Monthly Archives: August 2008

Today’s recap is posted in collaboration with other church music ministries at Sunday Setlists.  Photos by Dan Canales. 1. In the Shadow of the Glorious Cross, by Sojourn’s own Brooks Ritter and Rebecca Elliott.  We use this one at various spots in worship services.  Here, it was our introductory song.  You can view the chord sheet and hear the mp3 from the sojournmusic Before the Throne page, and you can also read an interview Will Kotheimer conducted with Brooks Ritter on the writing of this song. Next, our liturgical reader issued a Call to Worship — in this case, Psalm 145:8-12.  The …« Read Entire Post

One of the typical comments we receive from those familar with our Before the Throne CD goes something like this: “Who is the dude singing?  He’s amazing.” His name is Brooks Ritter.  He’s a worship leader and songwriter here at Sojourn, and he also performs his own music in venues around Louisville and the larger region, having shared the stage with artists like Derek Webb and Ben Sollee.  Brooks’ solo project is in the final mixing stage in Nashville right now.  One of the many compelling songs on this album, “Bones from the Ground,” is featured above on a video …« Read Entire Post

See part one of this series (Why Christians Often Pray On Bended Knees) for an explanation of why we’re presenting information that is probably obvious to many sojournmusic.com readers. This series will run a few more times, once per week, and hopefully answer questions from those who are curious about certain expressions of Christian worship. Why Raise Our Hands When Singing And Praying? You will often see someone lift one or both hands toward heaven in a worship service. There are thirty-nine Bible verses which describe hand-raising in blessing or “supplication” (a humble plea). When someone prays or sings with …« Read Entire Post

This Monday, the United States and Canada celebrate Labor Day, held the first Monday of every September to honor working people (similar to most other countries’ “May Day”). Although it is common for Christians to think of “work” as a result of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, this is not so: Adam and Eve were given the task of exercising dominion over all the earth from the beginning. Christians also think of “working for the Lord” in terms of missionary activities, and various mercy ministries, but worship is itself work.  Of course, when we see that worship involves …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn member Will Kotheimer, who has interviewed Brooks Ritter and Eddy Morris for sojournmusic.com, recently asked a question on the Sojourn Church private message board: “Besides Sojourn CDs, what do Sojourners listen to in private worship?”  I thought it would be interesting to note some of the responses from our members, compared to many discussions I’ve had with Sojourners about this topic in the past. I’ll make this a two-part series.  Next week I’ll highlight a bunch of artists and records that various Sojourners mentioned recently, but first, here are the “big three” music makers that always come up in these discussions with …« Read Entire Post

Aaron Marshall and wife Nichole (pictured together here) will soon be long-term missionaries in Africa.  But that isn’t the only way they’re seeking to declare the Kingdom of God in their future home.  Wait to you hear about Aaron’s innovative iPods4Africa concept. I interviewed my fellow Sojourn deacon Aaron about iPods4Africa, the Marshall’s upcoming move to the continent, and about ways to spread the gospel on the internet.  As the man behind churchsmo.com, a website designed to help Christians and churches use web technology to further the cause of Christ, Aaron has a lot of things to say about these topics.  …« Read Entire Post

Worship Arts Pastoral Assistant Jamie Barnes, also a Sojourn worship leader and a singer-songwriter with several solo albums that have garnered international rave reviews in print and digital media, is the featured artist on the new episode of The Habanero Hour, a music and interview podcast that explores and challenges the sacred/secular dichotomy in the arts and the concept of “Christian” music. You can read the text of Jamie’s interview at the Colossians Three Sixteen site, or listen to it in The Habanero Hour podcast, along with two of Jamie’s solo songs and music by a host of indie artists …« Read Entire Post

This post is in collaboration with other Worship Leaders as a part of the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com.  Photos by Dan Canalas. 1. Blessed Be The Everlasting God, by Isaac Watts and Sojourn’s own Luke Asher.  Luke is a singer-songwriter here in Louisville who has recently joined the worship team.  Luke revised and arranged the lyrics to this old Isaac Watts hymn and wrote a pleasing new melody.  This marked the first time we’ve sang this song in worship; the band will record it for one of our two upcoming albums based on the hymns of Isaac Watts.  …« Read Entire Post

‘Doxology’ – Mike Cosper from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.This video features Sojourn Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper’s recent sermon, “Doxology.”  Last week I presented an audio player version, so visit that post if you’d prefer audio only (or to download it for free as a podcast episode from our iTunes podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio).  The link to the audio version also includes a printed study guide. This is the 300th blog post here on sojournmusic.com, going back just a little over a year.  Now on a daily posting schedule, I’ll hopefully have more than 300 additional posts for you over …« Read Entire Post

A little something for your weekend.  Here is a video of Sojourn Worship Arts Pastoral Assistant Jamie Barnes, who also happens to be a much beloved singer-songwriter in the Louisville music scene.  This comes from Louisville’s Blue Mountain Cafe. You can find the song, “Red Prescription,” on his Honey From The Ribcage album.  Next week here on sojournmusic.com, we’ll present: Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs: our weekly column about the music set list from this weekend’s Sojourn worship services, with mp3 links, lyrics, and more. A podcast interview with Aaron Marshall of churchsmo.com about one of the more original missionary opportunities …« Read Entire Post

“Worship Practices Explained” is a new series running here one day per week over the next couple months.  I’ll talk about why Christians do things during worship services and other times that might seem strange to the uninitiated. Blog stats tell me that most sojournmusic.com readers are Christians and that probably at least half are actively involved in volunteer or staff ministry as worship leaders, pastors, church planters, childrens’ teachers and other positions and callings.  But sometimes we can all be unexpectedly hit with something like “why do you ____” at church, whether from a neighbor, child, coworker or relative, causing …« Read Entire Post

Many of you are probably aware about the story that broke yesterday regarding Mike Guglielmucci, the Australian youth pastor who faked having terminal cancer.  He wrote the hit worship song, “Healer,” inspiring others with this declaration: I believe You’re my Healer I believe You are all I need I believe You’re my Portion I believe You’re more than enough for me Jesus You’re all I need In one Youtube video that received 300,000 hits, he performed the song with an oxygen tube in his nose.  Several of my worship leader blogging friends have covered this story, such as Fred McKinnon, Chris …« Read Entire Post

  This video comes from Sojourn’s fall 2007 appearance at Fourth Street Live, Louisville’s downtown entertainment district.  We will return to Fourth Street Live Sunday, September 7.  Hope to see you there!

Worship arts pastor Mike Cosper preached a sermon entitled “Doxology” at The 930 during Sojourn’s August 10 worship gathering.  This sermon emphasizes that our praise for God must flow from a good understanding of who He is and what He’s done.  You can download it for free from our podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio, available on iTunes and other podcast directories, or simply click the play button below: Follow along with these sermon notes: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the …« 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.  Photos courtesy of Daniel Canales.  1. Your Blood Says Everything, by Billy Sommerville for Vineyard/ Mercy Music.  This song got us right into the heart of Christian worship and witness –the cross of Christ: Hear the word spoken from the tree heaven broken open Your blood says everything 2. Clean (My God Has Rescued Me), by Michael J. Pritzl of The Violet Burning.  This is a long-time staple of Sojourn worship services written by a good friend to the …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn Music will participate in another Takin’ It To The Streets event on Sunday, September 7.  This time the band will perform outside at Fourth Street Live, Louisville’s downtown entertainment district.  This is our first return to Fourth Street Live since last year’s TV taping for WBKI, the local affiliate for The CW Network. We’ll have further details as the date approaches.  Very likely, the band will perform some music from our upcoming Isaac Watts CD project. The week ahead here on sojournmusic will feature Worship Arts pastor Mike Cosper talking “Doxology,” and worship leader/songwriter Rebecca Dennison writing the story behind …« Read Entire Post

It’s a quiet day.  Sojourn worship arts pastor Mike Cosper is on his way to Michigan to, among other things, talk with John Witvliet and record some interviews with him for future broadcast on our Sojournmusic.com Radio podcast.  Dr. Witvliet has authored and edited several books on worship and written many articles for various publications.  He is the director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and professor of music and worship at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. In the meanwhile, Mike, pastoral assistant Jamie Barnes and others have been experimenting and laying down tracks on our new recording studio setup …« Read Entire Post

Friday, August 29 at 10 am, my co-writer Lindsey Blair and illustrator Tessa Janes will read from our book Pastor Daddy at the Lifeway Christian Store in Southern Baptist Theology Seminary here in Louisville.  If you’re in the Louisville area, we’d love to see you. I’ve written a few things about Pastor Daddy, Sojourn’s first children’s book, and linked to some reviews.  Below is a great article about it from Kristen Miller (who recently interviewed worship leader Rebecca Elliott for sojournmusic.com).  Sojourn first published this article in this month’s news journal, Travelogue: Connecting the Dots: Pastor Daddy Draws a Line from …« Read Entire Post

I’ve never owned an ESV Bible, although I’ve studied from it with increasing frequency online over the last couple years.  So when I read that Crossway was publishing a new ESV Study Bible this fall, I decided to order it. Last week the ESV blog published a pdf preview of the Study Bible introduction to the book of Psalms.  I’d encourage anyone interested in psalmody, worship, songwriting — or the Bible, for that matter — to check it out. I appreciated the clear way in which the ESV Study Bible describes the common literary devices found in Psalms, such as metaphor, …« Read Entire Post

I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the articles from this past week here on sojournmusic.com: information on Sojourn’s upcoming Isaac Watts CD project, a look at our recent worship band auditions, singing instruction from John Wesley, a free songwriting seminar podcast episode featuring Dirt Poor Robins and a free mp3 of a Brooks Ritter worship song that we debuted last Sunday in our worship services.  Also, check out my feature article at theworshipcommunity.com on building a songwriting community in your church.  Then visit godsmac.com to hear a podcast interview with my fellow Sojourn communications team deacon Aaron Marshall on his iPods4Africa …« Read Entire Post

“Above all sing spiritually.  Have an eye to God in every word you sing.  Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature.  In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he comes in the clouds of heaven.” from Select hymns with Tunes Annext: Designed chiefly for the Use of the People Called Methodists Wesley knew how to turn …« Read Entire Post

A few days ago I attended a small meeting where worship arts pastor Mike Cosper and worship leader Neil Robins outlined the steps toward our goal of producing two new CDs of music based on the timeless hymns of Isaac Watts.  Now that our brand new studio is nearly 100% operational, co-producers Mike and Neil are ready to lead the worship team through the recording process. As noted before in an audio interview with Mike as well as one with Neil, they will each produce one CD.  Neil’s will have a progressive indie-pop sound while Mike’s will have a dark, acoustic vibe.  Or …« Read Entire Post

Last Wednesday Sojourn hosted an open audition night for prospective worship band candidates. Nineteen Sojourners took to the stage of our main auditorium, performing songs from our latest full-length CD, Before the Throne, before worship arts pastor Mike Cosper and a small team of experienced worship leaders. For a list of songs the candidates were asked to perform, view our “Adding To The Band” post). Sojourn only permits regenerate church members (and those in membership process) to audition for the band, so band tryouts are really an extension of an already elaborate interview process that vocalists and musicians go through to …« Read Entire Post

This past April, the award-winning songwriting/ performing duo Neil and Kate Robins gave a comprehensive talk on songwriting at Sojourn’s home, The 930 Art Center.  Neil and Kate have written and performed songs on our last two recordings, Before the Throne and Advent Songs, and Neil is producing one of the two CDs on our upcoming double-CD project, for which he and Kate will contribute more of their material.  In fact, look for a collaboration or two between Neil and myself on this CD, which is quite an honor for me. We had some problems with the recording equipment during …« 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. Great and Mighty, by Caedmon’s Call.  I love how this song portrays the “already/not yet” tension of our life in the presence of God, from the first verse: “Hold my heart, O God Keep me ever in Your will There is joy within your presence here and now but better still Is the day that is to come when Your full glory is revealed. I have long endured the trials of the age and I will sing …” …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn worship leader Lorie King recently wrote “Ten Tips For Worship Leaders: How To Enhance Stage Presence” for theworshipcommunity.com, a new site that features insights, advice, encouragement and information-sharing among worship leaders, pastors, songwriters, tech support personnel and liturgical artists across the globe from many churches and traditions. Read the full article at theworshipcommunity.   To whet your appetite, here are Lorie’s first two tips: 1) Watch what you do. Be (or become) aware of your body language and gestures. If you can, have someone take a video of you leading worship so that you can observe yourself and see what you …« Read Entire Post