Experiential Worship: Encountering God with Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength

This book shows worship teams how to help bring depth to worshiping God by making it a more memorable experience for the congregation.

The book gets 4 stars for me because of the value of the insight in the first few chapters of the book. Rognlien goes through Jesus' command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strenght - linking each one to their value in worship. The first three chapters are the most signficant. It is here he lays the groundwork theologically for the rest of his book. However, as the chapters go by the book gets weaker as it becomes a manual of ideas that worked for his church. I tend to shy away from this type of approach in books, so the latter half didn't contain as much value as the first half of the book. Overall a worthwhile read, even if only for the first few chapters as it gets you to think in a way you haven't before.

This book focuses on engaging the body, mind, heart and will in a total worship experience. Regardless of our worship heritage, I am confident this title will in some way broaden our horizons when it comes to worship. The points made here by Rognlien don't really conform to any particular worship tradition. Instead, his comments transcend worship traditions, drawing upon the best of several and offering fresh new insights as well. This title would definitely be helpful to a minister of worship or a worship leader.