The Worship Catalyst Podcast

Most worship leaders are given the role of technical director for the church, whether they know anything about it or not. In this episode Austin interviews Garret Garner, a worship pastor and creative arts pastor in his local church in Houston, TX. Garrett helps us wear both hats more effectively. Resources that Garrett recommends: MxU Teams (subscription required) https://mxu.rocks/teams/ The Wor...

Do you ever wonder if you’re really good enough to do your job? IT would be nice if there was a simple assessment tool to hep us constantly improve. In this episode Austin interviews Ben Barfield, one of the assessment directors for SEND network. Ben discusses some very practical ways for us to self evaluate on an on-going and consistent basis. Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did you enjoy this episo...

As Worship Catalyst finishes 15 years of igniting worship ministries in new churches, Austin and Cami Ryan, Ben Lunn and Nichole Paulos sit down and discuss some great wins and how YOU can participate in what God is doing.  Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did you enjoy this episode? Do us a favor and share with worship leaders & pastors around you! Also, leave a rating and review so it makes it e...

What’s your dream? Yourself on stage 52 weeks per year with no real opportunity for a break? Or do you envision a team of worship leaders you are pouring into and seeing them lead others in worship both on your church and in others? If you are fired up about multiplying leaders, this podcast is for you. Austin interviews worship leader Jeff Nail who invests in other leaders every day.  Watch the V...

In this very important episode of the podcast, Austin interviews Nate Schloesser, User Experience Strategy Manager at Covenant Eyes. You will be stunned to hear the statistics of how many worship leader and pastors fall to the temptation of pornography. Nate helps us understand the importance of getting this right in our lives as leaders and reveals how Covenant Eyes can be a vital resource for ou...

Why would you ever leave the big church for the small church? And what happens when you go from leading a team you have personally built and trained and entered into a situation where you have previous leaders mixing in with new ones? On this episode of the Worship Leader Essentials Podcast, we will learn from Shane Schauer, worship leader in San Diego, California. His journey from big to small, f...

It’s a sticky subject we are covering in this week’s episode of the Worship Leader Essentials Podcast. What are we to do about stage presence? Some people on stage look bored, or sad, or angry. Others look a little too happy. Some don’t move a muscle ever while leading from the stage…they’re like statues. Others move around like it’s a rock concert. What’s right? What’s wrong? How do you train sta...

Teddy Johnson is back in the podcast this week talking about how he has built a culture of MISSION and WELCOMING on his team. We have much to learn from Teddy and all he has learned as he has built and unleashed his team of well over 100 creative artists.  Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did you enjoy this episode? Do us a favor and share with worship leaders & pastors around you! Also, leave a r...

In this episode of the Worship Leader Essentials podcast we get to hear from Teddy Johnson, worship pastor at Hope Church in Las Vegas. Teddy, a highly sought after worship leader, musician, songwriter and performer, is a guru on caring for his team. His pastor’s heart will come through as we learn together how to better care for the souls of the people we lead.  Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did y...

After this episode, the Worship Leader Essentials Podcast will be taking a short break to work on a new weekly video that will be dropping on social beginning soon. It’s called Two Minutes On Worship. It will be just that - a weekly 2-minute video discussing what the Bible says about worship. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE so you won’t miss when Worship Leader Essentials Podcast returns.  In THIS episode, w...

Have all of your ministry dreams come true? When you set out in your current ministry role, did you have a vision or a picture of what it might be like some day? Have you sometimes struggled finding people who will pour into you and help you become all you could be? If you are like most people, your ministry experience has had some days of doubt, fear and frustration. In this episode, Ken Smith, w...

Do you have a stated mission for your creative arts team? And if so, do the team members know what it is? In this episode, Austin Ryan unpacks this question about articulating your team's mission and works through a few simple ideas. First, you should have a mission. Then over-articulate it, celebrate it and measure against it.  Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did you enjoy this episode? Do us a...

In this episode we welcome Trenton Mueller again, this time to give us some really practical insight into HOW to record songs. Trenton has his college education in recording, but you DON'T have to be a pro to sound like one. You've got this really cool tune and it's time to record it so more than just you can hear it. But, you don't have a million dollars to spend on it. No pro...

Have you ever had that itching feeling you maybe should do something crazy...like REALLY crazy...like stop what you are doing and do something else that might or might not work, but would have a huge impact on the world? I'm talking risk.  Well, in this episode, we get to meet Trenton Mueller, worship pastor and co-pastor in Los Angeles, CA. He left comfortable to go and chase church planting...

In our last episode, Austin and Mike discussed how you determine what kind of service you will stream based on the audience. In this episode, Mike takes it a little further and discusses the exact equipment and software he streams from his church and why he made those decisions.  Here is his equipment: Cameras - Avipas AV1280 SDI with Power over Ethernet (PoE).  These are PTZ cameras which means t...

We've been asked 100 times what technology to use to stream or build services that are going to be broadcast online. We are happy to help anyone with this, but the first question has to be - Who is your online audience? Your answer to that question will determine how far you go on the technology side. Mission, vision and philosophy will drive the HOW.  Mike Mychalczuk, Worship Catalyst's...

What is changing? Are people still worshipping through masks? Should we expect people to sing at home online? In this episode, Austin joins Cami Ryan, Josh Jones, Ben Lunn and Shane Zimmer in disussing what they are all learning about worship in this new environment.  Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did you enjoy this episode? Do us a favor and share with worship leaders & pastors around you! Als...

There is a tendancy to think we are living in the golden age of worship songs and that everything that came before was not nearly as good. But that's arrogant and wrong. So...in this episode of the Worship Leader Essentials Podcast, we give some props to the worship songs of our growing up - Austin Ryan, Josh Jones, Cami Ryan, Ben Lunn and Shane Zimmer discuss the heritage that older worship...

What does a pastor want his worship leader doing with his or her time?  What are the top 5 characteristics of great worship leaders. In this episode, Austin Ryan interviews pastor Jeff Goodman of Springs Church in Tucson, AZ. Jeff is a top leader, church planter, mulitiplier and faithful Christ follower. They cover a range of topics, mainly focused around the discipleship of leaders and the qualit...

Have you ever thought you were too busy? Worn out? Doing things you don't want to do or don't feel equipped to do? We have GOOD NEWS! There is another way to lead a worship ministry. In this episode, Austin Ryan and Ben Lunn of Worship Catalyst discuss a leadership development process you can implement at any size or development of church. Dozens of churches have implemented this process...

Do you have a solid audition process for your worship team? If not, it's time NOW! In this episode, Austin Ryan interviews worship leader developer Mark Warnock (Family Church, W. Palm Beach Florida) to discuss his church's audition process and how you can build something like it into your church.  Here is the process Mark discusses: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9h11kda267jd2ak/Audition%20G...

What would it be like to make the huge transition from being a worship director of a church to being the lead pastor of that same church? What are the similarities between those two roles? What are the differences? Josh Jones, lead pastor of Church of the Redeemer in St. Louis made this transition a year ago. In this episode, Josh discusses the things he has learned in this transition and how a wo...

Do you ever get overwhelmed trying to find the right new song for your church? There are hundreds of new worship albums that get released every single month, so finding the right places to go to find the right kinds of songs for your congregation is not an easy task. In this episode, Ben Lunn gives us over 5 great places to start and Austin and Ben discuss a strategy to make sure we're not ju...

In this episode, we look at a second component to developing a worship culture in your church. In the last episode we looked at the lead pastor's role. In this one, we unpack the congregational worship IQ.  Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did you enjoy this episode? Do us a favor and share with worship leaders & pastors around you! Also, leave a rating and review so it makes it easier for ot...

There are at least 3 components that go into developing a worship culture in your congregation. In this episode, we unpack the first one and it has to do with the pastoral involvment in your worship gatherings.  Watch the VIDEO Podcast HERE Did you enjoy this episode? Do us a favor and share with worship leaders & pastors around you! Also, leave a rating and review so it makes it easier for ot...