Gravitas The cover art for Gravitas.   God Of Color, a full-throttled and unapologetic celebration of the melanated savior, is the first single that we are releasing off of our 2024 project, Gravitas. It is no surprise that we timed its release for the first Friday in Black History Month. We received the final cover art from Ronald Abdou today and wanted to share it as a teaser for the release of the album. Ronald has been a contributor to the hymnal for several years. Here is a sneak preview of the first verse of chorus. VERSE 1 You’re a God of wonder Oh, you paint in living colo ..read more

  Gratitude   "I found this cutting many years ago. No doubt there are countless such stories throughout history. So much food for thought." (Malcolm du Plessis) One stormy night in Lake Michigan, a side-wheeler steamboat was rammed by another boat. The steamboat sank just a mile offshore from the village of Winnetka, Illinois. Out of 393 passengers on board, 279 drowned. A man named Edward Spencer, after seeing the situation unfold, jumped into the lake and swam to the drowning people. He towed one person to shore and went for another. In all, he brought seventeen people to safety ..read more

  Lyrical Integrity   In recent days, as I have listened to worship music, my historic convictions have been freshly reinforced. (1) There is no shortage or need for more worship songs. We have them in abundance. (2) There is, however, a drastic shortage of worship songs with compelling lyrics!!!  Lyrics that are rich in poetry. Lyrics that are rich in theology. Lyrics that say the things I feel in my heart in a way that I would like to say them when I am face to face with Almighty God. Lyrics that are as real, and as honest, and as vulnerable as the Psalms, and t ..read more

  The Means Justifies The End   Jesus was not results driven. He was always focused on the process and never the outcome. It is inconceivable to think of him ‘cutting corners’ for the sake of ‘influence’. In contrast, we live in a time in history when the end can all too often justify the means. Compromise can be seen as a necessary concession to hasten success. The apostle, Paul, captured the MO of Christ when he wrote in Corinthians chapter thirteen about the importance of internal processing over external accomplishments. In stark terms, he suggested that we could be spiritual vir ..read more

  Negotiating God's Way   Four bible sentiments to consider when collaboration entails negotiating a business agreement: 1. Give preference to the other party above yourself. (Romans 12:10) In practical terms, this means getting into the other party's shoes and processing the transaction from their vantage point. 2. Focus more on what you give than what you receive - believing that it is truly more blessed. (Acts 20:35) 1 leads to 2. If our hearts are for the success of the other party, then 'our treasure will be there', too. (Matthew 6:21) Moreover, it is just smart t ..read more

  Co-Writing Business Realities   It is always going to be wisest to determine the protocol for writer splits before you start writing. Some suggestions: If you start a song from scratch together, agree to split the song evenly between the writers - irrespective of who contributes what. If one of the writers comes into the room with a developed melody and/or lyric, then tilt the splits in his or her favor. 75/25 for melody and 75/25 for lyric. But do this upfront, before anyone plays a note of music. Otherwise, PLEASE stick to the Nashville protocol of equal splits and determine ..read more

  Now We Call It White Christian Nationalism …   Scholars and experts today debate the term “white Christian Nationalism.” Could other terms be used more effectively: fascist, christo-fascist, extremist, authoritarian. All of those terms have utility and highlight specific aspects of this ideology more or less clearly. But the phrase “white Christian nationalism” has found currency in our discourse. Those words individually — white, and Christian, and nationalist — and together convey critical elements of what has become the greatest threat to democracy and the witness of the church ..read more

  Dress Rehearsal For Live Free USA Tour      Social Media Share Buttons ..read more

  Treasure Hunting 2024 The engine that keeps this hymnal stocked with meaningful content is a treasure hunting team that is continually scanning the spiritual underground for ‘undiscovered gems’, then curating these into products. As such, we do not have a neatly packaged submission process - just the opportunity for people in our orbit to message us with links to content that they think might be relevant. Our current rhythm is to record a new music project each fall for release as a series of singles the subsequent year. We recently had a pop up team hosting a Praise And Protest event i ..read more

  Interview With Erica Campbell Erica was kind to have two of our contributors on her show on the day we released Amazing Grace (Always).     ..read more