Worship Leader Highlight – Erin Cameneti
When and how did you know you were called to ministry?
I grew up in an awesome home where God was always the focal point. My parents were and still are amazing Pastors & Worship Leaders in a small town right outside of Columbus, Ohio. I’ve always loved worship, and I’ve always loved God, but I don’t think I actually heard His call until I was about 15. It was at a student summer camp…
The night was intense! There were over 700 students there, and God was moving all across the room… The part that blew me away was that He found me in that service… I’m not sure I was even really looking for Him, but He found me and gave me a word through a Pastor from another church that spoke to the heart of exactly what I was going through at the time. (Not to mention I met my future husband at that camp! Whole ‘nother story…)
From that moment on, I knew there was a call to ministry, and as the years have passed, I’ve just been following His voice step by step in amazement!
What do you do to keep yourself fresh as a worship leader and/or songwriter?
I’m a young wife and a young mother… My husband (who is also involved in ministry) and I have been married close to 3 years, and we have a 1-year-old boy who is all over the place! We’re definitely experiencing first hand what it looks like to “do life” while “doing ministry.”
Doesn’t matter who you are, life is no respecter of persons. And whether life brings a difficult relationship, a physical challenge, emotional battles or just “busyness,” there has to be a moment every day where we press pause and redirect our attention to the only One that matters! I love what Craig Groeschel, Pastor of lifechurch.tv, says… “I don’t ever want to become a full-time minister and a part-time follower of Christ.” Bottom line, there is no substitute for time in God’s Word and time in His presence…
Oh yeah, and you’ve got to have moments where you step away from ministry, songwriting and life in general, and just have some fun! (Eating great meals, getting away with your spouse or friends, “vegging out” in front of the TV… in moderation! Or whatever you enjoy…) Many times, these can actually become the moments where God is able to do the most!
What are five worship songs you are really connecting with currently?
This is a tough question! There are so many bands and worship projects that I can totally camp out on for months, but I’d have to say these are my faves of late…
1) Show Me Your Glory (Jesus Culture) – This song is like brand new, but it’s been on repeat in my playlist for 2 weeks! I love the prayer, and I love the bridge… incredible!
2) How He Loves (John Mark McMillan) – Who hasn’t been touched by this song! Our worship team and congregation have really grabbed a hold of it… We’ve been adding a 2nd chorus “We love You, Oh how we love You, Oh how we love…” It’s really added another dimension to the experience!
3) Rise and Sing (Fee Band) – This is THE most fun song to sing live… if you’ve never heard these guys, check out the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta!
4) We Will Run (Gungor) – Wow… by the time you get to the chorus on this song, you’re ready for lift off!
5) Love Like Fire (Matt Crocker/Hillsong) – How could I not put Hillsong on this list! This is straight from their latest album, and it’s one of the easiest songs to catch… you’ll be belting it out after 1 time through!
What is the most important thing you would share with an up-and-coming artist or worship leader?
Always remember, worship isn’t about a position, an album, a goose bump or a paycheck. It’s difficult to imagine that we can reduce the act of glorifying our creator to those terms, but sadly it’s one of the easiest things to fall prey to. Worship has to be an overflow of our daily walk with God. The time we spend in God’s presence off of the stage is 10 times more important than the few moments each week spent under the lights.
My challenge and encouragement to those who know they are called to BIG things is to learn how to be content in ALL things… especially the small ones! Embrace every moment in this incredible journey God has for you! Make your mission to glorify God and disappear from the picture. It seems backwards in a culture like ours, but it’s the very key to longevity in ministry!
Be faithful with the little that God has entrusted to you (Your small group, daily walk with God, relationships, worship team, church) And God will some day make you ruler over much! (Matthew 25)
Could you share one of your most embarrassing moments while leading worship?
I knew this was coming! An All About Worship trademark…HaHa! Honestly, I am very thankful that I don’t have too many embarrassing moments in my short history of leading worship! I’d say the most awkward/embarrassing moment that I have experienced is one that many have gone through…
I was leading at a women’s retreat, and the drummer and I were the only two instruments starting the song off… The rest of the band was going to come in at the very end of Chorus 1. Everything seemed to be going fine, until I realized that the song was feeling completely out of my range… I quickly realized that I had forgotten to capo! There was no saving it at that point… I had to bite the bullet and start the entire song over again! Thankfully it didn’t suck too much of the momentum out of the service, and God still moved!
Oh yeah, one time I definitely swallowed a gnat while leading a song. If you knew me you would understand how icky and disgusting that would be for me! I persevered though! No one knew until after the set that anything had happened!
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Erin Cameneti leads worship at Believers Christian Fellowship in Warren, Ohio. Her heart is simple: help people connect with God through honest and authentic moments of worship in His presence. As the daughter of a worship leader, Erin was exposed to God’s presence from an early age. Her style and approach have been greatly influenced by the likes of Kim Walker of Jesus Culture and Darlene Zschech of Hillsong. Today, as a singer/songwriter, wife, and mother, her passion is to see people of all ages get rooted in their local church and watch God’s call become a reality!
To learn more about Believers Worship, visit ancientanthem.com. There you can sample the latest album, download free sheet music and much more! Erin is featured on “Send Your Glory” and “All We Long For”.
Worship Leader Highlight: Andy Rocker
1. When and how did you know you were called to ministry?===
Established worship leader and now lead singer for rock/worship band Seven Stories Up, Andy Rocker knows without a doubt that God has placed a desire in his heart to help the next generation of worshippers choose to place their affection, adoration, and attention in Jesus Christ, the King of the universe!
Be sure to check out Andy on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
Worship Leader Highlight: Rich Kirkpatrick
When and how did you know you were called to worship ministry?
This was a long process for me, but as a kid as young as eight I knew God wanted me to serve him in some special way. When I was in music school I was introduced to Christian music by my girl friend who sent me tapes and sheet music in the mail. I remember simply sight reading a song in my practice room only to find that the woman practicing next door to me pounded on my door and demanded to know what in the world I was playing. She took the song and it changed her life and mine. I saw how God can use the medium of music. I was reminded how God touched me in worship settings growing up. In just a few years I was leading worship in a church plant in Southern California.
How do you prepare a setlist and how do you prepare yourself for leading worship?
I prepare by thinking. What I mean is that I think through what I know of the pastor’s sermon direction, scripture and what is going on in my church. I think through the content of lyrics and how they tie together each song. My focus is to create an experience, but I have learned that leadership is thinking. I prefer to run this through a planning team and have done that for the last year and a half.
There are musicians to schedule, tech logistics to document and production issues to address. Besides the administrative side of things, I attempt to reinforce our values each week at the end of rehearsal for our team. Leading worship to me is a team effort. I am a leader of that team, but its not really all about me. The better I lead my team, the better our team will lead worship.
Personally, I know leading worship is more than just the platform. I keep myself in community with my mens group, small group and fellow leaders as much as possible. This keeps me grounded. Those of us who live in front of people have to realize some of our greatest ministry happens off stage in the quieter places with those closest to us.
What do you see God doing in the current worship movement?
I am not sure what the current worship movement is, to be honest. What I see is a lot of confusion and dissatisfaction from our church attenders and ministry leaders. With worship leaders the amount of songs, training materials, books, conferences and ideas can be deafening. I see a need to be simple. I believe God wants us to rely on him and not on the latest thing out there. At the same time, wisdom says we should be aware of our times which change rapidly before our eyes. Keeping things clear, simple and about following Christ makes sense to me. Allow people to be diverse and let God work through cultures, rather than demanding others be like us.
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Rich Kirkpatrick is a worship pastor and blogger in Temecula, CA.
Worship Leader Highlight: Joanna Reyburn
1. When and how did you know you were called to worship ministry?
When I was about 12 years old, I went to a conference in Kansas City at what was then called Metro Christian Fellowship (which has morphed into the International House of Prayer), at which JoAnn McFatter and Julie Meyer were singing. With worship leaders David Ruis, Kevin Prosch, Daniel Brymer, and Chris Dupre and prophetic singers JoAnn McFatter, Julie Meyer, and Andre Ashby.
That was the first place I had ever seen what we call now spontaneous or prophetic singing. It was at this conference that I told my mother that I wanted to be a prophetic singer like JoAnn. At that time, I hadn’t really sung before in any public kind of way, and my mother had no idea whether I would be able to sing or not, so she recommended that maybe I consider becoming a lawyer instead, but in comparison that could never do for me.
2. How do you prepare a setlist and how do you prepare yourself for leading worship?
Oh boy, here comes some potentially bad advice, I am a bit unorthodox about my approach. I prepare for leading worship by knowing lots of worship songs and knowing how they work together, and then I follow what I feel there’s life on. That said, I want to explain more of my process. There are two ways most people organize their worship songbooks and deciding on songs: 1. lumping songs together that are in the same key or 2. organizing them by theme. I think both are a little awkward. Your options tend to be singing “Holy” songs in every conceivable key and tempo and loosing the momentum each time you change songs, or singing a random topical assortment that flow together simply because they are all in “D”. Both of those options aren’t so good for me.
To me there’s nothing more distracting than a crazy anointed worship time getting hijacked by switching songs which involves bringing all the momentum down and changing keys. Then you have to work hard to get it all back up again. I want to help create a worship experience that flows together where one can start worshiping at the beginning and stop when it’s over, without getting stuck with their hands in the air feeling awkward when the whole band crashes out. That’s what I don’t want to happen.
The way that I approach it is first of all by “flow” which is really hard to define but includes something like anointing, musical styling, tempo and time signature. I’ll take a worship song and determine that I can lead this same song somewhere between 85-95 bpm, in the keys of C, D, and E. Multiple songs are organized according to this “flowability.” Let it Rain, Rend the Heavens, Sound of Rain, and Where You Go I Go all have “flowability” meaning I can easily flow into any of them without somebody having to take their hands down and stare at me. They have roughly corresponding tempos, time signatures (that’s important, switching from 4/4 to 3/4 or 6/8 while spontaneously singing can be a train wreck) and keys in which I can sing and they have a consistent topical flow.
We’re not jumping from His Blood, to Father Abraham, to come Lord Jesus, to Dark yet Lovely in one worship setting. I have lots of groupings like that and I name the overall “flow” based on the topic. So I may have an Intercession one, Adoration, Cross, Heavenly Realm, etc. I pick two for a corporate worship session BUT (here comes the potentially bad part) I usually don’t decide firmly on anything in particular before a worship set.
I warn the musicians, give them the notes for 4 or so potential “flow medley’s” and then we wing it and I go with what has life on it. But because I’ve done the work on the front end, when I’m in “As Your Crimson Blood Washes Over Me” I know I can smoothly transition into “Oh the Blood of Jesus” and build into “See His Love” because I’ve done the work on the front end.
3. What is the most important thing you would share with an up-and-coming worship leader?
Get comfortable. Get comfortable being you onstage and off – whether it’s praying or jumping and dancing or laughing or yelling or singing at the top of your lungs, or whatever. There is plenty of room for you to be you. Nobody needs a clone of another really good worship leader, because they’ve got a corner on that market.
Get comfortable singing spontaneously. Start in your room while you’re practicing on your instrument and find a chord pattern and just start singing over yourself. “I know the plans I have for you says the Lord…” Start there. If you’re a worship leader without an instrument, you can do that a cappella or with a CD of repeating chord progressions. I go for walks with my dog and just sing the Lord’s heart. I get so much revelation! Then try singing through a Psalm, or one of Paul’s prayers, or Song of Solomon, or Isaiah or Job. Try singing big, hard, theological words like “propitiation” and “condemnation” and “supremacy.” Get comfortable so when the Lord gives you a song, you’re not nervous about the way it will come out.
Get comfortable praying out loud while you’re worship leading and inviting others to join in worship, or calling out a ministry time during a worship set. You’re not called to sing songs, you’re called as Priests to minister before the Lord and to the people. Get comfortable leaning on the Lord and not on your plan. The biggest thing I want to convey is that it’s great to make plans and prepare and practice, but be willing to throw it all out the window to follow the leading of the Lord.
4. What do you see God doing in the current worship movement?
I think the Lord is restoring the priestly ministry in the earth that there would be a people prepared to say “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD” at His return.
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Joanna Reyburn is a worship leader and songwriter at International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, MO
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