Kim Gentes

In the last ten years few people would not recognize the impact that Saddleback Church, Rick Warren (its pastor) and the “Purpose Driven” books and ministries that have sprung up from this community. It’s no surprise then, when you talk to worship ministers in local churches around America that you hear them referring to Saddleback’s Rick Muchow (pastor and worship leader) and Tony Guerrero (Director of Creative Arts) for insights on music and worship. A few weeks ago, while at a worship conference, I was thumbing through a new book called “Attracting Quality Musicians” by Tony Guerrero. I was intrigued by the book because it spoke head-on to a specific topic that touches most churches in western culture. While I was standing at a vendor booth scanning the book, the vendor said to me “if you are interested in that book, you can ask the author, he’s right there”. Tony just happened to be walking by (he was teaching some classes at the conference I was at) so I had the chance to catch up with him and talk briefly. I was glad I did.

Tony Guerrero is a successful jazz musician of some notoriety, who has won popular acclaim in concerts, recording appearances and music reviews. He has quite a story of how God moved him into serving local churches, and eventually overseeing the music ministry at Saddleback church. Much of this story is shared in the pages of Tony’s book “Attracting Quality Musicians’, which is both enjoyable and well balanced in its treatment of the topic. In this work, Tony presents a concise, but complete, treatise for why and how a local church can go about “Attracting Quality Musicians”.

The book begins with several pages which address some philosophical and Biblical points related to the premise of putting quality music into the local church. I liked this because he took the approach of helping to bring everyone to the same place of understanding before launching into the mechanics of attracting and keeping quality musicians. Even if you don’t end up agreeing with his viewpoint, this book is an excellent scale on which to weigh your opinions. And in the end, there is plenty to discuss here. From foundations for why a church might want to improve their music, to identifying, engaging, pastoring, working with and keeping top notch musicians, Mr. Guerrero meticulously covers the gambit of issues that face anyone in local church music leadership.

Another thing I liked about the book was that Tony doesn't shy away from any hot button issues. Particularly, the topics of paying musicians, using non-Christian musicians, volunteerism and personal moral character is dealt with head on. This may be controversial to some, but Guerrero is upfront and clear about his agenda and perspective. Also refreshing was that the author presents the reader with other options, sometimes going so far as to articulate and explain how one could support alternate opinions. All along the way, we learn more about the author and the concepts by well placed personal stories and examples and quotes from others such as Tommy Walker, Buddy Owens, and Chris Falsom. The core of the book is a relatively short read at about 85 pages, so it is nicely manageable for worship leaders and musicians who (if they are like me) have limited spare time. But the book has an additional 40 pages of excellent interview material that helps to bring some additional voices to the discussion. Israel Houghton, Paul Baloche, Sally Morganthaler, Morris Chapman, Tom Brooks and others chime in with extended sections relating to the topics presented in the book. Not all of the opinions and feedback even agree with all of Guerrero’s points (though some of them do), which make the interviews a valuable part of this work.

Overall “Attracting Quality Musicians” is, as its subtitle suggests, “a guidebook and discussion” not a hard-line text for Tony Guerrero’s opinion. It is well-paced and invitational in its approach, leaving you feeling like you sat down and had a chat with Tony (ok, maybe several chats) about the topics covered. He clearly leaves you to make your own conclusions on how to approach church music, while presenting a fairly concise manual for the proven method they are employing in the ministry at Saddleback church. It is an important, well-thought, contribution to church music leaders everywhere.

Product Link http://www.worshipmusic.com/tg-aqm.html

Review by Kim Gentes

Revelation is something that must not only be received by the mind, but lived in the present reality of our bodies and spirits. In "The Worship God Is Seeking", pastor, worship leader and songwriter, David Ruis takes this difficult road of attempting to connect theology and passionate service. He succeeds wonderfully! This is a book that should be read by everyone, not just pastors and worship leaders and musicians. This is a prophetic message for all of us in the Body of Christ.

In the first 3 chapters, Ruis examines God-centered devotion in which the centrality of the Cross, the foundation of God's love, the necessity of the power of the Spirit, and the essential gathering of the community of Christ are the basis of "The Worship God is Seeking". As the chapters continue, David argues convincingly that true worship will be a journey not only marked by discovering God more fully as the fuel of all things "spirit and truth", but the center of creativity itself, as initiated by His actions at the creation of the universe. He goes on to link our relational connection to God as "Abba Father" as an important truth in unlocking authenticity and freedom in worship, not just in our culture, but around the globe.

But do not think the book aspires to some unreachable utopia. Ruis takes careful aim to ground his theological outline (which is heavily influenced by theologians N.T. Wright and Don Williams) in a lifetime of personal experience. Ruis's constant call in this book is for the church to focus on God, remember the community of Christ and show the fruit of worship through the fragrance of justice.

On the whole, this book is substantially more challenging to pastors and leaders than a simple book on worship. On practical terms, he covers everything from the place of artists and musicians in our churches to the importance of expectation in our gatherings. But this book is not really a practitioners guide as much as it is a prophetic challenge to the church. It is a distinct call to complete surrender to Christ, who has done all that is needed for worship, and an ongoing welcome to those who would walk in step with the advancing kingdom of God as we become participants that "let justice roll".

Product Link http://www.worshipmusic.com/0830736921.html

Review by Kim Gentes

When I first began reading this book, it occurred to me that I had a generally low opinion of the acumen of the Christian leaders to write a good book. That notion was thoroughly destroyed by the recent work of Paul Baloche and Jimmy & Carol Owens. God Songs, is a stellar new book that triumphs in teaching the church how to write its new music liturgy, as it is inspired by the Spirit of God. As I began to read God Songs, I found myself getting lost in the book. I began pulling out old songs I had written, and started eating up each concept, page after page. The density of information in the book is substantial. So much so, that I found myself needing significant breaks to digest the materials. I suppose if I wasn't a worship leader and songwriter myself, I could have just perused over the details of the book. But for those who are involved in local churches or worship ministry, and have creative giftings, especially in songwriting, you will find God Songs is the first real "epic" to be written precisely for the purpose of helping to craft today's new liturgy for the church.

Without giving a complete chapter listing, you will have to trust me that this book covers, in detail, literally every single topic related to worship songwriting. Everything is included in this book: launching a new song idea; developing a single theme; crafting excellent lyrics that "sing"; melodies, harmonies and rhythms that enhance the song; marrying music and lyrics; stimulating creativity in the writer; getting your songs heard; developing your worship ministry; selecting songs that minister; and even a final kick in the pants to just get going and "do it"! The only problem with me listing my main topics I gleaned from the book is that someone out there is going to think "oh, Kim didn't mention this important item about songwriting, so maybe the books is missing that". Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Suffice it to say that you will not find a more comprehensive treatment of exactly how to create, develop and perfect the essential components of a worship song: lyrics and music.

As a product, the volume is really better thought of as a textbook than a conversational "how I did it" peice from Paul or Jimmy & Carol. In fact, while there is quite a nice conversational tone to the writing, there is simply too much to digest for a serious reader to walk through this book in an afternoon or even a couple of days. If you are a songwriter or worship leader, you will want to start this book with your notebook or shoe box of song ideas close at hand. You will find that you may have a one or two day stops in any number of the chapters, as you engage in the craft of songwriting. And that is the way it should be. This is as much a lab manual as it is a theory textbook. So don't be ready to just read a book on songwriting- be ready to write those songs!

In my mind, this book should really have a place as the text of a college course (or maybe 2 or 3) on songwriting- there is just that much excellent, well-written material to work through. I would look to Christian colleges around the country to seriously consider using this as the core course content for a songwriting track in music ministry degrees- it is that comprehensive and well written. Because of that, I could find only one relatively minor critique in the book- the layout. At one point, I discovered no less than dozen different styles and fonts used as I read. Along with regular highlight blocks, inset text items and centered lyric quoting, I found the layout almost distracting to the depth of the information being presented. Frankly, because the fonts and style changes so constantly, it made reading through the book a little more difficult than I think it may have needed to be. But again, this would be perfect for a course or class room setting, where you tackle just one chapter at a time and you aren't trying to read the entire book in a few days.

One of my favorite things about the book was the very specific details they gave to why some techniques work and others don't. And while you may not have heard of "the ubiquitous 3rd", "the nuance of feel" or the "cardinal rule" in arranging and performance, you won't feel like your being talked down to as you learn these things. The authors leave a wide berth for their own personalities and understanding by prefacing all they are teaching with an acknowledgement that each technique will work different for different people and songs.

But the bottom line is that this book is simply fantastic in covering a topic that has had no significant treatment to date: writing the worship songs for today's church. If you are a writer, or worship leader, who has a desire to write songs out of God's heart you won't find a better text book anywhere than God Songs. Not only do I highly recommend this book, but we have given it our Editor's Choice Award to help show our approval and appreciation for the great contribution made by the authors! Anyone interested in songwriting will not be disappointed in this book!

Product Link http://www.worshipmusic.com/1933150033.html

Review by Kim Gentes

Friend, this is Kim Gentes. The last few days has had me pouring through a new book that is proving to be a great resource for worship leaders, pastors, and worshipers alike. The book is titled "To Know You More" and it is written by Andy Park. The reading is very easy, but the content isn't fluff. So many other books on the topic of worship and worship leading are just more volley's in the ongoing debate of the "worship wars", but Andy Park rises far above those entanglement with "To Know You More".

This book is many things. First, it is the most concise practitioners guidebook ever written on the topic of contemporary worship leading. In contrast to other works by contemporary worship leaders, Park is exceptionally well thought, while still maintaining the perspective and personal experience of an excellent musician and songwriter.

Also, the book is written with some excellent scriptural depth. Andy Park has the unique perspective of having served years as both a worship leader, pastor and senior pastor in various churches (big and small). He speaks candidly about the experiences of each role related to worship. While having a thorough grasp of Biblical unpinnings for his lifes work, he is able to communicate scriptural truth from both reference text and real life. A rare combination to be sure.

But "To Know You More" is as much a story as it is a textbook. Conveying the life one of the most prolific worship writers in our time, this story is one we can all enjoy and learn from. From the endorsements of the all the well-known personalities (M. Redman, B. Doerksen, etc) that speak of the honesty of this book, I can assure you they must have also read the book. I would venture to say that you might even find this book too honest at times, because it will squarely challenge you on your own motivation.

Because Andy Park is so well known, I am sure many of you will be interested in this new book right off. But others may just be hearing for the first time about him. To help you get acquainted with him, we have also published a recent interview with Andy Park right on the website. To see an overview, list of features, and table of contents of the book, check out his book above.

Also, remember to check out the new online interview with Andy Park.

This book should be required reading for all worship leaders and pastors. Really.

Run, don't walk, to get a copy of this great worship resource! This is such a great resource, I am giving it the Editors Choice Award, and it is very deserving.

Product Link http://www.worshipmusic.com/0830832211.html

Blessings in the Father,
Kim Gentes