I’m at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, with my good friend and former senior pastor, C.J. Mahaney. C.J. will be speaking in the chapel services on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and i’ll be leading the singing. I’ll also be teaching two classes on those days. Wednesday night I’ll have the privilege of sharing at Clifton Baptist Church.
I think this will be my 6th or 7th trip to Southern, thanks to Professor Chip Stam. I still remember the first time I drove on to the campus wondering to myself, "What in the world am I doing here?" I thought the same thing as we arrived yesterday. In his providence, God has enabled this ex-Catholic guy, who has a piano performance degree and is now a reformed charismatic Christian, to teach
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The feedback from the Valley of Vision CD we produced earlier this year has been very encouraging. But nothing is more meaningful than someone who takes the time to write and let us know how God has used the truth in the songs we write to make Him bigger in their eyes. I wanted to share a portion of a recent e-mail from Jessica that helped me remember why we continue to write songs for the church.
This summer was a very difficult season for me, yet spectacular at the same time because God was deeply at work in me. Isn’t He always?!! I started to go through an intense time of panic attacks this summer, where I would literally feel fear and panic fall on me like a
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Back in 1991, I had the privilege of leading a Integrity Music Hosanna! project called ‘Chosen Treasure.” It was a great experience, and helped promote the songs of Sovereign Grace songwriters more than anything we had ever done.
Since then, Sovereign Grace Ministries has had different interactions with the folks at Integrity. I spent the last two days at the their Seminars4Worship Event in Pittsburgh, PA, held at Northway Christian Community Church. I met some great folks there who were eager to learn more about how they could serve their churches more effectively.
On Monday I did a seminar based on Col. 3:12-17Colossians 3:12-17
[12]Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and
patience, [13]bearing with one another and, if one has a
complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the
Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. [14]And
above all these put on love, which binds everything
together in perfect harmony. [15]And let the peace of
Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called
in one body. And be thankful. [16]Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another
in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17]And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him. (ESV)
on”How Music Works in Worship.” After thanking the attendees for the way they serve in their local churches, I read this quote from Martin Luther:
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Shane e-mailed me to say that it looks like my RSS feed is broken. I found that if you simply resubscribe, it will work again.
Or, you can simply subscribe through Feedblitz, which sends my posts to your e-mail address.
Julie and I returned from our anniversary trip this past Monday. This is a picture of Uzes, a little town about 45 minutes away from where we stayed in France. We visited it numerous times. God was wonderfully kind to us. We experienced moderate temperatures, sunny skies, and pleasant breezes almost every day. Our love for each other and our gracious God was renewed and deepened. We had opportunity to fellowship with old friends (Pete and Jen Greasley, Stuart and Caroline Townend, Pete and Liz Harwood) and meet new ones at Penge Family Church and the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Adlestrop, England.
I’ve
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I’m still away with Julie on our 30th anniversary trip, seeking to bless her for God’s glory.
This is another quote from Harold Best, this time from his book, Unceasing Worship. He is helping us to distinguish between music as an act of worship and music as an aid to worship.
We make and offer art because we worship; we should not make it to lead us into worship. We can carry [this concept] into the weekly corporate gathering. Since Christians come to such gatherings as continuous worshipers, it should now be obvious that it is erroneous to assume that the arts, and especially music, are to be depended on to lead us to worship or that they are aids to worship or tools for worship. If we think this
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This quote comes from Music Through the Eyes of Faith, by Harold Best. It’s the most biblical treatment of using music for the glory of God that I’ve read.
The Scriptures include or allude to just about every approach to worship there is: organized, spontaneous, public, private, simple, complex, ornate, or plain. Yet there is no comment anywhere about any one way being preferred over another. Rather, it is the spiritual condition of the worshiper that determines whether or not God is at work. This fact alone countermands the tendency to assume that if we could just find the correct or fashionably relevant system, all will be well and God will come down. This doesn’t imply that we have no responsibility to make intelligent and sensitive choices or to be
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I’m in Europe right now with my bride of 30 years, seeking to communicate how much I love her for the glory of God.
But here’s a great quote from a great book, Engaging with God, by David Peterson. He is describing how the worship of heaven seen in the book of Revelation should influence the songs we sing now.
Singing the praises of God and the Lamb is undoubtedly an important Christian activity. It is a way of affirming fundamental gospel truths together and of acknowledging God’s powerful but gracious rule over nature and history. Together with teaching and various forms of exhortation, it can strengthen Christians to maintain their confidence in God and in the outworking of his purposes in a world devoted to idolatry and every kind
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I’m in Europe right now with my bride of 30 years, seeking to communicate how much I love her for the glory of God.
In the mean time, here’s a quote I pray will encourage your soul today. It’s from an article entitled “Advice on Reading,” by the Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter. After commending Scripture as the ultimate book to read, he highlights the benefit of reading godly books. Finally, he offers a few questions to help us make the most of our reading.
Every congregation cannot hear the most judicious or powerful preachers: but every single person may read the books of the most powerful and judicious; preachers may be silenced or banished, when books may be at hand: books may be kept at a smaller charge than preachers:
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Someone wrote in to ask:
Do you know of a *good* recorded version of Luther’s "A Mighty Fortress" that someone could buy? By this I mean it is sung by a large group of people who know why they are singing it, in as neutral a style as possible.
I suppose a "neutral style" means one that won’t offend conservative musical tastes, but is still passionate. Since I don’t know of a recording like this, I thought I’d see if anyone else did.
Thanks.
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