Schedule & Focus Sessions

**2025 Schedule and Sessions to be added later**

Monday, October 7, 2024

8:00 AM – Doors Open – Meet & Greet – Coffee Provided

9:00 AM – Main Session 1

10:30 AM – Focus Session 1

11:45 PM – Lunch (provided, Fellowship Hall 1)

1:00 PM – Main Session 2

2:15 PM – Focus Session 2

3:30 PM – Main Session 3

5:00 PM – Dinner (on your own)

5:00 PM – Song Innovators Co-Writing Event (Optional Add-On) 

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

8:00 AM – Doors Open – Meet & Greet – Coffee Provided

9:00 AM – Main Session 4

10:30 AM – Focus Session 3

11:45 PM – Lunch (provided, Fellowship Hall 1)

12:45 PM – Focus Session 4

2:00 PM – Main Session 5

3:00 PM – Conference Ends

(All Times are CDT)

**subject to change

2024 Focus Sessions: 

Focus Session 1 – Monday @ 10:30 AM

• How to Livestream on a Budget
  Ryan Zimmer, Advanced Ministry Tech
  Discovery Center
  Are you currently using an iPad to stream your service and want to find an upgrade without breaking the bank? There are plenty of options to integrate quality livestream without spending $10,000 or more. In this breakout, Ryan will go over the fundamental pieces of livestream and how to put together a system that’s expandable and provide quality viewing to your online congregation.

• Navigating Ministry On-Ramps, Highways and Exits
  Susan Troth, Cedarville University
  Garden Chapel
  Susan Troth (Associate Professor of Worship, Cedarville University) In her years in ministry (Minister of Worship, Pastor’s Wife, Worship Professor, Volunteer) she has learned how to navigate the caution lights, avoid the stop lights and know when to proceed in ministry. Susan will discuss the skills needed to start your ministry position, keep your job and how to wisely navigate the exit ramp.

• How to Manage a Large Mix
  Sweetwater
  Fellowship Hall 2
  It’s easy for things to get lost in a large audio mix. Can you hear each part of the worship team? Are the vocals intelligible? Getting the mix right is essential, but the more inputs you have, the harder that task becomes. In this session, we’ll teach you techniques for mixing a large number of inputs and keeping your cool when the mix seems too big to manage.

• How to Elevate your Worship Tech with WorshipTools
  Adam Meyer, WorshipTools
  Fellowship Hall 3
  See the WorshipTools apps – Presenter, Planning, Charts, and Community – in action! We’ll walk through the different apps and their various functions so you can see just how easy-to-use and feature-packed these tools are. Join us and discover how you can equip your volunteers and enhance services with WorshipTools!

• Becoming a Healthy Leader from the Inside Out
  Amber Peairs, The Worship Life
  Student Center
  Do you want to be an authentic, thriving leader? This session will focus on spiritual growth, physical and emotional well-being, and practical strategies for managing ministry and family life. You’ll learn essential keys to lead yourself well, while avoiding common traps like burn-out and imposter syndrome.

• How to be a Creative Surrounded by Non Creatives
  Jason Squires, The Creative Launch
  Room 152
  Being a creative on a staff with other people who aren’t can be a challenge. Your lead pastor doesn’t get you and the person watching the bottom line isn’t supportive of your ideas. It’s frustrating! Let’s talk about it and discuss some strategies to help you connect better with the non-creatives on your team.

• Six Hats of the Worship Leader: How to Get it All Done AND Shepherd your Team.
  Rich Kirkpatrick, Author
  Room 261-263
  Worship leaders wear many hats and have many responsibilities. Learn how to handle it all, delegate and scale your ministry

• How to Avoid Fatigue: From Auditions to Years of Serving
  Jamie Miley, Ascension Worship
  Sanctuary
  Join us as we discuss methods for creating a healthy team culture that start from auditions and carry through years of serving.

• How to Run a Band Rehearsal
  Wade Huggins & Janson Roberts, Conference Production Director & Conference Worship Director
  Auditorium
  Learn top tips for running a smooth band rehearsal to make sure your team isn’t wasting time and is ready to go on Sunday.

Focus Session 2 – Monday @ 2:15 PM

• How to Play Modern Worship Keys
  David Pfaltzgraff, Sunday Sounds
  Garden Chapel
  In this session you’ll gain a greater understanding of the role that keyboards play in modern worship music. Whether you’re a keys player, a pianist, or a worship leader it’s never been more important to define the way the keyboard fits into your band. During this breakout you’ll gain a practical perspective on this often-misunderstood position, and learn high impact concepts that you can use at your very next rehearsal.

•  How to Decide Between Electric or Acoustic Drums
  Doug Gould, WorshipMD
  Auditorium
  Acoustic drum kits sound great without a screen, but can be overbearing. But putting them in a cage or behind a screen can sound muffled and unnatural, as well as isolate the drummer from the room. We’ll compare the sound of an acoustic kit to the new Zildjian Alchem-E drum set and discuss how to have the best drum sound for your band.

• How to Energize and Inspire Your Youth Worship Ministry
  Dan Mattix, Moody Bible College
  Student Center
  In this practical workshop, learn three vital “tools of the trade” that will give you a renewed vision and passion for leading young people in worship. Yes, this breakout is for instrumentalists, vocalists, sound team members, and anyone involved in helping lead in your local context.

• How to Get the Most of out of SongSelect
  Nate Scott, CCLI
  Room 152
  Explore the powerful features of SongSelect with Nate Scott and Jay Sudarma. This course will guide you through the platform’s tools for transposing and customizing music sheets as well as connecting into your favorite presentation, planning, or worship applications.

• How to Make the Most of Planning Center Services
  Aaron Stewart, Planning Center
  Fellowship Hall 2
  Planning your worship services and scheduling your teams can be overwhelming. Planning Center Services gives you and your teams a centralized place to access personalized schedules, service information, and rehearsal files anytime. This class covers intermediate and advanced functionality to ensure you are getting the most out of your Planning Center Services and Music Stand subscriptions.

• How to use Multitracks in Worship
  Derek Kerr, Loop Community
  Room 261-263
  Using tracks in worship can elevate the sound of your band, keep your band together and fill in for missing musicians. But getting started can be challenging. Learn how to get started with tracks at your church, how to help your team get used to a click track, how to customize tracks to work for your church and more!

• How to Achieve Harmony and Blend: A Joyful Journey in Group Singing
  Sheri Gould, Vocalist Expert
  Sanctuary
  This dynamic session dives into innovative techniques for mastering harmony and achieving that seamless vocal blend. Discover the secrets to uniting diverse voices into one soul-stirring ensemble.

• How to Build a Healthy Team
  Jonathan Swindal, 10KFam Worship School
  Fellowship Hall 3
  Let’s face it, teams are complex because people are complex. But cultivating healthy community and relationships will allow your team to thrive over the long-haul in ministry. In this session, Jonathan will draw from 20 years of experience leading worship in local churches as well as Christian universities to identify some of the markers of “health” and share practices that can help curate a healthy team environment.

• How to Build & Maintain a Great Relationship with your Senior Pastor
  Ryan Zimmer, Advanced Ministry Tech
  Discovery Center
  If you’re a worship leader, you and your senior pastor are the most “recognized” faces in the church. Your relationship is also one of the most noticed. A strong relationship with a senior pastor can create a dynamic and thriving ministry. An unhealthy relationship can create a toxic environment. This session dives into how to have a dynamic and open relationship with your senior pastor that sets a foundation for your ministry together.

• How to Chart a Course to Creativity
  Jason Kichline, OnSong
  Fellowship Hall 1
  Learn how to capture your creativity anywhere and develop your own charts or make ones you already have your own.

Focus Session 3 – Tuesday @ 10:30 AM

• How to use the Sunday Keys App for Worship
  David Pfaltzgraff, Sunday Sounds
  Garden Chapel
  You don’t need that new red keyboard to get great worship keys sounds. In fact, you don’t need to buy a new keyboard at all. In this hands-on session you’ll discover how to use your existing keys gear along with the Sunday Keys App for iPad and Mac to instantly transform your old gear into an all-in-one worship keys rig.

• How to Get the Most out of you In-Ear Monitors
  Doug Gould, WorshipMD
  Discovery Center
  If you are already using personal monitors for your worship team, you may still want to know how to make better use of them; if you are still using wedges(floor monitors) you may be wondering how to begin the process of transitioning to them; What does they cost? What products are best suited for our church? How do we implement them into our present system? These and many other questions will be addressed in this workshop.

• How to Use Planning Center as a Church Management System
  Aaron Stewart, Planning Center
  Fellowship Hall 2
  Though Planning Center started as an app for planning worship services, it has expanded into a suite of apps for managing your entire church. This class gives an overview of Check-Ins, People, Giving, Groups, Registrations, and Resources and what it takes to get started or to move to a full Planning Center solution for your church.

• How to be Creative in Service Planning 
  Jason Squires, The Creative Launch
  Fellowship Hall 3
  2 songs, announcements, 2 songs, offering, 1 song, message, dismiss. Getting stuck in a rut is very easy to do. This session is going to talk about creative elements you can add into service planning as well as tips on how to write a good set list.

• How to Engage the Church in Worship
  Amber Peairs, The Worship Life
  Student Center
  Discover innovative ways to help your congregation engage authentically in worship. You’ll learn practical tools for building a songlist that speaks to a multi-generational church and explore ways to lead with clarity and passion. We’ll cover techniques for fostering an atmosphere that encourages expression, helping you create holy moments where your church can connect with God’s presence.

• Creative Leadership: How to Leverage the Creative Process to Lead, Grow, and Bear Fruit. 
  Rich Kirkpatrick, Author
  Room 152
  This not just about being creative with fun ideas but about how creativity helps us in spiritual formation and leadership.

• How to Take the Stage with Confidence
  Jason Kichline, OnSong
  Room 261-263
  Learn how to use tablets to clean up your stage and play with confidence.

• How to Get the Most out of Front-of-House, Monitors, and Livestream from Just One Mixer
  Chad Kirkpatrick, Ascension Worship
  Sanctuary
  Not every church has a separate mixer for front-of-house, monitors, and livestream. In this class, we will look at tips that will help you to maximize the potential of one mixer in all of these areas at once.

• How to have Great Lights on a Limited Budget
  Chad Buckland, Worship Leader Hangout
  Room 153
  Learn what hardware, software and setup you need to achieve great lights at any size church. We’ll set up a stage in LightKey, show examples of great lightning stages and more! 

Focus Session 4 – Tuesday @ 12:45 PM

• Navigating Ministry On-Ramps, Highways and Exits
  Susan Troth, Cedarville University
  Garden Chapel
  Susan Troth (Associate Professor of Worship, Cedarville University)//In her years in ministry (Minister of Worship, Pastor’s Wife, Worship Professor, Volunteer) she has learned how to navigate the caution lights, avoid the stop lights and know when to proceed in ministry. Susan will discuss the skills needed to start your ministry position, keep your job and how to wisely navigate the exit ramp.

• How to Make the Right Choice and Placement for your Loudspeakers!
  Doug Gould, WorshipMD
  Discovery Center
  Investing in high-quality professional loudspeakers and configuring them correctly in your venue will make mixing live sound easier and will provide a more enjoyable listening experience for both the performers and the audience. Live sound reproduction requires reliable performance and consistent coverage throughout the listening area, so professional loudspeakers are worth the investment. This chapter will help you pick out the best loudspeakers for your budget and set them up so that you get the best results.

• How to Improve your Live Stream Audio
  Sweetwater
  Fellowship Hall 2
  Now more than ever, churches are taking their services online to stay connected to their congregations and to reach more people from their community and around the world. For many churches, the audio feed in the church’s live stream isn’t as good as it could be. In this session, we will discuss three of the most common problems and their solutions.

• How to Elevate your Worship Tech with WorshipTools
  Adam Meyer, WorshipTools
  Fellowship Hall 3
  See the WorshipTools apps – Presenter, Planning, Charts, and Community – in action! We’ll walk through the different apps and their various functions so you can see just how easy-to-use and feature-packed these tools are. Join us and discover how you can equip your volunteers and enhance services with WorshipTools!

• How to Energize and Inspire Your Youth Worship Ministry
  Dan Mattix, Moody Bible College
  Student Center
  In this practical workshop, learn three vital “tools of the trade” that will give you a renewed vision and passion for leading young people in worship. Yes, this breakout is for instrumentalists, vocalists, sound team members, and anyone involved in helping lead in your local context.

• How to Get the Most out of SongSelect
  Nate Scott, CCLI
  Room 152
  Explore the powerful features of SongSelect with Nate Scott and Jay Sudarma. This course will guide you through the platform’s tools for transposing and customizing music sheets as well as connecting into your favorite presentation, planning, or worship applications.

• Advanced Multitracks in Worship 
  Derek Kerr, Loop Community
  Room 261-263
  If you already use tracks in worship, it’s time to take them to the next level. In this workshop we will cover how to help your team rehearse with tracks, advanced audio routing, advanced MIDI controller techniques, and syncing your lyrics and lights with your tracks.

• Prophetic, Dynamic, Spontaneous Worship
  Jonathan Swindal, 10kFam Worship School
  Auditorium
  Spontaneous worship couldn’t be more polarizing. For some it’s the ultimate “win” and a sign of vibrant worship, for others it’s fear-inducing, and for others it’s a sign of poor planning and preparation. In this breakout, Jonathan will look to the Scriptures and to Church history to help us think about “spontaneous” worship in a helpful way and learn how we can be prepared to worship a living God in the midst of a dynamic congregation.

• How to Boost Your Vocal Power: 10 Essential Exercises for Every Day
  Sheri Gould, Vocalist Expert
  Sanctuary
  Kickstart your vocal routine with ten impactful exercises designed to bring out your best voice every day.

** SUBJECT TO CHANGE