Worship Matters

One of my favorite songs on our Sons & Daughters album is Completely Done. I appreciate the simple, clear, and effective way it challenges our struggles with condemnation. Am I really forgiven? Did God know about that sin? What if I mess up again? Are my sins really fully paid for? Completely Done, by Jonathan [...]

I think it was about 6 weeks ago that I received a copy of the CD, “Love Divine:The Songs of Charles Wesley for Today’s Generation,” which came out April 19. It’s a collection of Charles Wesley (1707-1788) hymns that have been set to music by John Hartley and Chris Eaton. There are a lot of [...]

This past weekend I had the joy of hanging out with Mike Cosper and the gang from Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY. Mike is one of the pastors at the church and heads up Sojourn Music. He’ll be leading a band for one of the main sessions at WorshipGod11 and also co-leading a guitar workshop on [...]

This past Sunday at my church we introduced the song We Belong to the Day, written by Mike Morrow. It’s one of the many theologically rich songs coming our of Emu Music in Australia. I first taught it last April at the New Word Alive conference in Wales. The song is based on 1 Thess. [...]

I’ve been encouraged by the attention hymns have been getting recently. Not because I’m a fan of hymns in general, but because hymns tend to allow for a greater development of the truths we’re singing. I currently have hymns albums from Sojourn Music (The War & The Mercy Seat), Indelible Grace (The Hymn Sing), and [...]

Nathan Fellingham, a good friend and member of the UK group Phatfish, recently made me aware of an EP he produced by Kate Simmonds. One of the songs, “Grace Is Not Earned,” does a great job unpacking the meaning of grace in a Christian’s life. Several things I appreciate about this song. It makes us [...]

Ten years ago Sovereign Grace Music released King of Grace. It immediately became one of our most popular recordings. It features twelve songs that cover themes including the gospel, justification, the cross, evangelism, sanctification, heaven, and passion for God. The musical moods range from joyful celebration to quiet reflection. Although the songs are 10 years old, [...]

I was encouraged recently to hear that Worship Leader magazine had included Generation Letter’s song “King of Peace” on their recent Song Discovery CD. Each Song Discovery CD contains 12-15 congregational songs with  leads sheets and chord charts in 3 keys. Many are from well known bands and artists, but they often feature songs from [...]

Not too long ago I came across the work of Chris Powers, who put together an animated video of one of our songs, The Prodigal. I was moved by the way he used simple animation to illustrate the song in a powerful way. Recently Chris told me he had animated another one of our songs, [...]

Our church is in the middle of a series on 1 Peter and we’ve been talking a lot about suffering. Peter starts off by telling us that we will be grieved by various kind of trials, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may [...]

Last weekend I attended the Resolved conference, led by Rick Holland from Grace Community Church. The conference is based on the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, and this year’s theme was Jesus. In eleven sessions, we got a fire-hydrant dose of why the person and work of Jesus Christ is so glorious and life-changing. This was [...]

I’m thrilled that our latest kids’ album, Walking with the Wise, is finally available. This is the third Sovereign Grace kids’ album, the second being To Be Like Jesus (June 2009), and the first, Awesome God (Aug. 2004). Walking with the Wise contains 13 songs based on different verses from the book of Proverbs. Titles include [...]

Yesterday I posted a song I sang at the NEXT conference for those with disabilities. A week or so before the conference began, I had a growing sense that there would be people at the conference who would be encouraged by attending, but would be battling the effects of sexual sin – either condemnation for [...]

The 16th chapter of my book, Worship Matters, is called “To Cherish God’s Presence.” I talk about how one of the effects of biblical corporate worship is a greater pursuit of God’s active presence. I wrote: For many years I’ve sung spontaneous songs during corporate worship that I believe are a form of prophecy. They’re [...]

I have the joy of leading the singing at Next this coming weekend in Baltimore, MD. I’ll be leading with three bands – The Na Band, Zelos, and Generation Letter. The first two bands have appeared at Next before, but this will be the first time for Generation Letter. All the members of Generation Letter [...]