Light A Fire
Sometimes lighting a fire feels like lighting you’re using soaking-wet wood. It’s impossible despite your best efforts. Other times, the gas-lit fire practically jumps on you.
Wake Up, Neo
I recently mentioned the name “Neo” to a room full of worship leaders, and they knew.
Do All Tadpoles Grow Into Frogs?
Hello, fellow amphibians!
We went to the beach last week, and the singular thing my fifteen-year-old was looking forward to was…fishing!
Does Your Church Prioritize Worship?
Worship MUST be your priority because it SETS your priority.
How I Help My Team Be More Musical
A worship leader sent me this question: “Our team has been growing in building musical dynamics that really create openings for people to enter in.”
Stop right there! I’ve never heard it said quite like that: “Musical dynamics create openings for people to enter in.”
How I Disciple My Team
One of the most biblically mandated yet commonly neglected roles in worship ministry is discipling those on our teams. Why? We over-focus on the weekly grind and under-focus on the long-term spiritual formation of our team.
One Who Puts On His Armor Should Not Boast Like One Who Takes It Off
You know that verse about not saying we’re gonna do this and go there and make business happen but rather say, “If God wills, we’ll do this or that”?
Is There More?
Three short stories. (they include your goals for 2025)
Hack: Learning New Songs
Do you struggle to learn new songs? Before you say you don’t, let me clarify what I mean.
Are You Battle-weary Or Battle-strengthened?
I was going to say the last several months have been quite a battle, but honestly, the last five years in Costa Rica have been a battle. What’s been the effect on me?
They Don't Know
We are living on a coffee plantation. Most weekday mornings, the small crew of coffee pickers come through the gate, dragging along their nine and eleven-year-old children to play while they pick.
Minister To The Lord
But what if no one is ministering to the Lord?
Remove The K And Finish The Word
When we start something, we’re never amazing at it. This Fertilizer is dedicated to worship leaders, teams, and techs in their first five years of serving.
The Twenty-One Mile Challenge
Seeing where you’re going is more important than you think. Ask any of us who have meandered through a dark house on the way to a bathroom break in the middle of the night only to find out just how flexible our little toe is compared to the coffee table leg. Right?
The only 5 things you need... and other platitudes that don’t really work
Whenever I browse social media, I consistently see posts about “the only 5 magical things that can do everything better…” #clickbait
Are You Being Held In Tension?
“What if where you feel the tension you discover God’s intention for you?”
I Wish I Would’ve Known
I was a little naughty.
My college roommate, Troy, was visiting me in Pennsylvania from his home in North Carolina. I had just started getting to know a cute girl (who I later married.)
Rehearsal Notes
Next week, I fly to Columbus, Ohio, to encourage a worship and creative team. I’ll be rehearsing them and leading the Sunday services as part of the training weekend. In preparation, I’m sending them notes on one of the songs we’ll lead.
The Launch 61
Imagine this: the students who bravely stepped into high school amidst the whirlwind of the pandemic are now on the verge of graduating. Wow!
Drifting Into Ruts
I was speaking with a church that has been without a staff worship leader for nearly a year.