Recently I did a worship webinar for Praisecharts.com and was reminded by the host, Ryan Dahl of the story of how I got into worship band chart writing. In the 90’s I used to go to a music seminar in San Diego, California called ‘Music California’. After the conference I would try to visit as many churches in the greater Los Angeles area as possible. I would go to the Crystal Cathedral, Jack Hayford’s ‘Church On The Way’ and to a few black churches as time allowed. 
One year I heard of a new church start-up called ‘Saddleback Church’. At the time, Saddleback was meeting in modern tents and I heard they had a good band. So I showed up on a Sunday morning in my shorts and t-shirt and saw church done in a way that I had never seen before. I had never seen a church more organized and more well thought out. I realized that I had seen the future.
First, the band and sound-system was killer. From what I understood, the band consisted of great Christian pro-musicians. Their arrangements and playing was outstanding. After hearing them I decided that I was going to start writing praise & worship charts for my band back in Vancouver. I had been writing charts for big choir and orchestra specials before that, but I decided to change and start using my arranging skills and time to concentrate on worship music.
A few years after that I was approached by Ryan Dahl to start selling my charts online. That was over 17 years ago and since then Praisecharts has sold over a million dollars worth of my charts online and I have written over a thousand arrangements.
A few years after my visit to Saddleback, Pastor Rick Warren put out a book called ‘The Purpose Driven Church’ which had a huge influence on churches around the world. Rick Warren is a trail blazer and I’m thankful for his influence. I love church with a purpose!
Question: Have you had any pivotal moments which totally changed how you did things? How open are you to change how you do things?
Check out my new book.. “Leading Worship ~ Notes from a Grand Adventure’ available in Kindle or Soft Cover Editions. This is a great gift for the musician or worshipper in your life.
