At WorshipGod24 in Louisville, KY, over 1300 attendees deepened their connection to Christ through worship, music, and teaching. Highlights included sessions on theology, master classes for musicians, and powerful messages from various pastors. The event fostered joy, learning, and community, leaving participants inspired to return to their local churches. Can’t wait for the next one! …
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 …
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 …
Behold Our God first appeared on the 2011 Sovereign Grace Music album, Risen. It was the next-to-last track and one of the last songs chosen for the project. We went on to include versions of the song on Together for the Gospel II, 30: Three Decades of Songs for the Church, and Behold Our God, recorded with the Shiloh Church Choir in 2019. When the songwriters (Ryan, Jonathan, & Meghan Baird, and Stephen Altrogge) first played the song for the evaluation team at a songwriting retreat back in 2010, they received this feedback: “Seems too ordinary at this point. Work on fresh and creative ways of saying these things.” Apparently …
In 2020, I shared the story behind the Sovereign Grace Music song, “O Come, All You Unfaithful.” This past month, we posted a reel of the song on Instagram which has now been shared almost 40,000 times and viewed over a million times. We’ve been surprised, encouraged, and grateful for the response, and at times, troubled. Why troubled? Because when a song (or a portion of a song) reaches a wide audience quickly, the chances for misunderstanding and critique increase exponentially. And a few comments show that what some people are hearing isn’t what the song is saying. Of course, as a co-writer, I think the meaning of the song in its …
It’s been three long years since we hosted our last WorshipGod conference. The theme in 2019 was “The Glorious Christ,” and the night before the conference began we recorded a live album, also called The Glorious Christ. Both the conference and the recording explored the riches of the Savior who came to bear the weight of our sins and is now reigning in heaven until he returns for his bride. It was a fantastic time! But that was then. And we’re more than ready for this year’s conference, Unchanging. So much has happened in the past three years to remind us of our frailty, the inconstancy of our surroundings, and our inability to control …
This past Sunday at my church I had the privilege of leading the church in our pastoral prayer. Before we planted Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville almost 9 years ago, I had never been a part of a church whose Sunday meeting included a pastoral prayer. It wasn’t long before we realized how much we had been missing. In his Lectures to My Students, the renowned pastor/preacher Charles Spurgeon said: It is my solemn conviction that the prayer is one of the most weighty, useful, and honourable parts of the service, and that it ought to be even more considered than the sermon…If I may have my choice, I will sooner yield up …
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 …
We’ve been really encouraged by the response to O Come, All You Unfaithful, the opening track on our new Christmas album, Heaven Has Come. A number of people have said the song has made them freshly aware of how good the gospel really is. Amen. I had the joy of writing the song with Lisa Clow, although I really only helped her refine and finish a song she wrote a few Christmases ago. She brought what she had written to the Sovereign Grace songwriters retreat this past January. I’ll let Lisa tell you in her own words how it came about: I was struggling. It had been a long year and a half. Finances were stressful, I miscarried twins, …
Last week I wrote down my thoughts related to reading through the 6-volume ESV Reader’s Bible a couple years ago. In a word, I loved it. I asked Justin Taylor, VP of Crossway, if they might be able to give away a set, and he generously made one available. So I asked people to post one of their favorite Scriptures in the comments and I would pick one at random. As the Lord would have it, the winner is CJ Finch, who left the verse: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might” (Mt. 22:37). If you entered but didn’t win, I have good news! You still use the Bible you currently own, and since Christmas …
Not too long ago I took one of my grandsons out for a bagel and asked him a question. “What’s the most important thing in the world?” I told him it had to be a person or an object. After a long pause, he responded, “The Bible?” “That’s right,” I said. I went on to say that apart from God’s Word, we would have no way of knowing God’s thoughts, commands, warnings, or promises. We’d be limited to general revelation, which gloriously declares aspects of God’s character and deeds, but is silent when it comes to our separation from God and his plan to reconcile us to himself through Christ. The Bible is an unspeakably precious gift that …
One of the unexpected benefits of the COVID-19 crisis has been the vast amount of music being produced. Previously untapped creativity is showing up in live streams from living rooms, video montages, and new songs. Who knows what songs might never have been written apart from being forced to isolate? In mid-March, my good friend from the UK, Tim Chester, sent me some lyrics he had written, taken from Psalm 91. To be more specific, he subtitled it: “A song for the coronavirus outbreak based on Psalm 91.” I’ve collaborated with Tim before (Come Praise and Glorify, Reformation Song), and love writing with him. He’s committed setting God’s …
UPDATE Jan. 20, 2021: Please read this updated permissions statement from the Sovereign Grace Music blog. When the COVID-19 crisis caused governments to mandate that churches not gather, Sovereign Grace Music wanted to make it easy for people to live stream our music online to encourage their members. While the current situation doesn’t allow for the saints gathering as we’re told to do in Scripture (Heb. 10:25), we’re grateful that Christ-exalting communication over the Internet can be a means of grace that makes us long to be able to meet together again (Ps. 122:1)! Recently, Sovereign Grace Music posted on social media that …
I originally posted this on my church’s blog, but wanted to share it here as well. In his excellent article, “Anxiety, Waiting and the Coronavirus,” Alasdair Groves reminds us of the unique kind of trial the current worldwide pandemic presents to us. We’re tempted to experience a “particular strain of anxiety that comes when we are waiting for a threat that is gliding toward us, its fin visible above the surface.” In other words, we know something bad is coming. We just don’t know what or when. To be sure, many are already experiencing the effects of the virus. Financial disaster. Loss of income. Loss of …
An online Forbes article says the aim of a public relations (PR) firm is “promoting clients and making them seem as successful, honest, important, exciting or relevant as possible.” The keyword in that definition is seem. If you work for a PR company, it really doesn’t matter whether or not your clients are actually “successful, honest, important, or exciting.” Your job is just to make other people think they are. When it comes to leading songs that direct our thoughts and affections to Jesus on Sunday mornings, our task couldn’t be more different. We don’t have to make stuff up about Jesus or pretend he’s something he’s not. God wants …
