The skills of your team. Do you have someone in your ministry that plays oboe? Find a way to use them. How about someone that writes songs? Ask them to write a special one for the Thanksgiving Banquet. Do you have a former band director in the congregation? Ask them to lead an instrumental group for […]
Can We Sing “Their” Songs? – by Mike Harland
This is a complicated question with a simple answer. Restated, the question is, “Can we sing songs written by someone that believes differently than we do?”
Happy Birthday, GMA! – by Mike Harland
This week, the Gospel Music Association is celebrating a birthday – 50 years of the Dove Awards! As someone who has passed the 50-year mark myself, let me say that life with Jesus only gets better with time, and that has certainly been true for the Doves. For the last several years, I have had […]
Where Does Praise Come From? – by Mike Harland
Worship leaders stand time after time and ask people to give our praise to God. But where does praise come from? Peter has a lot to say about worship. In his first epistle, he makes a connection between trials and worship that we should not miss. Read 1 Peter 1:6-7: “You rejoice in this, even […]
Blog to My Younger Self – by Mike Harland
There seems to be a bunch of writers these days writing something akin to the title of this blog. There are songs, letters, books, and more all written to the author’s “younger self.” So, when someone close to me suggested I do one of those, I thought it might be a good idea. As I’ve thought […]
A Few Thoughts for Songwriters by Mike Harland
Seems like we’ve got more worship leaders than ever writing songs. This is a great thing! I believe writing songs is something more believers should do, regardless if the songs are ever heard by anyone else. If you study church history, you soon discover that many of yesterday’s great preachers were song writers.
Worship Distractions from Worship Leaders – by Mike Harland
Admittedly, this post is somewhat “tongue in cheek” and intended to let us laugh at ourselves a little. I’m calling out some intangibles of our physical expressions in worship we sometimes employ to generate more energy and enthusiasm from our congregations. See if any of these “go to” moves are something you do and ask yourself, “Is this really a distraction?”
The Greater Work – by Mike Harland
Prayer does not equip us for the greater works – prayer is the greater work. – Oswald Chambers Oh, how I wish I knew more about this. It seems that as the years go by, we get better at virtually everything we do. … better at managing a budget. … better at understanding technical […]
The Relay – by Mike Harland
Without a doubt, my favorite track and field events to watch are the relay races. Four runners on the same team, all running part of a race to take a baton around the track. The lessons we can learn from the relay races abound. Here are a few: Multiple Runners Run Faster Than One. […]
The Danger of Same-Ness in Our Songs – by Mike Harland
We used to hear criticism of the “7-11” songs. You know, seven words, eleven times? Then, when we acknowledged how repetitive hymns are, not so much anymore. The more recent critique of modern songs is that they all sound the same — same chords, same melodies, same rhythms, underneath only a handful of ideas about […]