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 | —Sovereign Grace Music
Where Do Sovereign Grace Songs Come From?
I have a sweet job. One of my responsibilities is to oversee the production of Sovereign Grace albums. Some of you have asked where the songs for those albums come from, and what the process looks like. I’m right in the middle of a three day retreat with 18 songwriters from various Sovereign Grace churches, so I thought now would be a good time to answer that question. Last fall I worked with C.J. Mahaney and Jeff Purswell to determine what albums we wanted to produce in the coming year. That would set the course for a significant part of my job description. We determined that I’d focus on four main projects (I’ll share those details …
Share this post:
Sons & Daughters Nominated for Best Worship Project of 2009
Every year Worship Leader magazine announces its “Reader’s Choice” awards. They give their readers a limited list, and ask them to choose their favorite artists, songs, and albums from the previous year. This year I was happy to learn that Sons & Daughters was nominated for two categories: Best Worship Project and Best Compilation Project. I have mixed feelings about Christians giving out awards to each other, especially in the music world. On the one hand, I know awards are an attempt to recognize and promote what most people think is worthwhile, beneficial, or glorifying to the Lord. That’s great. We’re to give honor to whom honor is …
Share this post:
“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. …
Share this post:
Psalms CD on Sale
Recently, we received some good news. Worship Leader magazine picked our Psalms album as one of the “Best of the Best” products for 2009. We were pretty surprised, especially since we released the album in August 2008. But hey, we’re not going to complain. To celebrate, we’ve dropped the price for the Psalms CD to $8 (33% off our usual price) through the end of November. You can also download the digital album for $6 (25% off). As always, U.S. orders over $15 get free shipping. Psalms contains twelve songs echoing the passion, prayers, and praises of the psalmists. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can preview it with a free download of …
Share this post:
Story Behind “The Father’s Love” from Sons & Daughters
This past Sunday at my home church, we taught one of the songs from Sons & Daughters, The Father’s Love. It’s an uptempo song that elaborates on the theme of 1 John 3:1: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” It was written by Joel Sczebel, who’s dad, Pat, has been writing songs for Sovereign Grace for years. Pat has done a brilliant job passing on his love for the Savior, the church, and music to his kids. I asked Joel about how this song came together and here’s what he wrote: “The song was essentially born out of a quiet time where I was meditating on the doctrine …
Share this post:
Sons & Daughters Now on iTunes
You can now download our latest CD, Sons & Daughters, on iTunes. Sons & Daughters contains 12 songs that celebrate God adopting us through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:5). We are now part of God’s family—in Christ we will forever be the objects of God’s particular and passionate mercy and love. That biblical reality, rather than leaving us focused on ourselves, drives us once again to proclaim the greatness of the God whose grace turns hopeless rebels into precious children. You can check out lyrics and download free charts and lead sheets over at the Sovereign Grace webstore. …
Share this post:
Sample the New Sovereign Grace Album – Sons & Daughters
I’m happy to let you know that you can listen to samples from our new album, Sons & Daughters, over at the Sovereign Grace Music website. We’ll be releasing it next Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the WorshipGod09 conference. The songs are primarily meant for congregational worship, and focus on themes related to 1 John 3:1: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The project came out of a perceived lack of songs that help us meditate on the unfathomable love God has shown us in adopting us through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:5). We are now part of God’s family – in Christ we will …
Share this post:
Kid’s Albums Aren’t Always Just for Kids
I often wonder how to define the age range for our kid’s albums. For “To Be Like Jesus,” our target age was 6-10 year olds. But on the CD we’ve described the age range as “6 and up.” I recently received an email from Abby, a mom I know, that reminded me why we shouldn’t put a cap on the upper age limit. “To Be Like Jesus” has been an amazing means of encouragement and enjoyment not just for Jack and Charli (6 & 4), but especially for me. Every song has brought tears to my eyes as I’ve been affected by the truths from scripture. The lyrics are extrememly practical and helpful for growing in and understanding the fruit of the Spirit …
Share this post:
Next 2009 Live Now Available for Download
The Next 2009 conference took place in Baltimore, Maryland May 30-June 2. Over 2500 people gathered to worship Jesus Christ in song, to study his Word, and to rediscover who he is and what he has done. I had the privilege of leading the songs along with three different bands: the Na Band, Reilly, and Zelos. Some of the sessions also featured a 14 piece string section. We were able to record the event and are now offering Next 2009 Live, a 13 song download for $5. That’s right – 13 songs for 5 bucks. Where else are you going to find a deal like that? The songs on the download album are: God Over All (Devon Kauflin) Na Band His Name …
Share this post:
To Be Like Jesus Now on iTunes
Just wanted you to know that you can now purchase our latest kids’ CD, To Be Like Jesus, on iTunes. If you want to know more about the project you check out my post on it or visit the Sovereign Grace Music site. …
Share this post:
To Be Like Jesus Kid’s CD Now Available
I’m very happy to announce that our new album for kids, To Be Like Jesus, is now available at the Sovereign Grace online store. Why another kid’s CD? A few reasons. We think there’s a need for more children’s songs that aren’t simply adult songs with kid’s voices. We’d like to see more kid’s songs that proclaim truth rather than express love for God, which many children don’t have yet. We wanted kids to see that God wants us to be joyful, loving, faithful, gentle, etc., because that’s the way he is. We also wanted kids to see that it’s impossible to be joyful, loving, faithful, gentle, etc. apart from believing the gospel and being …
Share this post:
Preview Songs from Our New Kid’s CD: To Be Like Jesus
You can now sample songs from our next children’s CD, To Be Like Jesus, at the Sovereign Grace Music website. The album is scheduled for release later this month. To Be Like Jesus contains 12 songs. Ten of them are based on the qualities listed as the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. I know only nine are listed there, but we included two on self-control because…well, any parent knows why we have two songs on self-control. The other two songs teach that God wants to make us like his Son, and when he does, we bear the fruit of the Spirit. We tried hard to avoid two extremes on this project. The first is assuming that every kid singing …
Share this post:
How to Get Two Free Songs from Our New Kid’s CD (for Facebook fans)
Over on the Sovereign Grace Music Facebook site we have a race going on. In mid-June we plan to release our second kid’s CD, To Be Like Jesus. (The first was Awesome God). It’s 12 songs based on the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5. The songs teach that these qualities (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.) come from God himself, and that we can’t have them apart from knowing Jesus as the Savior. Yesterday, Stephen Altrogge let our Facebook fans know of a way to get two free songs from the CD when it comes out. Here’s what he wrote: Okay here’s the deal. At this exact moment we have 5,348 [UPDATE: now 6220] dedicated fans of Sovereign …
Share this post:
Drabbles from the Depths
I didn’t know what a “drabble” was until just recently. It’s an extremely short work of fiction of exactly 100 words in length. Nicole McLernon, 21 year old daughter of my good friends Mike and Patty McLernon, recently wrote a “super-drabble” – ten drabbles in a row. She based it on some of the lyrics to my song, Out of the Depths, from our Psalms CD. Nicole unpacks what it might mean to “wait on the Lord” when you find out your daughter has cancer. Although her piece is fictional, the situation is all too familiar. I was affected by her portrayal of a struggling heart learning to submit to God’s wisdom and truth revealed in the gospel. This …