Each summer my church holds an event for 6-10 year olds called Summer Celebration, led by one of our pastors, Mike Bradshaw. It’s a week long event filled with fun, games, teaching, songs, and encouragement. The leadership team (which includes a significant number of high schoolers) invests hours of planning and preparation with the goal of directing the hearts and minds of kids to God’s character and the gift of salvation he offers us through his Son. It’s been a great opportunity to minister to kids from our church as well as guests. And make no mistake about it – it’s a high energy, exhausting week. But the fruit has been sweet. Last …
Archive | —Contests
“To Be Like Jesus” Contest
No, this isn’t a contest to see who can be the most like Jesus… Sovereign Grace Music is inviting families, individuals, children’s ministries, and whoever else is up for making a creative video to participate in a contest using our latest kids’ album, To Be Like Jesus. The prize is a $250 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Here’s what you have to do: 1. Order a copy of To Be Like Jesus from our online store as an album or a digital download. (You can skip this step if you already own one). 2. Make a video using one of the songs from the album. You can use an accompaniment track and provide your own vocals, or use one of the original songs. …
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Announcing the Sovereign Grace Songwriting Contest Winner
What? You say you didn’t even know we had a songwriting contest? No surprise. It was pretty low key. At the start of 2009, I sent out an email to the Sovereign Grace worship leaders announcing a contest for 14-22 year old songwriters. The rules were pretty simple. Submit up to two original congregational songs by mid-February. The winner would receive an ESV Study Bible and a $50 iTunes certificate. Among the promising entries were At the Cross by J’Nelle Smith and You Will Sustain by Philip VanderWeide. But the winner was 22 year old Peter (PJ) Kemerer of Corning, NY who sent in Gift of Grace. It’s an uptempo 6/8 song that focuses on …
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Creative Answers to the ESV Study Bible Giveaway
I received some creative responses in the ESV Study Bible giveaway. Here are a few you might enjoy. The reason I should get one of those Bible is that if you bring me one, I’ll take you diving and you’ll get to experience worship on a whole new level — about 100 feet below the surface! (from Dave in the Cayman Islands) I want to receive and read through the ESV STudy Bible so that the whole counsel of God and the wisdom of godly men washes over my mind and my heart to transform me into a white hot, recklessly passionate Jesus freak. (from David) To combine a lucid translation of scripture with insightful theological essays, pastorally sensitive …
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ESV Study Bible Giveaway Winners
Last week I shared my desire to give away ten ESV Study Bibles to encourage people to read through the Word of God, assisted by the valuable notes in this particular Bible. Over 300 of you sent in your reason, in 50 words or less, why you’d like to receive a Bible. I was deeply moved as I read some of the emails. I picked five as “the best,” and picked five more randomly (although since God is sovereign, it wasn’t completely “random”). Here are the five winners: This is from Juan Zavala. I was inspired by his dedication to the pastoral ministry. I would like to win the new ESV study Bible for one reason. To help me prepare my sermons. I …
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They Once Were Lost But Now Are Found
In the process of hosting this ESV Bible giveaway, I discovered that the “Contact Me” link on my blog hasn’t been working for a while. Like for a year. So the wonderful IT folks here at Sovereign Grace did some research and found that any emails sent through the “Contact Me” link ended up in a massive spam folder (who sends out all that stuff?). The good news is that we were able to recover 600+ emails. The bad news is that my daughter/assistant Chelsea (who is leaving on Friday for 13 days with a missions team to Uganda) has to individually copy each one to an email and send it to herself. For some reason, forwarding takes much longer. What …
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ESV Study Bible Update and Giveaway
A while back I posted on why I like the ESV Study Bible and my plan to read through it by the end of 2009. Here’s my first update on how it’s going. I just started 1 Samuel. If I continue at my current pace, I should be done before the end of 2009. I’ve only grown in my appreciation for the precise scholarship, helpful layout, and pastoral thought that went into producing this study Bible. The maps are abundant, easy to use, informative, and relevant, as are the various charts. The introductions to each book have helped me grasp the overall flow of the book as well as how the book fits into salvation history. I haven’t spent much time …
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Free Copy of Worship Matters for Twenty Bloggers
Worship Matters, the book, has been out for a few weeks now, and I’ve been encouraged by initial responses. When I was writing it, I prayed that the book would be give worship leaders, pastors, and musicians a clear and practical biblical perspective on how they can most effectively serve the church in the area of corporate worship. Seems to be having that effect so far. A few folks have already reviewed the book on their blog. You can check them at Discerning Reader, Gospel Prism, and CROSS-eyed. In an effort to get word out I’m giving away 20 copies of Worship Matters for people who will review it on their blog. Just send me an email at the …
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Worship Matters Book Giveaway
At some point I want to give away some copies of my book, but I just learned that the folks at blog.worship.com are doing just that this week. In addition, they’ll be posting the four videos I did for the book that outline the four sections: The Leader The Task Healthy Tensions Right Relationships Stop by and check it out. …
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Winner of the Most Embarrassing Moment Contest
Last week I offered a free registration to the WorshipGod08 conference for the person who had the funniest story from a time they led corporate worship. There were some great contributions. Reading them made me freshly aware that God does indeed use the foolish and the weak to accomplish his purposes (1 Cor. 1:27). Contributions included playing an entire song in the wrong key, encouraging the members of the congregation to turn to each other and say, “How great thou art,” falling over as a result of a leg falling asleep, burping, confusing being prostrate before the Lord with being prostate, starting the wrong song, and more. Two had to do …
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Win a Free Registration to WorshipGod08
We’re in the midst of planning for WorshipGod08: Rediscovering the Psalms. Registration has been moving along, but we’re still four and a half months away from the conference. If you’re planning on coming, I wanted to remind you that registration rates go up $25 each on April 1, and again on July 1. But here’s a way you can come for free. We’re giving away a free registration to the person who sends in the best answer to this question: What is the most awkward/embarrassing moment you’ve ever experienced as a worship leader or part of a team? Here are the guidelines: Answers have to be 150 words or less. Really. Your answer must be something …
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Giveaway #2 is Now Officially Over
I’ve appreciated all of you who put your search engine to work and found out the answers to the Giveaway #2 contest related to GLAD trivia. We’ve found our twenty winners. There were even some actual GLAD fans among them, although a few people were honest enough to say they had never heard of GLAD until this contest… Anyway, for those who didn’t have time to look for the answers, here they are: 1. What two colleges did the four original members of GLAD attend? West Chester State College (back in the early 70’s) and Temple University 2. What GLAD song mentions Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia? Take a Stand. The song tells the story …