Today’s post is a little different from our normal posts, however, today I want to speak from the heart if you will allow me.
Up until this point, the only thing you may know about Worship Online is that we have great tutorial videos. For many of us, that may be all we ever need or want to know, and I totally understand. I (as the CEO) personally still use Worship Online to prepare each week, and our tutorial videos are gold for my team and I!
However, let’s take a closer look. What is Worship Online, and even more, what are we NOT? Let’s start with a question that I recently was asked in an interview:
Question: Can you tell us a little bit about how Worship Online started?
“Gladly! I can’t really talk about how Worship Online started without at least touching on “why” it started. I’ll keep it short. We do what we do to change the status quo of how worship teams prepare and rehearse. We’re on a mission to change the culture and impact worship teams all over the world. When you impact the leaders (the band), that overflows to the masses (the congregation). As a result, more people experience Jesus. Even way back before Worship Online had even it’s first chord on it’s first chord chart, I knew this is what I was going to do. …I just had no idea how.
One day I got this crazy idea to actually create accurate guitar tutorials (our first instrument was guitar). Which doesn’t seem like a “crazy” idea, but is actually something that didn’t exist until Worship Online. It came to me as I was learning songs for a service I was playing the next day. I literally just thought to myself “man, it would be great to have a library of these songs that I could come back to each week,” and it hit me! That’s how I was going to serve worship teams all over the world!
This isn’t something that’s talked about a lot, but if it wasn’t for my “why,” driving me every day, I would have given up creating Worship Online before it ever launched. Whenever you try to do anything big, you’re going to be hit with tons of adversity and roadblocks. I worked 16 hour days for 9 months straight and went into some serious debt. I had to make a lot of sacrifices, and people told me I was crazy. None of that is worth it to anyone who’s “creating a guitar tutorial website,” but I wasn’t creating a guitar tutorial website. I knew I was changing the world, and to me, that’s worth it.”
1. We Built Worship Online With One Thing In Mind
We didn’t have any wealthy business investors decide that this was a great money-making opportunity. Worship Online was 100% funded out of our own pockets for one reason and one reason only: To serve worship teams and musicians like you. That is at the forefront of everything we do! This is why we get out of be every morning. The “how” we do what we do will always change and evolve, but “why” we do it will never change.
“We’re on a mission to empower worship teams/musicians and change the status quo of how we prepare and play! We just so happen to make great tutorials.”
Before we set out to create or do anything, we ask ourselves, “Is this going to serve worship teams better?”
In doing this, we don’t waste any time on things that don’t accomplish that goal. This is probably a great place to go ahead and ask. How can we serve you better? Your answer to this question isn’t just something we would love to know; it’s the question that we built and continue to build Worship Online on.
It’s our passion to serve! You can always let us know whenever and however is best for you. Whether we’re responding to questions on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or email; we’re always looking to serve you and your team!
I believe that sticking to that vision is what makes our tutorials the best you’ll find online. It’s because we’re not just making tutorials to make tutorials, we’re making them to impact and serve worship teams. Every single video, blog post, tutorial, lesson, podcast episode, or whatever we do now or in the future, must do that one thing!
2. We Have The Same Problems And Experiences As You
The problems that we solve with Worship Online are the same problems that we have battled, and battle, every day in our own ministries. We have built Worship Online from our personal experiences, along with the conversations we’ve had with thousands of other worship leaders and musicians about their struggles.
We have built something in which we are our number one customers, and I’ve got to tell you what a blast it’s been creating something we are so passionate about!
3. Worship Online is a community!
Leading and playing in worship is a journey that you should never take alone! Do you have questions? Our community has answers! Do you have answers? Our community has questions! We are a place to connect with others in the worship community!
We have plenty of ways to do that! Leave a comment down below here, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube, or my personal favorite – our podcast! We monitor these channels very closely! Or you can always send us a chat message from the messenger icon on the bottom right of every page of our site.
4. We Are Not a Beginner Website
The BEST way for a beginner to learn anything is to jump in head first. You build good habits by learning the songs properly how they go. It’s a term called “perfect practice.” That’s why we aren’t geared towards beginners. We aren’t focused towards any skill level actually. We are simply geared towards teaching the songs exactly how the artists play them.
Marketers are probably screaming at us saying that we are cutting ourselves short by saying “we aren’t a beginner website.” However, that’s just not what our vision is. There are too many beginner websites, and there was no place for skilled (or beginner) musicians to simply learn the parts just like the artists play them without watering down and simplifying the parts.
I will also say this: There was such a need for those of us that are ALREADY out there on the front lines every Sunday! That is what WorshipOnline is! No baby-stepped, inaccurate, hybrid parts that don’t sound nearly as good as the original. We give you the tools to learn your parts in half the time, play with a new confidence, and sound incredible doing it!
If you are a beginner, this is the best way to learn!
In fact, practicing songs how they are meant to be played is precisely how I learned. If you start too slow, you will learn slow. That’s why they say the best way to learn Spanish is to go to Mexico. Learning songs like this will increase your learning speed exponentially, help you develop good habits, and most importantly, ensure you are having fun by learning the songs you love!
Thank you allow me to share my heart and give you a closer look at the vision for Worship Online today. So I want to wrap this up with a question. What is your favorite part about Worship Online? Or what specifically is serving you the most? I always share these responses in our team meetings! Leave your answers in the comments below. I can’t wait to see them!
If you haven’t already, I want to invite you to be a part of our community. You can test drive Worship Online for free to see if it’s something that can serve you and your team. I am positive that it will!
-Shalon Palmer (Founder/CEO)
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P.S. For a limited time we’re giving away FREE copies of our newest book “Worship Mentors: The Strategies, Advice, and Wisdom of The World’s Most Influential Worship Leaders.” Go grab your free copy before we run out!
