Worship Matters

At last year’s WorshipGod conference, I gave a message on The Future of Worship, based on the opening verses to Psalm 78. I’m increasingly aware of is how important it is to pass on the right things from generation to the next, and this message was an attempt to address that topic. Here’s a 3:45 [...]

I’m in the sixth day of using Prof. Grant Horner’s Bible reading plan and thoroughly enjoying it. It involves reading from 10 different sections of the Bible each day, using bookmarks to keep your place. Each time I read I come away with a greater appreciation for God’s sovereignty over history and am already starting to [...]

Back in 2005 we produced an album called Worship God Live, a live album that featured Pat Sczebel and me each leading six songs. Pat serves as one of the pastors at Crossway Community Church, in Surrey, British Columbia. He’s been a dear friend for years. Pat inspires me in many ways. He’s one of the [...]

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 [...]

If you read my blog, you’ve probably already seen this video put out by North Point Media. It’s racked up thousands of views in the past couple weeks for obvious reasons and sparked some lively debate over at Vimeo.com. Like most viral videos seeking to make a point, this one has its supporters and detractors. Some [...]

I’ve known Josh Harris for 12 years, but actually been a fan of his for much longer. Back in the mid-90′s he was publishing a magazine called New Attitude, which I thought was the hippest thing going for home schooling families. Today, he’s my senior pastor. His first book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, ended up [...]

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) has few peers when it comes to stirring up biblically informed passion for Jesus Christ. My wife made me aware of one of his quotes today from The Daily Spurgeon. It’s from a sermon called “The Fulness Of Jesus, The Treasury Of Saints,” that Spurgeon delivered February 28, 1869. Spurgeon describes how both preaching and music grow [...]

I’ll never make any apologies for encouraging Christians to live cross-centered lives, or leaders to lead in gospel-centered ways. Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross which reconciled us to God will always be central to our faith. But while we are called to glory in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14), the death of Christ isn’t [...]

I’ve been reading in Isaiah recently and have been freshly reminded of God’s hatred for idols and his passion for his own glory: Is. 43:11 I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior. Is. 44:6    Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: [...]

One of the drums I will never tire of beating is this: All biblical worship is rooted in and made possible by the cross of Christ. In my experience, the contemporary church (and any church, for that matter) is always in danger of neglecting the gospel in its songs. I said it this way in [...]

Whatever you believe about the timing of the return of Christ, orthodox Christians all agree on one thing: Jesus is coming back. Scripture tells us that when Jesus finally returns, all wrongs will be made right, the unrighteous will be judged, and those who have trusted in Christ will enter into the immediate presence of [...]

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 [...]

In October of 2008, I posted that my goal was to read through the ESV Study Bible and notes (excluding the articles at the end) by the end of 2009. It took a little extra time this past week, but I finished Revelation 22 today. In my post last year, I gave ten reasons why [...]

The blizzard of 2009 prevented our church from meeting this morning. We ended up having a few families from our neighborhood over for a time of singing and prayer, thanking God for all his gifts, especially sending his Son to redeem us. After that we chowed down on eggs and french toast. I appreciated what [...]