Spirit and Truth is a worship conference by New Peninsula aimed at any creatives who use their gifts to worship God as part of the body.

Worship team members get tired, it’s a tough ministry that often seems to just take our time and our energy without really giving much back. Service is its own reward and it is a real privilege to lead God’s people in worship but every so often we need some time away to refocus, be refreshed and energised so we can continue to serve well and joyfully. We all develop wrong thinking, bad habits, laziness and exhaustion over time and this conference is a place to throw all that off and get excited about what God has called us to do together.

You might also be in a healthy place, refreshed and inspired to serve God with your creativity. Spirit and Truth will be a wonderful time to add some skills and ideas to your tool belt and enjoy spending time with other creative people who love to worship God!

If you’re a musician, sound engineer, visual projection engineer, or are involved in your church’s worship ministry in any way then this conference is meant for you.

We want to encourage and inspire you with teaching and with some awesome worship together. It will also be a time to learn new skills, get new ideas and become better at what we do. With that in mind, we have organised some great guests to preach, lead worship and to facilitate some incredibly practical workshops to foster that kind of growth and learning.

The theme of this conference is in the name. We'll be journeying together through what it really means to worship in 'Spirit and Truth' and our teaching times will all be based on that idea. We hope you’ll join us!

Workshop Details:

-Worship Leader Panel-
Not sure where to go? You can't lose with this one. A panel of experienced worship leaders will be ready to answer any questions related to worship, leading, song choice, criteria for a good song, what keys are good, anything you can come up with. There'll be something for everyone here.

-Sound Engineers 1-
Rich Vassallo from CityAlight will take you through our digital sound desk teaching some essential techniques. Even if you don't use one at church the graphic nature of the desk means it's very useful for learning about things like EQ, compression, etc. There'll be plenty of opportunities for to ask questions as you go so be ready to take note of all the wisdom he has to offer!

-Singing Team Workshop-
Join Denise Ham for a quick run through of some basic warm ups and practice techniques as well as a discussion of the role of a singer in the worship team. Singers, we all need some help in knowing what to do while we sing, or in understanding where we fit with the rest of the team serving the congregation, so this is a great place to be. Denise has lots of experience and will definitely have lots of helpful wisdom.

-Electric Guitar-
Join CityAlight guitarist, James Ferguson, for a discussion on how to get the most out of your gear. It's sometimes complicated working out signal flow and what settings to use on all those pedals to get a great sound. This will be a great time to ask questions and learn more about all the technology of electric guitar playing. Whether you're a veteran or an acoustic player interested in expanding your skill set, or anything in between this is a great workshop for any guitar player.

-Drum and Bass-
These two instruments are the backbone of modern music and learning to work together is an essential part of playing in a modern band. Learn from CityAlight as they explain the complexity of this relationship and demonstrate some techniques to improve your playing as a team.

-Keyboard-
Keyboard in worship music these days is becoming less and less about how you play and more about how you make the right sound. This can definitely seem like a complicated process so come and learn about the technology available through MIDI keyboards and Apple Mainstage to make your Sunday Morning experience easier.

-Song Writing-
Sit down with a few of CityAlight's songwriters. Learn about their process, the criteria they try and write to and pick up a few tips for your own songwriting.

-Sample Rehearsal with CityAlight-
Watch CityAlight run through a typical rehearsal, they'll workshop a song and stop at key points along the way to talk through their process and take questions. It will be a great time of learning how the pros get the most out of their rehearsal time and is a great chance to pick up a few creative arranging techniques!

-Sound Engineers 2-
As the musicians watch CityAlight rehearse, watch Rich Vassallo as he commentates his process through a rehearsal. Observe the soundcheck process and how he sets levels, effects, etc. and hear about the theory behind it. There'll still be the chance to ask questions as situations arise as well!

Meet our guests:

CityAlight

Allow us to introduce ourselves. In early 2013, fifteen songwriters from St Paul's Castle Hill got together and began to work on new music for the church. The vision was for biblically-rich lyrics and simple melodies.

The task of writing for the church was taken very seriously. Over the course of the year, around fifty songs were written. Each was reviewed in a system involving a panel of songwriters, musicians and the pastoral ministry team.

In February 2014, ten of these songs were recorded live at church. Produced by Nathan Finochio (The Royal Royal) and mixed by Ainslie Grosser (Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman), we are very excited about the finished product.

Our prayer is that you and your church might sing these simple songs to our glorious God. If any of the songs are helpful, charts and lyrics are available online. If not, we hope you enjoy listening anyway!

Yours together in the service of Christ and the church,

The CityAlight Team

Tim Meyers

Tim Meyers is the Principal of Melbourne School of Theology. Prior to moving into ministry roles, Tim trained and worked as a professional musician, then as a secondary school teacher and also trained as a commercial pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Tim completed his Masters of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary (Texas, USA) in 1991, with majors in Systematic Theology and Bible Exposition.

Tim grew up in a missionary family in Papua and New Guinea before moving to Melbourne during high school, where he later met and married Kathryn. They have five children.

David Rietveld

David is the senior pastor of New Peninsula Baptist Church. An avid bass player, when he’s not preaching, David is excited to encourage the members of the worship team who serve his congregation so faithfully as well as encourage the worship teams from all across Victoria who will be coming.

David is married to Marianne and they have 4 children.

Julian Dunham

Julian is the director for emerging leaders at Arrow Leadership. Julian began pastoral ministry at New Hope Baptist in 1991 and in 1996 moved to serve at New Peninsula. While at New Peninsula he oversaw the worship ministry among many other things. Julian was Senior Pastor at Lilydale Baptist Church from 2004 to 2008. He has a truly world class singing voice and will sing if you ask him. Julian and his wife Amanda have four daughters Jemima, Matilda, Mabel and Elsie.

Denise Ham

Denise has been leading worship teams most of her life. She is married to Greg and has four adult children. Her diverse and extensive experience as a worship pastor, teacher and church leader allows her to relate to creative leaders and teams in a very unique way. Denise, having been a music leader for over 30 years, understands the heart of the musician and is in a position where she is able to pass on the support, guidance and wisdom that has helped her manage hundreds of volunteers.

Denise has a genuine heart for worship and invests her whole self in developing and esteeming vocalists and instrumentalists, ultimately to cultivate excellence in the body of Christ and in Worship. She will be leading our singing team workshop.