Kevin Soodsma

Due to space restrictions, I am doing choral quartets.  Selecting 4 individuals to sing choral settings.  

Yes, choirs are still valid.  Look at some of the mega churches.  They have choirs of 200 or more.  I do a hymn festival  with a choir and full orchestra.  We do everything from Chris Tomlin to Vaughan Williams.  Choirs can encourage congregational singing just as effectively as a worship team.  

We Use Ministry Scheduler Pro.  It costs a bit.  but it does everything you're asking for.  And not only that, but your ministry leaders can make their own schedules based on the the availability of each individual in the congregation.  here's the link:

https://www.ministryschedulerpro.com/

There is an app too that works well for the congregation

Just started using EasyWorship this past week.  It has its bugs, but maybe a little on the operator error side of things.  I 'll be following this thread.  I see people like proclaim.  But I need something that someone can come in and run without much training.

The CRCNA holds funerals as such: Funerals and memorial services within the body of Christ should reflect the confidence of our faith and should be conducted accordingly. Such times provide opportunities to minister love, provide comfort, give instruction, and offer hope to the bereaved. (art. 70 of the Church Order)

But the Worship institute has a few examples/ideas of what a funeral/memorial service might look like: https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/in-times-of-death-resources-for-funeral-and-memorial-services/

Here is the search for funerals: https://worship.calvin.edu/search/?q=funeral

Designing Worship Together by Howard Vanderwell, has some different forms that you can tweek, etc. to fit your context.  

CICW also has some articles on evaluating worship for different reasons: https://worship.calvin.edu/search/?q=evaluation

I found this to be helpful:

http://www.christurc.org/blog/2010/12/08/why-an-evening-worship-service

Karisa:  I'm an organist and am familiar with the "Digital" organ world-specifically Allen, Rodgers, etc.  I just went through the process with our own congregation.  It is unfortunate that your Allen Rep, doesn't know or refuses to assist you in putting the organ through the sound system.  It can happen.  I'm not sure what specific model organ you have, but it might be something that Allen Corp, might be able to solve for you.  Check out their website for contact information.  

If this is specifically for recording purposes, your least expensive and most practical way is to use a microphone - with that I would contact your local AV technician to find the right microphone.  But if you desire to incorporate the organ into the overall mix on your sound system, then it would be good to contact Allen Organ Corp.

If your organ is aging out and is needing replacement anyway, your faithful organists should have a say in what's next, especially if it is your desire to keep them involved in worship leadership.

But my humble opinion is to keep the organ you have if it isn't a sound quality/service of the instrument issue and a recording issue only.  This may be an unpopular opinion, but it's the members of your congregation you are serving not the "church down the road".

Yes,  CVLI for most - you will have to double check to make sure that they are covered under that particular licence.  Since your church has the most popular blanket licences, you should be able to cover most of the songs.  

As a church music director, I would hesitate to use a YouTube video to introduce songs.  Having the praise team or choir learn the song is much more realistic.  Because you will never sound like the youtube video, unless you have the exact same people playing using the exact same instruments.

Read Nehemiah 8. There it talks about the Reading of the Law and the People standing to hear the Law being read.  (It has other acts of worship in there too! - not to mention the idea of a pulpit above the congregation).  So It is appropriate to stand to hear God's Word being read.  Other Denominations (Lutheran, etc.) stand to hear the Gospel Reading.  Jesus must have stood to read the scroll in the New Testament, because the passage says that he "sat down" after Jesus read.  So why not stand to hear the reading of God's Word?  It Is Biblical!

We purchased Servant Keeper in 2007 and have been very happy with it. We can record giving, church membership statistics, elder visits, inactives, spiritual gifts, we can automatically move sunday school rosters to a new grade, etc. However it does take a little education and customization to make the program fit your church's needs, but we haven't begun to maximize the potential of this program. We can also import Quicken information for accounting purposes. If you are on a network, the deacons can have their own computer login and record their offerings, special offerings, etc.

As you can tell we really like the software and have not found anything we can't do with it. Reporting is done with ease (once you know how to report) and everyone is happy with the results.

The main thing is that ALL of our member's information is in one place not in different spreadsheets, and databases. You can export to an Excel database once you extract the information you are looking for. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Angela,

I agree with Chad. And coming from a personal stand that my wife and I will not have children of our own is a difficult thing to observe on these days. So to pray for mothers and fathers during a prayer or the thought of how important all adults are to children during a children's message is one way to present it. But to theme your service around Mother's Day and Father's Day would be celebrating "st. halmark".