On Christmas Eve, a church in your area is holding six services: traditional, contemporary, blended, modern, emergent, and orthodox. Then, after the candelighting, the worship team is hopping on a redeye to do a missions trip to Cambodia over Christmas and New Year’s.

Stop and think for a moment. What has most influenced my model of ministry? Many of us don’t even realize we have a model. Can you identify it? Who shaped it? A pastor? A co-worker? An industry? A speaker at a conference? An author? A friend? A podcaster?

I was on staff and was failing with my techs. There was constant tension. There was contempt and sarcasm. And so much passive aggressiveness. There was no life. Rehearsals were dreadful.

Slash chords, color chords, inversions, and magic chords shape musical expression. I'll illustrate their unique roles with piano examples, but all melodic instruments can benefit from understanding these nuances.

It’s happening all over America. Worship leaders with twenty and thirty years of experience are “aging-out” of leading worship.

No, they’re not, but that’s what they call it.

I was helping our pastor pick up some used subwoofers and speakers for our church. We pulled up to a storage container, and our tech friend, who was selling them, greeted us with a smile.

Which of the Five Faders matters most? The logical answer is “my Fader!” :)

This question makes sense, but it isn't the most useful one. Often, the underlying concern is finding justification to challenge a leader or team member who is out of balance or unhealthy.

There’s a song the 16 church worship teams will sing at this Saturday’s workshop in Lancaster. Though it’s not widely known—currently at number 473 on Planning Center Online’s Top Songs chart—it carries a message our community especially needs.

Have you appreciated receiving the Worship Fertilizer or any of the many resources from Ad Lib Music?

Can I ask you a big favor?

The Five Faders book launches TODAY!

It’s easy to lose sight of it, but “What You Do Matters.”

A close friend of mine, who is also a tech supervisor, sent me a picture of a young volunteer mixing the broadcast audio for the live stream at his church. This young unfaithful servant had his feet propped up on the desk and was leaning back in his chair while the music portion of worship was taking place.

I’ve never known what to do with orchestral band instrumentalists who want to join the worship team. It feels like they come from a different world. But there’s hope for us!

If You Can Be Anything, Be Kind

I am not often envious of my daughter’s wardrobe, but she has one shirt that I covet. On the front, it says “be kind,” and on the back, it says “everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” It’s a simple concept that has become my personal mantra as a worship leader and church planter.

I turned 50 in February. I’m not sure how it happened. I’m pretty sure yesterday I had all my hair and it was much darker, I could see at night while driving, and there were more days ahead of me than were behind me.

Did you ever feel like something was just not right in your sphere of ministry? Wade Mullen wrote an extremely helpful book called Something’s Not Right. It was invaluable to me during a very difficult time as a worship director on staff at my church.

I love that my kids are multi-instrumentalists. Most mornings, we have family worship from 7:30 to 8:00. We take turns choosing the songs and rotate on the instruments from piano, bass, drums, acoustic or electric guitar, violin, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, percussion, and of course, voice.

Have you ever wondered where the Five Faders came from? This is its origin story!

I was overwhelmed during a season of life and ministry that felt so heavy. I felt no traction. I wanted a clear, big picture to shoot for and a simple strategy for making daily progress.

I’ve railed against referring to them as volunteers for years because “volunteer” seems like the lowest possible standard you could set for your team.

This Fertilizer is for my fellow procrastinators, those who have made a habit of getting things done in the nick of time to the point that it’s as addictive as the nicotine in cigarettes.