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 …
Sovereign Grace CDs and Books for Ridiculous Prices — and Free Shipping
So yesterday I’m sitting in my office and I receive an email from Pat Ennis, the executive director of Sovereign Grace Ministries. It’s brief and to the point. He says he wants to reduce the price of our Pursuit of Godliness books and all our CDs to $6 and offer free domestic shipping. For a full month. He also says to come by his office if I want to appeal his plan. So I stop by and find him talking with Tommy Hill, the financial wizard of Sovereign Grace. I appeal that maybe we should consider $7. Nope. Not enough of a reduction in price. In fact, Pat ended up dropping the price of the books another dollar. The bottom line is this. From February …
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It Is Not Death to Die
Yesterday I led a couple songs during the funeral of Mark Walker, a dear friend from a church I used to be a pastor at years ago. It was one of the most joyful memorial services I’ve been to, due largely to the glowing countenance of Marks’ widow, Marie. Everyone who honored Mark also took time to honor Marie for her joy, faithfulness, servant heart, and trust in God. She cared for Mark around the clock for the last two years as he tried to make it through a second liver transplant. Mark’s fight is finally over. He’s rejoicing with his Savior. At the funeral, I had the privilege of singing a song called It Is Not Death to Die. I wrote it a …
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Can Christian Musicians Play Secular Music for God’s Glory?
Steve left a comment on a previous post, asking about the validity of a secular music “ministry,” referencing a comment Phil Keaggy made years ago about the lack of spiritual Christians involved in the secular music field. I received an e-mail recently asking a similar question about the legitimacy of Christian musicians pursuing a career in secular pop music. How should we think about it? Is it always wrong? It is something we should encourage?Here are some thoughts I’ve shared over the years with individuals who were trying to determine God’s will for their lives in this area. The most important question to ask (and sometimes the most …
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Encouraging Spontaneous Singing on Your Team
I received this question from Steve: In the past year or so I’ve been encouraging the vocalists on our Sunday morning worship teams to feel more freedom to sing spontaneously between verses or musical lines. They hear me speaking or singing during a song and a few of them are beginning to grow in freedom. I think it’s generally been a positive contribution to our corporate worship. However, on a few occasions it’s misfired: we’ve spoken/sung over the top of each other, what they contribute wasn’t clear, or it wasn’t musically fitting. And on at least one occasion a vocalist’s contribution had the effect of momentarily blurring …
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Another Reason to Sing About the Cross
I just finished reading Where Wrath and Mercy Meet, edited by David Peterson. It’s taken from a series of messages given at Oak Hill College in the summer of 2000. They were a response to current challenges to the view that Jesus receiving the punishment we deserved at the cross. Otherwise known as the doctrine of penal substitution. Parts of the book were a little too technical for me, but I especially appreciated the last chapter by Paul Weston, and the appendix by Alan Stibbs. Dr. Stibbs’ contribution came from a message he gave 50 years ago on the need to recover the doctrine of justification by faith in preaching. I think his words can …
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What I Never Want to Do in 2008
This morning, as I often do, I read two of the prayers from The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett. I’ve found these prayers help focus my thoughts on the most important issues in life: the greatness of my sin, the sovereignty of God, the saving work of Christ, the needs of the world, and my eternal destination. The first prayer this morning was “The ‘Nevers’ of the Gospel.” The commitments the author expressed offered a wise perspective as we enter a new year. For my own understanding, I’ve divided the prayer into three sections. I call the first, “Using Truth Rightly.” It has to do with never seeking to know God’s Word in a way that …
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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, …
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God is Born a Man Today – Merry Christmas
Last year we released an album of songs celebrating the Incarnation. We called it Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. It was the CD my family started the day with this morning. Here are the words to the opening song, Christ the Lord, written by my good friend, Mark Altrogge. How my happy heart rejoices I can hear the angel voices “Christ is born” they all are singing From the sky this good news bringing Let the earth rejoice O come and lift your voices Christ the Lord is born today He came from heaven’s throne God is born a man today To bring His children home To bring His children home Death and darkness surely …
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What I’ve Been Working On (not this blog, obviously)
When I first started Worship Matters two years ago, I was posting five days a week. I’ve loosened up some on the schedule since then… I’ve been working on a chapter for a book on worldliness edited by my good friend, C.J. Mahaney. Crossway will be publishing it some time next year. It originated from a series of messages we gave at our a few years back on 1 John 2:15-17. My chapter develops the thought that listening to music without discernment or godly intent reveals a heart willing to flirt with the world. Other chapters address possessions, media, modesty. The final chapter suggests ways God has called us to love the world around us. Most …
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Looking for Translators
Sovereign Grace Ministries is one of a growing number of ministries (including Desiring God and 9Marks) working with and supporting Open Source Mission. The goal of OSM is to build a community of volunteer translators who will collaborate to make gospel-centered resources available in as many languages as possible. Once the books or articles are translated, the finished translations will be available online for free at gospeltranslations.org. It will function like Wikipedia, but instead of producing encyclopedia entries, the content will be translations of Christian books and articles. Because the majority of Christian materials are published …
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Addressing One Another in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
This past Sunday I had the privilege of speaking at Solid Rock Church, the Sovereign Grace church in Riverdale, Maryland, not far from where I live. I spoke on Eph. 5:15-21 and called the message, “Spirit-filled Singing.” I shared six characteristics of singing that are a result of being filled with the Spirit. My first point was “Spirit-filled singing is to each other,” and based on Eph. 5:19 where Paul says we’re “addressing one another.” You’d think in a passage about singing praise to God that Paul would begin with God. He doesn’t. The first focus of our singing Paul mentions is not God, but one another. Col. 3:16 fills this idea out …
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How Do You Manage Membership on a Worship Team?
Recently I was talking to Jon Payne, the worship pastor in the Sovereign Grace church in Gilbert, Arizona. He brought up a question he had been asked about how to handle membership on a team. The particular issue was managing how long people should be on the team, given changing church size, addition of new members, seasons of life, and other factors. I thought his answer was worth sharing here at Worship Matters, so I’ve adopted it here. Each fall we have a meeting where I “fire” everyone. I want them to know I don’t assume they should automatically continue serving on the team. I give them several weeks to pray about their decision, …
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Introducing the New Sovereign Grace Music Website
I’ve been part of Sovereign Grace Ministries since 1981. We’re a family of churches committed to planting and supporting local churches. We support our churches personally and relationally, as well as through a variety of training opportunities and resources. One of those resources is music. That’s because for the past twenty five years we’ve written over 300 songs filled with biblical truth and gospel-saturated passion that reflect the Scriptural themes God has been teaching us – the centrality of the Christ’s substitutionary atonement, the sovereignty of God, the active presence of God’s Spirit, gratefulness, the doctrine of sin, and more. …
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The Book is Finally Done
For those of you who have been following this blog for a while, you know that I’ve been working on a book for over a year now. I’m happy to report that I’m finally done. The book will be called Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God and will be published by Crossway. I mailed in the final manuscript about two weeks ago, and I’m one happy guy. Lord willing, it will be available in April. The book is written for those who lead congregational worship in song, but I think it will serve anyone in leadership, as well as Christians who want to discover more about what it means to worship God. Not surprisingly, I’m already …
