Blog – Motion Worship – Video Loops, Countdowns, & Moving Backgrounds for the Christian Church

How to Jumpstart a Sermon-Based Small Group Curriculum

As a teaching pastor, creating sermon series that will serve your congregations is an important part of your job description. From finding the right scripture, narrowing in on salient themes, and constructing messages that will build meaningfully week after week, the time and intention that goes into crafting these series shouldn’t have to end after everyone leaves the sanctuary for Sunday brunc...

Creating Sermon Series for a Multi-Generational Audience

As a pastor, one of your primary goals is to engage with your congregation and make sure everyone feels like they are gaining something valuable from attending services. But creating sermon series that appeal to a wide range of ages can be a daunting task. It's easy to slip into creating messages tailored toward the adults in attendance, but how do you create something that engages your youngest m...

How to Plan Your Church Calendar A Year in Advance

New year, new you! Ok, maybe not a completely new you. But January 1st offers a fresh opportunity to set your church calendar up for success in the new year. Building out an entire calendar advance can feel intimidating, but it can help reduce overwhelm and scrambling later on in the year. Looking at your content from a bird’s eye view can also help you avoid obvious holes or redundancies in you...

How to Motivate and Reward Church Staff Without Promotion Opportunities

The church can be a great place to work when its at its best; the environment is comfortable, the people are friendly, and the mission is meaningful. But for many small to mid-size churches, there often isn’t much “upward mobility” or room for improvement. Most churches have two, maybe three “levels” on their organizational chart. Without room for promotions, it can be tricky to make sta...

How To Run Successful Church Staff Meetings

Most of us have experienced staff meetings, for better or worse. Standing meetings have the potential to be your staff’s favorite time of the week, or it can feel like black hole on their schedule every week. Staff meetings don’t have to be torture, but it requires intentionality on the part of the person or persons running the meeting. Here are a few ideas to help you turn your meetings into ...

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How to Reduce Staff and Volunteer Turnover

When you’re trying to develop a solid culture and further the mission of your church, losing staff and volunteers in droves can be Demoralizing. Not only is it frustrating, but it costs you time, money, and productivity that sets everyone back. Before we talk about strategies for retaining and developing your people, it’s important to understand the reasons why people leave in the first pl...

5 Meaningful Ways to Appreciate Your Church Volunteers

Volunteers are essential to every church. They invest in our youth, they care for our buildings, and give their time, talents, and dedication to help pull off Sunday after Sunday. These are the people who believe in your church’s mission and create the experiences that help people encounter God’s grace every weekend. For all their hard work, we are always looking for creative and meaningful...

Give Helpful Feedback in Rehearsals

Everyone who leads rehearsals has a slightly different style, from how the whole rehearsal is organized to how he or she communicates musical changes. One of the trickiest things as a band leader is attempting to give feedback to band members about their playing. If you don’t play the instrument they’re playing, you may run into an added layer of “imposter syndrome” as you try to commu...

How To Handle A Bad Audition

I’m sure you’ve found yourself in this situation before; you’ve held an audition with a prospective new band member, and they didn’t meet the standards you set for your worship ministry. How do you prepare for the difficult conversation of letting them know they didn’t make the cut? This is one of the tensions of leading in a community within the body of Christ. Each of us is a part o...

Why Young Adults Are Leaving Your Church

Many churches are struggling to attract and retain young adults in their congregations. Many of these young adults— college-aged through mid-twenties— grew up in youth groups and fell away from the church and potentially their faith during college or shortly after. This mass exodus has been felt in churches across the country, leading pastors to strategize how they can better reach this slippi...

How Do You Talk About Pastor Appreciation Month?

I’m uncomfortable, you’re uncomfortable, everyone’s uncomfortable. October is almost here, and if you’re a pastor, you know what that means – it’s pastor appreciation month. Which, if we’re being honest, feels delicate. When I served as a pastor, I was always the first to say that I didn’t need any special recognition. And while I didn’t NEED the extra recognition, I think ...

A New Sound System Won’t Make Your Musicians Better

I love new gear, don’t get me wrong. Diving into a new piece of equipment is inspiring, both creatively and technically. Whether it’s a new instrument, a new light fixture, or simply some new hardware, new gear opens new possibilities. Herein lies a common trap. While new gear may create renewed creativity and encourage you to spend more time honing your craft, it won’t inherently make y...

When Should You Start Planning Your Christmas Church Services?

What if I told you that it’s possible to relax during the week leading up to Christmas, even as a senior pastor, worship pastor, or tech director? I know, I know, sounds crazy, right? While December 22nd is traditionally reserved for crippling anxiety and last-minute service planning, I’m here to tell you that it’s possible to be prepared and give yourself space to soak in the holiness of th...

Why You Should Talk About Labor Day At Your Church

If you lead a church, you’re used to making time in your services to speak into various national and cultural holidays. Beyond the major Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter, many of us in the United States recognize and celebrate holidays like Memorial Day, MLK day, or the 4th of July. One holiday that seems to fly under the radar in most churches is Labor Day. Frequently this is tr...

How To Equip Your Ministry For Kids with Disabilities

Our children’s ministries are intended to be safe places for our kids to learn about God’s love and their own identities as God’s beloved children. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: children’s ministry is more than a glorified daycare while parents attend the “big service.” It’s not somehow lesser than ministries for youth or adults. This is precious time to pour into ...

When Someone Says The Music Is Too Loud

If your church plays modern, pop/rock style worship songs, you’ve likely heard this complaint: “The music is too loud”. For those of us who are musicians and tech team members, this can be frustrating feedback. You’ve put hours into preparing the service and the environment, and instead of focusing on the impact the service is having, you’re staring down what can feel like an endless st...

Worship Pastors: Importance of Positive Feedback to Musicians

Being a pastor of any sort is an incredibly busy (and often draining) job. You’re shouldering the weight of daily responsibilities, constant meetings, endless to-do lists, and on top of it there’s the entire relational aspect to the job. Don’t get me wrong – I know pastors love their congregations and volunteers, but when you stack the responsibilities of being personally involved in all y...

Facilitate Tough Conversations with Your Youth Group

Youth ministry, at its best, has long been a space where teenagers and adults can speak candidly about difficult topics. However, today, those topics extend beyond sexuality and our existential place in the world — racism, politics, and national tragedies all deserve a seat at the table. These days, students expect the adults in their lives to address difficult topics and big events as they ...

6 Tips for Attracting Children’s Ministry Volunteers

Recruiting, developing, and retaining volunteers for your children’s ministry is no small task. If you’ve been working in a children's ministry for any amount of time, you understand what an important role volunteers play in the lives of your kids. They interact, lead, and shape these young minds and help make your gatherings safe and possible. Finding and keeping volunteers engaged can be ...

Worship Pastors: Why and How to Start Using Music Directors

I’ve been to a lot of churches that don’t have assigned music directors. It seems to mostly be smaller churches that feel they either don’t have the resources/personnel necessary for a Music Director (MD), or just generally don’t feel it’s needed. I’m here to tell you that almost any church is not only capable of introducing an MD role to their teams, but will actually be better off fo...