Below you’ll find the fourth set of notes from Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper’s three breakout sessions from the Acts 29 Network’s recent LEAD conference in St. Louis: Art For the Church The relationship between the arts and the church has three dimensions: Art For the Church – the artist as servant of the ministry of the church Art From the Church – The artist as missionary/prophet/worker in residence in the broad world of the arts Art Facing the Church – The church responding and reacting to the broader world of the arts. In Art For the Church, the role of …« Read Entire Post
Next Wednesday here on sojournmusic.com we will debut an eight-part weekly video series on Christian worship, congregational singing, trends in music ministry and more. The episodes average ten minutes each, and feature, in a roundtable discussion format: Dr. Harold Best (musician, author of Unceasing Worship and Music Through The Eyes Of Faith, and former dean of Wheaton College) Professor Carl “Chip” Stam (Clifton Baptist Church music minister, founder of the Institute For Christian Worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, associate professor of Church Music and Worship) Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper (musician, record producer and co-founder of theopensourcebook.org: free prayers, …« Read Entire Post
Ask many people to name their favorite hymns and they’ll say “There Is A Fountain.” We Sojourners love it, too. And now we want to share a recent acoustic rendition of this classic William Cowper hymn, recorded live in our 2/8/2009 worship service by our “Gospel Quartet:” Jamie Barnes, Rebecca Dennison, Katie Vaughn and Brooks Ritter. You’ll also hear sparse, tasteful instrumentation by Jamie (banjo), Brooks (guitar) and Dony Irwin (upright bass). Hear “There Is A Fountain” By Sojourn Now Drake Hatfield engineered this free mp3, as he has done for many of the shows recorded at our venue, The 930 …« Read Entire Post
Unless you’re new here, you know by now that Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One is finished and will be released soon. Neil Robins produced it at his studio here in Louisville: The Whitechapel. Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper acted as Executive Producer, and the two took our record to Craig Alvin in Nashville to mix it at The Great Gazoo Reading Room (pictured). Twitter quote from Mike Cosper: “Craig Alvin rocks my world.” Follow Mike on Twitter. While you’re at it, follow me too. Andrew Mendelson at Georgetown Masters handled the mastering, just as …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn Music readers: you can find the link to this set list and the sets of many other churches in the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com. 1. Approach My Soul, The Mercy Seat, by Sojourn’s Jamie Barnes, inspired by John Newton’s hymn of the same title. The entire Louisville music scene has recognized Jamie as one of its premier songwriters for several years. His melodies are memorable and singable, and his lyrics paint word-pictures that put the listener — and fellow singer — in the story. And most of us know what John Newton could do with words (Amazing Grace, How …« Read Entire Post
Check out this mp3, courtesty of sound engineer Drake Hatfield, from our February 8 worship gathering. This was one of our “gospel quartet” days — scaled down, acoustic instrumentation and four-part harmony. Go Down, Moses – Sojourn You’ll hear Jamie Barnes singing lead and playing the banjo. Also, check out the tight, stirring harmony by Brooks Ritter, Rebecca Dennison and Katie Vaughn, and the upright bass of Dony Erwin. You’ll even hear our liturgist, Scott Slucher, doing a reading at the end. “Go Down Moses” chord sheet
I’ve talked about Ash Wednesday here before, and presented a few readings from The Worship Sourcebook. Now, you can freely use a series of new Ash Wednesday resources from the brand new website theopensourcebook.org. As I’ve said before, this is a joint project between Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper and Calvin Institute Of Christian Worship Director Of Communications Nathan Bierma. The Open Sourcebook is similar to The Worship Sourcebook, but it exists entirely as an online resource, and it is particularly good about presenting well-crafted readings, prayers and litanies in plain, contemporary English that those unfamilar with “church” …« Read Entire Post
Below you’ll find the third set of notes from Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper’s three breakout sessions from the Acts 29 Network’s recent LEAD conference in St. Louis: The Alternative to Hierarchical Culture and Beauty – the Diversity of Creation Instead of rooting aesthetics in a moral absolute – like the character of God – we can root them in the extraordinary diversity of creation. We recognize that creation is wildly diverse, and that while it’s okay to have preferences in regards to aesthetics, there is no moral advantage and no righteousness in our aesthetic choices. From Harold Best’s Creative …« Read Entire Post
Last week, Sojourn producer Neil Robins and Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper drove down I-65 to Nashville to finish mixing and mastering the first of two worship CDs we’re scheduled to release this year — new music based on, and inspired by, the hymns of Isaac Watts. In the picture to the right, Neil is working on the mix with the very accomplished studio engineer Craig Alvin. Now the boys are back in town, having completed the mission. If you’ve seen the new page in the sojournmusic.com Music section, you know we’ve titled the record Over The Grave: The …« Read Entire Post
If you’re a Sojourner who would like to be a part of the Sojourn worship band — or would like to then check out this message from Pastor Mike Cosper and Pastoral Assistant Jamie Barnes: Sojourn Music is once again holding open auditions for the worship team. We as a church are blessed to have so many gifted servants who desire to use their gifts to bless the rest of the body of believers. So, in order to keep this ministry active and vital, we look forward to meeting with those that want to use their musical abilities to worship …« Read Entire Post
You can find the link to this set list and the sets of many other churches in the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com. 1. Fellowship So Deep, Aaron Senseman and Kinley Lange, recorded on the Caedmon’s Call record In The Company Of Angels 2. Most of the time we use “Fellowship So Deep” as a song for the sending/benediction or a song of assurance before the Giving of the Peace. But it makes for a fine Call To Worship as well: Let us sing of our Redeemer, and of His love that made us free And know this gift is ours forever: …« Read Entire Post
Worship is more than music. Not only that, but even in the worship arts, you’ll find other forms beside music with which to praise God. One such way is through the visual arts, like painting and photography. This is why Sojourn has a visual arts website in addition to this site, sojournmusic.com. You may have visited our sister site, sojournvisualarts.com, at some point in the past. But the site is all new, with a spiffy redesign and lots of cool features. You can view all the art from last year’s Roman’s series and our current B.C. sermon series, the Before …« Read Entire Post
Welcome to the third installment of the sojournmusic.com series on playing piano/keyboard, by Sojourn worship leader Rebecca Elliott. Rebecca is a featured singer-songwriter on our Before The Throne and Advent Songs records, and will be working on a solo CD this winter. She was featured, along with Neko Case, Okkerville River, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, and other great artists on the recent compilation album Before The Goldrush. Rebecca is also an impressive pianist and experienced piano teacher. In this installment, she gives advice on choosing a piano teacher: When it comes to looking for and choosing a piano teacher, there are …« Read Entire Post
Below you’ll find the second set of notes from Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper’s three breakout sessions from the Acts 29 Network’s recent LEAD conference in St. Louis: Beauty, Culture, and Contextualization Culture is what emerges naturally as the result of humans being fallen image bearers in God’s world. This means that culture exists anywhere there is a human being living, eating, sleeping, working, and breathing. This exists in the most educated and least educated, most populous and least populous contexts. Culture simply exists; there is no avoiding its existence. What varies is the kinds of culture. The Cultural …« Read Entire Post
This past Friday and Saturday we got a double dose of the Irish couple at the forefront of the modern hymn movement, Keith and Kristyn Getty. The Getty’s brought their band to Sojourn’s home in Louisville’s inner city, The 930 Art Center, on Friday night. I was personally glad that they displayed the lyrics to their songs on our mounted flat screens. Not that many of us needed the words — we Sojourners love Getty music. I was also glad that they had a fantastic Irish fiddler with them (well, actually she’s Canadian, but she knows how to throw down). …« Read Entire Post
You can read the worship music set lists of more churches from the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com. Photos here by Dan Canales. 1. Go Down Moses, traditional folk song, adapted by Sojourn’s Jamie Barnes. Music by Jason Eady. This was the second of our “Gospel Quartet” days at The 930 (Sojourn’s home in the Germantown section of Louisville). Brooks Ritter, Rebecca Dennison and Katie Vaughn joined Jamie to create that sweet four-part harmony sound. “Go Down Moses” is a great quartet song, and a fitting introduction to our service this week, since our Old Testament sermon series entered the book …« Read Entire Post
Next Wednesday, Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper will launch a brand new, six-week class at Sojourn Community Class on worship. The class is open to all worshipers and worship leaders. Not in Louisville? Not signed up for the class? We’ll be bringing the class online soon, to sojournmusic.com. Check out the description: Worship is a theme we see throughout the scriptures, both in the gathered life of the people of God as they sing “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” and in their scattered lives as “living sacrifices.” In this class, we’ll explore what the scriptures teach us about …« Read Entire Post
I’ve often presented liturgical readings for personal, family and congregational worship here on sojournmusic.com, from The Worship Sourcebook. Now, Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper has teamed up with Nathan Bierma, Communications and Research Coordinator of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, to bring you a free online resource called The Open Sourcebook. Check out the growing body of readings, all tagged and categorized for easy viewing and quick reference. Mike and Nathan craft these prayers, litanies and readings with great care. They want to ensure that everything works well when read aloud, and that the language will make …« Read Entire Post
Over the next several Wednesday’s we’ll present Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper’s notes from three breakout sessions he delivered last fall in St. Louis at the Acts 29 Network’s LEAD conference. These sessions centered on Arts and the Church. In part one below, Mike explores a theology of creativity, looking at creation, fall, redemption and consummation: A Gospel-Centered Vision for the Arts and the Church In these sessions, we’re going to take a long view of the relationships that emerge between the art world and the church. In the first session, we’re going to broadly overview the theological issues …« Read Entire Post
Check out this footage from the last recording session for our upcoming CD, Over The Grave: The Hymns of Isaac Watts, volume one. This is the official title of the project with the code name “Hi Wattage,” refering to the fact that this first volume has an indie rock/pop vibe. Later this year, we’ll begin the as-yet-untitled volume two, a more acoustic project code-named “Low Wattage.” In this short video you’ll get the first clear, extended sounds from Over The Grave: a song called “Refuge.” You’ll also see and hear the “Sojourn Choir,” and the breakdancing skills of producer Neil …« Read Entire Post
Read many church music set lists, like this one, at the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com. Photos here provided by Dan Canales. This is how we rolled in Louisville yesterday: 1. I Sing The Mighty Power Of God, written by Isaac Watts. The arrangement we use was composed by Tim Smith, worship pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, our sister church in the Acts 29 Network. This is a classic hymn of adoration, and a fitting response to the Call To Worship. 2. Abide With Me, written by Henry Lyte, arranged by Justin Smith for Indelible Grace. You can find this …« Read Entire Post
