But maybe you have a story of something that happened at WG11 that you wanted to share with others to encourage them. Maybe you were a lone attendee who was adopted by another group. Maybe God ministered to you in a significant way. Maybe you have an awkward or embarrassing story to tell.

Whatever it is, we’d love to hear about it. You can leave a comment below.

Arthur C. Cochrane’s Reformed Confessions of the Sixteenth Century

Philip Schaff’s 3-volume Creeds of Christendom.

We plan to send out information on the conference next week. That info will include a link where you can download the songs we’ll be recording at WG11. Be watching for it!

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…

What do you hope will be filling people’s minds and hearts as they walk away from your message?
It can be discouraging and frustrating to lead worship in a liturgical church. I hope this seminar relieves some of that frustration, and encourages worship leaders to go back home with some hope and excitement at what God can do through them even in the constraints of a formal liturgy.

How has what you’re going to speak on affected your own life?
I have only ever attended and led worship in an Anglican church. I know firsthand that leading worship in this setting can feel like trying to paint in a straight jacket. I’ve seen dead, robotic services where heartless hymn singing is the norm and contemporary songs are the enemy. I’ve also seen God melt hearts of stone and use music as a surgical tool to help people encounter God in vibrant worship.

Can you expound on one point that you’ll be making in your message?
Great chefs have learned, through years of experience, how to work with a recipe, mixing all the different ingredients and making some adjustments, to present something that feeds and satisfies. Worship leaders, especially in liturgical churches, have a lot of ingredients and recipes to juggle. If the “recipe” owns them – the meal is going to be stale and bland. If they get comfortable and familiar enough to own the recipe – to know where they can make adjustments and where they can’t – then the final product can be more edifying. And edible.

How are people best going to be served by coming to this seminar?
For years I left these kind of conferences thinking “those were amazing times of corporate worship. Too bad my church can’t experience that.” I hope worship leaders will leave this seminar thinking “my congregation can experience more of this than I thought”.

Is there any passage of Scripture that sums up what you’ll be sharing?
Many liturgical churches do Psalm 46:10 really well (“Be still, and know that I am God…”). They might be surprised that two verses later, in Psalm 47:1 they’re encouraged to: “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” By thinking surgically and leading carefully, prayerfully, and biblically, you can help your congregation grow in their expression of heartfelt, Christ-centered, Sprit-filled worship.

1. Biblical, practical, engaging preaching. Guys who love to preach God’s Word and serve local churches will be explaining why gathering together as God’s people matters. We’ll get to hear from Ray Ortlund, Jr., Bryan Chapell, Thabiti Anyabwile (pictured here), & Craig Cabaniss. And me. Here’s a clip of John Piper from WG2009.

2. Skilled church musicians who love God, his gospel, his Word, and his church. Everyone who leads at the conference may not be a household name (although Enfield and Sojourn Music should be), but that’s okay. They’re leading because, like you, they know what it is to serve in the church week in and week out, with volunteers who want to serve the church more faithfully. And they do it really well.

3. Live album. Friday night we’ll be recording back to back sessions of our new album, The Gathering. And you can be on it! The songs will be designed around a gospel-shaped liturgy. If you’re registered, you’ll receive MP3s of the songs 2 weeks in advance of the conference to learn them. Should be a rich time.

4. Lots of free stuff. in 2009 we gave away a midi keyboard, a $300 Sweetwater gift certificate, a copy of Sibelius, a guitar amp, some iPods, and a bunch of other stuff. Who knows what we’ll give away this year? Besides free, we also do cheap albums and books pretty well.

5. Like-minded worshipers. You’ll meet over 1500 people who are passionate about doing what you do and want to do it better for the glory of Jesus.

6. One responsibility: take it all in. Enjoy 3 whole days where you don’t have to arrange any of the songs, lead any of the rehearsals, practice any of the riffs, or show up early for any of the sessions. Of course, if you’re a conference junkie, you can come early to watch the rehearsals and stay up till 2AM hanging out.

7. Forty seminars and two pre-conference intensives. You get to pick four seminars, and can download the rest later for free. Grow in your musical chops, become a better leader, learn how to fight sin with worship, test out sound/band equipment, grow as a vocalist, understand creativity better, simplify your spiritual life, etc. The two 3 hour pre-conference intensives focus on playing the piano (I’m teaching that one) or rehearsing with Ken Boer and the conference choir. More info can be found here.

8. Theology, character, and skill. That’s what we focus on at each WorshipGod conference. Because all three matter.

9. There is a time to laugh (Eccl.3:4). And we make sure we find it at WorshipGod. We take worshiping the Savior very seriously. Ourselves, not so much. Here’s one example. And here’s another. And one more.

10. Spanish seminars and translations. So this one only really matters if you speak Spanish or know someone who does. The main sessions will be translated and we’ll have one seminar each session in Spanish as well as another that’s translated.

11. It’s cheap. Until April 1, students get in for $90, groups of 5+ are $120, and individuals are $150. That price includes lunch both days, a binder with all the outlines, 6 sessions, and 4 seminars. Did I mention the snacks and drinks during the day and after the evening sessions? And the free stuff? We’re practically paying you to come!

12. Encountering God. If you’ve attended a WorshipGod conference in the past, you know that it’s about much more than receiving solid teaching, singing great songs together, and growing in your skills. God never fails  to change, inspire, convict, and encourage hearts as we behold his glory together (2 Cor. 3:18).

So there’s my pitch. If you’ve been to a WorshipGod conference in the past, feel free to leave a comment as to why someone should think about coming this year.

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.

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)

We’d be interested in hearing any of the ways you were served by the conference, as well as any thoughts you have for making the next conference better.

Thanks!