Well, on March 31 we found out how many people are the kind that wait until the last minute to sign up for a conference. 478. That’s how many signed up that day, bringing the total registration to around 1000.

That’s by far the most we’ve had registered for a WorshipGod conference this far out. We’re excited about what God has in store!

But here’s the bad news. Seminars are already beginning to fill up. We’re switching some rooms around to add more people to the full seminars, but eventually those will fill up to. The moral of the story is, if you want to go to a specific seminar, sign up now.

And remember, you can change your seminar choices up until July 31, the day that online registration ends. But once a seminar is full, it will no longer appear in the drop-down menu. Of course, if some people drop out, it will show up again. So if you don’t see the seminar you want to attend listed, stop by again later to see if it’s opened up.

For the last two WorshipGod conferences we’ve capped attendance at 1700. It looks like we might surpass that this year. If the demand is there, we have the option of opening up another section of the auditorium and increasing the attendance by about 500.

We’ll see how it goes…

Twenty years ago worship conferences were rarely heard of. That’s no longer the case. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of conferences put on by churches, ministries, and music companies, devoted exclusively to the topic of worship.

As I’ve attended and participated in different events over the years, it’s made me think hard about why we’re putting on a worship conference. I mean, does the church really need one more worship conference? Should we put all the hours, energy, and prayer into hosting WorshipGod11 when there are so many other worship conferences to attend? Obviously, my answer is yes. So I thought I’d share a few of the reasons we’re sponsoring this conference.

1. Content and Context: We attempt to combine biblical depth, musical training, leadership expertise, heart issues, and Spirit-led creativity all in a gospel-centered, local-church context. Sometimes we have well known speakers and musicians, but the popularity of a speaker isn’t our main concern. Our goal is to help church musicians serve their churches more effectively and we try to bring in people we think will serve that end. They include pastors and leaders we’ve known for years in Sovereign Grace.

2. Doctrine and Devotion: We teach on and model congregational worship that is both Reformed and charismatic. In other words we believe in the absolute sufficiency and authority of Scripture, but also believe all the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and other passages have some form of expression today. We think corporate worship should be both theologically rich and emotionally expressive.

3. Learning from others. You can’t visit every church or ministry that you’d like to, so we try to gather in one place some folks and musicians that we’ve been encouraged by over the years so you can be encouraged, too.

4. Free Materials: We like to give away a lot of stuff, because we want you to go home encouraged, enthusiastic, and equipped. You won’t go away empty-handed.

5. Books and More Books: We stock a bookstore not only with books that will help you lead worship, but also with ones that will deepen your knowledge of God and love for the gospel.

6. A Heart to Serve: While we still have a great deal to learn, and continue to benefit greatly from other churches and ministries, we feel God has enabled us to make a small contribution to equipping leaders and musicians to serve their churches more biblically, faithfully, skillfully, and joyfully.

There are other reasons, but this post is already long enough.

I’d love to hear from you if you have thoughts on a previous WorshipGod conference, or a question about the upcoming conference. Feel free to leave a comment.

And thanks for stopping by.

If you’re wanting to listen to the main messages from WorshipGod09, again or for the first time, they’re available at the Sovereign Grace store. Here’s the list:

Wed. PM – The God of Worship (John Piper)
Thurs. AM – The Heart of Worship (John Piper)
Thurs. PM – The Leaders of Worship (Jeff Purswell)
Fri. AM – The Church of Worship (Thabiti Anyabwile)
Fri. PM – Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Leading (CJ Mahaney and Bob Kauflin, interviewed by Jeff Purswell)
Sat. AM – The Future of Worship (Bob Kauflin)

Also, since we can’t address every topic at each conference, you may want to check out messages from previous WorshipGod conferences:

WorshipGod08 – Rediscovering the Psalms
WorshipGod06 – The Glory of His Presence
WorshipGod04 – It’s Not About Us (main sessions only)

Although we have reached the 1,600 number of attendees planned for WorshipGod09, and online registration is now closed, we want to extend an invitation to an additional 50 people to register on site. This is on the understanding that the choice of seminars is limited (see below). To reserve a spot, on a first-come-first-served basis, please contact us via our website. The cost is $185 or $135 for students. Payment (cash/check) will be expected when you arrive.

Thursday, Seminar 1

“Do You Thirst for God” Donald Whitney

“Thoughts on Songwriting, Part 1” Keith & Kristyn Getty

Thursday, Seminar 2

“Improving Your Blend” Shelley Reinhart, Vikki Cook, & Todd Twining

“Thoughts on Songwriting, Part 2” Keith & Kristyn Getty

Friday, Seminar 1

“Clean hands and a Pure Heart” Pat Sczebel

“Let All the People Be Glad” Bob Kauflin

Friday, Seminar 2

“Worship Team Evaluation” Bob Kauflin

“Leading Your Family in Worship” Donald Whitney

If you’re trying to decide whether or not to come to WorshipGod09, it will be $25 cheaper if you register before June 1.

I’d think that it’s enough motivation to think of spending three and a half days with hundreds of like-minded God-worshipers, singing praises to the Savior, learning new songs, listening to men like John Piper, CJ Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Don Whitney teach from God’s Word, and and being practically equipped to serve others more effectively with your gifts.

But if that’s not enough incentive, think about what you could do with the $25 you save if you register now.

If you’re thinking about coming to WorshipGod09, you may want to decide in the next week. All prices increase by $25 on April 1.

As of yesterday registration was 227, but if this year is anything like last year most people will register right before the rates go up. Don’t forget that you can change your seminar choices even after you register (until mid-July).

I was informed on July 10 that when registration for WorshipGod08 closed a total of 1626 people had signed up to come. That’s both humbling and exciting.

What that means is that registration for the conference is closed. People who show up at the door will only be able to attend the main sessions. This is a problem I’m not used to having.

A few stats:

760 first time attendees
127 high school students
619 worship leaders
31 international guests (including 14 from Canada)
Largest age group: 26-40 with 571
Second largest: 25 and below with 436
Largest church size group: 101-300 with 635 people
Largest seminar: David Powlison’s “A Calm and Peaceful Heart” with 631 signed up

I’m glad to see so many young people coming, so many attendees wanting to address issues of the heart, and so many people coming for the first time.

I’d appreciate your prayers for all those who are preparing to serve those who will be at the conference, as well as for everyone who will be coming. Looking forward to three and half days of equipping, encouragement, and encountering God through His Word, song, and fellowship, as we rediscover God’s unsearchable greatness in the Psalms.

My wife, Julie, has agreed to teach a seminar at the WorshipGod conference that was called “Managing Motherhood and Ministry.” I’m grateful that she agreed because she’s had over thirty years of experience serving alongside me in various capacities and has a ton to share for women that is both biblical and helpful. She’s been a sound engineer, vocalist, designer, and pastor’s wife, and raised six children in the process, and she’s done an outstanding in all of them.

As we talked about her experiences, we thought she was going to be talking about more than just motherhood. To better reflect the content of what she’ll be sharing, her seminar is going to be called “Maintaining Priorities in and Around the Worship Team.” I know of few women who have done that better than my wife.

This Sunday, June 1, registration rates go up $25. Right now the cost is $100 for students, $125 for groups of 5 or more, and $150 for individuals.

Registration has topped 1200, but we still have room for about 300-400 more folks. Unfortunately, we have space limitations on some of the seminars so we’ve had to close a few as they’ve filled up. So the sooner you sign up, the more likely you’ll get to attend the seminars you most want to go to.

The other day I was adding up the number of people who had signed up for seminars. When I looked up at my calculator it read 943. I figured I must have punched in a wrong number. I added the numbers again, looked up, and it still read 943. I couldn’t believe it. We’re almost four months out from the conference and we’re already at 60% capacity. Seems most of it had to do with people wanting to save the $25 that was added to registration on April 1.

That’s good news and bad news. The good news is that we’re going to have a great time with a lot of folks. The bad news is that we’re already having to close some seminars. And we’re going to be advertising at Together for the Gospel in a couple weeks and at the New Attitude Conference at the end of May. We’re working on some solutions, like switching rooms for different seminars. But the fact is, we have space limitations and we just can’t increase the size of all the seminars. Most of them will be recorded, but it’s always nice to be there at the actual seminar. Once a seminar is full it won’t show up as an option on the registration page.

So if you’re interested at all in coming to the conference and want to have as many options as possible for the seminars, I’d sign up soon.

On the other hand, if you’re not as concerned about getting the seminars you want, take your time.