The WHM Blog

At our core, WorshipHouse exists to put the right tools and resources in your hands so that you can be better equipped to proclaim the life-giving story of Jesus. And we don’t want you to just get any old resource, but the best of the best…

…so we’re giving away five copies of Scott McClellan’s new book, Tell Me a Story. Details below.

I’ve known Scott for a number of years and I’m always impressed by his wisdom and insight. As the Editor of Collide Magazine, Director of Echo Conference, and now the Communications Pastor at Irving Bible Church, Scott has lived and breathed the day in and day out of church communications and message development. And he lives it with the right combination of grace and a little dry humor.

In Tell Me a Story, Scott re-introduces us to a God who tells great stories, invites us into His Great Story and calls us to become great storytellers. By looking at the parts of any good narrative (character, narrator, conflict, purpose, etc.), we’re encouraged to live and to tell better stories. Whether we’re preaching, leading worship, running slides, caring for kids, or loving our spouse, this is something each of us are tasked with.

Scott’s hope and prayer “is that this book will convince you to identify yourself as a storyteller, an artist committed to narrative, and that in so doing you’ll experience God and your life more deeply than you did before.” We think Scott’s prayer can be answered and his hope fulfilled, so we want you to be exposed to this wonderful book.

CONTEST RULES: Just leave a comment here. Any comment. Why you want to read the book. Why you think it’ll be good for you and your team. Ask questions. Tell us about your ministry. Tell us about your hopes for better storytelling. Or just say Hello. We’ll pick a winner at random from all the comments we’ve received by Sunday night, May 19th, at Midnight CST. We’ll then notify the winners and ship your books!

Go!

Sometimes we all need a little courage and inspiration. Use this wallpaper featuring a quote from Pastor Kerry Shook of Woodlands Church as a daily reminder of His perfect love!  Remember, perfect love casts out all fears. Decorate your desktop (or iPhone or iPad) today!

Download the ZIP folder below and grab the image that best fits your screen. We have provided a calendar and non-calendar version for each resolution.

Get the ZIP file here! Head over to SermonSearch.com and check out all of Kerry Shook’s sermon outlines!

Give your Kids’ Ministry some style with this FREE welcome motion! Featuring a vibrant assortment of colors, this motion loop would be a great background during your next worship service. Go grab Inspiral Sunny Welcome today!

While you’re there, make sure you check out all the other great content from Church Motion Graphics.

We’re giving away three Book/CD sets from Glenn Packiam. Giveaway details below.

How many times have you been driving down the road on Wednesday, repeating a line from your pastor’s sermon the Sunday before over and over again in your head? My guess is you could count on one hand, assuming you even need fingers.

Now – how many times have you been driving down the road on Wednesday, singing a worship song from the previous Sunday’s service over and over again? You’re probably going to need a bunch of extra hands, right?

Sunday worship provides an important space for us to connect with God, for us to “express our faith” to God. But, in his new book, Glenn Packiam says that worship also “shapes our faith”. Music and liturgy have a way of burning words into our souls. The songs we learn and recite on Sunday become the words and tunes that linger with us throughout the week as we drive around in our cars, sing in the shower, daydream at work.

And though this seems obvious – that what we sing and recite on Sunday morning is important in shaping us – so often this aspect of worship is downplayed or underserved. In “Discover the Mystery of Faith“, Glenn Packiam, pastor of New Life Church’s Downtown Campus, makes the case that we should recover this part of our religious heritage.

It’s a great read AND we’re giving away three copies along with the accompanying CD where Glenn puts the ideas from the book into action.

Want to win? It’s easy. Just leave us a comment below some time between now and Midnight CST on April 9. Tell us why you’d like to read the book, why you love WorshipHouse, or just say hello. Winners will be picked at random and announced on April 10.

With the start of Spring and a new month, bring a little inspiration to your desktop! Use this empowering wallpaper featuring a classic quote from Harvey MacKay to get you started.  Decorate your desktop (or iPhone or iPad) and get inspired!

Download the ZIP folder below and grab the image that best fits your screen. We have provided a calendar and non-calendar version for each resolution.

Get the ZIP file here!

If you live in or around Las Vegas, or if you’ll be attending NAB next month, we’d love for you to join us at the NAB After Party on Monday, April 8, 2013 at 7:30pm. Clark and WorshipHouse Media* are throwing an after party for church creatives at the West End Penthouse in the fabulous Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. This provides a great opportunity for you to mix with other church tech and media folks and enjoy one of the coolest properties in town. We hope to see you there!

Space is limited, so reserve your spot today!

*Clark is a firm that helps churches connect the dots between Leadership, Facility and Technology, and Worship House Media is the premier church video resource website offering mini-movies, motion back grounds, and worship videos.

Below you’ll find a synopsis of Troy Bronsink’s new book, Drawn In: A Creative Process for Artists, Activists, and Jesus Followers. We think this book will mean so much to you and your creative team that we’re doing a giveaway of five copies of the book to five lucky commenters (details below).

“Get drawn into God’s beautiful creative process”

Inspiration, deadlines, planning, feedback, … all these words can bring up anxiety in a worship leader. Over the past 15 years of working with artists and faith leaders Troy Bronsink began to pay attention to these anxieties and notice what contributes to his own driveness as opposed to those times when he felt “in the flow”—leading folks in prayer, creating with a free spirit, and being drawn into God’s dreams for beloved community.

DRAWN IN: A Creative Process for Artists, Activists, and Jesus Followers is about the balance between risk and rest, and the ways we relate what we make in worship to a life of worship in God’s world, “on earth as it is in heaven.” This book is more about seeing beauty than about making beautiful artwork or music. It is more about being agents of justice than about directing justice projects. And it’s more about being God’s song than singing songs to God. It follows a hunch that the mutuality, openness, and focus required to make great art is also a part of our relationship with God and our active roles in our families, communities, churches, and cities.

The book begins by exploring God’s own creative process, both from accounts in Genesis, as well as throughout scripture, in Jesus’ own New Creation ministry, and in the church commissioned to be “God’s works of art, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepares in advance to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2: 10). It then focuses on the ingredients of creative work: our time, space, and material world—how they inspire us, how we learn through them, and how they are designed to host God’s glory. Drawn In then ends with a charge to “make your life a monastery.”

Awarded “2012 Best Book on Creativity and The Arts” by Hearts and Minds Books, Drawn In is full of exercises, prayers, examples from popular and fine arts, and biblical stories that address our identity as God’s works of art, and commission to create art within God’s grand work.

Troy Bronsink is a musician/author helping shape the future worship practices of the church. Troy’s friendships and artist’s experiences span a wide range of the American Christian landscape including Emergent Village and Liberty University, inner-city Atlanta and suburban Cincinnati, Young Life and the PC(USA). Troy has performed and recorded across folk, indie, and worship music genres (including 2012 Songs to Pray By). Presbyterian minister and consultant with over twenty years of experience in para-church, church planting, and worship ministry, Troy has spoken and made music with camps, conferences, schools, and congregations large and small. He currently lives with his wife and their two children in Cincinnati.

So… this is an easy giveaway. Just leave a comment below. Any comment – why you’d like the book for you and your creative team, what you struggle with creatively, why you love WorshipHouse… or just say “hi”. All commenters will be automatically entered to win one of 5 copies of the book. Comment by 2/27 to win! And, don’t be greedy… share the giveaway with your friends!

Is your computer background still stuck in 2012? Decorate your desktop (or iPhone or iPad) for Valentine’s Day with a wallpaper that you’re sure to love!

Download the ZIP folder below and grab the image that best fits your screen. We have provided a calendar and non-calendar version for each resolution.

Get the ZIP file here!