New songs for modern missional worship, rich in Christian teaching and contextualized in modern culture. Contemporary hymns, psalms, songs of lament and praise written by members of the Louisville, KY-based Sojourn Community.
It is impossible to discourage the real writers - they don’t give a **** what you say, they’re going to write. ~Sinclair Lewis this is true. I tell this to the songwriters in our community, especially the newer ones, all the time. Over the years I’ve had some songs performed in churches and various places, and a few recorded, and had a handful of poems and short stories published. Along the way, I’ve received over 200 rejection notices. That’s the nature of the beast. But a writer writes.
You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world. ~G.K. Chesterton I don’t doubt that for a minute.
The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone’s neurosis, and we’d have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads. ~William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958 The main thing I’m going to take from this is the phrase “happy chuckleheads.” I’m going to start using that in conversation. “What’s up, you happy chuckleheads?”
I do not like to write - I like to have written. ~Gloria Steinem Yeah, it’s much more fun to talk about (and hear someone else talk about) something you’ve written. The actual writing process is often frustrating enough to make me want to peel my face off.
It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous. ~Robert Benchley If I ever become famous, I’ll let you know my opinion of this quote.
No man should ever publish a book until he has first read it to a woman. ~Van Wyck Brooks True. All my modern hymns are edited by Lorie King, one of our worship leaders. As a singer/ worship leader, professional editor and someone with a seminary Masters in Worship, she brings a trusted perspective to my scribbles. I’m not sure this is what Van Wyck really meant, but anyway …
The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new. ~Samuel Johnson In the world of songwriting, no one does this better than Bob Dylan. In my humble opinion.
There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes. ~William Makepeace Thackeray This is one reason why people who suffer from “writers’ block” need to pick up the pen and start writing, regardless of whether they’re “feeling it.” Inspiration often doesn’t come until you’ve primed the pump by filling up a page (or several) with drivel.
And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath Another of our worship leaders, singer-songwriter Jamie Barnes, truly seems to be able to make “everything in life” writable. I don’t know if there is anything in the realm of human experience that he couldn’t turn into an interesting song.