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12 Reasons to Come to WorshipGod24: One with Christ

By on March 21, 2024 in —Leading a Congregation, —Sovereign Grace Music, —Worship and the Church, —WorshipGod Conferences

Two years ago we hosted our last WorshipGod conference in Louisville, KY, Unchanging. We reflected on the goodness of the God “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17, ESV).” But we’re more than ready for our next WorshipGod conference, coming July 24-27 to Louisville, KY. This year’s theme is One with Christ: How Our Union with Christ Changes Everything. Years ago, I came across this quote in Jerry Bridges’ classic, The Discipline of Grace: The New Testament concept of the believer’s union with Christ is one of the most important truths of Scripture. (p. 65) I was surprised at the strength of …

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Coming Soon: The Knowing God Album

By on January 24, 2024 in —Leading a Congregation, —Sovereign Grace Music, —Worship and God

2023 marked the 50th anniversary of J.I. Packer’s classic book, Knowing God. What originated as a series of magazine articles has become a tool that God has used to shape, deepen, and ignite the theology of five decades of Christians, including me. Since I first read it in the late 70s, I’ve quoted and referred to it more times than I can count. Kevin DeYoung called it “easily one of the most influential books of the last half century.” So when my son, Devon, suggested that Sovereign Grace Music write and record an album of songs based on Packer’s book, it was a no-brainer. First, it would be an opportunity to highlight …

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Life Together: The Gathered Church Conference

By on June 14, 2021 in —Leading a Congregation, —Liturgy, —Other Events, —Worship and the Church

Back in 2019, I led my 20th WorshipGod conference, The Glorious Christ. It was a fantastic time reveling in the works and worthiness of Jesus. We had originally planned the next WorshipGod conference for July of 2021, focused on our union with Christ. But COVID caused us to postpone that conference until July 27-30, 2022 (You can mark your calendar now!) As things began to open back up, we decided to partner with a few Sovereign Grace churches to host regional conferences. These are specifically designed to serve our pastors, musicians, and members. We’re calling them Life Together: The Gathered Church. Events are currently planned …

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My Debt to Harold Best

By on October 3, 2019 in —Leading a Congregation, —Mentoring Leaders, —Training a Team, —Worship and Christ, —Worship and the Church, —Worship and the Spirit

Harold Best turned 88 this past Monday. I called him to wish him a happy birthday, but couldn’t get through. So I sent him an email thanking him once again for the ways God has used him to affect my thinking about music and worship. If you’re not familiar with Harold, let me introduce you. He was the dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College for 25 years and also served as president of the National Association of Schools of Music. He’s an organist, a composer, a mentor, a writer, and most of all, a friend. He is now retired and lives in Couer d’Alene, Idaho with his wife. Last year someone asked me how Harold Best had influenced …

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10 Reasons You Should Come to the WorshipGod19 Conference

By on March 25, 2019 in —Arranging, —Leading a Congregation, —Musicians & Vocalists, —Songwriting, —Sound and Tech, —Sovereign Grace Music, —Training a Team, —Vocalists, —Worship and Christ, —WorshipGod Conferences

Back in 2006, Sovereign Grace Music hosted our first WorshipGod conference in Maryland. Since then, we’ve led conferences in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and the UK. By my count, this year will be our 20th. Each time we prepare for another one, I ask myself the same question: Do we really need another worship conference? Obviously, I think the answer is yes. Which is why we’ll be gathering in Louisville, KY, July 31-Aug. 3 for WorshipGod19 – The Glorious Christ: Music is great. Jesus is greater. There are a number of worship conferences you can choose from these days. They range from massive productions …

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Prayers of the Saints (Live) – Our New Album

By on November 28, 2017 in —Leading a Congregation, —Songs of Lament, —Sovereign Grace Music, —Worship and Eschatology

Sovereign Grace Music released our last band album, Sooner Count the Stars, two years ago. I’m happy to announce that after reviewing 170 songs, we finally have another: Prayers of the Saints (Live). It took a while, but I think it was more than worth the wait. Worship albums are as common these days as a new mattress store (come to Louisville and you’ll know what I mean). I receive an email informing me of a new album almost once a week. That’s about 50 albums, each with at least 12 songs, which adds up to 600 new songs a year. And that’s just scratching the surface of the albums being recorded.  So why produce another one? First, …

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Worshiping a Limitless God with Limited Resources

By on October 26, 2017 in —Choosing Songs, —Leading a Congregation, —Worship and the Church

Last month, prior to having the joy of participating in the Getty Sing! conference in Nashville, I chatted with Sol Fenne at a lunch sponsored by 20Schemes. Sol is a church planter, musician, and songwriter who has a passion to see the gospel transform lives in the poorest housing projects of Scotland. One of Sol’s passions is to discover how the gospel enthusiasm and musical excellence from the Sing! Conference could be applied in the contexts of Scotland’s poorest schemes, or housing projects. So he sent me a follow-up email asking if I’d be willing to write a blog post addressing this question: How we can encourage our 8-chord guitarists …

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Worship Matters Is Now a Video Series

By on August 23, 2017 in —Defining Terms, —Leading a Team, —Training a Team, —Worship Matters book, Videos

When I wrote Worship Matters in 2008, I wanted to pass on to younger leaders some of what I had learned from my mentors, study, and experiences of leading for three decades. My goal was to connect Scriptural commands and principles with what we actually do in our Sunday meetings. Through the years, musicians, pastors, teachers, and others have found my book helpful. But I’ve wondered if I could do anything to make the material more accessible. 32 chapters can take a while to plow through. I mean, we’re talking about musicians. That’s why I’m excited about the Worship Matters Video Intensive, made possible in large part with the help of …

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The Paradox of the Worship Selfie

By on July 12, 2017 in —Leading a Congregation, —Mentoring Leaders, —Worship and Life

Some time last year a friend who leads the music in his church texted me to express a concern. Social media has been on my mind lately. It seems it’s a great tool and a great danger. It can quickly become the “street corner” in Matthew 6. I wonder if the constant postings of ourselves, with great lighting and stuff may end up being more about us. Some people say “everyone does it,” but I’m wrestling with it as I see young guys in our church family doing it a lot. I want to make sure my motives are pure if I feel led to have an honest discussion with them. My friend’s humility in approaching this issue was commendable. Social media …

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Songs and Thoughts from Together for the Gospel

By on April 18, 2016 in —Leading a Congregation, —Musicians & Vocalists, —Together for the Gospel, —Worship and Music

The Together for the Gospel conference, held Apr. 12-14 in Louisville, KY, is an every-other-year feast of insightful Bible teaching, passionate singing, and rich fellowship. It’s the fruit of a friendship between Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler, and my good friend and senior pastor, C.J. Mahaney. That fruit has blossomed to encourage thousands of pastors faithfully serving their local churches. I had the joy of leading the music again this year. It’s a unique experience. A guy at a piano joined by ten thousand voices singing theologically rich, gospel-centered hymns, old and new. We’ve produced two albums from previous T4G conferences …

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Loving and Worshiping the Lamb of God

By on March 31, 2016 in —Sovereign Grace Music, —Worship and Christ

This past week churches throughout the world remembered and celebrated what is at the heart of the Christian faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Songs, sermons, and liturgies reflected the fact that Jesus laid down his life as the Lamb of God, the perfect atoning sacrifice for the sins of all those who would trust in him, and three days later was raised from the dead. It’s worth noting that in the post-resurrection scenes of Revelation, Jesus is still referred to as the Lamb. In fact, of the 34 times Jesus is called the Lamb in the New Testament, 29 are in the book of Revelation. It’s a striking and unusual choice. …

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Why a Synthesizer Isn’t the Holy Spirit

By on March 12, 2016 in —Defining Terms, —Emotions and Worship, —Leading a Congregation, —Spontaneous Song, —Worship and Music

In recent decades ambient sounds have become omnipresent in church gatherings. Meetings start with a synth swell and every song after that is connected to the next with musical glue. Synth pads play softly behind prayer, Scripture readings, song intros, communion, and in some cases, the preaching. If you don’t have someone who can produce the necessary sounds, no worries. “Worship pads” in every key are available for purchase to smooth out the transitions. Which raises the question: what’s going on? Music and God’s Presence We often see a connection between music and the Holy Spirit’s activity in Scripture. Long before he was …

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What’s So Special About Singing on Sundays?

By on February 4, 2016 in —Creativity, —Leading a Team, —Musicians & Vocalists, —Technology, —Worship and Culture, —Worship and the Church

People sing. Everywhere. In their cars. In the shower. In choirs. At football games. At birthdays. At weddings and funerals. At rock concerts. In musicals and operas. When there’s sunshine. When it rains. When it’s stormy. In the morning, afternoon, and night. But when the church gathers on Sunday morning (or Saturday night, etc.), our earthly voices join the choirs of heaven and the singing is like no other. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been moved as I added my voice to the beautiful, engaging, powerful, awe-inspiring, robust singing of a congregation. But sometimes our sound is halting and weak. Out of tune and …

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Who Would Have Dreamed?

By on December 21, 2015 in —Christmas, —Sovereign Grace Music, —Worship and Christ

Who would have dreamed or ever foreseen that we could hold God in our hands? That question comes from a song I wrote last year with my good friend, Jason Hansen, called “Who Would Have Dreamed?” for our album Prepare Him Room. We were trying to express the amazing miracle of the Incarnation. Theologian J.I. Packer says the Christmas event of Christ’s birth is where the “profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. . . . Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” Nothing in fiction is so fantastic. That means stories of Santa Claus, elves, Grinches, sugar plum fairies, and ghosts …

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Seven Myths of Contextualization

By on November 3, 2015 in —Defining Terms, —Emotions and Worship, —Leading a Congregation, —Liturgy

A wise missionary knows that preaching the gospel to a different culture requires contextualizing your message. The words we use don’t automatically translate to a new culture that lacks the associations and experiences we’re familiar with. We need to find new ways of communicating the old, old story, ways that can be understood, ways that “speak the language” of those we’re ministering to. But even on a local scale, we have to deal with contextualization. That’s because music and liturgy are a language. They can mean different things to different people. In the past few years, much has been written, advocated, and modeled to help us understand …

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