Mark Tedder on Worshiplanet, trying weird foods, and more!

Over Easter weekend (April 19 & 20) our Saturday night Grace Extended service (6pm) and our Sunday afternoon Sunday Grace service (3pm)  will be joined by guest worship band Worshiplanet. Communications Director, Janai Wallace, was able to catch up with Mark Tedder of Worshiplanet to find out more about his team, their heart for churches around the world, and some thoughts on weird food.

Worshiplanet will also be leading the 180 Youth Passion Week Connect Night on Wednesday April 16th @ 7:30pm, and visiting other schools and groups in the area throughout the week. Check out their video below, then join us & them on Easter Weekend!

Could you give us a brief description of the heart behind Worshiplanet and how it was started? 

Mark Tedder: Worshiplanet started when we were living in Prague, Czech Republic out of desperation from the pastor of the International Church of Prague—they had no worship leader (or team) and the Sunday we visited he asked if anyone in the congregation could play piano, would they please come up and help?

That was it for us! We got a huge heart for churches around the world that either a) don’t have a full time leader and b) are mostly under-resourced. Thus the birth of Worshiplanet—An international worship-equipping ministry for churches around the world.

Have you been to Shanghai before? What are you most looking forward to about your trip here? 

Mark Tedder: Yes, we played a concert (believe this or not) in the Football Stadium and did 4 worship songs in front of 60,000 people! We were invited by the China Disability Federation—a government organization supported by the young communist league. That is a fact!

The Government flew our band over from USA for ONE show in that stadium then we flew back the very next morning to Colorado—it was a very surreal experience.  Looking forward to meeting the body of Christ in Shanghai this time round and seeing what God’s doing in Shanghai!

Asia is known for it’s opportunities for experiencing weird food.  Are you the type of person who enjoys trying these strange “delicacies”? What’s the most memorable experience? 

Mark Tedder: We’ve pretty much had it all after visiting over 50 countries in the planet—one of my favs is fried scorpion on a prawn cracker! Wait…and fried locusts!

What are some of the most surprising or unexpected things God has taught you about worship as you work with and train others for leading worship? 

Mark Tedder:  One surprising thing is that the church (mainly in the western world) is bending toward more of an entertainment driven worship service—so as long as you can sing and play guitar—YOU’RE IN! That’s quite disappointing actually.

One of the unexpected things we’ve learned is that worship teams and worship leaders around the world struggle and wrestle with much of the same issues and things within their church or teams.

What other members of your team will be joining you? If you had to describe each with a flavor of ice cream, which flavor would you chose?

Mark Tedder:  Carrie (keyboard and my wife): she’s def Chocolate!
Martin Clark (acoustic/electric guitar): he is Rocky Road.
The drummer has to return after the Beijing part of the tour
I am Birthday Cake fer sure.

Cats or dogs? 

Mark Tedder: Gecko’s! They consume spiders, bugs, mosquito’s, and most things that are smaller than them.

Anything else? 

Mark Tedder:  The students may be interested in the fact that Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic) is my nephew.