Guest Review of New Book, “The Art of Worship”
My friend, Bob Kauflin, has written a strong review of a very strong, new resource by Greg Scheer. Bob calls Greg’s new book published by Baker, “one of the best practical guides for those who lead congregational worship with a band.” I am presently reading this new and helpful book, The Art of Worship: A Musician’s Guide to Leading Modern Worship, and I fully concur with Bob’s review. You will want to go to Bob’s website to read the review in its entirety, but below is an excerpt from Bob’s blogsite, Worship Matters. (Thanks, Bob, for your continued dedication to helping worship leaders navigate the waters and make a greater impact in the Kingdom!)
Review excerpt by Bob Kauflin:
Greg states in the Introduction that he doesn’t want to convince traditional musicians to defect into the contemporary camp. He’s not out to “convert” but to serve. He wants to “enable church musicians of all kinds to better understand one of the dominant musical languages of modern worship, to be thoroughly equipped to lead that style, and to foster communication among the musicians of the church of Jesus Christ” (p. 12). He has done just that, and done it extremely well.
Greg never wastes the reader’s time. Every paragraph is purposeful, helpful, and based on years of experience. He also recommends numerous resources throughout. The first chapter addresses reasons why a church might decide to use a more contemporary music style and how to go about it. It’s filled with pastoral wisdom. Chapter 2, “Assembling the Team,” contains the most comprehensive and helpful material I’ve seen on conducting music auditions, or interviews. The third chapter, “Building Repertoire,” provides many helpful categories for evaluating songs, and also highlights the different strengths of hymns and contemporary worship songs.
To read the remainder of this informative review, please go here to Bob’s blogsite.
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