Blog – Page 4 – Motion Worship – Video Loops, Countdowns, & Moving Backgrounds for the Christian Church

A New Sound System Won’t Make Your Musicians Better

I love new gear, don’t get me wrong. Diving into a new piece of equipment is inspiring, both creatively and technically. Whether it’s a new instrument, a new light fixture, or simply some new hardware, new gear opens new possibilities. Herein lies a common trap. While new gear may create renewed creativity and encourage you to spend more time honing your craft, it won’t inherently make y...

When Should You Start Planning Your Christmas Church Services?

What if I told you that it’s possible to relax during the week leading up to Christmas, even as a senior pastor, worship pastor, or tech director? I know, I know, sounds crazy, right? While December 22nd is traditionally reserved for crippling anxiety and last-minute service planning, I’m here to tell you that it’s possible to be prepared and give yourself space to soak in the holiness of th...

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5 Ways to Make Guests Feel Welcome on Sunday Mornings

Whether you call it “Hospitality Ministry,” “Guest Services,” or “The Greeting Team,” making the effort to welcome new faces and established members alike sets the tone for how our congregation experiences Sunday mornings. Hospitality is more than window-dressing; it’s a value that matters to God. In both the New Testament and the Old, God urges people to extend hospitality not j...

Why You Should Talk About Labor Day At Your Church

If you lead a church, you’re used to making time in your services to speak into various national and cultural holidays. Beyond the major Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter, many of us in the United States recognize and celebrate holidays like Memorial Day, MLK day, or the 4th of July. One holiday that seems to fly under the radar in most churches is Labor Day. Frequently this is tr...

How To Equip Your Ministry For Kids with Disabilities

Our children’s ministries are intended to be safe places for our kids to learn about God’s love and their own identities as God’s beloved children. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: children’s ministry is more than a glorified daycare while parents attend the “big service.” It’s not somehow lesser than ministries for youth or adults. This is precious time to pour into ...

When Someone Says The Music Is Too Loud

If your church plays modern, pop/rock style worship songs, you’ve likely heard this complaint: “The music is too loud”. For those of us who are musicians and tech team members, this can be frustrating feedback. You’ve put hours into preparing the service and the environment, and instead of focusing on the impact the service is having, you’re staring down what can feel like an endless st...

Tips for Elevating Your Youth Ministry’s Set Design

Stage design is a powerful tool for creating atmosphere and setting the tone for your youth to connect with God and each other. When done well, set and stage design has the ability to elevate the impact of what you are sharing from the stage. When done poorly or without much consideration, it has the potential to distract and take away from your overall message. Most youth ministries have littl...

Tips for Getting Worship Team Volunteers to Prepare

A lot of musicians from the church draw a strange line between worship and performance, as if the two are mutually exclusive. There’s often this presumption that if you’re worried about the music, you’re not worshiping, and that performance always pales in comparison to the importance of being engaged in worship. And while this is an incredibly “noble” intention behind why many volunt...

Worship Pastors: Importance of Positive Feedback to Musicians

Being a pastor of any sort is an incredibly busy (and often draining) job. You’re shouldering the weight of daily responsibilities, constant meetings, endless to-do lists, and on top of it there’s the entire relational aspect to the job. Don’t get me wrong – I know pastors love their congregations and volunteers, but when you stack the responsibilities of being personally involved in all y...

Hire or Contract? Sound Professional Edition

Most churches find it important to have someone available to run sound for rehearsals and services. While some are lucky enough to have a sound-board-savvy volunteer on the roster, most of us find that hiring a professional either to be on staff or contracting week to week can be a simple way to elevate production quality. When it comes to contracting or hiring, how do you know which route is b...

Guide Track Tutorial | Ableton in 5 Minutes

Download your free guide cue samples here! This "Ableton in 5 minutes" series is hosted by Chris Fleming, Motion Worship Creative Director, professional drummer and music director from Minneapolis, MN. In this collection of concise tutorials you will learn how to use click tracks, guide cues, and multitracks in your setlists. In this specific video tutorial, we'll cover how to use vocal ...

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Establishing Boundaries as a Church Admin

As a church admin, it can be a challenge to maintain appropriate boundaries when you work at the same place you worship. Coworkers might want to talk shop on Sunday mornings when you’re there for your Sabbath, or you might get pulled into emergency volunteer situations by virtue of your day job. As you merge the personal and the professional, you might even find it more difficult than you’d li...

Facilitate Tough Conversations with Your Youth Group

Youth ministry, at its best, has long been a space where teenagers and adults can speak candidly about difficult topics. However, today, those topics extend beyond sexuality and our existential place in the world — racism, politics, and national tragedies all deserve a seat at the table. These days, students expect the adults in their lives to address difficult topics and big events as they ...

6 Tips for Attracting Children’s Ministry Volunteers

Recruiting, developing, and retaining volunteers for your children’s ministry is no small task. If you’ve been working in a children's ministry for any amount of time, you understand what an important role volunteers play in the lives of your kids. They interact, lead, and shape these young minds and help make your gatherings safe and possible. Finding and keeping volunteers engaged can be ...

How Often Should a Church Change its Set Design?

Lighting and stage design are some of the most visible elements of church service production. When done well, it has the unique ability to elevate the impact of the content you are presenting from the stage, whether it’s a song, a video clip, or a sermon. On the other hand, when done poorly, it has the potential to distract and take away from your overall message. So, how often should you upd...

Should You Be Recording Your Worship Rehearsals?

If you’ve upgraded your mixing console in the past 10 years, it’s most likely a digital desk. And while a new sound board isn’t going to magically make anyone better at singing, playing an instrument, or mixing, here’s something you can do that has the potential to directly impact the quality of your musicians and techs: Record Your Rehearsals How often do you change the arrangement...

Worship Pastors: Why and How to Start Using Music Directors

I’ve been to a lot of churches that don’t have assigned music directors. It seems to mostly be smaller churches that feel they either don’t have the resources/personnel necessary for a Music Director (MD), or just generally don’t feel it’s needed. I’m here to tell you that almost any church is not only capable of introducing an MD role to their teams, but will actually be better off fo...

Interface Overview | ProPresenter in 5 Minutes

This “ProPresenter in 5-minutes” series is hosted by Chris Fleming, Motion Worship Creative Director, professional drummer and music director from Minneapolis, MN. In this collection of concise tutorials you will learn about the ProPresenter interface, how to customize slides, build a library of songs, compile a full church service, and tons more! In this specific video tutorial, Chris ...

Keeping the Church’s Post-Easter Momentum Alive

One of the best church weekends of the year - Easter - is immediately followed by one of the most difficult weekends of the year. For several weeks (or months), you and your team spend hours planning, organization, and executing tasks for Easter services, only for all the momentum to come to a screeching halt when it’s all over. We get it - Easter takes all your focus and energy, and by the t...

Tips for Sharing Worship Thoughts Between Songs

Talking in between songs is difficult. You’re often coming out of a highly energetic moment with people engaging in worship and singing along with the team... and then the lights come down, it gets really quiet, and you’re essentially expected to “preach” something of value to everyone. It can be scary. Even for those who have completely overcome the fear of speaking in front of everyon...