Today's Monday Morning Email is a bit unusual, in that it features an interview with Kenneth Voritskul.
I've gotten to know Kenneth as a result of my involvement with his Worship Ministry University project, and I
think WMU is going to be a significant addition to the worship and music ministry landscape. WMU is addressing
the training aspect of worship and music ministry in a simple, elegant, practical, and affordable way, and it is a
pleasure to bring this to the attention of our Creator Leadership Network members.

VS: Welcome, Kenneth. Would you like to tell our readers a bit about your background?

KV: Well, I've been involved in worship leading and worship ministry for 17
years now as a lay person. Professionally, I've been doing project
management/consulting for internet technology companies.

VS: What is WMU?

KV: WMU is essentially a new online learning/training network for worship
ministries. Churches that become members in the network can now get
equipped with the same top notch worship training they'd normally get at
a live worship conference, from the very same leading worship teachers -
but now the worship training can be done right over the computer!

WMU operates as a subscription service that churches can get plugged
into. Once you become a member, you'll get automatic access to a new
relevant, online worship ministry seminar each and every week taught by
a leading worship teacher.

VS: How did you get the idea for WMU?

KV: With my professional background in internet technologies and background
in worship ministry, I began to think if there was some way to merge the
two for the benefit of the church. We all want our church worship
ministries to grow and be vibrant, but we unfortunately, the ideas and
insights that can help us grow our worship ministries are typically
only accessible through live worship events. And thousands and thousands
of churches miss out year after year on getting the ideas they need,
simply due to cost, time, or travel...which is simply a shame.

So why not try and leverage today's technologies to finally make worship
training easy and convenient for churches? And so the idea of WMU came
about to try and give churches easy, ongoing access to worship training,
ideas, and insights that will help them build more vibrant worship
ministries right over the internet.

VS:  I know WMU grew out of the response to an earlier project that I was involved with:
the National Worship Teleseminar. Tell me about why people encouraged you to continue...
and tell me about what NWT participants were asking for specifically...what did they want to learn?

KV: Churches were hungry for ideas. Everything from worship strategies, to
worship theology, to team building, to leadership training. There's such
a lack of training in local churches for worship ministries. Many
churches utilize volunteer staff, who get thrown up front, with minimal,
if any, training, as long as they can even play an instrument or sing
even slightly. We had over 3900 people attend the NWT event and many
emailed in that they were using all the sessions to finally train their
teams.

VS: Tell me about the WMU faculty

KV: We already have around 30 of today's leading worship teachers
onboard as faculty, and more are in the process of being confirmed right
now. Our faculty is diverse, from contemporary evangelical, to mainline
traditional. WMU doesn't favor one style or tradition over another, but
rather we believe we all need to share and learn from each other to see
what's out there and what will work best in our own particular
congregations. So we're proud to say we have a very broad range in our
faculty that will expand your worship horizons.

VS: Thank you for inviting me to participate, and for asking Creator to provide a portion of the
course offerings. Can you explain why this is a good fit for WMU to have Creator involved?

KV: I think Creator has a very similar mindset and vision that WMU has, and
that's for a diverse, balanced approach to worship training. WMU's
stance is that there's no right or wrong approach to worship ministry,
it all can be valid depending on your particular congregation. But that
we can all share and learn from each other, and grow in our knowledge
and understanding of worship ministry and how to keep it relevant in
this day and age. I've appreciated Creator's similar philosophy and it's
been a blessing to have Creator contribute to the diversity of worship
training offered to the community.

VS: What will a typical WMU class "look" like?

KV: A typical WMU class will be a 30 minute online video seminar, being led
by one of our distinguished faculty. As a member, you'll be able to log
into the WMU website at your convenience, pick a video seminar to watch,
click play, and go through the class online. You'll be able to watch and
listen to the teacher's presentation, and you can rewind and rewatch as
many times as you want as all online seminars will be archived for you.

VS: I think that one of the best parts of WMU is the opportunity to get this world class
training in an "on demand" environment, without having to spend a lot of money to fly to a
seminar and pay for lodging and meals. I think that makes it particularly attractive to people
who serve in smaller churches. Are you finding that to be true?

KV: Most definitely! Many smaller churches simply can't afford to pay
$800-1000 for ONE person to go to ONE conference for a couple days. So
we priced this to be very affordable. For a fraction of the typical live
seminar cost, you can now get the same level of training from the same
leading worship teachers.

VS: I think that WMU will be attractive to smaller churches as well, who might not have the
resources to have a full time music and worship ministry. Which brings up the question of cost.
What is this going to cost an individual or a church to enroll in WMU?

KV: The membership cost to join the WMU learning network is going to be
$199/year for an individual, and a discounted group rate of $399 for a
group of 3 people. There are also other discounted group rates on the
site, if you want to enroll more people in your church.

But, since we've just launched WMU, we've arranged a very limited time,
special charter rate to make it even more affordable at just
$149/individual and $299 for a group of 3. This is only good until Dec
1, or the first 500 churches that register, whichever comes first. So if
you'd like to be a part of this, I really encourage you to register now
and lock in your charter level. Once the introductory window is gone,
it's gone! And it will cost your church $50-400 extra every year from
that point on if you decide to join later.

VS: That's great! I'm going to sign my church up. My staff will love this opportunity. But what
about a church that doesn't have a credit card? How can they enroll?

KV: Sure, we understand not all churches use a credit card. You just need to
email us at support@worshipministryu.com to let us know you'd rather pay
by check so we know it's coming and your account will not be activated
though until your check clears.

VS: Excellent! Are there any other features to WMU that people should know about?

KV: We have A LOT more training resources planned to help your church in
early 2008. You are literally going to be plugged into a wealth of
ongoing worship ministry training, as we're making this into the largest
online library of worship ministry training.

But again, you'll want to register now - because the introductory rate
will never, ever be offered again. Register NOW before it's gone for
good and start equipping your worship ministry to grow!

VS: Thanks. I look forward to talking with you about WMU again in the future.

Blessings,

  Vern Sanders      

creator@creatormagazine.com

 

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