A few years ago my church was teaching through the books of Galatians and Philippians and we wanted to help people memorize a number of the verses. We invited the members of the church to contribute original songs and ended up setting about 1/3 of each book to music. They were low-budget projects, but even to this day when I read those verses I hear melodies running through my mind. The Philippians and Galatians songs can be accessed here. Another great resource for Scripture memory songs is the Hide the Word albums produced and written by my good friend, Mark Altrogge. You can check them out over at his site, Forever Grateful Music. …
Archive | Free Stuff
Announcing the Sovereign Grace Songwriting Contest Winner
What? You say you didn’t even know we had a songwriting contest? No surprise. It was pretty low key. At the start of 2009, I sent out an email to the Sovereign Grace worship leaders announcing a contest for 14-22 year old songwriters. The rules were pretty simple. Submit up to two original congregational songs by mid-February. The winner would receive an ESV Study Bible and a $50 iTunes certificate. Among the promising entries were At the Cross by J’Nelle Smith and You Will Sustain by Philip VanderWeide. But the winner was 22 year old Peter (PJ) Kemerer of Corning, NY who sent in Gift of Grace. It’s an uptempo 6/8 song that focuses on …
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New “Glorious and Mighty” Live Recording
Last year, at WorshipGod08, we presented a choral arrangement of “Glorious and Mighty,” from the Psalms CD. Unfortunately, the recording didn’t turn out very well. But at this year’s Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference we sang the piece again and recorded it to 24 track. I thought it turned out much better. In any case, you can download it by clicking here, and get the choral arrangement here. Here are the lyrics, based on Psalm 96: Majesty, Your glory is shining Brighter than the moon and the stars Marveling, we honor and fear You Above all gods Glorious and mighty, You’re awesome In beauty Joyful songs we raise Glorious and mighty, …
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Creative Answers to the ESV Study Bible Giveaway
I received some creative responses in the ESV Study Bible giveaway. Here are a few you might enjoy. The reason I should get one of those Bible is that if you bring me one, I’ll take you diving and you’ll get to experience worship on a whole new level — about 100 feet below the surface! (from Dave in the Cayman Islands) I want to receive and read through the ESV STudy Bible so that the whole counsel of God and the wisdom of godly men washes over my mind and my heart to transform me into a white hot, recklessly passionate Jesus freak. (from David) To combine a lucid translation of scripture with insightful theological essays, pastorally sensitive …
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ESV Study Bible Giveaway Winners
Last week I shared my desire to give away ten ESV Study Bibles to encourage people to read through the Word of God, assisted by the valuable notes in this particular Bible. Over 300 of you sent in your reason, in 50 words or less, why you’d like to receive a Bible. I was deeply moved as I read some of the emails. I picked five as “the best,” and picked five more randomly (although since God is sovereign, it wasn’t completely “random”). Here are the five winners: This is from Juan Zavala. I was inspired by his dedication to the pastoral ministry. I would like to win the new ESV study Bible for one reason. To help me prepare my sermons. I …
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They Once Were Lost But Now Are Found
In the process of hosting this ESV Bible giveaway, I discovered that the “Contact Me” link on my blog hasn’t been working for a while. Like for a year. So the wonderful IT folks here at Sovereign Grace did some research and found that any emails sent through the “Contact Me” link ended up in a massive spam folder (who sends out all that stuff?). The good news is that we were able to recover 600+ emails. The bad news is that my daughter/assistant Chelsea (who is leaving on Friday for 13 days with a missions team to Uganda) has to individually copy each one to an email and send it to herself. For some reason, forwarding takes much longer. What …
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ESV Study Bible Update and Giveaway
A while back I posted on why I like the ESV Study Bible and my plan to read through it by the end of 2009. Here’s my first update on how it’s going. I just started 1 Samuel. If I continue at my current pace, I should be done before the end of 2009. I’ve only grown in my appreciation for the precise scholarship, helpful layout, and pastoral thought that went into producing this study Bible. The maps are abundant, easy to use, informative, and relevant, as are the various charts. The introductions to each book have helped me grasp the overall flow of the book as well as how the book fits into salvation history. I haven’t spent much time …
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Helping People Glory in Christ at Christmas
This past Sunday I had the privilege of leading the singing at my home church. At Christmas time there’s sometimes a tension between choosing to sing songs that are “comfortably Christmasy” or songs that help people glory in the miracle of God becoming man. So here’s what we went with: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing Glory be to God free mp3 download (from the Savior CD) Emmanuel, Emmanuel (from the Savior CD) What Child is This? Before the Throne of God Above We started with Hark! the Herald Angels sing because it’s one of the most theologically rich Christmas carols we sing. After that, I shared that there are many things to love …
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Together for the Gospel CD Now Available
Last April I had the joy of leading over 5000 individuals, mostly men, in times of corporate worship at the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, KY. Dave Mackenzie, who works for Sovereign Grace, set up mics to record the event, and I’m happy to let you know you can now buy the CD at the Sovereign Grace store. I’ll warn you. If you’re looking for incredible drum tracks, awesome guitar sounds, and a thumping bass, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Together for the Gospel Live is just me on the piano and 5000 voices belting out 16 hymns, old and new, that magnify the gospel and glory of Christ. That’s it. Turns out that’s enough. …
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New Christmas CDs (and One Old One)
Christianity Today offers a review of twenty Christmas CDs that are new this year. Hard to believe that many are being published. Artists include Travis Cottrell, Sara Groves, Fernando Ortega, Shane & Shane, and more. I hope to post any songs I find that may be worth considering. If you haven’t heard Sovereign Grace’s Christmas CD, Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man, you can preview samples at the Sovereign Grace Music site. We put this CD together a few years ago to add to the songs that glory in the Incarnation of our Savior. You can download the whole CD for 6 bucks at the Sovereign Grace store, purchase it for 8 bucks, …
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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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Free Copy of Worship Matters for Twenty Bloggers
Worship Matters, the book, has been out for a few weeks now, and I’ve been encouraged by initial responses. When I was writing it, I prayed that the book would be give worship leaders, pastors, and musicians a clear and practical biblical perspective on how they can most effectively serve the church in the area of corporate worship. Seems to be having that effect so far. A few folks have already reviewed the book on their blog. You can check them at Discerning Reader, Gospel Prism, and CROSS-eyed. In an effort to get word out I’m giving away 20 copies of Worship Matters for people who will review it on their blog. Just send me an email at the …
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Worship Matters Book Giveaway
At some point I want to give away some copies of my book, but I just learned that the folks at blog.worship.com are doing just that this week. In addition, they’ll be posting the four videos I did for the book that outline the four sections: The Leader The Task Healthy Tensions Right Relationships Stop by and check it out. …
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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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Winner of the Most Embarrassing Moment Contest
Last week I offered a free registration to the WorshipGod08 conference for the person who had the funniest story from a time they led corporate worship. There were some great contributions. Reading them made me freshly aware that God does indeed use the foolish and the weak to accomplish his purposes (1 Cor. 1:27). Contributions included playing an entire song in the wrong key, encouraging the members of the congregation to turn to each other and say, “How great thou art,” falling over as a result of a leg falling asleep, burping, confusing being prostrate before the Lord with being prostate, starting the wrong song, and more. Two had to do …