Last year I had the privilege of speaking at the Christian Musician Summit, held at Overlake Church in Redmond, Washington. Amazingly enough, they asked me back again this year. Bruce Adolph and Matt Kees have been running the conference since 2002, and it’s grown to around 3000 musicians. I so appreciate their desire to “improve skill and inspire talent” in Christian musicians. This year some of the folks who will be there include Phil Keaggy, Brian Doerksen, Lincoln Brewster, Tim Hughes, Tommy Walker, Paul Baloche, and Pocket Full of Rocks. I’ll be traveling with my good friend Bo Lotinsky, and will be speaking at three workshops plus the main message on Saturday morning. Here are brief descriptions of what I’m planning to cover:
Friday AM: Healthy Tensions in Worship
I’ll be highlighting many of the false dichotomies we set up in our minds regarding musical worship, and suggest ways of embracing them as complementary truths.
Friday afternoon: The Worship Leader Job Description — Is There Life After Picking Songs?
Because the New Testament doesn’t mention the role of the worship leader, we tend to turn to various sources for ideas on leading worship – friends, worship artists, books, and our own experiences. But unless we know we’re doing what God has called us to do, we can lose our focus, get distracted, and become discouraged. In this seminar I’ll unpack a biblically based definition of a worship leader that will help clarify and strengthen what we do each Sunday.
Saturday AM, Main Session: Does God Even Like Our Music?
As Christian musicians, most of us have sensed God’s pleasure in the songs we sing, write, or play. Otherwise we wouldn’t do what we do. But it’s possible to make music that God hates (Amos 5:21-23). How can we be sure that our music is really bringing glory to God? How do we know if God actually likes the music we’re making? I’ll suggest three biblical standards we can use to find out the answer.
Saturday Afternoon: Worshiping God While Making Music
Musicians and worship leaders can both find it difficult to genuinely worship God while they’re leading others. It might be because we’re having a hard enough time playing the notes right. It could just as well be that we’re wanting people to praise us rather than God. In this workshop I’ll suggest practical steps musicians can take towards making music and worshiping God at the same time.
After the conference I’ll be heading up to to Surrey, B.C. to speak at the Sovereign Grace church there, Crossway Community Church.
If you live in the Northwest, and can make the conference, please come up and say hi. I’d also appreciate your prayers as I came down with some kind of cold/flu thing last night.
hey Bob
I know it’s not ‘your’ conference, but any chance of posting those talks for those of us who live a few thousand miles away? (esp the fri and sat afternoon ones)
Matt,
Thanks for asking, but I don’t think I’ll have the option to post the messages from the Summit. I could probably post some of the notes, if that would be helpful.
Hello Bob
I’m from South Africa and I also write music and sing. I’m going to the USA at the end of the month, but I don’t know how close I’ll be to Washington and whether I’ll be able to make it to the Summit. But gosh, how I wish I could go!! If I have some time, I’ll try and follow the links in your post to get some more info on the occasion.
I’m subscribed to your blog and I enjoy it! Due to a very busy schedule, I’ve not been able to come and leave a comment, but I regularly read your updates and they’re always such a blessing. Thanks so much!
You’re in my prayers. Keep it up!
God bless.