WORSHIPTEAM . TV
At [ WM ] magazine we are always on the lookout for good resources for our worship leader and worship team member readers . When we find something that can help solve challenges / problems you may be facing we are “ all-in ”.
WorshipTeam . tv fits that bill . We sat down with our longtime worship community friend Craig Dunnagan for some Q & A . Let ’ s find out more …
[ WM ] This is a really interesting resource to us . How did WorshipTeam . tv start ?
[ Craig Dunnagan ] Several years ago , Gateway Church needed simple arrangements of popular worship songs that we could deliver to small groups for worship moments or opening their group time with worship . There was a huge effort to record many songs so that groups could have many songs to choose from . Along with those recordings they made simple worship lyric videos to show via an app or downloads from the Gateway Groups web site . The idea was well received but future development slowed down and went dormant .
A couple of years ago , our Gateway Publishing team came across these , recognized the simplicity of the arrangements and how appropriate they were for small churches and , of course , small groups . We started offering these lyric videos for sale and after a short ramp up time they did very well . We started recording even more songs over the last two years . Fast forward to March of 2020 , and we saw what a vital resource these simplified arrangements of very popular songs could be for churches that were , many for the first time , curating their worship sets online . We realized it would be very difficult for churches to get proficient at both recording and broadcasting worship sets in an excellent way in the short window of time they had to prepare to engage their congregations online . We started aggressively spreading the word and produced even more titles . 2020 was an incredible year for these given the unique need that churches had .
[ WM ] You have specific users in mind . Who are they ?
[ Craig ] After we saw the initial success , we polled the users of the videos and , as we suspected , the average church size was just under 100 people . The profile of a WorshipTeam . tv user would be a small to medium sized church that wants a sound and songs that are appropriate to their setting . They also didn ’ t necessarily have a dedicated worship leader or staff but have a passion to worship and value congregational singing . There are many great technology tools and resources out there that serve churches of all sizes but most of them emulate or replicate the sound of the radio single or the epic sound of a live album . That ’ s just not the preferred or authentic sound or environment of many churches .
[ WM ] You can tell there is a certain passion behind WorshipTeam . tv ’ s efforts . Tell us what that is ?
[ Craig ] We believe that church members still want to sing , and musicians want to actually play the songs . The challenge is that many smaller churches have musicians that need simple arrangements and they certainly don ’ t often have multiple guitarists or keyboardist to replicate the album sound of today ’ s worship songs . We have recorded WorshipTeam . tv with professional musicians but we craft the arrangements to be one pass rhythm section ( no overdubs ), We also fill the track and sound with vocals because we believe when people hear many voices it makes them more comfortable and confident to sing out .
[ WM ] There are a lot of other good resources out there . How is this one unique ?
[ Craig ] We are not trying to create the “ coolest ” arrangements but engaging , modern but accessible arrangements . We pick enduring