Back in 2006, Sovereign Grace Music hosted our first WorshipGod conference in Maryland. Since then, we’ve led conferences in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and the UK. By my count, this year will be our 20th. Each time we prepare for another one, I ask myself the same question: Do we really need another worship conference? Obviously, I think the answer is yes. Which is why we’ll be gathering in Louisville, KY, July 31-Aug. 3 for WorshipGod19 – The Glorious Christ: Music is great. Jesus is greater. There are a number of worship conferences you can choose from these days. They range from massive productions …
Tag Archives | Worship Conferences
WorshipGod11: The Gathering
Even though it’s still eight months away, I’m in the middle of planning for WorshipGod11, to be held Aug. 10-13, 2011 at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. This year’s theme will be “The Gathering.” The idea crystalized while I was reading Bryan Chapell’s excellent book, Christ-Centered Worship. When most of us plan our meetings we tend to think in separate categories – the songs, the announcements, creative elements, the message, communion, ministry time, etc. Chapell makes a strong case for having a gospel mindedness that affects not only what we do but how we put it all together. In other words, every time we meet a clear gospel …
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Looking Back at WorshipGod09
As I review the past year, one of my highlights was definitely WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation, featuring John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Thabiti Anyabwile, Keith & Kristyn Getty, Shai Linne, Don Whitney, and many more. Over 1700 worshipers of God gathered for 3 1/2 days of singing, instruction, fellowship, and equipping. From the evaluations we got, God met us in wonderful and specific ways. We just put together a slide show (using Animoto) that gives you a sample of what took place at the conference. The soundtrack is The Father’s Love, from Sons & Daughters, the album that we released at the conference. If …
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Remembering WorshipGod09
My good friend, Andy Alonso, took pictures at WorshipGod09, and put together this slide show. Brings back a lot of great memories. You can watch a larger size version over at Andy’s site. …
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Song Lists from WorshipGod09
After last year’s WorshipGod conference we received some feedback that we had introduced too many new songs. I agreed. So at WorshipGod09 we tried to include more songs that people would be familiar with, while also including songs from our recent projects. Here’s what we ended up with. Song list from Wednesday PM: 1. Come Thou Fount – By Robert Robinson, John Wyeth and Bob Kauflin. Guitar chart. 2. Greater Than We Can Imagine – Sovereign Grace Music. From Psalms. 3. The Father’s Love – Sovereign Grace Music. From Sons and Daughters. 4. God Over All – Sovereign Grace Music. From Looked Upon and Next 2009 Live. 5. Here is Love – By William …
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One Week Until WorshipGod09 Registration Closes
We’re three weeks away from WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation (Aug. 5-8) and the last day for registering is next Wednesday, July 22. Where has the summer gone? So many things I’m looking forward to about the conference. With the help of my good friend, Jeff Purswell, I finally nailed down what the topics of the main sessions are going to be. They’re all related to significant issues to think about as we pass corporate worship from generation to generation. Wed. PM – The God of Worship (John Piper) Thurs. AM – The Heart of Worship (John Piper) Thurs. PM – The Leaders of Worship (Jeff Purswell) Fri. AM – The Church of Worship …
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Three Weeks Until WorshipGod09 Registration Closes
Life comes at you fast sometimes… I’ve been finishing up a few projects, including our latest kids’ CD, To Be Like Jesus, and the Next Live CD, from our Next conference. That will be available next Wednesday. 13 songs for $5. I’ll keep you posted on the details. But I just looked at my calendar and saw that it’s exactly five weeks until WorshipGod09 begins, and three weeks until registration closes. This will be our 7th conference since 1999, all held at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. I’m looking forward to WorshipGod09 for a number of reasons. We’ll be spending three and a half days hearing rich teaching, singing …
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WorshipGod09 Rates About to Go Up
The Next conference is now history. What a fantastic time. I’ll be posting reflections and the song list on Worship Matters in the next few days. In the mean time, it’s time to turn to the next big event on my calendar – WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation, Aug. 5-8, to be held in Gaithersburg, MD, near Washington, D.C. We have a great line up of speakers and musicians including John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Thabiti Anyabwile, Jeff Purswell, Don Whitney, Keith and Kristyn Getty, Shai Linne, Ben Gowell, and more. As in years past, we’ll have plenty of giveaways, free lunches for registrants, new songs to learn, and teachings meant to …
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Remembering WorshipGod08 — Anticipating WorshipGod09
This past week I’ve been finalizing the seminars for WorshipGod09: From Generation to Generation, to be held Aug. 5-8 at Covenant Life Church. With the suggestions from last year’s conference, comments left on this blog, and a few other sources, I’ve had plenty of ideas to choose from. The schedule is just about complete, and I’m pretty excited about the way things are turning out. One recent development is that Keith and Kristyn Getty will be joining us again. They’ll be teaching two seminars on songwriting and sharing some of their songs in a main session. I’ve also asked pastor and Christian rapper Shai Linne to encourage us with his unique …
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Ideas for WorshipGod09 Seminars
I’m in the midst of planning for our WorshipGod09 conference, “From Generation to Generation.” It will be held Aug. 5-8, in Gaithersburg, MD, right outside of Washington, D.C. I announced earlier that John Piper — pastor, theologian, author, and friend — will be taking two main sessions. I’m also looking forward to doing a session with C.J. Mahaney where we’ll talk about what we’ve learned about worship over the past 30 years. We got some great responses from our evaluation form this past year on things we can improve about the conference. I’m excited about some of the changes we’ll be making. But one area I’d love to hear your thoughts …
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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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WorshipGod Conference Rescheduled for Next Year
Since 2000 Sovereign Grace has been hosting a worship conference every other year. We had planned to hold another one in 2010 but plans have changed. Due to the fact that we hold two other conferences every other year, we decided to go ahead and have the next WorshipGod conference August 5-8, 2009. The tentative theme is “From Generation to Generation.” I’m thinking we’ll focus on the way forms, methods, practices, and most importantly, the substance of corporate worship is passed on from one generation to the next. What should we hold on to? What should we leave behind? What should we reconsider? Who makes the decisions? Are separate meetings …
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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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WorshipGod Conference 2008
Some people have already asked me if Sovereign Grace was planning a worship conference for next year. Indeed we are. The dates are going to be July 30 – August 2. The location will again be my home church, Covenant Life, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. We haven’t finalized the details yet, but we’re working on them. Lord willing, we’ll have produced two more CD’s before the conference, so we’ll have a number of new songs to teach. For more information you can check out the Sovereign Grace website.
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President Bush at the WorshipGod06 Conference
Last August at the WorshipGod06 conference, I wanted to welcome Irish singer/songwriters Keith and Kristyn Getty to the conference in a special way. If you didn’t know, Keith and Kristyn write theologically rich, musically appealing contemporary hymns for the church, and are good friends. So, I got in touch with John Morgan, a guitarist in the Sovereign Grace church in Orlando and also a professional George W. Bush impersonator. I asked if he would introduce the Getty’s at the conference and he was kind enough to say yes. This video was taken the night he welcomed them. He did such a good job that I received a letter from one attendee …