Ray Deck IIIPicking out church presentation software can be risky business. Your volunteers, the pastor, and the worship leader will all have to use it each week. Everybody in your church will see your final product. We know how high the stakes are, so...
“How would you recommend a rookie worship leader spend their Mondays?” We asked that question on Faithlife’s Facebook—and got some great responses. Here they are, combined with a few suggestions of our own. Evaluating How did it go...
To help you keep your services organized, Proclaim offers four unique service segments. Here’s a quick rundown of what they are, what they do, and how you can get the most out of them. When you create a new service, you can start from scratch...
Faithlife Bible reading plans take the guesswork out of daily Bible reading—no more wondering what you should read next. Choose a reading plan and save time for the important part—reading, understanding, and living out the Scriptures. The Bible is...
There are many benefits to a long-term communication strategy or preaching calendar. Don’t miss out by just planning week to week. Here are four benefits of creating a long-term plan: 1. Promotes cooperation Worship leaders can do a lot with...
It probably felt funny standing on the Galilean hillside that spring after everything that had happened. The people were all familiar, but not quite the same. I imagine Peter looking over Jesus’ shoulder, expecting the Roman cavalry to crest...
Duo The Royal Royal suddenly appeared on the worship scene in 2012 with nine tracks titled Royal, which they quickly followed with a 14-track encore. Their first single, “Every Little Bit of Praise” dropped a couple weeks ago, and we had...
John Wesley said, “Christianity is essentially a social religion . . . to turn it into a solitary religion, is indeed to destroy it.” But living as part of a faith community can be difficult. Differences in personality, upbringing...
The Bible is much bigger and more important than a self-help book. It’s the story of God’s love for mankind, and it contains instructions for how we ought to approach him today. But it does include advice for successful living along the...
Hotkeys, or keyboard shortcuts, make common tasks faster and easier. Proclaim has a number of these keyboard shortcuts built in, but we’ve never published a comprehensive list of them—until now. Proclaim hotkeys fall into three major...
Pastors need friends. Just like everybody else, pastors need the many benefits of authentic Christian community. They have the same need to belong as you and me, but for some reason it’s especially difficult for them to cultivate healthy...
One thing that sets the Faithlife Study Bible apart from other study Bibles is your ability to customize it. The FSB comes preloaded with a huge collection of study notes, and a modern English translation—the Lexham English Bible—but you can also...
Today’s guest post is by Poncho Lowder, pastor at City Bible Church in Portland, OR, cofounder of the Bible and Journal App Company, and author of Pursue God: How Do You Develop a Thriving Relationship with God? He has spent the last decade in...
The Old Testament Law, given to Israel by God during Israel’s escape from Egypt, contains 613 imperatives. Some of them are pretty obvious (Exodus 20:15) and some seem cruel (Leviticus 20:19), while others sound downright bizarre to modern...
Create the exact sound you want from your electric guitar with a custom pedal board. But before you start drilling holes, think through how your effects will be arranged. Check out these from Jonathan Thomas, worship leader at Moon Valley Bible...
Even when studying Scripture with a reading plan, I often feel like I jump into the middle of the story and lack key information. A friend of mine taught me a technique that has greatly increased the amount I understand as I read each morning...
“If there’s ever anything I can do to help, just let me know.” We hear this a lot. It gets tacked onto the end of a conversation as if it would be impolite to walk away without an offer to help. I spent a long time ignoring these...
There’s a dangerous mission field much closer than you think. Just beyond your white picket fence or down your hall is a very high-risk, high-need culture that you’re suited to reach. Your literal neighbors need Jesus as much as those in...
New York Times reporter Max Chafkin recently visited Hillsong New York at the invitation of Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water. He wrote about his experience on the hip Times insider blog called “The 6th Floor.” Here’s an...
You don’t have to look far to find pain. Hurting people are everywhere, and wanting to help is natural. Unfortunately, so is not knowing what to do. Many people avoid those who are hurting because they don’t feel qualified to help. Here...
In a survey conducted by Lifeway Research, 90 percent of churchgoers responded that they “desire to please and honor Jesus” in all they do. Yet only 19 percent reported reading the Bible every day. Why do so many people neglect to read...
It was an honest mistake. You lost track of time. You were talking to someone. The drummer was in the bathroom. For whatever reason, you started a service late. No big deal. Unless this isn’t this first time. Churches that habitually start...
Church planting is most difficult in urban centers—exactly where new churches are most desperately needed. Thankfully, many brave souls are stepping out to answer God’s call on their lives. The Acts 29 Network supports intrepid church planters...
Every week—sometimes two or three times a service—we speak directly to the king of the universe while the congregation listens in. That’s a tall order, and it should probably scare us a little more than it does. Thankfully, Jesus set an...
“You’re a pessimist.” “No, I’m a realist.” I’ve heard my dad, a pastor with several decades of ministry experience, respond to that criticism several hundred times. About half of them were leveled, with a...
Copyright law is confusing. CCLI SongSelect makes it easy to access the lyrics, chord charts, and sheet music you need, but that still leaves lots unaccounted for—backgrounds, announcement slides, illustration videos, prelude and postlude...
It’s Saturday afternoon. You have a service in a few hours, and another tomorrow morning. What are you doing? Playing disc golf? Praying? Both? I’m sure you’re not typing lyrics into your presentation software, because you...
If your ministry and livelihood depend on your ability to speak or sing on a regular basis, it only makes sense to take special care of your voice. Here’s how to go about keeping your larynx in prime condition. Protect your instrument You...
It’s a question worth considering: How much should we trust a 3,000-year-old book? The Bible certainly has its enemies. Since the moment of its completion, Scripture has been under attack. AD 300—The Roman emperor Diocletian ordered...
Since its founding on the day of Pentecost, the church has been characterized by both diversity and unity. Unfortunately, modern ministry practices like age segregation and demographic targeting have homogenized many churches. Here are four ways to...