Monthly Archives: September 2008

‘Be Transformed’ – Daniel Montgomery from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.  At the beginning of Romans chapter twelve, Paul calls all Christians to be living sacrifices to God, as a true act of worship.  Sojourn Pastor Daniel Montgomery examines this call to whole-life worship in depth. These two verses are packed with rich theology and when understood within the full context of Romans and with the full council of Scripture, they paint a vivid picture of basic Christian life, created and powered by God’s mercy. View the sermon above as recorded recently during a worship service at Sojourn’s home, The …« Read Entire Post

Posted as part of the church music set list Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com, where you can read many church music set lists.  Photos provided by Dan Canales. 1. Shelter Me, written by Buddy and Julie Miller.  It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks here in the U.S.  Between Hurricane Ike and the threat of economic ruin, it’s appropriate to enter into congregational worship and sing: 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. the song offers hope and assurance, culminating in a final declaration …« Read Entire Post

This week here on sojournmusic.com, our podcast will feature teaching on “whole life worship” from Sojourn pastor Daniel Montgomery, our “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs” column with song lyrics, pictures, notes, and mp3 links, a new post in our “Worship Practices Explained” series, and more.  But now, courtesy of Sojourn worship leader Lorie King, here is something for you as you celebrate this Lord’s Day: A (Morning) Meditation in the Thought of Jesus O God, I live today in a world where it is not easy always to remember You. But so did Jesus. I am tempted to believe in …« Read Entire Post

“If individuals in the congregation are expected to be ‘actors in the worship drama,’ as Kierkegaard so aptly put it, they must know in advance what the roles demand.  Further, the Christian church expresses its historicity, its continuity, and consequently its authority, partly by repeating the same actions and words from one generation to another. “At the same time, we dare not tolerate worship presentations that people find to be boring and meaningless, simply, ‘going through the motions.’  In the theater, where the same words and actions are repeated verbatim night after night, actors use good performance techniques to make …« Read Entire Post

In this fifth installment of “Worship Practices Explained,” a weekly blog column looking at various expressions of worship that may seem strange to the uninitiated, we look at the benediction: Why Lift Our Hands Up For The Benediction? The “benediction posture” is a raised hand and extended palm. It comes from the biblical experience known as “laying on of hands” that happened when one person blessed another. In the benediction, the people of God, acting as His representatives because they accept Jesus’ sacrifice for them, bless each other. The pastor or person who says the blessing lifts his hand toward …« Read Entire Post

What?  Sojourn leaders, all in suits and ties?  Yep.  This was the scene Tuesday as Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery (first from left) relaxed with Director of Connecting Dave Richards, Sojourn Kids Director Jared Kennedy and Director of Operations Bryce Butler before giving the chapel sermon address at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary here in Louisville.  Daniel preached on Galatians 2:20-21 in the service, which was viewed live online via uStream (those of you who follow me on Twitter or have befriended me on Facebook received the update from me prior to the start of the service).  You can hear Pastor Daniel’s sermon in …« Read Entire Post

The Making of “Fading Grass” by Chad Lewis Just two years ago, Sojourn Pastor Chad Lewis, also a worship leader and singer-songwriter, recorded Fading Grass with the help of Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper and engineer/worship leader Eddy Morris (now the Worship Arts Director for Crossing Church, an Acts 29 community planted by Sojourn in Louisville’s east end). The video above takes you into Eddy’s Ear Candy Studio, where we also recorded albums like Before the Throne and These Things I Remember, to see Chad, Mike and Eddy in the creative process. You can read all about Pastor Chad’s faith …« Read Entire Post

From the birth of CCM and the resulting change in many church worship ministries, to the “worship wars” of the 90s, to the modern hymn movement and missional worship practices of a growing number of young church-planting churches, we can easily see how much things have changed in just one generation. The way churches now “do worship”, including the way worship arts pastors are trained, is vastly different than it was thirty years ago. Sojourn Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper sat down with Dr. John Witvliet, author, seminary professor and Director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, to discuss …« Read Entire Post

This article is posted in conjunction with other church set lists as part of the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com.  Photos provided by Dan Canales. 1. How Can the Heavens Hold You, by Sojourn’s own Jeremy Quillo.  How could we begin the service marking our eighth anniversary as a church body with anything but this, the very first song on our very first album, With the Angels.  Hear the mp3 and view the chord sheet from that page.  This is a great opening song to orient our hearts toward praising this God of transcendence and immanence, a God that cannot be bound by …« Read Entire Post

‘Is This As Good As It Gets?’ – Rob Plummer from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.  Pastor Rob is one of our volunteer pastor-elders at Sojourn, earning his living as a professor.  In this video from a recent sermon at Sojourn’s home, The 930 Art Center, Pastor Rob asks “Is this as good as it gets” and then challenges us to answer this question in the light of biblical truth.

Bob Kauflin, author of Worship Matters and Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries, speaks on one of the most wonderful (but perhaps least taught) aspects of the Christian theology behind singing — that God Himself sings over us. This video, archived on You Tube, comes from the folks at Desiring God ministries. P.S. If you haven’t seen it yet, hop on over to theworshipcommunity.com and read my article on how to develop a songwriting community through your church.  While there, you’ll also see many other articles covering a wide range of topics for everyone interested in Christian worship.

In a worship service, you might see people standing up for singing or for hearing God’s Word. You might see people raising their hands, kneeling down, or clapping to the beat of the music. Some people might be holding their arms in front of them with palms facing up, while others might lift them high, like they’re trying to touch the ceiling. What’s it all about? Christians have good reason for doing these things, but it’s important to remember that worshiping God is not like a make believe magic formula. It’s not like “If I lift my hands a certain …« Read Entire Post

sojournmusic.com reader Brian Daugherty recently left a comment in this blog that referenced an article at christianitytoday.com entitled “Modern Worship Is Going Nowhere,” by Russ Breimeier.  The article asserts that the writers of modern worship songs are “in serious need of creative spark” and then provides an assessment by covering the short history of the contemporary worship movement, current trends, and recommendations for the future. Breimeier points out that labels like Integrity, Maranatha and Vineyard have been producing church music for a few decades now, but argues that modern worship music “arrived” just ten years ago with the introduction of Delirious to …« Read Entire Post

You may have heard about the McCain-Palin versus Heart story — the Classic Rock band is angry that the Republicans are using Heart’s “Barracuda” as theme music for Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whose nickname as a young athlete was “Barracuda.”  It’s an old story, really — Democrat rock star gets angry when Republican politician uses rock star’s music.  In this case the band announced on their website that they “condemn” the use of their song, claiming that McCain-Palin didn’t request permission to use it, nor would Heart have granted permission since “Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper recently sat down with Dr. John Witvliet, Director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and author of Worship Seeking Understanding, to talk about covenant renewal as a worship practice.  In this short audio they discuss: the nature of a covenant relationship such as marriage, and our covenant with Christ the Lord’s Supper as the covenant renewal of the New Testament How all marriages — like the marriage of Christ to His church — are renewed through certain rituals, purposeful time together, terms of endearment and spoken promises, and more The benefits and dangers …« Read Entire Post

This post is part of the Sunday Set List blog carnival, posted in conjunction with other church set lists at fredmckinnon.com.  Severe winds, the remnants of Hurricane Ike, wiped out the power at The 930 and most of Louisville in the early afternoon, so we were unable to hold evening services.   Power is still out in most of the city and could remain so for the better part of the week.  I’m posting this in a high rise in downtown Louisville, where officials have restored power.  We were not able to post photos of yesterday’s services, but I am still …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn’s most recent full-length CD, Before the Throne, was birthed out of a multi-church project spearheaded by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship called “Vertical Habits.”  In this short video, Institute Director John Witvliet introduces the concept of vertical habits in worship. Sojourn Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper interviewed Dr. Witvliet last week, talking about the many resources offered by the Calvin Institute.  Tuesday, Mike will again talk with Dr. Witvliet, this time on the subject of covenant renewal.  It’s a fascinating discussion that you won’t want to miss. Also this week: another article in our “Worship Practices Explained” series …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn worship leader Jesse “Jay” Eubanks joins us today for Guest Blogger Week here on sojournmusic.com.  Jesse writes about how the music of churches often confines and separates us based on race and culture, and challenges music ministries to do something about it: It’s been over 40 years since our government had enough wisdom to outlaw segregation in our schools.  Yet, somehow our churches still largely operate under a cultural mandate of “separate but equal”.  The music our churches play to worship our God alienates many of the very brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to stand beside.  Our …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn worship leader/ songwriter Rebecca Dennison writes the story behind her song “Crippled Soul.”  Hear the mp3 at Last FM and view the chord sheet from the These Things I Remember page here at sojournmusic.com, before or after reading Rebecca’s engrossing story: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25 I wrote the words and melody to “Crippled Soul” (recorded on Sojourn’s These Things I Remember) back in 2001. I was struggling through a time of feeling distant from God (the same season mentioned in the discussion …« Read Entire Post

As Guest Blogger Week continues here on sojournmusic.com, Sojourn worship leader Michael Butterworth reflects on the question, “What is your wildest dream for worship in the church today?” My wildest dream for the church today would be to see more churches contextualizing the gospel for their neighborhoods by using indigenous expressions of worship, which includes, but is not limited to, local styles of music.  It is amazing to see churches like Sojourn explore what this means, but our particular flavor of indie/folk/rock is not enough.  This movement needs to be global. The Bible paints a beautiful picture of the multi-cultural …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn worship leader/ songwriter Jeremy Quillo has been leading worship and writing songs at Sojourn and elsewhere for well over a decade.  Here as part of Guest Blogger Week at sojournmusic.com, Jeremy challenges us to boast only in Christ and to worship in humility, wisdom and passion: We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are… That phrase, which comes from a little-known Rich Mullins tune, is one that every worship leader would do well to think seriously about. I remember going to one of those huge worship leader conferences several years ago, along with thousands of others seeking to learn …« Read Entire Post

Dr. John Witvliet wears many hats: Author, editor, speaker, professor, and Director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Michigan (always available as a link in our Helpful Links section).  In this interview conducted by Sojourn Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper, Dr. Witvliet talks about the grant opportunities, classes, conferences and other resources that the Institute makes available to worship arts ministries.  “Take the tour” in our latest podcast episode and learn more about the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. You can download this episode of Sojournmusic.com Radio for free on iTunes and other podcast directories or click …« Read Entire Post

The sharing of this set list is in collaboration with other church music reports through the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.Com. Photos by Dan Canales 1. O Help My Unbelief, hymn text by Isaac Watts, music by Justin Smith, recorded by Indelible Grace.  One thing you can always say about Isaac Watts — he never minced words.  He could set a scene like a great apocalyptic writer, and with spot-on theology: Stretch out Thine arm, victorious King, My reigning sins subdue; Drive the old dragon from his seat, With all his hellish crew. A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, …« Read Entire Post

‘The New Way’ from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo, taught by Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery at our home, The 930 Art Center. Tomorrow we’ll have our regular “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs” feature, looking at the music set list from today’s worship services.  The rest of the week will be a little something special: guest blogger week, featuring several Sojourn worship leaders.  They’ve got some very pertinant things to say, covering different aspects of this thing we call “worship” from their fresh, unique perspectives.  And on Tuesday, we’ll present an interview conducted by Pastor Mike Cosper with Dr. John Witvliet, …« Read Entire Post

Two weekends ago I shared a Jamie Barnes music video with you.  Jamie is a singer-songwriter who has received strong reviews everywhere from Billboard Magazine to the Louisville Courier Journal.  He’s also a Sojourn worship leader and pastoral assistant to Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper.  Here is a video of Jamie performing his song “Glory Days” from his album The Recalibrated Heart, at The Player’s Spot.

If you’re new to Christian worship services, participating in them can seem like playing football when you’ve never learned the rules: Why is that guy on the sidelines yelling at you? Why is the crowd so excited? Why are some players trying to break you in half while others are giving you high-fives? This is the third installment in a once-a-week series here on sojournmusic.com, explaining some of the things you might see in a Christian worship service, and what these things have to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Not all churches do all of these things, and …« Read Entire Post

Last week we looked at the music of three worship ministries that many Sojourn members and worship leaders have listened to in personal worship over the last few years, Mars Hill, Indelible Grace and Sovereign Grace.   Today we’ll highlight some more worship music that various Sojourners mentioned when asked the question “What worship music (besides Sojourn’s) do you listen to?”  Check them out! Robbie Seay  A pop-rock sound.  Robbie has quite a few EP’s and LP’s out, and his music has found its way into many churches. Red Mountain Music.  They primarily write new music for old hymn texts and psalms, and …« Read Entire Post

“Worship in the New Testament church is not simply practice for some later heavenly experience of genione worship … ” … it actually is worship in the presence of God, though we do not now see him with our physical eyes, nor do we see the angels gathered around his throne or the spirits of believers who have gone before and are now worshiping in God’s presence … we must also believe it to be actually true that we ourselves come to that place and join our voices with those already worshiping in heaven whenever we come to God in …« Read Entire Post

Jared Kennedy is the director of Sojourn’s children’s ministry, Sojourn Kids.  I sat down with him recently to talk about family worship.  Jared and Sojourn elder/ SBTS professor Rob Plummer recently wrote the Sojourn Family Worship Guide, a publication with many resources, lesson plans and ideas for leading worship in the home.  Jared talked about the scriptural reasons for Sojourn’s emphasis on making the home, not the church, the primary agent in bringing up kids, along with a discussion of the church’s role, the first thing parents should do to institute family worship times, and more. You can download this …« Read Entire Post