Hello all!

This past week I had attended the Platform Conference sponsored by Michael Hyatt and Ken Davis.  The goal of the conference was to help provide bloggers, musicians, speakers, writers, etc, as to how to use the tools of social media to help create greater visibility for what they have to offer, and to be more effective in doing so.

In my attendance there, and in my rubbing shoulders with the giants of the field, I came across a realization that I needed to make a very specific change to the Prayer Meeting Podcast format.

After a week or so of wrangling out all of the positives of the conference (and there were many… whoo boy, were there many), I decided to go about this in this manner.

Starting with episode 37, I will no longer be having intro music, exit music, Song of the Week or Commentary on a specific issue. Just worship.

Meaning, after I introduce the episode #, I will go straight into the sign of the cross.  There will be a worship set lasting between fifteen to twenty minutes, perhaps more (who knows), incorporating all the songs that I have available to use, namely, public domain hymns, public domain praise songs, public domain spiritual songs, public domain chants, and, originals.

It must be this way, due to the nature of the copyright police.  The benefit is that there are a ton of great worship resources out there, songs that are rich in melody as they are deep in theology.  Songs from all across the globe.  Songs from nearly every denomination.  Songs that will be presented in a way that I hope to be contemporary and relevant.  And, as I have been doing in the last few episodes, each song you can download from the website as a PDF so you could incorporate such songs in your own circles, or just play along with me.

Furthermore, if you are a worship leader, you are welcome to do a worship set yourself.

If you are a fan of my commentary, my movie musings, my thoughts or my comedy, you are welcome to check out a new podcast, called “The Nick Alexander Podcast.”  As of this writing, the first episode is on its way to being accepted by iTunes, but you can listen to it on my website.

Lastly, I am asking every one of the listeners to help me with the direction of my podcast endeavors by filling out an extremely short survey.  It will be of great help to me.  There is no catch.  But if you do so by December 15, you will be entered into a drawing where you could win the complete Nick Alexander comedy collection– three CDs and one compilation CD with a rare new song.

Hi all!

I’ve had a brainstorm the last few days that I cannot shake, and I am thinking of taking my podcast to a new level. I’m thinking of crafting an e-songbook to accompany each podcast for anybody interested in using the songs I do. This would be for sale if anybody wishes to learn any of the songs I do.

I’m also going to change the content of my podcast somewhat: I’m thinking of crafting each podcast around a specific song theme, and list the top x songs according to that theme. So podcast #34 would be the Top 10 songs regarding the Great Commission. In it would be a mix of familiars and not-familiars, but every song would be highlighted on the episode, so it’s not like there’s any mystery. Also, every song would be chosen deliberately, so it’s not like there’s any filler. Also, every song would have potential medley accompaniments, so it’s not like you wouldn’t know how to fit such a song in your list.

On top of this, I’m thinking of adding guitar chord charts–for alternate capo settings. So I would do what I’ve grown to love: showing folks combinations of capo, cut-capo, drop-D capo, spider capo, third hand capo, etc. Doing it in this matter would take a rhythm guitarist’s playing to the next level, crafting sounds that benefit the song’s intent.

I have talked with at least one big publisher about this, and I believe I have found an approach that would allow me to pursue this and help pay for copyright licenses, for those songs under copyright. On the podcast itself, I can craft a backstory for as many songs as I could, so folks can see if it speaks to them. Furthermore, these songs can be separated and uploaded individually onto YouTube, which will create more traffic.

MY QUESTION IS… considering this is a big leap for me in terms of time and effort, is this worth it? Is this an affordable option for worship-leaders everywhere to consider? Or pastors? Or youth group leaders? Or individuals who play the guitar?

Is there anything I would be forgetting? And what would you pay for such an e-songbook, easily printable on PDF, “The Top Ten Worship Songs and Hymns on the Great Commission”?

Nick
P.S. Other future titles–with associated podcasts–could very well be “The Top Worship Songs Folks Oughta Know NOW, parts i, ii, iii…, 2012 Edition”, “The Top Worship And Hymns Songs for Advent”, “The Top Worship And Hymns Songs for Hope and Healing”, etc…. Is there a title/subject you would really want, and gladly purchase?

Come visit my other site at www.nickalexander.com

Hi all…

I am going to take a couple of weeks off, in order to catch up on some personal matters.

That said, this is a great opportunity to give me some feedback.

What do you like?  What can be improved?  What topics would you want to hear about?

In terms of songs, I am limited to only the first nineteen centuries of Christendom, out of twenty.  That, and any song in the public domain, for whatever reason, usually because of a universal non-knowledge of who wrote such a song.  And, those songs that I wrote personally, or songs written by friends of mine, (who have written great songs!), who have granted me permission to air them.

Perhaps you have a song, or know of a song-and-its-author, and would want me to cover it, permission and all.  Or, you do worship music, have a recording setup in your own house, and want to do a set (same criteria).  Or perhaps you just want me to include a certain song in an upcoming “Song of the Week” profile (my outlet for copyrighted songs).

Back to the topics.  Is there a hot-button issue you’d like me to cover?  Or perhaps you’d want me to interview somebody? Or go through a good book about the faith?  A Bible Study?  A history lesson?  Another movie series?

I promise to return in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, share your positive comments or constructive criticisms below.  I’ll be ready.

Thanks!
Nick

When I took upon myself to find those ten praise songs that expemplified the “cream of the crop”, I went about it quite methodically. After trying many different approaches in the last few years, I’ve settled on results that contained three elements: songs that had been added to the most churches between the two survey periods, excluding the exceptions (e.g. Christmas songs, among other reasons), and were ordered by rank (preferably above the survey median*).

*The survey median–in this case, was #182–represents the midpoint of all survey responses. Of the approx 5.8 million credits that were tallied, about half of these went to the top 182 songs. The second half went to thousands upon thousands of other songs.)

However, upon closer scrutiny of this “cream of the crop” list, there are other Top Ten Lists that can be shared. This list is another approach to finding buzzworthy praise songs.

SONGS THAT REACHED THEIR HIGHEST RANKS YET

This is a list of ten songs that all performed personal bests, above the survey median (but increased usage ranked lower than the first list).  Like the tortoise and the hare, these songs have grown their usages slowly, at least more slowly than those profiled in Podcast 11.   These songs have been released for a while longer, so they may be somewhat familiar.  But did you know to what extent they were being used?

20. “Jesus Saves” by Nick Herbert and Tim Hughes (up 154 credits to Rank #174) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26-uzrVceH0 ]

19. “Center” by Charlie Hall and Matt Redman (up 1049 credits to Rank #163) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUwRX2HPLKY ]

18. “Awakening” by Chris Tomlin and Reuben Morgan (up 560 credits to Rank #147) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSpdXvs_Hac ]

17. “Overcome” by Jon Egan (up 1078 credits to Rank #143) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sjYWrpNoCs ]

16. “Come Thou Fount Come Thou King” by Thomas Miller and Robert Robinson (up 293 credits to Rank #139) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhd5dUVxOJ8 ]

15. “Waiting Here For You” by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, and Martin Smith (up 2957 credits to Rank #136)[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3OEGnH5x8g ]

14. “Beautiful Things” by Michael & Lisa Gungor (up 2299 credits to Rank #131) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqy1a_Gz0zQ ]

13. “I Lift My Hands” by Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, and Matt Maher (up 2909 credits to Rank #109) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI0BP9IIGy4 ]

12. “You Alone Can Rescue” by Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin (up 936 credits to Rank #102) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrkY-iP3G64 ]

11. “Our God Saves” by Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown (up 748 credits to Rank #61) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3INVZuruRE ]

Related links:  Prayer Meeting Podcast 011: The Top Ten Buzzworthy Praise and Worship Songs Aug 2012