In this episode I talk with Brett Younker about:

What's going on with Passion conference this year.

The writing process for their latest single Remember.

The importance of being open to feedback from others when we are writing.

Why we have to make sure the God is the focus of our lives before we are worried about what we can write.

Why we need to trust people that can speak into our lives.

The nuts and bolts of how they did their conferences simultaneously in difference places.

What's going on with the latest album.

The end it movement and how those that attended the conference this year helped refugees in Syria.

Steps to start at a small church in worship leadership.

In this Episode, Adam, Chris, and I talk to Chris Quilala about:

Jesus Culture Sacramento.

Their latest album "Let it Echo."

The songwriting process and how the songs on this album are being used in their church.

Why they decided to have this project come out of their local church rather than their conferences.

Staying close to God in the midst of pain.

Local church worship ministry vs conferences and concerts.

The work involved in building a local worship ministry.

How we have to be sensitive to where everyone is in their life when we're leading them to worship.

Their move from their previous church to now be leaders at their church.

The importance of finding inspiration to help in our creativity.

God's involvement in our creative process.

How we need to set our pride down as worship leaders.

How Chris went from being a drummer to a worship leader.

The songwriting process for Jesus Culture.

The gear he's currently using.

This was a fantastic convo! Here's what's we talked about:

Their rerelease of "Have You Heard" and how they went about making it fresh. You can grab it here.

What it was like pioneering worship in the early days of Delirious?

Encouragement for worship leaders and teams in how to help their church embrace new forms of music.

The process of staying inspired as a musician.

How our innovation mustn't be at the expense of connecting others with God.

What recording looks like now compared to it's evolution over the past 20 years.

What touring as a guitarist looks like for him.

What his guitar rig looks like.

The story behind his custom pedal "The Kilt."

Advice for guitarists!

The key to longevity as a worship leader/musician.

In this Episode Adam Dolhanyk, Chris Bellamy and myself talk with James Mead from Kutless about:

The process of writing this new album and the shift toward Kutless as a rock band.

How Kutless got started.

The balance of working with a team of musicians and writers.

The need to be adaptable with the musicians and leaders you play with.

The importance of humility in our teams.

Their new guitar player Nathan Parrish. (Hey! He's a contributor, check out his stuff here)

How to cover guitar parts when you don't have enough players.

Some of their shows in Ukraine and why James will often say they were some of the best shows ever.

The missionary heart of Kutless.

A secret project!

The guitar rig James uses. His Elliot Guitar called a tonemaster. His Greer amp lightspeed. His Tyler Amp.

In this episode Cliff Lampbert, Spence Parkerson, and myself answer a called in question about:

The relationship between leading the congregation in worship both on and off the platform.

Taking the chance to connect with the congregation.

The importance of spending time talking with church members.

How we need to work toward helping our worship ministry team members get involved in other ministries.

The value of being in a small group that isn't just worship ministry members.

How to encourage new members of the worship team to not get stuck just hanging out with musicians.

Why we as leaders need to lead the way in showing our team that leading worship is more than what's going on on the platform.

How we should spend time going into a service every weekend. Not spending the whole time in the greenroom.

Giving our team members some time on the stage to talk to the congregation.

In this episode I talk with Chris Rohman from Sanctus Real about:

How Sanctus Real started through getting involved in a student worship team.

What's coming now that Matt is leaving the band.

The process of finding a new singer for the band and how God has moved in the process.

Chris's personal songwriting process.

The importance of the daily songwriting habit.

The mindset of songwriting as a profession.

Advice for young worship leaders and writers.

Practical ways to stay close to God on a daily basis.

In this episode Callie Garret, Ryan Loche, and Paul Zach talk about:

How it can be lonely to be the only creative on staff at church.

How the Charlottesville Worship Collective came about.

The importance of joint ownership of a local worship leader group.

Why we need community with other artists and people that are going through the same things we are.

How to actually find worship leaders local to you.

Relationship being the most important part of getting with others.

How to go about getting buy-in from the senior pastors in the area.

Combining musical styles and sensibilities.

Simple steps to start connecting with other leaders in the area.

The value of cowriting songs.

In this episode I talked with Jon Guerra about:

How he and his wife ended up recording an entire album of Christmas music.

Writing music with your spouse.

What God has been doing with his previous project "Little Songs"

The calling God has placed on Jon's life to minister to the inner life of those that listen to his music.

The balance between songwriting for corporate worship and for private connection with God.

The tremendous value of private times of worship.

How our relationship with God is more important than the music we create.

The habit of connecting with God.

Coffee!!

Encouragement for the new worship leader.

The habit of songwriting.

In this episode Adam Dolhanyk, Miles Nelson, Chris Bellamy, and Ryan Loche talk about:

The process we use to select music in our churches.

The method we go through to bring in a new song.

The roll that hymns can play in our churches.

Looking for participation as a gauge for wether a song is working.

How to go about blending hymns with more modern choruses and how the demographic of our congregations should influence our choices.

Why we need to not try to emulate everything we hear and see the big worship ministries doing.

How we need to not rush to have a full stage of musicians and singers at the expense of the spiritual health of our team.

The role of theology in our song selection.

How we can have a full worship sound when we're playing only by ourselves.

The use of pad loops in our worship. Here's our interview with Shalon Palmer about his loops.

The art of mashing songs together and how we can go about practicing it.

The use of social media in getting our congregation hearing new music.

How we sometimes need to lead songs that we don't particularly love.

In this episode I talk with Aaron Ivey from Austin Stone Worship about:

How songwriting began at their church.

How Aaron got involved in music and songwriting.

Why worship music tends to be best birthed from a local worship context.

How to foster an environment for songwriting.

How to go about having a songwriting retreat.

Why it's ok to write on a theme that has already been written about.

How to go about having healthy co-writing.

Why we should try to write every day.

Why we need to invite feedback into our songwriting.

The reasons for original music from every church.

How to go about coordinating with your senior pastor as you create music in your church.

Why the worship service should be worked around the sermon.

The importance of faithfulness in our ministries.