Worship Meeting ROL June 6th

The June 6^th worship department meeting went great. We had about 18 people attend and Pastor Jeff and I got to share our vision. Thank you all for coming, River of Life is blessed!
A brief outline of subjects we discussed:
Worship vision: To usher in more of the presence of God on Sunday morning and to keep His presence in our church.
Vertical Worship: To achieve a breakthrough in worship we often must engage the enemy-the evil one, to face him head on, that’s why I often play “warfare” songs. There are powers that do not want us to breakthrough to the Heavens. God inhabits the praises of His people but that’s not what the enemy wants, he will cause every distraction he can to get our focus off of God and what we were built for-WORSHIP.
I do not sing or play I am a sinner or I am a bad person songs - you know those songs I mean, they are songs that talk about how bad we are or were. We are not going to go to that place in our worship. We are Royalty. We are a royal priesthood. We all have a destiny.
   Evil one we stamp you under our feet
   Jesus we love you
   God we are in awe of you, we want to see You, feel You, hear You, I don’t
   want to wait to go to Heaven when I die to see You Lord, I want to see
   you during worship!
   Holy Spirit we need you to speak to us and through us.
That’s where I am going in worship.
Commitment: It is a privilege and an honor to serve God and we should all examine how much of a commitment we are individually willing to give to this church and this ministry.
Culture of Honor: We are going to make a conscious effort to enter into a Culture of Honor wherein we will strive to help all in our sphere of influence be the best that they can be. We will help each other fulfill all that God has for one another. This includes attending church even if you are not ministering that day. Honor others by supporting them, Honor God by honoring His church. Help River of Life turn the corner, let’s turn this great little church into a great big church. Come to church on Sunday, God will honor our commitment. He will bless us for it.
Covenant: The leadership and all that are in a ministry capacity are going to enter into covenant with each other; we will not listen to gossip and we will always “have each other backs”. We will not be afraid to confront each other with difficult questions and we will never punish.

Some things in the works:
Matt and Joe have started to clean up the stage.

Matt is putting together a team of Sound Reforcement personal. 
The soundboard is being moved into the small little room in the back right hand corner at the back of the church. (we can then get about 30 more seats in the sanctuary) We are adding some equipment that will help control the sound better. The main speakers are being mounted up above the heads of the congregation so that the sound will be dispersed more evenly.
The stage is going to get an update with light trusses, big screen tv, a drum shield and some sound panels. This update will, I believe, help our worship experience, attract quality musicians and will help deliver a better quality of sound.
We have a new drummer; Dan Best has joined the team and possibly another lead guitar player... This excites me, welcome guys…..
We had many young people attend the worship department meeting. That was great. I am inviting the younger musicians and singers in our church to form a worship team. We are going to have a “Worship training camp” this summer where some of us on the Sunday morning worship team will help mentor and train this team of young people. McKayla has agreed to lead this worship team. So, you young musicians and singers expect a call, or talk to McKayla and let her know you are interested.
　
I talked some about the “stream” of music I travel in and why. It was asked that I share some links so that we can all get familiar with the same worship. Below are some of those links:
Streaming Video
http://ihop.org/  Go to the prayer room they do live worship 24/7 and you can stream it on your computer.  If you want to change the atmosphere in your home, keep this playing as often as possible. It’s free! It will change your life....

Watch sermons and worship from Bethel Church Redding CA.
http://www.ibethel.tv/

Some Songs….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnsDJGui-Wg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoezWBPGRAc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE0_sy0BZkw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4JbN-Lf4oM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axUu8hqy3go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwNU4DxBCDU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1ec-lYps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2U3PU-E32E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEJnePjJZaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9jdaOG6Lis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRbfeDu3Dh4
　
Some Culture of Honor youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKdm7Z0KiA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlhmjNr4IUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0guWpvlvXH4

This is the word I heard from the Holy Sprit to share with you all.
“Don’t hesitate, pick up the phone, send that text, email, communicate“.
So, let's keep the lines of communication open.   You may contact me anytime, night or day.
　
　     Blessings, 
     Paul G. Muller Sr.
Interimworshipleader@hotmail.com
InterimWorshipLeader.com
http://randomworshipthoughts.blogspot.com/

HOW LOUD (or low) SHOULD THE SOUND BE

OK, let’s start by addressing a technical issues of sound,  Sound pressure level (SPL) or sound level is a logarithmic measure of the effective sound pressure of a sound relative to a reference value, SPL meters measure the sound volume much like a thermostat measures room temperature.   The chart below is the OSHA Sound Exposure Regulations chart. Simply put it lets you know how long you can listen to music at a specific volume before it may damage your hearing.  

So, this would be a reasonable assumption and one I follow; the sound in church should not exceed OSHA regulations.

With that said let me say this, the question of how loud or low the sound should be in church is highly subjective, that is, it comes down to individual preference. 

I am not writing a book on sound reinforcement in this post so posting OSHA is about as technical as I am going to get. What I do  want to share with you is at what volume I like the sound and why.     

I like the music at a volume that moves me, the band and the congregation.  I’ll cut to the chase; I like the SPL at 97 with peaks of 102 or so.  That is kind of loud for some but not loud enough for others.  Believe it or not I do get comments that the music is too low.  OK, so how can I justify this volume level…

Saddleback church in California has 22,000 members. So I think it’s safe to say they are doing something right.   Here is an excerpt from an article By Rick Muchow, Pastor of Magnification at Saddleback Church:  “When leading worship, the leader must worship! Don't direct. Certain cues for the band or congregation might be needed to keep things together, but it is great when the crowd's focus leaves the platform and is caught up in the moment experiencing God's presence. Likewise, ask your worship team to smile genuinely and avoid bringing attention to the platform. Start on time and use appropriate volume (loud but not too loud). At Saddleback our dB level ranges from 98dB to 108dB (every 3 dB doubles the volume level). Saddleback Seekers don't just want to hear the music they want to feel the music.”  I love Bethel church in Redding California, they are a mighty force in the Kingdome and have worship conferences constantly.  They often run their sound so loud that I feel my chest thumping from the sub woofers. 

My iphone has an app to measure SPL and while at Bethel this past year I turned it on during worship, it ran off the meter at 110 db. 

Another justification for running the sound on the high side is this observation that I have made.  Large growing churches run their sound loud, smaller churches with dwindling populations run their sound low. 

Random Worship Thoughts: FAVORITE QUOTE...

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
                                                                                            Theodore Roosevelt

Random Worship Thoughts…..

Sound, how loud is too loud and how quiet is too quiet…  Do I have to ask the Pastor what he is preaching on and match the songs to the sermon theme…  Two fast songs, 2 medium songs and 2 slow songs is that right…   What is prophetic worship and is it for Sunday morning….  What is presence worship and is that for Sunday morning…  The musicians are only volunteers so I can’t ask them for too much of their time right…   Can unsaved people play on the worship team….. Should I lead with my eyes open or closed….   Do I look at the people during worship to see if they are engaged….   What if they are not participating what do I do….  Are Hymns outdated and what about choirs…  As a worship pastor can I just be myself or am I expected to act a certain way….  Does the worship team need to pray together before practice, after practice, on Sunday morning….  What’s the difference between practice and a run-through…  Is giving the team a CD and music and asking them to learn their parts at home asking too much…  How do I handle negative or critical comments…  How long should the music go for…  What if my drummer is a no show on Sunday morning…  Why is it important for the members of the team to all make practice…  Does the team have to learn the song the way it’s on the CD, can’t we just “make it our own”…  What does it mean to go deeper... Do I have to play "Easter songs" on Easter, Christmas songs on Christmas... My thoughts and experiences on these subjects will be posted from time to time.