Pastoral Resources

Our passion is worship that makes a difference in people's lives - connecting them with the tender mercy and wondrous awe of God in Jesus Christ. While there is no one label for such worship, we prefer post-modern, experiential, or sensory worship to the catch-all whatever-you-want-it-to-mean phrase: "contemporary worship".

Forms of Worship

Contemporary Worship for the 21st Century by Dan Benedict and Craig Kennet Miller. Discipleship Resources, 1994. A little dated but a nice introductory treatment of how you might go about introducing change in your church's worship style.

Transitions in Worship: Moving from Traditional to Contemporary by Andy Langford. Abingdon, 1999. Excellent resource for understanding the "why" of Praise & Worship Music as well as other practical tips for creating relevant worship using contemporary forms of music and drama. Written by one of the editors of the 1992 United Methodist Book of Worship.

Faithquakes: "For Christians with the shakes, who know that the church is the last hope for saving our families, our cities, our businesses, and the earth." by Leonard Sweet. Abingdon, 1994. Basic text for understanding why Christians have to make a shift in order to get a hearing. Based on Faith Popcorn's futuristic business study of Socioquakes in The Popcorn Report. Powerfully influential book in our ministry. Sweet coins the phrase AncientFuture, to describe what new wineskins means i a postmodern age.

Out on the Edge: A Wake-Up Call for Church Leaders on the Edge of the Media Reformation by Michael Slaughter of Ginghamsburg UMC, Tipp City, Ohio. Abingdon, 1998. Ginghamsburg leads the way in understanding and practicing media integration in relevant post-modern worship. Great section on teamwork planning worship.

The Wired Church: Making Media Ministry by Len Wilson (formerly of Ginghamsburg UMC). Abingdon, 1999. Great companion (to Out on the Edge) behind the scenes look at creating great media for worship.

The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World: Electronic Worship and the Gathered People of God by Tex Sample. Abingdon, 1998. Interesting treatment of the way images and sounds are used to convey meaning in our culture and how these forms may be exploited to transmit the Gospel in worship.

Forms of Preaching

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Preaching and Teaching With Imagination : The Quest for Biblical Ministry by Warren W. Wiersbe. Baker, 1994. Calvin Miller called the first 83 pages of this book (Part One: Imagination and Life) worth the price of any book on preaching. Sound Biblical study of the power of images in communicating truth. This is a great book for those who hate the idea of TV in worship.

When God Is Silent : The 1997 Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching (Lyman Beecher Lectures, 1997.) by Barbara Brown Taylor. Cowley, 1998. Powerful Episcopalian preacher explores the depths of God's presence and provision in the wilderness of Famine, Silence, and Restraint. Read it if you preach for a living.

The Preaching Life by Barbara Brown Taylor. Cowley, 1993. Half devoted to mentoring preachers with humor and wisdom, and half devoted to a selection of Taylor's sermons. Another gift from a wise and gifted teacher.

Worship Evangelism: Inviting Unbelievers into the Presence of God by Sally Morgenthaler. Zondervan, 1995, 1999. Morgenthaler started me down a road of discovery of recovering old treasures in new forms of worship with her 1998 Worship Leader Magazine article, "Out of the Box: Authentic Worship in a Postmodern Culture". This book explores worship evangelism that reaches higher, digs deeper, and embraces wider than any practice we've become used to.

The Empowered Communicator : 7 Keys to Unlocking an Audience by Calvin Miller. Broadman & Holman, 1994. Miller knows of what he speaks. Read the Cliff's Notes of a master communicator.

Online Resources

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Damaris Trust Study guides, forums, and other resources that relate popular culture and secular media.

The Text This Week Check a directory of links and resources that correspond to the Revised Common Lectionary. Welcome to a virtual study desk for students, teachers and preachers. Includes an art and movie concordance.

Getty Images. Great indexed site for graphics for worship.

Postmodern Church Resources from FreshMinistry equipping postmodern ministers - encouraging the emerging church

WorshipMusic.com. Commercial site for previewing and purchasing praise and worship CD's.

Integrity/Hosannah! is a great place to cut your teeth in the Praise & Worship genre.

Maranatha! Music, another of the "Big 3" Praise and Worship Music Publishing Houses.

Vineyard Music, the third of the "Big 3"

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