Cynthia Cullen faced these challenges as the worship leader at a regional campus of LowCountry Community Church, recently established on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Though the nearby parent church in Bluffton brings in about 1,200 people each week, her young offshoot is averaging about 130. Last year, she discovered a new source of help that has not only brought greater depth to her community’s worship services, but has also encouraged and equipped her as a worship leader.

 

That place is the North Point Music Blog, a free Web resource created by the North Point worship team. The blog offers innovative music resources produced by worship leaders for worship leaders, as well as an online community where you can share insights, ask questions, and discuss relevant topics. 

 

Cynthia especially likes the posts that recap North Point’s recent Sunday morning services in detail—set lists, band set-ups, and song-by-song evaluations of what worked, what didn’t, and how it was done. She’s also enjoying the free song instructional videos, as well as finding out about new songs from leaders like Todd Fields, Eddie Kirkland, and Steve Fee.

 

Perhaps the most valuable resources the site offers are the exclusive song performance tools, which go way beyond accompaniment tracks. 

 

First are “core packages,” which provide everything a worship team needs to prepare to lead a specific song on Sunday morning. An MP3 of a live performance of the song helps you learn how to play it, while guitar capo charts, a lyric/chord/tab sheet, and drum loops help you play it live. Plus, all copyright fees are included in the price of the core package. 

 

For Cynthia, there weren’t enough capable musicians in her small community to form a full band when LowCountry was first started in September 2007. So she relied on the site’s unique multi-tracks (flexible recordings of worship songs that can be manipulated at the individual instrument level to create a full-band sound in any corporate setting).

 

Cynthia used the multi-tracks in their simplest form, just using GarageBand on her Mac to make an MP3 of the drums and drum loops to supplement her piano playing. Then, all she had to do was press “play” on her iPod on Sunday morning to create a live, full-band worship experience for her church. 

 

But multi-tracks aren’t just for small-town churches. Todd Fields (guitarist), Reid Greven (keyboardist), and Ashley Appling (drummer) put the multi-tracks to use during North Point’s 2008 Drive conference. Over 2,700 people enjoyed a worship experience that also included background vocals; bass, electric, and rhythm guitars; a drum loop; and even an organ . . . all from just three musicians! 

 

In fact, experienced sound engineers can individually mix each instrument on the multi-tracks to customize the sound for their own rooms. Worship leaders can isolate a single part in a song in order to learn it, or they can experience the educational benefits of playing with professional studio musicians.

 

With its wealth of resources, the North Point Music Blog is something every worship leader should check out. According to Cynthia, “It’s been a one-stop shopping place for all my worship service music needs.”