Music and Worship Conference @ Christ Church

I attended a conference at Christ Church here in Nashville last week. Overall, it was really quite good. The Thursday morning session started off with Gloria Gaither giving the morning devotional. In times past, Gloria has never been much of a draw for my attention but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Among other things she talked about the balance between vertical and horizontal worship songs and how there should be a balance in our worship. I think a lot of churches that deem themselves relevant have tossed this idea out the window. If we get rid of our horizontal songs we very well miss some of the deepest and richest text of theology.

Throughout the two day conference, There was only one seminar I went to that was poor simply because the title of the seminar had nothing to do with the session subject until they tried to tie it in in the last minute. How frustrating! Please don't waste my time.

However, there were other sessions that were worth the price of admission. For instance, Tom McDonald was one great speaker. He has been involved in music ministry for over 28 years.
He talked about how to continue to be relevant in our culture by continuing to learn and gain new ideas in ministry. I purchased his sessions to review again in the coming weeks. Tom was one of the best at the conference.

Bradley Knight was another one that really helped me understand orchestration in the church. Since I am in the process of building an orchestra, he gave some great insight in arranging instruments, small or large groups, for maximum effect. I love to hear his arrangements. He played examples from his Prestonwood arrangements as well as some of his finished products yet to be released. He was amazing!

The Christ Church Choir sounded great and the worship leader Regi Stone did a great job. He led us in a new chorus he wrote. Take a listen.



Overall, a great time. The next music and worship conference at Christ Church won't return until 2010 but I hope to return since it's just across town.