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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Book Update and Looking for a Subtitle
This past Tuesday morning I sent a semi-finished version of the book I’m writing to my editor. It’s funny how you can work on something for over a year and a half and still end up making a major push at the end. Part of the explanation is that last week my good friend C.J. Mahaney spent two days with me going over every word. His comments, thoughts, and insights were invaluable, but resulted in some more work. At this point, Crossway has the manuscript and will be getting an edited copy back to me in a month or two. In the mean time I’ll have a few friends review the manuscript again. It’s great to be able to write a book in committee. There’s …
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Who Should Win Our To Be Like Jesus Video Contest?
Two months ago I invited people to send in videos based on one of the songs from our most recent kids’ album, To Be Like Jesus (now available for $6 during our February sale). The best video would receive a $250 Amazon.com gift card. We narrowed it down to two finalists. The first, Gotta Wait, is from Jonathan Ruth. The second, To Be Like Jesus, is from the Cannon family. I need your help to pick the winner. To vote, watch both videos and leave a comment letting us know which one you like best (one vote per person). Feel free to elaborate on why you’re casting your vote. If you have kids, you may want to find out which video is their favorite. The …
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Win a Free Copy of Man of Sorrows Glorious King
In my review of David Potter’s album, Man of Sorrows Glorious King, I forgot to mention that he kindly sent me 4 CDs to give away. So I thought I’d do that this weekend. Just leave a comment below on why you think it’s helpful for hymns to be updated musically. I’m interested in compelling responses to those who say in reference to changing lyrics/melodies of familiar hymns, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” At the end of Monday I’ll pick 4 comments at random to receive a free copy of the CD. Thanks! …
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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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All Sovereign Grace Albums on Bandcamp $5 Today!
In the spirit of CyberMonday, we’re selling all our digital albums on Bandcamp today for only $5. That’s right. 5 bucks. That means you can get Grace Has Come (Deluxe Edition), From Age to Age, The Gathering, El Dios Que Adoramos, Together for the Gospel Live II, Risen, Valley of Vision, Sons & Daughters, Upward, Psalms, King of Grace, and more all for only $5. That includes accompaniment trax too. It’s also a great time to get any one of our three kids albums, Awesome God, To Be Like Jesus, and Walking with the Wise. And don’t forget out Christmas album, Savior! If you think someone else might like Christ-exalting, theologically …
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What is a Successful Christian Musician?
This past weekend I had the joy of speaking on various topics at the Christian Musician Summit in Overlake, WA, near Seattle. It was a very encouraging time, and I met quite a few people who were currently using Worship Matters with their worship team. Great hooking up with old friends and making some new ones. I mentioned to a few folks that I’d be posting my message and workshop notes on my blog. So that’s what I’ll be doing over the next few days. In the opening session I spoke on “What is a Successful Christian Musician?” I chose that topic because I know that when we attend large conferences led by highly skilled musicians, we can be …
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The Prodigal
I came across this video recently on YouTube. It uses a song from our Sons & Daughters album, The Prodigal, written by the brother/sister team of Ryan and Meghan Baird. When I first watched it, I was unexpectedly moved by the way the animation communicated the meaning of the lyrics. I quickly forgot that I was watching a video and was drawn into the reality of the Father’s intimate, forgiving, personal love for those he has made his own in Jesus Christ. Good art has a way of pointing our eyes to what matters most. Here are the lyrics: You held out Your arms, I walked away Insolent I spurned Your face Squandering the gifts …
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Book Update and Looking for Contributions
For those of you who are regular readers of Worship Matters, you know that last year I started a book on worship for Crossway. At the end of January, after I had almost finished the first draft, my very good friend, C.J. Mahaney, helped me see that I needed an editor and a more specific audience. I’m happy to report that I now have both. Crossway has hired Thomas Womack, formerly of Multnomah but now an independent editor, to help me write the new book. Thomas and I have had a number of interactions already, and he is a gift from God to me. He has given me invaluable suggestions for what I want to say and how I should say it. The target audience …
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Another Christmas CD Recommendation
Last year I came across An Acoustic Christmas, by guitarist Tom Hemby. The review I read said this was a CD that would "find its way into your CD player long before the Chistmas Season begins." I’m a fan of instrumental acoustic guitar CD’s, and wondered if the product would live up to its reputation. Here’s my report. I do indeed listen to these songs all year round. Tom Hemby is a Nashville studio musician who uses God’s gift of creativity to the utmost. He shies away from arranging a song the way others have already performed it, resulting in a CD that is truly remarkable. It’s certainly grown on me over time, but after multiple …
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John Piper Speaking at WorshipGod09
Even though 2008 isn’t finished yet, I’m in the midst of planning for our next worship conference, WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation, to be held Aug. 5-8, 2009, in Gaithersburg, MD. The main messages will address the importance of passing on biblical values of corporate worship from one generation to the next. I was thrilled when John Piper of Desiring God Ministries agreed to come. He’ll be speaking Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I was also able to confirm my good friend, Jeff Purswell, as a main speaker. Jeff has served us well in the past by providing messages that are biblically rich, theologically insightful, and spiritually …
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Working on Another CD, Passing the Baton
Last week I was in the Sovereign Grace studio with producer Sal Oliveri, recording the vocals for our next project, Psalms, due out at the WorshipGod08 conference in July. I can’t believe we’re already working on another CD when Come Weary Saints just came out. Any way, it was a long but fulfilling week. Ryan Baird, from the Sovereign Grace church in Pasadena, CA, and part of the band West Coast Revival, sang five songs, and brought his usual blend of passion, strength, and thoughtfulness to each song. He also entertained us at times with his brilliant impersonations. Here’s a sample of Kermit singing part of “Greater Than We Can Imagine,” …
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Win a Free Download of Prepare Him Room!
In another post I shared the story behind our new Christmas album, Prepare Him Room. Now you can be one of ten people who can win a free digital copy. Here’s the deal. Leave a comment below telling us your favorite Christmas carol and why in 50 words or less. You can enter three times. I’ll pick some of the most creative answers as winners and the rest at random. How many random comments I pick depends on how many creative responses I get! You have until midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 30 to enter. I’ll announce the winners around noon (EST) on Wednesday, October 1. We’ll contact the winners by email with your download code. And if you …
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The Piano in Contemporary Worship, Part 3
Last month I posted two sessions from the pre-conference workshop I taught at WorshipGod11 on the Piano in Contemporary Worship (Part 1 and Part 2). We finally finished editing the third session. This one took a little more time to edit because people were regularly walking past the window of the door in the video, which is a bit distracting. My good friend Dave Mackenzie performed his video wizardry and edited the movement out. In this session I deal with many of the specific questions I’ve been asked over the years. Those include: chord coloring inversions playing hymns developing your chord vocabulary introductions transitions …
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New Song – How Great You Are
One of the joys of doing what I do is meeting people who share a similar passion for glorifying Jesus Christ through music. Will Pavone has been a good friend of mine for the past few years. He was part of the group Circadian Rhythm a few years ago, served as a worship pastor at McLean Bible Church, and is now at Dallas Theological Seminary. Besides being a great husband and dad, Will is a gifted songwriter. I was e-mailing him the other day about a song I’ve recommend a couple times on Worship Matters, called “How Great You Are.” Will said I could feel free to let people know about or give away any of his songs. He’s that kind of guy. So here …