“For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
Media
Videos
Get a sense of the Worship Conference experience with these videos.
Photo Albums
Browse photos on our Flickr gallery. Find people or experiences from the conference.
Note: If you viewed the gallery earlier, be sure to refresh your browser to see new photo postings.
Conference Materials
Find handouts, slides, and other materials from the conference presentations.
Programs and Service Folders
Concert programs and worship service folders contain copyright materials. To comply with licensing rules, please contact worshipconference@wels.net for access to the service folders.
Using conference repertoire in your congregation
No congregation in WELS can approximate some elements of the worship conference. (Full orchestra and 1000 people!) Only a minority of congregations can deploy a large SATB choir or brass ensemble. But many of the musical choices featured at the conference require only a few additional instruments or singers. These are easily adaptable for your congregation.
This year’s conference featured a significant number of resources from Musician’s Resource, a growing collection of keyboard, instrumental, and choral resources available for a la carte purchase and download. While conference services, in total, may be unattainable for most at the local level, individual elements are accessible to a wide range of congregations of all sizes.
Elements utilized at the conference included hymn descants for a solo instrument that align with the harmonization in the hymnal; interior hymn stanzas for 1-4 voices, allowing choirs or soloists to adorn hymns without tackling full anthems or concertatos; alternate harmonizations to add variety to keyboard playing, particularly for hymns with many stanzas; liturgical ensemble arrangements that can be played with as little as just a piano and guitar; and more.
We revel in conference worship and recognize it as a special experience in total not likely mirrored elsewhere! But in isolation, individual elements can be attained by many in their congregations, according to their local gifts. Only have a clarinet? Instrumental descants from Musician’s Resource are written in C, Bb, and Eb. Only have a keyboardist? Alternate harmonizations and accompaniments are available for adding variety to your playing. Did you like an SATB choral alternate stanza but only have enough singers for soprano and tenor? Go ahead and sing it with those two voices, having the accompanist fill in the missing voices by doubling along on the keyboard. Adaptation of repertoire experienced at the worship conference is both assumed and encouraged!
Consult the repertoire lists below to see how these resources were utilized at the conference. And then enjoy exploring how to utilize them in your local setting!