Status:
Name: Matthew Starner
Member since: 2009-03-17 20:20:00
Website URL: http://matthewstarner.com
About me: Matthew Starner is the Director of Worship & Arts at Journey of Faith in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a young church committed to reaching the unchurched and dechurched in the community, creativity and innovation are a must. He is committed to helping other churches realize their potential and become powerful forces for God's Kingdom.
 

User comments

  1. Sunday Setlist - September 27, 2009

    September 28th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

    It was totally a God thing – I am in no way a preacher and was SO incredibly nervous about giving a message I had less than 12 hours to prepare for, but God took over and it went great.

  2. Sunday Setlist - July 19, 2009

    July 19th, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Well, 52 consecutive weeks of Sunday Setlists is a big enough achievement that we can celebrate for two Sundays! This week can be the “pre”-birthday party. :-)

  3. Sunday Setlist - May 3, 2009

    May 5th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    Thanks for the link Dennis – I hadn’t seen that video before but it’s pretty good. Love the stuff from Worship House!

  4. Happy Easter!

    April 12th, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    My Redeemer Lives is a great tune – not one we get to use very often, but it’s a lot of fun both for the team to play and the congregation to sing.

  5. Bad Worship Songs

    March 26th, 2009 at 10:04 am

    First, pray about it and try to see if the songs are bad or if you just don’t like them. Everyone has and is entitled to their own opinions. Try to take your personal preferences out of the equation and see if it’s still a bad song.

    I would be really careful about it and realize that criticizing their song choices, no matter how tactfully it is approached, is not the best way to handle the situation. Artists are fragile creatures and have a tendency to wear their hearts on their sleeves. It’s also not uncommon for them to take something like that personally because we tend to put so much of ourselves into our art that it becomes an extension of ourselves. Realize that the person who picks the music probably gets a number of comments about the music. People tend to have strong opinions when it comes to music and if they’ve been at it for a while, it can be difficult to distinguish the genuine concerns from the chatter of personal taste in the congregation.

    Probably the best way would be to come from the opposite side and share some songs that you do like and what you like about them. Artists respond better to positive feedback than negative. Artists tend to thrive on encouragement (I’m not talking about stroking their ego) and perhaps with enough encouragement about the songs that you do like they will move away from the weaker songs.

    If you’d like you can email me about a specific situation and I’d be glad to see how I can help. Visit the Contact page above for the best way to reach me.

  6. 10 Reasons Churches are like Airports

    March 25th, 2009 at 8:34 am

    I agree Kristie! Kids are very important at Journey. We recognize that if parents like a church but the kids don’t, 9 times of out 10 they won’t stick around. However, if the kids love it and the parents are on the fence, the kids will win out. Therefore, it’s our goal to make Sunday the best day of every kid’s week!

  7. Sunday Setlist - March 22, 2009

    March 24th, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    Yes, it’s important that we keep the theme running through the entire time. We look at the whole worship service as the message, so everything we do, from announcements to songs, to drama and the look of the set all helps to convey the message. Not always an easy task, but it makes for a tremendous impact!

  8. 10 Reasons Churches are like Airports

    March 20th, 2009 at 11:34 am

    Definitely not a secret, that’s why it’s on my About Me page.