The Worship Initiative, a discipleship platform founded by Christian artists Shane Barnard and Shane Everett, has launched SBC Worship, a new collaboration aimed at equipping and unifying worship leaders across the Southern Baptist Convention.
Announced during the SBC’s Annual Meeting in Dallas, SBC Worship will serve as a digital hub for curated training, resources and events designed specifically for churches within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. The platform offers a free community membership, with additional premium features and training available for a fee.
The initiative gathers trusted voices and materials from seminaries, universities, churches and denominational entities within the SBC to enrich the lives and ministries of worship leaders and their teams. An advisory council of more than 30 leaders from across the denomination has been formed to guide the platform’s development.
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“There is more collaboration in the SBC than ever before,” said Robbie Seay, executive vice president of leader development and content at The Worship Initiative. “Seminaries, universities, state leaders and churches are partnering together to serve local worship leaders in a way that is unprecedented.”
Seay emphasized that SBC Worship is not prescribing a particular musical style or aesthetic. “We celebrate the diversity of our churches,” he said, noting that worship teams range from choirs and orchestras to one-person-led acoustic groups.
“This is about worship leader development and support.”
The launch of SBC Worship follows years of growth for The Worship Initiative, which was founded in 2014 by Barnard and Everett — widely known as the duo Shane & Shane. What began as a gap-filling response to a lack of pastoral training among musically gifted worship leaders has since evolved into a robust platform offering over 1,000 resources, including tutorials, devotionals, Bible studies and theological training.
“Our passion is just to care for these folks who are on the front lines of ministry,” Barnard told The Christian Post. “We want to give them the right handholds to walk by faith into that position and be able to do it well.”
That heart for shepherding was evident at the SBC’s Annual Meeting, where Shane & Shane led worship for thousands of pastors and their wives.
The duo opened the Pastor’s Conference and nightly sessions with extended moments of worship and prayer, offering what many described as “Selah moments” amid a week marked by theological debates and denominational tensions.
“It’s pretty nuts,” Barnard said of the experience. “Just the mighty roar of thousands of pastors and their wives singing praise to Jesus — it was amazing.”
During the event, the duo also invited attendees to join a new daily devotional initiative through The Worship Initiative. Within 40 minutes, over 2,500 pastors signed up to receive a short morning devotional by text that includes Scripture, prayer and song.
“It’s just an incredible response from people hungry to have a devotional moment through song,” Barnard said.
As worship trends continue to evolve, Barnard and Everett told CP they’ve remained focused on centering their ministry on Scripture. While acknowledging the creative efforts of artists like Brandon Lake, who has advocated for more accessible lyrics to reach seekers, Shane & Shane emphasize biblical literacy as a key component of worship.
“We want to help eliminate distractions. Singing on key, playing the right notes — those things help people engage with the Word. … We just want to get this Word into song and let the Lord do what He does,” Barnard said.
The duo also highlighted the needs of smaller congregations that often lack full worship teams or pastoral support for music ministry.
“Most churches in America have fewer than 200 people,” Everett said. “So we ask: how can we serve those folks showing up every week who need to be reminded of who they are in Jesus?”
“Everybody has a voice,” Barnard said. “And you’ve got vocal cords — the Lord created you to use them to sing to Him.”
For more information, visit worshipinitiative.com or sbcworship.com.
