Each week I receive posts from over fifty different blogs. I collect and read them on Google Reader and thought you might benefit from some of the things I am reading. So here are some of my favorites from this week.

In Happy Hallow…. Harvest Festival, Michael Buckingham talks about ways to use Halloween as an opportunity, not a stumbling block. Yes I know it’s a little late, but file it for next year.

One of my favorite new blogs to follow is Michael Hyatt’s Blog. On 10/30 he shared a guest post from Margaret McSweeny on 12 Strategies for Leadership Success.

And finally TechCrunch, Pandora now offers integration with Twitter and Facebook

If you like, you can subscribe directly to my shared items on google reader.

Also if you have a blog to suggest, please put it in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. 3 Steps to Manage Blog Reading
2. Criticism and Praise
3. What I Read This Summer..

When I am a guest worship leader at a camp, or retreat, one of the hardest things I deal with is figuring out what songs I should sing. This seems like a small thing, but I can’t help but think, “Are they going to know these songs?” or “What songs mean the most to them?”
Here are three ideas about how to choose songs in that situation:

1. Talk to leaders and participants ahead of time if possible. When you first are contacted about leading worship, ask about what songs they use. Find out if they use hymns or worship songs, gospel, cutting edge, emerging? Ask what the worship service is like at their church or churches? Do they have a band, or is it more acoustic? This doesn’t mean you have to change your style, but this information can help you to choose songs that are more representative for the group.

2. Have a suggestion box- The first time I tried this I was skeptical about it. I was leading worship for a college work camp and the program director put out a suggestion box in the back. She told the group that if they had any suggestions for worship to put them in and we would try to accommodate them. It turned out working great. The song suggestions they had let me know what they were familiar with, and by their choices told me what they were needing to hear. We were able to use most of the songs, many of which I was already planning on anyway. Some of them were ones I did not know, but learned, and not only used there, but have used many times since and have become a regular part of my repertoire.

3. Well I don’t have a third one.. what would you suggest?

Related posts:

1. Older Songs Still Resonate
2. The Songs I Sing
3. So You’re Leading Worship for Church Camp-Part 2-What Songs to Sing?

I recently had the opportunity to be a guest worship leader at a church on a trip to Houston. We made the arrangements and I was to send them a list of the songs I would be using that morning. I chose several songs I thought would work and emailed those to them. A few days later I received a phone call. “Russell, these are great songs… we just don’t know most of them.” We then spent about 15 minutes trying to go back and forth and find out what songs they had that I knew, which ones I did that they knew etc.
I realized then that I know pretty well the songs that our home church does and are familiar with. I cannot however take for granted that other churches sing the same songs. And while I definitely love teaching new songs, I don’t want to introduce too many in a guest worship leader situation.
So here is what I decided. I will create a list of the songs I sing. Not necessarily those I do at my home church, but those that I generally use when I am leading either by guitar or piano at camps, retreats, and guest worship leader situations. This way when someone calls and asks me to lead worship, I can send them to the page, and they can at least let me know what songs their congregation is familiar with.
Click for the Songs I Sing

Related posts:

1. What Should I Sing?
2. So You’re Leading Worship for Church Camp-Part 2-What Songs to Sing?
3. Older Songs Still Resonate

As I was driving to church yesterday, my eyes were drawn to the clouds and I just had to take a picture! Oddly enough they reminded me of “life”. The large, dense blanket to the right was covering the sky in the distance (a.k.a. our problems, struggles, fears) while the smaller ones looked as if they were pushing their way through… fighting against them so we could enjoy the blue skies (a.k.a. peace, joy, love)

Related posts:

1. Kerri Crocker
2. Sunday Setlist 10/05/08
3. Guest Post- Logan Armatys- How to Survive Summer with a Band