I was informed this morning that when registration for WorshipGod08: Rediscovering the Psalms closed last night a total of 1626 people had signed up to come. That’s both humbling and exciting. What that means is that registration for the conference is closed. People who show up at the door will only be able to attend the main sessions. This is a problem I’m not used to having. A few stats: 760 first time attendees 127 high school students 619 worship leaders 31 international guests (including 14 from Canada) Largest age group: 26-40 with 571 Second largest: 25 and below with 436 Largest church size group: 101-300 with 635 people Largest …
Archive | Events
Three More Songs from New Attitude
Last week I posted a download and stream of Nail My Glory, one of the live songs from the New Attitude conference in Louisville, KY. I have three more for you today. Ransomed The first is the song Ransomed, written by my son Jordan, with original words by John Kent (1827). A number of people commented on the use of the staccato strings, aka pizzicato. It’s not something you hear often in corporate worship but seemed to work well. You can download the song by clicking here, or listen to it below. [Audio:http://sgm.edgeboss.net/download/sgm/na/2008/na08.4_ransomed.mp3] All I Have is Christ We also used a choir of about 70 folks this …
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More Songs from New Attitude
On Sunday night and Monday morning at the New Attitude conference we added 17 string players to the band. Pretty amazing. None of it would have been possible apart from the gifts and labors of Judah Groveman, a cellist/guitarist/songwriter in our church who spent many hours arranging the parts. He did a brilliant job. They string players were all from Sovereign Grace churches. They’ve spent years developing their skills on violin, viola, or cello. Thank God for their parents who obviously have made a significant financial investment over the years. One of the songs we sang with strings was Nail My Glory, written mostly by my son, Devon, …
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Songs from New Attitude
Life has been wonderfully full lately. Got back late (read VERY late) Tuesday night from the New Attitude conference, where about 3200 singles and young married couples gathered to sing God’s praise, hear the Word of God preached, experience meaningful fellowship, and exhaust themselves doing it all. You can read more about it at the New Attitude site. It was a real privilege to participate in the conference. My son, Devon, led the corporate worship with the Na Band. We sang a number of songs from their new CD, Looked Upon. One that seemed to have a significant impact was All I Have is Christ, written by my other son, Jordan, who plays drums …
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Reflections on Leading Worship at Together for the Gospel
If you just read the comments on my last Together for the Gospel post, you might be tempted to think that things went flawlessly. Not the case. Practically every time I lead I learn something new about what I’m doing, even though I’ve been leading worship for over 30 years now. I pray that I’m always learning something. Here are some of the things I learned, put into practice, or remembered this year. You can experience and express strong emotions for God while singing hymns. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say that hymns are dry, academic, lyrically dense, and inappropriate for “passionate worship.” That may be true in some …
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Na Band CD Looked Upon – Free Song
God tells us in Proverbs that “A wise son makes a glad father” (Prov. 15:20). For that reason, I’m a very happy man, because God has given me not only one, but two, wise sons – Jordan and Devon. Over the years I’ve sought to impress upon my sons that glorifying Jesus Christ for his great mercy is the reason they were created. They’re both seeking to do that as husbands, and now it’s a joy to see another expression of their response in a new CD, Looked Upon. Looked Upon (or Lu for short) is the first project of the Na Band, with Devon leading and Jordan playing drums. They’re joined by other members of my home church. The band’s purpose is to …
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Song List for Together for the Gospel Conference
This past week I had the privilege of leading worship in song for the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, Kentucky. What a joy it was to lead over 5000 attendees, mostly pastors, in worshiping our great Redeemer for his matchless work of redemption. They came from a variety of denominations and churches, mostly from the United States, but from as far away as Australia and India. (I have a story about the pastor from India at the end of this post) A number of people asked me for the song list and lyrics to the songs we sang. Most of the hymns we sang were public domain, but a few were Sovereign Grace Music and songs by Stuart …
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A Tale of Two Conferences
During the past few weeks I’ve been preparing song lists for two conferences. The first is Together for the Gospel (Apr. 15-17) which takes place next week in Louisville, Kentucky. I worked with Mark Dever to plan the songs we’ll be singing there. About 5200 pastors will be sitting under the teaching of John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Thabiti Anyabwile, R.C. Sproul, Ligon Duncan, and John MacArthur. It will be a diverse crowd, composed of Presbyterians, Baptists, continuationists, cessationists, paedo-Baptists, credo-Baptists, old, young, traditional, contemporary…you get the picture. We’re be gathering around the most glorious …
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WorshipGod08 Registration Rates About to Go Up
If you’re thinking about attending the WorshipGod08 Conference: Rediscovering the Psalms, you might want to make a decision soon. On April 1, the rates for students, individuals, and groups all go up $25. If you have any questions, most of them are probably answered at the WorshipGod08 Website. But feel free to ask questions here as well.
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Win a Free Registration to WorshipGod08
We’re in the midst of planning for WorshipGod08: Rediscovering the Psalms. Registration has been moving along, but we’re still four and a half months away from the conference. If you’re planning on coming, I wanted to remind you that registration rates go up $25 each on April 1, and again on July 1. But here’s a way you can come for free. We’re giving away a free registration to the person who sends in the best answer to this question: What is the most awkward/embarrassing moment you’ve ever experienced as a worship leader or part of a team? Here are the guidelines: Answers have to be 150 words or less. Really. Your answer must be something …
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Text and Context Conference in Seattle
I’m in Seattle, Washington right now with my good friends Eric Simmons, and C.J. Mahaney. We’re here for the Text and Context conference, sponsored by the Acts 29 network of churches, led by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church. CJ will be speaking today on Pastoral Care and Loving People. I’ve watched CJ model Christ-exalting pastoral care for over 25 years, and can’t wait to hear his message. Other speakers include Mark, John Piper, and Jim Gilmore. This morning I went to a workshop led by Tim Smith, the lead worship pastor at Mars Hill. He spoke on Building Missional Worship Bands. Challenging stuff on what worship is, what a missionary is, …
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Announcing the Announcements at WorshipGod08
Yesterday we had another planning meeting for WorshipGod08: Rediscovering the Psalms, to be held July 30- Aug 2 at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD, outside of Washington, D.C. This will be our 5th conference. Every one has been filled with rich biblical teaching, practical instruction, fresh encounters with God, great fellowship, and lots of laughter. Laughing helps us not take ourselves too seriously. When you’re involved in regularly leading others to magnify God’s glory in Christ, it’s good to remember that we’re the jars of clay and Jesus is the treasure (2 Cor. 4:6). Laughter helps us do that. No one makes us laugh more at …
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Keith and Kristyn Getty
This past Sunday we had the joy of hosting Keith and Kristyn Getty at our Sunday meeting. Keith and Kristyn have become dear friends since they moved to the U.S. two years ago, so I was delighted when they called and said they were going to be in the D.C. area this week and wondered if we would have any interest in having them share a couple songs on Sunday morning. After a few email exchanges, everything was a go. Having guest musicians on Sunday is a rare occurrence for us for a number of reasons. Having traveled on the road for twelve years with GLAD back in the 70s and 80s, I know that an artists often have set procedures and song lists …
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WorshipGod08 Registration Now Open
Today is the first day of registration for the Sovereign Grace Ministries WorshipGod08 Conference: Rediscovering the Psalms. I’ve never thought so much about a conference this far in advance. Because attendees choose their seminars when they register, it means I had to have the seminars and descriptions worked out for the conference six months in advance. That wouldn’t be such a problem, but we ended up having 45 seminars. My original list had 56, so I cut back quite a bit. I appreciated everyone who suggested seminars on this blog when I was asking for ideas. I went through all the suggestions and came up with what I pray will serve the people …
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Worship Conference Site Now Up
The website for the next Sovereign Grace worship conference is now up and running. It’s called WorshipGod08: Rediscovering the Psalms. Although registration doesn’t start until January 14, you can check out the speakers, seminars, and schedule. Also, on the WorshipGod08 blog I explain why we’re even doing this conference. I begin: Twenty years ago worship conferences were rarely heard of. That’s no longer the case. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of conferences put on by churches, ministries, and music companies, devoted exclusively to the topic of worship. As I’ve attended and participated in different events over the years, …
