Leading Worship: Creating Flow - Paul Baloche (DVD)

 Review

A few years ago our church had the pleasure of hosting a worship conference in which Paul Baloche was the main speaker and worship leader. I experienced first hand what a gifted worship leader Paul is. We had a number of different worship sets in which Paul seamlessly flowed in and out of different songs all the while leading us closer and closer to the Lord. Many of us would love to be able to lead worship like Paul does, having the same sensitivity to where God is taking us and the group that we are leading. In his new DVD entitled, "Leading Worship: Creating Flow" Paul shares with us many of the techniques and skills that he has developed over years of leading worship.

Paul begins by speaking about the importance of flow in worship. He likens the flow in worship to the way water flows. There is a natural flow to many things as they occur in God's creation like the wind and rivers and oceans. It is Paul's contention that worship should have that same natural flow to be effective in pleasing God and touching His heart. Paul also alludes to the fact that good worship should also have a sense of journey incorporated into it (worship should take us somewhere) and that true worship should be an outflow from the heart. He stresses the importance of maintaining a strong personal worship time if we are to lead a group of people.

After Paul sets the tone about the importance of flow he begins to show all the practical tools and ways that you can create flow in your worship sets. He leads you through an exercise in putting together a worship set and what you need to keep in mind in order to have an effective worship set. Paul mentions the three main factors in creating flow: theme, key, and tempo. He then breaks each factor down and demonstrates the dos and don'ts of creating flow in your set. Paul creates a great balance of instruction and live examples all throughout the DVD.

The strength of this DVD is not just the instruction, but what actually transpires while Paul is teaching and worshipping. When he begins to speak about the responsibility of a worship leader, you can see God begin to move on his heart. He mentions "backing out of the way" so as not to get in the way of what God is doing with the people that you are leading. It is here that you can really see Paul's sensitivity and the weight of the responsibility in leading people into God's presence. The most amazing thing begins to happen as Paul finishes the teaching; he starts to demonstrate what he has been talking about and the very flow that he has been teaching us about, begins to happen.

This is an amazing DVD and should be part of every worship leader's collection. Paul shares his heart, his gifts, and abilities with us and hopefully we learn to lead worship a bit more effectively.

Review by Bryan Bloom