Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast & Blog

Archives for November 2016

#138: Cody Carnes on A Pure Heart, Fatherhood, & Leading Worship [Podcast]

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What I want to do as a worship leader – every time – is create a meeting place for God and people.” – Cody Carnes

I love when a person’s heart and passion for Jesus is larger than the gift they carry. Cody Carnes is one of those leaders. Cody is a songwriter, worship leader, and husband to the amazing Kari Jobe. In this episode we talk about his formative years leading worship at Gateway, Kari’s upcoming new record, his new worship project WELLS, fatherhood, gear, and much more.

Be encouraged. This is a good one.

Enjoy!

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The Appreciation Agenda: How to Foster a Culture of Encouragement on Your Team

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As I look back on my life, I’m not sure where I’d be without the encouragement of others.

I may never have written a song if a college professor had never saw something in me and spoke into my life.

I may never have led worship if my childhood friend never said, “You can do this.”

And I don’t know about you, but I want to be the kind of person who champions others.

I don’t want to be the one who recognizes everyone’s faults and is quick to point them out. I’d rather be known for releasing people into doing what they didn’t think they can do.

People are starving for this. Maybe it stems from the fact that they weren’t affirmed growing up. Whatever the case, it’s time to step up our encouragement game. Especially this Thanksgiving season, be reminded about appreciating your team. And be reminded of the influence your words carry. Of course, you shouldn’t just be thankful when it’s Thanksgiving.

Make appreciation your job. Breathe encouragement.

The reason I am where I am today because of specific people who encouraged me. They could have remained silent but they spoke what they saw.

I love how Hillsong Worship does this on social media. Because they embody this truth. They are relentless encouragers and constantly spotlight their people. It’s evident that they are proud of the people on their team.

And I want to foster that culture in my church.

A question I get asked a lot is, “What Does a Worship Leader do all day? What should my day to day job involve?” I’m a firm believer that this is a big part of it. It’s working with people – encouraging, challenging, building up, and discipling those people to because better than you and help launch them into the best ministry of their lives.

3 Ways to Foster a Culture of Encouragement

Let’s make this practical:

1.Turn Tasks into Prayer – Planning Center isn’t just a template to get slots filled for your services. It’s a platform for prayer. Every name you add to every service isn’t just data entry. Allow your heart to engage in prayer.

2. Place “Encourage someone” on Your To-do List – When was the last time you picked up the phone to encourage someone on your team? Not because you needed something, but just to express appreciation? I can’t tell you how far this will go in creating a healthy culture. As a leader, your words carry weight. They are more powerful than you think.

3. Schedule One-on-Ones – It’s silly. The busier we get, the more we seem to want to automate our schedules and just crank through the day. For creative work, this is needed. You need to be alone, carving out the mental space to do your best thinking and uninterrupted creating. However, as leaders in the church, it’s actually less about us getting our stuff done and more about getting things done through others. It’s about equipping the saints for the work of ministry.

The more you embody this, the more your team will. The more you do this, the more it will spread into the fiber of your team’s culture.

So here’s the question: Who are you equipping today?

Let’s talk about it in the comments.

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#137: Brooke Ligertwood on Hillsong Worship, Songwriting, & The Power of Words [Podcast]

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This week we welcome Brooke Ligertwood (Fraser) to the podcast from Hillsong Worship. Brooke has been a part of the Hillsong family for years, writing classic songs like “Lead Me to the Cross”, “Hosanna”, and more recently “What a Beautiful Name.”

In this episode we talk about Brooke’s fascination with words and language and how that influences her songwriting. We also discuss the incredible new Hillsong record, “Let There Be Light.” So many encouraging truths in this shorter interview.

Enjoy!

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Show Sponsor

padslogoToday’s podcast is brought to you by Coresound. Coresound is an amazing new company that provides pad loops for your worship services.

What are pad loops, you may say? Essentially, it’s like the best keyboard sound or guitar swell you’ve ever heard, sitting underneath your live worship team. It’s helps to create a beautiful, patient atmosphere for your worship team and fill out the sound.

They’re a great investment if you have a smaller worship team or if you have a large team but want to create a bigger sound and improve your transitions. We’ve used them quite a bit at my church. We’ve actually done a two piece setup with me on a guitar, pad loops, and a drum pad and it sounds HUGE. And of all the pads I’ve tried, Coresound are the best sounding. By far.

I have the Deluxe bundle which comes with 6 different sounding pads in all 12 keys. It’s amazing because you literally have an arsenal of versatility for your worship team. Load them up on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop and you’re good to go. Whatever you play within the key of the pad loop sounds amazing, and each pad lasts for about 20 minutes.

So here’s the deal: head on over to coresoundpads.com and use the promo code “beyondsunday” and get yourself 20% off any purchase.

In this Episode You’ll Hear More About:

  • let-there-be-lightThe power of words.
  • Living an iceberg life and what that means.
  • Brooke’s songwriting secrets.
  • The story of Brooke’s early music career and how she was connected to Hillsong.
  • What Brooke has learned from the culture of Hillsong Church.
  • Stories behind the creation of the new album, “Let Their Be Light.”
  • The story behind writing “What a Beautiful Name”

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Subscription Links

Your Feedback

If you have an idea for a podcast you would like to see, a special guest you’d like to hear from, or a question for an upcoming episode, please email me or leave a voicemail.

If you enjoyed the show, I would be so appreciative if you would rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That helps me so much! Thanks.

Question: What was your biggest takeaway from this interview with Brooke? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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9 Skills You Need To Move From Singing Songs to Leading Worship

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Worship leaders, we’ve gotten really good at leading songs.

But for us to see the breakthrough we want to see, we need to grow as leaders. Why? Because we are leading a post-Christian people. There are people in our churches who have never been to church. They don’t know the Gospel and they don’t know what to do in worship.

Your leadership skills on Sunday will help those who are new Christians to engage in worship. Having a great band and getting through songs isn’t enough.

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How to Avoid Sleepwalking Through Ministry

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Ever feel like you’re just dialing it in? That you’re just going through the motions of your ministry like a checklist you can’t wait to finish?

Sometimes it’s not even burnout, you know? You’re just tired. You’ve been doing the same thing over and over again for years. While you want to “come back to the heart of worship” sometimes you just want to wrap it up and watch football. You want to disconnect. You can’t wait for the weekend except for the fact that the weekend is game time and it has become work for you.

But we all know we can’t live in this realm. Worship is too important to dial it in. The Kingdom of God is too important for us to sleepwalk through Sunday. We need to be on the edge of our seat. We need to gaze in wide eyed wonder. The Kingdom of God doesn’t slow down.

Should we?

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