Archive | Songs & Songwriting

The Songs We Sing Make a Difference – J.C. Ryle on Augustus Toplady

In his book, Christian Leaders of the 18th Century, J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) spends a chapter on August Toplady, the gifted but often contentious hymn-writer/pastor who penned “Rock of Ages.” I appreciated Ryle’s comments on the effect of writing good songs for the church to sing. It makes me more aware of the importance of leading and writing songs for congregational worship. Good hymns are an immense blessing to the Church of Christ. I believe the last day alone will show the world the real amount of good they have done. They suit all, both rich and poor. There is an elevating, stirring, soothing, spiritualizing, effect about a thoroughly …

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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 …

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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 …

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Songwriting – Who Gets the Credit?

My friend John Ripley, drummer for the band Generation Letter, recently emailed me some questions about how to figure out song writing credits. This is an area that can be sticky business because of miscommunication, no communication, ignorance, and indwelling sin. After writing songs for 30+ years, I’ve seen songwriting from all sides. I’ve written by myself, written songs that others have edited, and edited songs written by others. I’ve also served as a songwriter and a publisher. To my shame, I used to be much more concerned about who got the credit on a song. I remember working on a project for GLAD years ago and writing up the song credits. …

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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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Sovereign Grace Ministries Songwriter’s Retreat

A few weeks ago, I had the joy of gathering with 14 songwriters from Sovereign Grace churches to work on songs for some upcoming albums. Todd Twining hosted the event at Metro Life Church in Orlando. This was our 6th retreat, and probably worked the best. The retreat was by invitation, but everyone who came paid their own way, for the most part. We started out Wednesday night with dinner and a few comments from me. I shared some encouraging emails we’ve received about songs we’ve written, just to remind everyone that God really does use the songs we write to affect people’s hearts and lives.  I also showed a portion of the video that tells …

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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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Sibelius Upgrade Discount

In a previous post I extolled the virtues of the Sibelius notation software. Some of you wrote that you were thinking about upgrading. Just wanted you to know that through Dec. 12, you can upgrade to Sibelius 5 for $85 if you own a regular copy, or $65 if you own a student or educational copy. Check it out here. …

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Developing Arrangements Quickly – Band on the Run Video

Over the years I’ve tried to streamline our rehearsals. Part of it is knowing that folks have other things they’re involved in. Like being with their family. But the other part is that sometimes we just don’t have a lot of time to rehearse. So I’m always looking for ways to maximize that time. At the WorshipGod08 conference I led a seminar called “Band on the Run” that tried to address this issue, covering topics including context, feel, instrumentation, and structure. The seminar was also designed to help churches that were less familiar with arranging songs for a band. Below is a video of the seminar that lasts about 75 minutes. You can download a …

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Encouraging Spontaneity in Your Church

While at the Christian Musician Summit this past weekend I taught a workshop on Encouraging Spontaneity in Your Church. We had about 200 folks crammed into a room that held about 150, so it was, shall we say, a cozy setting. At one point, I led the group in singing spontaneous responses to different sections of Psalm 100, similar to what we did at the WorshipGod conference.  It’s a form of meditating on God’s Word through song. It was moving to hear how God spoke to different individuals through that exercise. Here’s a general outline of what I shared in the seminar. You can download my complete notes here. Cautions About Spontaneity 1. …

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How Do You Teach an Inconsistent Melody?

A friend recently emailed me and expressed a dilemma he was facing when teaching new songs performed by an artist who varies the way he or she sings the melody. My friend asked: When do we go with the lead sheet, and when do we go with the CD melody?  And when do we go with what is simple and consistent and when do we go with what is sung on the CD? I’ve faced the same dilemma. While I’m grateful for many of the new congregational songs that have emerged in recent years, they’re not always sung in a way that makes it easy for a congregation to pick them up. Phrases are elongated in one verse and not the other, melodies are changed, and sometimes …

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Top Ten Ways to Write Bad Worship Songs

In my eleven years as director of worship development for Sovereign Grace Ministries, I’ve reviewed hundreds of worship songs and written a few of my own. Not all of them have been stellar. Actually, very few of them have been. I’ve noticed recurring tendencies that keep weak songs from becoming good or great songs. I’m intimately acquainted with those tendencies in my own songs and I’ve listed my top ten below. While these thoughts are meant for songwriters, most of them apply to leading worship as well. So if you want to write bad worship songs, follow these simple tips: 1. Aim to write the next worldwide worship hit. It’s already been …

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Spontaneous Song for Parents Who Have Lost a Child

Jon Payne is a worship pastor at the Sovereign Grace church in Gilbert, AZ. On the last morning of the WorshipGod08 conference he did a great job leading us in corporate worship. One of the songs he led was Glorious and Mighty, which I posted on here. While preparing, Jon sensed that God wanted to minister through prophetic song specifically to parents who had lost a child. This was his introduction and the song he sang that morning: Over the years I’ve noticed that these songs often come at just the right time. After the conference I learned that there was a young mom in attendance who had lost her first child two years earlier. She …

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What’s the Best Worship Song You’ve Learned Recently?

Just when I start thinking all the best worship songs have already been written (which I don’t really believe), I hear a new song that affects me profoundly. A friend recently sent me an email letting me know that he just taught his church My Soul Finds Rest (Ps 62) by Aaron Keyes and Stuart Townend. I have four categories for congregational worship songs. Must Use, Could Use, Personally Use, and Don’t Use. This is one that I’d put in my Must Use file. There are a number of reasons. It’s based on the Word of God (always a plus) The melody is memorable. The melody is creative. The harmonic progression is fresh. The meter is unique. …

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Glorious and Mighty Choral Arrangment

One of the highlights of WorshipGod08, and there were many, was the conference choir singing Glorious and Mighty on the last morning. Based on Psalm 96, it’s a song written by Todd Twining and Joel Sczebel, with some lyric tweaking by me. Unfortunately, the audio/video didn’t turn out that well, so I wont’ be posting them. But a number of people have requested the arrangement and it’s finally available. The version I arranged for the conference didn’t have any piano part, just the voices. So I added a basic piano accompaniment if you’re just using piano. I think it sounds best with a full band backing it, though. UPDATED CHOIR PARTS (10/03/08): …

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