20 Ways to Improve Your Congregational Singing
Matt Merker’s passion for churches singing with faith and understanding led him to write the excellent book, Corporate Worship: How the Church Gathers as God’s People. In this breakout, he’ll share twenty ways to stregnthen the singing of your church, including some you probably haven’t thought of!
Playing Big Songs with a Small Band
How often have you set out to teach a song to your church, only to realize that the recording used a full band and you only have a guitar or a piano? In this practical breakout, you’ll learn principles for making the most of your instrumentation and how to adapt any song for your musicians.
Arranging to Serve a Congregation
In this breakout, Ben Shive will draw from decades of experience in recording and the church to talk about what should matter most to instrumentalists that are seeking to serve their congregations well.
Three Marks of a Spirit-Empowered People
In Philippians 3:3, the apostle Paul says that we are those who “worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” In this brekaout, Jared Mellinger will discuss how to pray for and expect God’s Spirit to be actively working in our gatherings, without becoming dominated […]
Minding the Gaps: Making the Most of Transitions
Too often our Sunday gatherings feel like a playlist on shuffle. Elements are unconnected, changes are abrupt, and people are left confused. To address the situation, we often resort to a “musical glue” that makes things feel more connected but does little to help people understand any kind of progression. In this practical breakout, Bob […]
Technology and Your Sunday Gathering
From the printing press to the iPhone, from organs to IMAG, churches in every generation have had to wisely assess what role the latest technology might play in serving their congregations. How do we avoid the two extremes of “anything goes” and “the old is good enough?” What questions should guide us in determining what […]
Worshiping a Big God in a Small Church
It can be discouraging to come to a conference where everyone seems to assume your church has a large staff, several music teams, and an unlimited budget. For most of us, that situation is far from reality. In this seminar, you’ll learn how to make the most of limited resources, how to maintain a strong […]
Passing the Baton: Cultivating a Passion for Christ in the Next Generation
Listen in as five leaders in three seasons of parenting discuss what they’ve learned about instilling a passion for Christ in their children, both in the church and at home. There will be time for Q&A at the end.
Christ and the Enemies Within: Dealing with Pride, Discouragement, Depression, and Lust
Leaders and musicians can struggle with a disconnect between the content of the songs they sing and the inward battles they fight, and often lose, every day. In this transparent and hope-filled seminar, you’ll be helped to see how Jesus really is the Savior he promised he would be.
Beyond Preaching: Embracing Your Responsibility for the Whole Meeting
Faithful preaching pastors rightly give significant time and attention to their sermon preparation. But too often, they minimize what happens in the rest of the meeting, forgetting that every part of our services is an opportunity to shepherd God’s people through Scripture and the gospel. In this seminar, you’ll hear from a pastor who is […]
A Cross and Cultural Conversation
What happens when two very different musical cultures (white and African-American) gather around the gospel? How do we learn from and serve one another? What are the potential pitfalls and opportunities? Listen in on this conversation between four friends who are learning the answers to those questions while recording an album together.
Healthy Tensions in Corporate Worship
Learning to Encourage: Seeing Grace in Surprising Places
A Leader’s Heart – Panel
A Leader’s Family – Panel
God-Encounters: The Role of Experience in Congregational Worship
Arranging to Serve Your Congregation
Skilled and Sincere
Musicians in the church often vacillate between valuing musical preparation over musical preparation and using their “love for Jesus” to justify never growing as a musician. In this breakout, you’ll learn how to pursue both excellence and authenticity as you use your gifts to serve God’s people.
7 Values of Congregational Worship
As pastors and worship team members, we have many decisions to make each week in preparation for congregational worship. In this seminar, we’ll consider some of the primary values that inform what we do when we gather: the primary themes that occupy our attention, the liturgical elements, and the heart attitudes we want to display. […]
To Sing Hymns or Not
The introduction of the singing of hymns into English Nonconformist churches (churches outside of the Anglican state church) in the 1690s was one of the most important worship innovations since the Reformation. Not surprisingly, it engendered “worship wars,” in which there was more heat than light at times. This workshop will examine the take-away lessons […]
