WorshipInfo.com

NEW! Keyboard Worship Book 3B JUST RELEASED! HERE! See the STORY behind Book 3B.

The entire KEYBOARD WORSHIP series, BOOKS 1, 2, 3A, 3B, is viewable HERE! See DESCRIPTIONS of the four books.

FREE, DOWNLOADABLE, AUDIO MP3 TRACKS for all books (including Book 3B published 2023) AVAILABLE HERE.

For all keyboardists who play in worship teams/bands or lead directly from the piano.
My aim: to provide an effective array of tools to inspire sensitive, meaningful improvisation in Christian worship.

ALL BOOKS PRICED UNDER $15 (about 200 pages each). All sales donated to Christian outreach organization in India (“VIKASITHA MINISTRIES”). Endorsed by Mark Hayes and Bob Kauflin.

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Worship Majors at Biola University, La Mirada (Los Angeles), CA

Two Worship Books by Dr. Liesch

PEOPLE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD: MODELS AND DIRECTIONS FOR WORSHIP (Zondervan, 1988) HERE!

A panoramic view of worship from Genesis to Revelation. Nominated for a Gold Medallion Award.

THE NEW WORSHIP: STRAIGHT TALK ON MUSIC AND THE CHURCH (Baker Books, 2001). HERE!

Widely used in worship schools across North America.

Pull Down Menus Are Available

180 PowerPoint Lectures

  1. Supplementing the two worship books
  2. Offering instruction on an array of worship topics, the result of heading up the worship program at Biola University (LA area).

41 thoughts on “WorshipInfo.com

  1. hi.. thanks for the lessons.. its a great joy that you share.. i can imagine how heaven will be looking at the love christians can have for one another.. im sure this kind of giving is a kingdom giving and i know that God has done great work in you and thru your ministry.. im sure a heart which reaches out to the lost souls can do this.. and im glad to receive your portion of the body of christ.. though we are not in the same local church we belong to the Body of christ.. im glad im saved!!!! thanks again!!

    Joel

  2. I’m trying to track down an article by Barry Liesch titled, “14 Ways Pastors Can Improve Congregational Song”. I need to be able to cite the source ASAP. Thanks.

    • Jeffrey, that may have been something I wrote some time ago. I’ll look around and see if I can find it. Right now, I don’t even remember writing anything with that title, though the topic would be something that would seriously have my attention.

  3. Any help you could give would be appreciated. I have the following sentence in which I quoted you. “Ensure congregational singing is linked to a life-style worship; that there is a continuation between the life lived Monday through Saturday and the songs sung on Sunday.” Thanks again.

      • Dr. Liesch,

        the Director of the Doctoral Ministry program at Nazarene Theological Seminary, Dr. Douglas Hardy, suggested, “You could also ask Dr. Liesch if he would be willing to be attributed to the quote (or a variant that he would approve)—then you could cite it as a conversation with a current date.” Would this be acceptable to you?

  4. Awesome site. I just stumbled across your site last night as I was browsing the web. I’m an amateur musician, never having had formal training. I hope to be back to your site often to take advantage of all that is available here. Thank you for making this freely available!

  5. Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break.

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  7. Hello,

    This is a great website!!

    I have been experimenting a lot with improvisational worship music as part of my home church worship services. I regularly play electric guitar and lead worship songs vocally at these worship services.

    I look forward to learning more from this website.

    Thank you very much,

    Gary L
    Southern NH

    • Gary,
      I’ve been working hard on keyboard improv (only). Starting in Jan 2018, I have a sabbatical for 15 weeks,
      and hope to get two of four books completed by the end of the summer. I should make an updated post on
      the work. i think the work will be more detailed, and more far reaching than the stuff out there for piano.
      A dozen keyboardists, keyboard teachers/profs, have been reading chapters and offering feedback.

  8. Hi again everyone,

    Does anyone know some talented people who are experimenting with improvisational electric guitar and/or vocals in worship music?

    I would be really interested to share experiences.

    Thanks for your help,

    Gary L
    Southern NH

  9. Hi everyone,

    I was just reading the article (and the posted comments) “How we arrived at Worship Choruses”.

    Comments are closed on that article, so I am posting here.

    Jay Dunning (age 75 musician) posted a very interesting comment.

    It sounded like Jay has sensed some of the young Worship team members (guitarists) are treating the worship services as a concert (at least somewhat) to showcase their talent.

    It really got me reflecting on my motivations to participate in the local church’s music ministry.

    Jay D: If you see this posting, I really appreciate your perspective and I would really appreciate hearing more from you.

    I am 38 years old and I play electric guitar and lead worship music vocally at my local church, so I am really interested in your perspective.

    Best regards,

    Gary L
    Southern NH

  10. Hi Dr L (and all),

    If you have a moment at some point, I would appreciate some feedback from you on the following thoughts… especially with any similar experiences that you have had.

    For many years, I participated on smaller worship teams where my rhythm guitar playing was more critical.

    The last few years, I have been blessed to participate on a larger worship team consistently of the following:

    – Keyboard & synth
    – Acoustic Drums
    – 2 electric guitars
    – Acoustic guitar
    – Bass guitar
    – 4-5 vocalists (some playing instruments)

    With this larger group, I have been blessed to play more in a “lead electric guitar” role when it was appropriate and enhanced worship. I also regularly lead worship vocally.

    My background was more rock and blues, so I have spent some time over the last few years expanding my familiarity (in guitar) with the major keys & scales found a lot in worship music.

    Sometimes in the midst of worship with the congregation / church body it is like the Holy Spirit takes me beyond my skills and familiarity.

    It is like the Holy Spirit tells me what to play and many times it is beyond my knowledge of how to use the scales.

    To be honest, it feels similar to how others currently describe speaking in tongues or in a prayer language.

    Have you experienced similar things when worshiping God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) through worship music (vocally, instrumentally, or both simultaneously)?

    Thanks for your help,

    Gary L
    Southern NH (United States)

  11. Hi everyone,

    I received some feedback on my comments above from my worship Pastor and a experienced worship leader & guitarist that I know.

    It seems that there is a balance that needs to occur between worshiping God individually and at the same time having focus on leading the congregation in a way that they can effectively respond to.

    If we go with the similarity between speaking in tongues and improvisational worship music, 1 Cor 14:4 and 1 Cor 14:17 are particularly interesting as the Apostle Paul teaches on in tongues in a public worship setting.

    I find this topic very interesting.

    Best regards,

    Gary Lawrence
    Southern NH (United States)

  12. Hi Dr L,

    You mentioned to me that having in mind both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of worship (or individual vs corporate) are very important.

    Would it be possible for you to expand on that topic?

    I think that I would benefit from it as well as others.

    Thanks,

    Gary L
    Southern NH (United States)

  13. Hi everyone,

    On the topic of improvisational worship, I have found through experience that the congregation tends to respond well to improvisational lead electric guitar playing that is well placed during the singing of the worship song melody.

    However, if you deviate much from the melody and main lyrics in vocal improvisation others start to get distracted.

    To give a little context, these are lessons learned through leading worship music at highly John Wimber / Vineyard influenced local church in southern New Hampshire (New England).

    I hope these thoughts are helpful.

    Gary L
    Southern NH (United States)

  14. Dr. Liesch,
    This is Cindy Ng from Hong Kong, hope you remember me in class 1986-90. Lately I read your book People in the presence of God, and type your name in internet find out that you have so many books published. Now I teach in a church music school in HK, I enjoyed the worship designed by you at Biola, hope will visit our school in future , may God bless you.
    Best regards,
    Cindy Ng

    • Cindy. Sorry for the long, long delay. Have been busy. Class 86-90, wow! To be honest I don’t remember you.
      I should have a new Keyboard Worship book (3A) by end of year. And Book 3B is written and will be published by early 2022.
      Glad you are serving in HK. And yes, I’d like to visit your school sometime.
      I just retired so I devote all my time to the keyboard worship books.

  15. Dear Dr. Liesch,
    I am trying to locate an article I found online several years ago entitled “Creativity in the Bible”, which was written by you. It contains information about the Reformed and the Sacramentalist views of creativity. Could you tell me where I might find it? I can’t seem to locate it now. I would like to use a few quotes from it in an article I am writing. Thank you very much for your help.

  16. Hi Dr. Barry,

    Mel Hoskyn from way back “in the day.”
    I was recently cleaning out some papers, including some church management binders I had prepared at seminary, and found a copy of your resume. You were 29 years old and working on your doctorate.
    Finding this reminds me of the efforts you made to build into my life as a teenager, including taking me to the White Spot on Granville street, giving me some summer work with you and Ed Drewlo before I went to the Ivory Coast on missions, talking, prayer, and encouragement. Plus the encouragement to study music in the Music Faculty rather than in Education. Thank you for all of that. I am sure that you have been able to contribute to many lives since then, as you have worked at Biola and so many other places.

    I did receive a B. Mus. from UBC and also my teacher certification later on. Later I did an M. Div. between Gordon-Conwell seminary, Regent College, and CTS in Regina. My career has alternated between teaching school and pastoring, 15 years in the former and 17 in the latter — plus lots of other experiences in between. You have a record to be proud of in 46 years at Biola.

    Jill and I have two sons and five grandchildren, who live in Ottawa and Edmonton, so we are long-distance grandparents. What news of your family?

    Your brother, Don, played at my dad’s memorial service in May of last year. Yes, Glenville went to be with the Lord at age 97. He died well as he had lived. It was good to see Don and catch up a bit.

    He mentioned that you may have a recording of my Mom that your Dad did in 1947. I haven’t heard back from Don, so thought I’d try to contact you directly. If you have such a thing, would it be possible to send us a copy? It would be by far the earliest recording of my Mom that we would have.

    You could contact me at the email below. My cell # is 604-617-6196, for texting if you like. I hope you will see this comment. Your activity on this website seems more recent than some of the others!

    Thanks, Barry, and God bless,

    Mel

    • Thank you, Mel, for the wonderful, detailed update on your life. Amazing! I tried to phone you minutes ago. Best to talk. barry

  17. Hi. I just discovered your books on Amazon and purchased all of them. I’ve been looking for something like this for awhile. Are the rest of the books in the series still being produced?

  18. David,
    Keyboard Worship Books 1, 2, 3A, are aviailable at Amazonand now 3B will be available within the month. The text and all the mp3 files have been recorded.
    One of my former students will be posting all the mp3 files (367) here. Then I’ll publish book 3B. Sorry I’ve been so unattentive to this web site. All my energies have gone into writing the books.

  19. Oh. I believe the worship books, People in the Presence of God, and The New Worship should be available too.

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