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Writing songs for congregational worship is a craft. While God has been known to use mediocre songs to accomplish his purposes, he doesn’t want mediocrity to be our goal. He intends that writers work hard to produce congregational songs that enable the word of Christ to dwell in people richly (Col. 3:16).
That’s why I’m excited to be participating with Steve and Vikki Cook in a 2½ day songwriting camp, July 13-15, in Santa Ana, CA. It’s sponsored by Eric Turbedsky of Sovereign Grace Church of Orange County, and will be held at Calvary Church, Santa Ana, CA. The camp will consist of classroom instruction, workshops, group exercises, and song reviews. If you’ve been to songwriting retreats where you have a hard time getting anyone to listen to your song, this will be different. Space is limited, so we can give maximum attention to everyone who attends.
The cost is $100 and the schedule will be:
July 13, Sunday 6:00pm-9:00pm
July 14, Monday 9:00am-5:00pm
July 15, Tuesday 9:00am-5:00pm
Steve and Vikki will be handling the majority of the camp, and I’ll be participating in the last portion. The Cooks have been some of my favorite songwriters for a few decades now. Their songs include Before the Throne of God Above, I Will Glory in My Redeemer, The Glories of Calvary, I Come by the Blood, When You Move, and a host of other songs that are characterized by biblical truth, singable melodies, and gospel richness. I’ve happily been able to co-write a few songs with them, including I Have a Shelter. Not only do Steve & Vikki write great songs, they teach the principles and practicals of songwriting in a way that anyone can understand. Steve has consumed volumes of books on the topic of songwriting and Vikki is exceptionally gifted in identifying melodic weaknesses. I’ve been helped innumerable times in my own songwriting by their thoughtful and creative suggestions.
The songwriter camp will take place immediately before WorshipGod14: TRIUNE, also to be held at Calvary Church, July 16-19 . If you can join us for the conference, that would be even better!
For more info on the camp and to register, go here.
Will these sessions be recorded?
James, you can email songcamp@sovgraceoc.org for that info.
I am crazy about songs. I love to write songs, poems and poetry. I have a website for poetry also. I will join this event.
~Diana
This is great opportunity, unfortunately I will not be able to attend. Will it be offered again? Can the material be made available online? I see your response above so I will email, but wanted it known there is interest in this subject.
Dell, thanks for letting me know!
Hi Bob, Are you doing another songwriter’s camp this year?
Thanks for asking, Silvia! We aren’t planning on it, but are talking about possible plans for 2016.
Is there a recording available?
I’m looking for good resources on songwriting currently.
Benny, check out this page: https://worshipgodconference.com/past-conferences/ Scroll down to “Seminars” and click on “Songwriting.”
Hello, I was doing research on the Hymn “Before the Throne of God Above” and had found out that the Hymn’s melody was made as recent as 1997 by Vikki Cook. I wanted to know if you could get me in contact with her, because I would like to ask her some questions about her song writing process during making of the hymn. Thank You and God Bless!