The Awakening Passion DVD contains teaching and an activation intended to drive out the enemy’s work in our lives, freeing us to experience the Father’s love so that our passions are awakened for what He desires to do in our lives. Pastor Lynn begins by teaching the biblical definition of a wave offering and the significance of colors in scripture and inviting us to experience the Father’s love. Then, we witness a live activation in which participants process under a tunnel of flags, receiving powerful ministry. The activation offers both an opportunity for us to receive ministry as well as an example of an activity we can use in our ministry. Continue reading “What Every Worship Dancer Needs to Know about Worshiping with Flags”
Category: Dance Ministry Leadership
Lessons for Dance Ministry Leadership
How to use Processionals, Props and Pageantry
Do you want to add beauty, glory and splendor to your worship presentations?
Would you like coaching in how to create a processional with flags and banners?
Would you like to see healing and deliverance ministered through your worship dances?
In Processionals, Props, and Pageantry, Lynn Hayden shares how, with prayer, planning, and practice we can create glorious ministry presentations that demonstrate the splendor and majesty of the Lord, blessing Him and ministering to others. Continue reading “How to use Processionals, Props and Pageantry”
Expand Your Worship Vocabulary with Expressive Sign
Do you want your dances to tell a story?
Do you want to build your worship vocabulary?
Using expressive sign in dances is one of my favorite ways to tell stories through dance. The woman who first introduced me to worship dance borrowed heavily from sign in her dance. It was mesmerizing to me to watch the expressive gestures combined with dance.
For years, my worship dances consisted almost exclusively of signs and gestures. These signs and gestures went a long way in helping me choreograph simple dances for myself and others.
When I found this DVD by Lynn Hayden of Dancing for Him, it greatly increased my expressive vocabulary. I especially love using expressive signs when I teach children and new dancers. The movements are simple for and memorable to the new dancer. In addition, they are powerful in telling stories and embodying the words of the songs to which we dance.
Also, I find that when I give others an expressive vocabulary, they begin to see expressive choreography when they hear songs. They begin quickly to adapt the signs themselves to create new gestures. So, their creativity expands.
This DVD filled my tool box for choreography and teaching. The Expressive Worship and Sign DVD gives the worship dancer a vocabulary to express their worship and to tell God’s stories. Pastor Lynn teaches over thirty signs for words that we often use in worship. Ten she goes on to tell how you can use those and/or modify them, making them bigger, embellishing them, and adding dance moves like the the pivot turn, the lunge, and the soutenu turn to add variety and to suit them to your dance. The purpose is not to speak in sign language but gain inspiration for movements that express our worship.
Every time I share about one of Lynn Hayden’s videos, I want to say, “This is my favorite video,” and I want to say that here. I have several favorites. This is one of several that impacts my dancing each time I teach and choreograph. Whether you are leading others or just wanting to enjoy adding more movement to your private worship, you will love this DVD and gain great benefit from it. You can learn more by clicking here, or just go ahead and purchase it. You’ll love it. Take a minute to watch the video below in which I teach a short exercise from the DVD.
Price: $26
What Dance Ministry Leaders Need to Learn from the School Dance Team
Welcome to part three of this blog series inspired by my local dance team’s stand out performance last weekend. If you haven’t read the first two posts, check them out before diving into this one:
Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team and What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew.
As praise dancers, we can learn from the excellence with which these dancers present. As dancers who know Jesus, we have an important message to speak to them. As dance ministry leaders, if we want to reach youth and keep them dancing for Jesus (instead of giving their gifts and their selves away to the world), here are five things we need to heed:
- Young people want to dance. There were 250 students in this performance. Clearly there is a need and a desire for dance leaders and teachers. If you have ever wondered if you are called to reach the youth at your church, take time to pray and listen for that call. There are young people out there who want to dance and are looking for an avenue to develop their gift. Will you help them?
- We need to invest in our own training. There are skilled young dancers out there. If we want a voice in their lives, we need to take the art of dance seriously and invest in our own training. This does not mean we can not speak to them until we can outperform them with our technique. But we need to be growing, learning, and gaining skill. It is our anointing that ultimately will enable us to have an impact on their lives, but having skill gives us credibility as well as something to offer them.
- What you are doing matters. These kids are going to use dance for good or for evil. If we have the chance to plant seeds for righteous dancing, it could change the trajectory of their lives as well as all the lives they will impact through dance.
- Get boys into the act. Women bring beauty, passion, gentleness and refined strength to dance. Men bring strength, humor, power. We are, together, made in the image of God. Dance is more complete, more impactful when you have both men and women dancing. I’m speaking to myself before I’m speaking to anyone else. I’m in my comfort zone with women and young girls. They think like I do, and they dance like I do. It’s comfortable for me to reach them. But this year I’m going to make it my goal to learn to dance with men, to learn from them with the intent that I can bring boys into dance.
- Give your dancers something awesome to wear. The kids I saw dancing must have had a ball changing from costume to costume. Their costumes were fun, beautiful, playful, sassy, exciting, and sometimes provocative, depending on the dance. Now, our standards are not the world’s standards, and we are going to teach our dancers to cover up. I said more about this in my earlier post. Even so, these kids, especially girls, want to look beautiful and feel special. In my children’s dance curriculum, I have a whole lesson on teaching kids the difference between empty (vain) dancing and full (worshipful) dancing. So I’m not talking about catering to their vanity. I’m talking about meeting their God-given desire to be lovely (for girls). You can choose modest garments that are also fun and flattering. Don’t ask them to dress in something that looks like a potato sack. Lucie Poirier says, in her book Dancing for the Endtime Harvest that we are to dance for “beauty and for glory.” For an excellent resource on praise dance garments, I highly recommend Jocelyn Richard’s e-book Garments of Glory.
Continue reading “What Dance Ministry Leaders Need to Learn from the School Dance Team”
What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew
If you read my previous post, Ten Things Worship Dancers Can Learn from the School Dance Team you know how inspired I was by the talent, energy, and commitment at our local high school’s dance performance this past weekend. At the same time, I was also grieved at times and felt convicted that, as a praise dance ministry leader, I (and you) have a message that those girls need to hear. What grieved me the most was how sexual several of their garments and choreography were and how bold they were about this. Now, I didn’t expect to see circle skirts and palazzo pants at a public school dance team performance. While what is appropriate for the stage and studio is not always appropriate for the sanctuary, the converse is also true. I expected to see bodies. But what chagrined me was how outright seductive many the costumes and much of the choreography was. It was not just immodest, it was exploitative. During one dance, I wanted to search out the girls’ dads and say, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry you have to see your daughter doing this.” I don’t think the girls fully realized what their clothing and movements were saying. You could tell they were having so much fun and felt beautiful. I want those girls to know that they are worth more than that, to tell them to respect their own bodies and not offer them to everyone. I want them to know that the King wants them for His daughters. He wants more for them than that. Here’s what they need to hear from adults they respect: Continue reading “What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew”
Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team
This weekend I went to watch the local high school dance team perform. They had advertised in the local paper. We’re new in town, so I don’t exactly have a full social calendar, the ticket price was right, and I love dance in most forms, so off I went. Their performance inspired me, made me think, and convicted me as well. So, I’ll be writing a 3-part blog post this week:
Part I – Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team.
Part II – What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew
Part III – What We Worship Dance Leaders Can Learn from the School Dance Team Continue reading “Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team”
Add Variety to your Choreography by Varying Stage Positions
This exercise, inspired by the Divine Choreography DVD by Dancing for Him is a great exercise to use with your team or dance class to see how something as simple as varying your position on the stage can add interest and variety to your choreography. Continue reading “Add Variety to your Choreography by Varying Stage Positions”
Learn How to Choreograph Dances that Minister
What do you need to make an impact in dances, inspiration or knowledge of choreography? In Divine Choreography, Lynn Hayden’s answer is both. She begins by explaining that “Whatever offering you bring to the Lord (if it is presented with a humble and submissive worshiper’s heart) will be a sweet smelling savor to our Lord.” (p.11) At the same time, she points out that “if a dance is interesting and has a lot of variety, it will, more than likely hold the audience’s attention longer and thereby minister more effectively.” (p. 22). So, she first instructs the dancer to pray over a dance, listen to the song over and over, to listen to the Spirit, and to consider fasting, so that the inspiration comes from the Lord. Continue reading “Learn How to Choreograph Dances that Minister”
Sometimes You Have to Get Out of the Way
Sometimes you have to get out of the way to see what another person/other people can do. I’ve been leading the dance ministry team at my home church for the past 11 years. Today my husband and I had our last Sunday at this church he/we planted 11 years ago and the church gave us a “farewell” reception. It was incredible – more than I expected, certainly more than I deserved. One friend shared a poem she wrote for us, another a funny and meaningful song about our family and ministry, another prepared a slide show, others shared stories and words of encouragement. Each one was moving, precious, inspiring. What floored me, though, was what the dance team shared. Continue reading “Sometimes You Have to Get Out of the Way”
Dancing for “them” or for Him?
Here’s another must have resource for worship dancers. Written by Lynn Hayden of Dancing for Him Ministries, Dancing for Him (to purchase, click here) is a guide to understand the heart attitude necessary to minister effectively through dance, to understand the scriptural significant of the movements we do and what effect they have in the spiritual realm, and it provides practical wisdom for a dance ministry team leader.
Dancing for Him explains how dance can be used in praise and worship time, for prophetic ministry to an individual or group, and for gospel presentations. It
The part of the book that provoked the most thought for me was in chapter 7, Performance vs. Ministry. pastor Lynn distinguished between several categories of Christian dancers: those who dance because they enjoy dance and like to dance to Christian music; those who want to take back the arts for the Lord; and those who dance solely to minister to the Lord and to minister to people.
I see myself in a combination of the categories. I began dancing in worship with no training and with the sole desire to minister to the Lord and people through dance. Over the past few of years, the Lord has enabled me to gain training so that I am now also I a moderately I skilled dancer with a desire to take back dance for the Lord. I don’t separate this from ministering to people through dance. I teach worship dance to children whose parents are so grateful to have a Christ centered environment for their children to dance in. I see offering dance to them as a ministry. The ministry begins with taking back dance for the Lord. But this is not separate from ministering to the children and teaching them to be ministers. Usually, we end a session of dance class with a ministry a presentation at a nursing home. I teach the children that this is ministry, not performance. We pray for the residents together, and they pray at home. They love dancing before other people. There is joy in the act of dancing. But they know the reason we are there is not to get applause or impress people, but to tell God’s stories and prepare the way for him to move in people’s hearts.
Like the children, I love to dance. Even when I’m not ministering, even when I’m not overtly worshiping (like when I’m taking a class in the studio), I love to dance. It’s a joy to move the body god gave me in a way that is beautiful; however, that does not compare to the joy and meaning I find in worshiping Gd through dance and dancing in ministry. So, I see myself in all three categories. The most important part of dance for me is worshiping the Lord. From there, it is a privilege to grow in skill and to minister to others.
This book will challenge you to ask yourself if you are dancing for “them” or for Him.
It will give you practical wisdom about how to use dance in praise and worship, in gospel presentations, and in prophetic ministry. It will also encourage about the power that God releases as we move before Him in worship and ministry.
It’s a fantastic complement to Pastor Lynn’s other book and DVD, Dance, Dance, Dance! which is available in my store.