Monthly Archives: March 2009

If you’re familiar with Sojourn recordings or worship services, you’ve no doubt heard the vocals of Rebecca Dennison.  Rebecca is an amazing singer, featured on Before The Throne (check out the “My Maker And My King” mp3 on our Before The Throne page), These Things I Remember (listen to “Faithful” and “Of Psalm 51″ from that page) and our upcoming Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. Now, Rebecca begins a series for worship team vocalists and singers of all stripes, focusing on principles and techniques for taking care of your voice.  This week, Rebecca teaches how …« Read Entire Post

This is one of many church worship music set lists that you can read through by browsing the links of the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com.  Photos here by Dan Canales. We began with a Call To Worship from Isaiah 43:1-3. 1. Gifted Response (We Will Worship You), written by Matt Redman.  As the song title implies, this is a response — through singing — to God’s call to worship.  We’ve enjoyed singing it for years: We have  come to something so mysterious too deep for minds to comprehend to the open door, where the angels sing and the hosts of …« Read Entire Post

I recently asked my Twitter and Facebook peeps for a list of their favorite Good Friday songs.  I received several responses from each group (more recommendations from Twitter, but more frivolity on Facebook).  Here are the songs with multiple votes.  Good choices, all: 1. O Sacred Head Now Wounded (Bernard of Clairvaux).  Here is an interesting version of the standard music for this hymn (harmonized by J.S. Bach).  In this version, David Summerford plays “O Sacred Head” on the bowed and mountain dulcimers.  Hey, I’m typing this blog post in Kentucky — might as well have some dulcimers: Were You …« Read Entire Post

Welcome to another “Why we do what we do” in Christian worship episode.  In the last two weeks we’ve discussed the Call To Worship and expressions of adoration, which is in some ways one single movement (with “adoration” being our response to the call).  This week we talk about, arguably, one of the most controversial parts of church liturgy — periods of confession and repentance.  If not controversial, it sure is counter-intuitive to many of us.  “What, me confess?  What did I do wrong?  I’m a good guy.  I love Jesus.  I got saved years ago.” My interview subject is …« Read Entire Post

Dr. Harold Best (author of Unceasing Worship and Music Through The Eyes Of Faith) and professor Carl “Chip” Stam (Professor of Church Music and Worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) recently came to the Sojourn Music studio to sit for a series of eight short discussions with Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor, Mike Cosper. In this 10-minute video you’ll see Best, Stam and Cosper talking about: the nature of beauty what the Bible means by the “beauty of holiness” the place for arts in the church the drive for “excellence” in music ministry Watch it in the video player above or download it for free …« Read Entire Post

Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou is performing at Sojourn’s home, The 930 Art Center in Germantown, this Friday night, March 27.  His free show runs in conjunction with our Cultivate Beauty art exhibit, which in turn is part of this weekend’s Beauty For Ashes conference.  Yep, we’ve got a lot of cool things going on at The 930 this weekend.  And this brings me to my main point: after his Friday night show, Aaron is coming back to The 930 this Saturday morning for a free songwriting workshop. We’ve got all the details at the930.org. If you’re an aspiring, budding or …« Read Entire Post

If you’re familiar with Sojourn recordings or worship services, you’ve no doubt heard the vocals of Rebecca Dennison.  Rebecca is an amazing singer, featured on Before The Throne (check out the “My Maker And My King” mp3 on our Before The Throne page), These Things I Remember (listen to “Faithful” and “Of Psalm 51″ from that page) and our upcoming Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. Now, Rebecca begins a series for worship team vocalists and singers of all stripes, focusing on principles and techniques for taking care of your voice.  And now, the second of …« Read Entire Post

You can browse through links of Sunday worship music set lists from many churches around the world from the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com. Photos here by Dan Canales. We began with a Call To Worship from Isaiah 40:10-11,29-31, followed by one of our favorite call-and-response songs: 1. Invitacion Fountain, by Michael J. Pritzl of The Violet Burning.  If you check out the lyrics, you’ll see the song includes a call from God (sung, at Sojourn, by a male vocalist): “Let all who are …” and a response from the people (sung by a female vocalist): “If you lead me Lord, I will follow …« Read Entire Post

Welcome to the fourth 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 talks about her favorite “piano” songs and what you can learn from them: Below is a list of some of my …« Read Entire Post

Welcome to the second installment of the Sojourn Music series “Worship: Why We Do What We Do.” We’re exploring, one episode at a time, the standard elements that Christians practice when gathering to worship together on Sundays.  Listen each week right here in the sojournmusic.com blog, or download these 5 to 10 minute interview segments from our free podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio, available at iTunes and other podcast directories. My interview subject is Sojourn Worship Leader Lorie King, who has led worship at Sojourn for nine years, and led in a many other contexts on four continents and various churches and ministries …« Read Entire Post

Dr. Harold Best (author of Unceasing Worship and Music Through The Eyes Of Faith) and professor Carl “Chip” Stam (Professor of Church Music and Worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) recently came to the Sojourn Music studio to sit for a series of eight short discussions with Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor, Mike Cosper. In this video you’ll see Best, Stam and Cosper talking about: the legitimacy of offering our emotions to Christ in worship the trouble with equating good music with a moving of the Holy Spirit “music” as servant to the Word a secret that Harold Best has learned for …« Read Entire Post

If you’re familiar with Sojourn recordings or worship services, you’ve no doubt heard the vocals of Rebecca Dennison.  Rebecca is an amazing singer, featured on Before The Throne (check out the “My Maker And My King” mp3 on our Before The Throne page), These Things I Remember (listen to “Faithful” and “Of Psalm 51″ from that page) and our upcoming Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. Now, Rebecca begins a series for worship team vocalists and singers of all stripes, focusing on principles and techniques for taking care of your voice.  She begins with the first …« Read Entire Post

Need some good reading materials?  Looking to brush up on your theology or Bible history?  Find yourself thinking, “I wonder what the Sojourn pastors would recommend?” This is where the brand new Sojourn Amazon.com Store comes handy.  Visit the link anytime and browse the virtual aisles for the best books our pastors have found, in many different subjects.  This store is a work in progress, but already we’ve books by the dozens — everything from Study Bibles to Moleskin journals.  Major categories include: B.C. Resources (all kinds of aids for your Old Testament studies) Gospel Renewal Resources The Gospel and …« Read Entire Post

You can visit the blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com for links to many church worship music set lists, like this one from Sojourn in Louisville.  Photos here by Dan Canales. Dan was not able to shoot today, but I’m using a few of his pictures from past weeks. We began the service with a greeting and a reflection on “the rhythms of life that God gave to Israel — rhythms of work and rest, fasts and feasts, celebrations and Sabbaths.” (Mike Cosper).  Then we stood together to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over our lives — even when we are “at rest”, by …« Read Entire Post

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner.  Rather than talk about green clothing, leprechauns, and the fact that Keith Getty told the Sojourn songwriters that no one eats Lucky Charms in Ireland, I thought I’d share some Patrick-related hymns with you here on sojournmusic.com.  The first was, according to tradition, written by Patrick himself.  The version below is a later adaptation from the Old Irish into a metrical English hymn.  Following you’ll find one of the earliest pieces of writing about the life of St. Patrick, an Irish folk ballad written sometime between the 5th and 8th centuries.  Enjoy! …« Read Entire Post

Here is the conclusion of Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper’s notes from last year’s Acts 29 LEAD Conference, where he taught “A Gospel-Centered Vision For The Arts” workshop: Discerning A Call From a Tim Keller lecture These three things are a check on one another in helping to discern a calling. You Feel It – Affinity Your Friends Say So – Ability The Doors Open Up – Opportunity The opportunities may not be there because of injustice – God is sovereign even over injustice. You must receive it trusting in the Lordship and sovereignty of God. Honest Talk …« Read Entire Post

We talk a lot about the big, scary word “liturgy” here at sojournmusic.com.  As I wrote in “Liturgy For Non Liturgical Churches” at theworshipcommunity.com, liturgy simply means “the work of the people,” and is, practically speaking, the name for the order of service at your church. We follow a basic liturgical order at Sojourn.  Many churches, in many different traditions, follow a similar order.  Even if you’re not familar with terms like “Call To Worship” and “Benediction,” you’ve probably been to multiple churches with these elements. And we’re all familar with liturgical elements like the Lord’s Supper. Our new series …« Read Entire Post

Dr. Harold Best (former dean of Wheaton College, and author of Unceasing Worship and Music Through The Eyes Of Faith) and professor Carl “Chip” Stam (director of the Institute For Christian Worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) recently came to the Sojourn Music studio to sit for a series of eight short “round table” discussions with our Worship & Arts Pastor, Mike Cosper. In this short video you’ll see Best, Stam and Cosper discussing: the power of putting a small element in the right place claiming “music is for God’s glory” as an excuse for evil the trouble with letting our …« Read Entire Post

If you’re reading this blog, there is a pretty good chance you also write a blog, or used to have a blog, you’re married to a blogger, or you update and comment so often on Facebook, Twitter or Myspace that it’s kind of like you have a blog.  So … you should come to the 2009 Band Of Bloggers event in Chicago on April 22. It’s part of the larger 2009 Gospel Coalition Conference, which features speakers like Mark Driscoll, John Piper and Tim Keller. Band of Bloggers is “an informal fellowship of gospel-committed writers seeking to encourage faithfulness in …« Read Entire Post

This Sunday worship music set list from Sojourn Community Church in Louisville is one of many church set lists you can visit from the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com.  Photos here (from the evening services) provided by Sojourn’s Dan Canales. We began the service with a greeting and a challenge to remember that we are a people with a deep history that connects us with Christians all over the world, and with the faithful from all generations.  We heard and read a Call To Worship from Hebrews 12:1-4, 12-13 before beginning to sing: 1. Oh Church, Arise, written by  the contemporary …« Read Entire Post

Below you’ll find the fifth 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 From 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 From the Church, the question for the …« Read Entire Post

Sojourn is playing host to our largest conference ever at The 930 Art Center from Thursday March 26 to Saturday the 28, called the Beauty For Ashes conference. As the website states, this conference is a chance to hear “urban and suburban leaders discuss how the gospel provides for deep reconciliation, authentic relationships, and collaborative action as well as their answers to the question “What is a gospel-centered partnership?” Speakers include authors John Perkins and Eric Swanson, and our partners in this conference include The Acts 29 Network, Kentucky Baptist Convention, Christian Community Development Association and many Louisville ministries and …« Read Entire Post

Mike Cosper, Harold Best, Chip Stam – Worship Discussion 1 from Sojourn/The 930 Art Center on Vimeo.Dr. Harold Best (former dean of Wheaton College, and author of Unceasing Worship and Music Through The Eyes Of Faith) and professor Carl “Chip” Stam (director of the Institute For Christian Worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) recently came to the Sojourn Music studio to sit for a series of eight short “round table” discussions with our Worship & Arts Pastor, Mike Cosper. In this first discussion, they talk about congregational singing.  You’ll see Best, Stam and Cosper discussing: The power of music to …« Read Entire Post

We’re all familar with the stereotypes in contemporary worship music: Seven-eleven Songs: Seven words repeated eleven times Jesus-is-my-boyfriend Songs: How creepy is that? and everything described in this hilarious satire by The Talking Mirror: Writing Contemporary Worship Music – A Webinar (thanks, Chris Vacher). We’ve tried to travel a different path in our past albums like Before The Throne and These Things I Remember, and have learned much from the psalms and from the treasure of classic hymnody.  For our upcoming CD Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One, we wrote new songs adapted from — or …« Read Entire Post

You can read the worship music set lists from many other churches by following the links at the Blog Carnival of fredmckinnon.com. Photos by Dan Canales. 1. Sing Alleluia, by Steve Hindalong and Marc Byrd.  This “call to worship” song followed a Call To Worship reading from Exodus 19:3-6 and a corporate prayer.  This song, from the City On A Hill: Sing Alleluia compilation, is a well done remake of an old hymn (in this case, “All Creatures Of Our God And King”). Following this our liturgical reader shared some words on what it means to be set apart for God, …« Read Entire Post