Monthly Archives: September 2008

Worship Service Brainstorm #1 Intro

September 29, 2008   Russell Martin   2 Comments

One of the coolest things I have done is to sit down with a team and brainstorm about ideas for a worship service. To take a topic or scripture, or point and find creative ideas that help others experience God in a new way. I have done this before in a small team within my own church and it works very well. But I could not help but wonder what would happen if the collaboration not only came from a small group in one church, but from many people around the world. Thoughts and ideas could come not only from one worship tradition but from many traditions, denominations, even countries. As I kept thinking I thought about how to create it so that someone could post the beginning ideas for their service, and then others could suggest songs, videos, skits, stories, other scriptures and worship experiences that could help. Then others could be encouraged and get ideas to use in their own services. Kind of like a global worship planning session.

So here is how it could work.

1. Click here and fill out this simple form which asks some basic information about what service you are planning. Or post your service idea on your own blog and comment here with a link.

2. I will create a post each week for the services and put them on forkintheroadmusic.org

3. Read the post and then share your ideas. Link to ideas on your own blog, or share thoughts about the service that you have. Suggest songs, videos or skits that would be helpful. Please don’t just tell us about a great resource, link to it so we can find it easily.

See, that’s pretty easy. Hopefully we can share tons of ideas and thoughts.

To get started here is the Scripture, Sermon topic and our tentative Songlist for October 12th. What do you suggest?

October 12 -Mt 22:1-14 – Will We go to the Wedding Banquet?
You are Good
Come Ye Sinners*
You are God *
Never Let Go
Crossfire
Echoes- Kerri’s Song
Oh, one final thought. After your service is over then head on to the Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon’s site and share how things went.

Popularity: 1%

Read More

Sunday Setlist 9/28/08

September 28, 2008   Russell Martin   3 Comments

This week was really nothing out of the ordinary. We have begun trying to do songs more frequently so that the congregation can learn and participate better. Before I came the idea was to do new songs that were cool, now we are focusing on congregation participation and songs that fit the theme or message if possible.

This week’s message was “Regarding Others as Better Than Yourselves” Philippians 2:1-13

We started off with the song Map from Kerri Crocker’s last CD. It really didn’t match the theme completly but the band has kept saying they want to do more orignal songs so we put it in. After that we had our welcome and announcements and then did Let it Rise and Open The Eyes of My Heart, the harder Sonic Flood type version. For offertory we used Grace Like Rain, our invitation was Crowder’s Only You and then we closed with the band jammin to Let it Rise while everyone left.

Last week Kerri and I sat down and put together tentative songlists for the rest of October. Our pastors preach from the lectionary, so since we chose songs to try to compliment that I will put those up for other churches which may do the same. Look for that later in the week.

This post is also part of Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival. Check it out and see what other churches are doing.

Popularity: 1%

Read More

Free Song: Awaken Our Hearts

September 27, 2008   Russell Martin   5 Comments

This summer I was sitting down and I was thinking, “If I were going to write a prayer for the church of today to pray to God, what would we say. I was thinking it should be a song of revival but yet a song of confession. The words to this song just flowed out. It was probably the first time a song has come so quickly and completely.

So I wanted to share this song with you. Maybe you can use it in your worship services. Maybe you can use it in your own personal time. All I ask is two things. 1. Don’t record, take credit for it and keep all the money.. and 2. Let me know how it works in your service. If you are interested in the Chord Sheet contact me and I will send it to you.

This was recorded at our church a few weeks ago. It’s by no means a professional recording but you can hear the words and music clearly. Please enjoy!

Awaken Our Hearts

If you liked this then check out these other freebies from me. You can also download Unfailing Love now on itunes.

Popularity: 1%

Read More

5 reasons not to rehearse

September 26, 2008   Russell Martin   1 Comment

This summer I spent four weeks gone during the week and would come home on weekends. During that time we decided as a band to only use songs we knew really well, and to just meet up early on Sunday mornings to rehearse. This gave the band a break from Wednesday rehearsals and created a change. Little did I know that we would come to enjoy it and that it actually would be productive. After we did this for a month some members asked if we could continue. After considering it I thought why not. We decided to meet at the church at 8:00 instead of 8:30 every Sunday morning. As a trade off we would only rehearse one Wednesday per month, unless we specified otherwise.

I have to say it has worked out better than I thought it might, and maybe for these reasons.

1. The songs are fresh in our minds- Each sunday morning we usually use about 5 songs in the service. Of those atleast 4 we have done before and 1 is either new or fairly new. On Sundays at rehearsal we have time to go over each of the songs we know twice, and then we spend a little more time on the unfamiliar song. We even find time to look ahead at a song we will be doing the next week. And we only have an hour and a half during sunday school to forget what we learned.

2. The members are less rushed- In my situation we are working with mostly volunteers, and most members have children and families. Rehearsing once per month gives them more time to be with their families, and maybe time to just take a break.

3. We are more effecient- Knowing that we have less time, it seems that we are more mindful of the time we have. We tend to get started better, we don’t spend as much time playing around. We are better stewards of our time.

4. The congregation responds- Since we limit ourselves to the number of new songs we can learn, we end up using songs more frequently. This has allowed the congregationto learn the songs better, and be able to use them to worship.

5. I can look to the future- Freeing up the rehearsal time means that I can be forward thinking and have some time to try new things. We are looking at the possibility of a second worship band, we are also thinking about using an instrumental ensemble. I can use those off weeks to try some new things.

I realize there are things that we lose by not meeting weekly. Mostly the comraderie of meeting together, praying together and supporting each other. We do get that on Sunday mornings and it makes us look at other times that we can get together like at someones house or going out to eat as a group.

So how does your worship team rehearse? What’s your schedule and how does it work for you?

Popularity: 1%

Read More

Cardboard Testimonies

September 23, 2008   Russell Martin   2 Comments

Today I was reading a post from Jan Owen about something the did at their church. They had people share their testimonies but instead of one or two people standing with a microphone saying the testimony, they had many people write a cardboard testimony. They took a piece of cardboard and on one side wrote the problem, hardship or addiction they faced, and on the other side wrote what God had done to help them through and to conquer it.

Cardboard Testimonies from Jan Owen on Vimeo.

I thought this was really effective because it allowed many people to tell their stories.

What was do you encourage your church members to share their testimony?

Popularity: 1%

Read More

A Free CD from Phil Wickham

September 19, 2008   Russell Martin   No comments

I wanted to let you know I just got a free CD from Phil Wickham. All I did was go to the site, enter my email and it sent me a link to download the album. It does automatically sign you up on his email newsletter list, but hey how cool is that.

Popularity: 1%

Read More

What NOT to do when something goes wrong!

September 19, 2008   Russell Martin   2 Comments


Ode To Joy from Beaker on Vimeo.

I found this video while I was reading through some of my favorite worship blogs and came across this from Consuming Worship. I watched the video and laughed… then I thought. Do I look like that when something goes wrong during worship? When the slides get behind, or the lights don’t come on at the right time, or I accidentally don’t put my capo on before starting God of Wonders? And If I run around and freak out then what does the congregation see? I learned a long time ago that there is usually very little you can do about some of these things during the worship service. And if I freak out, run around, frantically gesture then I will usually make things worse. The best thing is to make a mental note, smile and go on. Later I can go back and review the service and then I can work with the team to make sure things go better next time.  Usually the thing that I thought was such a big deal, was hardly noticed or really did not matter much anyway.

So with that… what’s the biggest”disaster” you have had during a worship service, that you can look back and laugh about now, and what did you learn from it?

Popularity: 1%

Read More

What To Do With a Youth Worship Team

September 18, 2008   Russell Martin   1 Comment

Do you have a youth worship team at your church? Are you interested in starting a worship service in your youth group? Since I began writing I have had more questions about youth worship leading, working with youth bands and other related items, I thought I would create a permanent link to all the articles written about youth worship leading and youth worship teams on Fork In the Road.

Also I wanted to let you know that I am going to be a special guest for an internet call in program hosted by Tim Schmoyer of “Life In Student Ministry” at 2:00 pm (EST). We will be talking about how to help students become the worshippers God created them to be, and how that worship can be initiated and led by their peers. Here are the instructions on how to join in on the conversation. I hope you will join us.

Popularity: 2%

Read More

5 Reasons to consider a smaller worship space

September 17, 2008   Russell Martin   3 Comments

This past week we have been hosting Ike evacuees in our youth center. We also had scheduled our youth worship service. Since our normal place was now living quarters for 112 of our guests, we had to look elsewhere for a place to hold our service. We ended up scaling down and moving the service to our chapel. Our chapel seats about 60 comfortably. While we were a little cramped for space in the stage area, we managed by using a djembe instead of a full drum set and a condenser mic to pick up the vocals. We still had electric guitar and bass but had them run through their amps and keep the volume low. The result was one of the best services we have had in a while. We ended up with an average number for us of about 25-30. Instead of being lost in a large youth gym, everyone was close together, and the band and the congregation were practically one group.

Reflecting back here are the reasons I think it worked so well

1. The band didn’t overplay- Since we were without a real sound system the instruments had to back off and  be below the vocals. Using the djembe helped because it lowered the drum volume, therefore everything else could be softer  and still be heard

2. The band was in the congregation- Practically the bass player and acoustic guitar were face to face with the front row of the congregation. This seemed to help the us, them idea and made it seem more like one group. In our youth center we have a stage and the congregation is separated by several feet.

3. The congregation could hear each other- Since the band was not so loud, it meant the congregation could hear themselves and each other sing. They started out a little timidly, but it caught on and they began to sing, participate and clap more than they have before.

4  We didn’t lose sound- Since we were packed into a smaller space surrounded by brick walls no sound was sent out into vast nothingness of a big room. The bodies absorbed enough sound to eliminate bad reverb but enough sound from the band and congregation bounced around to make it seem full.

5. We didn’t focus on technology- When we usually meet we have screens, PowerPoint, 16 channels of sound, microphones, cords, cables, amps, speakers, and all the other “stuff”. Since we were moved at the last minute we didn’t have time to set all that up. We had minimal sound, our words were printed on sheets and there were no clever video clips to set up the message.

Popularity: 2%

Read More

Monday Morning Musings 9/15/08

September 15, 2008   Russell Martin   No comments

This past weekend pretty much all of Texas from 1-45 east to the border felt the effects of hurricane Ike. Ike came on shore tearing up Galveston and left a path of destruction of varying degrees all the way up to where we are in Texarkana. This morning some of my family, who had evacuated to our house made their way home to check on things, and clean up.  This morning I would just like for you to pray for all those who were and are still being affected by Ike. Pray for those who have lost homes, who have lost family members, and who live in difficult situations. Pray for those who don’t know what’s going on with their house or town and cannot get in contact. Pray for those who were moved to shelters all over the area and for the workers of those shelters. Pray for those who are going to the affected areas and are helping to restore power, water and other basic services.

Popularity: 1%

Read More
« Older posts

  • Choose a Category