Course Description
Above is a brief video overview of the course.
The Worship Leader Boot Camp begins with a thorough look at critical issues that impact churches and worship leaders. Churches throughout the world are struggling with what style of worship is appropriate for their setting. Many churches find themselves dying, stuck to old forms of worship that once were very meaningful, yet now don’t seem to engage the people in meaningful worship nor speak a language that the unchurched can understand. In the 50’s and 60’s, worship was pretty similar among churches of the same denomination and most sang from a common source—the denominational hymnal. Today, things have changed drastically and church leaders are struggling to determine what their church’s corporate worship should look like. There are many factors to consider in this quest. This event will help leaders dive into some very important issues impacting corporate worship:
- What is the biblical basis of worship?
- What does it mean to worship God with all our being?
- What role should personal preferences play in worship?
- How should culture impact corporate worship?
- How should a missionary mindset impact corporate worship?
- How is worship and discipleship intertwined?
- Is unified worship the best way to go?
- What style of worship is appropriate for my church?
- If a church does sense God’s leadership to change, how can that be done in a healthy, God-honoring, people-loving manner with biblical and musical excellence?
In addition the Worship Leader Boot Camp adds intensive training for the worship leadership of a church in these areas:
- Leadership issues to help each person grow in their leadership and understand how to be sensitive in their work.
- How to select (and where to find) new songs for worship, putting them through the proper filters for text and music.
- Mechanics of worship-learning how to put together a set list, looking at key relationships and textual relationships as well as flow in worship and planning a worship service. Participants will learn how to publish a worship plan/guide for the musicians that will aid in implementing the worship service.
- Corporate worship in practice, looking at common pitfalls, rehearsal basics, and how to have ongoing evaluation to improve your worship team’s leadership.
Time Commitment: This course includes 29 videos with 6.5 hours of instruction. One should expect to spend a minimum of 10 hours with this class.
Cost includes 114-page Worship Leader Handbook (downloadable PDF)
Missionary Mindset
The notes begin on page 15 for this section. After watching this video, please answer the ThinkMore questions.
- We never expect a missionary from our church to go to a tribe in Africa and ask them to worship with an organ and piano singing Western hymns. Yet we find nothing wrong with asking the people in our communities (who may never encounter music of the type we use in our churches) to come and worship God in forms that are very foreign to them. If we truly want to reach those that did not grow up in the church, then we need to seek ways to speak a language they understand. The message never changes nor is it watered down, but the delivery system of that message must stay relevant to reach people today.
- What is relevant today may be totally different in a few years. We must always have the freedom to change based on our missionary context.
- Why are we willing to sacrifice tradition and cultural preferences to travel around the world, but not willing to make those same sacrifices across the aisle or in our communities?
Our worship should not be so foreign to our guests that they cannot understand it. How does this impact future decisions about corporate worship at your church?
Linking Worship Songs – Musical & Textual Considerations, Part One
The notes are on pages 71-73 for this section. Please watch this video and answer the ThinkMore question noted below.
Check out the Worship Transitions Class for much more detail including 47 videos
Give an example of the three kinds of musical transitions demonstrated in this video.