The following article was the quarterly letter from VMUSA VP and Chief Creative Officer, Casey Corum, that appears in Inside Worship magazine, Volume 62.

BACK TO THE BASICS
The Vineyard movement has been blessed with a rich, theological framework and experience of intimate worship over the last 30 years. We started from humble beginnings, with a group of hungry believers gathering in a Yorba Lina, California living room seeking to connect with God. Today, accessible and intimate worship music is present in most churches, on the radio and virtually everywhere you look. In one generation, we have witnessed a radical change in the way the Church at large approaches God in worship.

Our Vineyard worship values have been described in many ways through the years, and yet I believe these values can be quickly summarized in three simple words - Intimacy, Accessibility, and Authenticity (thanks to Brian Doerksen for his initial work in the description and application of these values).

Intimacy - This is the hallmark worship value in the Vineyard. This value demands that our worship be self-disclosing and vulnerable to God. My personal believe is that this value is not about musical style nor the volume of our music. We need to be careful, while we hold our values near and dear, that we do not export our ideas of what "intimacy" looks like to other cultures and generations. I'm a believer in "quite intimacy" as well as "loud intimacy". I believe there is room for both at the heart of this value.

Accessibility - Worship leadership assumes that someone is following. The expression of this value involves restraint on the behalf of the worship leader and team, in order to provide access to those who are attempting to worship with us. It is a pastoral approach that is concerned more about the needs of the gathered congregation than with our own personal desire to express ourselves creatively. We lead worship from a position of humility and servanthood.

Authenticity - John 2:24 states that the Father is looking of worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. This value states that our lives and our expressions of worship ought to be in line with one another. Our corporate worship expression is the overflow of our individual lives, lived out minute by minute, in the presence of the Lord. This value asks us to bridge the chasm between the words of our worship and the actions of our daily lives.

As you read this "back to the basics" issue of Inside Worship, our prayer is that we all would find a refreshing of hear and mind as we seek to press back into the heard of the gift called worship.

In His Grip,

Casey Corum
Vice President & Chief Creative Office
Vineyard Music

Casey hits a home-run with this letter, and this month's issue of Inside Worship is a must-read for Vineyard Worship leaders. The entire issue addresses the worship values that are part of the DNA of the Vineyard movement.

Next week, VineyardWestern.com will feature an article by Brian Doerksen titled, "Intimacy In Worship".

Labels: Vineyard Music, Worship Leading

Vineyard Music USA recently released a new Club Vineyard CD titled "Brighter Day". If you haven't listened to the Club CD's in the past few years, you really are missing out some great songs. The Clubs have been a mixture of great songs for corporate worship and great songs for listening as well.

Chris Lizotte and Tony Sanchez, worship leaders from our region, have both contributed songs to this project, and also shared their singing and playing talents to the CD. And what is also interesting is that Crystal Lewis sang with Chris on a couple of tracks.

You can get a listen to these at Chris Lizotte's MySpace.com account here.

Click on the image below if you'd like to link to VMUSA's online store and get more info about this project.

Labels: Music, Vineyard Music

Rush of Fools has a free song you can download from their website. Their arrangement of O Come All Ye Faithful is really great.



Check it out on their website: rushoffools.com.

Want a free MP3? Worshiptogether.com has a free download of "Born In Bethlehem" from Third Day.



Click the image above to get your free MP3!

We deliver the goods here at Vineyardwestern.com!

Labels: Free Stuff, Music

For almost ten years, I have been listening to and reviewing CDs in my job here at Worshipmusic.com. In that time, I have listened to thousands of CDs, liked a few hundred, and have reviewed dozens of projects. I'll be honest, I am not a traditional Christmas music lover. Assuming that the fundamentals of good music are included in a CD, after that I find that I am looking for freshness and creativity, inspiration and contrition in music. So when I think about Christmas, I don't usually get excited. I am not one of those guys who is excited to sing carols with the family or anything. Still, in the last few years, I have begun to appreciate the depth of truth and community that come with the tradition of many of the Christmas songs of our faith. So that is the place I found myself at when I started listening to the new Christmas project titled "Yuletide Blend".

Produced by veteran worship leader and song writer, Terry Butler, along with CCM acclaimed producer Smitty Price, "Yuletide Blend" is simply the best Christmas project I have ever heard. It is a wonderful mixture of sparkling instrumental expression, brilliant arrangements, excellent song selection and perfectly spaced occasional vocals. The majority of the songs are presented as instrumental renditions that live up to everything perfect you think of when you hear the word "blend". Mixing large symphonic swells with gentle classical guitar, to radiant full band songs with world class electric guitar solos this CD is a surprise of joy right from the first bells chimes of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" to the last chorus of "Silent Night". Along the way you will find some of the very best favorite traditional Christmas songs, along with a selection of 3 contemporary Christmas worship songs that you will want to begin singing every Christmas. I could rant on about the notable musical talent used on this CD, but I won't spoil the latte by telling you what spices where added here.

I have already played this CD through a couple of dozen times and I still love it each time through. Unlike most Christmas music that grows weary quickly on the ears, this project lifts you up and doesn't stumble at any point. Not only is this one of the best CDs I have ever heard, but I am awarding it an Editor's Choice for changing my mind about Christmas music. Thanks, Terry and Smitty, for brewing up a truly is a great "blend" for Christmas! Amazing! I can't recommend this CD enough to you- I highly encourage you to check it out!

Review by Kim Gentes | kimgentes.com | worshipmusic.com
Kim Gentes is president of WorshipMusic.com and also a worship leader at Vineyard Community Church-Gilbert, AZ.

Labels: Music

Vineyard Music USA has four nominations for the Worship Leader 2007 Praise Awards from Worship Leader Magazine. Be sure to cast your vote for songs and projects that were recorded by or contributed to by worship leaders and artists serving at Vineyard churches in the Western Region!

Worship Project of the Year: Full Attention
Song of the Year: "Sweetly Broken"
Worship Compilation: Playlist: Stand In Awe
Breakout Artist: Jeremy Riddle

Go to: 2007 Praise Award Nominations Announced at the bottom of the page and cast your votes!

...

Labels: Music, Vineyard Music

Donna Patrick at ExperiencingWorship.com has a great article about what guidelines the worship pastor/coordinator should use to evaluate worship team candidates.

She writes:

There are individuals who aspire to be part of the praise team because they sing well. If I had to choose between the habitual praiser and the great singer, I'll take the habitual praiser. The great singer may prove more concerned about how he/she presents to the people, rather than how he/she presents to God. It is the principle of image vs. integrity. Image says "How did I sound to the people?" Integrity says "How did I sound to God?" The praise team should never function to bring attention to ourselves, but to God. I should point out here that music is not the chief function of the praise & worship portion of the service anyway. If we had no music, the worship of God ought to still be Job One. But since we do use music as a vehicle into God's presence, we must be very careful that neither our music nor our team members are there merely for outward showings. While the Word of God offers several references to singing, John 4:24, our chief criterion for worship, makes no reference to it at all. All throughout the church of Jesus Christ at large, we have become so conditioned and so traditionalized to the extent we have come to believe music and worship are synonymous; they are not. Singing all the great songs by the most talented and well-known artists does not guarantee worship.

Read the rest of the article at ExperiencingWorship.com

Labels: Leadership, Worship Leading

The first Sunday of Advent has already come and gone, and you pastor is saying, "Show me the carols!"

What do you do?



You check out the "Easy Carols" PDF that Dan Wilt put togther. It will save you having to learn a bunch of diminished chords, and give you some ideas of how to do carols with a guitar.

Get the pdf here.

Submitted by Scott Keller, Western Region Asst. Worship Coordinator | Nov 28, 2007

Fifty worship leaders from all over the Western Region converged on Ventura for a day of worship and community at the Ventura Vineyard. Leaders from Orange County to Ventura were part of the group that gathered.

The region's worship task force would like to thank David Ruis for coming to deliver a powerful message during the mssage as he spoke on "God's kind of justice". Many thanks also to Tony and Carla Sanchez for coming to lead the group in worship.

The next regional event to take place will occur in the Fall of 2008, a regional worship leaders retreat. Also, the national Vineyard worship leader's retreat is taking place in January of 2008. You can find more information about the national retreat and register to attend at Vineyard Music USA's website.

Labels: Events, Upcoming Events

Submitted by Scott Keller, Western Region Asst. Worship Coordinator | July 29, 2007

Worship leaders from all of the Western Region gathered for dinner and fellowship on July 19th during the "In His Presence" worship conference at the Anaheim Vineyard. This dinner was dedicated to connecting leaders from the region, and updating everyone on the oversight of the region.

Matt Brookes, our new regional worship overseer spoke, as well as Terry Butler, the former regional overseer. Also present were Suzie Gomez and Donna Olsen, who assisted Terry in his position as regional overseer. Gifts and words of thanks were given to Terry, Suzie, and Donna for years of hard work and dedication in their efforts to raise up and encourage worship leaders in our region.

The next regional gathering will take place on Saturday, October 13th. This is the date of "MORE", a day of gathering together to encourage each other, and an evening of worshiping our Lord together. For more information about MORE, visit out events page.