Worship Leader 101 Podcast

In March I put out an episode, then suddenly stopped. Worse, I never updated all of you on why. Well, here's an update on everything that's happened since then and why I've taken a break from the podcast for the time being. 

Today we have Colt Straub of Ovation Worship talking about stage presence, mentoring your worship team, using elements of entertainment in worship, and recording a live worship album which they just released. This is a great album that contains 2 fast songs that could work well for your congregation. Check out Ovation Worship on Spotify or wherever you stream music. Also visit worshipdeeper.com/book to learn how to start leading worship in 14 days.

Coaching and training your worship team is no easy task. But Shawn Thomas has learned a few things about it as he works with his own worship team and those he visits. But that's not where his skills end. Shawn is also a recording artist, songwriter, and studio owner. Get tips that will help you grow as a worship leader or aspiring artist in this conversation. Learn more about worship leading at WorshipDeeper.com/book. Subscribe to this podcast at WorshipDeeper.com/podcast.

Being an artist and worship leader is no easy task. How do you write accessible yet artistic songs? Nick Morrow of the band Mountaintops talks about his struggle with art and faith. Faith finally led him and his wife Melissa, the other half of Mountaintops, through 4 miscarriages and eventually a healthy baby, all while writing the new album "In The Valley". The album is meant to take listeners, not from doubt to certainty, but from doubt to worship. For episode notes and resources, go to https://worshipdeeper.com/podcast/.

Ever wonder how some worship teams sound "full" and others don't? Well, some of that has to do with background ambient sounds, namely pads. We dive deep into what worship pads are, why worship teams should use them, and how easy it is to start. Mike Graff of CoresoundPads.com tells us how he started creating pads for his own worship ministry, and how things took off from there. Turns out every worship team wants to have a fuller, more professional sound. Get pads at 20% off by using promo code DEEPER at CoresoundPads.com now.

Worship teams focus on song arrangements, guitar parts, and vocals, while sometimes neglecting how it all sounds to the congregation. In this episode, I interview Kade Young of CollaborateWorship.com, church and worship sound expert, on how to get great sound no matter what equipment you have. Visit worshipdeeper.com/eq for Kade's EQ Crash Course, a training that is only currently only open to listeners of this podcast. This episode is also brought to you by another of Kade's courses: Behringer X32 Mastery (worshipdeeper.com/x32), an easy-to-understand course on how to run this popular soundboard.

Hymns were cool, then they weren't, now they are again. Nathan Drake of Reawaken Hymns is behind a massive effort to get churches to rediscover these important and timeless songs. We talk about why worship ministries should be using hymns and where to find easy versions and use them without any copyright hassles! Plus, we talk about a free resource where you can download easy Christmas songs for your worship team. Christmas songs, after all, are just hymns about the birth of Christ! Enjoy this deep and useful conversation!

If you've plateaued as an acoustic guitar player, you need to listen to this episode. Many worship leaders pick up the acoustic guitar and can play, but never improve beyond a certain point. Brad May of AcousticWorshiper.com offers tips and tricks to take your playing further. Worship leaders might think they are already thinking about too many things -- song arrangements, leading the band, and monitoring engagement of the congregation. Brad says there are ways to improve your chord structures, strumming, and go beyond open chords, even while focusing on your other jobs as a worship leader. Ready to take your acoustic playing to the next level? Then listen to this incredible conversation.

Special announcement! Hear about positive changes coming up with the podcast.

High school students might be young but don't overlook them as worship leaders, both for youth and adult services. See more at https://worshipdeeper.com/563/should-high-school-students-lead-worship/. To learn to lead worship in 14 days, go to https://worshipdeeper.com/book.

Writing worship song lyrics can be the most rewarding and frustrating journey on which a worship leader can embark.  Here are some guideposts to keep you on track. If you've ever heard a worship song and said "I could have written that", you might be right. But it's probably harder than you think. Whether you want to be the next big worship songwriting artist, or just compose simple songs for your local church, this episode will help you start your journey. For more about writing worship songs, go here. To learn to lead worship or how to train new worship leaders, go to https://worshipdeeper.com/book

Choosing the right song key for worship is important. You can choose a great song, create an amazing arrangement, and perform it perfectly. But in the end, if you didn’t pick the right key, you and/or the congregation won’t be able to sing it. Have you ever loved a song that came on the radio and you wanted to sing it, but then you discovered it was too high for you? This is how the congregation feels when you pick a key that’s too high, even if you can sing it. Here are ways to pick the right key for you and the congregation. Shownotes can be found here. Want to learn to lead worship? Go to worshipdeeper.com/book to learn how to lead worship in 14 days.  

Pads are a great easy way to fill out your sound and make your team sound more professional. And, you don’t need any special sort of tech, and your team doesn't need to be on in-ears. You don’t even need to be playing to a click track to use them. Worship pads are the #1 easiest way to improve your worship team's sound without breaking the bank. All your questions about pads answered! BONUS: Use promo code DEEPER at https://coresoundpads.com/ for 20% off your entire purchase. Coresound Pads are the top worship pad producer on the market now and you won't regret investing in your ministry.  More at https://worshipdeeper.com/2347/how-to-use-worship-pads-podcast-ep25/

Leading worship for a youth group can be very scary but also very rewarding. You get to foster a worshipful atmosphere in this gathering of students. But it's no easy task. In this episode, I talk about solid strategies to lead worship in youth group, whether you are a youth yourself, or if you're at a later stage of life. To see show notes and other free resources, go here. This episode is sponsored by the downloadable ebook "Learn To Lead Worship In 14 Days". If you want to learn to lead worship or train someone, go to https://worshipdeeper.com/book/

As a worship pastor or worship leader, you are also a song leader. That means you are directing the arrangement of the song. But the congregation doesn’t know your arrangement. That's why you need to give hints and cues about what part of the song you're doing next.  Parts of your arrangement might be obvious. For instance, at the end of the verse you usually go to the chorus. But what about at the end of the chorus? Will you repeat the chorus or go to verse 2? By giving cues, the worshipers will know where your going and will be confident in their singing and worship >>Get started leading worship, lead worship better, or train others. Start at https://worshipdeeper.com/book/ See the shownotes and get more free resources here.

As a worship leader, you’re going to need gear. There are thousands of gear options available, but you can't go out and buy everything right away. Which ones will make you a better worship leader? I put together this episode to show you where to start if you're considering buying the tools you need to be successful. I talk about 5 pieces of gear that I’ve found helpful and should have owned much earlier. I hope this episode saves you time and money when looking at gear options. Product links at https://worshipdeeper.com/2359/gear-every-worship-leader-needs-podcast-ep22/ Learn to lead worship better. Start at https://worshipdeeper.com/book/ See more about great gear for worship leaders here.

There are thousands of worship songs out there, but it still seems hard to find new ones to introduce to your church. In this episode, I review 5 ways to find congregational worship songs quickly. After applying these methods, you'll probably have more new songs than you could possibly introduce to your church! See the show notes and get more free resources here. Learn to lead worship or train others easily. Start at https://worshipdeeper.com/book/

If you're volunteering as a worship leader, you have a busy life. You work full time to provide for yourself and your family. Then you have a second, unpaid role as a worship leader. In the previous episode, I covered some of the benefits and challenges of having a dual role. In this episode, I review practical tips to make sure you don't burn out and successfully lead worship in addition to your paid career.

Being a volunteer worship leader takes discipline. You have to expect that this is a very different lifestyle than you see other people living. In part 1 of this 2-part series, I talk about what this life looks like and what you can expect if you choose to take up an unpaid worship leader role. In part 2, I will cover strategies to keep up with your day job, your worship role, family, and more.

Here’s a question I get a lot. Many people wonder “how much is too much” when introducing new songs at their church. You want to keep current with modern worship and do new songs but you’re not sure how much your church can learn. In this episode I talk about determining how often to bring new songs into your church worship ministry without leaving your congregation behind.

Even if your goal is to be a worship leader, you can learn a lot by serving on another team. Even if you're an experienced worship leader, you can get better by being an instrumentalist or vocalist for another worship team. Here are 5 ways serving another worship ministry or even another worship team inside your church makes you a better worship leader. 

Worship leaders have enough pressure on them. Creating set lists, organizing teams, learning new songs...the list goes on. The good news is that there are many things you're NOT responsible for as a worship leader. In this episode, I interview Spencer Cormany of the popular Instagram channel Leading Worship Well. He reviews what your job is as a worship leader, and what you are not responsible to do. After this encouraging episode, you'll feel much less pressure as you lead worship.

If you're an experienced worship leader, you should be finding and building up those who will eventually take your place. In this episode, I'm interviewed by Jake Gosselin of Churchfront.com about how to mentor up new worship leaders. Whether you're a current worship leader or want to become one, here are some practical tips on mentoring and being mentored into this important role.

I got together with Jake Gosselin of Churchfront.com to discuss how you can introduce tech into your worship ministry. Jake is known as the worship tech guru and he breaks down the best technology to start with, from pads to digital chord charts to loops and lighting. Even if you're a new worship leader, this conversation will ignite your desire to use tech to facilitate and improve your worship leading. 

You might think that someone who gets on stage should be an extrovert so they can lead, interact, be emotive, and all those things we associate with public figures. And there are those kinds of worship leaders, and they are great. But that personality is not a requirement for worship leaders at all. In fact, as an introvert and a shy person, you may be a fantastic worship leader in many ways. But I'm sure many would-be worship leaders have talked themselves out of pursuing this craft because they are a severe introvert. They can't imagine themselves up in front of people, or worse, having to speak in front of them.  But avoiding this call on your life could be a mistake. Take it from a severe introvert like me, that you can lead worship with this personality type.

Rehearsals are an essential part of leading worship. If you want to be a worship leader, you need to learn how to run efficient and effective rehearsals. You might think that rehearsals aren’t your thing. You don’t need them because you like to be spontaneous. But what you end up with is a messy group of songs where all the musicians are kind of doing their own thing. Rehearsals bring everyone together! Rehearsals are the lifeblood of any worship ministry and they should be treated as such. So how do you make sure you have great rehearsals?  

Before you started to lead worship, it may have seemed like the worship leader just got up and started singing on Sunday. If you’ve led worship, you know how wrong that assumption was. Now you probably know that you need to prepare yourself to lead worship spiritually and practically. Building good habits is the key to solid worship leading over and over again. Here are 5 habits every worship leader should build into their routine whether they are on or off the stage that week.

A transition in worship is simply what you do musically or verbally between songs in worship. If you play 4 worship songs you'll have 3 transitions between those songs.What you do -- or don't do -- in between those songs can make or break a worship set. One of your main jobs as a worship leader is to eliminate distractions. We usually think of distractions as things that happen, but they can also be things that don’t happen. For instance, transitions between songs.You come to the end of a song, hit the final note, then nothing. No one starts the song. The band is looking around at each other. No one knows what to do. The worship leader looks uncomfortable. So, the people are uncomfortable. Here's how to avoid that situation.

The worship song arrangement (ie how the verses, choruses, bridges, etc. go together) can make or break the worship experience. You want to have a plan for the song and bring in dynamics and interesting, creative elements. In this episode, I review 4 tips to make better song arrangements for worship. The worship songs you lead never have to be boring!

You may think a worship leader just gets up on stage and starts singing songs that he or she likes, almost at random. But if you've ever led worship, you know that a lot more goes into it. The worship leader has to consider many factors from tempo to key to theme, and a whole lot more. In this podcast episode, I review 4 of the most important elements to think about if you want to be a master at creating amazing worship set lists.

As a new worship leader or even as an experienced one, you tend to just sing songs that you like. While that’s important, that’s just the beginning. You should be reviewing songs and looking at some other things to make sure they are good songs for your church, youth group, or small group. Worship leaders have the second most influence over what your group experiences, only behind the pastor or speaker. This is a big responsibility. You control what people will be singing that week and what songs will be stuck in their heads. Knowing that, you want to be choosing songs that are accurate and appropriate for your congregation. I dive into 10 things to consider when finding new songs for your church, youth group, or anywhere you're leading worship.

You want to lead worship, but you're not sure where to do so. There's already a team that leads Sunday mornings, and you don't know where else you can lead worship. Contrary to popular belief, leading worship for a Sunday morning service is not a good place to start if you're a new worship leader. In this podcast episode, I review 4 better places to lead worship that where it will be quicker and easier to gain permission with much less pressure to perform a perfect worship session as a beginner.

Most music you see as a worship leader or worship musician isn't spelled out for you. You have to figure out melodies, lead lines, and even chords all by yourself. If you grew up as a classically-trained musician, or even if you're just starting out, playing by ear might seem scary. In this episode, I dive into why it's so important to be fast and good at playing by ear as a worship leader, and five of the best ways to learn the skill. 

Playing an instrument and singing at the same time is one of the most important skills as a worship leader. At the same time, many instrumentalists or singers think they'll never be able to learn. The good news is that you CAN learn to play and sing at the same time. There are many advantages to doing so. If you want to open up opportunities to lead worship AND be a part of many worship bands, you should learn to play an instrument and sing at the same time. Your opportunities to participate in worship teams is almost never-ending: You can fill in as a background vocalist You can be an instrumentalist who can also add vocals You can lead worship by yourself even if you have no band If you can play an instrument or sing, but not simultaneously, this episode is for you. Let’s dive into 5 tips on how you can learn to be your own instrumentalist as a worship leader. Get more free resources and show notes here. Get started leading worship, or get help training others at https://worshipdeeper.com/book/

So, you don't play an instrument...but you want to lead worship. It can be done! In Episode 2, I reviewed the importance of learning an instrument as a worship leader. But if you don't play one yet, you can start leading worship while you're learning. There are a number of tricks and secrets -- many of them free -- if you don't have accompaniment for your worship leading. This episode breaks down those ideas and will get you leading worship fast. For more episodes, check out WorshipDeeper.com/podcast.   This episode is sponsored by the book "Learn To Lead Worship In 14 Days" by Tim Lucas. Check out what the book has to offer at WorshipDeeper.com/book  

A lot of worship leaders don't play an instrument, and that's okay. But if you want to give yourself TONS of opportunities and take your worship to the next level, you should learn an instrument. In this episode, I take you through why it's so important to learn an instrument as a worship leader. Then we dive into specifics. Which instruments are best for worship leaders and why? It's true that learning an instrument is no easy task. Especially when you'll be playing and singing at the same time. But it's well worth the effort. For more episodes, check out WorshipDeeper.com/podcast.   This episode is sponsored by the book "Learn To Lead Worship In 14 Days" by Tim Lucas. Check out what the book has to offer at WorshipDeeper.com/book

Ever wondered if you're "meant to be" a worship leader? Well, this episode of the Worship Leader 101 Podcast will cover 5 things to consider to find out if you might be called to this exciting and important role. Do you love the arts? Are opportunities to lead worship opening for you? Are you seeking out worship resources? These could be signs that you are called into this ministry, either as a volunteer, or eventually, full time. For more episodes, check out WorshipDeeper.com/podcast.   This episode is sponsored by the book "Learn To Lead Worship In 14 Days" by Tim Lucas. Check out what the book has to offer at WorshipDeeper.com/book