Category Archive

I’d love to invite you to two different opportunities to connect and grow in worship leading and songwriting. I’ll be collaborating with some great institutions to do some important teaching and reflection on our craft, and I’d love for you to join me! The first will be an opportunity for a more intimate gathering, and the second will be one of the best mega-worship conferences on earth. Writing Songs for Today’s Church Trinity School for Ministry (Ambridge, PA) | January … Read More

Like many of you, I’m a lover of good songs. One of the things that I’m always intrigued by is what went into th writing of a song. It’s like reverse engineering…you get to learn about its construction after having the finished product in your hands. For Coral Ridge Music, “It is Finished” is a flagship song. We worked hard on it. Go and read about the theology, allusions, and inspiration that caused this song to be over at LIBERATE. … Read More

We’ll be singing a LOT at LIBERATE 2015, which starts tomorrow here in sunny, warm Ft. Lauderdale. We’re expecting to gather over 2000 people from every state and over twenty countries. In addition to leading a worship workshop tomorrow, my great joy will be to lead music. We’re singing a bunch of gospel-saturated songs, including several from our new EP, Come and Make Us Free, which releases tomorrow at the Conference and Tuesday everywhere else.  Hop on over to LIBERATE … Read More

Sovereign Grace, Prepare Him Room The music of Sovereign Grace always has to be included among the top content out there being written for the modern church. They’ve been doing it for years, and they’ve been committed to engaging lyrics, profound theology, and a dogged Christocentrism. Their new Christmas album, Prepare Him Room, does not disappoint their legacy. In fact, I think the production on this record is some of the finest to date. The instrumentation and melodies are beautiful, … Read More

I’ll be in the D.C. area next week for the National Worship Leadership Conference. I’ll be leading a song at the open of the worship service on Tuesday night, May 13, and then leading 20 minutes of music around the lunch hour the following day. It’s a brief trip, as I fly in Tuesday and leave Wednesday afternoon, but ff any of you are going and/or in the area I’d love to connect, even if it’s for a brief moment. … Read More

Hey Web, Coral Ridge has a fabulous program where we host interns from all over the country (and even sometimes abroad) for three months in the Summer. There are internships in all sorts of ministry fields, but I’m looking for one or two interns to partner with our music & worship ministry. Julie Anne Osterhus (my worship assistant, who happens to also have started as an intern a few years ago) and I are cooking up some ideas for the … Read More

**UPDATE (10/7/13): The song is now available right on this page.  Just scroll down to download!** Happy Reformation! My family and I uprooted our lives in Denver to move to the foreign land of South Florida for one reason: There is a gospel revolution taking place at Coral Ridge, and we wanted in…both for our sake and for the sake of the world.  I’m reminded of this clever description of that Spirit-breathed rediscovery of the gospel half a millennium ago: … Read More

Does repetition inherently lead to boredom? Robbie Castleman asked that question in her fabulous book, Story-Shaped Worship, and then answered it from the pen of G. K. Chesterton: Now, to put the matter [the idea that repetition inherently leads to boredom] in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean … Read More

Did You Sneeze? I learned a big German word in seminary that I often throw around when I want to feel self-righteously smarter than other people—heilsgeschichte (pronounced “hiles-guh-SHICKH-tuh”).  Biblical theologians use this word, translated “salvation history,” to talk about Scripture’s meta-narrative—its single plotline traced from Genesis to Revelation.  In my opinion, the best reflections on salvation history zero in on interpreting all of Scripture in light of and through the lens of Jesus Christ (you might be surprised that some … Read More

As many of you know, God is calling me away from Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church to take up new residence and leadership alongside the rest of the pastoral team down at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  I begin my post on February 10.  I’m excited about this call, but leaving a church that my family and I love will be hard, and I want to help Cherry Creek as best as I can.  In my remaining, precious … Read More