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WorshipLeaderResearch.com is the home for articles and news related to a collaborative study focused on the behaviours of the primary contributors to contemporary worship and the attitudes and behaviours of local worship leaders towards them. By exploring the relationships between quantitative and qualitative data, we hope to better understand the relationship between the worship music industry and local worship practitioners. The study aims to equip practitioners with a deeper understanding of the forces that impact their corporate worship song selections.

Articles

The Worship Industry is Younger Than You Think

Dear Worship Leader Research,  Hasn’t it always been the case that a small number of churches have dominated the contemporary worship industry? Sincerely, Concerned Worship Leader We’ve been getting this question a lot lately. It’s a good question and it does appear that way from a 30,000-foot view of history. But the question possesses (at least) two assumptions that make answering the question a bit tricky. First, it assumes there has always been a centralized contemporary praise and worship music industry in which churches/labels participated and[...]

By |May 9, 2023|Comments Off on The Worship Industry is Younger Than You Think

How Songs Like “Great Are You Lord” Are Connected to the “Big 4” Worship Megachurches

When it comes to sharing a new worship song with the world, it takes a village. When it comes to the Top 25 songs sung in local churches, that village has, in recent years, had four central “megachurch” leaders: Bethel Music, Hillsong, Passion, and Elevation Worship.  In our team’s first article, we identified that, between 2010 and 2020, only 38 newly-released titles appeared on both the CCLI and PraiseCharts Top 25 lists. Of those 38, 33 titles were directly connected to the “Big 4,” whether by known associations[...]

By |April 26, 2023|Comments Off on How Songs Like “Great Are You Lord” Are Connected to the “Big 4” Worship Megachurches

Resources

Dr Perez, Dr Baker, present WLR findings at SCSM 2023, Duke Divinity

Two researchers from Worship Leader Research, Dr. Adam Perez from Belmont University and Dr. Shannan Baker from Baylor University, recently participated in the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music conference hosted by Duke University Divinity School. The conference took place[...]

Study Methodology

In 2021, six curious people, with various academic, pastoral, and music industry backgrounds, met to frame two main questions. Firstly, we asked, “What can be said about the volume of popular worship music Christians are singing today?” Secondly, we[...]

WLR Granted 2023 Vital Worship Grant

We are pleased to report that Dr. Adam Perez and the Worship Leader Research team have been awarded a Vital Worship grant through the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship, a competitive research grant program "designed to foster, strengthen and sustain[...]

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COLLABORATORS
Dr. Shannan Baker
Dr. Shannan BakerPostdoctoral Fellow in Music and Digital Humanities
Baylor University
Elias Dummer
Elias DummerRecording Artist, Worship Leader, Strategic Marketing Consultant
Rockfirm Marketing, The City Harmonic
Marc Jolicoeur
Marc JolicoeurWorship & Creative Arts Pastor, Researcher
Moncton Wesleyan Church
Dr. Adam Perez
Dr. Adam PerezAssistant Professor of Worship Studies
Belmont University
Dr. Mike Tapper
Dr. Mike TapperChair of the School of Religion and Humanities and Professor of Religion
Southern Wesleyan University
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