens our communion with God and invites His presence to grow in us.

The Importance Of Lives In Tune With Our Words
It is supremely important to most worship leaders (certainly my co-workers have been no exception) that this expression to God is artistically aesthetic. They hate having instruments and/or voices out of tune or out of sync. Yet I believe there is a far greater danger: that the priorities of our practical, daily lives become out of tune with the words of our songs! It seems clear from scripture that this is of great concern to God.

God has made it clear that all worship expression must be heart-felt to be pleasing to Him – mindless recitation does less for God than it does for us (Is. 29:13)! That is to say, “heart-felt” in a biblical sense, not in our modern sense of being emotional. The Bible speaks of the heart as the centre of our being which includes the mind, the emotions and the will. It is important to God that our words come out of, and be in harmony with, our whole lives. In fact, He describes the songs coming out of Israel’s worship festivals during the time of Amos the prophet as “noise to [His] ears.” Though God Himself describes the songs as “lovely” (and no doubt they were delivered with great emotion), He will not, and cannot listen to them – they are so out of tune with His principles of justice and honesty that to His ears they are like a discordant symphony; a cacophony (Amos 5:21-24).

The kind of worship expression that God is looking for comes out of a unity of life and voice. As the apostle Paul puts it in Romans 12:1, when we have truly seen and experienced the great mercy of God, we can have no other response than to trust Him so completely as to practically surrender all that we are to Him – our thoughts, our words, our actions. True worship is a holistic response of our entire selves to God; it can be nothing less. As the author of Hebrews encourages us, both words and deeds are important:

With Jesus’ help, let us continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by pro- claiming the glory of His name. Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacri fices are very pleasing to God (Heb. 13:15, 16).

This counsel is especially important in our present “instantaneous” culture, which is so emotionally attuned it often lacks perseverance and discipline. Once we have talked about something, we almost feel like we have actually done it. In a fragmented society, it is quite easy to accept a fragmenting of our own lives into separated compartments. And so, despite the warning of James 3:10, it seems that “…blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth.” Or, seemingly less serious, but actually not so, we earnestly sing, “Your Kingdom come,” yet fail to ask how we should live in the light of our song.

In worship songs, this has often resulted in emotionally stirring melodies and lyrics that, on a spiritual level, are quite shallow and have little authority to challenge and call people to deeper submission and integrity. They stir the soul but fail to move the life.

An Example To Follow
It is for this reason that I have been so blessed by watching our teams over the years. Not that they (in the words of Paul), “have already reached perfection” (Phil. 3:12), but each in their own way has, with integrity, continued to reach toward what it means to truly be worship leaders. They have tried to grow in their ability to lead others in singing the song of God’s greatness and love. They have grown as they have applied themselves diligently to the craft of songwriting , striving to most effectively provide music and lyrics to give wings to the souls of us all in our expression to God. And they have kept reaching for a genuine unity between the songs of their mouths and the songs of their hands.

I’ve personally been blessed by the songs sung from the stage as I’ve been lifted beyond my own discouragement or fear and led to a living encounter with God. Even more, I’ve been deeply satisfied and challenged by watching our worship leaders sing the song of the Kingdom in other, more secret arenas: generously sharing with the poor, touching the fatherless in real ways, being a faithful friend to those with AIDS, visiting those in prison – being good news as well as singing good news.

Perhaps that’s why their songs still move and inspire me to truly worship in word and deed – to sing a song that’s music to God’s ears first of all, and most of all.

To download the audio from this podcast, click here.

To download chord charts for “He’s Our King,” click here.

To view a video tutorial for “He’s our KIng”, click here.

Ein Wochenende mit Schwestern im Garten Gottes

Von Freitag, 15. November bis Sonntag, 17. November
in Hamburg-Altona.

Die Blumenwiese ist ein Ort für alle Schwestern, die in ihrem Leitungs- und Kreativpotential wachsen wollen.

Wir suchen gemeinsam nach Gottes Plan für unser Leben und unsere Umgebung.
Wir treffen einander, Träumen füreinander, Ermutigen jede!
 
Unsere Themen
Das Herz einer Frau (geistliche Identität & Stärken)
Gott vertrauen lernen (weil er mir vertraut)
Jesus-Beziehung in Krisenzeiten (sein Frieden in meinem Sturm)
Die Kraft der Vergebung erleben (Von Ihm ergriffen sein und loslassen)
Gott gewollte Weiblichkeit (Ja, ich darf schön sein!)
Intimität mit dem Heiligen Geist (Mein Alltag als Altar)
Mutig in meinen Gaben leben (Mit Gott über Mauern springen)
Mein Vater und ich (Tochterschaft – sein Geheimplan für mich)

Stornoregelung:
Bei Absagen nach Anmeldung behalten wir 20% generell.  Wenn die Stornierung ab 30 Tage vorher ist es 50% Bei Stornierung ab 14 Tage vorher ist es 100%

Gastgeberinnen
Kimberley Reschke (Hamburg), Coco Keiser (Hamburg), Deborah Bühlmann (Bern)

http://de.amiando.com/blumenwiese2013.html

das Vineyard-Treffen rund um Anbetung & Gottes Gegenwart

mit Jeremy Riddle, Martin Bühlmann, Brian Doerksen

Stuttgart – Sept 20-22

Die Psalm Konferenz 2013 geht um Anbetung. Erwarte eine Zeit voller Begegnung, Inspiration und Kreativität.

Jeremy Riddle (Bethel, USA) kommt mit seiner Band und wird uns in Anbetung führen. Er teilt mit uns seinen Weg in der Anbetung.

Wir freuen uns auf 3 unvergessliche Jesus-Tage zusammen!

von Freitag, 20. Sept, 19.30 Uhr
bis Sonntag, 22. Sept, 14 Uhr

Stornoregelung

Bei Absagen nach Anmeldung behalten wir 20% generell.
Wenn die Stornierung ab 30 Tage vorher ist es 50%.
Bei Stornierung ab 14 Tage vorher ist es 100%.

http://de.amiando.com/psalm2013.html

PsalmKultour sind Inspirationstage in verschiedenen Städten in D.A.CH. An diesem Tag erwarten dich 15(+) Workshops, Up-Front Inputs, Anbetung, Ministry, Live-Kunst, Begegnung mit Gottsuchern und Gott.

Wir wollen verborgene Ströme von Gotteskultur in dir aufbrechen sehen und Dich zu einem frischen Ausdruck in deiner Jesusbeziehung inspirieren. Wir wollen deine Gaben aktiviert sehen und Beziehungen unter Anbetern und Gottsuchern schaffen.

Das Psalmkultour-Team besteht aus 15 Personen. Mit dabei sind u. A. Marlin Watling, Kristian & Kimberley Reschke, Ed Einsiedler, Deborah Bühlmann.

Termine und Anmeldung:

Wien – 1. Mai
Karlsruhe – 4. Mai
Bochum – 22. Juni
Hannover – 7. September

http://vineyard-anbetung.blogspot.ch/2013/01/psalm-kultour-2013-anbetung-und.html

Organisiert durch Vineyard Music

Tagungsstätte Kloster Germerode

Stille bedeutet nicht Einsamkeit, sondern Gemeinschaft mit Gott.
Wir wagen es uns zurückzuziehen, still zu werden, uns selbst und Ihm zu begegnen.
Wir erwarten, dass diese Tage uns ausrichten, aufrichten und in Ihn verändern.

Vom 5. bis 8. Juli 2013 gehen wir mit einer Gruppe ins Kloster Germerode, um zu schweigen. Neben der Zeit alleine mit Gott treffen trifft sich die Gruppe zweimal am Tag um gemeinsam Gott zu begegnen. Einmal am Tag trifft sich jeder mit einem geistlichen Begleiter.
Voraussetzung zur Teilnahme ist das vorbereitende Lesen des Buches: Gebet als Begegnung (Bello/Reschke).

Veranstalter ist Vineyard Music D.A.CH.
Verantwortlich sind Marlin Watling, Eddy Dück, Kristian Reschke

die Anmeldung hier ist verbindlich. Vollpension kostet 295 EUR.
Stornoregelung:
Bei Absagen nach Anmeldung behalten wir 20% generell.  Wenn die Stornierung ab 30 Tage vorher ist es 50% Bei Stornierung ab 14 Tage vorher ist es 100%

http://de.amiando.com/stilletage.html 

An outline of what you can expect to find on the DVD, as well as links to where you can get hold of a copy, can be found below.

Leading Worship

Imagine having the opportunity to sit at the feet of some of the most influential worship leaders of our day drawing from their experience and insight.Leading Worship DVD is a training experience that allows you to do just that. Watch, listen and discover how, step by step, these worship leaders address such issues as planning a worship set, selecting songs, creating flow and rehearsing

with their bands. Engaging interviews offer a useful blend of practical and theoretical content that is sure to equip, encourage and motivate the growing worship leader.

DVD Chapter Topics include:

• Introduction
• Understanding Worship
• The Worship Leader Role
• The Worship Set
• Choosing Songs
• Theme-based Sets
• Establishing Flow
• Incorporating Hymns
• Rehearsing the Band
• Your Musical Role
• Leading the Set
• Follow Up
• The Learning Process

Featuring : Brian Doerksen, Brenton Brown, Kathryn Scott, Matt Redman, Andy Park, Tim Hughes and host Dan Wilt.

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