Club Worship/DJ Led Worship (Get Tha' Boom Up Ya'll!)

DJ Led Worship or Club Worship is a disco styled worship experience.

What is the history behind Club Worship how did it get started?

Jeff Stoltzfus and friends from Zion Mennonite Youth Group talked for years about organizing a Christian rave. In the fall of 99 they finally did it. In the beginning of 2000 the Lord was moving powerfully in some youth in the region, and the concept for Club Worship was birthed. The Pipeline, a group of youth on fire for Jesus Christ, became the organization that would back the whole thing. Jon Carlson worked like mad to help get a web site up, get a spot on television, and help get all the equipment together to do Club Worship. Shauna Nefos, and Dave Speers were also key people early on who really made Club Worship happen. Jose Diaz & Josh Gable got involved early on, especially in giving spiritual support through The Pipeline.

Today, so many volunteers work together to help an event like this run smoothly. Setup includes lighting, sound, sales and lots of running cables, and hauling heavy stuff around. People also volunteer behind the scenes to promote and facilitate the whole thing.

Isn't Dancing wrong?

Well sometimes it is... depending how it is done.
MTV, and our culture has twisted dance into being a sexual thing. As you look down through history, you will see many forms of dancing in different cultures. Irish people dance a certain way, as do Africans, or people from Taiwan. The Scriptures are clear that dance was a part of worship to God, and just a fun part of the Jewish culture.
Traditionally and historically people dance in groups as a performance, just for fun - freestyle, together with the opposite sex, or in worship to a variety of different gods.
Dirty Dancing has become very popular in the last several decades. Club Worship strongly discourages activity that even hints at this sensual style of dance. We also discourage dancing with a partner. Our desire is that everyone will be able to avoid the distractions of the people around them, and be able to focus on God. Its all about what Jesus has done for us... we want to give Him ALL the praise. 

What are some scriptures that talk about Dancing?

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ECC 3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
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JER 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
JER 31:4 I will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out to dance with the joyful.
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JER 31:12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD--
the grain, the new wine and the oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,
and they will sorrow no more.

JER 31:13 Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

JER 31:14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
and my people will be filled with my bounty,"
declares the LORD.
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An interesting story
2 SA 6:12 So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. [13] When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. [14] David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, [15] while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
2SA 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
2SA 6:17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. [18] After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. [19] Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
2SA 6:20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
2SA 6:21 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel--I will celebrate before the LORD. [22] I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
2SA 6:23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
the moral of the story?? Be careful if you are criticizing others for how they worship the Lord. Michal was struck barren because of her criticism. If it is a true and honest worship, the Lord loves it!
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[20] Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. [21] Miriam sang to them:
"Sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea."
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PS 30:11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

PS 30:12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
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PS 149:1 Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the saints.

PS 149:2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.

PS 149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.

PS 149:4 For the LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.

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PS 150:1 Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.

PS 150:2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.

PS 150:3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,

PS 150:4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,

PS 150:5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

PS 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.
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Jesus speaking the parable commonly known as "the prodigal son"
LK 15:25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. [26] So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. [27] `Your brother has come,' he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
later...
LK 15:31 " `My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. [32] But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
the moral of the story?? If you get the story, Father God rejoices when his children come back to him... there is probably music and dancing in heaven... God probably dances when the backslidden are restored.

Club Worship on Facebook

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Music Workshop 2011 (Day 1)

Now, giving the opportunity to all members of Reborn Youth Fellowship, a chance to serve the Lord and His people. Music Workshop 2010 is lead by me (Angel) and is ongoing. Anyone is welcome to join the workshop.

First Day

• To all keyboard students, just remember the 1-5-4 positions for the major chord on the keys, 1-4-5 for minor chords, your assignment is to draw all the natural (no sharp, no flat) chords.

• To all guitar students, master the first two faces of the barred chords I have thought you this Sunday because you need those to master all the chords.

• Bass students, practice memorizing the notes on the fretboard and practice finger picking (index and middle finger). As to Nicole, I have already given you an exercise on hammer-ons.

Have a nice practice time - for the glory of God.

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MS PowerPoint 2007 - Lyrics Over Continuous Animation (Repost)

Did you ever know about EasyWorship? It is a presentation software used in many churches to replace powerpoint because of its flexibility in the worship services - one feature is animated background over lyrics. EasyWorship costs $399.00.

MS PowerPoint is a very powerful and professional presentation software used by many business professionals and individuals BUT PowerPoint is not really intended for use in the worship session. I will get you right in the track where my article should be - PowerPoint cannot overlay text over an inserted video in a slide. BUT there's a way where you can use PowerPoint like EasyWorship's lyrics over animations and no need to buy an extensive software to do that 'coz all are free. Just follow the steps that I will give.

Why use animated background?

Animated backgrounds in worship simulate the senses of the worshipers. The more energetic the animation is, the more energetic the music is being interpreted by the worshipers. It is also a great background effects for the music and it is just simple as ABC's.

Things you'll need:

1. PowerPoint 2007 (recommended, can be 2003)

2. OfficeOne TransparentShow (download here)

3. Winamp (download here)

4. Dual monitor CPU (learn how here)

5. Some music file/s

The theory:

To play the visualizations of Winamp behind a transparent slide with an opaque lyrics without interfering continuous play of the background (visualization). I chose the music visualization because it's very dynamic and is a great background for the lyrics as well as great effects for the music.

Here's how:

1. PowerPoint setup

First, download TransparentShow (the link is provided above) and install it. Open PowerPoint 2007 (I really recommend PowerPoint 2007 because of its versatility and you can add outlines in an ordinary text in a textbox unlike in 2003 it cannot. Outlines will help the lyrics stand out of the animation as the animation may blur the lyrics) then click on the office button (located at the upper-left corner of the window) the click on PowerPoint options at the bottom part of the menu. On the PowerPoint options dialog box, click on Add-ins. There's a drop-down list that will appear on the bottom page with "manage" at the left of it, click on the drop-down menu and click PowerPoint add-ins and click go. A dialog box will appear. Click on add new and then open the TransparentShow add-in and then load it. Open the PowerPoint Options again and then make sure that the "Show developer tab in the ribbon" option is checked. Click on ok. Click on the developer tab on the ribbon and then click on Macro security. A dialog box will appear. Make sure to check the "enable all macros" option. Your transparent slides are now ready to be used.

After loading TransparentShow add-in in PowerPoint, select Slide Show and select the secondary monitor in the drop down menu "Show presentation on". After all, select Slide Show >Start Transparent Show... menu item. This dialog box enables you to select the Transparent color and start the slide show through the Start Show button.

Click the Save Settings button to save the transparent color setting with the presentation itself. This allows you to start a slide show directly from Windows and make it transparent without going through the Transparent Show dialog box. Please save the presentation after dismissing the TransparentShow dialog box after click the Save Settings button.

 

This will be the effect of TransparentShow. As you can see the desktop is behind the slide text. The color I used for the transparency is set to GREEN: 255, RED: 0, BLUE: 0. The display is currently on a single monitor computer because my computer at home is not a dual monitor setup. You'll get my point as we go on.

If you followed all the instructions above, you will get the same results on your second monitor (which is your LCD projector).

2. Setting-up WINAMP

Winamp's MilkDrop visualizations are the best visualizations we can use for the dual monitor setup and it can be played as desktop mode (not full-screen mode). The desktop mode feature of the MilkDrop visualizations is different from the full-screen mode because desktop mode displays its visualizations as a desktop wallpaper and you can see your taskbar and icons over it if you played it on the primary monitor. This is the tool we will use to create our non-looping continuous animated background.

1.) Change the Winamp skin to Winamp Modern to save more space and the interface is easier to use than the Bento skin.

2.) Start the MilkDrop plug-in by selecting Options>Visualization>Select Plug-in... (or ctrl+k) then select the MilkDrop plug-in. Click START.

3.) Configure the MilkDrop plug-in to set it up for dual monitor presentation mode (that's what I call it). To do this simply go to Options>Visualizations>Configure plug-in... On the common settings tab set the monitor output of the desktop mode settings to your secondary monitor (which is the LCD projector). You will see a drop-down menu there to change monitors. Then uncheck "integrate with winamp skin" on the window settings. Make sure that the "VJ Mode" and "Save CPU" options are checked.

Then on the ARTIST TOOLS tab uncheck the "Automatically show song title..." checkbox. You can also try your own settings depending on the way you like it.

4.) Playing the visualization. Now play a music file in Winamp because you cannot play the visualization if there's no file being played and make sure to mute the Winamp volume. After playing the file press ctrl+shift+k to bring out the visualization interface. Now you will see two windows for the visualization: the visualization window and the MilkDrop console (VJ mode). Don't worry if the MilkDrop console displays nothing but black, just press "L" and the preset (visualizations for MilkDrop) list will show up. in the preset list you can select your favorite visualizations. Don't forget to turn the SCROLL LOCK key on so that the preset will be locked and will not change after time (a text will appear after the preset name if it is already locked). Don't worry if the preset is locked because you can still manually change the preset by selecting another preset, it will just turn off automatic preset changing. You already played the visualization in a small window, now it's time to set all up.

5.) THE SHOW. Now after doing all that all you need to do is to use both programs for the animated worship presentation. Now go to the Winamp visualization and press alt+D and watch the visualization play on the other monitor (LCD projector). The MilkDrop console will be your control panel at the other monitor so you can change the animations/presets without interfering with the ongoing presentation. Make sure that the animation is not too distracting for the eyes because it may be the center of attraction in the worship session, remember that we are doing this to improve the worship experience of of the congregation and not to suppress the flow of the Holy Spirit, choose only the good presets. After playing the animation you can now use the PowerPoint presentation with the transparent background to overlay the animation. Just start the show on the second monitor (LCD projector) and watch the text go over with the animation. Even if you switch the slides your background will not restart its animation. (I have no screen shot for this because I am writing this article on a single monitor set up).

Feel free to ask your questions. I will reply.

God bless!!!

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Band on The Run by Bob Kauflin - Band/Worship Arrangements

The BAND ON THE RUN video by Bob Kauflin - an instructional on how to's and what to's when the worship/music team is playing on stage. Proper band arrangements are also taught in this video. The video is quite long but it's worth watching. Watch this because it is very useful for all churches, small or big.


Band on the Run from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Click here to check out their site. The site has many useful resources for worship, worship leading, instrumentalists, band arrangements and many more.

Don't forget to leave your comments and questions about this video, I may be able to answer it. God bless.

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