The below are answers to the 8 most common questions we get asked regarding leading and arranging songs in church . Regardless of our church size or capability, it should hopefully help us all to think them through a little, even just as a basis for how we plan our…
I recently learned from my boss that I got my place on the Music Apprenticeship Scheme on the strength of being able to tune a guitar successfully. What he didn’t know of course, was that was about as far as my guitar skills extended. Thankfully however over the course of…
This is the first in a short series of posts looking at the task of choosing songs for Sunday services. The aim in this series is to provide a model for music leaders, pastors and others involved in selecting the songs you sing. We'll look at the big picture, the…
We had a brilliant week last week in the Barbican with the Proc Trust, hearing wonderful, encouraging teaching, and being blown away with the sound of so many singing their hearts out! The songs we sang together were mostly well known, but if any were new to you, here are…
I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth,…
Welcome back to our brief(ish) four-part trawl through the murky waters of art theology. We began, effectively, by asking the question: “How do we answer when we’re asked to justify art?” This demand for justification is something that artists are familiar with. It might come from parents: “Don’t you…
The Way Things Are “I always said God was against art and I still believe it. Anything obscene or trivial is blessed in this world and has a reward – I ask for no reward – only to live and to hear my work.” Such were Edward Elgar’s words…
Andrew McKenna from the Music Ministry national team recently wrote this article for the Affinity website. It's a really helpful review on David Peterson's book 'Encountering God together'. Check it out here
One of the great privileges of serving with children's teams on camps and conferences like Word Alive and Keswick is hearing young people sing bible verses. It is brilliant. Linked at the end of this post are 2 memory verses which you may want to have a look at, both…
Everyone's favourite topic. There's tonnes of blog posts across the internet discussing this, and as always with the internet some are much more helpful than others. Everyone has something to say, and everyone thinks they're right. But I think the discussion is less about how loud it should be, and…
How sound is our upgrade plan? Church techs: you know what it's like, you turn up early to set things up, then you begin to discover step by step that things have changed since you last were on duty. You can't find enough XLRs and all the batteries are dead..…
Scenario: It's 5 minutes before the service is due to start and the band leader is getting stressed because the sound guy has had a battery-related catastrophe and is nowhere to be seen as he attempts to source new ones. Or the sound guy is getting frustrated and pleading for…