Conferences are great! I used to be the guy who would sit in the auditorium in the afterglow. I didn’t want to leave. I had been inspired, encouraged, stretched, and poured into. What I received was not just information, it was impartation. I wanted to take many of the presenters home with me.

This is a beautiful treatment of this topic by Ad Lib coach Craig Knapp.

Something I hear constantly in conversations, especially in the tech realm, is the fear that AI is replacing human jobs. Frequently, I get asked the question, “Aren’t you afraid that (fill in the blank) job will be replaced by AI?”

Are you aging out of worship leadership? Are you feeling burned out or pushed out? Do you wish you had the same passion for Jesus, worship leading, and people that you once had before all those years in worship ministry? How can you rekindle a youthful, yet mature exuberance for the next season of ministry?

My friend Adam once said, “I’m not a psychologist because that’s what I do. I’m a physiologist, so that’s what I do.” In other words, his chosen profession doesn’t make him what his job title says. His calling and bent made him who he is, so he chose that for his profession.

The candles go out, the lights come down, the room empties—and suddenly it’s quiet. After weeks of rehearsals, planning, long days, and late nights, Christmas Eve hits with so much beauty and energy…and then it’s just done... it's over.  

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.

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.

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’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.