Worship Matters

We’re wondering which version of “As You Go” to put on our next album, The Gathering:Live From WorshipGod11, due out November 15. This will be the last song on the album.

Version 1 edits out a spoken benediction from Jude 24-25. Version 2 includes the benediction. If you have 8 minutes to watch the video below, let us know which version you think should go on the album. I’ve included the full lyrics below.

Thanks!

As you go may you know the love of Christ
How deep and long, how high and wide
As you leave may you seek to win the prize
And find his death to be Your life

May you go in the love of Your Father God
May you go in the grace of Christ
May you go in the power of the Spirit now
To bring Him glory with your life 

As you go may you know the pow’r of grace
His very strength for what’s to come
As you leave may you feel His mighty hand
Guiding your steps in the race you run

As you go may you show His heart to bless
The ones with less, the blind and lost
As you leave may you be the light of Christ
And show our hope is in the cross
By Mark Altrogge

This coming week I have the privilege for the first time of ministering in Australia. It’s a trip I’ve been working on for about 3 years, waiting for the right time. This seems to be it.

Philip Percival, of EMU Music was the first one to contact me about coming to the TWIST conference, an annual event for church leaders, song leaders, and musicians. This year the date is Saturday, Oct. 8, from 10 AM – 3 PM. Trevor Hodge and Garage Hymnal will also be participating. Looking forward to spending time with both of them.

I’ll also be speaking/leading at a TWIST event in Brisbane on Wednesday night. Thursday afternoon I’ll be speaking at an event at Moore College, followed by a pastors’ conference on Friday. You can get more info and register for any of the TWIST events here.

In addition, I’ll be leading songs and speaking on True Worship at a RICE Regenerate rally on Monday, Oct. 3 at the Wesley Conference Theatre.

Finally, I’ll have the privilege of speaking at Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney, led by Dave Taylor on Sunday Oct. 1 & 8, and at Church by the Bridge, led by Paul Dale, on Sunday evening, Oct. 8. Looking forward to  being with these dear saints.

I hope at some point to start blogging again. Numerous activities and priorities have been taking up a bit of time. Among them has been overseeing Steve Cook as he puts the final touches on our live album, The Gathering, which we hope to release on Nov. 15. Very excited about what we have thus far.

Where do I begin? WorshipGod11:The Gathering was filled with evidences of God’s grace from start to finish. Over 1800 people came to grow in their understanding of how to proclaim and celebrate the glorious story of the gospel when we gather.

Thus far over 200 people have filled out the online survey for the conference. We ask for feedback on every aspect of the conference, what most served them, and what we could change. We’ve benefited immensely over the years from the feedback we’ve received.

These are a few of my highlights and some of the things I learned from people’s responses:

Multiple generations with different music preferences can sing God’s praises together.
The age range of the people who came to WorshipGod was pretty evenly distributed. The largest group was in the 26-40 age range, and we had about an equal number on either side of that from 15 to 65. It was clear from the surveys that people sometimes preferred one band over another, but when we sang together you’d never know it.

You can’t please all the people all the time.
Here’s a sample of some of the comments we received:

The speaker’s points were so well-connected and clear. VS The speaker was unclear and seemed to ramble. (same speaker)
Too many new songs. VS Loved that we learned so many new songs!
The Scripture reading seemed a little stilted and distracting. VS  The best part was the scripture reading in-between the songs.
More of Mark Altrogge. VS Less of Mark Altrogge. (We’re planning on keeping him right where he is)

My goal in hosting the conference is to serve most of the people most of the time. We can always tweak, improve, and adjust things, but we’ll never arrive at the point where every person is completely satisfied. It’s a fallen world, God made us differently, and our ultimate aim is to glorify Jesus, not ourselves, and to please God, not people.

Use people you think will do the best job, not those who are the most well known.
Each time I host this conference, I try to get speakers and musicians who will most line up with the theme, heart, and purpose of the conference. Those don’t always turn out to be household names. Many attendees had never heard of Enfield, Sojourn Music, Bryan Chapell, Ray Ortlund, or others. But it was clear from the surveys that once they were grateful to be exposed to their ministry.

Giving gifts away takes preparation, but it’s contagious.
At the start of the conference I explained that we love to give away lots of gifts at WorshipGod as an expression of the kindness and mercy God has shown us in giving his Son to redeem us and reconcile us to himself. Gifts like books, CDs, shirts, keyboards, software, guitar amps, gift certificates, iPods, and iPads. In ’09 we came up with categories of people to give gifts to that reflected servanthood, sacrifice, or some other biblical value, e.g., someone who served on their tech team the longest, a whole family that came to the conference, a mom with 3 kids under 5. This year, I didn’t prepare as well, so I ended up giving many gifts to people who jumped up first or made the most commotion (“You have not because you ask not.”) I want to give this more attention at the next conference. But I was blessed to receive this comment:

Led by your example, we purchased cd’s and books to bring home to our church and gave them away this Lord’s day.

May the gift giving only increase for the glory of the Savior!

Raising almost $1400 for Covenant Mercies.
I was thrilled that we could sell an album at WorshipGod11 called  Hope of Africa, put out by Covenant Mercies. It was recorded inside a small mud church in rural eastern Uganda, and all the proceeds went to building Christian schools for children in Uganda and Zambia.

Let people know what you’ve already taught.
Each year at WorshipGod we try to put together teachings that focus on the areas of heart, theology, and practical skills. But there’s never enough space or time to cover everything I’d like. This year people asked us to include teachings that we’ve given at past WorshipGod conferences. I want to do a better job letting them know.

Four hours is too long to ask people to stand, especially late at night.
Pretty obvious, I know. But that’s what we asked people to do on Friday night at the conference when we recorded a live album not once, but twice, from 7-11PM. Fortunately, a number of people had this attendee’s experience:

I was uncomfortable about the idea of standing up for 3.5 hours and going over the same songs repeatedly. What ended up happening surprised me. I not only experienced and loved the gospel afresh in nearly every song but I found myself in wonder over the fact that it never gets old. I turned to my friends next to me and said that several times in amazement. “I can’t believe that this doesn’t get old.”

Nope, the good news of the gospel will never get tired. But until we get glorified bodies, we will.

Title seminars carefully.
We try to be pretty specific in the seminar descriptions for the conference. But I learned that sometimes people choose a seminar based on the title alone. So a number of people were surprised to find out the seminar on creativity they signed up for was for songwriters.

Pastors need a conference like WorshipGod as much as, if not more than, musicians.
We had over 175 pastors at WorshipGod this year, including 50 senior pastors. But over 775 worship leaders came. That means at least 600 worship leaders are going back to churches with senior pastors who haven’t heard any of the teaching they received at the conference. Can you say “potential conflict?”  A Sovereign Grace senior pastor came to WorshipGod for the first time this year. This is what he wrote me:

I regretted not attending sooner. My whole vision of what should be happening on Sunday was transformed by the conference. I believe we had been missing great opportunities to build up the congregation during our “worship” times. I felt as though we were strategically using only 60% of our Sunday service. I believe every Sr. Pastor should attend or at least listen to all the teaching material from the conference. My team was so grateful that I had come with them because many times they felt my direction and requests were actually going against the effectiveness of the worship effort.

Not sure how we’re going to do it, but I want to target pastors and senior pastors much more strategically at future WorshipGod conferences.

With the right people, you can record a live album at a conference.
I had absolutely no faith for recording a live album at a WorshipGod conference until Steve Cook moved back to Gaithersburg to help me oversee songwriting and producing our albums. He carried the lion’s share of the load for the recording, leaving me free to focus on other things. I’m continuing to learn how important teams and delegation are.

God always does more than we can ask or think.
In the weeks leading up to the conference, I prayed that God would glorify his Son, equip people to serve more effectively, and reveal his gracious presence in our midst. He seemed to do that and more. The weather was perfect on Thursday and Friday, which was important given the outdoor seminars under tents.  Relationships that will have a lasting impact were formed and renewed. The recording actually went according to plan, even if the plan wasn’t as good as it might have been. And I encountered God’s glory, truth, and love at different times during the singing and preaching in ways I didn’t expect.

All this to say, while there are ways the conference could have been better, I’m one happy man. I have 10,000 reasons to bless the Lord.

And if you know the saving grace of Jesus Christ, you do, too.

God met us in ways too numerous to count last week at WorshipGod11:The Gathering. In the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some thoughts on the conference, as well as some of the teachings, which included messages from Ray Ortlund, Jr, Bryan Chapell, Thabiti Anyabwile, myself, and Craig Cabaniss.

Today, I’m just posting the songs we sang at the conference.

Wednesday PM – Devon Kauflin and the Na Band
How Great is Your Faithfulness (Matt Redman)
Greater Than We Can Imagine (Mark Altrogge)
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Traditional)
You Have Been Raised (Altrogge/Kauflin/Boer)
Psalm 62 (Aaron Keyes/Stuart Townend)
Name Above All Names (Pat and Joel Sczebel)

Behold our God (Jonathan, Ryan, Meghan Baird/Stephen Altrogge)

Thursday AM – Rich Gunderlock and the Bairds
Alive (Steve & Vikki Cook)
Isaiah 53 (Jonathan & Ryan Baird)
The Solid Rock (Traditional)
May Your Power Rest on Me (Joel Gerdis/Neil Robins)
Completely Done (Jonathan Baird/Ryan Baird/Rich Gunderlock)
Behold our God

Thursday PM – John Martin and Enfield
Glorious and Mighty (Todd Twining/Joel Sczebel/Bob Kauflin)
Jesus Shall Reign (Traditional, additional lyrics and music Ryan Foglesong)
Come Ye Sinners (Traditional)
And Can It Be (Traditional)
The Power of the Cross (Keith Getty/Stuart Townend)
Jesus Thank You (Pat Sczebel)
Eternal Praise (Ryan Foglesong)

How Firm a Foundation (Traditional)

Friday AM – Brooks Ritter, Mike Cosper, and Sojourn Music
Before the Throne of God Above (Vikki Cook/Charitie Lees Bancroft)
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Traditional)
Death Has Lost Its Sting (Isaac Watts/Dennison)
All I Have is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)
In the Shadow of the Glorious Cross (Brooks Ritter/Rebecca Elliot)
Rock of Ages (Traditional)
Absent From Flesh (Isaac Watts/Jamie Barnes)

Friday PM – Live Recording (album due out in November)
There is One Reason (Doug Plank)
Greater Than We Can Imagine (Mark Altrogge)
Come Praise and Glorify (Tim Chester/Bob Kauflin)
Shine Into Our Night (Joel Sczebel)
Have Mercy on Me (Pat Sczebel/Dale Bischof)
Now Why This Fear (Doug Plank)
Isaiah 53 (Jonathan/Ryan Baird)
Generous King (Pat/Joel Sczebel)
When You Move (Steve & Vikki Cook)
Your Words of Life (Pat Sczebel)
Show Us Christ (Doug Plank/Bob Kauflin)
All I Have is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)
We Hunger and Thirst (George Romanacce/Alex Crouch/Dave Fournier)
Lift High the Cross (George Romanacce/Steve & Vikki Cook)
As You Go (Mark Altrogge)

Saturday AM – Bob Kauflin and band
Come Praise and Glorify
Generous King
When You Move
O Great God (Bob Kauflin)
Behold our God

As You Go

This past June I was out at the Resolved conference in Palm Springs, CA, where the music was ably led by John Martin and Enfield. They’ll be joining us for one of the main sessions at WorshipGod11.

Ryan Foglesong and David Zimmer play bass and drums for Enfield and will be teaching two seminars at WorshipGod11 on Strengthening the Drum/Bass Connection. Here’s what they had to say about their role with Enfield and what they’ll be covering at the conference.

If you’ve been thinking about coming to the conference, you have until midnight tomorrow (July 31) to register online.

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 and Ryan Baird and Rich Gunderlock, answers those questions with the assurance only the gospel can bring:

What reason have I to doubt
Why would I dwell in fear
When all I have known is grace
My future in Christ is clear

My sins have been paid in full
There’s no condemnation here
I live in the good of this
My Father has brought me near
I’m leaving my fears behind me now

The old is gone, the new has come
What You complete is completely done
We’re heirs with Christ, the victory won
What You complete is completely done

I don’t know what lies ahead
What if I fail again
You are my confidence
You’ll keep me to the end
I’m leaving my fears behind me now
© 2009 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP)

Here’s a video of the song, led by the Na Band, who will also be leading at one of the main sessions of WorshipGod11 this year.

You can download a free MP3 at the Sovereign Grace online store.

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post, making you eligible to receive one of the five copies of Love Divine: The Songs of Charles Wesley for Today’s Generation..

The random number generator (guided by God’s hand, of course) picked the following names. I also included who they listed as one of their favorite hymnwriters:

Jeff Uriarte (Isaac Watts)
Mike (Fanny Crosby)
Brian (Martin Luther)
Michael G. (Fanny Crosby & Isaac Watts)
Jeff Scott (Horatio Spafford)

You’ll be contacted by email to get your mailing address.

And here’s one of my favorite lyrics from this album, written of course, by Charles Wesley:

Jesus, the name high over all,
In hell, or earth, or sky:
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.

Jesus, the name to sinners dear,
The name to sinners giv’n;
It scatters all their guilty fear,
It brings them peace of heav’n.

Jesus the prisoner’s fetters breaks,
And bruises Satan’s head;
Pow’r into strengthless souls He speaks,
And life into the dead.

Oh, that the world might taste and see,
The riches of His grace!
The arms of love that compass me,
Would all mankind embrace.

Him as my righteousness I show,
His saving truth proclaim:
‘Tis all my business here below,
To cry, Behold the Lamb!

Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp His name:
Preach Him to all, and cry in death,
“Behold, behold the Lamb!”

By the way, if you’re wondering how a guy like me who’s essentially Reformed in his theology can so appreciate Arminians like John and Charles Wesley, read this post.

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 hymns albums being made these days. In fact, I’m working on a post now that highlights some of the ministries and individuals who are participating in rearranging, rewriting, or composing hymns. Very exciting to see more people realizing that the songs we use for praising God can’t be restricted to ones that are driven more by melody and beat than lyrical impact and depth.

But not all hymns albums are the same. Some are simply reworkings of well-known hymns that may or may not be worth recording one more time. Love Divine is not one of those albums.

A couple weeks later after I received it I was listening to the album in my car. This is what I was pleased to discover then and through repeated listenings:

• Almost all the melodies (all of them new) seemed fresh, well crafted, and designed for congregational singing.
• The songs seemed to be chosen for lyrical content rather than simply familiarity, which is not always the norm for hymns albums.
• The production is centered in the modern rock genre, but has enough variety to make things interesting. In other words, it wasn’t dominated by wall-to-wall guitars.
• For the most part the new melodies, additional choruses, and musical settings complemented the original lyrics.
• While the vocalists are artists in their own right (Tim Hughes, Jason Roy, Leigh Nash, Aaron Keyes, Brenton Brown, and others), they keep the creative vocal licks to a minimum making it easier to adapt these hymns for congregations.
• The gospel is all over this album, but the songs cover a wide variety of topics including the resurrection, Christ’s reign, Christ’s love for his people, prayer for sanctification, the return of Christ, Christ’s presence as we gather, God’s sovereignty, passion for Christ, and more.

If you know anything about Wesley, you know he was prolific, writing between 6000 and 8500 hymns, depending on your source. As you might guess, every one wasn’t a classic. But more than a few were. And John Hartley and Chris Eaton have done a masterful job introducing some of them to a new generation through new melodies, some new choruses, fresh arrangements and tasteful production.

A few of my favorites:

And Can it Be – I’ve never liked the common tune of this hymn, although it’s grown on me since we taught it at my home church. But it’s always sounded like a vocal exercise to me. I rewrote a version for GLAD years ago, but this version on Love Divine is simply stellar – singable, memorable melody that could be adapted to a number of musical styles.
Come,Thou Long Expected Jesus – Joyful, uptempo setting of a great hymn, with a new chorus.
Praise the Lord, Who Reigns Above – Another eminently singable melody in 6/8 with a fresh chorus.
Jesus, the Name High Over All – Oh, that we had more songs like this one, that extol the priceless worth of the name of Jesus. One of my favorite melodies on the album.
Love Divine - Hard to rewrite a classic, but Chris and John have given this hymn a more reflective, plaintive setting that accents our awareness of how far we fall short of God’s desire for our holiness.
Oh For a Heart to Praise My God – A simple song of consecration, asking God to do the work in our hearts only he can do.

Here’s a complete track listing:

•  I Know That My Redeemer Lives – Tim Hughes
•  Rejoice! The Lord Is King – John Ellis
•  And Can It Be – Jason Roy
•  Jesus, We Look to Thee – Kim Walker-Smith
•  Jesus, Lover of My Soul – Chris Eaton
•  Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus – Brian Johnson
•  Praise the Lord Who Reigns Above – Leigh Nash
•  Jesus, the Name High over All – Chris Quilala
•  O for a Thousand Tongues To Sing – Chris McClarney
•  Love Divine – Jenn Johnson
•  Christ the Lord Is Risen Today – Aaron Keyes
•  Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies – Mark Roach
•  Oh, For A Heart to Praise My God – Brenton Brown

Free Stuff and Ordering Info

You can get a free download of the MP3 and charts for I Know That My Redeemer Lives at this link. You’ll also be able to see some videos on the project, listen to some samples, and download the album.

You can purchase it from iTunes here, Amazon here, and download a pdf of all the charts for $10.99 here. Individual charts in every key are available for download here.

Oh, and Kingsway has generously given me 5 copies of Love Divine to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog by midnight, Thursday night. Tell me who one of your favorite hymn writers is. I’ll pick 5 winners at random and announce them on Friday morning.

And may God give us many more albums like this in the days to come filled with lyrically rich, biblically faithful hymns set to contemporary with melodies written to last beyond our lifetime.

Recently I had the joy of being at the Resolved Conference in Palm Springs, CA, along with about 3500 mostly college students. We heard some great messages from Al Mohler, CJ Mahaney, Rick Holland, John MacArthur, and Steve Lawson.

While I was there I took a few minutes to interview John Martin about his band, Enfield, who led the music at Resolved. Enfield is made up of John (piano and vocals), Lisa Martin (John’s wife on vocals), Patrick Anderson (guitars), Ryan Foglesong (bass/arranging/songwriting), David Zimmer (drums/arranging/songwriting), Paul Hoover on guitars, and Wil Pearce on various stringed instruments. They’re all gifted and humble musicians, and they’ll be leading one of the main sessions at WorshipGod11 this year.

Here’s what John had to say:

In the interview, John mentioned Lead On, O King Eternal is one of his favorite Enfield arrangements. John has graciously offered readers of Worship Matters the song for free. You can download the MP3 here, the guitar chart here, and the lead sheet here. To check out more of Enfield’s music, go here.

WorshipGod11 is exactly seven weeks away. Registration is going better than I expected and some of the seminars are beginning to fill up. We have a great list of teachers lined up this year, both in the main sessions and the breakouts. Bryan Chapell, Ray Ortlund, Jr., Thabiti Anyabwile, Craig Cabaniss, Don Whitney, Shai Linne, and more.

In addition, Enfield and Mike Cosper and a band from Sojourn Community Church will be leading us for two sessions. As always, there will be a few surprises, a lot of laughter, and rich times of worshiping God through song, preaching, and fellowship. If you’re needing reasons to come, I shared twelve of them in a previous post.

But it may be you want to come and just don’t have the money. Well, I’ve got good news for you. Someone signed up to come and is now unable to make it. He asked that his registration be passed on to someone else. I’m going to match his generosity and give away another registration. UPDATE: A friend saw this post and offered to pay for two more registrations. I was inspired by his generosity, so I’m going to give away two more as well. So I’ll pick three of the best answers and three at random.

So here’s the deal. Leave a comment below and share in 50 words or less (that’s right, 50 words…not looking for a treatise here) why I should give you the free registration. I’m going to pick what I think is the best answer and also draw a name at random.

You have until 11:59 PM EST on Friday, June 24 to leave a comment. I’ll announce the winners on Monday.

The clock is ticking…

Matt Richley has served us again by making another training video for our song Hail the Day, written by Steve & Vikki Cook. Although this song is from our Risen album, it actually focuses on the fact that Christ is ascended and is now interceding for those He redeemed. The words are below. Enjoy.

VERSE 1
Hail the day that Christ arose
Through the skies to worlds unknown
Glorious there, He ever reigns
Object of all Heaven’s praise

VERSE 2
See Him lift His hands above
See the scars of His great love
He has conquered death and sin
Saving all who hope in Him

CHORUS
Hallelujah, hallelujah
The King of Love is on His throne
Hallelujah, hallelujah
His grace will safely lead us home

VERSE 3
Though He dwells beyond the stars
His redeemed are on His heart
Even now he intercedes
Jesus cares for all our needs
Lyrics adapted from Charles Wesley’s “Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise”. New lyrics and music by Steve & Vikki Cook. © 2011 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (ASCAP).

As I was preparing for the NEXT conference a few weeks ago, I had an ongoing impression that God wanted to minister through a prophetic song to attendees who had lost one or both parents unexpectedly. I wasn’t aware that two of the testimonies that were going to be shared at the conference referenced parents who had died recently. In any case, I ended up sharing a spontaneous song on Sunday night when I was leading corporate worship with Generation Letter.

A number of people said the song encouraged them and have asked for a copy of it. You can download the audio by right-clicking here. You can also listen to it here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I’ve posted the lyrics below.

No longer a hand to hold you
No longer those eyes to look to
Looking back at you
Telling you “I love you”
Or maybe you never knew them
They were gone before you were born
And you’ve lived all your life
Wondering what went wrong

Well maybe in the night
As you lie on your bed
You cry out, “Why did they have to die?
I want to know the reason why
Because it hurts
The pain is deep inside me.”

There are times and there are seasons
And everything I do is for a reason
And the loss you feel right now will fade one day
When you stand before me and see my face
And I want you to know
I have seen your tears
And you have a place to go
For I am always near you
Saying, “Trust in me again.
I am faithful to the end.”
And though you wonder
If it could have been different
My plans are always good for you
I know just what to do
For you

And I am your Father
Who cares for you each day
I always have my way
And my ways are good and wise
And I am your Father
Holding you each day
I never let you go out of my sight
And the loss you feel
One day you will see
That I had planned it
To draw you close to me.

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 “tone, gear, and playing together.”

It was a quick trip that included leading a songwriting workshop, dinner at an amazing Mexican restaurant with a bunch of the guys who lead the music for Sojourn (including Jamie Barnes and Brooks Ritter), attending one of the Sunday AM meetings, and leading the singing for the two evening meetings (5 and 7PM).

I came away inspired, challenged, encouraged, and freshly aware of the beauty and power of the gospel. Here are some of things I appreciated about my time with Mike and the church.

1. A commitment to the church.
Sojourn Music is deeply enmeshed in the local church. All the instrumentalists, vocalists, and songwriters you’ll hear on their 7 albums are or have been part of the church. They aren’t seeking to write the next big worship hit. Just seeking to be faithful to use music to proclaim the glorious news that Jesus has come to rescue us from God’s wrath and reconcile us to himself.

2. A commitment to the gospel.
A love for the centrality of Christ’s redeeming work comes through in everything Sojourn Music is connected to. The songs they write and sing, the church website, the structure of the meetings, the preaching, the books they read, and most importantly, in their lives and conversations.

3. A commitment to mentoring musicians and leaders.
The level of musicianship at the church and on their albums is pretty serious, both instrumentally and vocally. Some gifted musicians have joined the church along the way. But Mike and others have consciously taken time to invest in younger musicians in the areas of theology, musical skill, and character. That’s accomplished through scheduled meetings, hanging out, encouragement, honest feedback, and modeling what they want others to be.

4. A commitment to sound theology.
Sojourn guys aren’t apologetic about writing songs that are heavy on the doctrinal side. One of the more humbling moments came when someone in the church said that a Sovereign Grace song I introduced was light on theology in comparison to what they usually sing. Ouch. But I loved what that statement represented in terms of the church’s values. (At the end of this post, you can download a song from their latest CD, The Water and the Blood.)

5. A commitment to rootedness and relevance.
The meetings at Sojourn Community Church loosely follow a liturgy that has been around for centuries. They include a call to worship, confession of sin, assurance of pardon, congregational readings, and the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. But it was all done in a way that was authentic, faith-filled, and understandable. The music is anything but “traditional” (combination of indie rock, americana, alternative, folk, blues, and a few other styles), but the lyrics are often taken from hymns that have been around for centuries.

6. A commitment to relationships.
It was obvious to me that the Sojourn folks love spending time together. Once a month after the last meeting on Sunday Mike and a group of leaders go out for dinner and conversation. They get involved in each other’s lives to encourage, empathize, and challenge. They’re not afraid to speak truth to each other and not ashamed of expressing their affection for each other either. Great combination.

I asked Mike to share a few thoughts on the state of music in the church and here’s his response.

Grateful that God is raising up leaders who take the gospel, the Scriptures, and music in the church seriously. And looking forward to Mike and his crew being with us at WorshipGod11.

Mike has graciously give me permission to give away the song he references in this video, Absent From Flesh, from their latest album The Water and the Blood. Enjoy.

WorshipGod11 is only two months away.  One of the 40 seminars being offered (4 in Spanish!) is by Jamie Brown, a good friend who leads the worship in song at The Falls Church, an Anglican church in Northern Virginia.

Jamie will be addressing the topic “Thinking Surgically While Leading Liturgically.” His specific burden is to encourage people who serve in the context of a traditional liturgy to lead with faith. I asked Jamie  a few questions about his session.

What do you hope will be filling people’s minds and hearts as they walk away from your message?
It can be discouraging and frustrating to lead worship in a liturgical church. I hope this seminar relieves some of that frustration, and encourages worship leaders to go back home with some hope and excitement at what God can do through them even in the constraints of a formal liturgy.

How has what you’re going to speak on affected your own life?
I have only ever attended and led worship in an Anglican church. I know firsthand that leading worship in this setting can feel like trying to paint in a straight jacket. I’ve seen dead, robotic services where heartless hymn singing is the norm and contemporary songs are the enemy. I’ve also seen God melt hearts of stone and use music as a surgical tool to help people encounter God in vibrant worship.

Can you expound on one point that you’ll be making in your message?
Great chefs have learned, through years of experience, how to work with a recipe, mixing all the different ingredients and making some adjustments, to present something that feeds and satisfies. Worship leaders, especially in liturgical churches, have a lot of ingredients and recipes to juggle. If the “recipe” owns them – the meal is going to be stale and bland. If they get comfortable and familiar enough to own the recipe – to know where they can make adjustments and where they can’t – then the final product can be more edifying. And edible.

How are people best going to be served by coming to this seminar?
For years I left these kind of conferences thinking “those were amazing times of corporate worship. Too bad my church can’t experience that.” I hope worship leaders will leave this seminar thinking “my congregation can experience more of this than I thought”.

Is there any passage of Scripture that sums up what you’ll be sharing?
Many liturgical churches do Psalm 46:10 really well (“Be still, and know that I am God…”). They might be surprised that two verses later, in Psalm 47:1 they’re encouraged to: “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” By thinking surgically and leading carefully, prayerfully, and biblically, you can help your congregation grow in their expression of heartfelt, Christ-centered, Sprit-filled worship.

There’s still a month left to sign up for WorshipGod11, but if you’re planning on coming I’d suggest you get on it. We just raised the cap for attendance, but seminars are starting to fill up. You can register here.