The Fellowship of Worship Artists

06/22/2026

What a way to start the our week at Music & Worship Arts Week!

Music & Worship Arts Week – Sunday Evening Hymn SingHave a Little ...

06/18/2026

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you."

~ John 14:27

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0uJ6wlueOF4Z8LrgdDf4li

Playlist · Erica Rushing · 30 items · 9 saves

06/01/2026

Order your t-shirts today!

Light blue crew neck t-shirt with An Elemental Advent logo. T-shirts will NOT be available for purchase on site, so be sure to order today! Logo design: Rev. Todd Pick

05/25/2026

“O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country love
And mercy more than life!”

Lord, we entrust to your care all who have sacrificed their lives on behalf of our nation. May their courage and selflessness inspire from us the same commitment to service in our churches and communities so that others might know the freedoms for which so many have died. We ask you to comfort their loved ones and we rejoice that they will one day be reunited in eternal life with you. We ask these things in your son’s name. Amen.

05/24/2026

God of wind and flame,
blow into our lives.
Ignite the fire of hope, fan the flames of possibility.
Transform us into a people who share your love with a world in pain,
a people who proclaim your hope into a world given to despair,
a people who live as though the world can be changed
into the kingdom that is to come.

Baptizing God, who calls us to be a baptizing community,
you speak to us in many languages over the course of our lives:
the burbles and laughs and wails of infancy,
the indistinct speech and partial words of toddlerhood,
the strange syntax and slang of late childhood and adolescence,
the full language of adulthood,
the quavering speech and muted tones of old age.
Speak to us in the language that we need to hear today,
hear us in the language that we speak.

God of many languages.
You sing the language of joy with us, you join us in the dance of life.
Hear all of your children who sing and dance and praise this morning,
those who celebrate new life with all the possibilities of the future,
those who celebrate relationships,
both the new and exciting and the long-term yet still exciting,
those for whom the wonder of life fills their being to the limit,
may they hear your voice joining in the singing and the shouting...
..time of silence...

And yet, God of life,
you also speak the languages of pain, of sorrow, of fear, of despair.
Hear all your children who speak, who wail,
who whisper in these languages this day:
those who find themselves in hospital beds, or waiting anxiously beside those beds,
those who gather to say farewell to one who is traveling, or one who is moving,
those who gather at graveside to say that longer farewell,
those who worry about where the next meal, or the next rent check, will come from,
those who live in places where peace is just a word, a faint hope, a distant dream,
May all those whose language is rent by pain hear you lamenting with them,
..time of silence...

God of Pentecost,
God who speaks with many tongues,
God who makes God-self known in many ways,
fill us with Your Spirit this and every morning,
hear the prayers we share using many different languages,
we pray in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the one we call Christ, whose life,
death and resurrection show us the path to the Kingdom.

We pray as people of the Spirit,
who lights our fires, who fills our lungs with air,
who blows us out into the world to live and serve.
Amen.

~ written by Rev. Gord Waldie

05/20/2026

There is a wind rising.

You can feel it already, in the rustle of red fabric being pressed and hung, in the choir robes coming out one more time before summer, in the brass warming up in a back hallway, in the murmur of children practicing the words "tongues of fire" without yet knowing what they will become.

Pentecost is almost here.

Long before the anthems were chosen and the descants were learned, before the stoles were ironed and the streamers were cut, before the dancers found their entry and the drums found their tempo, before your choir gathered around the piano to shape one more phrase, long before any of it, the Spirit was already at work. Stirring your imagination. Quickening some old idea into something new. Whispering, what if.

You listened. You always listen.

This Sunday, you will drape the red and steady the flame. You will cue the choir and warm the brass. You will speak ancient words in new tongues, ring the bells, paint the dove, and direct the children whose voices are themselves a kind of Pentecost - bright, untamed, holy. You will lift a chorus that sounds, for one shimmering moment, like every tongue under heaven.

Beloved, hear this as you step into this Sunday:

You are water-washed and Spirit-born.

You speak the language of worship artists, and it is a holy tongue. When a choir breathes together and releases a chord into the rafters, you are speaking it. When you choose a fabric, a font, a step, a silence, you are speaking it. When your hands ring a bell or shape a gesture or lift a baton, you are speaking it. When you preach, with words or without them, you are speaking it.

It is a language the Spirit knows by heart, because the Spirit is the One who first gave it to you.

Trust the gift. Trust the preparation. Trust the Spirit who has been hovering over your planning the way she once hovered over the waters. When Sunday comes and the choir lifts its Pentecost song, know that you are not summoning the Spirit. You are answering her.

And friends — when the red is folded away and the last "Veni Sancte Spiritus" has faded, come and be filled again.

Music and Worship Arts Week is just around the corner, June 22–26 at Lake Junaluska, nestled in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Registration is still open, and it is not too late to join us. Come for the rest. Come for the rehearsal of soul. Come to sing and ring and dance and create alongside the people who speak your language. The mountains are waiting, and so are we.

I also want to lift up another way you can help the Spirit keep moving through the Fellowship:

Our Annual Fund sustains the work that sustains you: the gatherings, the resources, the connections that remind every worship artist they are not alone in this calling. Whatever you are able to give, to either or both, will become tongues of fire on someone else's head one day. That is no small thing.

Know that your Executive Board is praying for you this week, for rest in the in-between hours, for clarity in the final details, for joy in the doing, and for that holy fire to fall fresh on each one of you.

Come, Holy Spirit. Come and find us already singing.

With deep gratitude and Pentecost hope,

Rev. Dr. Jenn Pick
President of The Fellowship of Worship Artists

To learn more about Music & Worship Arts Week (MWAW2026), please visit www.thefellowshipowa.org/mwaw2026

To register for MWAW2026, please visit https://www.thefellowshipowa.org/events-1/music-worship-arts-week-2026-1

To donate to our Annual Fund, please visit https://www.thefellowshipowa.org/donate

05/19/2026

We are thrilled to announce that we're kicking Music & Worship Arts Week off with a hymn sing led by Mark Miller! We can't wait to see you there!

We are thrilled to announce that we're hosting a Hymn Sing with Mark Miller on Sunday, June 21st, at 7:00 p.m. at Music & Worship Arts Week.

Many of our folks travel long distances to come to Lake Junaluska, and must arrive on Sunday in order to be present when registration begins Monday morning. This gives us an incredible opportunity for fellowship, and if there's one thing we all love to do when we're together, it's sing! Mark has graciously agreed to offer his time and incredible musical talent to make our Sunday Night an evening to remember. We are blessed!

Whether you're staying in the Terrace Hotel, Lake Junaluska Apartments, the Lake Junaluska Campground, or one of the many rentals available around the lake, if you are registered for Music & Worship Arts Week 2026, you are welcome to join us for an evening of fellowship, song, and sips (of some tasty NA beverages that will be available).

As an informal gathering, you can choose to sing every word of every song, or step into the gathering area to mingle, catch up, and cool off. It's a night for being present with one another and with God, and we invite you to join us in whichever way makes the evening an enjoyable one for you.

This event will take place rain or shine and we will provide the location details a little closer to the event! We can't wait to see you at the Lake!

If you have not already registered for Music & Worship Arts Week 2026, we encourage you to do so soon! You can find more information about MWAW2026 by visiting www.thefellowshipowa.org/mwaw2026

You can register by clicking here: https://www.thefellowshipowa.org/events-1/music-worship-arts-week-2026-1

And you can book your rooms in our discounted room blocking by visiting our reservation portal through Lake Junaluska: https://www.reseze.net/servlet/SendPage?hotelid=1593&skipfirstpage=true&page=192869

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].