This year's Worship Xcellence Conference was awesome! The hungry worshipers and worship leaders were fed a huge meal by Joe Sabolick, a pastor from Calvary Chapel, Deven Berryhill, the host and lead singer/rhythm guitarist in the band Regeneration, All Together Separate, Like Minded, Dave Rolph, another Calvary Chapel pastor, Eli Thompson, the A&R man for Maranatha Records, FORM, a great rock/worship band from New Zealand and Miranda and Sparklepop!
As I worshiped and learned, I wrote awesome things that were said. Here is my list of quotes! Enjoy and God bless!
I only want to know that I'm close to You.
I want your throne reigning on my heart.
I don't want to leave my mark on the world. I want to leave God's mark on the world.
We've all done things apart from Jesus.
Have you ever done something apart from Jesus, in Jesus' name?
Nothing of kingdom value can be done without Christ.
Declare the truths of God.
How do you think or feel about worship?
Do you define who you are by what you do?
Who you are is not what you do.
When you lead worship, you have to know why you're there.
What are you expecting people to do during worship?
God is calling worship leaders to guide His people into meaningful worship.
Worship leading is a serious calling that requires practice.
God wants to use worship in His process of redeeming people.
Pray that God does awesome things during worship.
Praising God is an unselfish act that God adores.
The higher you lift Jesus, the deeper your worship will be.
Do you want God to fill the room and knock you over?
Enjoy the current, worship revolution!
Who do you think you are?
We must lead worship from our position in Christ and not our ability.
It's not Christ and you; it's Christ in you.
Don't pray for God to simply come alongside you. Ask Him to do things through you.
Don't let God be your co-pilot. Make Him your pilot!
God feels the same toward you as He does about Jesus.
You are completely, fully, totally loved by God.
You can't be any more forgiven than you are when Christ forgives you.
Before Christ, you're not simply bad; you're dead.
There are spiritually dead people attending and serving in churches.
Give up and let Christ in You do His work.
What would it be like to live like Christ is in you and you are in Christ?
There's a difference between singing and worshiping.
To be passionate about God, you have to be passionate about worship.
Worship isn't a part of the Christian life. It is the Christian life. (Oswald Chambers)
Worship isn't simply a time filler or something we do while everyone is showing up for the sermon.
If the Holy Spirit isn't present, there isn't poor worship, there is no worship.
The prescription for worshiping God correctly is that we worship in spirit and in truth.
If the fruit of God isn't manifesting in our lives, we shouldn't be leading worship.
There is no place for "self" in worship.
Worship is not simply entertainment.
We may not even be able to comprehend or verbalize the way worship touches and changes us.
Our worship isn't limited to a certain location.
We are called to be living sacrifices, continually offering ourselves to God.
Worship is supposed to be a humbling, spiritual sacrifice.
The very best lamb was sacrificed to God in the Old Testament, so our very best worship should be given to God.
For some, singing is a big sacrifice because they never sing. For others, singing or playing down to others' levels is a big sacrifice.
The essence of ministry is the denial of self. (C.S. Lewis)
It's ironic that playing music is an expression of self, but playing worship music is an expression of worship and denial of self.
Worship songs should be centered on God's truths.
Our worship must be honest and sincere.
Worship lyrics must be comprehensible and understandable.
When you seek God, worship happens.
One moment of silence in God's presence is worth more than a lifetime of learning. (A.W. Tozer)
As we keep our eyes on Him, worship happens.
Don't just seek mountaintop worship experiences. Seek the Creator of those experiences.
Pray for incredible worship.
Don't simply emulate worship leaders. Emulate God.
Don't worship music. Worship God with music.
People put limitations and rules on their worship.
Do you have a loving relationship with God that transcends cliches?
Plan for a special day this Sunday. On Saturday night, start preparing your heart and mind for worship.
Try confessing your sins before you worship God.
Don't let your hair, your car or your clothes define your identity.
It's extraordinarily difficult to love others as much as we love ourselves.
Jesus died for even His enemies.
When you see a group photograph, do you look for your picture, first?
Sin is what's plaguing us and keeping worship from spreading all over the Earth.
Our love needs to flow to people outside the church.
Worship is beyond music and cool songs.
After David made his mistakes, he wrote some of the songs the church as sang for centuries.
Celebrate the differences that God created and try and eliminate the ones your flesh created.
When you're being a perfectionist and criticizing your worship leading, praise God if you're last words were praise.
If perfection were the standard, there would be no worship leaders.
The power of God is seen through the ways people are touched and moved by His Spirit in poor musicians and Christians.
Whatever you put in the light dispels the darkness.
The devil can use awkward silence between people to pit them against each other.
People serve the Lord through worship leading.
Worship leading isn't an act of demonstration; it's people worshiping and leading others into worship.
Worship leaders shouldn't offend their congregation with their style or clothes.
Consider the words you sing during worship.
Nobody can steal what God put inside you.
God has given all Christians gifts that the body of Christ desperately needs.
If worship leaders do their job, they'll lead people into the presence of God.
The best worship hasn't been discovered, yet.
What are we doing to always abound?
The body of Christ can suffer when a Christian leader doesn't pray, study, practice, etc.
Girls can and should be used in worship bands.
Without letting women use their gifts, we're only using half our army.
Click here to go to JCSM's main Worship Xcellence page (with links to several different conference years of notes)