To celebrate their 7 year anniversary (of making great remakes of hymns), Page CXVI is giving away their entire catalog. By the way, that includes all their music from their other band, The Autumn Film.
That's 74 free songs, folks! Amazing. Go now! It's a staple in my house!
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The Bifrost Arts conference, The Cry Of The Poor: A Conference About Worship, Community, & Mercy, is coming up in April in Philadelphia. To get your attention (and this should do it) they are giving away their excellent worship album, Come O Spirit. IT ENDS TODAY. Please grab it while you can. I think you'll love it. I do. And consider going to the conference. Early registration discounts end this week!
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WINNERS! We have our five winners.
Jacob Young
Danny Poyner
Matthew Robbins
Joshua Crabb
Richard Campeau
Congrats guys! Email coming soon.
By the way, the total number of songs on my iTunes is 14,045. Closest, I believe, was WhyArtwork.com with 13,856. How's that for a free plug for your website! :)
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One of the great joys I get as an audiophile with a blog is the opportunity to get some great albums before they release. Since it's better to give than receive, I especially LOVE the opportunity some artists give me to give away their albums.
Stephen Miller, worship leader at The Journey church in St. Louis, releases his new album, Hymns, Tuesday. But I'm giving away 5 digital downloads today! Yeah, five.
It's already getting regular play in my house. Miller gives accessible music updates to several beloved hymns like "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," "I Surrender All," "How Deep the Father's Love For Us," and "Be Thou My Vision." He also offers his versions of "Behold the Throne of God Above" and "In Christ Alone." For good measure he adds "Kyrie, Eleison." There are a total of eleven songs. It's a solid offering to the growing list of young artists making good worship music. It's good for my soul and will be a blessing for my church.
Here's how you enter to win a FREE download...
1. Tweet (or post to Facebook if you aren't on Twitter, or do both!) without the quote marks: " Want to download Stephen Miller's album, Hymns, free? RT & comment at Reformissionary to enter: http://bit.ly/T3FNbJ "
2. Comment below (so I can confirm you did step 1) with your real name and real email (kept private) and For Fun guess the exactly number of songs iTunes says I have. It's more than 1 and less than 20,000.
*I'll use random.org to pick the 3 winners sometime after 5pm, and I'll announce the winners on the blog & send out emails. May the odds be ever in your favor!
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From George Whitefield's A Collection of Hymns for Social Worship...
A Hymn to the Holy Ghost
(Extracted from the Ordination-Office.)
COME HOLY GHOST, our Souls inspire,
And lighten with Celestial Fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost the sev’nfold Gifts impart.
Thy blessed Unction from above
Is Comfort, Life, and Fire of Love,
Enable with perpetual Light
The Dullness of our blinded Sight.
Anoint and cheer our soiled Face,
With the Abundance of thy Grace.
Keep far our Foes, give Peace at Home!
Where thou art Guide no Ill can come.
Teach us to know the FATHER, SON,
And thee, of both to be, but One;
That through the Ages all along
This, this may be our endless Song;Praise GOD, from whom all Blessings flow,
Praise Him all Creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host,
Praise FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST.
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One of the great discoveries from my time just prior to and during Soma School was the Story of God, or Story-Formed Way, that Soma teaches. It was, for me, life-changing. It's something we are working through at Doxa starting in a few weeks.
Set to themes and teachings in the Story-Formed Way, Soma has offered for some time now The Story Volume 1 at "name your price" rates, meaning donation or free. I'm excited to share with my readers that The Story Volume 2 is now out, and is also for donation or free! I've just started listening to it and I'm already loving this album and the way it triggers in me a love for God's Story.
I embedded it below so you can listen to it here and click to download and/or share it. Would love to see many others embed this on their blogs so this gospel-saturated Story can be in the hands of many others.
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New Andrew Peterson album, Light for the Lost Boy, is out today.
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If you like Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, or just like indie music and great melodies and harmonies, you should check out 5 free songs from Wayfarer below. I got one of those "Hey, can you check out our music" sort of emails, which I get a lot. Most of that stuff just doesn't work for me. This does. It really, really works.
Wayfarer creates "repurposed hymns and spiritual songs," or as Dan of Wayfarer told me, these are "old and beautiful lyrics, entirely re-written." All I know is that into my second listen through and I'm enjoying it enough to stop other important things to tell you about it. Download for free, right now...
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Stream the new album from Page CXVI, Re-Hymns (reimagined by Derek Webb), today only for free.
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My friends Bryan Lilly & Brent Thomas introduced me to The Followers. Brent had helpful thoughts at his blog, so I'll let him do the talking...
Featuring Josh White of Telecast and Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper and based out of Door of Hope Church in Portland, OR, the band strives to “to create a 70′s infused worship experience” which they call “neo-gospel.” Drawing on a folky, alt. country/blues/soul foundation, the group has created songs that are not only creatively challenging but singable; a balance not easily struck. While there are hints of Telecast and Blitzen Trapper, The Followers have presented an album with a unified, cohesive sound. Being retro without being nostalgic or gimmicky, The Followers intertwined several strands of roots music into something both comfortable and challenging.
There is a theme of experiential relationship with Jesus throughout which is enhanced by the urgency of some of the arrangements. Drawing on the blues and soul traditions, The Followers have created an album in which the music drives home the words. Truth about Jesus isn’t just meant to be understood but experienced. If our music isn’t passionate, why would anyone trust that we really believe the words we sing?
This is an album I’m definitely looking forward to spending more time with.
If the name Josh White rings a bell for my blog readers, it's probably because of this post about Josh and Door of Hope's "Church in the Park" open-air meeting in Portland.
Check out Wounded Healer, and go download it for free or donate a bunch to their work...
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Kristen Gilles' new worship EP, The Whole Big Story, is free and out today by giving email and zip below! Her husband, Bobby, is a good friend and they serve at Sojourn Church in Louisville, KY. Learn more about Kristen & Bobby and their music.
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Many of you know that I've been gone for a week at Soma School in Tacoma, Washington. I'm probably going to have several posts coming to share my experiences, what I learned, resources, etc. Never experienced anything like it. I wanted to start with a few resources from Aaron Spiro, the worship leader at Soma Communities. He served us well and serves Tacoma well.
Name Your Price (or FREE!)
Other Albums
If you need more than just my recommendation, watch this..."
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I get excited thinking about the direction some are taking with worship music. While there's a glut of stuff out there that all sounds the same to me and that I just can't listen to, there's a new breed of creative, biblical/theological worship guys at solid churches who are changing the game. I want to do what I can to encourage the creation of new, good worship music. Some of the music I've pointed to before includes Sojourn, Bifrost Arts, Aaron Ivey, Joe Day, Page CXVI, and others. Today I want to introduce you to someone who may be new to you.
Stephen Miller, worship leader at The Journey church in St. Louis, has a new worship album out today: God & Sinner Reconcile. I've been enjoying it for a couple of weeks. It's entered the rotation of music for personal worship as well as what we listen to on Sunday morning as a family before gathering with the church. I've also shared it with our worship leaders. I hope many of my readers will check it out and pick it up.
Check out Stephen Miller's website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. Then grab a copy of God & Sinner Reconcile. It's only $6.99!
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I'm a huge Sojourn Music fan because I like their music and the rich content of their songs. More than that, I love their music because I love their focus on the Gospel as a church. They are friends and one of my favorite churches around.
I've given a couple of listens to Sojourn Community Church's new Christmas album, A Child Is Born. My word for this album would be "challenging." It's challenging to your ears as it's anything but a typical Christmas album. It's not even close. Their version of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is "punk-rock inspired," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is poppy, as is "Silent Night." Some of the more subdued and lovely moments on the album are from lesser known lyrics retooled. I love the voices that are now very familiar to me: Brooks Ritter, Jamie Barnes, Megan Shaffer & others. They are always a joy to hear again on new projects. The cover design is lovely and simple.
In many ways, this isn't supposed to be an easy album to hear. From Sojourn's website...
There’s a place for joy, a necessary and central place for celebration, but that joy and celebration has it’s most weight when seen in the context of the suffering and longing from which it emerges. So Christmas music at Sojourn has always had a dark edge, a sense of tension and angst, which points us to the darkness of our own hearts that longs for the light of Christ.
For me, A Child Is Born is an odd album. Taking the familiar and making it unfamiliar. Taking songs typically wrapped in seasonal sounds and re-wrapping them in something unseasonal and unusual. It may not be an easy album for you to like, though I've heard from many who are liking it a lot! Sojourn takes some serious risks in genre and style that will shake your Christmas world. But you will have to be the judge if this darker, grittier version of Christmas is something that will be in your rotation year by year. If nothing else, Sojourn for me has earned a listen as they continue to make music in service of the Church that is out of the ordinary.
Buy A Child is Born: Amazon or for $5 at Grouptune
Also check out: Over the Grave | The Water & The Blood
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After attending the first Verge Conference at The Austin Stone, I became a fan of Aaron Ivey (@AaronIvey) and his album, Between the Beauty & Chaos. It's one of the most played worship albums on my iPod and in my house. Then at the recent Together for Adoption Conference in Phoenix I met (several times... inside joke) Jimmy McNeal (@JimmyMcSings), who should have a worship album releasing next year. Loved the times of corporate worship led by Jimmy and the songs he brought.
So when I heard a new Austin Stone Live album was on the way, featuring Aaron & Jimmy, I was excited to hear it. Today I've been streaming the recording of their live concert from last night. It includes some songs from T4A Conference, and I'm really enjoying it. Watch it here. Buy it at iTunes.
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Gospel wakefulness means treasuring Christ more greatly and savoring his power more sweetly. Treasuring Christ more greatly and savoring his power more sweetly is simply the the long way of writing worship.
Worship is the ascribing of the worth to something or someone. In this case, of course, the recipient of this worship is God, the only one worthy of our worship. What happens in gospel wakefulness is that in our brokenness, our sense of self-worth and sufficiency in things other than God gets destroyed, and as the good news of Christ's finished work is applied to us, our affections become reformed, renewed, and revitalized.
Jared Wilson in Gospel Wakefulness, p 77 (bold emphasis mine).
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Austin City Life church in, uh, Austin, has a new four song EP out: Glow. Stream it at Bandcamp. couple of years ago I shared my thoughts on their first EP, One. Vocals are from Miranda Dodson (I really like here album, Change A Thing).
I've only listened through it twice. Two quick notes. I really dig the opener "Beautiful Love." Sounds like they blend some southern flavor to a hint of the vocal dancing of Eisley or Joanna Newsom. It's a lovely track. They close with a tweaked version of "Be Thou My Vision." Miranda dominates here, yet sings it delicately. They add a chorus (or a bridge?) that I believe will add a layer of understanding for those who get a bit lost in the wording of the original hymn.
Glow is well worth checking out. Share your thoughts below. Would love to hear what you think.
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Page CXVI is a family favorite for updated hymns. Just beautiful. Learn more.
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If you aren't a fan of Bifrost Arts (and brainchild, Isaac Wardell), I hope you will remedy that. Come O Spirit! is amazing, and their Christmas album, Salvation is Created, is maybe my favorite Christmas album. I gave it high marks in my review. They are making great, historically based worship music, and I want them to make more! Here's how we all can help them make more through their Kickstarter campaign...
Bifrost Arts has had a very full year!
Between a conference, a new curriculum, lots of new songs, and new liturgical materials, we've barely had time to catch our breaths. We're so encouraged by the ways that God has grown this project of ours into something larger than we could have foreseen four years ago, when we began.
Now, after a two-year hiatus since our last full-length, Bifrost Arts is excited to announce that a new record is fully underway. Our plan is to gather together some of our favorite singers and musicians from past records, as well as a whole host of new talent to converge in the recording studio this winter, to record another full-length record.
For the last two years, we've been writing an compiling new church music, trying it out in our congregations, as well as demoing the new material. The theme of the record is the Lamb of God. Many of the songs are are about death and resurrection, about communion, and about suffering and redemption. Folks who have attended Bifrost Arts events in the last two years will recognize some of them from our hymn-sings.
Please consider giving generously to this project so that we can continue our work of writing, producing, and performing new sacred music for our churches and for our communities.
(You can email bifrostarts@gmail.com with questions about the details of the project, and the recording budget.)
Go support these great artists as they produce more music to bless the church.
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I don't know what to say about Sojourn Music. I feel like if I'm too positive then I'm not really reviewing. I feel like I need to find something critical to say, because I'm pretty much head-over-heels for everything they do. Seriously tough for me to do anything but tell everyone about their music because it's all worth having and loving.
That said, Sojourn has a new album of Isaac Watts hymns: The Water and the Blood. Their previous album of Watts' hymns is Over the Grave.
My initial reaction to The Water and the Blood is the feeling that it's missing something. That's what happens when you open your previous album with "Warrior." I looked for that song. There's really nothing close. Where Over the Grave rocked and rolled and in many ways roared, The Water and the Blood seems to go in a different direction. I was concerned.
The Water and the Blood is reserved. It's kinda sad. Has Sojourn lost it's rock? No, I don't think so. And it took some thinking for me to figure out why I was expecting something I wasn't getting.
I think this is a new movement in the story that Sojourn is unfolding. It's the moan. It's the blues. It's not the joyous push of going Over the Grave. In many ways, The Water and the Blood is standing at the edge of the grave and meditating on who God is in view of the grave. It doesn't lack in Gospel, in fact it gives us the Gospel richly. And it's not always brooding, as we find a bit more daylight in songs like "Blest Be the Lamb." But for the most part it speaks to us during difficulty, and the mood makes it clear. It's about death and suffering, and doesn't always give us healing. Sometimes The Water and the Blood helps us to cry out when healing has not yet come. It's seeking the LORD. It's waiting on the LORD. It's trusting in the LORD. While distress is near and pain is felt, those suffering while in the grip of Christ have One listening to our cries.
There are times when I need worship songs like "Warrior," but there are also times I need The Water and the Blood. It's rich food for the aching soul. Listen and receive grace in your time of need, and know that the LORD "spilt His Son's blood in our place." ("From Deep Distress")
I highly recommend The Water and the Blood. Please pick it up. If you move quickly, you can get any of Sojourn's albums for $6. Also, for $15 you can pick up their last three albums. Don't miss some of the best and most creative and most theological worship music I've heard. At this price, you should get it all.
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Sojourn Music is putting out some of the most creative and theological worship music around. It's always one of my first recommendations for folks looking for worship music. Now you can get their last three albums for just $15 in their The World Didn't End Sale. If you don't have them, you need to get them now. The sale may not last long. Or buy any of their albums individually for $6 each, including the newer albums or their earlier releases like Before the Throne (song "We Are Listening" is outstanding) and These Things I Remember.
Don't miss this sale!
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Twitter friend pointed out Redemption Hill's version of "Rock of Ages." As always, the banjo makes the band. :) Here's a bunch more info on the song, and please enjoy the sort of making-of video...
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Sojourn: The Water and the Blood - The Hymns of Isaac Watts Volume 2. This is a great worship album, and a beautiful preview video.
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Keith and Kristyn Getty's band played a new song (that hasn't been recorded as far as I know) at The Gospel Coalition. It's "a hymn about money" that's "set to the story of the rich young man." My buddy took the video and sent it to me so I could share it with my Music Monday friends. Enjoy!
And when I cling to what I have
Please wrest it quickly from my grasp
I'd rather lose the things of earth
To gain the things of heaven
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I recently told you the Split EP -- Brooks Ritter: The War EP & Jamie Barnes: The Mercy Seat EP -- was coming.
It's here. Buy it today or stream it online for free. It's great and I think you'll love it.
I also highly recommend the previous albums from Sojourn Music. These albums, along with the new split EP, are the only albums my kids insisted I put on their iPods...
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I'm learning & growing to be the pastor of my family I've been called to be, and I'm enjoying leading them better in family worship and Bible reading. The recent Desiring God Pastor's Conference message by Joel Beeke on family worship was convicting and encouraging. You should check it out.
Right now we have five main resouces for family worship &/or Bible reading (singing resources aren't listed). For the most part our kids read Scripture in the morning and we use the other resouces at night. Let me know what resources you have found helpful in the comments below.
1. The Bible | Each of our kids has their own ESV Bible (compact Bible for my boys, my daughter has a prettier one). They are reading James every day in the mornings, sometimes on their own and sometimes with me and/or Molly.
2. ESV Study Bible | Same text with notes that help the family when we need a few interpretive helps on a passage. We have a copy permanently stationed in our living room for the kids to open if they need to check notes on their own. They don't do this much yet, but will get the hang of it.
3. The Story of God for Kids | Created by the good folks at Soma Communities in Tacoma, Washington. My family LOVES this. Well written and helpful notes for using it well, good questions to help it sink in. I have been reading it off my Kindle to them. Last night Elijah was peppering me with questions as he is piecing together the larger "Story of God" from the lessons blending together. Wonderful resource. Check out their other resources for adults and small groups.
4. Operation World: A Prayer Guide to the Nations | Eye-opening for our kids as they learn about the world and the needs of the world from a missionary perspective. They love to thumb through the pages and learn about a new country. We are putting little biographies of missionaries in their hands and they want to learn about those countries today. We want to teach them to pray BIG prayers to our BIG God for our BIG world. UPDATE: Commenter reminded me of Window on the World, an Operation World of sorts for younger kids. We have that and the kids like it a lot.
5. Four Holy Gospels | Just got this in the mail yesterday. It's the most beautiful Bible I've ever seen, with artwork by NYC artist Makoto Fujimura. Our family was able to meet Mako and attend the Crossway Books release event for the project. We now plan on using the Bible at least once a week (Sundays) to take turns reading aloud from a Gospel together before we leave the house to gather with our local church. It's nice to add a substantial piece like this into our family worship & Bible reading that will last through the years as a family treasure.
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Love this new video preview for Sojourn Music's new duel EP release from Brooks Ritter and Jamie Barnes (I posted on it last week). It's beautifully done. (via) If you are looking for a church to be an example of leading in the arts and developing a community of artists without bailling on the gospel or deep theology, look to Sojourn & Sojourn Music.
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On February 22nd Sojourn Music (Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY) is releasing a dual EP with two Sojourn artists, Jamie Barnes and Brooks Ritter. It's 10 new songs available for download on the 22nd, 2 EPs of 5 songs each: The War (Ritter) and The Mercy Seat (Barnes). I've had it for a week and have listened multiple times through the whole thing. It's exactly what I've come to expect from Sojourn and these two great artists -- truth, beauty, creativity, worship. It's just great & already a family favorite.
Here's an interview of both artists (via) which includes a song from each EP. MJ Butterworth already has a review up, and check out the great artwork...
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I heard about the new Bifrost Arts worship conference at Covenant Seminary a few weeks back. It's called "Liturgy, Music, & Space." If you don't know Bifrost Arts, you should. I very much enjoy their two albums: Salvation Is Created (Christmas) and Come, O Spirit (worship). More about the conference...
Each week we tell our congregations a story with how we use liturgy, how we use music, and how we use space in worship. Bifrost Arts has developed a curriculum for small groups and Sunday School classes entitled “Liturgy, Music, & Space” to help churches walk through a coherent, biblical view of how these elements of worship are forming us.
Join us from March 29-31 as we present this curriculum at a conference with lectures, workshops, and times of worship in St. Louis, Missouri with:
- Nicholas Wolterstorff
- Bryan Chapell
- Greg Thompson
- John Hodges
- Kevin Twit (Indelible Grace)
- Betsy Steele Halstead
- Isaac Wardell
- The Welcome Wagon (great album)
Conference fee is $150. Discounts are available for students, campus ministers, and church employees from small congregations.
This conference is made possible through a worship renewal grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, MI, with funds provided by Lilly Endowement Inc.
I'm not a worship leader, but this sounds amazing for worship leaders, pastors (especially of smaller churches), etc.
Bifrost Arts from josh franer on Vimeo.
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One of my favorite worship CDs is Page CXVI Hymns I. You can get it free until next Tuesday, so run and get it now! Song list for Hymns I...
- Come Thou Fount
- In Christ Alone
- My Jesus I Love Thee
- When I Survey the Wonderful Cross
- Nothing But the Blood
- Solid Rock
- Joy
They are giving it away so promotion is for their 2nd CD, Hymns II, which is now available to download. Physical CDs available on Tuesday. Song list for Hymns II...
- How Great Thou Art
- Praise to the Lord
- Jesus I Am Resting, Resting
- Rock of Ages
- Abide With Me
- Battle Hymn of the Republic
- Doxology
Friends, I can't encourage these hymns CDs enough. Beautifully done.
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The more I look through The Open Sourcebook the more I love it. About the site...
You can submit materials and request materials as well. The site was created by Sojourn Music (really good guys) and The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
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STEVE McCOY
