Worship Matters

People sometimes ask us if they can change the lyrics to Sovereign Grace songs.

A common request we’ve received is to change the “gates of gold” phrase in the third verse of Steve and Vikki Cook’s song I Will Glory in My Redeemer, because Rev. 21:21 says that they’re gates of pearl. Others want to add verses to songs (like The Gospel Song) or rewrite entire lyrics to songs, which is a bad idea. It’s like demanding someone enter into a co-writing relationship with you when you’ve never met each other. And it’s not very often that the new or additional lyrics are an improvement on the original. So with very few exceptions, our policy is to deny requests for lyric changes to Sovereign Grace songs.

But I’m always grateful when someone asks about changing lyrics because it means they’re thinking about the words we sing, and a couple times we’ve actually made changes. We treat lyric writing as a stewardship issue, and give a significant amount of time to coming up with lyrics we think are  faithful to Scripture and communicate what we’re trying to say. That doesn’t mean our songs can’t be improved upon. Far from it. But lyrics are protected by copyright, and changing them requires permission. (Two exceptions that come to mind are changing a song from 3rd person to 2nd person, or changing singular pronouns to plural.)

Last May I had an email exchange with a guy named Jeremy who wanted to change a line in the song “Father, How Sweet” from our album From Age to Age. We said no, but I thought the way he asked, followed by his response to my answer, were a great example of how to humbly a request a lyric change. Here’s how it went down:

Jeremy’s Request:
Good afternoon! We are rejoicing in the God’s faithfulness demonstrated through the latest SovGrace recording From Age to Age. [Note: it's good and biblical to start with encouragement!]

We praise God for His work through SovGrace. Just as a reminder, you and I have had email conversations when our fellowship was trying to report usage through CCLI. Also, you have sorted out some sheet music things for us.

As a pastoral staff, we had a question about the last stanza of “Father, How Sweet.” The last stanza/verse states, “Jesus, in glory You’ve ascended, never again to leave Your throne . . .” We do not mean to be presumptuous in making this request. Please do not take it as a challenge. We are wondering how our Lord’s return factors into that line.

Would SovGrace allow us to modify that statement to “seated upon Your royal throne” (for use in our fellowship’s gatherings)? We do not mean to nit-pick. If you say “no,” we will understand. However, we thought we should ask. Like you, we want to train the local fellowship to remember truth through song.

OK. This has been awkward! :-) Again, we greatly appreciate the Lord’s work through SovGrace.

Thank you for considering this request.

Our Answer:
Thanks for asking, Jeremy. We love people who care about what we sing!

“Never again to leave your throne” is a poetic way of saying that Jesus’ authority will last forever. It’s not meant to be taken literally that he will not leave his throne to return for his bride. Perhaps you could explain that to your congregation? We do ask churches to sing the songs as written. Changes to lyrics have a way of making their way out beyond the original church.

Thanks for asking, and thanks for your understanding!

May God give much fruit to your gospel work.

Jeremy’s Response:
Thank you so much for taking the time to address our request. We can understand the thought process behind the line. Yes, explaining will be the way to go! :-) I understand how allowing changes on “local levels” could/would create issues outside of the local avenue.

Lord’s blessings be with you!

Really, I was impressed when Jeremy got back to me. It’s not always quite so simple.

A few years ago I would regularly change words or phrases in songs without giving it much thought. I don’t do that now, for the reasons I gave to Jeremy. Also, if it’s a more popular song, it can confuse people who have the original lyrics already in their heads.

If I can’t sing a song because of a word or lyric, I should ask for permission, explain it to the congregation, or find another song. There are a few gazillion out there to choose from.

For more thoughts on changing song lyrics, check out the Sovereign Grace Music FAQ page.

I’m often asked if it’s possible to lead worship in song if you’re not a musician. In my response I usually make the point that leading corporate worship is pastoral function before it’s a musical one. So the answer is, “yes.”

Through the years I’ve had the privilege of training the men in the Pastors College of Sovereign Grace Ministries  in the area of music and worship. Most of the guys have at least one opportunity to lead the rest of the class in song, whether they’re musical or not. It helps them see what really goes in to leading, and also enables them to evaluate others in a more informed way.

They learn that you don’t have to know about scales, chord inversions, or time signatures to proclaim God’s works, word, and worthiness. You don’t have to be proficient on an instrument, or even know how to play the first note in order to direct people’s attention and affections towards Jesus Christ and his glorious work of substitutionary atonement on the cross. Your singing voice might sound like fingernails on chalkboard but you can still extend the invitation to, “Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Ps. 34:3)!

While most of non-musical guys in the Pastors College don’t end up having to lead songs in their churches, occasionally they do. Not too long ago I found out that Ken Delage (pastor of  Sovereign Grace Church in Fredericksburg, VA) was in that position and actually enjoying it. I asked him to write up a few thoughts on his experience, which I’ve posted below. I hope it will encourage any non-musical pastors (or any unmusical types for that matter) who find themselves having to lead worship in song.

I never wanted to be a worship leader. As I planted Sovereign Grace Church, my desire to not lead worship only grew! Don’t get me wrong. I love to sing, I love to lift my voice and praise God’s name. But I don’t play an instrument and my singing voice is best described as “adequate.” I didn’t think I’d do a very good job, so I didn’t want to serve.

So, about 18 months into our church plant, God called our worship leader to another church.  On the day he left, my music resume looked something like this:

1.  I’d sung in children’s musicals as a kid, before my voice changed.
2.  Ten years ago I sang in our church choir for 4 months
3.  I’d listened to lots of worship music.

When our worship leader left, I was left with questions. Am I willing to serve God in an area of personal weakness?  Am I willing to look (or sound!) foolish for Him?  Will I refuse to work for his glory, unless I’m guaranteed a bit of my own glory too?  

As God revealed my heart, I grew in faith to serve. So I jumped in and have been serving for about a year and a half.  Despite my lack of musical ability, God meets us each week.  The church is blessed and God is glorified. Here’s how it breaks down for me:

Administration:

• I pick the songs we sing.  Songs teach, and pastors are called to teach.  So I’m in my ‘comfort zone’ doing this as a pastor.
• I arrange the team schedule.  No big theology behind this, but this lets me put together teams that work together well and make up for each others weaknesses.
• Each week, I try have at least one musician on the rotation who can pick the right key for the songs, arrange transitions, suggest arrangements, and help newer musicians.
• Since I’m also serving in other ways in the church, I streamline by sending out a month of serving and song schedules at a time.

 Sundays Mornings:

• I lead the congregation from the mic, center stage, as the “lead vocalist.”  My voice isn’t “solo quality,” but sufficient to lead.
• I’m supported by two gifted vocalists each week.  One sticks to melody with me the whole time.
• Since I don’t play an instrument, I direct the musicians by vocally cuing the congregation and using hand signals behind my back.

 Practices:

• We practice once a week at my house, and get about 30 minutes to do a sound check and run through before the Sunday meeting.
• I lean heavily on the team for musical suggestions, ideas, and creativity. We probably take more time on discussion than many worship teams, but everyone is included and I’m equipped to make decisions.  What God didn’t give me personally, He gave to the body. Worship leading meets 1 Cor 12.
• I tell every instrumentalist that I expect them to ‘be the expert’ on their instrument. If they have ideas on what will sound good, then try them. Since I don’t have the creativity, the instrumentalists bring it!  This enables me to have a full buffet of musical options on the table from which to choose.
• We take the first 5-10 minutes of practice to pray as a team, to focus on Christ, and perhaps to teach a bit on worship.  My hope is to build a culture on the team which treasures worship above worship leading.

I’d love to hear about your experiences or suggestions for leading songs when you’re not musical.

For over 25 years, Sovereign Grace Music has been producing albums primarily for English speaking churches. But in his kindness, God has allowed us to serve Hispanic congregations as well. For decades, members of our church in Juarez, Iglesia Gracia Soberana de Cd. Juárez, led by Carlos Contreras, have played a primary role. We’re deeply indebted to them, and especially Roxana Munoz, for joyfully and faithfully translating our songs into Spanish. We recorded a number of those translations on our first Spanish project, Sea la Gloria solo a Ti.

Two years ago we produced our second Spanish album, this time made up entirely of new songs. Mauricio Velarde was featured as a vocalist and songwriter on that album.

Tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 21, we’ll be releasing our third Spanish album, Eres Dios. Only this time we’ve combined new and translated songs.

When we were first started thinking about doing another Spanish album, we were actually thinking of doing two, one made up of new songs, the other translations. But the more we thought about it, the more we saw the wisdom of doing them together. The thought was to combine translations of some of our more popular English songs with some of our best original Spanish songs. Although my Spanish is limited to the three years I took in high school, I’m pretty excited about this project.

Mauricio serves as a primary songwriter and vocalist again, but we added Sarah Jerez, wife of Jonathan Jerez, and a very gifted singer. Her vocals are passionate and clear, and a real addition to the project.

Other songwriters included Miguel Medina from our Miami church, Jose Torres-Vorshim from our Spanish congregation in Gaithersburg, and Sergio Villanueva from a Spanish congregation near Chicago. Matt Richley from our Merthyr Tydfil church in Wales, and definitely not a Spanish speaker, made it as a co-writer on Mauricio’s songs, Si Te Tengo a Ti (If I Have You).

Until the album is released, as in Friday, Sept. 21, you can pre-order Eres Dios for only $5 at our Bandcamp site. You can also hear and download the song La Gloria de la Cruz, a translation of The Glories of Calvary. I realize that most of people who read this blog aren’t Hispanic, but if you know any Latin-Americans who are looking for Christ-exalting, biblically rich congregational songs, please help us spread the word.

Headed to Por Su Causa
While we’re on the topic of Spanish stuff, I’m heading out today with CJ Mahaney and Jeff Purswell to the Dominican Republic to participate in the Por Su Causa (For His Cause) conference this weekend. I’ll be leading music for one session, speaking at another, and leading a few songs for an album we’ll be recording Sunday night. We’ve been incredibly encouraged by our partnership with Miguel Nunez and Iglesia Bautista Internacional, who are helping to sponsor the conference. Miguel, and his nephew Luis, have been unflagging in their support of Sovereign Grace Ministries and Sovereign Grace Music.

I’d welcome your prayers as I try to make the best of my three years of high school Spanish this weekend.

I’ve been musing recently about how we express our musical opinions. Why do we feel so strongly about songs, bands, and styles? And why do we draw conclusions so quickly? Nope. Don’t like it. That stinks. I can’t stand that kind of music. You like that stuff? Is there anything wrong with raving about the music/artists we love and being swift to trash those we despise?

If we’re Christians, yes. Let me suggest ten reasons why musical forbearance might be good for our souls.

1. Being a self-appointed music critic is often just a sign of pride. Using outrageous or exaggerated words to put down certain songs, styles, or artists can be a symptom of selfishness, laziness, or arrogance. We don’t want to spend time investigating whether or not our assessment is accurate because we’re too busy sharing our opinions. (Prov. 18:2)

2. Music doesn’t define us. Why do we become offended when someone critiques our favorite song, group, or style of music? Because they’re insulting “our” music, which means they’re insulting us. That’s idolatry. Music isn’t our life — Christ is. (Col. 3:4).

3. Great songs don’t always sound great the first time through. Some songs require repeated listenings to appreciate their value.  Albums and songs often grow on us over time. Is all the best music always instantly accessible or appealing? I hope not.

4. The introduction to a song isn’t the same thing as the song. The first twenty seconds of a song usually doesn’t represent the whole song. It just introduces it. Deciding we don’t like a song from the start can keep us from hearing something we might truly enjoy or benefit from.

5. Listening to music the masses have never heard of doesn’t make us better. Some of us derive a particular joy in finding and listening to obscure, undiscovered artists. As if being unknown was admirable in and of itself. Some bands are undiscovered because they’re not very good. And if we do happen to discover a talented unknown band, it’s an opportunity to serve others, not look down on them.

6. Listening to music that is massively popular doesn’t make us better. This is the opposite craving of the previous point. It’s the mindset that says if the song or artist hasn’t been on the radio, at the top of the charts, or on TV, it’s not worth listening to.

7. Learning to appreciate unfamiliar music is one way to prefer others. Why does everyone have to like the music I like? What might I learn about my friends by patiently seeking to understand why they like the music they do? (Phil. 2:4)

8. Learning to like other kinds of music can open my eyes to God’s creativity. In his book, Music Through the Eyes of Faith, Harold Best addresses musical elitists. “Among all this stuff that needs aesthetic redeeming, there is also goodness, a whole lot of integrity and honesty, from which they themselves can learn.” (p. 89) That means I can actually enjoy music that is less sophisticated than what I’d ordinarily listen to.

9. We may have to eat our words. It’s happened more than a few times. I mouth off about how bad a song is, and later on start to think it’s actually pretty good. Or I tear up a song on my blog and later find myself talking to a person who loves it or the person who wrote it. Oops.

10. We might be missing an opportunity to be grateful for God’s gifts. Our tendency is to assume that God’s gifts all look and sound the same. They don’t. What would happen if the first time we heard a song we sought to be grateful rather than critical?

Let me be clear. No song is above evaluation and there are truly bad songs. We just might serve others and ourselves more effectively if we expressed our musical opinions with a little more grace.

[originally posted Dec. 7, 2008]

During the charismatic outpouring of the 1970s many churches became more aware of the Holy Spirit than they had ever been. That awareness then, and in subsequent years, resulted in songs to and about the Holy Spirit which weren’t always as theologically precise as one would hope. Given the number of times we repeated some of those songs, it seemed as though the Holy Spirit was either hard of hearing or resistant to our requests to have him move among us, fill us, empower us, or be with us.

That’s why I’m so grateful for writers like Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, writers of In Christ Alone, The Power of the Cross, and many more modern hymns that articulate the truths of our faith with clarity and passion.

In 2005 they wrote a hymn simply called Holy Spirit, which is a welcome and needed addition to hymns that help us understand the work of the Holy Spirit in the church today. (You can download the piano/lead sheet for free at Keith and Kristyn’s website). Not only are the lyrics exceptional, but the melody is singable, easy to learn, and beautiful.

This is what Keith wrote about the song:

“Holy Spirit” is the final hymn I wrote with Stuart Townend as part of the Apostle’s Creed album we created in 2005. This collection of songs focuses on the basic tenants of the Christian faith outlined in the ancient creed.

As in much of our songwriting, we wanted to connect the radical truths of what we believe with everyday life. In this particular song, we desired the hymn to function as a sung prayer about the Holy Spirit’s renewing power. In church services, it works well used just prior to the sermon or at its conclusion, as well as before the service or during a prayer time.

We divided the hymn into three verses. The first expresses a prayer for inward change, asking the Holy Spirit to transform us from the core of our being. Without such change, all religious attempts are futile. We must daily ask for renewal and the desire to love and treasure God’s word and his ways.

Verse two petitions the Spirit to abide in us so we’re able to bountifully bear [his] fruit, such as the kindness and gentleness described so beautifully in Galatians 5:22-23. Closing this verse is a prayer “to show Christ is all I do.”

Verse three is a more expansive prayer for the church. During the songwriting process, we kept revisiting this verse as we examined the role of the Holy Spirit throughout the New Testament. In passage after passage, evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power in someone’s life was marked by two characteristics–Christ is magnified, and the individual is led on a path of sacrifice.

We thus combined the lyric and arrangement of the last verse to build through the first five lines as we convey the power of the Spirit and our desire to see the church hunger for its ways. Then in line six, we suddenly stop with the prayer, “Lead us on the road to sacrifice/That in unity the face of Christ/Will be clear for all the world to see.” Artistically, this works as a bit of a surprise as we underscore the paradox and wonder of Christ’s power in us. Only through experiencing sacrifice are we unified as the body of Christ. Only through reaching the end of ourselves can we achieve a vibrant Christian witness that everyone on the outside can see as different.

Sovereign Grace Music exists to provide Christ exalting songs and training for local churches. I thank God for the many people who regularly let me know how God is using our songs to do just that.

Since moving to Louisville, KY in June, I’ve been asked if Sovereign Grace Music is taking a break.

Well, not exactly.

Steve Cook, who heads up our album production, moved to Louisville a couple weeks ago, but he’s been traveling back to Gaithersburg to finish up some projects as we’re getting ready for new ones.

Here’s what we’re currently working on:

From Age to Age – In case you missed it, our last album (released in April) was From Age to Age, a collection of 14 modern hymns. I’ve been encouraged by the response, including this recent review from Worship Leader magazine.

Eres Dios (You are God) – This is our third Spanish album, the first one being Sea la Gloria Solo a Ti, and our most recent Alli en la Cruz. Our first Spanish album consisted of translations, and we moved to all original songs with Alli en la Cruz. Eres Dios will be a combination of both. We’ve gone for a more modern rather than indigenous Hispanic sound, and added Sarah Jerez as a vocalist. Some of the songs we translated for this album are All I Have is Christ, Let Your Kingdom Come, Behold Our God, and Jesus, Thank You. Ryan Foglesong and David Zimmer from Enfield helped out with the tracks, as they did on The Gathering and From Age to Age. Hope to release this in September.

Together for the Gospel Live 2 – We released Together for the Gospel Live in 2008, and this is the follow up album, obviously. We recorded the singing from T4G 2010, but only ended up using one track. For this recording we added about 2000 voices and changed the venue, and I was really encouraged by the sound. Again, no bells and whistles here. Just me and a piano and 7000 voices, mostly men, belting out eternal gospel truths for God’s glory with all their hearts. Expecting a release in September or October.

Behold our God – For years Ryan, Jonathan, and Meghan Baird have been contributing to Sovereign Grace music as vocalists, songwriters, and instrumentalists. Their songs include Always Forgiven, The Prodigal, Completely Done, and most recently Behold our God. Something special happens when the Bairds get together to play and sing, and on this album you’ll get a chance to hear what that is. Their sound is a rootsy, sometimes bluesy, form of Americana, always communicated with tight harmonies and compelling lead vocals. Just what you’d expect from kids who were raised by their dad and mom to love Jesus, his church, and good music. This album contains a mix of songs for congregational singing and songs for performing. Watch for a release some time in November or December.

Live from Por Su Causa – Next month (September) I have the privilege of participating in the Por Su Causa conference in the Dominican Republic along with my good friends CJ Mahaney, and Jeff Purswell. On Sunday night of the conference we’ll be recording a live album that will include a number of Sovereign Grace songs. I’m grateful for the encouragement and support we’ve received for this album from Miguel Nunez, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Internacional, and one of the primary organizers of the conference. Lord willing, this album will come out in January of 2013.

Songs from Romans – This is an album I’ve wanted us to do for years, and now seems like an opportune time. Romans is a tour de force of gospel riches, exploding with themes of God’s glory, human depravity, justification, forgiveness, grace in suffering, creation’s longing for redemption, overwhelming victory in Christ, security in God’s love, sovereignty, mercy, holy living, and more. Hopefully, we’ll have this album ready for April 2013.

We’d appreciate any and all prayers for these projects as we continue to seek to produce Christ-exalting songs and training for the church.

People occasionally email me asking if I have any recommendations for a keyboard, especially one with a great piano sound.

Rather than respond and reveal that my knowledge of electronic keyboards dried up somewhere in the mid-90s, I immediately forward the request to my good friend, Roger Hooper. Roger used to head up the keyboard department at Washington Music Center, and now does freelance arranging, scoring, playing, and tech blogging. He’s a brilliant keyboardist and synth player, and writes some great music as well. If you have a chance, check out his latest film soundtrack, The Road We Know (also available on iTunes and Amazon)

Roger always responds to questions with care and thoroughness. Here’s a recent email he sent to someone who wanted recommendations on a piano to buy:

Bob asked me to give you some info on a keyboard. I used to sell keyboards at a large music store in the area from 1985 till 2001; I was keyboard manager/buyer from 96 till “the end”. I’m assuming you probably want to use the keyboard to lead, so a good piano/electric piano would be a strong point.

Korg SV-1 $1699. This one has an excellent Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano, maybe the best on any keyboard. The acoustic piano is very good. Its a little bright for me when I first played it, but it has onboard EQ that is set up with big, vintage-looking knobs (all the controls look like 70s era gear, which is pretty cool, aesthetically), and you can dial back some of that brightness. You may like it, anyway, because it cuts through a big, guitar-driven band sound very well. All in all, a very satisfying keyboard to play. Plus, you can get this in red; that model looks like something George Jetson would have played; really cool!

Yamaha S90XS  $2399; don’t sweat the price yet, this is the online price. You can always get it down on the phone. Piano sounds great, the action is very firm, and the other sounds (over 1,000) are stellar.

Yamaha MOX8 $1699 Similar piano to the S90, will cut through a band mix very well. Lighter keyboard than the S90, but still feels really great.

Roland Rd700NX  $2699. There are models of this in existence that came before this one, and you may be able to find it for under $2000. I’ll give you a name and number for a salesman who will help you. I put this one on the list because I’ve had many people end up with and RD700 model over Yamaha or anything else because of the keyboard feel (Ivory-type key surface, and a very firm action) and excellent acoustic piano sound.

Kawai MP10 $2499 Beautiful piano sound, realistic action.

Kawai MP6 $1499 a lighter-weight keyboard, similar piano sound.

Kurzweil: The Kurzweil piano sound is very realistic sounding; classical players love them. They make an 88 key model I recommended for a church. When they bought it, I think it was well over $2000, but it may have dropped below that figure since. Washington Music Center gets really great deals on Kurzweil. Here’s Sweetwater’s info on the keyboard.  The Kurzweil PC3 has great synth/orchestra sounds, also.

A hard case for an 88 key instrument will probably be around $299. A bag would be much less, but you have to be careful with them. If you have a large crew, different groups of people handling the instrument, a bag might get abused. 

I have a bag for my Korg Kronos (45lb 73-key instrument), made by Gator Cases. The best bag I’ve ever had, or sold.

I’m sure Roger would be happy to give you some direction if you have a question. You can contact him from his website.

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 my book, Worship Matters:

The gospel is not merely one of many possible themes we can touch on as we come to worship God. It is the central and foundational theme. All our worship originates and is brought into focus at the cross of Jesus Christ.

Glorying in Jesus Christ means glorying in his cross. That doesn’t mean looking at some icon or two pieces of wood nailed together. Nor does it imply that every song we sing has the word cross in it. It has little to do with church gatherings that are more like a funeral than a celebration.

The cross stands for all that was accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. It focuses on his substitutionary death at Calvary but includes everything that gave meaning to that act. His preexistent state in glory. His incarnation. His life of perfect obedience. His suffering. His resurrection. His ascension. His present intercession and reign in glory. His triumphant return.

I will always plead that worship pastors lead gospel-centered worship that is characterized by:

• an awareness that the cross/gospel should be referenced somewhere in the time of singing.
• viewing the gospel as our primary motivation for praising God.
• helping people understand that only Jesus enables us to approach God – not music, musicians, worship leaders, or particular worship songs.
• encouraging congregations to be most enthusiastic about the theme the Bible is the most enthusiastic about – the Lamb of God who was slain.

When the Gospel Loses Its Power
But over the years I’ve seen learned that this vital truth can be misapplied. We can practice gospel-centered corporate worship in a way that is more obligatory than faith-filled. What once magnified the glory of Christ becomes lifeless repetition. My friend, Jon Payne, shared some thoughts with me on this topic that I found helpful. He pointed out that a formulaic approach to gospel-centered worship can lead to some of the following problems:

• thinking every song should be exclusively about justification, boldness before the throne, or our sins being completely forgiven.
• thinking every song list should climax with a “gospel” song.
• an inability to reference or articulate uniquely other aspects of the gospel – adoption, reconciliation, union with Christ, etc.
• a scarcity of other themes in our songs such as the wisdom of God, the eternity of God, the power of God, the incarnation, the kingship of Christ, heaven.
• worshiping a doctrine rather than allowing that doctrine to lead us to a living Savior. We are not “crowning the gospel with many crowns.”

Leading gospel-centered worship in a faithless way can lead to some bad fruit:

• The gospel and the Savior lose glory in the eyes of bored worshipers.
• People develop a limited view of God and his attributes.
• People don’t learn how to apply the gospel to other areas of life/Biblical themes.
• The gospel becomes a crude, repetitive statement of facts rather than a lens through which we view all of life.
• We think an explicit reference to the gospel makes our worship acceptable, rather than trust in a crucified and risen Savior.
• Rather than expecting to encounter God because of the gospel people come expecting to repeat faithless facts.

It’s our responsibility as leaders to make sure, as the Puritans said, that we always “labor to be affected by the cross.” The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest news the world has ever heard and our singing should show it.

What have you done to make sure that singing about Christ’s redemptive work on the cross never becomes rote?

[originally posted Jan. 29, 2010]

In a little under two weeks my family and I will be moving to Louisville, KY.

After thirty years of being in Gaithersburg, MD, Sovereign Grace Ministries, the family of churches that I serve, is relocating its offices. I’ve been here since 1997, so it’s understandably a bittersweet departure. But I’m filled with faith for what God has planned for the future.

The Lord has been kind to us in Gaithersburg. We’ve been able to co-labor with Covenant Life Church to put on conferences of all types (including WorshipGod), host the Sovereign Grace Pastors College, and serve other Sovereign Grace churches in our region. For ten of the past thirty years we’ve shared a facility with Covenant Life. I have countless memories of rich relationships, encounters with God, and fruitful ministry here. And many dear friends.

But a potential move has been on the radar for a while now and numerous factors have moved it to the forefront of discussion. The high cost-of-living in the DC suburbs has affected not only our staff, but the 15-20 men who move with their families to be trained in our Pastors College each year. In light of the economic downturn, decreased giving, and wanting to steward our resources wisely, it made sense to consider a less expensive location like Louisville. But Louisville has more to offer than low cost living. It’s home to Southern Seminary. Being close to Southern will enable us to beef up our academic offerings for the Pastors College and possibly offer credits toward a Masters degree. Add in the more central location and the thoughts I list below, and Louisville makes even more sense. (You can read more about the reasons for relocating here).

But relocating our offices isn’t the only reason I’m moving. I’m also going on a church plant. In fact, one of the aspects I’m most excited about is starting a church, led by CJ Mahaney, along with a group of people I know, love, and respect.

Planting a church at 57 is a little daunting (can you say crazy?), especially since the last time I did this was 21 years ago. But as I’ve thought and prayed about the benefits of this move, my faith has only grown. Here are some things I’m looking forward to:

1. Ministry in and from the church: Sovereign Grace Music is songs from the church for the church. For a while now, my role has been more Sovereign Grace, less day-to-day local church ministry (thanks to Ken Boer, who assumed my position at Covenant Life about six years ago). I’d like to once again be leading as an elder in a church while also serving as the musical theologian/director for Sovereign Grace Music. Participating in a church plant will bring those two worlds together again.

2. Pastoring: I pastored for 12 years before becoming Director of Sovereign Grace Music in 1997. While I remained part of a pastoral team for ten years after that, I was rarely involved in pastoring people in the church in an ongoing way, other than on Sunday mornings. Participating in a church plant will put me back in the place of doing what God has placed deep in my heart – caring for his people.

3. Co-laboring with CJ: Apart from books I’ve read, my primary mentor through the years has been CJ Mahaney. Even though he makes no claim to being a musician, he gets what’s supposed to be happening when we worship God in song. The idea of being able to serve with CJ in a new church is very appealing, as it will give me more hands on experiences to draw and learn from. And I can’t wait to hear CJ preach regularly again, something we’ve talked about for years.

4. Long-Term Training: One of my primary goals in recent years has been to focus more intentionally on the training of worship leaders, songwriters, musicians, and studio personnel. I’ve run an intern program the past two years with Ken Boer and it’s been very fruitful. But I’d like to increase the number of people we can serve and mentor, both inside and outside Sovereign Grace. Louisville would provide a low cost environment to make that happen. On the studio side, I’m grateful that Steve Cook will be moving with his family to Kentucky, and will oversee our album production from Louisville.

5. Boyce College/Southern Seminary: At the invitation of my dear friend, Chip Stam (now with the Lord), I participated in the Institute of Christian Worship at Southern Seminary for a number of years. Southern is now in the process of retooling their worship program and making some great changes. Being in Louisville will enable me not only to engage with the college and seminary more consistently, but could also provide interns in the future. The folks at Southern have already been incredibly welcoming.

6. Nashville: Louisville is 3 hours from Nashville, which brings a large and influential musical population much closer. We have great friends in Nashville, including Sal Oliveri, Keith & Kristyn Getty, and others. I think good fruit could come from hanging out there a little more often.

7. Sojourn Music: I’ve appreciated my friendship with Mike Cosper, worship pastor for Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, for a while now. Our musical styles and approaches are different (I’m much hipper), but our biblical and gospel foundations are the same. It will be a joy to benefit more consistently from the Sojourn Music and the Sojourn church network, as well as other gospel preaching churches in Louisville.

8. Fresh opportunities for faith. If you had asked me five years ago where I’d be in 2012, my answer wouldn’t have included Louisville. But  in the wisdom and sovereignty of God, whose purposes can’t be thwarted (Job 42:2), that’s where we’re heading. I have no doubt my faith will be stretched, and that God will prove sufficient for every task and challenge. I’m grateful that I take with me countless memories of dear friends here in Maryland and expectations of making many more in Kentucky.

I’d appreciate your prayers for the following:

1. that my family, and all the other familes that are relocating, would experience peace, faith, and joy in the transition process
2. that the church plant would quickly be known as a gospel preaching, gospel singing, gospel living, gospel sharing community of believers
3. that we would develop meaningful and fruitful relationships with other gospel-proclaiming churches in Louisville
4. that God would enable us not only to train musicians and leaders for our church, but for other churches and future church plants
5. that this move would enable Sovereign Grace Music to produce Christ-exalting songs and training for the local church more effectively

Every so often I’ll run into someone who reminds me that long after we record an album, God continues to use it in people’s lives.

In late January, I was in Orange County, CA for a Gathering event. On Sunday morning I spoke at the Sovereign Grace Church of Orange County, led by Eric Turbedsky. It was there I met David and Laura. They shared their story with me and I was so affected that I asked them to send it to me. Here’s what they wrote:

We have been blessed with not only a daughter, but God in the last two and a half years has blessed us with four more little ones. These children belonged to my wife’s niece, but because of her constant drug use and continued imprisonments her children were taken from her. Unfortunately, these children suffered through physical and mental abuse, as well as, two were born with meth in their systems. We were overjoyed and humbled to think that God would use us to love and minister to these precious children. So as it stands, we have already been able to adopt the first three and are in the finalization process for the last boy to be adopted.

We have been so blessed to be introduced to Sovereign Grace Kids and play the CDs all the time with our little ones. They love the songs, and have learned many of them and sing along when we play them at home or in the car. One of the girls, along with her brothers, will request “Lazy Bones” which is their favorite one of all! As we have been in the process of finding a new church body, and I have gone alone to scout out a fellowship, my wife has stayed home with the kids and done “children’s church.” She uses these wonderful songs to teach our kids the wonderful things of the Lord and the Gospel. Because the words reflect the Word, our kids are getting deep theology with a great tune and memorable lyrics.

Thank you and your team for taking the time to put these CDs together. Your labor is not in vain. We see the fruit now, and have faith in God that these songs and His Word will bear fruit in changing their lives for Christ, and using these little ones to impact the world with the grace and love of God.

At this point we’ve produced three kids albums, and hope to produce more in the future. Awesome God focuses on the attributes of God, To Be Like Jesus explores the fruit of the Spirit, and Walking with the Wise contains songs from Proverbs. In all our kids albums we seek to steer away from moralism (“just be better and work harder”), and seek to highlight God’s mercy, goodness, and wisdom in providing a Savior for us in Jesus Christ, who is the greatest of all treasures.

If you haven’t heard any of our kids albums, you can check them out on our new website here, under the KIDS tab.

In just a couple weeks I’ll be down in Orlando, FL helping to lead corporate worship at the very last NEXT. The theme of this year’s conference is You and Your Church.

I’ve been involved with the music at NEXT ever since Josh Harris started the conference back in 1999, although then it was called New Attitude. I continued to lead when Eric Simmons took over a few years ago and changed the name to NEXT. It’s a fantastic conference that I’ve been hugely privileged to be involved with. But each year I’ve expected to be told that I wouldn’t be needed any more, since NEXT is a conference aimed at singles and young couples, of which I am neither. But for some reason, they keep asking me back, and I’m happy to participate.

I’m excited that this year, as in recent years, I’ll be leading alongside my son, Devon, and the Na Band. We’re looking forward to leading some of the songs from our most recent album, From Age to Age, as well as songs and arrangements that the Na Band have been working on specifically for the conference.

But what I’m most excited about this year is the topic of the conference: You and Your Church. It’s a subject that has gripped my heart for over three decades.

Back in 1981 I was touring with the group GLAD, traversing the country in an old Greyhound bus, playing in churches, schools, concert halls, parks, and for anyone else who would have us. We had just signed a three album contract with The Benson Company and our fan base was growing. The future looked bright.

But something didn’t seem quite right to me. We would come to a town, set up, play our songs, tell people what God has done for us in Jesus, see people respond, and then move on to the next city. I wanted to be a part of something more lasting and ongoing. I wanted to see people evangelized, converted, baptized, discipled, trained, and released for fruitful ministry. Which meant I wanted to give my life to building local churches on the gospel for the glory of God.

Thirty years later my passion remains the same. If anything, it’s increased. And at NEXT I’m excited that we’ll be passing on that desire to the next generation.

Here’s the line up of topics/speakers:

The Church and the Purpose of God: The Eternal Significance of Your Local Church (Jeff Purswell)
The Church and Membership: Our Privilege and Protection (Jared Mellinger)
The Church and Sunday: A Little Taste of Heaven on Earth (Ian McConnell)
The Church and Friendship: How Not to be a Stupid Friend (Kevin DeYoung)
The Church and Holiness: Why Jesus Says We Need It and Why We Don’t Want to Talk About It (Kevin DeYoung)
The Church and Culture: Reaching Out Without Selling Out (Matt Chandler)
The Church and Disappointment: When Expectations Collide with Reality (CJ Mahaney)

If you’ve lost your vision for the church, aren’t certain about your place in the church, or want to increase your fruitfulness in your local church, then NEXT was designed for you. Online registration ends this Sunday, May 13, at midnight. Would love to see you there!

Here are a few promo videos we put together for the conference:

After hundreds of hours of preparation, our newest album, From Age to Age, is finally available. It’s a collection of 14 songs (15 if you count the instrumental prelude), that were inspired by or drawn from the great hymn writers of the past.

Here’s how we described the album in the liner notes:

How does one define a hymn?

It’s hard to say, but most hymns are characterized by theologically rich lyrics, symmetrical rhythmic patterns in the verse lyrics, and a tune that congregations find easy to sing. At the heart of hymn-writing is a desire to create a song that will endure for generations.

Inspired by the hymn writers of the past, we’ve written 14 new hymns for this album. Some songs are old hymn lyrics set to new tunes. For others, we used the thematic structure of a hymn as the basis for an entirely new song.

And in some cases we’ve written completely new hymns that attempt to communicate the inexhaustible riches of God’s word and the Gospel through the simple elements of words and melodies.

Above each lyric, different songwriters have shared thoughts on the background or meaning of the song. We hope you enjoy their stories. More importantly, we hope these songs open your heart and mind to the song that never changes from age to age: the song of the redeemed to their matchless Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Since the early 90s, this makes our 36th album. We produced around 16 Song Service tapes and a few albums before that, but who’s counting? Here’s what excites me about our newest release.

1. While our albums are never short on lyrics, I think this may be one of our richest projects yet, theologically speaking. Just a few songs are of the “2 verse and a chorus” format, and eleven of them have 3 or more verses. We don’t think long songs are better. We just believe the glories of God’s word, works, and worthiness stretch the boundaries of our ability to express them. A thousand tongues will never be enough.

2. We produced  the album in-house. I’m grateful for my good friend Sal Oliveri from Nashville, who produced seven of our more recent albums and helped us grow in our sound and direction, musically speaking. But last year Steve Cook came on staff again at Sovereign Grace, and under his leadership we’ve produced albums that are more representative of what our musicians are doing, starting with The Gathering: Live from WorshipGod11, and now including From Age to Age.

3. I’m grateful to God for three guys from Enfield – David Zimmer, Ryan Foglesong, and Wil Pearce – who along with Joel Sczebel, came up with most of the arrangement ideas on the album. People who have heard From Age to Age have mentioned it sounds different from previous Sovereign Grace albums. There are more ambient guitar beds, creative elements, and indie-sounding tracks. Joel Sczebel said even his friends like it. Can there be higher praise?

4. Along with some great vocalists featured on previous Sovereign Grace recordings – Meghan Baird, Erin Hill, Dale Bischof, and Devon Kauflin – we added the vocal talents of Sojourn Music’s Brooks Ritter on three tracks. Brooks flew in for about 3 and a half hours and blessed us not only with his gifts, but his joyful, humble attitude.. His vocal chops instantly add more soul to any project.

5. The album includes 4 songs written by guys who have served as interns with Ken Boer and me: Joel Sczebel, Zach Sprowls, Eric McAllister, and Matt Richley. It’s a joy to see guys we’ve worked with bearing fruit. I also co-wrote a song with my admin/daughter, Brittany, called Immovable Our Hope Remains. That was sweet.

6. Back in 2008 we produced Come Weary Saints, designed to remind us of our hope in Christ even in the midst of trials. From Age to Age has the same effect. As I’ve listened to the songs (and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve done that), my heart has been directed to themes like God’s sovereignty, his goodness, sufficiency, and  power, the glory of the gospel, the return of Christ, God’s unchanging character, and his never-failing love.

Well, enough about my thoughts on the album. Take a listen yourself and let me know what you think.

You can sample the songs on the cool new Sovereign Grace website, and sample/download the album from iTunes ($9.99), Amazon ($7.99), or Bandcamp ($9.00). We’ll be adding the physical CD from our store shortly.

And yes, free charts, lead sheets, and piano scores are coming soon. Thanks for your patience…

Yesterday we launched the new Sovereign Grace Music website. And boy, am I excited about it.

My good friend Bo Lotinsky was the one who had the foresight to launch the first Sovereign Grace Music, which has served us for a number of years. But as Sovereign Grace Music has grown so has our desire to serve the people who use our music. The new website is a huge step in that direction.

Cabedge did a brilliant job designing the site and were very responsive to our wishes and desires. The back end (under the hood) was put together in-house by our master IT wizard, Dave Mays. Without him we’d just have a clean website that did nothing. My daughter/admin Brittany oversaw entering all the data and we worked together on the info. She’s the one who made the FAQ and permission pages sound more like a real person and less like a robot.

So here are ten reasons why I think you’ll like our new site:

1. All the music, charts, info, videos, and samples from 33 Sovereign Grace albums are in one place.
2. On the Songs page you’ll be able to search for any song by keyword, tempo, genre, key, or theme. And because most of the people who use our music need more categories than chorus and hymn, you can search any combination of the more than 80 themes listed.
3. On an Album page you can sample every song, buy any song from iTunes, Amazon, or Bandcamp, download a zip file of all the sheet music related to that album, read info, leave a comment, and view pictures or videos related to the album. For many albums you can also click through to buy the CD from our store.
4. On the Artist page you can learn more about the musicians who actually produce the music we make. You’ll also see every song they’ve participated in, what role they played, and have the opportunity to hear and/or buy those songs from Amazon, iTunes, or Bandcamp.
5. On any individual song page you can read the lyrics to the song, download any sheet music related to the song with one click (including the 3-staff piano scores!), comment on the song, and see characteristics of the song including composer, vocalists, album, key, tempo, genre, and themes. You can click on any of those categories to find songs with similar characteristics.
6. The FAQ page has a lot of questions we’ve been asked over the years, and a few we think we should have been asked.
7. The permissions page tries to simplify the often complex world of using other people’s music, including ours.
8. On the front page we list recent songs, our most popular songs, and free songs (which you can download with one click, of course).
9. We have the lyrics to “official” Spanish translations to some of our songs and hope to post many more.
10. In the near future we also hope to have a Scripture search function that will enable you to find songs related to specific Bible texts.

All that to say, I’m pretty excited about the potential this new site has for making it easier for people to use, listen to, play, buy, share, and sing our songs. I’m hoping you think the same thing.

But enough talk already! You can check out the site here.

And let me know what you think.

On April 10 we’ll be releasing our next album, From Age to Age, a collection of 14 new hymns for the church. We call them “hymns” because either they were based on or inspired by hymns of the past, or because the lyrics adhere to a metrical pattern in the verses. The songs also contain a theological richness that characterize most hymns.

One song I wrote for the album is called Glorious Christ. I unashamedly got the idea for the song from Chris Tomlin’s How Great is Our God, which seems to be sung throughout the world. I love how Chris’ song focuses on God’s character and works then draws out the appropriate response of magnifying the Lord in song and inviting others to join along. I thought, “I’d like to write a song like that that focuses specifically on Jesus.”

One day as I was reading the first chapter of Hebrews I was struck by how many ways the author highlights the preeminence and superiority of Christ. In just the first four verses we’re told that Jesus is:

• God’s Word to us (vs. 1)
• the heir of all things (vs. 2)
• the creator of the world (vs. 2)
• the radiance of the Father’s glory (vs. 3)
• the exact imprint of God’s nature (vs. 3)
• the one who upholds the universe (vs. 3)
• the one who made purification for our sins (vs. 3)
• now seated at God’s right hand (vs. 3)
• superior to angels (vs. 4)

Wow. While it’s biblical and right to worship God as the Trinity, the Father takes special delight when we honor His Son (Phil. 2:9-10). The Spirit has come for the purpose of glorifying Jesus (John 16:14). So it’s appropriate for us to seek to increase our understanding of, appreciation for, and commitment to proclaiming and cherishing how glorious Christ really is. And that’s what I was attempting to do when I wrote Glorious Christ.

When we were working on From Age to Age, Joel Sczebel had the idea of recording an acoustic version in the studio. So we played through the song a few times and ended up with the video below. That’s some of the Enfield guys on percussion (David Zimmer), mandolin (Wil Pearce),  and acoustic (Ryan Foglesong). Joel played the other acoustic while I sat in (stood in?) on piano. Eric McAllister, currently one of our interns, sang vocals, although Dale Bischof sings it on the album. If you want to sample what’s on the album you can hear it on the iTunes pre-order page. Lyrics are below.

The album comes out April 10, but you can pre-order it for only 5 bucks at our Bandcamp site.

The radiance of the Father
Before the dawn of time
You spoke and all creation came to be
The molecules and planets
Reveal Your great design
And every one was made so we could see
So we could see

You are the glorious Christ
The greatest of all delights
Your power is unequaled
Your love beyond all heights
No greater sacrifice
Than when You laid down Your life
We join the song of angels
Who praise You day and night
Glorious Christ

You left the air of heave
To breathe the dust of earth
And dwell among the outcast and the poor
You came to be forsaken
And died to take our curse
So You could be our joy forevermore
Forevermore

You’re seated now in heaven
Enthroned at God’s right hand
You’ve shattered death and freed us
From our fears
And though we cannot see You
You’re coming back again
And all will be made right when You appear
And all will be made right when You appear
By Bob Kauflin © 2012 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

The worship song outpouring in the last two decades has resulted in thousands of new songs for the church to sing. Many have been expressions of praise, thanksgiving, love, and commitment to God. Others intentionally seek to help us engage directly with God’s Word to us.

That’s one of the purposes of music Paul refers to in Colossians 3:16 when he says that we’re to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

I was encouraged a while back to come across an album by Matt Searles, a 32 year old assistant pastor at Dundonald Church in Wimbledon, London. The album is called Now and Not Yet – Acoustic Psalms. The production is simple – just guitar and female vocal – but the lyrics are derived directly from 10 different Psalms. Two are taken from the Free Church of Scotland Psalmody Committee, and the rest are written by Matt. Here’s what he has to say about the project:

We need the psalms. Not only does God graciously reveal himself to us in his word, but he also gives us vocabulary to express our experience of him. The psalms speak of joy, confidence, celebration and praise, but also despair, grief, questioning and doubt. Rather than deny these feelings, our loving Father tells us to bring them all to him. The psalms are the words he gives us to do this. 

The psalms speak of the great joy there is in this life in following the Lord, but also the fact that we await the new heavens and earth before we’ll fully experience all the blessings that are ours in Christ. In short, the psalms speak of what is now and not yet.

I wrote and asked Matt to fill me in a little on how the album came about and this is his response:

I’d been spending a lot of time in the psalms since studying them at theological college, and there we’d sung some metrical psalms, which I’d found to be a blessing. The range of imagery and emotion (including lament and crying out to God as well as praise) was broader than what I was used to singing in church.

Then this all hit home 18 months ago when my Mum suddenly fell ill, and died 3 months after. My Dad had died some years previously. At this time of grief I was spending lots of time in the psalms, and I began humming tunes for the words that were going round my head. In the Lord’s goodness this really helped me to get the words of the psalms not just into my head by my heart. My version of Psalm 30 was performed at my Mum’s funeral, and after this I thought that these songs might be a blessing to others, so I took a decision to try to record a simple album (I can’t sing or really play guitar, so I paid someone to do it for me!)

My prayer is that through these songs people might be helped to engage with our loving Father, even at times of great sorrow. I’m increasingly persuaded that part of a pastor’s job is not simply to teach sound doctrine, but to teach our people the vocabulary to express their relationship with God. That’s why, despite being a pastor rather than a great musician, I’ve been pursuing this project.

I’ll certainly keep writing songs – my Dad was a guitarist and when Mum died I inherited a couple of guitars from him (including a 1930s Gibson!!) that I’ve been learning to play. And there are plenty more psalms I could do with knowing a bit better! But I feel that God helped me with these songs in a particular way, perhaps if nothing else because I needed the words of these psalms in my head and my heart.

You can check out his album at Bandcamp.