Besides offering practical suggestions, Westermeyer discusses music in the worship life of a congregation and introduces the concept of cantor as leader of the people's song. More than a "how-to" manual for musicians, this book is an interdisciplinary study of worship, music, and theology accessible to everyone.

This book includes thirty-three provocative essays on corporate worship, hymnody and psalmody, issues, and composers and composition. It explores scripture teaching on the role of music in the church. This volume exists because it contains ideas that every worshiper (pastor and layperson) and Christian musician (performer and academic) may benefit from reading, since it is entirely possible to live in the subculture of the evangelical church without encountering some of them. - Publisher.

Furthermore, they extract useful lessons for fostering faith communities around the globe.

Come inside the world of Steve Kilbey singer songwriter and bassist of one of Australia's best loved bands, The Church. From his migrant ten pound pom childhood through his adolescence growing up during the advent of The Beatles, Dylan and The Stones to his early adventures in garage bands and neighbourhood jams. His misadventures with a full time job and a 9 to 5 life and wild adventures with The Church as they conquer Australia and then the world. The tours. The records. The women. And then the heroin addiction which enslaved him for ten long years. Then the two sets of twins he fathers along the way and branching off into acting, painting and writing. From snowy Sweden to a cell in New York City, from Ipanema beach to Bondi, Kilbey stumbles through his surrrealistic life as an idiot savant that will make you smile as well as want to kick him up the arse. After coming out the other side his tale is simply too good not to be told. Narrated with unusual and often pristine clarity we and with much focus on his considerable musical talent.

This is a complete revision of a detailed resource which has been the essential guide for church musicians working in the Episcopal church for over 20 years. A Guide to the Practice of Church Music (1989) was originally written by Marion J. Hatchett, who taught for many years at the Episcopal seminary at Sewanee, was key in developing materials for The Hymnal 1982. This updated revision contains brief, but articulate discussions of the role of music in the church, the variety and nature of music ministries (people, cantor, choirs, organists, directors, instrumentalists, clergy, and music committees); principles for the selection of hymns, psalms, canticles, and other service music and their sources in materials from CPI and beyond; guidance for planning services for all rites of the church in the BCP and the Book of Occasional Services. Updated revision includes hymnals, electronic resources, and materials published since The Hymnal 1982.

Church musicians' compensation obfuscates many religious people. One commentator of a nationally syndicated religious radio program stated that from all the religious questions, none is as controversial as Should church musicians should be paid? Darrell Alexander resolves the answer through fundamental Bible texts. If you are a church musician, minister of music, soloist, instrumentalist, choir member, church member, trustee, finance committee member, music workshop organizer, teacher, music workshop presenter, praise team member, interested in becoming a church musician, choir president, organist, pianist, choir director, chorister, church board member, deaconess, pastor, asst. pastor, deacon, professors, a bishop, a priest, a member of the leadership system for your congregation, denomination, and/or any religious organization, students of Theology, Music, Worship and Praise, Sacred Music, or just have a curiosity about whether church musicians should be compensated, then this book is a MUST READ for you! Darrell Alexander, the author, discusses the foundations of the creation of the world, Lucifer and the war in Heaven, the Levites, tithes and offerings, and ways to bridge the gap between ministers, musicians, choir members, administrations, and leadership systems of churches, and religious denominations. How do we differentiate between who is compensated in the church or not compensated? The author prays that Excellence in Worship: Should Church Musicians Be Paid?, helps to transform any assumptions of ideations, paradigms, and traditions, within churches and denominations and their leaders and members concerning the subject, so that we all may continue to strive for excellence in worship to God. Every church and its members and officials should have a copy in their library Excellence in Worship: Should Church Musicians Be Paid? is "straight talk" concerning, music, excellence in worship, tithes, offerings, and the church.