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Todd Fields, Christy Nockels, and the Chris Tomlin band lead a performance at Worship Connect.
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Daniel Carson talks gear and his approach to playing guitar.
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Todd Fields and The Church Collective discuss how to develop leaders in the worship community.
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Attendees at a Worship Connect general session in Sweetwater’s Performance Theatre.
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Jeff Sandstrom and the Chris Tomlin band share how they connect as a team.
Sweetwater, retailer of music instruments and pro audio gear, is celebrating success of its third two-day workshop for worship leaders, technicians, and musicians, called Worship Connect. Featured artists include Jeff Sandstrom, FOH Engineer for Chris Tomlin, Passion, and North Point Community Church, as well as the members of Chris Tomlin's chart-topping worship band, with guest artist Christy Nockels and worship pastor Todd Fields.
Worship Connect is designed to help all those involved in worship music to become more knowledgeable leaders and artists within the worship community, providing exclusive training by world-renowned artists at Sweetwater's Performance Theatre on its Fort Wayne, Indiana, campus.
The event was sold out, with churches from across the US in attendance. Worship Connect was co-sponsored by Waves, Bose, Shure, PreSonus, Roland, Digital Audio Labs, Ableton, MultiTracks, RemedyLIVE, The Church Collective, All Pro Sound, Brotherhood Mutual, iConnectivity, and Cornerstone Media.
ATTENDEES WERE ASKED TO FILL OUT A QUESTIONNAIRE & HERE ARE SOME OF THE RESPONSES
“Without a doubt this was the most helpful, practical, and encouraging conference I’ve attended. There was genuine spirit in all the presenters. Everything was well organized and well done. I hope I can encourage a few of our team members to attend one of these in the future.”
“I’ve been to several different worship conferences over the years. Worship Connect has so far been the most practical yet and has not lacked one ounce of spiritual focus. I recommend it to every church, regardless of size. You WILL come away with something to benefit your team,”
“Sweetwater is the only music retailer I know of who hosts events geared towards worship musicians. The content was practical, helpful, valuable, and relevant.”
WORSHIP CONNECT TOPICS INCLUDE
Connecting the Stage:
Effective preparation allows your entire team to focus on worship, and everyone on your team has a role. Jeff Sandstrom and Todd Fields shared best practices for stage prep, inputs and patching, line checks, sound checks, rehearsals, building a mix, managing dynamics, and avoiding feedback.
Connecting the Set:
Planning a worship set can be challenging. Todd Fields, Christy Nockels, and the team demonstrated ways to build cohesive worship sets that make sense and tell a story and that effectively direct the music and lead the congregation well.
Connecting the Music:
Musicians are often challenged to link songs to maintain a sense of flow throughout the worship time. Matt Gilder and the band explained how to build workable arrangements, organize seamless transitions, choose proper sounds, and tastefully blend tone to complement each other’s parts.
Connecting the Team:
It’s crucial to nurture healthy relationships between the FOH and the stage. Jeff Sandstrom, Todd Fields, and the band shared personal stories and practical advice on how to lead with humility, effectively resolve conflict, and build trust across the entire worship team.
Connecting Our Hearts:
In this final session of the event, the key points were summarized from each of the general sessions, with questions and answers, and an overview of how to make a meaningful time of worship.
OVER 25 BREAKOUT SESSIONS WERE AVAILABLE WITH TOPICS SUCH AS:
Songwriting, Navigating the Changing RF Landscape, Reproducing Leaders, Maximizing Your Mix, Choosing the Right Sounds, Digital Mixers You can Afford, Guide to Ableton & MultiTracks, Building Relationships with Other Teams in Your Community, and more.
There were several surprises during the Worship Connect event. PreSonus gave attendees a sneak peek of the now-released StudioLive 32 digital mixing console. MultiTracks announced their new subscription-based option.
The event included a surprise appearance by artist Chris McClarney (songwriter of “Your Love Never Fails”), who did a mini-concert at lunch, and stayed for the remainder of the event, hosting a songwriting workshop and co-leading the final worship set.
The next Worship Connect event at Sweetwater is scheduled for April 27-28, 2017, and will feature artists Shane & Shane.
