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12 Reasons You Should Come to WorshipGod22: Unchanging

By on March 18, 2022 in —WorshipGod Conferences

It’s been three long years since we hosted our last WorshipGod conference. The theme in 2019 was “The Glorious Christ,” and the night before the conference began we recorded a live album, also called The Glorious Christ. Both the conference and the recording explored the riches of the Savior who came to bear the weight of our sins and is now reigning in heaven until he returns for his bride. It was a fantastic time! But that was then. And we’re more than ready for this year’s conference, Unchanging. So much has happened in the past three years to remind us of our frailty, the inconstancy of our surroundings, and our inability to control …

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The Book is Finally Done

By on November 28, 2007 in —Worship Matters book

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 …

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Looking for Free MP3 Messages or Sermons on Worship?

By on August 29, 2007 in —Free Messages

Since a few dozen bloggers have already announced that we at Sovereign Grace Ministries have decided to give away all our message MP3’s, I thought I should do the same. Especially since I work here. We decided to give away all past and future messages simply because we hope more people might benefit from their content. I always appreciate it when I go to a site and can download messages for free with no hassle. Now you can do that at the Sovereign Grace website. Free messages can be a mixed blessing. You end up with a overloaded iPod filled with sermons you never have time to listen to. I’ve been there. In fact, I still am. So, to make it …

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Looking for Stories…

By on October 4, 2006 in —Worship Matters book

Many of you know I’m writing a book for Crossway, to be assigned the catchy name of Worship Matters. I’m in the middle of a chapter tentatively called "The Word in Worship." I’d be interested in hearing from any of you who have stories to tell about how the Word of God has been used fruitfully or not at all in times of corporate worship. What are the benefits you’ve seen of honoring Scripture? How have you seen God’s Word creatively presented? What elements and practices have you seen that vie for its authority? I’m not so much interested in opinions or reflections as I am real life situations that you’ve seen, led, or experienced. I’ll …

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Top Ten Reasons to Register Now for the WorshipGod06 Conference

By on July 19, 2006 in —WorshipGod Conferences

Some of you who have heard me talk about the WorshipGod06 conference, "The Glory of His Presence," are still wondering whether or not you should come. To help you with your decision, I’ve taken the liberty of listing the top ten reasons why you should make this a matter of prayer. #10. Gaithersburg, Maryland, like all of metropolitan Washington, D.C., is lovely in August; a veritable tropical paradise, a vacation hot-spot, rivaling the Bahamas in appeal. #9. Pre-registration ends in 5 days, July 23. You can still register at the door, but you won’t get a fancy pre-printed name tag, and you’ll avoid the potentially dangerous experience …

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The Joy of Developing Song Writers

By on February 6, 2008 in —Songwriting

For the past few years, we’ve been trying to encourage and develop the songwriters in Sovereign Grace churches. This past week we spent three days with thirteen song writers working on songs for an upcoming Psalms project, to be released at the WorshipGod08 conference. It was one of the most encouraging annual retreats we’ve had. Songwriters sometimes think that the only model they can follow is worship leaders like Matt Redman or Chris Tomlin. I thank God for those guys and others like them. God has gifted them with the whole package of vocal, melodic, lyrical, and leadership gifts. Unfortunately, those kind of song writers are rare. We don’t …

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Monday Devotions – Preaching the Gospel to Myself

By on February 27, 2006 in Devotions

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Col. 1:21-23) Do you find your life is often an emotional roller coaster? Is your perspective dependent on the trials or blessings your’e currently experiencing? That’s not God’s intention. He wants us to remain "stable and steadfast, …

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WorshipGod09 Has Come and Gone

By on August 10, 2009 in —WorshipGod Conferences

God was good to us at WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation. I know in a few days all the mistakes, problems, “things I wish we had done better,” will be more evident to me, but right now I’m very aware of many specific ways that God answered our prayers. One of my favorite parts was getting to spend some time with folks I haven’t met or have only known through the Internet. Had a great time with some of the Acts29 worship pastors from Louisville, Seattle, St. Louis, and Dallas. Thanks to Tim Smith for setting that up. Also got to hang out with the folks from Enfield, the band that leads the music at Grace Community Church’s Resolved …

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Worship Leaders – Should Sound Teams Recycle Batteries?

By on February 9, 2007 in —Sound and Tech

Jonathan sent this question in: Several members of my church’s A/V team proposed that we begin using NiCd 9 Volt batteries for all of our wireless equipment, following the thought that our church should be good stewards of God’s gifts and not use alkaline batteries, which can be seen as expensive, wasteful, and harmful to the environment. Unfortunately, because of the energy-leaking nature of NiCd batteries, we are quickly becoming frustrated with their lack of dependability, compared to their alkaline brethren. My question is this: as stewards of not only the audio/visual quality of each service, but also finance and the environment, what are …

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

By on October 14, 2008 in —Choosing Songs, —Music Reviews, —Songwriting

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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Song List for Together for the Gospel Conference

By on April 19, 2008 in —Hymns, —Together for the Gospel

This past week I had the privilege of leading worship in song for the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, Kentucky. What a joy it was to lead over 5000 attendees, mostly pastors, in worshiping our great Redeemer for his matchless work of redemption. They came from a variety of denominations and churches, mostly from the United States, but from as far away as Australia and India. (I have a story about the pastor from India at the end of this post) A number of people asked me for the song list and lyrics to the songs we sang. Most of the hymns we sang were public domain, but a few were Sovereign Grace Music and songs by Stuart …

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On Vacation

By on June 5, 2006 in —Family

This week I’m with my family, my son’s family, my other son’s family, my daughter’s family, and Eric Simmons’ family at the beach. Yes, that’s a lot of people. And we’re here to rest, read, sing, enjoy fellowship, laugh together, grow in our relationship with God and each other, share meals, and build memories. All for God’s glory. I’ve realized over the years that if I go on a vacation with the intention of serving myself, I’ll come back less refreshed, and have a "sin-fest" along the way. Believe me, I’ve tried it. I’ve also learned that while WE might take vacations, sin and temptation don’t. My surroundings might change for a week, …

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The Perils of Technology

By on April 27, 2006 in —Sound and Tech

I should have known these things by now. I’m down in Louisville, Kentucky this week, enjoying the privilege of leading corporate worship at the Together for the Gospel conference. About 3000 pastors have gathered to learn about, celebrate, and respond to the central truth around which our unity is built – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The conference is the fruit of four men who have share a deep and meaningful friendship around the Gospel. Ligon Duncan pastors a church in Mississippi and has significant influence in the Presbyterian Church in America. Al Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is often quoted or interviewed …

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When Things Don’t Go As Planned, Take 2

By on January 2, 2010 in —Leading a Congregation, —Worship and the Spirit, —WorshipGod Conferences, Videos

What do you do when you start leading a song in two different keys? At our WorshipGod08 conference, we had the opportunity to find out as Joseph Stigora started “Psalm 96” in one key and the rest of the band from Covenant Fellowship came in a step higher. I posted on this previously, but here’s the video again: I got an email recently from a Sovereign Grace worship leader who shared how that incident at the conference encouraged him on a recent Sunday. This is what he wrote: We are a church of about 150 or so, so when you mess up it feels really uncomfortable because everyone is so close. It had been a while since something happened. Sunday …

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Keith and Kristyn Getty

By on February 5, 2008 in —WorshipGod Conferences

This past Sunday we had the joy of hosting Keith and Kristyn Getty at our Sunday meeting. Keith and Kristyn have become dear friends since they moved to the U.S. two years ago, so I was delighted when they called and said they were going to be in the D.C. area this week and wondered if we would have any interest in having them share a couple songs on Sunday morning. After a few email exchanges, everything was a go. Having guest musicians on Sunday is a rare occurrence for us for a number of reasons. Having traveled on the road for twelve years with GLAD back in the 70s and 80s, I know that an artists often have set procedures and song lists …

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