Now WHAT?

April 8, 2024

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:58

The week after Easter is full of “attaboys” and “what-ifs.” It is commonplace for us to focus on the highest and lowest points of the most significant week of our annual calendar. 

Might I help pop a few bubbles and lift some heads the week after Easter….

You are not identified by your church’s attendance. 

You are not identified by how many people lifted their hands for salvation. 

You are not identified by how many services you had. 

You are not identified by how many new songs, deep cuts, or classics made up your worship set. 

You are not identified by how sick the Photo Booth was in the lobby or how epic the Easter egg hunt was… or wasn’t…..

You are not identified by any metric of success our churches can provide. As creatives, it is very easy for us to gauge our worth by our view of success. At times, this can suffocate and stagnate us from our true calling as Vineyard worship pastors: to lead people into deeper intimacy with Jesus and help people see the Kingdom come and its coming in full. 

God honors your “yes” and your willingness to follow after His Spirit and pursue His children to bring them back to their Father. I heard once from Carl Tuttle, a founding Vineyard pastor and worship leader, that God does not call us to perform; he calls us to obey. 

I truly believe it is in our obedience and our steady “yes” that His Kingdom breaks through here on the Earth. He is faithful and sovereign to move in spite of it, but how good is He that he invites us into this amazing calling and journey of ministry? 

Thank you for being doorholders for the Kingdom of God all over the country and even all over the world. I am so thankful we get to do this thing called worship together! Whether you saw it in droves, in the stillness, or in the aftermath, know that lives were transformed this past Easter because God is good, and people like you stepped up rather than stepped back this Easter Weekend. 

God bless you post-Easter, and continue marching forth in your steady “yes”.

Tim Brown
Canyon View Vineyard Church
Grand Junction, CO, USA

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Tim Brown has served as the Worship Pastor of Canyon View Vineyard Church in Grand Junction, Colorado, since 2012. He also serves the larger Vineyard Movement as a songwriter, song artist, and educator in the foundations of Vineyard Worship for aspiring worship leaders all across the United States. Tim and his wife, Dale, have two amazing kids: Evelyn and Otis.

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THE PERFECT EASTER SET LIST

March 22, 2024

Easter is here…and by now you’re probably deep into the details of making this big weekend happen - which is why I wanted to write and encourage us to knock it out of the park with the BEST EASTER SETS EVER!

Here are my very quick thoughts for a perfect set:

1. Open with a song that everyone knows - and by everyone…I mean as many people as possible. The room will be filled with your regular folks, but it will also include people who haven’t been to church in a while…and, hopefully, some who have never been to church. Make that first song all about a sense of hospitality - to God and to our guests.

2. Include a song that tells the gospel story in some way. Easter is one of those mornings where our pastors are going to be laying out the Good News, so it would be good to mirror that in the words that we sing.

3. Center Jesus in the songs. Again, Easter is all about a Savior who takes our sin and conquers death - let’s sing His name!

4. Play something old - not just a classic, modern worship song - but a hymn. It helps center our worship in the historic Church. Our faith is not something that we get to “make up”; instead, it’s something we receive…our worship can also reflect this heart posture.

5. Introduce something brand new. Sometimes, nothing packs a punch like a brand-new song. And even if the song is not new to the world…it could be something new to your church. If it’s situated well, people will already be singing, so they will grab right on. Plus, it hints at the fact that our faith isn’t simply something that happened “back then”; instead, it’s alive and continues to shape and give us life right up to today. 

Of course, the perfect Easter worship set is highly contextual, so I’m including sets from a couple of friends that you can use as inspiration. Feel free to rip one of these sets completely or make it your own.

Adam

Joshua Miller’s Perfect Easter Set List

“I think a perfect set is for the churched and the unchurched who would find themselves in church maybe because of family obligation or their own desire of the church check in for the year. I like the idea of beginning with praise and adoration of God’s goodness, some story telling of the gospel and timeline of the story and ending with more vertical declaration of who God is. So, my set goes like this…”

PRAISE - “I Gotta Song” (James Wilson)

STORY - “This is the Gospel” (Elevation Rhythm) 

STORY TIMELINE - “King of Heaven” (Vineyard Worship)

STORY/ DECLARATION - “All Hail King Jesus” (Bethel) 

DECLARATION - “How Great thou Art” - chorus only (Hymn)

DECLARATION – “King of Kings” - chorus only (Hillsong)

Anabeth Morgan’s Perfect Easter Set List

“All Things Rise”

“Clean”

“My Great Redeemer” 

“In Christ Alone”

“Jesus Paid It All”

Do you know about our Easter & Lent Playlists? 

A Spotify playlist of songs for reflection during the season of Lent and Easter from us to you.

Una lista de reproducción de canciones para la reflexión durante la temporada de Cuaresma y Pascua de nuestra parte para ti.

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Adam Russell is a husband and father of four. In addition to his role as the Director of Vineyard Worship, Adam is Lead Pastor of the Vineyard Church in Campbellsville, KY and also serves on the Vineyard USA Executive Team.

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WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME…

February 23, 2024

When was the last time you didn’t lead worship and just stood on the front row, lifted your hands and your voice, and experienced a Sunday as a congregant? There are things we can never know if we are making all our decisions based on what *we think* is happening in the room from our position on stage. Spend some time in the regular seats, add your un-amplified voice to those around you, let your own soul be fed and nourished…and of course you’ll be tempted to spend extra time engaging your critical mind noticing what could be better. Try to let go of that if you can…at least until Monday morning…

When was the last time you didn’t go to your church on a Sunday morning and planned a trip to another Vineyard church to be inspired and learn? One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is how often I pick up little things by simply traveling and seeing someone else in action. A while back I was at the Evanston Vineyard and was really moved by how they pray the Lord’s prayer each Sunday as a part of their worship. It felt so good praying the words of Jesus with a room full of believers. I brought that home immediately and it’s been with us in Campbellsville ever since. A few times a year it would be worth getting in your car and driving to another Vineyard church and soaking up their particular expression of God’s kingdom. 

When was the last time you visited another church from another stream? Maybe something radically different…like an Anglican or Orthodox congregation. I always enjoy that feeling of being in a church as an outsider. You can see things with fresh eyes. What is the *point* of their service? In our Vineyard context it’s often a time of response at the end where we invite the Holy Spirit to come and intervene in some way - and while that’s a precious thing, it’s not the only thing…some streams are highlighting practices that might inspire us in our local context. I didn’t really *get* communion until I visited an Anglican Church. And I didn’t really *get* silence until I visited a Trappist monastery. There are gifts all around us if we make the space to go and take them in.

I’d like to invite you to take your work and your calling even more seriously in the coming year by coming off the stage a few extra Sundays to sit in the pews or padded chairs of your own church…but also a few churches besides your own. You’ll be better for it.

Adam

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Adam Russell is a husband and father of four. In addition to his role as the Director of Vineyard Worship, Adam is Lead Pastor of the Vineyard Church in Campbellsville, KY and also serves on the Vineyard USA Executive Team.

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Everyone Is Looking for a Worship Leader

February 24, 2021

Hey friends!

I’m writing this email because of a real change that I’ve noticed in the worship world of the Church over the past couple of years. It’s pretty common when a pastor or church is looking for a worship leader that people reach out to me. I’ve been deeply connected to Vineyard Worship for a while, so it makes sense that pastors would want to email me or text me when they kick off the search for a new worship leader. Historically, I’d get a couple a month but for the past couple of years, that number has exploded, and now I regularly get 10-15 requests a month. The short story is that everyone is looking for a worship leader. 

I don’t think there is any one thing that is causing the uptick…instead, I think we’re seeing the coalescing of many factors into a really strong current of demand. Here are a few:

WORSHIP LEADERS TURNED PASTORS

One huge factor contributing to the need is that many seasoned worship leaders have become pastors. This is especially true in our Vineyard context. In fact, it’s my story. But one of the consistent trends right now is that aging pastors are retiring and often the worship leader is a prime candidate for filling that spot.

PART-TIME SPIRAL

The move away from full-time worship pastors has been happening for a very long time and now we are beginning to feel the strain of it. When we are paying worship leaders on a bi-vocational model there will naturally be a higher turnover. If worship leaders can’t make a living wage leading worship they will need to make up the difference with another job which often leads to higher turnover.

I’ve also noticed that part-timers usually don’t have the margin to train up other worship leaders in the same way that full-time staff can. This doesn’t mean there isn’t any training going on, but it’s often focused on the narrow band of things that happen on a Sunday morning - leading the band, playing well, engaging the room - and those other parts of worship leadership like pastoring, discipling, teaching administration, songwriting, and thinking through non-musical worship just don’t happen. In the end, we have more people who can stand behind the microphone and sing well enough, but very few who have a theology of worship or a deeper understanding of the pastoral craft.

EVERYONE DOES MODERN WORSHIP

For years modern worship was essentially a style within some Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. Now, everyone does modern worship. And just for clarity’s sake, what I mean by modern worship is songs heard on the radio or perhaps written in-house and played by a 4-5 piece band. We are living in a world where the Anglicans and Episcopalians and Baptists are all incorporating guitars and in-ear monitors into their liturgies. Demand is up, and supplies are down.

PANDEMIC PANIC

When the Coronavirus hit and shut us all down every pastor realized that they needed a way to connect and serve their congregations. Overnight we had to start streaming…and many of us had no clue how to do that. We leaned on our most tech-savvy people in our congregations which happened to be our worship leaders. One trend I noticed was non-streaming churches reaching out to worship leaders or tech people who had the skills to build a platform for doing online church. Overnight worship leaders and sound people became as important as lead pastors…again demand is up.

WHAT NOW?

Given that this is our reality and that most of these forces are going to be in play even after the pandemic subsides, what should pastors and worship leaders be doing right now to make sure that the worship culture in their churches stay strong and compelling?

TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN

Whether your church has a worship leader or even if you don’t, right now is the time to invest in the people that you have with ongoing training. Assume that in the next 2-4 years you will have a major transition in the worship leading spot at your church. Are you ready for that? Send your worship leader(s) to training events - consider those moments “continuing education”. Staff worship leaders - invest in those who lead with you week in and week out. Create spaces where people can grow as musicians, and singers, but also as pastors and administrators. Right now there is probably someone in your midst that is ready to take another step…see them, call them out, and help them learn what’s next.

WIDEN THE SCOPE

If you are looking for a worship pastor right now, you need to widen your scope on what you consider to be your “perfect worship director candidate”. Look for older worship leaders…the trend is always younger, but that means there are older worship leaders with years of experience available right now. Look for someone younger. Often we are looking for that 28-year-old who is highly skilled and in touch with what’s happening in the worship space, but maybe there’s a 19-year-old who just moved to your town for college and they will be with you for the next four years! Look for females, look for a musical director instead of a worship pastor, consider your very musical drummer, or maybe a BGV singer who is highly administrative. There are a lot of ways to make worship work…look at who is already around…widen the scope and be flexible with job titles. 

DETERMINE A SALARY RANGE

Determine a salary range rather than a firm number. If someone is experienced, has further education, and also has video or design skills that person could be a staff hire that would warrant a higher salary and also bring major skills to the team. Don’t let a fixed number keep you from getting a highly skilled worship leader who has the skills to lead worship and possibly be a pastoral anchor on your team.

ALLOW WORSHIP LEADERS TO SHAPE THE SUNDAY MORNING LITURGY

Increasingly, worship leaders, especially those who stay and have a longer trajectory with a church, want to shape more of the Sunday morning liturgy than just picking the 4-song worship set. Begin to look for ways that the worship leader might contribute to how communion is done and other non-singing elements of worship. The trend, even among us Charismatics is towards a Sunday service that includes scripture reading, silence, singing, responsive readings, communion, and other forms of Christian practice that have historically sat in other church streams. Bright lights, video, and 4 songs in the same key are not what up-and-coming worship leaders are hoping for in terms of their vocational service. More and more are looking for a place to grow and really craft the worship lives of the people who call your church home.

CONSIDER THIS A CONVERSATION…WHAT AM I MISSING?

This isn’t the whole story…what am I missing? What are you seeing? What obvious thing did I not bring up? Email me and let me know!

Peace!

Adam

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Adam Russell is a husband and father of four. In addition to his role as the Director of Vineyard Worship, Adam is Lead Pastor of the Vineyard Church in Campbellsville, KY and also serves on the Vineyard USA Executive Team.

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Often Slow, Never Late

It’s been said that God is often slow, but never late - meaning that, for whatever reason, God is perfectly fine letting people wait. I mention this because waiting is such a central part of the Christmas story. Underneath the lights and the decorations, behind the manger and the wise men, is a whole lot of waiting.

There were 400 years between the closing words of Malachi and the opening verses of Matthew. 400 years! I’m sure some in those centuries had begun to wonder if God heard them anymore. Perhaps some had started to think that God had gotten bored and started another project or chosen some other people. Maybe some had come to the conclusion that there was no God at all.

Then, almost without warning, God sent an angel to an unknown teenage girl in Israel. The message was one of hope! The Messiah was on the way! 400 years of waiting and silence broken in a moment.

At this point, one might think that the good news project would really pick-up steam. But no. Instead, more waiting. Mary has prophetic promises and a newborn baby - and seemingly not much else. The conception was immaculate, but the birth was blood, sweat and tears. And after the wise men left, things became really quiet.

Imagine a fairly intense season of divine encounters, immediately followed by a very quiet season of extended waiting. 30 years of waiting to be exact. From the time that Jesus was born to the time he started his public ministry, there were at least three decades in the middle - where it sure seems like Jesus didn’t “do anything”. How did Mary and Joseph hold those years? At every birthday did Mary wonder, “is this the year that Jesus lives out what I heard the angel say?” Did the prophetic promises become a burden? Did Mary ever wonder if she had heard from God at all?

This Christmas we are all experiencing a global moment of waiting. COVID-19 has brought many things to a grinding halt. Church is different, family is different, school is different, and it’s lasted so much longer than any of us could have imagined. I remember when the first lockdowns happened in March, how we all thought this would be over in a few weeks - now we’re 10 months into this, and it seems like normal life is still a bit further down the road than any of us would like to imagine.

Perhaps this is a moment to enter into that deeply Christian experience of Christmas - where promise and waiting come and take up the same space. Perhaps this is a moment when the brackish waters of what life is, and what we are hoping for, mix in our midst. Perhaps, with a little prayer, all our waiting can develop a deep endurance (James 1) in our souls and give us the legs to run the race before us (Hebrews 12).

My prayer is that we would not lose heart, that instead we would hang on to the promises of God - the God who is never in a hurry, but never late.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Adam

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Adam Russell is a husband and father of four. In addition to his role as the Director of Vineyard Worship, Adam is Lead Pastor of the Vineyard Church in Campbellsville, KY and also serves on the Vineyard USA Executive Team.

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Encouragement Is Free

Recently a friend asked me what I would do with a blank check for the church. I love that question. I rattled off a list of wonderful band gear, design projects, and potential hires for needed areas. Reflecting the following day, the Lord revealed some areas of my heart that were needlessly operating under a burden of scarcity. He led me once again to the Psalmist’s proclamation: 

For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and its fullness are mine.

Psalm 50:10-12

 

Money is usually the grid by which I’ve seen this text, but when it comes to resources, the reality is that there is so much more to consider. In that moment the clearest resource the Lord was pointing to was my words. 

Here are a few ways that we, as worship leaders, can use our words as resources to edify our teams: 

The Day-Before-Church Text 

I love to pray for my worship and tech teams the day before our worship service. It helps me get out of production mode and into a disciple-making mode. I recognize that there is a battle at hand and often the enemy will attack people physically or emotionally leading into that big day. I love to remind people why they are valuable to Jesus and the Church. I try to affirm who they are and what they do. 

 “Happy Saturday, Becca! Praying for our team and service tomorrow. You are a gift to the team and I’m so stoked to have your harmonies in the mix. You bring a ton of joy to the team. Thankful for you.” +++ 

The Post-Service Text 

The downward spiral that happens in the hours after church can be crushing. Even if everything went well, there is often a little depression that hits us all. It can be so comforting to get a specific word of encouragement in this fragile time. 

“John, I love it when you run sound! We feel so supported when you’re at the helm. You spoke so kindly to Jennifer about the cable issue. I trust and appreciate you.” 

Physical Letter 

Back in the dark ages, people used to communicate via written word on paper. By some miracle, this convenience still exists and, for some (like my wife), a physical letter means more than just about anything else. Consider a quick note of thanks, appreciation, and encouragement to a team member via snail mail! 

Social/Public Praise 

Not everyone likes being publically praised without notice, but for some, it’s their favorite! Bragging on your team via social media can be very honoring and encouraging.

In-The-Moment Edification (cue soft, emotional strings) 

Perhaps the most universally powerful use of words is the one-on-one, look-you-in-the-eye encouragement. Shame is the main obstacle to this very powerful, life changing tool of unity in the Church. If you can approach with honestly and grace, this rare gift will absolutely shake the gates of discouragement and depression off of those who receive it. 

"Steve, you are a great bass player. I absolutely love being alongside you on stage. Thanks for your kindness and smile. I appreciate you.”

+++ A word of discretion: Some of these intimate interactions require relational equity, without which we can actually cause harm unknowingly. Proceed with wisdom and discernment when communicating privately (one-on-one) with team members. 

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Mike O’Brien is Director of the Vineyard School of Worship, a worship team coach, leadership mentor, speaker, and record producer. He holds his Masters of Worship Studies from the Robert E. Webber Institute and is currently serving the church at large in worship team training and worship leader mentoring. Mike, his wife Susan, and their son Ezekiel live in Atlanta, GA. You can find out more about Mike at themikeo.com

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A People Of The Presence

    It is quite an odd thing we do. We gather in a room — all different kinds of people — facing a stage of some sort or sitting in a weird make-shift circle, and we sing songs together. Some sing like angels and others like ogres. Think about it from an outsider’s perspective. 

    You walk in, having never been a part of something like this before, and people are singing, some with their eyes open and some with their eyes closed. You look to your left and you see a man wailing with his head buried in his hands, obviously crying. You look to your right and there’s a woman singing as loud as possible with hands lifted into the air. Depending on the church, you may see dancing or jumping. You may see flags or streamers. You hear clapping, sometimes to the song, and sometimes offbeat. The music rises and falls on some sort of invisible wave. After the seventieth time, they sing the chorus, you may wonder, “Will they ever end the song?” or “Aren’t the musicians tired of playing the same four chords?” Then it gets deathly quiet and people are just standing there as if they are waiting for something grand to happen. What the heck is going on?

    As worship leaders, we do some weird stuff. It is very weird to those who are not in the “club.” But thank God there is a reason we do this stuff. It is because of His presence. 

    Grant and I pastor a church in Nashville, TN, and I know that we would NOT do this if it wasn’t for His presence. We have done some crazy stuff for His presence. One time we baptized a lady in our kitchen with a bowl of water. Another time Grant asked some guy to touch His toes three times to get his back healed. Once we secretly left $1000 cash on a front porch of some couple’s house so they could adopt a special needs girl from Thailand. During our early church planting days, we would convert a restaurant into a church and, during worship practice, our 6-month-old would scream in his pack-and-play at the foot of the stage. Grant quit his great-paying job and left his career in banking to start some church in the basement of a homeless ministry. WE DO CRAZY THINGS FOR HIS PRESENCE! Why? Because it is ALL ABOUT HIS PRESENCE. The moment we forget why we do what we do is the moment we risk being nowhere near what He is doing.

    We are called to be a people of the Presence. Revelation 5:10a states, “He has made us kings and priests to our God.” As priests and kings, we need to lead as our Savior leads, by laying down our lives in surrender to our God, through obedience, and we must minister wholeheartedly to the Lord.

    Over the past year, the Lord has been speaking to us about repentance, living a life of holiness, and, recently, ministering to the Lord. We are called as priests to minister to the Lord FIRST and always. When I say minister to the Lord, I mean to sing songs to Him, about Him, to worship Him, to declare who He is, to declare His promises, to love on Jesus, and to wash His feet with our worship. Sometimes our ministry to the Lord can look like sitting in silence, making space, and allowing HIM to share His heart. And as we enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise, He will inhabit the praises of His people. He will draw near to us. As worship leaders, we must first minister in the inner court before ministering in the outer court. Our job is pointless apart from His presence.

    In Ezekiel 44, the Lord is speaking to Ezekiel about two different sets of Levitical priests. One set of priests had left the presence of the Lord when the Israelites went away and wandered after idols (vs. 10). The other group had continued to guard the presence of the Lord with their lives and minister to the Lord when the Israelites had strayed (vs. 15). The Lord spoke to Ezekiel, stating that the priests who had left the presence and entertained idols would have to endure the consequence of their disobedience. They would be allowed to participate in the temple activities, sacrifices, and guard the gates, but they would not be allowed to come near the presence. The priests who guarded the presence and had continued to minister unto the Lord would be given their inheritance. The inheritance was the Presence.

“I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession” (Vs. 28).

    My fear is that I go through the motions apart from the presence. I do not want to be a leader who just does the job, leads a sing-a-long, and is just a cheerleader. What is the point of what we do apart from His presence? What is the point in all that we do if we do not get our inheritance? He is our inheritance. It is all about His presence.

    1 Peter 2:8b-9 states, “They stumble because they disobey the message —which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 

    If we forget who we are, what we are called to do, and why we do it, then He will not be in it. We are priests. We are called to guard His presence with our surrendered lives. We are to serve in the inner court, to minister unto the Lord, because it is all about Him. It is all for Him. When we forget this, we will stumble because of our disobedience.

    You see, the Levitical priests who disobeyed the Lord had forgotten who they were, whose they were, and wandered after idols. They forgot their first love the moment the people left, the moment the people influenced them. The grievous consequence was that they could continue in their priestly duties but His presence was not near. They went through religious motions, but with no power.

    We are called to be a people of the presence. We are called to minister to the Lord. So how do we make sure we do not stumble and fall into disobedience?

- Jesus must be our cornerstone. He must be what our lives are built on (1 Peter 2:4-10).

- We must come near to the Lord to serve and minister before Him (Ezekiel 44:15,16).

- We must surrender, not strive (Ezekiel 44:17,18).

- He must be our only inheritance (Ezekiel 44:28).

    We have a hard job. Our job can not be done on our own. It only works when we are in partnership with His presence. So if an outsider comes into a worship circle unaware of what is going on, but His presence is there, the change will begin to happen. A conviction will take place. Repentance will fall and lives will be changed. Our simple songs will be anthems of war against the plans of the enemy. The music we play will become strums of freedom, beats of deliverance, and trumpets declaring His promises. Our worship will become the conduit for His presence and His wonders will take place, revealing the glory of our King.

    Jesus, You are Lord! You are my King, my High Priest. Thank you for interceding unto the Father on my behalf. Thank you for giving Your life for mine. Thank you for being my victory over death, allowing me now to have access to the Father. Lord, forgive me for forgetting why I do what I do. Forgive me for putting platform before presence. Forgive me for sacrificing my relationship with you on the altar of popularity. Lord, may my life be surrendered to You. Remind me of my first love. Remind me of who You are and what You have called me to be. Remind me that You are my inheritance and I am Your possession. Remind me that what I do in secret, in front of only You, is what really matters. Remind me that my life is meant to host the presence. Lord, help me to listen actively and obey quickly. Help me to minister to You first. Let me not strive my way onto a stage but surrender my life into Your presence. You alone are my inheritance, my treasure, forever.

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Sarah Pemberton is a worshiper at heart, and has been leading worship for nearly 20 years. Presently, Sarah leads worship at the Nashville Vineyard, in Nashville, TN, a church she and her husband planted in 2016, and pastor together. Sarah’s true heart can be found in raising and releasing worshipers in a local church setting, along with songwriting and working to birth songs to God out of an organic, local context. Sarah is currently writing on several projects, both within the broader Vineyard movement & outside. When Sarah isn’t Pastoring, Leading Worship, or Songwriting, she is a mother of two amazing boys and a wife to an incredible husband (who may or may not have written this bio).

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Stewarding Your Voice

Here’s the deal: the voice is unlike any other instrument. Not only is it an instrument that has language built into it, but it is the only instrument that is internal — our voices are a part of us. Because of that, our voices are inextricably tied to our identity. They are intimately personal. They convey, in part, our identities, our insecurities, our beliefs, and make up a large part of how we communicate with other people. In the beginning, when the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, the scriptures tell us that God spoke into the darkness and said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. James tells us that the power of life and death are in the tongue. And over and over again in the New Testament, Jesus spoke and sickness was healed, demons were cast out, and the lame walked. Not only that, but how many times do the scriptures command us to sing praises to the Lord? Our voices are powerful and a beautifully intricate aspect of who God made us to be.

This is one of many reasons why I believe that it is so, so important to steward our voices well. Not only are they a gift from the Lord that enables us to communicate in amazing ways but, anatomically, our vocal cords need care. They are tiny little guys, typically ranging from about half an inch to an inch thick. They are complex and delicate. How many times have you heard about one celebrity musician or another losing their voice due to neglect? Here are some practical ways you can steward your physical voice well:

• Drink lots of water! We’ve all heard this, I know, but it truly is one of the cheapest, easiest, and most effective ways to support your vocal health. A good rule of thumb is the 8x8 rule (8x 8oz glasses of water per day). This turns out to be ~ 2 liters or half a gallon.

• Give your voice rest. Don’t overuse your voice on the weekend leading up to your worship service. No one needs to hear your killer belt during rehearsal - save it for the set. Rest your voice after a worship set as well.

• Breathe deep. The voice is similar to wind and brass instruments in that breath makes the sound happen. Imagine the amount of breath it takes to make the sound come out of a giant tuba; in our case, breath makes our vocal cords vibrate against each other to form pitches. The more breath support you give, the less your vocal cords will have to strain to produce sound.

• Warm-up before you sing. This can be as simple as humming or lip buzzing a 5-note scale (scale degrees 1-5 and back down again) and moving up/down by half step in the car on your way to church, or humming/lip buzzing through the songs in your set for the morning. A little bit goes a long way.

Finally - don’t try to make your voice something that it’s not. Something that I hear often, especially with young singers, is this straining and striving for that coveted “pop” sound. If that’s your natural voice, bless you; that’s awesome. But I often hear singers choosing keys that are much too low and putting unnecessary strain on their voice, not because it feels good and natural, but because they’re trying to make their voice into something it’s not. On the other hand, if you love to belt high notes, do it — but learn how to belt in a healthy way that won’t place extreme strain on your vocal cords. Spend some time uncovering your natural voice and strengthen the unique qualities that are a natural part of your voice. Delve deeper into your own vocal identity rather than trying to duplicate someone else’s. 
 
My challenge to all of us as worship leaders is to rest in the voice that God has gifted us with - he gave us exactly the voice he wanted us to have (and I’ll bet you anything that he loves it just as much as he loves Adele’s). God used the same vastness of diversity in creating the human vocal soundscape as he did when he created the millions upon millions of species of animals and plants on Earth. Find your voice, love your voice, and steward it well unto the glory of God. 

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Naomi Latta is a pastoral coordinator and worship leader at Vineyard Church Delaware County (OH), and a choir director at Buckeye Valley Middle School. As a graduate of Miami University's Choral/General Music Education program, she has spent the last 10 years studying vocal performance. In addition to teaching voice lessons, leading worship, and singing background vocals on Hansen & Meyer’s 2018 worship album King of Glory, Naomi has a passion for discipleship, raising up young worship leaders, and equipping worship leaders to maintain healthy and uniquely powerful voices.

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Sing Together Event

Friends!

I’m excited to officially announce that registration is open for our national worship leaders conference, Sing Together.  This gathering is happening March 26-28, 2020 in Nashville, TN at the beautiful Nashville Vineyard.

AT VINEYARD WORSHIP WE BELIEVE THAT OUR MAIN VOCATION CENTERS AROUND CREATING SPACES WHERE PEOPLE CAN SING TOGETHER.

For us, the phrase “sing together” means a lot of things. It means enabling moments for all of us to sing with God (Zephaniah 3:17), to sing with heaven (Revelation 5), and to sing with the Church (Ephesians 5:19). We have always had a song, and we are waking up to the fact that it is not a melody that we sing alone. Worship is where we discover that our life, our song, our space is overlapping and flowing from God’s life, God’s song, and God’s space...it’s where we hear the song of God and respond in kind.
 

This March, we’re making space in Nashville to get together and do just this. It’s going to be a special time in beautiful spaces with old friends, new friends, and some moments you might not have even planned for.
 

I’m particularly excited about this moment because it will be the first time in over 20 years that Vineyard Worship has gathered as a national body of called-out singers, songwriters, musicians, poets, prophets, and sound engineers for the purpose of stirring one another up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24). One of the gifts of our movement is that God has moved among us and, as a result, there have been local churches planted all over the country. That’s a wonderful thing. But it’s also a challenging thing because it means that being together in the same space is both rare and difficult.

And let me just say that being together is actually very important. Togetherness is one of the main ingredients that makes the Church the Church. Togetherness is the basis for conception and new life. Togetherness represents the multiplication of strength, like many tributaries that flow into one river. And right now, in a moment where miles separate us, and the robots are trying to divide us into a million particular categories for political and economic purposes, I’m feeling the need to call us together so that we might sing one song...with God, with heaven, and with one another.

In the coming weeks we will be releasing our list of special guests so please be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, go to https://www.vineyardworship.com/singtogetherand register. Space is very limited (about 400) and I don’t want you to miss out. Also, between now and November 26 you can get our super sweet early bird rate of $149.

Ok friends...more to come!

Peace!

Adam

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Adam Russell is a husband and father of four. In addition to his role as the Director of Vineyard Worship, Adam is Lead Pastor of the Vineyard Church in Campbellsville, KY and also serves on the Vineyard USA Executive Team.

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Eden: Song Story

Since the start of 2019 we have been releasing a new single on the first Friday of every month. It’s been a great year so far, with more to come as we finish out the year! One of our more ambitious singles — both topically and from a production standpoint — was our single from April, “EDEN,” written by Ted Kim (senior associate pastor at the Vineyard in Evanston, IL) and Josh Ray & Karl Anderson from Anchour Studios in Maine. Here is the backstory for “EDEN” from writer Ted Kim:

My wife Brittany is an Old Testament Bible scholar. She challenged me to read a brisk little book called “The Epic of Eden." Epic is about the story of the Bible, but framed from the garden.

While reading that book, the thought occurred to me that the end is a lot like the beginning, just with a LOT more people. We began in a garden and we are headed for a garden at the end of time - it just might look more like a city.

In some ways, every time we worship we are reenacting our FIRST story, the one in the garden where God walked face to face with Adam and Eve. This possibility is fully realized to us through Jesus.

From there, I had an idea: Jesus makes Eden possible for people whose lives have been distorted and derailed by sin. He is actually OUR Eden. It is only in and through Jesus that our deserts can become gardens, that our winters can be fruitful, and that even death can be life — that we can find ourselves back to where we started, back home with God. Namely, reunion. Jesus is everything.

From that point on, the song sort of wrote itself. The idea that Jesus is OUR Eden is an idea so beautiful and haunting for me - even the word Eden has a melody to it.

The conceit of the arrangement is a story I imagine to be true. What if Adam decided to take his son Seth to SEE the garden, knowing that they both couldn’t go in? The first verse and chorus are meant to be Adam telling Seth the story of the garden, when the food was impossibly delicious and the fellowship with God impossibly sweet. They are on the “way” to Eden. So I wanted it to be more “synthetic” - as the song goes along, the elements of the song become more “real” and “organic.” The down chorus is the hush that comes to us when we’re in front of great art; Seth and Adam are standing as close to the gates of Eden as they are allowed to and they are quiet. I think we’re naturally silenced by wonder. Finally, the last re-harmonized chorus is the look back at the garden knowing they wouldn’t be able to enter it in their lifetimes. But still, with hope.

As I said, Vineyard Worship’s singles release the first Friday of every month on all digital platforms. Keep up with all of our singles by subscribing to our Spotify playlist “Sing Together.” And be sure to check out this month’s single, “JESUS BEAUTIFUL,” while you’re there!

- Casey Corum

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Casey Corum is the Director of Production and A&R for Vineyard Worship as well as a songwriter, worship leader, record producer, and creative catalyst based in the greater Los Angeles, California area. Casey also travels extensively working with artists, churches, and creative leaders on the stage and in the studio. For more info about Casey, visit his website at: caseycorum.net.

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