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Thursday, June 20, 2013
 
Monday Morning Email Practical Tools
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MME2

Change is good - you go first!

Dealing with anxiety about change - especially worship change - starts with good leadership and building trust... Read More 

 
 MME2

Does Method Matter in Congregational Singing?

No matter how the congregation is accompanied, nothing should detract from their offering of praise... Read More

 Practical
 Tools


 by Vern Sanders
Joyful Noise
Even though the church choir has been under attack for a generation, Creator publisher Vern Sanders explores 4 reasons why choirs are still a critical part of worship ministry...
15930 Views 16 Comments

5 Shocking Truths About Director-Accompanists
Unexpected discoveries about the role of a director-accompanist...
13806 Views 20 Comments

Funny How Time Slips Away
Vern Sanders examines the state of worship wars, and finds that while the battlefield is very bloody, there is hope for the future.
11630 Views 45 Comments

Lessons from 40+ Years as a Choir Director
10 Important Lessons Learned from 40+ years as a Choir Director
8909 Views 0 Comments

Think like a television producer
If you think like a TV producer you can make any worship service flow more smoothly
8426 Views 7 Comments

Focus on the Ministry You are Really In
3 Ideas to improve the effectiveness of a ministry
7862 Views 1 Comments

Conductors as Educators
Good teachers know this: Don’t lecture; offer experiences. We learn best by doing and while having fun. The choir rehearsal is just the place for this...
7207 Views 0 Comments

Music-Ministry-Equal Pay: Pick Two?
Is a leader's service a simple choice of ministry versus equitable pay? This article contains tools to help a church and its leadership understand the implications of the choices.
7062 Views 0 Comments

Lessons from 40+ Years of Working with Pastors
7 Important Lessons Learned in 40+ years of working with Pastors
7022 Views 2 Comments

A Call for Better Music
Creator magazine publisher Vern Sanders issues a call to music publishers to provide better music for the church.
6254 Views 41 Comments

What Do You Do First with a New Choir?
"What do you work on first?" is mostly choir-specific, but many of the same principles apply to a worship team, handbell ensemble, or church orchestra. I'm sure that my system is not the only way, but it has worked (many times!) for me
6252 Views 6 Comments

8 Questions to Answer as a Ministry Position Applicant
8 Important Questions to ask and answer as part of your application materials for a position in music/worship ministry.
6174 Views 0 Comments

4 Things to Transform an Underperforming Team
Vern Sanders explains the 4 things that need to be in place to transform an underperforming team
6058 Views 2 Comments

Readers Respond: Should There Be a Written Test?
A follow up to the article 8 Questions to Answer as a Ministry Position Applicant
6001 Views 0 Comments

20 Lenten Ideas
A list of 20 ideas of things that a church musician and/or worship leader might do for others by giving something extra during Lent or at any time
5986 Views 0 Comments

An Invitation to Silence
There comes a point where a healthy dose of silence is not just therapeutic, it is absolutely necessary to refocus...
5927 Views 1 Comments

Revisiting the Church Musician's Salary Scale
For a variety of reasons, few church music or worship professionals are paid what they are worth. This article provides context, help, and resources for those professionals...
5907 Views 0 Comments

Dramatizing Mendelssohn's Elijah
A report on a project taking a work like Elijah and without distracting from the definition of the masterful music, creating a production that has renewed meaning to every listener...
5836 Views 0 Comments

Lessons from 25+ Years of Being a Music Publisher
5 Important Lessons learned from 25+ years of being a music publisher
5428 Views 0 Comments

We Are Family
Creator magazine publisher provides words of encouragement to those serving in church music and worship ministry...
5298 Views 2 Comments

A Service of Lessons and Music for Easter
A service of lessons and music (including specific titles) that would serve any church well during the Easter season
5291 Views 0 Comments

Marking and Navigating the Musical Score
Details on a 7 step process for conductors to mark musical scores
5220 Views 0 Comments

Tenebrae - Using a Large Work in a Worship Service
A Tenebrae service which includes a large work (the Rutter Requiem) that you might use, either in whole, or modified, as fits your local situation
5191 Views 0 Comments

Lessons from 40+ Years of Being a Worship Leader
8 Important Lessons learned from 40+ Years as a Worship Leader
5034 Views 2 Comments

It is just a Piece of Paper
Vern Sanders presents the case for why degrees matter and degrees don't matter for today's church musician and worship leader, and why the church needs to find a way to evaluate the competency of those who serve in these ministries.
4942 Views 17 Comments

Holy Week in the Early Church
An in-depth description of Holy Week in the early church written by noted worship scholar Robert Webber
4873 Views 0 Comments

Practical Lessons from an Easter Season
A number of practical musical lessons learned by members of a music ministry over one particular Easter season
4710 Views 1 Comments

Blessing+Texting=Blexting
Bless + texting = Blexting. Blexting is the act of texting someone a blessing. The question becomes one of practicality: “Are both texting and blessing topics for worship renewal or is it merely secularized spiritual gimmickry?”
4345 Views 0 Comments

Coming Out of the Dark
Creator magazine's publisher Vern Sanders considers the question: how do you recruit new members for your church choir from the community without stepping on the toes of other church music programs?
3951 Views 18 Comments

Stand Up and Lift Up Your Heads
Vern Sanders reflects that there is something amazing about the power of corporate singing
3919 Views 14 Comments

Choir as a Team Sport
Vern Sanders explains how you can apply some of the same "best practices" of sports teams to your choir program
3753 Views 0 Comments

Longevity, Adaptability, and Continuing Education
Vern Sanders explains why longevity, adaptability, and continuing education are of paramount importance to today's church musicians and worship leaders
3624 Views 2 Comments

End of the Decade Update
A look back at popular and useful examples of Monday Morning Email
3572 Views 0 Comments

The Day After Christmas
A short poem written on behalf of all those who serve in the music/arts ministry of local churches
3469 Views 0 Comments

Creating Margins
Creating some space between yourself and your limits is a good thing
3290 Views 0 Comments

Lead By Getting Out of the Way
These days, worship leaders are in front of a congregation so often that it can easily become matter-of-fact...routine. But in that moment as you wait to enter that holy space, whether for the first time or the thousandth time, you realize that you are expected to lead, and there is nothing more that you can do except get out of the way.
3233 Views 0 Comments

When You Wish Upon a Star
Wanting to be a "star" and being one is not just about wishing and hoping, or settling for a passing grade. Talent is one thing, but week after week you need to show up, and show you are a leader...
3075 Views 3 Comments

Revisiting Mission Statements
Vern Sanders wonders when you last looked at your mission statement, and whether you have a leadership plan
2709 Views 0 Comments

Finish Like A Pro
Vern Sanders points out that finishing well -- in music and in leadership -- is as important as starting well
2609 Views 5 Comments

22 Practical Music Ministry Tips
Fred Bock and Vern Sanders provide helpful information that every church musician and worship leader needs. These are practical things that aren't generally taught in schools...
2472 Views 8 Comments

Cantate Domino Rehearsal Markings
Rehearsal markings for the choral piece Cantate Domino by Hans Leo Hassler
2106 Views 0 Comments

3 Reasons to Stop Buying Mediocre Music
Vern Sanders explains why the new performance practice repertoire is probably not being written for your church group
1854 Views 5 Comments

What Are You Packing Around?
Vern Sanders talks about parachutes, memory, and imagination, and how all three have an impact on everyone's leadership style...
1827 Views 2 Comments

Theology Can Be Reduced to 3 Songs
Vern Sanders talks about theology, the power of music, and the trinity of hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs
1455 Views 4 Comments

Choir in Modern Worship: Flexibility, Poise & Passion - Q & A
Vern Sanders answers questions that were submitted before and during the July 10, 2012 Choir in Modern Worship MasterClass event
1016 Views 0 Comments

Top 10 Leadership Tips from a Worship Wars Survivor - Q & A
Vern Sanders answers questions that were submitted before and during the June 12, 2012, MasterClass Top 10 Leadership Tips from a Worship Wars Survivor
908 Views 0 Comments

Creator Update
an update on the state of Creator
471 Views 0 Comments

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Lessons from 40+ Years of Working with Pastors

7 Important Lessons Learned in 40+ years of working with Pastors
Comments 2 Comments Vern Sanders submitted 2 years 239 days ago

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Lessons from 25+ Years of Being a Music Publisher

by Vern Sanders

November 22, 2010

Yet More Important Things...

I apologize. I made a promise to stop after last month's MME about things I've learned from working with pastors, because I thought it would get me in trouble. Actually quite the opposite happened. Combined with the response to August's list of things I've learned from being a choir director, and September's list of things I've learned from being a worship leader, there seems to be a real appreciation of these lists, so I've decided to continue to write about stuff I've learned. If you arrived here in the middle of this series of things and are not sure about my motives, I am trying to relate practical things here, not just rant, althought the temptation to do the latter is powerful at times.

In the process, of course, I am revealing something of my history, experience, and, most of all, my opinions about things. I have been blessed to be involved in church music and worship leadership in a wide variety of settings and with a similar variety of roles.

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Lessons from 40+ Years of Working with Pastors

by Vern Sanders

October 25, 2010

Even More Important Things...

OK. I promise to stop after this one, because it will probably get me in trouble. People seemed to like August's list of things I've learned from being a choir director, and last month's list of things I've learned from being a worship leader, so I thought I'd tell a bit more stuff I've learned. If you've heard me speak at a conference, you know that, by and large, I like pastors. But sometimes I have had to grit my teeth.

Before this particular MME went to print, as I often do, I asked some people I trust to read it and give me their reactions. In most cases the responses went something like this: "I agree with everything you are saying, but I'm not sure you should say it." So I let it sit for a while and came back to it, intending to change what needed to be changed. And instead of changing anything, I decided to write this paragraph. The most important thing that you need to know about this week's MME is this: If you actually read this, you will realize that I am not pastor bashing here. In fact, in most of my items, I am saying let anyone who is without sin throw the first stone...and I don't expect to see any flying projectiles, and I'm definitely not throwing any. I have been blessed to work with some amazing (and some not so amazing) pastors. Pastors, like musicians, have their idiosyncracies. I would not want to be one, because the job description is overwhelming, awesome, and, at times, crushing. What follows below are compilations from (look above) 40+ years of experience, observation, and listening to both pastors and musicians complain about each other.

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Lessons from 40+ Years of Being a Worship Leader

by Vern Sanders

September 27, 2010

More Important Things...


People seemed to like last month's list of things I've learned from being a choir director, so I thought I'd tell you some more stuff I've learned. Many of these things are not original...but over a lot of years they have repeated themselves often enough to be important. They have stood the test of time, so to speak, and, if you are starting out in ministry, you might want to print this list and put it somewhere that you can find it in 25 years. This is not a "ranked" list. It is just a list.

People Feel Strongly About What is Familiar to Them

Love it or hate it, people are comfortable with the familiar. There is a peace about knowing "what comes next." In these days of economic unease, life is more unsettled than it has been in recent memory, and studies are showing that the stress level of the typical human is markedly elevated.

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Lessons from 40+ Years as a Choir Director

by Vern Sanders

August 23, 2010

Ten Important Things...

You will notice I didn't say that these are the Top 10 things I've learned. If there is another thing I've learned in my life, it's that the "Top" 10 things can change. So let's just say that when I sat down to write this month's MME, these were the 10 things I thought were most important to communicate to you today. Many of these things are not original. Some were told to me by older directors when I was just an angry young conductor. But these have stood the test of time, so to speak, and if you are an angry young conductor, you might want to print this list and put it somewhere that you can find it in 25 years. This is not a "ranked" list. It is just a list.

They should sing more than you talk

Most conductors are drawn to the profession, at least in part, because they think they know more than other people. They enjoy the power of leading people. And they are not afraid to share their expertise and views.

But there are only two reasons why the singers could be listening to the conductor more than they are singing:

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