Essential Resource August 07: DVD

August 13, 2007

We all have resources that have helped us immensely in our ministries. Our monthly “essential resource” spotlight is a chance to highlight one book, article, CD, song, DVD, etc., that has risen to the top as a proven useful resource. Whether you’re familiar with it or just hearing about it for the first time, the following resource comes with Worship Rising’s highest recommendation.

August 2007 Essential Resource:
“Worship Band Workshop DVD” by Paul Baloche and team

We worship leaders are fortunate that musicians and teachers are starting to use video technology (which is becoming cheaper and easier to use by the minute) as a venue to share knowledge. Oftentimes they use web distribution, like the “song lessons” presented at WorshipFrequency.com’s video section and WorshipTogether.com’s New Song Café (registration required for both). Lately, though, we are starting to see more long-form teaching appear on DVDs—such as LeadWorship.com’s Modern Worship Series, Vineyard Music’s Equip series, and the various offerings of UK-based Musicademy.

This month’s essential resource is a DVD seminar from ridiculously successful worship leader/songwriter Paul Baloche. Sure, his songs are prolific, from the now classic “Open the Eyes of My Heart” to more recent offerings like, well, “Offering”—but Baloche has impressed me more for his efforts to train and equip the average worship leader in the local church. I mean, he has a website that contains chord charts and lead sheets for (almost) all his worship music… why don’t all artists do this? (To be fair, Chris Tomlin and others have started to, but rarely in singable keys… when we can transpose and print on the fly, I’ll be elated!) Baloche could have a fine career simply leading worship and encouraging the church, but he understands the “give a man a fish/teach a man to fish” idea, and seems to genuinely want to help others to make worship better.

Worship Band Workshop appears to have been born out of this desire, and the end result is an 80-minute video that speaks to some of foundational (but often ignored) aspects of leading worship. The focus of this DVD is the worship musician- the keyboardist, drummer, etc.- and their role as part of team. The discussions revolve around things like song dynamics, thoughtful arrangements, and each instrument finding its place in the overall mix. To illustrate, band members are interviewed about their particular roles, and they lead songs (some live, some in studio) to exemplify the tactics discussed.

You may not lead any of Paul’s songs in your church, but I think any worship musician team benefit from his instruction. It is beautifully “generic” in a sense, as it is all about leading congregational music excellently, regardless of style or denomination. Baloche and his team are very well-spoken, and make the DVD perfect for group watching and discussion… it is so nice to have Baloche say things like, “pay attention to the person leading” to your team for you!

You can get the DVD for thirty bucks from the LeadWorship.com website, but I highly recommend going for one of the package deals that include the whole series of DVDs. The “Creating Flow” disc is great to watch with your leaders-in-training, and there is a session especially for worship vocalists that has proven useful in my ministry (look for a review of it here sometime soon). These DVDs are recommended both for their practical instruction and the spirit in which they were made, which are both things your team really needs to see. For a preview, check out the embedded YouTube video below.

Posted in Essential Resources