Worship Matters

I’ve been asked more than once how you can lead people in singing God’s praise when you’re going through your own personal trials. This past weekend I had the opportunity to find out first hand.
I was out of town last week and on Wednesday morning received a call from my son, Jordan. He and his [...]

55.
A speed limit. Five years past half a century. LV. Double nickels.
And today, my age. I finally qualify for the 10% senior discount at Jiffy Lube.
I remember when 55 seemed really old. Right now it feels like the prime of life.  What does a 55 year old worship leader think about? Here’s a sample…
1. The years I [...]

On Friday night at WorshipGod09, Jeff Purswell interviewed CJ Mahaney and me about some things we had learned over thirty years of leading, much of that together. From the early 90’s I was involved in leading the music at various Sovereign Grace conferences, and then in 1997 I became the worship pastor at Covenant Life Church, [...]

Ben, a 28 year old worship leader, is in the midst of some career decisions. He emailed me the following to me:

You seem to be actively employing several different gifts and passions. You’re sort of a hybrid preacher/producer/worshiper/blogger guy.  You are living outside the box - and that’s exciting to me. As I dream of [...]

Just a little over thirty six years ago, I received the greatest gift I’ll ever receive: salvation from God’s wrath and adoption into his family through the gospel. After that, the gifts I’m most grateful for today are in the picture below, taken this past Thanksgiving. Six children, three spouses of my children, seven [...]

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 [...]

I’ve mentioned the blog of our tech director, Dave Wilcox, before. It’s called “Undistract,” which I think is a great name for a blog devoted to the media and technical aspects of a church.
Recently Dave shared some thoughts on how a stage manager can best serve a band during rehearsal. The relationship between bands and [...]

I’m trying out a new format for Worship Matters that I’ll be working on for the next few days. Of course, if you get Worship Matters by email or RSS, you won’t even notice.
If you have any thoughts in the mean time for things I could add or change, please let me know. Thanks.

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I had the privilege of speaking at the Desiring God National Conference last Saturday morning. It was a whirlwind trip that I made with my daughter (and assistant) Chelsea. We got there for dinner on Friday and caught a 7 PM flight out on Saturday. It came at the end of our two week beach [...]

I don’t know Terry Stauffer personally, but he attended the Together for the Gospel conference in 2006 and blogged on a hymn we sang there, How Sweet and Aweful is the Place. He’s a pastor in Alberta, Canada. That was all I knew. Until yesterday.
Yesterday, someone left a comment on the post where I referenced [...]

I’m heading out from vacation today with my daughter, Chelsea, to speak at the Desiring God National Conference, The Power of Words and the Wonder of God. I’ll be addressing the topic of “Why Does God Want Us to Sing?” It’s a real privilege to speak at this conference along with Sinclair Ferguson, Paul Tripp, [...]

From Sept. 14-28 I’ll be here with my family and a two other families. The only ones who can’t make it this year are my son, Devon, and his wife, Kristine. They had to stay behind because their son is going to be born any day.
Maybe I’ll blog. Maybe I won’t…

Over at the Sovereign Grace website, we’ve finally posted 29 WorshipGod08 seminars for you to listen to or download for free.
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Here’s the list:

Band on the Run (Bob Kauflin)
Building Bridges: Pastors and Worship Leaders (Bob Kauflin)
Caring for Your Sound System (Darryl Wenger)
Copyright Law and Church Music: The Eight Keys (Paul Herman)
Drumming for Worshipers (Jordan Kauflin)
Electric Guitar [...]

Last week I spent four days in beautiful Mt. Hermon, CA, near San Jose. I had the joy of participating in a Christian Songwriter’s Retreat sponsored by the Mt. Hermon Retreat Center. About 300 folks came to learn how to develop their heart and craft as Christian song writers. The speakers/musicians included Paul Baloche, Joy [...]

No, this isn’t me interviewing Tim Smith. It’s Tim interviewing me, which he did this past March when I was out for the Text and Context conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Tim is a good friend, and someone who thinks carefully about what biblical worship is and should be. Although our church situations [...]