I put together a "ladies only" praise team this week at my church in Chicago. We had a great service tonight and I was excited about how well they worked together. They are all fine singers, but I saw in them tonight was the spark of leadership that can go beyond singing a song. Singing a song is far removed from authentic worship leading. I have spent a fair amount of time trying to get them to embrace their personalities and be free to be who God More

 Well, when life starts to swallow us whole and we feel that all-too-familiar sinking feeling  - you know, the one that is accompanied by a loud gasping noise as you go down for the third time -  it’s time to remember that God has provided an answer for us in worship.

It's an interesting experience to encounter life's flat tires that affect your outlook on future events. Sometimes we often lose our love for the things that we are currently involved. When our flame grows faint, God is near to rekindle the fire. All we need is to draw near to Him. Let's listen to John as he takes us down one of his journeys to offer us insight on not losing our flame and love for worshiping God.

Whatever else our worship is, it is essentially a response to God's endless self-giving. Alan P. Ross wrote that worship “refers to the appropriate response to the revelation of the holy God of glory.”1 While we most often think of worship as something that man alone initiates, the perspective of Scripture is clearly that God has placed man in an atmosphere of constant worship, constant response to Himself as the Creator, an entire galaxy More

 Could it be that diets would be rendered useless if I lived a balanced, Spirit-controlled life? Could it be that the excess weight would never appear on my hips and thighs in the first place if I exercised a little more discipline on a daily basis instead of waiting for the mirror to break into hysterical laughter at the sight of my hideous jelly rolls? Undoubtedly, yes, but I'm not entirely there yet. I'm a struggling human, a mere mortal, and More

Have you ever wished you could find THE song that would make everyone sing along? If you're like me, you've actually thought that you had found it a time or two in songs like, "SHOUT TO THE LORD", or "HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD". Then one day a well-meaning soul in your church comes up after service and asks, "Do we HAVE to sing that song again?" One person actually told me once that they would scream if they had to sing a certain song again. So is there More

Those of us who lead worship, teach, or serve in our local churches have no room to boast when it comes to the spiritual process. God is the one who gives the growth. But that doesn't mean that we don't have a place in the process or are not important to it. God, in His sovereignty, uses us to do His work no matter if it is crop dusting or something all together different.

God is big enough to hear the praise and take the complaints.

Inside is the testimony of John Chisum. You may already know him by his recordings, workshops and material on PraiseCharts and PraiseCharts Live, now listen to the story of his journey, how it began, the struggles, the redemption and the awakening of faith in his quest of being used by God as a worship leader.

Today is my daughter's last performance as, "ANNIE" (check out my Facebook page for some pics). She's done thirteen shows and has had an absolute blast doing them, but it all comes to an end after today's matinee. You'd have to know her to know that she was born for the part (everyone says so) and that she even came out of the womb with red hair. This was her first lead and she has done a marvelous job, says the proud Papa! It has been her dream to More