Last week, I was talking to Matthew Williams, one of the pastors of Kingsway Community Church in Richmond, VA. They’re sending out a group of folks to plant a church in Fredericksburg, VA this fall. Matthew was asking me how I’d counsel a worship leader that’s starting out on a church plant. In the middle of our conversation I thought he might not be the only guy asking this question. So here are some the things I told Matthew I’d do if I was going to lead worship on a church plant. 1. Because people will be coming from different churches, backgrounds, and experiences, I’d plan to take extra time to explain our philosophy of worship. Every …
Songs from the 2009 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference (and a free song)
Things have been kind of busy around here lately. Last week I had the privilege of leading worship for the Sovereign Grace Pastor’s Conference. Had about 800 folks came, including around 170 guests. The main messages were rich. CJ Mahaney spoke twice on 1 Pet. 5:1-4, focusing our eyes on the great Shepherd and the high calling of caring for his people. Dave Harvey addressed “What Makes the Great Commission Great?” He offered a compelling presentation of a church-based mission strategy. Jeff Purswell spoke from 2 Tim. 2:15 on “The Pastor and His Teaching.” He challenged us and equipped us for the priority of preaching God’s Word. Jared Mellinger …
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If You’re Into Beatboxing (and even if you aren’t)
I don’t know too much about beatboxing, except that I can’t do it. Wikipedia defines beatboxing as “a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one’s mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and more.” And more? Guess that leaves it wide open. I recently became aware of the Beatbox Chef video. After a little Google research I realized I may be one of the ten people on the planet who hasn’t seen this. But maybe you’re one of them, too. The Brit in the video below goes by the name of “Beardyman.” I’ve watched his video numerous times with amazement. His timing is impeccable. One …
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WorshipGod09 Rates About to Go Up
If you’re thinking about coming to WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation, Aug. 5-8, rates go up $25 next Wednesday, April 1. Right now high school and college students are $85, groups of 5 or more are $110, and individuals are $135. Looks like it’s going to be a great time. Main session speakers include John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Thabiti Anyabwile, and yours truly. Don Whitney will be speaking on family worship and cultivating a thirst for God. Musical guests include Keith and Kristyn Getty, Christian hip-hop artist Shai Linne, and guitarist Ben Gowell. We’ll also have a number of the musicians, bands, and pastors that I’ve …
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How I Got Here
Ben, a 28 year old worship leader, is in the midst of some career decisions. He emailed me the following to me: You seem to be actively employing several different gifts and passions. You’re sort of a hybrid preacher/producer/worshiper/blogger guy. You are living outside the box – and that’s exciting to me. As I dream of what my life and career could look like, my most satisfying career would look a lot like yours does now. However, I don’t really know how to get from where I am now to where I’d like to be. I wonder how it is that you’ve come to the place where you are now: leading worship, producing albums of your church’s …
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Praising God in a Multi-Language Congregation
I received this suggestion for a WorshipGod09 seminar from Mike: I am on the leadership team of a new church here in Harare, Zimbabwe. We have combined two congregations – one of which used to worship in Shona and the other which is more comfortable in English. In the new combined congregation, we have some who are mono-lingual. How do I agree with a spontaneous prayer if I do not know if they are praising His glory, interceding for the nation, or praying for Maria’s sore toe? Many of us, even if mono-lingual in speech, can sing in three or four languages! But how meaningfully? We are considering having bi-lingual projections on screen …
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50 Messages on Worship
Over at his blog, Between Two Worlds, my friend Justin Taylor has posted links to a number of messages on worship that were given at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Speakers include David Peterson, John Frame, Kevin Twit, Harold Best, Keith and Kristyn Getty, Michael Card, Jason Harms, and yours truly. Over 50 messages, all with links. I was was able to attend David Peterson’s lectures and thought they were outstanding. Topics cover worship as it relates to the music, the arts, hymns, lament, the cross, the Word, postmodernism, jazz, and more. Check out the lectures here. …
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Software for Managing Songs
A friend of mine, Jordan Liggitt, has developed a software program for managing songs. It’s part of the Gospel Software site which produces “online tools to ease church administration.” The specific software for music is in the songbook section of the site. I asked Joseph Stigora, worship pastor at Covenant Fellowship in Philadelphia, to give me his thoughts on it, as he’s been using it for a while now. Here’s what he said. For years I had been looking for a software that would allow me to input our own song sheets and transpose them instantly. Those were my only criteria, really. I was using a program that allowed for that but it had …
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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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WorshipGod09 Registration Now Open
The WorshipGod09 website is now up. Here’s what I posted on the home page: What are we teaching future generations about worshiping God? What kind of legacy will we leave? Will those who follow us be more impressed with our music or our God? Maybe the psalmist had those questions in mind when he wrote, “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4 ESV)? To equip us for declaring the mighty acts of God to the next generation, John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, and Thabiti Anyabwile will be addressing us at the general sessions of WorshipGod09. Keith and Kristyn Getty will also …
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WorshipGod09 Registration Delayed Until Friday
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. (Prov. 16:9) So glad that verse is in the Bible. We had planned to open registration for WorshipGod09 tonight at 12:01 AM, but things have been a little busy around here. So if you planned to register for WorshipGod09 tomorrow, you won’t be able to. The only reason I mention it is that we typically give the first person who signs up a free registration. And I don’t want anyone staying up until midnight tonight to try to be the first one to register. Lord willing, the website will launch and registration will open this Friday, Feb. 27, at 12:01 AM. Thanks for your patience. …
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Remembering WorshipGod08 — Anticipating WorshipGod09
This past week I’ve been finalizing the seminars for WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation, to be held Aug. 5-8 at Covenant Life Church. With the suggestions from last year’s conference, comments left on this blog, and a few other sources, I’ve had plenty of ideas to choose from. The schedule is just about complete, and I’m pretty excited about the way things are turning out. One recent development is that Keith and Kristyn Getty will be joining us again. They’ll be teaching two seminars on songwriting and sharing some of their songs in a main session. I’ve also asked pastor and Christian rapper Shai Linne to encourage us with his unique …
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How Loud the Worship Team?
Over at Christianity Today, John Stackhouse, Jr. expresses his thoughts on the volume of worship teams in an article called, “Memo to Worship Bands.” He gives five reasons why church music teams should tone down the volume. 1. Cranking up the volume is just a cheap trick to add energy to a room. 2. When your intonation is not very good, turning it up only makes it hurt worse. 3. The speakers in most church PA systems cannot take that much energy. 4. Consider that you might be marginalizing older people. 5. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation’s praise. After saying that musicians “should …
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Crazy Sovereign Grace Music and Book Sale
We’re doing it again. Having a ridiculous sale, that is. Last year, during the month of February, we reduced the prices of our CDs and books. The response was overwhelming. So we decided to repeat the lunacy. Here’s the deal: From February 1–28, at the Sovereign Grace store, you’ll find these prices: Sovereign Grace books (23 of them, including Worship Matters, Worldliness, and Living the Cross Centered Life): $7 each all CDs produced by Sovereign Grace Music (including Together for the Gospel Live, Psalms, Come Weary Saints, Awesome God, In a Little While, and Valley of Vision): $6 each all books in our Pursuit of Godliness …
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When God Comes to Church
As 2008 turned over to 2009 I was in the midst of reading When God Comes to Church by Ray Ortlund, Jr. I didn’t want the year to get too far before I shared some great quotes from this book that came out in 2000. The first half of the book describes what God does to bring revival (comes down, reinvigorates, heals, pours out his Spirit, raises up, and restores).The second half describes what we can do to prepare the way (return, seek, humble ourselves). Each chapter is an expositional treatment of a specific Old Testament passage. Ortlund begins with, “Revival is a season in the life of the church when God causes the normal ministry of …
