WORK FROM HOME & Why leaders who see remote work as a perk have it all wrong.

by Levin Winse, Fast Co. Magazine, 4/3/23.

… Today’s average worker craves flexibility. Even if they don’t want to work exclusively from the comforts of their own home—or even at city cafes or beachside Airbnbs—they at least want to have the option to work remotely part time. This type of flexibility is rapidly becoming something that today’s tech workers won’t compromise on.

Of course, Elon Musk revealed what’s likely behind many executives’ fear of remote work in a tweet responding to critics of his return-to-office policy at Tesla over the summer, stating “they should pretend to work somewhere else.”

Every white-collar professional reading this understands the massive misconception about tech workers seeking flexibility and remote work options. The vast majority of professionals aren’t interested in finding a way to slack off at work—in fact, it’s quite the opposite. By eliminating time-eating commutes and minimizing in-office distractions, workers are able to make the most of their work hours while also knowing they won’t miss their evening workout or family dinner due to crazy traffic.

… Remote work opens up cross-border work opportunities, empowering companies to recruit new talent from across the globe, further emphasizing the disadvantage that anti-remote work companies are creating for themselves.

For small startups, isolated teams, or branches, selecting a remote work model could make sense from a purely financial standpoint, too. Companies can save almost $6,000 per employee annually by shutting down or downsizing physical offices, according to a Lemon.io report. These savings don’t even begin to factor into the money saved on utilities, maintenance, office supplies, and equipment. And let’s not forget snacks, coffee, and tea, which adds up to another $1,300 per employee.

WORK FROM HOME & Execs think flexibility makes workers worse at their jobs, but the latest Future Forum survey tells a completely different story.

by Jane Thier, Fortune, 2/15/23.

…A consortium under the Slack umbrella, the Future Forum has continuously run surveys of 10,000 desk workers around the world each quarter since summer 2020, and each installment has shown that flexible work positively impacts productivity, builds worker-boss trust, and reduces employee turnover.

The latest findings reveal that flexible workers were 57% more likely than fully in-person workers to say their company culture has improved since that flexible policy was implemented. That’s no coincidence; they said flexible work policies are the primary impetus for workplace culture improvement—despite the fact that bosses seem dead set on believing culture itself is reason enough to force an office return.

“Executives say, ‘Because I grew up in a certain way and have certain experiences of workplace culture, I feel uncomfortable doing other things…going forward,’” Brian Elliott, executive leader of Future Forum, tells Fortune. “Executives are worried about retaining culture with flexible work, but our data shows a completely different story.”

Culture can be cultivated entirely virtually, Elliott says, but “it really comes down to trust at the end of the day—give people the flexibility to work where and when they’re at their best.”

The worst mistake bosses can make is focusing on presenteeism-related metrics, like who shows up early or stays late, rather than on outcomes. That’s an example of proximity bias—preferential treatment for the people you see most often—and it usually comes at the expense of minority and parent workers.

WHAT’S NEXT & List of 23 published articles from 2022 by Bob Whitesel dealing with innovations that increase missional impact. @BiblicalLeader Magazine

People often ask, “Why should we hire Leadership.church to coach our leaders and churches?”

It is because of four other reasons …

I am an encourager. I build up leaders.
I train in “foresight leadership” which means I don’t rehash ideas that you’ve already tried, I find new ideas that are just beginning to work.
I discover what God is doing today, by my continual field-research.
I believe introducing people to Jesus Christ may be the most important task of a healthy church.

Here is more on “#3: Articles I’ve written baed upon my continual field-research.” (PS I am scheduling Consultations and monthly Colleaguing Calls.)

WFH (WORK FROM HOME) & Work patterns continue to shift nearly three years into the pandemic. Friday & Thursday now most popular days for hybrid workers to take off.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: when the pandemic began leaders, hoped that people working from home would take off days earlier in the week (e.g. Mondays) and then work harder later in the week. But the opposite seems to be true with more people today taking off Thursdays and Fridays than any other day during a five day work week.

This has implications for the leader and the church staff. The staff may prefer taking off days later in the week, which also are nearer the weekend and may frustrate Sunday preparation plans.

But there is a silver lining. Church volunteers may be more available on Thursdays and Fridays than other days during the week. This is because remote workers are increasingly taking those days off. Read this article to learn more.

A shift in the most popular remote-work days has puzzled the experts

by Matthew Boyle and Bloomberg, Fortune Magazine, 12/16/22.

Hybrid workers are settling into a pattern of staying home twice a week, but it’s not the days you’d expect.

While many companies’ flexible-work plans have sought to get people in the office Tuesday through Thursday, and work from home Monday and Friday, it turns out that workers are staying home more often on Thursday.

That’s according to new data from WFH Research, a team of academics including Stanford University’s Nicholas Bloom that has compiled data on the actions and attitudes of tens of thousands of American workers since the pandemic began.

Friday ranks as the most popular day to work from home over the past six months, followed closely by Thursday, while Wednesday is the most common day to be on site.

The findings show how work patterns continue to shift nearly three years into the pandemic, and also reinforce how difficult it is for companies to enforce strict mandates about returning to the office, especially in a stubbornly tight labor market.

WORSHIP STYLES & Research Finds Musical Tastes are Linked to Different Personality Traits. #AmericanJournalOfPsychology

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: We all know that musical styles can be divisive. And the following research points out that a criticism about a person’s music feels like a criticism of them. This is because different personalities, identify with different musical styles. To better understand your congregation and how one’s personality is linked to preferences for certain musical styles, see this important research.

Music Preferences and Your Personality: What Your Music Taste Says About You

by Kendra Cherry, Very Well Mind, 10/30/22. Medically reviewed by Amy Morin, LCSW

… researchers asked more than 36,000 participants worldwide to rate more than 104 different musical styles. They also filled out Big 5 personality inventories and provided information about their favorite music. The results indicated that personality and musical taste are indeed linked, but other individual differences factor in, too. Here are some of the personality traits the study linked to certain musical styles.

Pop. Extroverted, honest, and conventional. Although pop music lovers were hardworking and had high self-esteem, researchers suggest that they are less creative and more uneasy than those enamored by other musical styles.
Rap/hip hop. Despite the stereotype that rap lovers are aggressive or violent, the researchers found no such link. However, the rap fans tended to have high self-esteem and were generally more outgoing than fans of other styles.
Country. These fans typically identified as hardworking, conventional, outgoing, and conservative. Although country music frequently centers on heartbreak, people who prefer it tended to be emotionally stable. They also ranked lower than others in openness to experience.

Rock/heavy metal. Rock and heavy metal often project images of anger, bravado, and aggression. However, this study found such fans to be gentle, creative, and introverted. They also tended to have low self-esteem.
Indie. Fans of the indie genre registered as introverted, intellectual, and creative, but less hardworking and gentle than fans of other styles. Passivity, anxiousness, and low self-esteem were other notable personality characteristics.
Dance. Those who preferred dance music were typically outgoing, assertive, and open to experience but ranked lower than others in gentleness.
Classical. The study’s classical music lovers were generally somewhat introverted but at ease with themselves. Creativity and healthy self-esteem were common among them.
Jazz, blues, and soul. Extroverted with high self-esteem. They also tend to be very creative, intelligent, and at ease.

The study further suggests that people define themselves through music and use it as a means to relate to other people. This explains why people sometimes feel defensive about their taste in music: A criticism about their music feels like a criticism of them.1

Footnote:

1. North AC. Individual differences in musical taste. The American Journal of Psychology. 2010;123(2):199-208. doi:10.5406/amerjpsyc.123.2.0199

WFH & Microsoft’s remote-work-friendly CEO puts his finger on the big problem with working from home.

by Jane Thier, Fortune Magazine, 10/17/22.

… Speaking at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit on Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said workers and their bosses continue to disagree over their respective at-home productivity levels. The argument, Nadella said, shouldn’t be hashed out based on anything but data.

His comments came a month after Microsoft released its latest Work Trends Study. Surveying 20,000 people across 11 countries, it found that nearly all (87%) of employees say they’re more productive when they work remotely or in a hybrid setup. It’s no wonder hybrid work is proven to be the most cost-effective and most popular model.

On the other hand, 85% of employers say it’s difficult to have confidence in their workers’ productivity levels when they’re not in-person. That’s a paradox, Nadella pointed out.

… To alleviate that paranoia, some bosses are doubling down on tracking their remote workers. According to the New York Times, eight out of the 10 largest private employers in the U.S. track often baseless productivity metrics, such as length of time required to write an email and individual keystrokes.

Nadella is staunchly against this. Any kind of employee tracking will only distract from the bottom line, Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s VP of modern work, recently wrote for Fortune. “While you might get a lot of data from tracking this type of employee activity, I can confidently say it’s the wrong data,” he wrote. “And surveillance doesn’t just lead to bad data—it undermines trust, a critical factor in organizational success that, once lost, is incredibly difficult to regain.”

Rather than monitoring, Nadella encourages leaders to get back to basics: setting clear business goals.

“Really make sure that you’re very clear, as leaders and managers, about what the goals of the company or the team are, setting the norms for how people collaborate, and communicate,” he said.

WORSHIP & These songs, curated by a team of neuroscientists, create a sensation scientists call “frisson” – a feeling or sensation of excitement, emotion or thrill.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: Today there is a great deal of discussion about online worship and if it can be as powerful as face-to-face worship. Students of music theory have known for a long time that a powerful musical experience can be experienced in the concert hall or over headphones. Part of this is because the human brain is designed to react to certain surprising musical motifs and chord progressions. Read this article to learn more about “frisson” and how to incorporate it in the songs you write.

This 715-song playlist is scientifically verified to give you the chills, thanks to “frisson.”

by Sam Gilberg, The Big Think, 5/17/22.

… “Frisson” derives from French and is “a sudden feeling or sensation of excitement, emotion or thrill,” and the experience is not confined to music. Historically, frisson has been used interchangeably with the term “aesthetic chills.”

According to a 2019 study, one can experience frisson when staring at a brilliant sunset or a beautiful painting; when realizing a deep insight or truth; when reading a particularly resonant line of poetry; or when watching the climax of a film.

… Other reliable indicators include the entry of one or more instruments or voices; an abrupt change of tempo or rhythm; a new or unexpected harmony; and abrupt modulation. Music psychologist John Sloboda found that the most common types of musical phrases to elicit frisson were “chord progressions descending the circle of fifths to the tonic.” This is a deeply affecting chord progression common in many of Mozart’s compositions.

The 715-song playlist was curated by a team of neuroscientists and is available on Spotify. It includes some of my favorites (below):

Twist & Shout, The Beatles
The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky
Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton
Toccata and fugue in D minor, Johann Sebastian Bach
Appalachian Spring, VII, Aaron Copland
Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Across the Stars: Love theme from Star Wars, John Williams
One for Daddy-O, Cannonball Adderley
Moby Dick, Led Zeppelin
Wonderwall, Oasis
Fields of Gold, Sting
Walking in Memphis, Marc Cohn
Vincent, Don McLean
The Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel
This Must be the Place, Talking Heads
Rhapsody in blue, George Gershwin
Finale, Les Miserables
Battle cry, Imagine Dragons.
One Day More, Les Miserables
Untitled Hymn, Come to Jesus, Chris Rice
Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday
Sleigh Ride, the Ronnettes
One, U2
Walk on by, Dionne Warwick
Awaken, Yes
Oh Come All Ye Faithful, traditional
Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen
Things we said today, The Beatles
Born to run, Bruce Springsteen
Across the universe, the Beatles
Song for the King, Michael W Smith
I can’t get no satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
Living for the city, Stevie Wonder
Ripple, Grateful Dead.
Living on a Prayer, Bon Jovi

WORSHIP & #SundayChurchHacks: Some mid-tempo songs work best in large environments, but not so well in smaller churches. The energy created by a large crowd enhance mid-tempo songs with a liveness because of the experience of an assembled multitude singing together. But in smaller venues more up-tempo songs will be needed to create a liveness and experience for a smaller assembly of worshipers. Song selection should consider which songs best connect to the size of the gathering too.

See the video of the song The Passion by Hillsong Music. It is clearly anointed. And the lead worshiper crying out above the singers, captures the sense of a large cloud of witnesses singing praise.

But sometimes worship leaders, seeking to be faithful to the original recorded in a large auditorium, will cry out above the singers. But this can feel inauthentic because of the smallish size of the crowd assembled.

When choosing worship songs, look to tempos, styles and musical arrangements that have worked best in the past in connecting with your unique audience culture. Don’t necessarily replay earlier songs. But look for common personalities in the songs and wed them with the personality of your congregation (note: each worship service probably has its own unique worship personality).

Here is a helpful chart of the most common tempo markings (with bpm) and definitions from a previous article:

Prestissimo (> 200 bpm) very very fast
Presto (168 – 200 bpm) very fast
Allegro (120 – 168 bpm) fast
Moderato (108 – 120 bpm) moderately
Andante (76 – 108 bpm) walking pace
Adagio (66 – 76 bpm) slow and stately
Lento/Largo (40 – 60 bpm) very slow
Grave (20-40 bpm) slow and solemn

For more details, see my full article for Biblical Leadership Magazine.

WORSHIP & #SundayChurchHack: When worship leaders begin a service, they can be feeling a sense of uncomfortableness, even stage fright. As they open in prayer, it’s often not very focused. Instead have another church leader prepare to pray in the spirit of Psalm 8, 40, 145, or 146.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel, 2/6/22.

While observing hundreds, if not thousands, of worship services I’ve noticed that the beginning of the service sets a tone and direction for what follows. Sometimes called the opening prayer or the call to worship, it is often the worship leader who utters this. But, I’ve noticed that many times they seem less than focused and even nervous when doing so. This may be the result of working on the music more than on the words with which they’ll to utter to launch the service. This is especially true in non-liturgical churches where the worship leader often begins the service from the platform by offering a prayer. It is this prayer that I have found to be less than focused on a recurring basis.

Subsequently, it’s may be better for church leaders and/or worship leaders to designate someone else to deliver the opening prayer. The opening prayer should be a joyous entrance into worship. It should be uplifting, heavenly focused and inspire exhalation.

Inspiration can come from psalms such as Psalm 80, 40, 145 and 146 (see below). Even if the opening prayer is pre-written and/or in a liturgical format, the person delivering the prayer can meditate upon such psalms before hand. This can put them in the right frame of mind to deliver a biblical call to worship.

The psalmist says:

“LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” – Psalm 8:9

“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.” – Psalm 40:3

WELCOME & # SundayChurchHacks: Don’t exaggerate for online viewers, the size of an onsite audience. Leaders can make it seem that there are hundreds in attendance, when there may be dozens. This creates dismay & disappointment when an online viewer visits in person.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: Part of my ongoing research is to visit churches online before I visit them in person to evaluate the online perception versus the onsite reality. One of the greatest discrepancies is in the number in attendance.

Charles (Chip) Arn, a writer, colleague and friend, told me about his experience attending a megachurch with a famous TV ministry that had now shrunk to a few hundred attendees. He noted, “They acted like they were still on TV with thousands in attendance. It not only made me uncomfortable and it gave the impression that they were untrustworthy. They should be themselves.” I noted that, “honesty is what will grow a church, not deception.”

Don’t exaggerate the size of an onsite audience for online viewers. Some leaders make it seem that there are hundreds in attendance, when there may be dozens. This will create dismay and disappointment when an online viewer visits in person.

Sunday Church Hack: When you are streaming, there are hundreds and could be thousands watching. Accept it, pray for them … but don’t hype it.

#SundayChurchHacks

WORSHIP & #SundayChurchHacks: The worship singers should be skewed toward the age group you are seeking to reach. Nonetheless, they also should be skilled.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: I regularly evaluate online and onsite worship services for clients and colleagues. A reoccurring experience is when a skilled worship leader is backed by supporting vocalists who have been faithful churchgoers for some time. However, if you are trying to reach younger generations (see the list of generations here and here) you should include backup singers from missing generations too.

Yet don’t err on the side of participation, and ignore skill. In many churches there is a community music leader, e.g. current or former school music teacher, etc. that can help. Seek out these musical coaches and ask them to work with your supporting vocalists, relieving the music director of having to work with novice vocalists.

Regarding getting younger people involved, see the chart below for the generational names and years (in addition, you will find an explanation of “Early Boomers,” “Generation Jones,” “Generation Alpha” and “Generation Beta” here).

Following the “Millennials” born between 1982 and 2009, the next two generations are now “Generation Alpha” from 2010 to 2024 & “Generation Beta” from 2025 to 2039.

(chart retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/03/here-is-when-each-generation-begins-and-ends-according-to-facts/359589/)

WORSHIP & How to tell if it is organic

by Bob Whitesel, D.Min., Ph.D., 4/27/17.

In the Abingdon Press book ORGANIX: Signs of Leadership in a Changing Church I described characteristics of worship that promote an organic atmosphere. Here is an updated brief list:

Worship flows from the audience to the stage, not the other way around.

Inorganic worship: This is usually manufactured with moving lights in the haze of an artificial fog. It may be lead by the worship team with admonitions of “Come on, let’s praise Him” or “Clap your hands for Him.” Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done all of those things (too many times to list).
Organic worship: But, I have observed worship that is more natural and flowing from the Holy Spirit originates from the audience and moves across the stage, not the other way around.

The focus is on what is going on inside of your head and heart, not what is going on on the stage.

Inorganic worship: Often focuses on beautiful slides/videos behind words with moving lights on the walls and the audience.
Organic worship: The focus is on what God is doing in each congregants’ head and heart. The lights on the stage often come from the back of stage, illuminating the worship team as silhouettes so the faces are not illuminated (so that the expressions of the worship team do not distract).

For more see ORGANIX: Signs of Leadership in a Changing Church.

WORSHIP & When Do the Latest Hillsong and Bethel Hits Belong in Your Sunday Lineups?

by Kelsey Kramer McGinnis, Christianity Today, 4/6/21.

“Learn these tunes before you learn any others,” John Wesley wrote in his Directions for Singing. “Afterwards, learn as many as you please.”

The specified “tunes” were those included in the 1761 publication of the early Methodist hymnal, Selected Hymns. Wesley’s seven directions for singing have long been included in the opening pages of the United Methodist Hymnal. They include exhortations like “Sing lustily and with good courage,” “Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can,” and “Attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually.”

Wesley wrote his Directions for Singing for a different time, for a church usually selecting congregational music from a confined set of songs in printed hymnbooks. But this centuries-old guide helps establish a theological framework for a new project designed to help worship leaders evaluate a growing catalog of contemporary worship music.

The United Methodist Church’s (UMC) Discipleship Ministries recently released CCLI Top 100+ Beyond, the latest iteration of a project begun in 2015, aiming to help leaders curate worship songs. CCLI stands for Christian Copyright Licensing International, which provides copyright licenses to use music from a vast library of artists; it ranks its most popular songs twice a year in the CCLI Top 100.

The UMC project offers a recommended song list, with a description of each song’s lyrics, theological underpinnings, musical difficulty, and a list of recording artists and alternate arrangements.

The list includes seven titles by Hillsong Worship and Hillsong United, seven by Bethel Music, and five by Elevation Worship; the top-ranking CCLI song at the time was Pat Barrett’s “Build My Life,” and the team said it appreciated “that this song petitions Jesus to lead us ‘in Your love to those around’ us, which ties in to Wesleyan notions of cooperation with God in Christ Jesus.”

Another resource developed by the UMC suggests issues worship pastors should consider, such as finding music from underrepresented regions, engaging global worship traditions with cultural competence, and shifting to more inclusive language without violating copyright law.

… Worship pastors from across denominations may find that the Methodist resource helps them define and articulate the theology of worship that they want to practice and impart. It’s a reflective guide—there’s no list of rejected songs, nor any diatribes about the loss of the traditional hymnals or the dangers of contemporary music.

… Music selection and worship leadership is teaching. To treat it with less weight than that is to miss the opportunity to use a powerful medium to teach, learn, and deepen faith. Through the music we sing together, we teach ourselves over and over what we as a congregation affirm about God’s identity, our identities, and our relationship with God personally and corporately.

WEALTH & Does Money Make You Mean? Thought provoking and research-based #TedTalk by #UniversityOfCalifornia professor & author #MichaelMechanic

WEALTH & Does It Rob the Brain of Compassion? YES according to researchers.

by Michael Mechanic, The Atlantic Magazine, 4/4/21.

…More than a decade ago, as a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of the UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, Piff used a series of rigged Monopoly games to see how people would respond to being placed randomly into a position of privilege. Some 200 student volunteers were pitted against one another. The “rich” player was given twice as much cash as the “poor” player, collected twice as much money when passing Go, and passed Go more often, because he got to roll two dice while the poorer player got only one. (Richie Rich also got the most popular playing piece, the little car, while his opponent received the undesirable boot.)

As the games progressed, rich players became more and more cocksure. They spoke louder, moved their pieces more aggressively, and even consumed more pretzels from bowls that the researchers had put out as part of the experiment. “We had little gradients on the table where you could measure how much space a person is taking up from when they began to when they ended,” Piff told me. “The richer players began to take up more room. They got bigger as they got richer.”

The Monopoly experiment wasn’t the most rigorous science ever, and Piff never published the results, although the study was later replicated by others and referenced in Piff’s popular TED Talk, “Does Money Make You Mean?” But his observations were consistent with a large body of social science finding that people of higher socioeconomic status, compared with those lower down the ladder, are more prone to entitlement and narcissistic behavior. Wealthier subjects also tend to be more self-oriented and more willing to behave unethically in their own self-interest (to lie during negotiations, say, or to steal from an employer). In one study, Piff and his colleagues stationed a pedestrian at the edge of a busy crosswalk and watched to see which cars would let the person cross. Suffice it to say that Fords and Subarus were far more likely to stop than Mercedeses and BMWs.

WORSHIP & It’s time you started including these uptempo (allegro) worship songs for 2021 – both onsite & online. Thanks to #WorshipDeeper.

Thanks to Tim at Worship Deeper for this curated list:

And a few personal favorites of mine (Bob W):

WORSHIP & Excited to see this client church creating unity by giving equal space to different worship services (pictured). Lesson – be sure to give equal space to different worship expressions or you will create second-class experiences.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: Usually newer worship expressions are relegated to secondary worship spaces. Usually this is rationalized because they don’t need as much room as the traditional sanctuary affords.

But, this subtly makes it harder for them to grow, giving them a second-class feeling. Here is a church that had trouble growing its contemporary worship service because (in part) it was upstairs in an inconvenient location. But after moving the contemporary service to the sanctuary, interest and attendance jumped.

Take a look at this example exhibiting recommendations to a client. Then note the four things they did (and you can do) to ensure parity between worship expressions.

You will have to do some things to make a cavernous sanctuary feel smaller and more intimate for a smaller crowd. But, this can be done in four ways.

Use lighting to make the space seem smaller. Keep certain parts of the sanctuary darker and focus most of the light on the area in front of the stage.
Rope off seating. This goes along with #1. Roping off seats steers people to seating that is concentrated in part of the sanctuary.
Move the preaching and worship leaders off of the platform. The platform (as can be seen in this picture of a client church) can be utilized for a screen and the worship leaders can move to the floor in front of the first rows of pews. This creates connection and community between the leaders and the congregants.
Move the musicians to a location where they don’t have an extensive setup and teardown between services. You can see the musicians were moved away from the center of the stage, putting them to the side. This meant the musicians didn’t have to take down and set up as much between worship services.

Want to maximize the missional impact of your various worship services?
And do you want to unite them as well?
Get the outside voice you need … with consulting/coaching by Bob Whitesel DMin PhD bob@ChurchHealth.expert

WORSHIP & Here are the tempos that research says make mood-boosting tunes.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: Recently I wrote an article about how to keep worship from becoming monotonous. Part of the solution has to do with varying the tempo of the songs and not sticking to a lethargic pace (as I have noticed many churches I analyze doing). Here is more research that explains what makes a song inspirational and provokes a mood-boosting happiness.

“… back in 2015 a music-loving Dutch neurologist did us all a favor and figured out what makes for the most mood-boosting tunes. The impetus for the study came from an unusual source: British electronic brand Alba. Apparently, they wanted to know what made for a truly happy tune and reached out to Dr. Jacob Jolij to get an answer.

Jolij was happy to comply though he did note the obvious – taste in musicis subjective. What gets your friend dancing might have you running from the room covering your ears. “Music appreciation is highly personal and strongly depends on social context, and personal associations. In that respect, the idea of a ‘feel good formula’ is a bit odd,” he commented.

What you can do, however, is ask the listening public to submit examples of their favorite feel good tracks and then analyze those submissions for patterns to reveal what characteristics are generally associated with smile-inducing songs. Which is just what Jolij did.

He found that the happiest tunes are slightly faster than your average song (between 140 and 150 beats per minute on average), written in a major key, and either about happy events or complete nonsense. Jolij combined these factors into a formula for the happiest song possible and then went searching for existing hits that matched his template.

Here, to brighten up the tail end of what has been an all around dismal 2020, are the top ten tunes he identified. (Or if you prefer, here’s the same playlist on Spotify.)”

Read more at … “Neuroscience Says These Are the 10 Happiest Songs Ever,” by JESSICA STILLMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, INC.COM, https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/music-happiness-neuroscience.html

Is worship becoming a “slog?” Don’t stick with “Largo tempo” worship songs. Use these 3-steps to intersperse worship with exciting uptempo songs that unite, inspire and awaken. #SundayMorningHacks

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 6/28/20.

https://www.biblicalleadership.com/blogs/how-to-keep-worship-from-becoming-monotonous/

Leading worship is something most church leaders delegate. Yet it is also something that a church leader needs to understand and to give leadership.

One of the most confusing areas for church leaders who are not musicians is the importance of tempo. First I will explain the basics of the song tempo. And then I will show the importance of evaluating it and giving leadership in an area where the church leader may not (yet) have expertise.

Having evaluated hundreds of churches, I find that in many plateaued or declining churches their worship leaders are choosing songs in the Lento/Largo tempo (40-60 beat per minute), which means “very slow.” And even when worship leaders pick up the tempo, they usually only do so slightly, to the Adagio tempo (66-76 beats per minute) which is “slow and stately” or Andante (76-108 beats per minute) which is “at a walking pace.”

Now, there is nothing wrong with worship songs in these “slow and stately” tempos. But in the plateaued or declining church a lack of higher tempo songs (in tempos which are more celebratory) creates a sense of “slogging” through a worship package.

Worship in the scriptures clearly at times involves an uptempo and celebratory spirit. Look at Psalm 150:1-6…

Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship,
    praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power,
    praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet,
    praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance,
    praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,
    praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
    Hallelujah! The Message Bible

Monotony can be elevated when a preacher also preaches in a “slow and stately” or “at a walking pace” tempo. In one client, I witnessed how the entire service seemed laborious, forced and tiresome. The preacher was a gifted and stately speaker. But coupled with a slow and stately worship package, the entire service seemed tiresome. Rather than the preacher’s slow and stately preaching offering a respite from uptempo music, the worship package of only slow and stately music created a Sunday service with little variety, but much monotony.

For many leaders they will want to encourage the worship leaders to intersperse Moderato and above tempos (108+ beats per minute) into most worship lists. This creates ebbs-and-flows during the worship package with both …

celebration/reflection,
excitement/calmness
energy/stillness
structure/flexibleness

Here is how a non-musical leader can evaluate worship (and what they should do if they need to lead improvements).

Record each song and measure each bpm (beats per minute). Applications are available to measure this.
Is there a variety? When do songs under 108 bpm occur? When do songs over 108 bpm occur?
What needs to change? Are uptempo songs needed during the worship package to energize the worshippers?
Find songs in the tempos needed to create variety and inspiration.

Here is a helpful chart of the most common tempo markings with definitions and bpm:

Prestissimo (> 200 bpm) very very fast
Presto (168 – 200 bpm) very fast
Allegro (120 – 168 bpm) fast
Moderato (108 – 120 bpm) moderately
Andante (76 – 108 bpm) walking pace
Adagio (66 – 76 bpm) slow and stately
Lento/Largo (40 – 60 bpm) very slow
Grave (20-40 bpm) slow and solemn

Remember, every leader may not be a musician. But every Christian leader is called to be a worshipper.

Read the original article on BiblicalLeadership.com https://www.biblicalleadership.com/blogs/how-to-keep-worship-from-becoming-monotonous/

WORRY & C.S. Lewis reminds us that during crises the most important question on people’s minds becomes: “Is this all there is?” and so we have the opportunity to speak of Christ to those who are waking up to the realities of this life.

by Aaron Earls, LifeWay, 3/26/20.

… In his (C.S. Lewis’) admonitions, can we simply replace the words “atomic age” with “COVID-19 age” or was Lewis getting at something deeper and even more relevant for the church today?

…Here’s how he opened “On Living in an Atomic Age,” which can be found in the collection Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays:

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

…After the above excerpt, Lewis moves on to what he saw as the “real point.” … He points out that all of science agrees that the end of life on this earth is inevitable. It’s only a matter of “when” not “if.”

If the threat of an atomic bomb serves as a reminder for us, then it can be a good thing. “We have been waked from a pretty dream, and now we can begin to talk about realities,” he writes.

Once we are awakened to the frailty of life, Lewis says we see at once that whether or not an atomic bomb destroys civilization is not the most important question. Something was always going to destroy us and civilization.

The most important question becomes: Is this all there is?

If we are going to die (and we will), if civilization as we know it will be ended (and it will), Lewis argues, then we should be most concerned about what, if anything, lies beyond the natural world?

And as we live life differently—both from how we did previously in limiting our interactions and in how others do now through selflessness—we will have the opportunity to speak of Christ to those who are waking up to the realities of this life.

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