Category Archive

  “One of my mantras has become, “Never preach a message once.” And preaching it at multiple services doesn’t count. Your first service is not your trial run. If you want to increase the value of your preaching, you must develop the habit of pre-preaching – that is, preaching your message ahead of time, gathering feedback, and integrating changes into your … Read More

  “When people walk through your doors on a Sunday morning, they want to be inspired. They want to be stirred, thrilled, and called to a higher level of living. As church leaders, our job is to do everything we can to make that happen.“                – Nelson Searcy and Jason Hatley The above quote … Read More

  “After preaching and music, testimonies are the single most powerful tool you can include in your worship service. People tune in to stories of life change, especially when they recognize some aspect of themselves in the story. You can incorporate testimonies into your service in three ways: 1. Have someone share a live testimony before the message. 2. Bring … Read More

  “You can’t cooperate with God to help the people he has entrusted to you become more like his Son without a strong, grounded plan for your teaching.  Since the message is so important, I strongly encourage you to do a message run-through every week. In the same way that the worship team rehearses every week, so should you. You … Read More

  “In addition to singing songs during the service, you can incorporate music into your service in another way.  I have a theory that if you take a secular song and reframe it around a theological idea, that idea will lodge in people’s minds on an even deeper level. Recently, I taught on the Ephesians passage about husbands respecting their … Read More

  “The psalmist tells us that God inhabits the praises of his people (Ps. 22:3 KJV). Accordingly, I believe that music opens people’s hearts to hear from him. As God indwells the praises of his people, they are drawn into his presence. Their defenses are lowered. Their hearts attune to his. The importance of well-planned, intentional music in a worship … Read More

  “If your services aren’t clear to you in advance, they won’t be clear to your attendees on the day in question, which means they won’t lead to radically transformed lives.”                – Nelson Searcy and Jason Hatley The above quote is from p. 110 of Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services. Engage … Read More

  “Can you imagine going into Sunday knowing you are completely prepared, confident you aren’t leaving anything to chance? Does that level of preparedness sound out of reach? It’s not. With an effective worship planning system in place, you can break the cycle of weekly pressure and walk into every Sunday with peace and confidence.”            … Read More

  “Being able to connect truth to people’s lives in a radically transforming way is intertwined with and largely dependent on your ability to design effective worship services. You have to have a system at work that is capable of creating engaging, powerful, awe-inspiring services each Sunday.”                – Nelson Searcy and Jason Hatley The … Read More

  “We are called to a higher purpose. This Sunday could be the Sunday someone who hasn’t been to church in thirty years walks through your doors. This Sunday could be the Sunday God wants to use you to work a miracle in someone’s life. This Sunday could be the Sunday someone’s eternity changes. You have been given the awesome … Read More