...many thanks to our artist friends for stopping by to hang out and worship with us...

worship with us :-) 7:00PM every sunday - click here for directions

... The Hot Praise Song List! Check out our top 20 best praise and worship song list! The Hot List! The very best "doable" contemporary Christian praise songs for worship teams and congregations alike.

EGG PLANT, HOT DOGS AND JESUS
Feb. 2008
by dean krippaehne

Competition, the competitive nature, winning, “just win baby!” You know the phrases, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat," "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" number one, number uno, first place, the big cheese, the big kahuna, the big brass ring, going for the gold, guts and glory. You can even sing along to this one, "We are the champions my friend." Truth be told I am competitive. I like competition. It is in my very nature. It's wired deep inside my inner-most fabric. As I'm writing these phrases I can actually feel the juices flowing - just the thought of winning at something makes me want to hi-five the air.

My wife, however, thinks that an overtly competitive spirit is one of the most ugly and annoying aspects of all human traits. She would give me little signs during our first year of marriage that this was the case or disgusted type looks when I would get too excited after winning at Monopoly or a friendly game of cards. Therefore, I have spent the last twenty-something years of marital togetherness trying to hide my competitive traits, trying to douse those burning flames of competition, tying to subdue what my wife thinks is an extremely ugly part of me.

Click here to continue reading

Worship Team Tools

Everything you need to enhance you worship team experience is in this section. You can start with our Bare Bones Basics, where we take you through a "step by step" of exactly what you'll need to get your team up and running. From songs to sound stuff, musicians to chart arrangements, it's all here. Another cool resource in this section is our online team builder book: "If ya wanna catch a fish ya gotta have a hook" with tons of creative ideas and solid worship team and worship leader information. In addition we have some helpful links including: Vocalizing Tips ( Great tools and techniques for helping your teams vocalists become more powerful singers) and Worship Software which is Integrity Music's on line resource for worship music software.

News And Worship Articles

Writing and choosing effective praise lyrics

One key element in creating effective "popular" music is the vernacular in which a lyric is written. "Popular" songs, whether written in the 1590’s or the 1990’s contain lyrics in the language of the people of the day. We need to be able to understand the lyrics to be touched by them. Imagine the Bible never having been translated into the English, or any other language. Whenever you wanted to read the Word of God you would either need a skilled translator or you would need to spend years learning the subtleties of Greek and Hebrew.

Lyrics of praise and worship songs, in addition to being the inspired Word of God, should also be of the current vernacular of the culture that they are trying to reach. Jesus, although not of the culture, most certainly immersed himself in the culture of His day. He walked, talked, dressed, ate, drank and used the elements of the then "modern" culture so that people could relate to him and hear his mighty message.

As an experiment, try the following: Without singing, read through the lyrics of some old hymns. What you will soon find is that many words and phrases, as beautiful as they may be, are never used in speech today. The same thing happens when you read Shakespeare. Beautiful and poetic as it may be, most of us do not fully understand the language without first studying it.

Hearing current vernacular is extremely important to the un-churched person walking into your church for the first time. This person may have never even seen a Bible before let alone have read one. The best way to speak to them is in their own language.

By worship leader Dean Krippaehne from the book:
"If ya wanna catch a fish ya gotta have a hook"

Cool Christian Stores

Musicforce.com is a big time online music store...(Hint: You can find the "Hot list" songs on CD's here!)
vineyardmusic.com Find the complete Vineyard praise and worship music series here at their on-line music store.
WorshipMusic.com All kinds of worship music and worship tools.
Musiciansfriend.com They've got great deals on sound systems and just about every other musical instrument that you can imagine.
ChristianBook.com Get great prices on your favorite books.
worshiptogether.com A brand spankin' new worship leaders resource. Pop in and say hi.
crosswalk.com OK. Forget about it. You want it. You'll find it here. The grandaddy of all Christian on line stores.
IntegrityMusic
Get Ron Kenoly and your favorite Integrity praise and worship artists as well as midi files and sheet music.
AnyTracks.com
No Praise Band? No problem. Go see this great source for accompaniment tracks.

Search the Web

Scott Krippayne
Scott is one of the coolest songwriters in Christian music today. Listen to his music and find out how great songs are written.
ASCAP
Performing rights licensing
BMI
Performing rights licensing

Art

"Only wealth:brotherhood!" Christiane Chaponniere Paris, France

Art Festival
Are you an artist? Check out our International Christian Art Festival. Follow the above link to learn more about our new "Right Brain Ministries" and how you can be a part of this celebration.

Bible Links

NewLivingTranslation
Read and search for Bible passages in the New Living Translation Bible. Kids and Teen versions also available here!
InspirationalFilms.com
Have you experienced the "Jesus" film? View and order from InspirationalFilms.com.
My Utmost For His Highest
See the official Oswald Chambers devotional web site.

More Goodies

CCM
Contemporary Christian
Magazine - all kinds of
great info here...
Stories, charts, chats,
interviews, etc...
Praise music
Broadcasting network and messageboards

Kids Corner

Check out these outstanding children and family books by Christian author Debbie Trafton O'Neal
Books by Debbie Trafton O'Neal
Explore the world of music with your child at:
Kids Club Video
Explore the wonderful children's music of Mary Rice Hopkins at:
Mary Rice Hopkins

graciescafe.com © 1999 - 2007