Monthly Archives: July 2008

Johnny Cash wrote his first song in 1955, a song about a train called “Hey Porter.” His final composition, released in 2006 on the posthumous “American V: A Hundred Highways,” is also about a train. The Delta blues-inspired “Like The 309″ shows that he remained a master storyteller to the end. “Hey Porter” heralded the sound of a young man arriving — an eager, brash hipster who couldn’t wait to get off the train, to reach his destination, to smell the frost, to breathe the air. The narrator of “Like The 309″ isn’t daydreaming about breathing fresh air; he just …« Read Entire Post

The new Sojourn Music studio is almost completely  in place — a room on the third floor of Sojourn’s home, The 930.  This room serves as the office of worship arts pastor Mike Cosper as well as a recording studio.  View the short interview with pastoral assistant/ worship leader Jamie Barnes on our Facebook fan page to see the recording setup and to learn about the exciting web-exclusive music that will be coming your way shortly.  You can also watch it on my personal Facebook page or, for the non-Facebook user, directly from YouTube. You’ll also see Pastor Mike and worship …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn worship leader Rebecca Dennison recently took an intensive workshop at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on a subject that is transforming the way missionaries teach new believers how to engage in corporate worship.  This subject is called “ethnodoxology,” the study of culture and worship.  Rebecca and I talked about the basics of ethnodoxology last week.  You can also view a report of the workshop she took at Towers Online and learn more from the International Council of Ethnodoxologists (I.C.E.) website.  Hit “play” to listen to our short new interview below, or download it for free from our podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio, at …« Read Entire Post

This week’s recap of songs is posted in collaboration with other worship leaders on the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com. 1. Let Justice Roll Like A River, hymn text by me and music by Rebecca Elliott.  We used this as the “come on in and let’s worship together” song this week.  You can hear a live mp3 recorded during a Sojourn worship service, featuring vocals and piano by my co-writer, Rebecca: Let Justice Roll Like A River mp3 Following “Let Justice Roll …” we responded to a scriptural Call To Worship. 2. Invitation Fountain, by Michael Pritzl of The Violet Burning.  Worship planners, …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn worship arts pastor Mike Cosper (pictured above) writes about the technology that has transformed the way churches do worship ministry in recent years, the cultural situation worship pastors and leaders have emerged from, and more in this concluding part to his essay begun here on sojournmusic.com: What I want to ask is who will guide us? What will the reformation of church music education give birth to in twenty years? Will it look different, or will we simply look back in twenty years and laugh at our young foolishness? Worship leaders aren’t the only ones asking these kinds of questions. …« Read Entire Post

Worship arts pastor Mike Cosper writes about recent trends in worship ministry and the challenges ahead for the universal church, touching on music education, culture, pastoral responsibilities and more in this continuation of yesterday’s post:                    ________________________________________________ With him, he carries the knowledge he’s gained from this traditioning process – a totally different set of skills. The rock set at the local venue is governed by some of the basic principles of show business: songs need to be catchy, have a great hook, and be fun to sing. The set as a whole needs to have some kind of emotional …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn worship arts pastor Mike Cosper writes below, on the current interest in worship arts and theology, modern renewal movements, and the challenging new paradigm in worship ministry:                     ~                                                       ~                                               ~  Scan the shelves or CD racks at a Christian bookstore and you’ll find an incredible range of ideas about worship: where it begins and ends, what it is, whether worship is for God or for ourselves, and on and on the questions and answers go. As many writers find themselves at the beginning of a project, one has to ask why another book on worship is necessary or …« Read Entire Post

“The learning process for artists of all stripes usually follows the path of imitate, assimilate, then innovate.  If an artist is struck by something in his or her chosen art form, there is an all-consuming desire to absorb everything about it.  During the process of assimilation the artist’s output will be an imitation of the beloved form.  In the end, for the uniquely gifted, there will be innovation.  Sometimes if something proves impossible to replicate for some reason, the artist pushes to find another way – innovation by default.  Dave Van Ronk said about his unique guitar style: I tried …« Read Entire Post

“Ethnodoxology.”  The International Council of Ethnodoxologists defines it as “peoples + praise,” elaborating that it is “the development of culturally appropriate Christian worship, utilizing insights from ethnomusicology, missiology, worship studies and the arts.”  Missionaries, worship leaders, Christians from all walks of life can learn how to “love people better” by considering how we can spread the gospel in such a way that peoples from “all tribes and tongues” can worship in culturally appropriate and relevant ways. The old model of teaching people to sing western hymns and praise choruses in their native tongues is giving way to a model of contextualization and cultural redemption. Sojourn worship …« Read Entire Post

I was out of town this Sunday visiting great brothers and sisters in Christ at The Oaks Community Church, a new Acts 29 fellowship in Middletown, Ohio.   I’ll talk more about that trip in the near future on sojournmusic.com, but below you will find the set list from Sunday the 20th at Sojourn.  After worship services, the morning band also played a “Takin’ it to the Streets” event at Kingfish, the historic local venue recently named “Best Outdoor Dining” in Louisville.  To see an amazing photo gallery of this event taken by Dan Canales, visit the “Sojourn at Kingfish” photo album on our Facebook …« Read Entire Post

Ever since I got my new Flip Mino camcorder, I’ve been having fun with friends and family.  In fact, you’ll recall that I used it to bring you a little interview with worship arts pastoral assistant Jamie Barnes from the home of Sojourn’s upcoming recording studio and new office of worship arts pastor Mike Cosper. I’ve also been running a feature called “Bounding Down The Halls” on my personal Facebook page (from whence you can reach Sojourn Music’s fan page — or you can reach it from our Helpful Links section here).  Anyway, “Bounding Down The Halls” is a video …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn artists and worship leaders often converse with each other on topics relating to Christianity and the arts, and worship theology.  Sometimes the conversations turn into heated debates, inevitably ending with scratching, hair-pulling, and name-calling.  Other times, we agree.  But always, the Bible proverb that likens friendship to “iron sharpening iron” proves true.  Here is a snippet of an email conversation between myself and worship leader Lorie King that I feel is pertinent to all Christians in the arts, and those who enjoy music: Lorie: If so, how influential is music and art on how we think and act? Especially …« Read Entire Post

How does your church add to your worship team or choir?  Some churches hold open auditions.  Some say “Whoever wants to play, just let us know.”  Some are small enough that it’s only a matter of meeting one-on-one with a pastor or worship leader and demonstrating the necessary qualifications. And of course, different churches require different things.  Some hire professional musicians — whether Christian or not — for certain spots, whereas some want regenerate believers to fill the band.  Some require a basic knowledge of chords or singing and a willingness to learn.  Others require a greater degree of proficiency or …« Read Entire Post

Jeremy Quillo has contributed songs to all of Sojourn’s worship CDs.  One of the hallmarks of his writing is his use of scripture — whether it be an arrangement and new melody of a psalm or the incorporation of lines and themes from scripture into his own lyrics.   I sat down with Jeremy recently to discuss why modern worship songwriters should use scripture in lyrics or set verses to music, how he does it, and the dangers involved in approaching the Bible as source material for songs.  The discussion includes specific memories of his These Things I Remember songs “From …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn is always honored to participate in Takin’ It To The Streets events, having done so in various locations around Louisville over the past year such as Hard Rock Cafe as well as out doors at Fourth Street Live, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and more. See our televised performance from The CW’s Louisville affiliate, WBKI This Sunday from 3:15 to 3:45 pm Sojourn will perform at a historic Louisville restaurant known as Kingfish in front of the Ohio River at Zorn and River Road.  This Louisville landmark, in its 60th year, has a stage and plenty of room to accomodate you, so if …« Read Entire Post

1. Come and Sing, by Sojourn’s own Jeremy Quillo.  Written to represent the “call to worship” on our liturgically-themed Before the Throne CD, that’s exactly how we used it in this service. Luke Daugherty, a pastor at fellow Acts 29 church Karis Community Church in Columbia, Missouri, recently wrote a great article about this song on his blog.  You can pull up the chord sheet from our Before the Throne page, and listen to the mp3 from the Facebook fan page of Sojourn Music. 2. Psalm 3, by Sojourn’s Rebecca Dennison, adapted from Isaac Watts, adapted from King David.  The mournful …« Read Entire Post

As always, on Monday we’ll post our music set list from the Sunday worship services, with info on the songs and links to mp3s.  Also next week we’ll give you all the details on Sojourn’s next appearance as part of the Takin’ It To The Streets series.  You may recall that our last event took place at Hard Rock Cafe in Louisville’s downtown entertainment district, Fourth Street Live. I’ll post an audio interview with Jeremy Quillo on using scripture in worship songs as well.  Jeremy has written many Sojourn favorites, including “Come and Sing,” “We are Listening,” “Mourning into Dancing,” …« Read Entire Post

“This book is a great introduction to the practice of family worship and how the church and the home are interrelated. The authors alternate between church and home and show how each element of worship (outside of baptism and the Lord’s Supper) can be done at home through family worship.” The above statement is from a review of Sojourn’s first book, Pastor Daddy, written by Lindsey Blair (pictured above in a photo by Michael Winters, reading Pastor Daddy at the release party) and me, illustrated by Tessa Janes.  Terry Delaney wrote the review, which appeared in Ministry-to-Children . I took a minute’s …« Read Entire Post

Recently I told you about theworshipcommunity.com forums, an internet message board for worship leaders, ministers of music, church planters, sound board operators, pastors, theologians and anyone interested in Christian worship and the worship arts.  Over 1000 people have already signed up for the forum, where you can jump in conversations or start your own on everything from your Sunday set list to equipment choices, songwriting, team-building, dealing with conflicts between worship leaders and pastors, and more, sharing experiences, insights and struggles with worshipers from around the world. Now, the full site is operational – not just the forums, but an …« Read Entire Post

Check out this cool event coming to Sojourn’s home, The 930, this Sunday.  It’s free, and it will benefit anyone interested in creative endeavors, from music to photography and everything in between.  If you can get to Louisville for this, we’d love to see you.  If not, check out this guy’s work online, anyway.  Good stuff!  MAKING ART THAT MATTERS with Jonathan Anderson Sunday, July 13. 2-3:30 p.m. Free and open to the public Email michael@the930.org to register This workshop with Los Angeles painter and educator Jonathan Anderson will explore how to figure out what kind of art you should …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn Music is on the move.  We’re building a recording studio complete with ProTools setup on the third floor of Sojourn’s home, The 930 Art Center.  The room will include new office space for worship arts pastor Mike Cosper.We’re in the beginning stages now.  In fact, a few days ago I took my trusty Flip Mino camcorder to the future Sojourn Music wing to capture some “before” footage for you and to interview worship arts pastoral assistant Jamie Barnes before joining a volunteer team that was painting and sweeping the area. Jamie gave me an excellent “tour” of the room, …« Read Entire Post

1. Shelter Me, by Buddy and Julie Miller, a great song for troubled times and timid hearts: 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. Our Great God, by Fernando Ortega and Third Day’s Mac Powell.  This song has been a staple of Sojourn services for several years, and is a solid statement of adoration and trust in God’s provision: Lord we are weak and frail, helpless in the storm Surround us with your angels; hold us in Your arms our cold …« Read Entire Post

Many people know Charlie Richardson best as the worship leader who wrote “There is a Peace,” sung by Rebecca Dennison on our Before the Throne CD.  But Charlie has written several of our favorite original songs at Sojourn, like “Thorns,” “Blessed are the Poor in this Life,” and “Where Your Praise Never Ends.”  One of our two upcoming CDs based on the hymns of Isaac Watts will have a Charlie Richardson song as well. He also regularly leads worship at Sojourn, where he was a part of the original small group of young people who gathered in an apartment to talk about …« Read Entire Post

From the Gretchen Reads 24/7 blog (the book store she’s referring to is the campus store of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary). If you missed my post from earlier this week that gave everyone the lowdown about “Pastor Daddy,” Sojourn’s first children’s story book, check it out. Have a great Independence Day (or just simply have a great day, non-U.S. readers).  Tomorrow I’ll have a post on the music and faith of Sojourn worship leader/songwriter Charlie Richardson, (“There is a Peace”) including video and audio links to his songs.

The fourth of July is the national holiday known as Independence Day here in the United States, where we celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776.  Relevant magazine’s website has a good article about the Christian meaning of “independence” — in fact, it’s good enough that I’ve decided to cancel the one I’d been thinking of writing and direct you all (or as we say in certain parts of the independent United States, “ya’ll”) over to the Relevant article. This weekend we’ll have a feature on Sojourn worship leader and songwriter Charlie Richardson (“There is …« Read Entire Post

Visit some of the Sojourn artist web pages from our Helpful Links section, listen to an interview, or otherwise follow their musical adventures and you’ll soon note that quite a few of them record CDs that would fall outside of the “CCM” category into what most of us would call “secular” music of one style for another.  Look at their tour schedules and you’ll see some of them playing in various music halls, clubs, coffee houses and out-door venues where, it’s safe to say, not all patrons and attendees will be paying attention to biblical commands against lust, drunkenness and …« Read Entire Post