Help Us Translate Worship Matters into Spanish!

Since my book, Worship Matters, first came out in 2008, I’ve been greatly encouraged and humbled to hear how God has used it in the lives of planners, pastors, leaders, and musicians to promote singing in the church that is theologically aware, gospel driven, emotionally engaged, Spirit-empowered, and life changing.

The core of the book unpacks a definition for a “worship leader.” While I don’t think God has a specific job description for that role in Scripture, the almost universal use of the term led me to come up with a definition I trust is faithful to the Bible. I blogged on it years ago here, but eventually landed on this definition:

A faithful worship leader
magnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ
through the power of the Holy Spirit
by skillfully combining Godʼs Word with music,
thereby motivating the gathered church
to proclaim the gospel,
to cherish Godʼs presence,
and to live for Godʼs glory. 

Since the book came out it’s been published in Portuguese, Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, and Russian. But for some reason, we haven’t been able to find a Spanish publisher willing to take it on. It hasn’t been for lack of trying. I have numerous friends, especially Mauricio Velarde, who have been working on it to no avail. Crossway’s policy is that they’ll only give translation rights to a publisher, not an individual.

It’s been my prayer that Worship Matters could be published in Spanish for a number of reasons. We’ve been producing Spanish albums for a number of years. Sovereign Grace has a church in Juarez, Mexico led by Carlos Contreras, that has been faithfully translating and singing our songs for decades. We’ve also been working with our good friends at La IBI, led by Miguel Nuñez, in the Dominican Republic, to produce two Spanish albums, El Dios que Adoramos, and the soon to be released, La Salvación es del Señor. All the while, we’ve wanted to serve our Hispanic brothers and sisters not only with worship music, but theological training.

I was starting to think we’d never have a Spanish version of Worship Matters. But this past year, my son, Devon, made contact with Seth Magnuson, who works for The Gospel Coalition. Seth told us about The Gospel Coalition International Outreach and something called Relief Projects. They raise money to publish books in other languages to address the famine of theological resources that exists throughout the world.

Through a series of conversations with Crossway and The Gospel Coalition, Relief Projects graciously agreed to take on Worship Matters as one of their books. I was honored and thrilled. They’re seeking to raise $11,000 to produce 5000 Spanish copies of Worship Matters. These will all be given away in various contexts to targeted individuals and ministries. People can also sign up to take copies of the book to Latin countries they’ll be traveling to through Packing Hope.

At some point, the translation will be made available online for download or viewing. It’s also possible a publisher might eventually pick up the translation.

Why am I telling you this? If you’ve benefited from the English version of Worship Matters, or even this blog, I’m asking if you’d consider giving towards the costs of producing a Spanish version. If 1100 people gave $10 each, we’d reach our goal.

To find out more about the project and/or to donate go to the (Spanish) Worship Matters Relief Project page. And whether or not you can give, please pray that God enables the Relief Project to be a means of great blessing to the Church throughout the world for the sake of the gospel and the glory of our great Savior.