Questions for the Director – Education for Budding Music Ministers
Blogger Brian Hehn is the director of The Center for Congregational Song. QUESTION For someone graduating high school who wants to serve as a music minister or worship leader, what would you recommend that they do for their education? ANSWER Let me first say that I don’t think there’s a single […]
20th of March 2019
Words, Music, and Surprises in Lent
Blogger Ginny Chilton Maxwell is Music Minister at Church of the Ascension in Norfolk, Virginia, where she serves as organist, choirmaster, and elementary music teacher. Right now we are in the middle of Lent, the season when we take a closer look at our hearts and ask what we need to change to be […]
11th of March 2019
Calvin Symposium on Worship Round-Up
Author – Adam Perez is a doctoral student in liturgical studies at Duke Divinity School. Worship Across the Spectrum There are few places where the who’s who of worship across the spectrum get together in public. For the last while, the Calvin Symposium on Worship has been that place. While other worship and music conferences […]
5th of March 2019
To the Minister of Music: Leading Out Of a Hurt Place
Min. Rylan Harris is Minister of Worship & Arts at Ray of Hope Christian Church in Atlanta, Georgia while he pursues a Master of Religious Leadership with a concentration in Music and Worship at Candler School of Theology. He is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia and remains active with the Hampton Ministers Conference each […]
25th of February 2019
QUESTIONS FOR THE DIRECTOR: 25 Women Song-Writers You Should Know
Blogger Brian Hehn is the director of The Center for Congregational Song. Lots of Questions As the director of The Center for Congregational Song, I’m often asked questions for which I don’t know the answer. There’s usually one of two reasons for me not knowing the answer. First, I’m only one person with limited […]
19th of February 2019
A Song of Renewal for the Lenten Season
Felicia Patton is a lifelong Chicago native and worship leader at Urban Village Church. Felicia received an undergraduate degree from North Park University followed by two graduate degrees from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 Chorus: Give me a clean […]
11th of February 2019
What “The Sound of Music” Taught Me About Congregational Song
Blogger David Bjorlin is a worship pastor at Resurrection Covenant Church (Chicago), a lecturer in worship at North Park Theological Seminary (Chicago), and a published hymnwriter. A Deeply Disturbing Fact On a recent trip to Ecuador to visit my dear friends Chris and Jenny, I discovered a deeply disturbing fact about their […]
5th of February 2019
Reflections on The Porter’s Gate Songwriting Retreat
Blogger Rylan A. Harris is Minister of Worship & Arts at Ray of Hope Christian Church in Atlanta, Georgia while he pursues a Master of Religious Leadership with a concentration in Music and Worship at Candler School of Theology. He is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia. …sitting around the table music sounds so sweet, ‘til […]
7th of January 2019
Giving Advent and Christmas a Post-Op Performance Evaluation
Author – Adam Perez is a doctoral student in liturgical studies at Duke Divinity School. I hope that you, dear reader, had a wonderful season of music and worship during Advent and Christmas. In my experience, it is the most difficult season of the year for worship planning. It is tiring to navigate all the… […]
4th of January 2019
2019 – Hopes, Dreams, and Introductions
As we worked toward the launch of The Center over a year ago, we developed a set of guiding stances for the work of The Center for Congregational Song. I’d like to highlight a few of those guiding stances that I think speak to what we hope to accomplish in 2019. HOPES We […]
