Podcast Episode 87: Interview w/ Dustin Smith, Part 1
Episode 87 introduces us to Kansas City worship leader and songwriter Dustin Smith in the first of a two-part interview. Dustin explains how his family’s leap-of-faith brought him to Kansas City where he worked at painting barns until a ministry position presented itself. He also shares how his focus on serving the local church has blessed him, how it informs his songwriting, and why it’s important not to question God’s judgment when He has called you into action.
What Else?
- Witness as Ben demonstrates how painkillers can impact one’s ability to recall a setlist
- Listen to “Light of the World”, the winning entry from our most recent songwriting contest, submitted by Josh Fox.
- Learn more about our next songwriting context at the new, improved site for The Songwriters’ Cafe
- Help us welcome back WorshipPlanning.com as sponsors of the podcast.
Quick Links
DustinSmith.com
Dustin on Twitter
Dustin on Facebook
Stay connected with us:
twitter.com/allaboutworship
facebook.com/allaboutworship
comment line: 913.735.4229
allaboutworship[at]gmail[dot]com
Ben on Twitter
Wisdom on Twitter
A special thanks to WorshipPlanning.com for sponsoring this episode! Visit them today and start your 30 day free trial!
Video Interview w/ Dustin Smith, Part 1
Here’s part 1 of a recent interview we did with worship leader/songwriter, Dustin Smith. We’ll be featuring the interview on our podcast this month!
Interview with Kari Jobe About Her New Album
Our team members, Chris Olson and Julie Terwilliger, recently had the chance to interview worship artist/songwriter, Kari Jobe, about her new album – Where I Find You.
In listening to the new record, we noticed an almost indescribable difference in the “feel” of the album as compared to your debut. Do you feel this album has a different feel (sonically speaking), and if so, what do you attribute that to?
I wanted this new album to have a really big sound. Mainly because of the season I was in when I wrote it…I needed music that was really moving and that I could turn up really loud and pray at the top of my lungs. I felt like my new album needed a stronger sound and more of a drive for people to get up, pace the floor and declare the Goodness of God.
When choosing a cover song to record, out of the many songs out there, how do you arrive on your final selection? (PS, LOVE “Love Came Down” on this album…)
I don’t ever go out looking for cover songs. I worship to lots of different songs all the time and “Love Came Down” just really really really blessed me in a major season of my life and I just LOVED how beautiful it is…and wanted to record it so more people in my circle would hear it!
When you write a song, do you intentionally write it as a congregational song, or do you write simply as an outpouring from yourself to God and see what comes out?
I think it’s a mixture of both. I have it in the back of my mind that I want people to be able to sing along so I’ll be mindful of that, but I don’t let it hold me back from pouring out what I really feel or sense. Sometimes it turns into a ministry type song that I can sing over people…and other times the songs are more congregational.
You are on tour a lot, but you also have a close connection to your home church in Texas. How do you balance being involved at the local church vs. touring and all that goes with being a performing worship artist?
I love what I do! It definitely never gets boring. I think it’s super important for worship leaders to stay connected to their local church. It gives such a covering and such a sense of reality. Going home and just serving your church and seeing people that you’ve known and worshipped with for years and years…it’s so good for your soul. I also have such an incredible church that helped me find the right balance of being home and being gone. Each scenario for an artist or worship leader is different, but you have to remember to serve your Pastor and really try to serve him as much as you can. He will usually give a good bit of wisdom to how much he’d like you to be home vs. being gone. It takes a lot of prayer though!
How has writing & recording this album changed you? Musically? Spiritually?
The season I was going through as I wrote this album was one the hardest seasons of my life. One of those kinds of seasons where you find yourself saying to God, “Really? Now? You know this isn’t the best timing for me to find out this information or to be in this hard place.” But as always, God knows everything and it served to be such a precious time of me crying out to God for my own life…and it turn out you can really hear it in the lyrics and vocals on the CD. I’m thankful that God uses our pain to help others…that makes hard things that we walk through in life worth it if it means other people’s lives will be impacted and helped along the way too.
Musically, I really feel like I have grown vocally since my last album…probably because I sing almost every day now, which is so fun. It’s made my voice stronger. But I believe that you can hear the “cry” in my voice in a lot of my new songs where I was really crying out to God for my own heart and life too. It makes me think of intercession as I was singing these songs over people…praying that they would help people. I was needing that for myself as well.
In talking about this album, you have said that we need to “learn to fall more in love with the Lord and trust Him in the middle of every storm.” What is the main thing you want listeners to get out of this album, and how do you see that played out in the album?
Life isn’t easy and sometimes the road God gives us to walk down is really rough and bumpy. But He never leaves us nor forsakes us, so we know that He will be in the middle of our season. Instead of getting jaded or getting angry at God, use the pain you are walking through to draw you closer to the Lord. He cares for us and will give us the strength and grace to walk through it all. You’ll be stronger on the other side.
Okay, this one is for the ladies; your style is so eclectic & fun, where do you get all your cute stuff?
Ha! Love this question! I really get a lot of my ideas from my sister! She is amazing! But also from People Style magazine, Free People, Anthropologie! You can get ideas and then always find stuff that looks the same at Target, Urban Outfitters and Forever 21! Just be creative!
Kari, thanks so much for taking the time to share with our readers!
AAW Podcast Episode 84, featuring an Exclusive Interview w/ Stephen Miller
For episode 84, we’re excited to feature St. Louis worship leader and songwriter, Stephen Miller, to the podcast. Stephen 
describes his family’s journey to adopt two boys from Ethiopia and his experience as the worship leader over a church with five venues. His new album, God & Sinner Reconcile, is available on iTunes.
What Else?
- Wisdom bestows upon Ben a new nickname
- Wisdom and Ben give their sister, er, brother podcast, The Songwriter’s Cafe, a shout-out.
- More details are provided about Hymnish, a unique songwriting retreat presented by All About Worship and The Songwriter’s Cafe, hosted by Michael Farren of Pocket Full of Rocks and Jennie Riddle of “Revelation Song” fame.
Quick Links
www.stephen-miller.com
www.facebook.com/StephenMillerMusic
twitter.com/StephenMiller
Stay connected with us:
twitter.com/allaboutworship
facebook.com/allaboutworship
comment line: 913.735.4229
allaboutworship[at]gmail[dot]com
A special thanks to Christian Copyright Solutions for sponsoring this podcast. Be sure to use promo code, AAWPODCAST, on CopyrightSolver.com to receive a special 10% off the PERFORMmusic and WORSHIPcast licenses and the PERMISSIONSplus service.
Waking Dawn, Sean Hill – Album Review & Giveaway
It’s fascinating to think how far we’ve come from the days when only a handful of worship bands existed on the CCM scene. Today is a completely different story, to say the least. At times, it can even feel like an over-saturation of the same thing. There seems to be a handful of worship bands that have a strong identity, and then there seems to be the rest of the pack mirroring those in front.
It’s the age-old struggle, leaning on our musical influences while maintaining our own sound and feel. And, hear me. I’m not suggesting it’s a problem to sound just like Hillsong or any of the others! I am the biggest worship junky you’ll ever find, but it is with this reality and perspective that I often approach a new cd.
I guess if I could break down my thought process into two simple questions, they would be:
1. What does this album have that the others don’t?
2. And…what does this album have that the great ones do?
With these questions in mind, I am pleased to say that Waking Dawn by Sean Hill has been an incredible listening experience from start to finish. Reminiscent of a “Pre-Ancient Skies” Gungor album, Sean brings a fresh and thoughtful approach to every well-crafted song.
As a pastor and someone who believes in building and expanding God’s Kingdom through the local church, I most loved the maturity in what Sean lyrically brought to the experience. With heart-felt and mission-minded songs like “I Hear the Sound” and “Illuminate the World”, it gave me something to put in my prayer-time rotation.
Solid melodies and beautiful “woaaooh moments” juxtaposed with intimate falsetto vocals from Kennedy Goins make “Sing For You” one of my favorite songs on the record. And that’s not to be outdone by stand-outs like “Illuminate the World,” “Flicker” and the title track “Waking Dawn.”
This is most definitely a sign of much good to come from artist Sean Hill. You’ll be singing this in your head long after you’ve turned it off. Waking Dawn is a well-versed album with something for everyone. I give it two thumbs up!
-Review by Joe Cameneti Jr.
We’re giving away 2 copies of this CD! Leave a comment below to enter. You must be at least 18 years old and a resident of U.S. or Canada. Deadline: Tuesday, February 14th at 6pm CST.
A Leader of Worship
The hardest thing about being a worship leader isn’t trying to come up with a musically dynamic set list. It’s not working with a band or figuring out the dynamics of a worship team or learning how to dance with church leadership.
In my opinion, the hardest thing about being a worship leader is remembering that you are not just a song leader or a service leader; you are a leader in worship.
Anybody can sing a song (well, almost anybody) and it’s not hard to find someone to lead a service. Now, their skill level may determine the quality of the event, but it’s not hard to find someone to fill the spot.
But leading worship is not about performing a function; it’s about embodying a way of life.
If you think that worship is a song or a service, then you will have trouble understanding this concept. If you approach Sunday morning or any other regular service with the idea that this event is worship, then you no longer become a worship leader; you become a service leader or a song leader.
Being a worship leader has little to do with performing a primary service function on a Sunday and everything to do with embodying a lifestyle and permanent expression in response to God’s grace on our lives. Our lives are the expression of worship. Every moment of every day we embody what true worship is and the whole world looks at us to see if it’s authentic. How do they love their spouse, what kind of work ethic do they have, what kind of things do they talk about, do they live in accordance with the message they preach?
The way I always describe worship is this; worship is a life lived in response to the worthiness of Jesus as King. That’s a mouthful to chew on, but that is what true worship is.
When you apply this to a musical expression, you become acutely aware that worship has little to do with the four chords that I play or even how well I play them. If worship was excellence in music, then we would all put on Adele’s CD during our services and lift our hands in wonder and worship (forgive me those of you who don’t like her music. It’s not an endorsement, it’s just an example. She did sell almost 6 million of her 21 album last year).
Worship as a musical expression is more than just excellence and skill. While they are important, they alone do not make a song “worship”. And that is the thing most easily forgotten as a worship leader.
The hardest thing about being a worship leader is remembering that you are a leader in worship, not just a leader in music and song. While you can be a worship leader and be excellent in music, you cannot be excellent in music and assume that qualifies you as a worship leader.
John Piper says it like this:
“All of life is the outshining of what you truly value and cherish and treasure. Therefore all of life is worship. Either of God, or something else.”
If you desire to be called a leader in worship, then make sure your life is lived as worship to God before you step on stage. Then your worship will be a result of the life you live, not the song you sing.
-Ben Woodward
Ben Woodward is an award winning singer/songwriter and worship leader who travels all over the world teaching on worship and prayer. His new worship EP entitled The Worship EP is available from www.somethingelserecords.com or on iTunes.
All About Worship Awards 2011 – Winners Announced!
End of 2011, we held our 2nd annual All About Worship Awards, where you (our online community) got a chance to vote for your favorites in various categories. We announced the winners of each award on the first episode of 2012, All About Worship Podcast. In case you haven’t listened to that episode yet, here are the winners. We will be sending a trophy to all the winners.
Male Artist of the Year: Matt Redman
Female Artist of the Year: Kim Walker-Smith
Band of the Year: The City Harmonic and Jenny & Tyler (tied!)
Album of the Year: Be Lifted High by Bethel Music
Song of the Year: “Furious” by Jeremy Riddle
Blogger of the Year: Vicky Beeching
From the All About Worship Team, HUGE congrats to all the winners! Big thanks to hundreds of you that participated and made this a very fun second year for the AAW Awards!
Reason To Sing EP, All Sons & Daughters – Review
This past Fall All Sons & Daughters released their debut EP, Brokenness Aside. Even as an EP, it was among the top albums of 2011. This week they released their second EP – Reason to Sing. This 7 song EP is just packed with brilliance.
I have been listening to this EP for a month now and haven’t sat down to write this review. It’s mostly because I keep listening to the EP and getting lost in worship when I should be typing. However, that is not a bad sign. If a worship album draws you in to worship, then it should be considered a success.
“Oh Our Lord” really captivated me. It begins with a soft strings sound with fingerpicked guitar. Leslie’s voice shines then you come into the main chorus, which is the theme of the song: “Oh Lord our Lord. Oh Lord our Lord. How majestic is Your name in all the earth.” The signature harmony between David and Leslie really shines. When the song continues to build to the bridge it has this truly majestic feel with a driving drum and lyrics declaring the attributes of God and the name of God.
“Spirit Speaks” is another song that really works well. It begins with David, a piano and the cello. It’s about being awakened to the heart, love and presence of the Lord. The full band comes in on the second verse and the song has a slow drive that really pulls you in to worship. I love the way this song is simple, yet deeply profound. Simple lyrics really pull you into worship of the Lord.
“All Praise to You” begins with a soft fingerpicked guitar that sets a soft melody. Electric guitar with subtle volume swells in the background highlights this feel. It draws your focus to the lyrics and the harmony between David and Leslie. This song is exactly as the title would suggest. All praise to GOD! The song calls us to lavish our love, to give the glory, and to pour our praise, honor and thanks before the Lord.
I could write something about every song on this seven track EP, but for the sake of brevity I will keep it short. I must admit that I am quickly becoming a big fan of All Sons and Daughters. I love their soulful style that seamlessly melds worship and bluegrass with an organic sound that is simply meant to glorify the Lord. I give this EP 4 out of 5 stars!
-Review by Mathew Reames
(review copy provided by Integrity Music)
Live Roundtable Discussion: Catering Weekend Services?
We are so excited to announce an online roundtable event that we’ll be hosting next Monday, November 14th, at 8:00pm CST.
We’ve invited the following worship pastors/leaders to be part of the panel for this event:
Fred McKinnon (Worship Director/Founder of TheWorshipCommunity.com)
Rich Kirkpatrick (Blogger/Worship Pastor)
Joshua Seller (Director of Worship)
Chris Vacher (Director of Worship)
Rob Rash (Blogger/Worship & Creative Arts Pastor)
Troy Kennedy (Worship Pastor)
We’ll be discussing topics like:
-Doing secular songs during service (is it okay or is it not okay)
-Convergence worship vs. separating the styles out into different services
-Designing the service for Christians vs non-Christians
-and more
We’ve intentionally invited leaders with different perspectives in order to help church leaders understand others’ perspectives and also learn from our differences. This live event will be limited to a small group of attendees that RSVP.
This event will also be recorded and available to watch on our site for free.
CLICK HERE to reserve your spot for this FREE ONLINE EVENT!
(Instructions on how to join the video/audio call will be emailed to you.)
We would appreciate any donation you can give to help offset our costs of this event:
Interview with David Santistevan
Dan Thomson, one of our contributors, recently had the opportunity to interview worship leader/songwriter/blogger – David Santistevan.
Dan: As a Worship Pastor and Young Adults Pastor, how do you organize your time with your team(s) to be ready for services each week?
David: With my worship team, I’m fortunate to work with some skilled, passionate young players who come prepared.
We use Planning Center as our home base of communication where our musicians can reference the weekends they are scheduled and come prepared to rehearsal. This enables us to rehearse on Saturday before our Saturday night service and skip a weekday rehearsal.
It’s pretty rare for a musician to show up on Saturday unprepared, which is amazing. It hasn’t always been this way!
Dan: Do you try to introduce original music in your worship services? If so, how often and what is the response from the congregation?
David: Yes, we do. Most songs typically take 2-3 weekends before they catch on. What I’ve found is that the original songs we write are embraced by the congregation even more than other songs. I’m not sure why, other than the congregation believes in what we’re doing. And, hopefully because the songs are good. 
I’m currently trying to introduce one original song a month. We just finished a songwriting retreat with our team a few months ago, so there’s a lot of songs we’re working on finishing and introducing. The hard part is finishing the songs! Sometimes you just need to call it done (for now) and test it out.
Dan: How long have you been blogging and what gives you the drive to write as many as 5 articles per week?
David: Believe it or not, I’ve actually been blogging for about 4 years. I started blogging just because a few close friends said I should. I had no vision or strategy for it. It was random and not very good. Barely had any readers.
About 9 months ago I decided to get more serious about it as a way to extend my influence and have a ‘home base’ for my ideas and ministry. I have a passion to teach so it’s been a great outlet for that as well. I write so often because I challenge myself to do it. I think it’s a great habit for everyone to write every day. Whether they have a blog or a journal or scribble on napkins doesn’t really matter.
Writing has made me a better thinker, artist, pastor, and leader. Positive feedback, blog growth, and having a passion for my niche keeps me going as well.
Dan: Your blog seems to have a lot of participation through comments and social media sharing. What topic would you say has brought the most feedback?
David: Anything worship related gets the most feedback and sharing. I was nervous that narrowing my niche would exclude readers and shrink my blog. It’s only grown as I’ve invested in this niche of worship leading in the local church. Second would be when I write about blogging. I think that’s because bloggers are online more than non-bloggers, so they’re always devouring content.
Dan: If you had one word of advice to give worship leaders, what would it be?
David: Invest your best energies into loving God with all your heart. “Passion for Jesus” is not a one-time event where you then move on to more practical matters. The practical aspects of worship leading are important but nothing can fuel a life of worship leading other than falling more in love with Jesus every day. Guard that passion with your life.
Dan: You are a Pastor and blogger, but you are also a songwriter and in 2008 recorded a worship album entitled “Near”. Can you tell us about the project and how that came about?
David: Recording “Near” was a dream come true for me. I’ve always wanted to record a worship album of original songs because my life was shaped by worship music as a youngster. I spent more time than I’d like to admit listening to Matt Redman, Vineyard, MorningStar, and Hillsong.
I wanted to release what was inside of me. The album was the result of a long season of physical suffering. I had an undiagnosed disease for over a year where I was unable to walk up stairs and lift up my hands, let alone play my guitar and sing. I laid down my passion for that year because I had no choice. Many of the songs were written without me actually singing them because I was so sick. But they were breath in my lungs as I poured my heart out to God through it all. He’s been so faithful.
Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win David’s CD – Near. We’ll pick 3 random winners. Deadline is September 6th. You must be a U.S. resident and at least 18 years old.
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