We’re on an abbreviated blogging schedule this week here on sojournmusic.com — mid-summer break, leading into Independence Day. But for those of you who aren’t Sojourners or even necessarily Louisvillians (which, according to our site stats, is the great majority of you), I couldn’t pass up the chance to share this short cartoon that our children’s ministry put together, narrated by one of Sojourn’s children. We’re using this to promote the Sojourn School of Word and Art, our version of Vacation Bible School. You can find out more about it at sojournkids.com:
This set list is one of many that you can find at the worship music set list blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com, featuring many different kinds of churches. Photos by Sojourn’s Dan Canales. 1. Fellowship So Deep, by Aaron Senseman and Kinley Lange. This is a good choice for a song to usher a congregation together and begin a worship service. Following “Fellowship So Deep,” we heard the Call To Worship from Psalm 7:6-8. 2. Refuge, by Sojourn’s Neil Robins, based on Isaac Watts’s Psalm 31, pt. 1. You can view the chord sheet on our Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper, on reactions to the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson, the responses from some Christians, and a biblical perspective on death: As news of Michael Jackson’s death spread across the internet yesterday, I saw Facebook and Twitter nearly explode. News outlets hit the pause button on nearly every story and sent crews out onto the streets to begin getting reaction interviews. The ensuing zoo nearly broke the back of the internet, with Twitter crashing and Google reporting their capacity stretched. In the barrage of words that followed, some disturbing content emerged. As Proverbs …« Read Entire Post
Looking for chord sheets so you can start playing Over The Grave songs with your band or worship team? Just curious about some of the lyrics? Check out our Over The Grave page. We’ve now uploaded chord sheets for every song on this album, our first of two new worship records based on the hymns of Isaac Watts.
Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper, on the passing of singer-songwriter Tim Krekel: I was deeply saddened last night to hear that Louisville music legend Tim Krekel passed away after a battle with cancer. Tim has been a mainstay of Louisville music for as long as I’ve been hanging around music venues, comfortable sitting solo with an acoustic guitar or playing with a stage full of guitars, drums, and horns. His songs have been recorded by the likes of Jerry Reed, Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle, Delbert McClinton, and many, many more. He’s shared the stage with countless other music legends, …« Read Entire Post
Thanks to all of you who have purchased Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. We’ve seen several reviews for it so far in the blogosphere. Here is what we’ve found so far, by some of our favorite bloggers across the country. If you know of other reviews, share them with us! Between Two Worlds, by Justin Taylor “The lyrics, of course, are theologically sound–God-centered and gospel-centered … The music is creative, diverse, and excellent … If it’s not clear yet, I give it my highest recommendation.” The Joint (Joel Klampert, Conner Byrd, Alastair Vance) they’ve done …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn is hosting the B21 panel, organized by Baptist 21, tomorrow during the SBC Annual Meeting in Louisville. The event runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. at our Germantown campus, The 930 Art Center. You can read all about this panel at the B21 website. Our Teaching Pastor Daniel Montgomery will talk on the panel, along with leading figures in the Southern Baptist Convention: Mark Dever, Al Mohler, Danny Akin, Ed Stetzer and David Platt. The Sojourn band will lead attendees in worship at 11:45 before the panel discussion begins. Registration is officially closed since we’ve reached capacity in …« Read Entire Post
This set list is one of many that you can find at the worship music set list blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com, featuring many different kinds of churches. Photos by Sojourn’s Dan Canales. Our liturgical reader addressed us to begin, saying: We show up here today to worship because our God, the Creator shows up. Our presence and actions are a response to His presence and actions. He is not like us: He doesn’t hide or play hooky, he isn’t late and the thoughts of His heart don’t drift off somewhere else. His affection and attention is laser focused on His people because …« Read Entire Post
If you follow me on twitter.com/bobbygilles or facebook.com/bobbygilles, you read my thoughts on what a fantastic time we had at last night’s Over The Grave release party. Southeast Christian Church hosted our event at their brand new building, The Block. The building is a marvel, and the auditorium itself is one of the best in the city. Sojourners and lots of others packed the building out and created a great vibe. It was cool to meet some of our blog readers for the first time and to visit with old friends as well, including a contigent of our friends from …« Read Entire Post
The video below takes you inside “The Block,” the brand new (and quite huge) student ministry building of Southeast Christian Church. As regular readers know, tonight we hold our CD release party here for Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. This event is free, so come on out and join us! Full details and a map on Facebook.
Tonight at 7 p.m. Sojourn will play every song from Over The Grave, and Jamie Barnes will open with a set up his original music, including songs based on the Old Testament. This is free, no ticket required, in a spacious and acoustically-fantastic new building called “The Block,” on the campus of Southeast Christian Church. Get Directions From Google Maps Read The Event Info On Our Facebook page If you’re in Louisville or nearby today, I hope to see you there!
Yesterday at TravelBlog, Sojourn’s online journal, deacon Lachlan Coffey wrote about our little-known first album — a live worship CD recorded shortly after Sojourn launched as a church in 2000. The CD is called The Reverence And The Noise. It was low-budget, on-the-fly, but great fun and a true record of passionate congregational worship. Just a bunch of young 20-somethings, hungry for God. We included two mp3s from the album in Lachlan’s blog post, so hop on over there and check them out. One is a live version of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” which became a bonus track …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn’s Pastor Mike Cosper, on why we record our original worship music: The role of music in daily life has shifted dramatically in recent years. A few generations ago, it was not unheard of to gather in a home around a piano and sing Christmas Carols or hymns. The guitar or piano sitting in the corner of the room wasn’t mere decoration or part of someone’s private hobby. It was a part of the fabric of the family. Music was a rallying point. Communities would gather and sing both inside and outside the church. Mass media culture has changed those …« Read Entire Post
Today is the day! We officially ship all of your pre-ordered CDs for Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One, as we look forward to our big release party this Friday, 7 p.m. at a brand new, state-of-the-art building called “The Block,” in the main campus of Louisville’s largest church, Southeast Christian Church. Over the last month we’ve shared three new songs from Over The Grave with you, telling you the stories behind the songs here at sojournmusic.com and sharing the mp3s at Myspace.com/sojournrecords and Facebook.com/sojournmusic. So now comes the fourth, which happens to be track #1 …« Read Entire Post
This set list is one of many that you can find at the worship music set list blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com, featuring many different kinds of churches. Photos by Sojourn’s Dan Canales. 1. The World Will Know, by Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper and Brooks Ritter, based on Isaac Watts’ “Psalm 22 Part 2″,”At Thy Command Dearest Lord” and “The Wondrous Cross.” This one will be on part two of our Isaac Watts project, to be recorded later this year. Some lyrics: Let the vain world pronounce it shame, And mock our righteous cause We come to boast our …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn’s Brooks Ritter is known by most of you as a featured vocalist on our worship CDs and a worship leader during Sojourn Gathered. He’s also a singer-songwriter who has been winning rave reviews across the Louisville music circuit. In fact, The LEO Weekly, Louisville’s largest alternative newspaper, is featuring him this week in their music podcast. Check out this podcast interview with Brooks, which features some of his music, the philosophy behind his solo album The Horse Fell Lame, and more.
Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper announces our new record deal: A few weeks ago, we made the announcement on sojournmusic.com that after many months of conversations and prayer, Sojourn Music had walked away from a record deal. It was a difficult decision for many reasons. We were about to release Over the Grave, and we really believed that the album had great potential. It’s been one of our hopes at Sojourn Music that our songs could have wide-ranging impact on the church, providing communities like ours a resource for gospel-saturated songs that were both theologically rich and musically …« Read Entire Post
Hopefully you’ve followed along with us as Sojourner Chuck Heeke has brought many compelling photos from last week’s Advance ’09 conference, where Sojourn led in worship. We’ve published several photo blog posts here on sojournmusic as well as different ones at our sister site, TravelBlog (travelblog.sojournchurch.com). We have several more, featuring Sojourn, conference teachers like John Piper, and more shots from the convention floor. But first, Chuck shares with you a video he shot from his Canon camera. We’ve been sharing songs from our Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One, which you can pre-order now for …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn Community Church is hosting the Baptist 21 panel at our home, The 930 Art Center, during the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting in Louisville. Our Founding/Teaching Pastor Daniel Montgomery will be featured in the panel, which features key Southern Baptist pastors, seminary presidents and leaders: Danny Akin, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, Daniel Montgomery, David Platt and Ed Stetzer. We’ll also be selling our brand new Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One, at this event. In addition, you’ll receive free books by the panelists and a free lunch, provided by SBC President Johnny Hunt. Oh, and …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn worship leader Joel Gerdis is a fixture on the Louisville music scene, through bands such as 49th Star and The Muckrackers. He’s also a talented songwriter — he contributed songs and well as vocals on Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. Today he shares the story behind “May Your Power Rest On Me,” which he wrote with Neil Robins. This is the third brand new song that we’ve added to our Facebook music player, and also Myspace.com/sojournrecords. Listen To “May Your Power Rest On Me” on Facebook Listen To “May Your Power Rest On Me” …« Read Entire Post
This set list is one of many that you can find at the worship music set list blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com, featuring many different kinds of churches. Photos by Sojourn’s Dan Canales. We began to worship together by listening to the Call to Worship based on Psalm 27; John 4:23. As always, you can find (and freely use) many of our Calls to Worship and other readings at theopensourcebook.org. 1. All Creatures Our God And King, by Francis of Assissi. This is one of the most well known call to worship hymns, and deservedly so. After a call to confession, …« Read Entire Post
Yesterday I published a photo blog of pictures that Chuck Heeke took, featuring the Sojourn band leading worship at Advance ’09. Today, Chuck is back with photos from the Re:Sound event featuring the worship bands from Sojourn, Vintage 21 and Mars Hill, our lovely merch girls and J.D. Greear, pastor of The host venue for Re:Sound, The Summit Church: Entering Summit Church. Left-to-right: Neil Robins, Megan Shaffer, Brooks Ritter, Pastor Mike Cosper. You’ll notice the lyrics to our Before The Throne song “There Is A Peace” on the Power Point big screen. Neil and Megan. Neil produced our new Over …« Read Entire Post
Courtesy of Sojourn photographer Chuck Heeke, here are some photos of the Sojourn band kicking off Advance ’09 with a worship set that included songs from our brand new Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One: Brooks Ritter on vocals and guitar, Alex O’Nan on drums Pastor Mike Cosper on lap steel guitar Mike on lead guitar, Brian Meurer on bass, Alex and Brooks One of Sojourn’s newest worship leaders, vocalist Megan Shaffer Read TravelBlog To See What Attendees Thought Of The Sojourn Band and to see more of Chuck’s photos from Advance ’09 (also includes audio …« Read Entire Post
Sojourn band advance 09 soundcheck Originally uploaded by chuck.heeke This photo features the Sojourn band that is playing at Advance ’09 today and Re:Sound tomorrow, featuring songs from our new worship CD “Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One.” Sojourn’s Chuck Heeke took this photo, live from this morning’s sound check at Advance ’09. Chuck will bring us more photos from Advance and Re:Sound, here at sojournmusic.com and TravelBlog, Sojourn’s online journal (travelblog.sojournchurch.com).
As most of you know, the Sojourn Music band will lead worship during Advance ’09 this Thursday (the three-day conference will feature worship services with Vintage 21 and Mars Hill bands as well). Then this Friday, Sojourn will play a special free event (for anyone in Durham, not just Advance attenders) dubbed “Re:Sound,” along with the Mars Hill and Vintage 21 bands. (Visit the Re:Sound Facebook page as well). Although Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One won’t officially be ready to ship to those of you who order it until Tuesday, June 16, we couldn’t pass …« Read Entire Post
Last week we uploaded the first song mp3 from Over The Grave, our new worship album, to our Myspace and Facebook players. That song is called “Only Your Blood Is Enough,” and if you haven’t heard it, you should check it out. But another thing you should check out is the second new song from Over The Grave, entitled “How Long.” Rebecca Dennison and Mike Cosper wrote this one, based on Isaac Watt’s’ adaptation of Psalm 13. Hear “How Long” On Sojourn’s Facebook Page Now! Hear “How Long” At Myspace.com/sojournrecords Now! After you listen to “How Long,” read Rebecca Dennison’s …« Read Entire Post
Some people say that musicians can’t get up early, begin a day industriously, or make appointments on time. Pshaw! I took the video above at 8am this morning. It is proof, yes proof, that three Sojourn musicians were up bright and early, practicing the set list for this week’s Advance ’09 Conference and FREE Re:Sound event in Raleigh, North Carolina. Are we only bringing a three-person band to Raleigh? No. Where were the others, then? Probably sleeping till noon.
This set list is one of many that you can find at the worship music set list blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com, featuring many different kinds of churches. I’m reporting from the morning set list this week, which differed on several points from our evening set list. 1. Shelter Me, by Buddy and Julie Miller. I’ve shared most of the lyrics with you here in this weekly series, at one time or another. It’s such a well-written song, and a favorite with many Sojourners: the earth can shake the sky come down the mountains all fall to the ground but i will …« Read Entire Post
