Vol. 1: Make a SoundThis blog, in case you didn’t know, is especially interested in cataloguing trends among young Christians who are seeking creatively to wed the historic Christian faith with modern expression in worship and music. The Opiate Mass is a fantastic example of this, and yet they are doing more than providing a packaged expression of ancient-future worship. They are pursuing innovation in church music. The Opiate Mass isn’t quite a band. It isn’t quite a concert-experience. It … Read More
Review of The Water and the Blood, by Sojourn Music
The folks at Sojourn Music continue to lead modern church music down a different path. Each album seems to be more aggressively their own, pushing outward the narrow boundaries of contemporary/modern worship by experimenting with new and old sounds and styles. The Water and the Blood was produced with a different set of values than the industry standard—in analog, as a whole, and with a vinyl option. Producer Mike Cosper explains, While still reflective of a variety of moods and … Read More
The Latest Developments in Thoughtful Worship
This blog is dedicated to discussions surrounding worship, church, theology, and culture. A subtext of that agenda is to encourage Christian (and particularly evangelical) worship along its trajectory toward more thoughtfulness, biblical reflection, theological awareness, and historicity. A sub-subtext of that subtext is to encourage this growing movement of folks dedicated to the setting of old hymns to new music. I do this not because hymns are the be-all and end-all of the deficiencies of modern worship, but because this … Read More
Weightier Worship: 31 Worship Songs to Download
More and more, mainstream evangelicalism is waking up to the need for theology, biblical literacy, historicity, and thoughtfulness in modern worship. I see this on the personal level as I continue to meet a new, young breed of mainstream worship leader, who chooses to not be either-or about passion and substance. And I see this on the institutional level in instances like this at a major evangelical college, Biola University (which happens to be my alma mater): Biola Magazine asked … Read More
Bifrost Arts from a Mainstream Worship Perspective
Check out how one blogger described their experience of joining with Bifrost Arts in worship at the David Crowder Fantastical Church Music Conference. It’s reveals how far people like us have to go in the quest to bridge the worlds of historicity and liturgy with mainstream evangelical worship: Bitfrost Arts, a hymn-sing group from…well, I can’t remember if it was from Virginia or Missouri, but regardless, their sound was at the same time familiar and mysterious. Instead of relying on … Read More
Hymns Movement News: The Release of “Merciful to Me,” by Reformed Praise
I’m always excited and pleased when the cause of the hymns movement is furthered…when good musicians continue to take old hymn texts and set them to accessible contemporary music. David Ward and the crew at Reformed Praise have been doing this for quite a while. Over the years, they have faithfully provided the online community with free mp3s and sheet music of their great material. Similar to Sovereign Grace’s recent albums, Merciful to Me contains works inspired by hymns and … Read More
Crowder and the Hymns Movement Converge
The David Crowder Band is hosting a Church Music Conference at Baylor University in Waco, TX, September 30-October 2. This is exciting on many levels. I’m pumped to see the name of a Friday breakout workshop: “A New Old Vision for Worship – Liturgical Spirituality for Post-Modern-Semi-Reformed-Hipsters.” Here’s what is truely exciting: more signs of the subversive growth of influence of the hymns movement are on the horizon. The David Crowder Band (for those who didn’t know) is THE name … Read More
The Big Picture of Indelible Grace: Kevin Twit and the Ryman Hymnsing
“Edible Grace…what?” That’s the type of reaction I get when I talk to mainstream evangelical worship leaders about the hymns movement and their golden boy, Indelible Grace. IG is a move back to substantive modern worship. Their M.O. is to combine modern folk and rock instrumentation with old hymn texts. Many people misunderstand “old hymns to new music” as throwing a contemporary beat and sound on a hymn…just think of all the forced, “contemporary” versions out there of “Great is … Read More
Indelible Grace Finally Gaining Legitimacy in the PCA
Indelible Grace (the pioneer of the hymns movement) is leading a hymnsing at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. This is exciting! (The artist list is pretty hot, too.) What is being undersold about this event is that it’s connected with a larger event–the General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). This is significant. I was involved with the PCA for 5 years, gaining some important ministry chops at a church plant here in Denver, interacting with the … Read More
Two New Hymns I’m Loving
There is one man in our congregation that I can say loves old hymns even more than I do. He’s got a Ph.D. in English Literature or something comparable, and he’s often firing off emails with obscure hymns. He led me to these two. I love them, and someone needs to put a new tune to these bad boys so the church doesn’t lose them: “God in the Gospel of His Son”Words: Benjamin Beddome, 1787 (verses 1-2); Thomas Cotterill, 1819 … Read More