1) Psalm 103:2 (NLT)

Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for
me.
As one person who carried out many activities that we can identify as modern
worship leaders, David’s roots were established in His personal rejoicing,
lamenting, and high praise for the Lord. This verse from David’s Psalms
reminds us of the simplest yet deepest praise.

2) 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NLT)

And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the
wonderful things God has freely given us.
We encourage you to read this whole chapter in Corinthians. This verse offers
the ultimate encouragement for worship leaders in the truth that we don’t
have to rely on ourselves to perform our duties of serving God and His people
(thank goodness). We have the Spirit of God Himself to help us understand His
heart and operate in our calling.

3) Philippians 2:17 (NLT)

But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to
God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you
to share that joy.
As worship leaders, we can rejoice in the faith and victories of God’s people
who we are entrusted with leading. As we pour into them and pour out to God
as a sacrifice, we can rejoice in our purpose being completed!

4) Titus 3:5 (NLT)

He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of
his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life
through the Holy Spirit.
This verse is encouraging for worship leaders and every Christian. The
pressure is removed – it’s not by the righteous things we’ve done, but by the
mercy of God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit that we are saved, and
empowered to do His ministry.

5) Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on
wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not
faint.
When we feel like we’re running on fumes and struggling to accomplish all we
are tasked with (managing our worship teams and carrying out all our
responsibilities within our churches), let us hold onto this truth in Isaiah 40:31.

6) Exodus 15:2 (NLT)

The Lord is my strength and my song; He has given me victory.
This is my God, and I will praise him — my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
God promises us that He will be our strength AND our song. That’s great news
for us as worship leaders! We get to live out our song (many songs) of thanks
and victory before the Lord in every aspect of what we do.

7) Acts 1:8 (NLT)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will
be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere — in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
It is encouraging for worship leaders to know that the power of the Holy Spirit
gives us the tools we need to be leaders in our churches. The same power that
enabled the believers in Acts to be bold witnesses for Jesus also enables us to
be messengers of hope and facilitators of worship.

8) Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a
harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
A favorite verse for many, this especially encouraging verse for worship
leaders applies to almost any part of our lives, whether it be our work, our
families, or personal journeys. Galatians 6:9 is a simple reminder to stay
steadfast as we work towards our goals.

9) John 16:33 (NLT)

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you
will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the
world.
In this passage in John, Jesus encourages His followers that although they will
face many challenges in their ministry to come, He has already overcome
everything they could face. Like the early disciples, Jesus will give us the
strength to overcome earthly trials and accomplish our mission by His victory.

10) Ephesians 1:11 (NLT)

Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an
inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything
work out according to his plan.
God always has the best for us in mind. From the very beginning, He had good
things prepared for us and we can rest in the fact that even when things seem
too challenging for us to succeed, everything will work out the way He has
planned!

11) Romans 8:28 (NLT)

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of
those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
We can count on one thing– even if things are rough in the process, the end
result will always come back to what’s good for us who love God. Let us
always strive to partner with God to achieve HIs best for us!

12) Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them.
For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you
nor abandon you.
When we’re tempted to react in panic when fear comes our way, we can stand
on the promise that God goes ahead of us. What better way to muster up
strength and courage… Not from within ourselves, but from the confidence we
have in God!

13) 1 Timothy 4:10 (NLT)

This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living
God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.
Our hope in the living God, Jesus Christ, surpasses all! We should always
remember this hope in our Savior as we continue to work out our calling as
worship leaders and church leaders.

14) Matthew 21:21 (NLT)

Then Jesus told them, I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt,
you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain,
‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.
All things are possible with God! When we apply the mindset that Jesus
teaches in this verse to our ministry as worship leaders, we will teach our
teams and our congregations to operate fully in faith and without the limits of
the world.

15) Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.
Today’s trouble is enough for today.
This passage offers a philosophy of life and ministry that’s encouraging for
worship leaders, pastors, and everyone! Dealing with things as they arise
instead of contemplating future troubles is a much less stressful way to
accomplish what God has put in front of us to do.

16) Psalm 94:19 (NLT)

When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
God is the ultimate comfort. When our minds become consumed with fear and
doubt, and even worry, as we talked about with the last verse, the way to
conquer it is to take it to the Lord and let Him renew our hope. This is a
practice we can continually lead our churches into to encourage them as well!

17) Phillipians 4:7 (NLT)

Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can
understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ
Jesus.
Carrying everything to God in prayer activates His promise to provide peace
beyond understanding. And that peace will surround us, going before and
coming behind us to guard us in everything we do!

18) Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or
discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Carrying everything to God in prayer activates His promise to provide peace
beyond understanding. And that peace will surround us, going before and
coming behind us to guard us in everything we do!

19) 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and
self-discipline.
Through the power of God’s Spirit in us, we can walk in boldness instead of
timidness, knowing we have nothing to be afraid of. As we approach difficult
situations in our lives or leadership situations, we can trust God to give us the
self-discipline we need.

20) Romans 6:4 (NLT)

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may
live new lives.
As Christians, our lives model the life of Christ. Because of the power of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we can claim His victory and build our lives on it.
It’s a great privilege for worship leaders to encourage others to respond to this
gift with praise.

21) Psalm 73:26 (NLT)

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the
strength of my heart; He is mine forever.
When our own strength does fail, the strength of God always remains. At the
core of our faith and our mission as worship leaders is the hope that Jesus is
ours forever. He is the solid rock that we will stand on forever.
If you’re a worship leader looking for a little encouragement, we hope these
empowering Bible verses for worship leaders will help you as you carry the
responsibility of leading God’s Church. Let the simultaneous power and peace
of God wash over you and lift you up as you walk out your priestly calling.
While we’ve listed some short verses of encouragement, we hope you’ll dig
deep and explore the entire passages these verses are in to let the full truth of
these scriptures encourage you in your worship leading (and ultimately Christ-
following) journey!
Building Up Your Music Production
Portfolio & Experience
The music industry can be tough to break into and is highly competitive, especially
for artists and producers. You can find more detailed information on the different
areas of the music industry on our other blog: Music Business - What does it mean?
In this blog, we’re going to cover how to increase your chances of success by building
up your music production portfolio and experience. Essentially, how to grow as a
music producer. If you're thinking about getting into music production, you can find
more details on our other blog post: What Is A Music Producer & What Does A
Music Producer Do?
We’re going to talk about this in two main areas. These are: Working With
Others and Things You Can Do On Your Own.
These are both very important areas in regard to building up your music production
portfolio and experience, so try to work on both.
Working With Others:

- Collaboration:

One aspect of working with others is to make music with other artists or producers.
Apart from learning from each other and gaining experience, you can add the
collaborative work to your portfolio. This may also lead to further work whilst
developing your professional relationships.

- Trade Services At First For Mutual Benefit & Experience:

If you’re looking for more experience in a certain area such as mixing or mastering,
offering your services for free at first is a good way to get that practice. Just make
sure that this is only a temporary thing though, so people don’t take advantage of you
and your skills.
Something I’ve done as well is to trade services at first instead of money. For
example, I wanted to practice mastering, so I mastered someone's track for them in
exchange for some artwork for my EP release.
Doing this not only gives you experience and something for your portfolio, but also
gives you something else in return.

- Networking:

Networking is really important in this line of work, so try to start building your
professional network as early as possible. There are quite a few music industry
networking events you can attend, which can be really useful, but sometimes
opportunities can arise when you don’t expect it. So just putting yourself out there and
talking to people can be lucrative.
For example, I once went to a karaoke night in a local pub and got talking to the guy
running it. After talking to him, he knew that I had experience in sound engineering
with digital mixing desks, which led to me getting a sound engineering job at a local
venue.

- Work On Your Communication Skills:

Having good communication skills is important in most lines of work. Being able to
clearly convey your ideas to the people you’re working with and using the correct
terminology shows your knowledge and confidence in the subject.
Being able to strike up a conversation with someone at a networking event, in the
hopes of working with them will yield more successful results, if your communication
skills are good.

Things You Can Do On Your Own:

- Showreel:

Showing that you have experience in different areas of music production, with a wider
range of skills can also help to yield more work opportunities.
Another area that differs from making songs and beats, is creating music and sound
for media. Producing music for film and games is highly competitive but having an
example of this work in your portfolio will show that you have a wider range of skills.
Creating a showreel is a great way to show off your work. You can find royalty free
film clips and game scenes online. You can find them without sound, or you can
usually remove the sound in your DAW. I find it best to completely remove all the
audio from the original clip and start from scratch.
Create and arrange your music to fit with the video and add any sound effects (Foley).
Also, synchronise any dialogue that you've recorded with the visual movement of the
characters' mouths. It can be quite time consuming but is usually pretty fun and
rewarding!
When you've finished a few different clips, you can put them together in your
showreel to add to your portfolio.

- Practice:

I know it sounds obvious, but practice really is so important!

Hone your craft and keep progressing!

- Social Media:

Creating social media pages and being active and engaging on them can really help to
show people what you can do as well as using it as a platform to find potential
collaborative projects.
Social media is one of the most effective promotional channels as well!

- Understand & Create Different Styles Of Music To Show Your

Versatility:

Most producers, including myself, tend to have a genre or style that they specialise in.
Although I mostly still make music in that genre it's useful to create music in other
genres as well. This can show how versatile you are and gives you a more diverse
portfolio.

Conclusion:

Like I said at the beginning of this post, it can be difficult to break into this industry,
but having a portfolio that shows off your wide range of skills and experience can
really give you an edge!
 David Griffiths.

 A Music Portfolio (suggestion of 4 to 8 recorded pieces in which you

demonstrate different roles, such as performer, producer, engineer, etc)

Try this musical exercise at your next worship rehearsal to

improve your team's musicianship:

1. Pick a song your team is familiar with - one you play

together often.

2. Tell your team you're going to listen to the artist's original

recording of the song. As you listen along, have them think
about the answer to these 3 questions:

1. Where does my instrument come in?

2. Where does my instrument cut out?
3. How does my instrument interact with the other
instruments in the musical arrangement?

3. Listen to the recording.

4. After the recording is done, ask your team: "What did you
notice about your instrument's musical part in the song?"

5. If you have time, try replicating the arrangement of the

recording with your team.

This exercise gets your team to think like a producer or song

arranger. In the process, they'll realize that their musical role isn't
to play every second of the song. They'll start to understand that
it's okay to sit back and do nothing musically for portions of the
song. That way when they come in at a later point, their musical
part makes a bigger impact.