Monthly Archives: May 2008

Last November I blogged about Sojourn worship arts pastor Mike Cosper’s sermon “Music and Worship,” and provided a link to hear the streaming audio (read the original post, which contains sermon notes and reflection questions for study and discussion). This sermon is now available on our podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio, available through iTunes and other podcast directories. This week on sojournmusic.com: * my notes on the Sunday, June 1 music set list at Sojourn’s worship gathering, including mp3 and lyric sheet links.  * a post on recommended books — some of my favorite so far in 2008 * a short audio interview with …« Read Entire Post

The writer looks to the Lord for forgiveness in the 25th psalm with these words: Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord. – Psalm 25:6-7 The great truth of assurance is that the Lord God shows us compassion and forgets our debt to him through the giving of His son, Jesus. Christ came to replace our unrighteousness with His perfect obedience to the Father. God grants us …« Read Entire Post

At Sojourn we say that we are “created for community.”  It should come as no surprise then that artists can create in community, although this rubs against the modern, pagan notions of the artist as an elevated, mystical being who can only create in isolation.  This has long been one of my core convictions as pertains to the arts.  So imagine my pleasure when I discovered Standing On Water’s Edge: Moving Past Fear, Blocks, and Pitfalls to Discover the Power of Creative Immersion by Anne Paris, PhD.  Here is a representative passage from Paris’ clinical and historical observations regarding the …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn Community Church of Louisville was proud to host the 2008 Cultivate Beauty Festival a few weeks ago at our home, The 930 Art Center.  One of my favorite events during this time was a Saturday morning breakfast and Q&A panel on “Thoughts for Christian Artists and Musicians,” which you can now hear by clicking the play button below, or by subscribing to our podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio, from iTunes or the directory of your choice. Here are just some of the topics covered: How to tear down the wall between “sacred” and “secular”  The Christian Subculture What does cultivating humility as …« Read Entire Post

This old story is about the lost art of song interpretation, a bad side-effect of the rise of the singer-songwriter (let it be said that I see more good side effects than bad).  Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits … artists like that were great in so many ways, but one unfortunate side effect has been that we now think that for a music artist to be a “real” artist, they must write their own songs, when in fact song interpretation is a challenging art form that in some ways requires greater artistry than songwriting does. Is Alison Krauss less of …« Read Entire Post

By now many of you have heard that Sojourn’s follow-up worship music project to last year’s Before the Throne, rated 5-stars by Christianity Today, is actually a two-CD set of songs based on the hymns of Isaac Watts.  Known as the author of “Joy to the World,” “When I Survey The Wond’rous Cross,” “Alas! And did my Saviour Bleed?” and many more classics, Watts is often called “The Father of English Hymnody.” I sat with worship arts pastor Mike Cosper a few days ago for a ten-minute interview about the new project.  As pastor and also record producer (as well as multi-instrumentalist and …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn Music 009Originally uploaded by bobbygillesThe Sojourn band played to an enthusiastic packed house at Hard Rock Cafe in Louisvlle’s downtown entertainment district, Fourth Street Live. The 9-song performance was part of the Takin’ It To The Streets series, an inter-church effort that places worship bands in venues outside the walls of the church.     For many more photos of this event, view the Sojourn Music fan page on Facebook (visit it from our Helpful Links section anytime. You’ll also find plenty of mp3s and additional photos). The band played every song from this past Sunday’s morning set list, plus …« Read Entire Post

This week, six of our seven songs came to us either from Sojourn’s latest CD, Before the Throne, or our upcoming worship project — two CDs based on the hymns of Isaac Watts (an interview about this project with worship arts pastor Mike Cosper is coming Tuesday, here on sojournmusic.com). 1. My Maker and My King, hymn text by Anne Steel, music and lyrical adaptation by Mike Cosper.  Check out the mp3 and the chord sheet to this one in our Before the Throne page.  We used this as our “Adoration” song on the liturgically-themed Before the Throne. 2. Before …« Read Entire Post

Here in the United States we’re getting ready to celebrate Memorial Day this Monday, the 26th, a national holiday to remember and honor those who have died serving in our nation’s military.  Here is a memorial poem by the great American poet, Walt Whitman: Dirge For Two Veterans, by Walt Whitman THE last sunbeam Lightly falls from the finish’d Sabbath, On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking, Down a new-made double grave. Lo, the moon ascending, Up from the east the silvery round moon, Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon, Immense and silent moon. I see …« Read Entire Post

Most of you are aware that Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman’s five year old daughter Maria was killed in a tragic accident Wednesday night in the family driveway.  If you would like to send condolences, learn a little more about Maria and view a “goofy” blog video shot with her dad just two months ago, you can do so at this site that has been set up for this occasion.   The Bible tells us to weep with those who weep.  Of course we all know that countless tragedies happen every day, most of which we are unaware of because the …« Read Entire Post

Those interested in becoming members or learning more about Sojourn go through a six-week course that teaches all the basics of what we believe as well as the unique history of our church and the missional context of Sojourn within the city of Louisville.  We place a high priority on worship at Sojourn, believing it to be so much more than a type of music or something we only do as a congregation on Sundays.  Wanting to communicate this effectively to anyone who might partner with us, worship arts pastor Mike Cosper teaches on worship for one whole class out of the six.  Here is …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn Music will be a part of the next Takin’ It To The Streets event this Sunday, May 25 at Hard Rock Cafe, located in downtown Louisville’s entertainment district, Fourth Street Live.  One of our bands will be performing at 5 pm, playing Sojourn originals and other worship songs. You’ll recall that we taped a television show for Takin’ It To The Streets at Hard Rock last fall, and linked to the show so everyone could view it online.  We’re honored to have been invited back.  If you live in or near Louisville, we hope to see you there.           ______________________________________________________ …« Read Entire Post

Thanks to each of you who regularly come to sojournmusic.com, whether you subscribe through our RSS Feed or have bookmarked us in another way. Our daily visitors have more than tripled since we relaunched last August and doubled since the first of 2008. Sojourn has two new websites that you may be interested in as well. The newest is the web home of our visual arts ministry: sojournvisualarts.com. As you know from reading sojournmusic, we have our own art center called The 930, from which we host gallery exhibits and music shows. We also use The 930 for Sunday worship …« Read Entire Post

Simply click the play button below to hear my interview with Coury Deeb, founder of Nadus, an organization bringing awareness and action to the rebuilding efforts of war-torn Sudan.  Coury is a Christian artist who has used his skills in photography and film-making to document the struggles of southern Sudan as they seek to recover from civil war with the north. In fact, I know of no better example of how God can use an artist, spurring the artist to say, “Here I am, this is my gift — how can I use it to work for the Kingdom?”  In …« Read Entire Post

“Segregation in America is at its worst in sanctuaries, on Sunday mornings.”  Variants of this sentence pop up in conversation and on the web from time to time, pointing to the fact that, of our own accord, we Christians tend to segregate into “white” and “black” churches (and the other ethnic groups often stick together as well, but in the U.S., it’s black-white relations that carry the most scrutiny).  Educators, theologians, pastors and lay persons of all stripes think and talk about the reasons behind it, and many conclude that one of the big reasons is the style of music used in worship services.   “White” churches …« Read Entire Post

1. Beautiful Savior, by Stuart Townend. The lines “Lord of history” and “You’re the Risen One / Heaven’s champion” in the chorus express the theme that Jesus is Lord and Savior for all time.  The three verses develop this: verse one deals with the present — the life of the singer: “for in my helplessness You heard my cry” verse two takes us back to Calvary: “I will trust in the cross of my Redeemer / I will sing of the blood that never fails” verse three points towards eternity: “where countless worshipers will share one song / and cries …« Read Entire Post

“I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees. You will be my people, and I will be your God.” Friends in Christ: by the power of the Spirit, we are united with Christ and given …« Read Entire Post

The conclusion of Josh Thomas’s The Eye Of The Beholder: A Brief History Of Kill Your TV/ Cultivate Beauty Month: Inherent in cultivating beauty, Coffey said, is creation. So in 2001, the Cultivate Beauty Film Festival was established. For the first few years, all of the entries were done in-house. Individuals, friends and whole community groups made short films, some better than others, but all of them wildly and wonderfully amateurish. For Stephanie Spencer, the pinnacle of the past few years was viewing The Rapping Twins, a mockumentary of two rappers, played by Lachlan Coffey and Jeremy Quillo. “It was …« Read Entire Post

Last week we talked about the Cultivate Beauty Film Festival.  As promised, we will bring you the audio lectures and Q&A panel from that festival, featuring Dr. Harold Best, author of Unceasing Worship and Music Through The Eyes Of Faith, along with Sojourn worship arts pastor Mike Cosper, Terra Nova (Troy, New York) pastors Ed Marcelle and Scott Womer, and Christ Church (Santa Fe, New Mexico) Pastor Martin Ban.   ”Cultivate Beauty” is more than a weekend festival at Sojourn, though.  It’s an entire month-long event known as Kill Your TV/ Cultivate Beauty Month.  Below is an excerpt from Josh Thomas’ article on …« Read Entire Post

CCM Magazine, now an internet-only publication known as ccmagazine.com, published an article by producer/author/artist Charlie Peacock entitled: The Future Of Christian Music: Peacock’s Prognostication.  This quote particulary resonated with me, given my history in Christian radio: “Gospel music will survive with integrity-both the variety created out of the African-American experience and the kind associated with country, folk, bluegrass or Americana. When convenient or strategic, Christian artists will return to using the term gospel in order to describe their music. ’CCM’ has faded as an accurate moniker and will disappear altogether.” In the early 90′s, I had some success on a small, AM station programming southern …« Read Entire Post

I sat down with worship arts pastoral assistant Jamie Barnes for a few minutes to take you inside the planning and execution of a Sojourn worship band practice session.  The talk ranged from a discussion of how worship leaders prepare for a Sunday set during the week (including the use of an online tool known as The Planning Center, available to all churches) to practice times, the description of a “typical” session, last-minute changes, the importance of prayer, getting talented musicians to work together as a unit for the glory of God and the edification of the congregation, and other …« Read Entire Post

I was pleased to meet several Christians involved in the arts this weekend at Sojourn’s Cultivate Beauty Festival and to share thoughts with them over coffee, donuts, pizza, Indian food — you can see that it was a both a filling weekend and a fulfilling one.  I thought you’d be interested to know a little about them and their various ministries.  These people are on the front lines of, as Dr. Harold Best says, “Thinking Christianly about the arts.”  I’ll provide links to all of their ministries so you can learn more about what they’re doing in their cities. Of course …« Read Entire Post

1. I’m Coming Back, by our own Rebecca Elliott from Before the Throne.  From the review of this CD in Christianity Today: Her (Rebecca’s) voice perfectly complements the earnest sentiments of worship in “I’m Coming Back,” an earnest and well-written reminder of how we’ve “wasted all I have on things that will not last.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself. 2. Come and Sing, by our own Jeremy Quillo, also recorded on last year’s Before the Throne.  Hear this mp3 on our Facebook page.  You can also read Jeremy’s “story behind the song” here on sojournmusic.com.  I’ve learned a lot …« Read Entire Post

 Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and here are this site we’ll give you an mp3 of a special Mother’s Day song by our own Jamie Barnes. Tomorrow is also, in the Church Calendar, the day of Pentecost.  Here is a suggested reading for Pentecost — a Call To Worship.  Following this is a suggested song for Pentecost from our These Things I Remember CD: God will pour out the Spirit on all flesh, and our daughters and sons shall prophesy. Our old ones shall dream dreams, and our young ones shall see visions; and all who call upon the name of …« Read Entire Post

I’m spending today at The 930, Sojourn’s home, taking in the great things our Cultivate Beauty Festival has to offer.  Dr. Harold Best is speaking specifically to Christian artist’s from 10 am-noon today, and will give a public lecture this afternoon.  We’ll also see a festival of short films.  Later tonight, a show featuring Jeremy Enigk (formerly of Sunny Day Real Estate) and our own Luke Asher (read my thoughts on his debut album, “Don’t Leave So Early”).  Since it’s about time for me to head out of here, I thought I’d post a review I did awhile back for …« Read Entire Post

Worship Matters, by Bob Kauflin, is one of my favorite books so far in 2008.  I was going to write a full review of it, but you know what?  I can do a pretty good record review, but when it comes to books, I’m certainly no Tim Challies.  So instead of writing a meandering review that fails to communicate everything I’d like to communicate, I’ve decided to add this to my small list of books that I revisit from time to time in blog columns, quoting a few sentences here and there to remind myself and those of you who …« Read Entire Post

We are on the eve of Sojourn’s Cultivate Beauty Festival.  Be sure to check the the930.org for a complete lineup of public events.  And if you’re wondering about places to eat, read below for a profile by Matt Ralph of a great Louisville barbecue place located a few minutes’ walking distance from The 930, Smoketown USA.  But first, here is the vision for the Cultivate Beauty Festival, written by Sojourn’s Elders: The Cultivate Beauty Art & Film Festival is part of an annual celebration started by Sojourn Community Church known as Kill Your TV / Cultivate Beauty Month. This is a month when members of Sojourn …« Read Entire Post

I recently sat down with Rebecca Dennison to talk psalms and songwriting.  Rebecca was a featured songwriter (and vocalist) on our psalm-based 2005 album, These Things I Remember, and she has also written music based on psalms for her trio, the Sandpaper Dolls, and for Sojourn’s upcoming worship CDs. Click the player below to hear this short discussion, covering Rebecca’s thoughts on adapting the language of the Psalms to write modern worship songs, the difference in working straight from the biblical texts as opposed to Isaac Watt’s metrical psalms, the advantages of using scripture, why a church should use psalms when …« Read Entire Post

Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper, on Sojourn’s “Cultivate Beauty/ Kill Your TV” month: Sometimes I wonder what would happen if God spoke to me in an audible voice. Would I even hear it? Would the voice that Jeremiah described as a “still, small voice” be able to penetrate the din of music, TV, distracted thoughts, advertisements, internet pop-ups, emails, MySpace messages, voice mails, books, letters, friends, neighbors and enemies that are shouting to be heard already? Sometimes when God speaks in the Scriptures, it’s quite extraordinary. The Bible tells us about mountains shaking, seas suddenly running dry, creatures called into …« Read Entire Post

I met Pastor Brandon Little and worship team leader Brian Simpson of Cincinnati’s Landmark Baptist Church  at Sojourn’s January songwriting seminar, and we had a fascinating conversation about the work God is doing in their church community.  When they asked me for some thoughts on how Sojourn has engaged in worship planning and team building over the course of our eight years, starting as a core group of around sixty Sunday attenders to a current average attendance of 1200+, I was fortunate to be able to point them to Sojourn worship leader Lorie King. Lorie has been an integral part of our worship ministry since …« Read Entire Post

1. Shelter Me, by Buddy and Julie Miller.  Biblical imagery and scriptural allusions (often apocalyptic) saturate this song, from the first line (the earth can shake, the sky come down) to the last (You shelter me Lord, underneath Your wings).  The Millers know how to tell a story through song as well, using colorful descriptions and active verbs, as in the second verse: Dark waters rise and thunders pound the wheels of war are going ’round and all the walls are crumbling – shelter me Lord, underneath Your wings. 2. Psalm Fifty-Seven, by our own Jeremy Quillo.  We recorded this one …« Read Entire Post

People will wonder where he came from. Why and how this guy could come out of nowhere and display, in his first record, lyrical immediacy and scab-picking honesty without indulging in melodramatic, maudlin techniques that telegraph to the listener, “Here I am – and I’m being earnest. No, really.” Other people will think they know where Luke Asher and his new record, Don’t Leave So Early, came from. They’ll think he came from the house of Nick Drake down Leonard Cohen Avenue, picking up a soda pop from Duncan Sheik’s five-and-dime on his way to the town square where the …« Read Entire Post

For those of you following the reaction from within the city of Louisville to The LEO Weekly’s cover article on Sojourn and the subsequent Sojourn pastoral response provided by Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper, here is a sample reaction from a non-evangelical perspective, The ‘Ville Voice, a popular Louisville blog that often provides thought-provoking columns dealing with city news — and the coverage of city news in local media.  This article focuses on Sojourn’s views regarding homosexual behavior, questions of tolerance, and the merits of boycotting those who hold philosophical or religious beliefs contrary to your own.           ______________________________________________________ Tomorrow on sojournmusic.com, …« Read Entire Post

Rebecca Dennison is not only a Sojourn worship leader and featured vocalist on Before the Throne (as well as one of the featured vocalists and songwriters on These Things I Remember) but stays active in the Louisville music scene by harmonizing occasionally with Jamie Barnes and participating in the band The Joy Unfolding. Now, she is part of an acapella trio called Sandpaper Dolls, along with Suki Anderson and Amber Estes.  I caught their first public performance last Saturday night, and can attest to the power and subtle nuance of their voices, individually and collectively.  Join me for a short …« Read Entire Post