Last year Sovereign Grace Ministries took two nights in February to record a live project entitled, Worship God Live. I was privileged to be one of two leaders on the CD, along with my good friend, Pat Sczebel, who is a pastor at the Sovereign Grace church in Vancouver, B.C. We were attempting to accomplish a number of goals through the project. First, we wanted to capture some of the spontaneity and passion of a typical live context. This CD isn’t so much a presentation as an invitation to listeners to exalt the Lord together with us. We were able to include a number of unplanned moments that add to the dynamic quality of the recording. We …
Search results for "music: Gift or god"
Are We Responsible for Musical Literacy in the Church?
I’m getting questions every week now on topics related to worship and music. I wish I had time to answer each one, but I can’t get to them. But thanks so much for writing and assuming I might have an answer to your question. I received this question from Stephen: What effect do you see the “PowerPoint driven church” and American pop culture having on the musical literacy of your instrumentalists, and potentially on the future of the church? Being a worship pastor in a somewhat “emerging” church (AKA rock band and candles with historic Christianity), I am beginning to see the great need for “reproducing” musicians who are musically literate. …
Share this post:
What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 5
We’ve almost reached the place where I talk about what a corporate worship leader is actually supposed to be doing. But not quite. There’s one more thing I want to say about the tools we use to lead congregational worship. An effective worship leader “skillfully combines biblical truth with music.” Skillfully. Skill has been defined as the “the ability to do something well.” With all the benefits of the mass outpouring of worship songs in the past decade, there have been some down sides. One is the belief that a sincere heart, a guitar, and a knowledge of three chords qualifies someone to lead worship in a church. Fortunately, …
Share this post:
A Call for Musically Gifted Pastors
In 2008, I suggested in Worship Matters that the title of “worship leader” needed to be defined to be helpful. So I defined it this way: A faithful worship leader magnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by skillfully combining God’s Word with music, thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the gospel, to cherish God’s presence, and to live for God’s glory. I still like that definition, but I’m less sure the term “worship leader” is serving us. It’s taken on a life of its own and continues to be associated with stardom, predominance, the spotlight, good looks, hipster-ness, and in some cases, …
Share this post:
Blogging to Worship God 3 – Motives
My post from yesterday is already out of date. Technorati.com now says it searches 24.5 million blogs. That’s 100,000 more than yesterday. Which leads me to ask two questions. What are all these people saying? And why are they saying it? The past two days we’ve been talking about ways Christians can distinguish themselves in the blogosphere – in content and attitude. Today, I want to speak to an area that may not be as obvious – our motives. Every action has one or more motives behind it, whether we’re aware or not. Sometimes our motives are godly, sometimes sinful. Often I find that my motives are mixed. While …
Share this post:
What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 6
If a skillful worship leader skillfully combines biblical truth and music, what part does music play? Why is God so concerned that we use music to worship Him? One response comes from Martin Luther. This is a portion of his Forward to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae iucundae, a collection of chorale motets published in 1538: “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits…This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. However, when man’s …
Share this post:
Idolatry on Sunday Mornings, Pt. 2
I tried to come up with a shocking title for these posts to alert us to the difference between a “professed” God and “functional” god. That is, the God we say we believe in, and the god that actually governs our desires and actions. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, idolatry can be active in my heart even as I’m outwardly worshipping God. That’s a sobering thought. Whenever I think I can’t worship God unless “X” is present, I’m making a profound statement. If “X” is anything other than Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I’ve moved into idolatrous territory. Idolatry is always evil, but the idols we pursue aren’t …
Share this post:
Who Pays for Music Equipment?
Justin wrote me and asked: How do you handle the purchase of instruments, equipment, and supplies for your musicians? Does the church purchase all instruments, some instruments, or no instruments? What about supplies (e.g. guitar strings, picks, drumsticks, batteries, reeds, etc.)? Or effects pedals, percussion pieces, etc.? We’ve done this different ways over the years. In general, we’ve learned that people tend to take better care of instruments and supplies when they own or purchase them. For that reason, we typically expect musicians to use their own instruments and purchase their own accessories. We’ve tried to avoid a mentality of …
Share this post:
New CD from Mark and Stephen Altrogge
"In a Little While," the newest release from Sovereign Grace Ministries is now available for download or purchase. It features the songs and vocal talents of my good friends, Mark and Stephen Altrogge (pronounced al-TROAG-ee). Most of the songs are intended for congregational worship. Mark, Stephen’s dad, is best known for his songs, "I Stand in Awe," and "Forever Grateful," but he’s written around 200 worship songs over the past two decades. I’ve had the privilege of working with him up close, and have grown to respect and appreciate him deeply. Here are a few reasons why: Mark is humble. Even though he writes …
Share this post:
Monday Devotions – Unite My Heart
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth;unite my heart to fear your name. (Ps. 86:8-11) I’m on a retreat right now with my care group. Five couples have pulled away for three days to examine our lives and hearts, care for each other’s souls, pray together, and experience the joy of fellowship. At one point I read a portion of Psalm 86 to begin our time. This psalm is a precious …
Share this post:
One More Thought on Training Children to Worship God
After posting this earlier today, I had another thought about training our children to worship God. "Worshipping God" means different things at different ages. Younger children, who may not know God yet, may still participate enthusiastically in various external forms of worshipping God. However, we want their worship to be from the heart, and not simply a matter of conforming. They need a clear knowledge of who God is and what He has done. That includes His nature, His attributes, and His works, especially our redemption through Christ. As the Holy Spirit enables them, they will become increasingly aware of their sinfulness before …
Share this post:
What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 8
I’m in the middle of series on the role of a congregational worship leader, and I’ve been camping out on how music works in worshipping God. Yesterday I addressed how one of the primary functions of music is to help us remember God’s Word. Today, I’d like to share another way music serves us in worshipping God. We sing to respond to God’s grace. Colossians 3:16 tells us that we’re to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God. God is not interested in mere lip service. It dishonors him. But he’s not looking for raw emotionalism either, that is, seeking emotion for its own sake. We sing to express …
Share this post:
My Year of Bible Reading with No Chapters or Verses
Not too long ago I took one of my grandsons out for a bagel and asked him a question. “What’s the most important thing in the world?” I told him it had to be a person or an object. After a long pause, he responded, “The Bible?” “That’s right,” I said. I went on to say that apart from God’s Word, we would have no way of knowing God’s thoughts, commands, warnings, or promises. We’d be limited to general revelation, which gloriously declares aspects of God’s character and deeds, but is silent when it comes to our separation from God and his plan to reconcile us to himself through Christ. The Bible is an unspeakably precious gift that …
Share this post:
What “O Come, All You Unfaithful” Doesn’t Mean
In 2020, I shared the story behind the Sovereign Grace Music song, “O Come, All You Unfaithful.” This past month, we posted a reel of the song on Instagram which has now been shared almost 40,000 times and viewed over a million times. We’ve been surprised, encouraged, and grateful for the response, and at times, troubled. Why troubled? Because when a song (or a portion of a song) reaches a wide audience quickly, the chances for misunderstanding and critique increase exponentially. And a few comments show that what some people are hearing isn’t what the song is saying. Of course, as a co-writer, I think the meaning of the song in its …
Share this post:
A New Five Year Old
Ethan, my first grandson, turned five years old last August. Like most five year olds he’s a combination of energy, inquisitiveness, joy, and occasional mischief. Leave him alone for ten minutes and you never know what’s going to be spilled, turned over, broken, or missing when you return. Experience has taught me it’s always a good idea to keep close watch on a five year old. There’s another five year old that we might keep a close watch on. I’m referring to the iPod. This past Monday, the iPod turned 5. That’s right. It’s only been five years since the appearance of the ubiquitous machine that has now sold over 65 million units. …
