Here’s a list of the songs we sang at Together for the Gospel this year. You can download the four part arrangement we included in the T4G booklet by clicking on the title. Due to copyright restrictions, we can’t give away songs that aren’t public domain or are owned by someone other than Sovereign Grace Ministries. Tuesday Afternoon Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing And Can it Be There is a Fountain Speak, O Lord Tuesday Evening Before the Throne I Hear the Words of Love In Christ Alone Wednesday Morning How Firm a Foundation I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow My Song is Love Unknown How Deep the Father’s Love Wednesday …
Archive | Events
Reflections on Leading at Together for the Gospel 2010
Not too long ago I had the privilege and joy of leading the singing as 7000 people, mostly pastors, gathered in Louisville, KY for the Together for the Gospel conference. I’ve posted on why we picked the music we did and how I had a few more limitations this year. One limitation I didn’t expect was finding out four days before the conference that I had had strep throat for two weeks. Didn’t seem to affect my voice too much (not sure anyone would have noticed the difference anyway), but I was definitely operating at less than full capacity. All the messages were excellent, but I particularly appreciated Mark Dever’s (The Church is the Gospel …
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Learning to Live with Limitations at Together for the Gospel
The Rolling Stones, not generally known for wise words of instruction, reminded us of the truth that, “You can’t always get what you want.” Next week I have the joy and privilege of leading 7000+ Together for the Gospel conference attendees in singing the praises of our great Savior. Typically I lead with a full band, and enjoy the variety that can be achieved by adding various acoustic instruments, synths, percussion, and vocalists to the mix. But you can’t always get what you want. So at Together for the Gospel this year, it will just be me and a piano. Just like 2006 and 2008. Will I be limited? Yes. Will I praise God any less passionately? …
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What Do You Say When You Lead Worship? Part 1
Last year at the WorshipGod conference I had the opportunity to teach a seminar called, “What Are You Talking About? What to Say When You’re Not Singing.” I wanted to address the age-old question of what to say, if anything, when you’re leading people in congregational worship. What words can inspire people to worship God as we sing, and what words might hinder them? I began by sharing that our first focus isn’t what we say in public, but what we pursue in private. Saying the right things without having the right heart leads to hypocrisy. We shouldn’t expect the church to be affected by truths that we ourselves haven’t been affected by. I …
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Getting Ready for Together for the Gospel
In the midst of other activities, I’ve been preparing to lead the singing for a group of 7000 mostly pastors at Together for the Gospel, to be held Apr. 13-15, 2010 in Louisville, KY. The conference emerged out of a friendship between four men – Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, and CJ Mahaney – who hail from different backgrounds (Baptist, Presbyterian, charismatic) but who have found a profound unity in their passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ. This year, they’ll be joined by John Piper, John MacArthur, Thabiti Anyabwile, and R.C. Sproul. Matt Chandler has recently agreed to speak as part of CJ’s session. In addition, there will …
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Adopting for Life Conference
Last year Sovereign Grace released an album called Sons & Daughters. It contained 12 songs that reflected on and celebrated the mystery of our adoption in Christ. As 1 John 3:1 tells us, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” When the organizers of the Adopting for Life Conference (Louisville, KY, February 26-27, 2010) called us, we thought the attendees would appreciate the album in a unique way. So we’ll be giving away 50 copies of Sons & Daughters at the conference. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary …
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When Things Don’t Go As Planned, Take 2
What do you do when you start leading a song in two different keys? At our WorshipGod08 conference, we had the opportunity to find out as Joseph Stigora started “Psalm 96” in one key and the rest of the band from Covenant Fellowship came in a step higher. I posted on this previously, but here’s the video again: I got an email recently from a Sovereign Grace worship leader who shared how that incident at the conference encouraged him on a recent Sunday. This is what he wrote: We are a church of about 150 or so, so when you mess up it feels really uncomfortable because everyone is so close. It had been a while since something happened. Sunday …
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Looking Back at WorshipGod09
As I review the past year, one of my highlights was definitely WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation, featuring John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Thabiti Anyabwile, Keith & Kristyn Getty, Shai Linne, Don Whitney, and many more. Over 1700 worshipers of God gathered for 3 1/2 days of singing, instruction, fellowship, and equipping. From the evaluations we got, God met us in wonderful and specific ways. We just put together a slide show (using Animoto) that gives you a sample of what took place at the conference. The soundtrack is The Father’s Love, from Sons & Daughters, the album that we released at the conference. If …
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Songlist from the CCEF Conference
When I agreed to lead worship at the CCEF conference last week, I have to admit I was a little intimidated by the theme of the conference: Sex Matters. As it turns out, the teachings provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate God’s grace in the gospel. I was reminded once again that there’s no part of our lives that the gospel doesn’t address, whether it’s reminding us of God’s holiness, assuring us that our forgiveness through Christ is complete, freeing us from our shame, or changing our hearts to find our greatest pleasure in God himself. I really enjoyed playing with the other musicians, who came from four different churches. Not …
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What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?
Here’s another clip from the message I gave at WorshipGod09 on “The Future of Worship.” (You can find two posts from the same message here and here.) In verse 8 the psalmist references a previous generation “whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.” They were remembered as NOT being faithful, and NOT being steadfast. Have you thought much about what YOU want to be remembered for? That’s the question I ask in this 2 1/2 minute clip from my message. …
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Can We Even Sing in the Same Room?
In a previous post I referenced a message I gave at WorshipGod09 on “The Future of Worship,” based on Psalm 78. Here’s a 3 1/2 minute excerpt from the message where I talk about the importance of finding musical styles that multiple generations can sing together. …
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Planning and the Holy Spirit
Here’s another video clip from WorshipGod09, where Jeff Purswell is interviewing CJ Mahaney and me about some of the things we’ve learned over three decades of leading. In this section we talk about the importance of planning as well as listening for the Spirit’s leading during the meeting. In my experience, people tend to value one or the other. Either we trust completely in our plan and wouldn’t think of veering from it, or we minimize preparation and think God is only active when something spontaneous happens. When it comes to leading corporate worship, both planning AND spontaneity are important values. If you’re interested in …
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Mark Altrogge at WorshipGod09, Take 2
Yesterday I posted a video of Mark Altrogge at WorshipGod09 pulling a ticket out of a jar to announce the winner of a prize drawing. Sounds simple, I know. Here’s another video, demonstrating how in the hands of a master, a simple task can become a 12 minute comedy routine. If you haven’t had enough of Altrogge humor, you can visit the Sovereign Grace Vimeo site. …
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Mark Altrogge (alias Ticket Boy) at WorshipGod09
Mark Altrogge is a multi-talented man. His songs have been sung across the world (I Stand in Awe, Forever Grateful) and he continues to be one of the most prolific, humble songwriters I know. He’s also a caring husband and dad, and a superb pastor at his church in Indiana, Pa. Not to mention, he’s a gifted artist and a great writer. On top of all these talents, Mark is one of the funniest guys I know. He’s simply brilliant at making fun of his friends (and lest you misunderstand, he wrote a post on this topic over at the blog he writes with his son, Stephen). For years, he’s been using his humor to encourage WorshipGod attendees. At WorshipGod09, …
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By This We Know Love – Video from Next Live 2009
This past May I had the joy of leading the singing at the Next conference in Baltimore, MD, along with three different bands. One of them was Zelos, led by Judah Groveman. We introduced one of Judah’s songs, By This We Know Love. It’s a simple ballad that communicates the profound truth of 1 John 3:16: “By this we know love, thathe laid down his life for us.” Here are the lyrics: God of all Creation, Lord of heaven’s light Descended into evil’s darkest night Infinitely Holy, Your perfections know no end Selflessly You died my rightful death By this we know love that He laid down His life God’s very own Son came from Heaven to die Suspended …