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, …
Search results for "music: Gift or god"
WorshipGod09 Has Come and Gone
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 …
Share this post:
Worship Leaders – Should Sound Teams Recycle Batteries?
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 …
Share this post:
What’s the Best Worship Song You’ve Learned Recently?
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. …
Share this post:
Song List for Together for the Gospel Conference
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 …
Share this post:
The Story Behind O Come, All You Unfaithful
We’ve been really encouraged by the response to O Come, All You Unfaithful, the opening track on our new Christmas album, Heaven Has Come. A number of people have said the song has made them freshly aware of how good the gospel really is. Amen. I had the joy of writing the song with Lisa Clow, although I really only helped her refine and finish a song she wrote a few Christmases ago. She brought what she had written to the Sovereign Grace songwriters retreat this past January. I’ll let Lisa tell you in her own words how it came about: I was struggling. It had been a long year and a half. Finances were stressful, I miscarried twins, …
Share this post:
On Vacation
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, …
Share this post:
Show Us Christ – Video from The Gathering
When we were putting together the songs for The Gathering: Live from WorshipGod11, we ended up having not one, but two songs that served as a “prayer for illumination.” One is Your Words of Life, written by Pat & Joel Sczebel. The other is Show us Christ, which I co-wrote with Doug Plank. Show Us Christ reminds us that the purpose of preaching God’s Word is not simply to give insights for living, impress people with our knowledge of Greek, or to tell people they need to try harder. The primary goal is to display the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). The written and preached Word is meant to point us to the riches of …
Share this post:
The Perils of Technology
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 …
Share this post:
When Things Don’t Go As Planned, Take 2
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 …
Share this post:
Keith and Kristyn Getty
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 …
Share this post:
12 Reasons to Come to WorshipGod24: One with Christ
Two years ago we hosted our last WorshipGod conference in Louisville, KY, Unchanging. We reflected on the goodness of the God “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17, ESV).” But we’re more than ready for our next WorshipGod conference, coming July 24-27 to Louisville, KY. This year’s theme is One with Christ: How Our Union with Christ Changes Everything. Years ago, I came across this quote in Jerry Bridges’ classic, The Discipline of Grace: The New Testament concept of the believer’s union with Christ is one of the most important truths of Scripture. (p. 65) I was surprised at the strength of …
Share this post:
I’m Writing Another Book
One of my first commitments after finishing my first book, Worship Matters, was never to write another book. As most authors I’ve spoken to will acknowledge, writing is anything but fun. It takes long hours, a commitment over a lengthy period of time, patience, and a lot of looking at what you’ve just written and saying to yourself, “I wouldn’t even read this.” But God has a way of changing desires… About six weeks ago I was talking to Justin Taylor, who works for my publisher, Crossway. Justin has been a most supportive friend, and told me that my first book has been doing well. So…he wondered if I might be interested in writing …
Share this post:
WorshipGod06 Conference Messages and Blog
Julie and I went out to dinner last night to celebrate some of the many evidences of grace we experienced at the conference. She has been amazingly gracious, supportive, and helpful to me during this season. One of the things I told her was that it was a joy to meet many of you who read this blog and are faithfully serving your local churches with integrity, passion, biblical faithfulness, humility, and a desire to see the Savior exalted. Thank you for coming to the conference. More importantly, thank you for honoring Jesus Christ with your lives. If you weren’t able to make the WorshipGod06 conference, or if you’d like to listen to the messages …
Share this post:
New CD – The Apostles Creed
Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. If you don’t know those names, you should. They are the co-writers of In Christ Alone, and as far as I can tell, are among the most gifted songwriters for congregational worship alive today. Stuart has been a friend for a number of years and I met Keith and his wife Kristyn this past year. My church had the joy of hosting all three of them for an event last September. I was challenged and inspired by Keith’s passion to equip the church through theologically rich songs. What makes his focus so impressive is that he doesn’t write the lyrics for the songs he composes with Stuart – he writes the melodies. …
