Fork In The Road Music » Worship Leader

Suggest Your Favorite Podcasts

Russell Martin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:04:55 +0000

I was listening to music on my iPhone the other day and I noticed that there was one category empty…. Podcasts. I really hadn’t given much thought to podcasts until I took a trip down to Houston recently. On the way down I was tired of listening to music, but there was nothing on the radio. I stopped for dinner and began to browse through the podcasts in itunes. I downloaded several and had plenty to listen to the rest of the trip down, and back up.

The ones I started with were:

Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast- I really enjoy listening to Andy’s thoughts on leadership. The only thing I do not like is that this one only comes out once per month.

All About Worship Podcast- Wisdom Moon and the guys do a great job making an entertaining podcast. It contains artist interviews, reviews and just some good fun and conversation. Great for worship leaders.

Mars Hill Bible Church Podcast- Since hearing Rob Bell at a National Youth Workers Convention many years ago I have been challenged by what he has to say. Nice to be introduced to other great preachers from time to time.

Those are the podcasts that I started listening to but I know there are other great ones out there. So let me know! What do you listen to? Which ones inspire you, challenge you, or make you laugh?

What Should I Sing?

Russell Martin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:37:09 +0000

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?

Online Songwriters Showcase

Russell Martin — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:10:26 +0000

I remember in high school I attended my first songwriters showcase at a local restaurant near where I lived. I went, typed lyrics in hand not knowing what to expect. I played my song, a crowd of strangers listened and then they offered their feedback. It was a good experience for me to take a song that I had written and to put it out in the world for others to listen to and give feedback.

I am still writing songs on a regular basis. I recently began to think about ways to host a songwriters showcase for worship leaders writing songs. I wondered if there was a way that we could get together and play our songs for each other, offer suggestions, and help. There really is not one real location that we could all meet on a regular basis, so what about online?

So here is how it works.

1. Write a song
2. Record yourself, video or audio, singing the song with whatever accompaniment you like.
3. Upload a video, or audio file your song to your blog. (Or video hosting site like Youtube or Vimeo)
4. In your blog or in the video notes add a link to this page, not this site.
5. Leave a link to your page in the comment of this post.
6. View and listen to others songs, and add comments

I hope that this will offer a great chance for some connection between songwriters, a chance for some genuine feed back, and a way to get your song out there. What do you think?

Appreciating Your Band-Take a Break and Break Some Bread

Russell Martin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:27:54 +0000

I became the worship leader at my church over 2 years ago. After a while I felt like we were getting into a rut and stale in our music and our rehearsals. What I began to realize is that all we did was practice and lead. I decided that what we needed was a chance to spend time, not playing our instruments. So for one rehearsal I ordered fajitas from a local restaurant and treated them to a meal. It was nothing fancy, just some chicken, cheese and tortillas. We sat and ate, talked about stuff, learned about each other and we even ended up playing through some new songs, but that wasn’t the focus. The whole meal cost me around $100. The money spent is nothing compared to what has happened since.

Over the past years we have continued this tradition. Not on a regular basis but randomly. We meet together, share a meal and just chill out. Turns out I think it has been some of the most productive rehearsal times that we have had.

How often do you just take a break and do something different with your team?

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Teaching Class Guitar Lessons Week 1

Russell Martin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:13:06 +0000

On many occasions during the past year I have been asked to teach individual guitar lessons. Instead of doing private guitar lessons, like I have done in the past, I decided to try a different approach. I put a small article in our church magazine indicating that I would be teaching a 6 week class for beginning guitar players one hour, once a week. I had never tried teaching a guitar class before but I thought it might be fun, and at least be different.

I advertised for about 3 weeks. I told people if they were interested to email me and let me know. I had a few inquiries on Sundays, a phone call or two and an email. I really was wondering what I should expect. Would anyone come? Who would they be?

Thursday night we had our first class. I had 12 students; 3 kids, 2 youth and 7 adults. As I was warned by a fellow blogger and worship leader, the first 20 minutes we spent on tuning. But we also were able to cover the parts of a guitar, how to hold a pick, alternate picking, the names of the strings, what half steps, whole, steps are, what makes up a major scale, how you get a triad, and how to play a G and C chord.

It was alot for one night and I will be interested to see how much they retain for the next week. I plan on using video to put demonstrations on our church website and using video to answer questions they have during the week. When I get some of those up I will definately show you the links.

So if you have taught or were going to teach a beginner guitar class, what would you cover in your next lesson?

Worship Service Brainstorm #3

Russell Martin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:28:59 +0000

A few months ago I proposed an idea to help worship leaders brainstorm and give ideas for worship services we were working on. The Worship Service Brainstorm is an opportunity for you to help out, give suggestions and ideas, and to gain some ideas and resources.

This weeks worship service brainstorm comes from John Hagge at oursaviorlcms.org.

Here is the information he is working with so far

Date of Service- 3/29/2009

Possible Scriptures: None as yet however given the thought from below it would be from Proverbs or the lessons of the day – series B Jer. 31:31-34 Heb. 5:1-10 & Mark 10:32-45

Title or Topic- Unkown as of yet

Songs- Unknown

Other Elements- I really had hoped to have more info but I plan to discuss this with our youth on Sunday morning and giving them some assignments. BUT one idea that our youth board had was to have (as the sermon) a skit that is a spin off of the TV are you smarter that a fifth grader; only our “show” would be “Are you smarter that a Confirmand?”

So what’s next? Leave your suggestions. Maybe you have a song that would go well, or you have done a skit that would work. Leave links to items posted on your own blog or others. Just get the dialogue going and lets help each other out.

Sunday Setlist 1/4/08

Russell Martin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:19:00 +0000

So each week I answer the question, “How did Sunday go?” “What did you sing?” It’s a great chance to reflect on what happened good and bad. I want to say thanks to Fred McKinnon for setting this up on his blog. Be sure and check out what other worship leaders are doing for their Sunday Setlists.

This week’s order of worship

Xperience Order of Worship 1-4-09

Opening Song- I just Want to Celebrate (4) Our drummer came to us and said he wanted to sing this song. Yeah it’s the old Rare Earth Tune. I know there are varying points of view on using secular music. What do you think?

Welcome and Announcements

Worship Song -Salt and Light (1)
Worship Song -Revive Us Again (3) Kerri found this on the song discovery 72. Great new rendetion of a great hymn.

Children’s Sermon

Time of Prayer

Offering- In the Light (2)

Video- Isaiah 60

Scripture- Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon- Marvelous Light

Invitation- How Great is Our God (5)-

Closing Song- Band Playing

The whole service went pretty well. Seemed like it would be a light crowd to begin with but it all filled up 5 minutes after the service started. How was your Sunday?

How Do You Record a Worship CD?

Russell Martin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:04:08 +0000

Ever since I have been at our church we have had the idea to record a worship CD. We are wanting to do something as a praise team using both original and already recorded worship songs that our congregation has grown to love. So what advice, tips or tricks do you have to share with us? Here are a few of my questions.

1. How do you get the permission to use someone elses songs? What was the process

2. How did you record? Live or Studio? Did you go somewhere or do it at your church?

3. How did you balance recording a CD and your normal responsibilities leading worship at your church?

I know there are many talented worship leaders out there who have gone through this and who can share there insights. Hopefully your comments will not only answer some of our questions but will be helpful for others who are looking into this process too. Thanks in advance.

The Worship Community-Engaging Youth in Worship

Russell Martin — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:30:01 +0000

Last month I was fortunate enough to be asked to write a few things about engaging youth in worship. Here are the links to the first two of my contributions to the community:

1. Engaging Youth in Worship-Opportunities to Respond which talks about providing hands on ways for youth to respond in the worship service.

2. Engaging Youth in Worship-Give them Ownership which stresses the importance of not doing worship for the youth but having them be involved in planning and implementing the worship service.

The Worship Community is a great place to find thoughts, ideas, and encouragement for worship leaders check out the worship community.com While there you can read and learn from a wide variety of talented, dedicated worship leaders who share their insights with you.

Sunday Setlist- 11/30/08

Russell Martin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:26:19 +0000

Worship went well at Williams this week. We did miss having our regular keyboard player with us which meant I rotated over to keys and we didn’t have much acoustic guitar. It sounded pretty good though. Apparently I did not give our screens operator the specific scripture, we have four per week because we use the lectionary, so he just put them all up there. Took a second to find the correct one but it all worked well. I do have to give some props to our vocals that are coming together nicely. We have hit the year mark with an almost completely new group of vocals and we are now starting to blend nicely.

Here were our songs for this week-

Brand New- This is a great song by one of our worship leaders Kerri Crocker
Ancient of Days-The band has started really liking this one.
Blessed Be Your Name-The congregation really sang on this one.
Wonderful You Are- From my last CD
He Reigns- Always a classic.

This is part of Fred McKinnon‘s Sunday Setlist on his blog at Fred McKinnon.com.