On Saturday, I helped a friend lead musical worship for a women’s event. The morning was centered around testimonies, with at least one woman quoting Psalm 139. As I picked out the songs for the morning, I remembered that somewhere in the depths of my old laptop was a song I wrote based on this very psalm. I dug it up, revised it, and added a transition into “Amazing Grace” (a far more eloquent hymn than my own little song). I didn’t tell anyone other than my friend that I wrote this. I wanted to see how it would go without the added awkwardness of the women knowing it was mine. To my delight ..read more

When asked which fruit of the Spirit is most directly related to worship music, most people will answer, “Joy, of course!” If pressed, they might also mention love, peace, goodness, and faithfulness. Patience and kindness may make the list too, but what about self-control? We don’t often discuss self-control in relation to worship music except to point out its absence in organizations and individuals. And yet, you may be surprised to learn that self-control is directly tied to singing. When you read the New Testament, singing is directly related to self-control. In Ephesians 5, Paul commands r ..read more

The musical life provides a unique analogy for the faithful life. Consider the following facts about musicians and parallel truths about faithfulness: A Practiced Identity: Musicians are not just people who think about music, talk about music, or listen to music. Musicians are people who practice music. Faithfulness, for Christians, is not just thinking about Christ, talking about Him, or listening to messages and songs about Him. It’s about following Him. We often talk about “having faith” in the context of receiving salvation, but faithfulness is also about ongoing sanctification. Belief an ..read more

One of my favorite hobbies is discovering lesser-known Christian artists and listening to their entire output on repeat. I’ve come across some wonderful artists who have established careers and impressive catalogs of songs…so why aren’t we using their work in worship? Aside from overt issues of heresy and immorality, perhaps my biggest concern when it comes to the Bethel/Hillsong debate is that using their music despite controversies evidences a lack of patience—both on the part of worship leaders and participants. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us have at least a few concerns about ..read more