I have seen this album posted a few times on different blogs so last week I bought a copy of “My Cry Ascends” (iTunes US|CAN) and have listened through a few times. Here’s a video giving a bit more of a context for what this project is trying to accomplish -

In all, I’d say that the album does what the guys behind it were trying to do – take some historical lyrics (particularly from the Psalms), re-write some of the melodies to make them more accessible and record versions of them that would encourage churches to use them in congregational worship. I love the heart behind this and I commend Gregory Wilbur and Ligonier for going through with this project.

The Psalms are the backbone of Christian worship and they have been ignored for too long on Sunday morning. We have tried to write our own psalms, say psalm-type things in new words and distracted ourselves away from the “800 pound gorilla in the middle of our Bibles.”

The only beef I’ll take with this album is that – as a whole – the melodies aren’t that singable for congregations who aren’t used to this style of music. Now you’ll always come up against that – congregations used to singing only hymns are going to have a hard time adjusting to singing guitar-driven, anthemy modern worship songs. There is a place, I believe, for Psalms and psalm texts to be written as modern worship music that would be engaging to a broad spectrum of the modern church and modern culture. Who is writing and singing those songs?

I’m running an unofficial blog series on WorshipRises this week (1|2|3) and want to keep sharing some info with you. We’ve talked about the EP we released in July 2010, some of the friends involved in WorshipRises and also some of the things to keep in mind when you run your own songwriting events.

Many of you have asked for more detail on how we put our songwriting event together so I wanted to give you a quick breakdown of what the day looks like.

Again, be open-handed with your process. This is not gospel. We’ve tried our events and this format seems to work – a good balance of conversation, writing and relational time.

As a basic overview, our events run from 8:30 to 3:30 with a break for lunch. We include two songwriting sessions during that time as well as a chance for everyone to hear the songs which have been written.

So many of you are new to the blog since last summer, would you consider supporting WorshipRises by spending $4 of your new music budget on the WorshipRises EP?

Here are the links where you can find the music -

iTunes Canada – http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/worship-rises-ep/id376445343?uo=4
iTunes USA – http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/worship-rises-ep/id376445343?uo=4
Amazon mp3 – http://www.amazon.com/Worship-Rises-EP/dp/B003PVU2S6/

Here’s a more details look at how a WorshipRises songwriting event would go -

8:30
Songwriters arrive. Make sure everyone meets one another, gets a chance to have some conversation – we always have people meeting for the first time when they arrive and want to give them even a few minutes to connect.
Read scripture and pray. This is a pretty vital part of our day. We always spend time praying for one another, praying for our churches and praying for the Canadian church as a whole.

9:30
Send the first writing groups out. We try to have people write in groups of 3 – that seems to work better than 2 or 4, especially if people don’t know each other that well. We don’t give them any instruction and we don’t like people bringing half-baked ideas to the table. We encourage people to get to their writing room, spend some time talking about what’s going on in their lives or churches and see where things go from there.

10:45ish
After about an hour and 20 minutes of writing we bring all of the groups back together and hear what’s been written so far. We have the group talk a little about the process of how they got there, what they were hoping to achieve and what they think they need to do next. Usually groups come back with a verse, a chorus and an idea for a direction of a second verse and a bridge. It’s very rare that people come back with a “finished” song.

11:30
Break for lunch. I usually ask someone local to recommend a good place for us to eat. Try to not go for fast food together – encourage people to sit, eat, talk, take their time. People will probably want to grab coffee after lunch so we give 2 hours for a lunch break. This is valuable time and we try not to rush it.

1:30
Second writing session. If I can, I try to arrange the groups so that nobody writes with the same person twice. This takes some work but it can happen. We give a bit of “rah-rah” encouragement at the beginning of the second session – it’s usually snooze time for people so we try to ramp up the energy a bit before we send the groups off.

2:45ish
The writing groups come back together and share the ideas from the second writing session. There’s always lots of encouragement with the ideas shared and usually we are amazed at the quality of song ideas and inspiration that come back after just an hour and a bit of writing.

Have you tried a songwriting event in your church or community? How did you run it? Share some of your experiences and let everyone know some things you tried!

Almost every week I get an email, tweet or phone call from someone asking if they can do a writing event like what we’ve done with WorshipRises. The short answer? Of course you can!

They’re not looking for permission, obviously, so here are a few things that I encourage people to pursue as they explore the idea of gathering worship leaders to write songs for the church.

1. Start invite-only
If things go well, you’ll have lots of opportunities to fling the doors wide open and gather anyone interested in coming. For the first time, keep the invite list small – our first event had 12, our second 15. I wouldn’t go any bigger than that the first time.

2. Be very open-handed
Nobody has the songwriting process patented. Be willing to explore different ideas as you run your events. We’ve found a process that works for us but it did not come from divine revelation – we’ve made tweaks and changes as we’ve learned what people enjoy, what people respond to, what gets good results.

3. Value people above product
At the end of the day, whether you write a bunch of songs or not the bigger goal should actually be that you would remain friends. Songwriting can be a tension-filled exercise and you shouldn’t take that lightly. Value the people in the room and your friendships above the songs you may or may not write together. Great friendships lived out for the glory of God will probably have much more Kingdom impact than any songs you write together.

So many of you are new to the blog since last summer, would you consider supporting WorshipRises by spending $4 of your new music budget on the WorshipRises EP?

Here are the links where you can find the music -

iTunes Canada – http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/worship-rises-ep/id376445343?uo=4
iTunes USA – http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/worship-rises-ep/id376445343?uo=4
Amazon mp3 – http://www.amazon.com/Worship-Rises-EP/dp/B003PVU2S6/

Last week I was invited to come and speak at the GMA Canada Ontario Conference held at Heritage College in Cambridge, ON. My friend Leroy Harder asked me to come to encourage some of the songwriters who would be there and to run a co-writing session for these Canadian artists looking to expand their ministry.

I was more than happy to do it and loved spending the day at the conference. In our session we had three groups of songwriters who were given some quick practical instruction on the process of co-writing and then they we released the hounds! Each group had only about an hour to work on a song before coming back to play what they had written for the other groups.

To start our session, I wanted to share some encouragement with them as songwriters. During the morning session I sent out a quick question on twitter and was then able to share the replies with them.

Hey friends – give me your one tweet encouragement for songwriters. What would you love to say to ppl writing songs for your church?

I had a bunch of replies come and I want to thank everyone that chimed in. Here’s a list of what came back -

Songwriters: share your work with others, finished  or not and weigh every opinion and critique.

Learn to write on the acoustic guitar. Make it singable and easy to play. Not too wordy but firmly based on the Word.

Make it about God, not us. And make sure it is biblically accurate.

Don’t write looking for a song to “cut” – look write a song that will “catch” hearts.

You don’t have to be Chris Tomlin, which is just fine with me.

Write truth about God and life. Don’t ask me to sing fairy tales or lies.

Seek the Lord, pray over your work and work hard. Pursue your songs with reckless abandon! Be fearless!

Keep writing, don’t give up.

Work on your craft. Allow others in to your process with you. Push for great songs that give voice to your church.

Don’t be afraid to write something that sounds different. use a few more chords. Write lyrics that are full sentences. Soar!

Challenge us with an interesting (lyrics, time signature, key, etc) song. We don’t always need to sing along.

Soak yourself in your church’s story. Listen to her Father’s heart for her. Enough with frothy lyrics, give us ancient truth.

More “we/us” songs and less “I/me”

Write songs that teach clearly AND stir our emotions.

Best idea wins, work together, serve your local community and worship even when no one’s watching.

Write songs that move you to want more of HIM! The church will follow!! We are called to LEAD – LEAD!!

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed their voice and wisdom to the process – @chickenmilker @markmcole @pjaygrimes @ellepyke @joshwah8 @leegunter @robrash @werdnartf @adamherod @michaelschutz @worshipbassist @xxwickchickxx @jonmanna @iamanoffering @dsantistevan @kevinpauls

What about you? Got any encouragement you’d like to give to people writing songs for your church?

UPDATE: Registration for this webinar is now open here - http://songwritingwebinar328.eventbrite.com/

Announcing a new webinar with AllAboutWorship.com
Monday, March 28 – 9:00pm eastern
The Possibilities, Practicals & Pitfalls of Co-Writing!
Ever had the dream of walking in to a room with your guitar, a notebook and a Starbucks, shaking hands with a total stranger and then spending the next three hours composing the most beautiful piece of worshipful art you’ve ever come across?? Inspired by people who can sit down beside you with a blank piece of paper and find rhymes for words like essence, Bethlehem and hermeneutic that actually seem to work in a song?? Too afraid to actually being to explore the idea of co-writing because you just have no idea what’s supposed to happen??

Have we got a webinar for you!

Chris Vacher & Joshua Seller are no co-writing experts but they have written songs together and with others. These songs have come out of old friendships, new introductions and life experiences in general. Some of these songs are now being sung in churches all over – but that’s not the point.

In this webinar, we’ll talk through some of the things we’ve learned through writing songs with other people. We’ll talk about some of the great possibilities are there, some of the real practical things that can help you as well as some of the pitfalls that may come along the way.

Okay. So I’m super pumped about this one! Registration details are coming very soon but block this out on your calendar if you’re able to make it. If you’ve got specific questions that you’d like us to answer during the webinar, reply here and we’ll do our best to get to them. Deal? Deal!

Head here to read the full article by J. Lee Grady – www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones/30212. Great stuff!

I consider myself open-minded about worship. My tastes in music are eclectic, so I love everything from Hillsong choruses and black gospel anthems to classic hymns and Spanish worship artists Marco Barrientos and Jesús Romero. My playlist even includes Native American, Nigerian and Iranian worship.

I love any music that stirs my soul and points me to heaven, so worshipping the Lord with other believers is one of my favorite pastimes. But there are a few things I’d like to say to worship leaders. Please don’t take these comments as criticism but as encouragement from a brother who has “seen it all” when it comes to the Sunday morning drill.

1. Give us something to shout about!

2. Please give us content.

3. Spare us the concert.

4. Don’t run a song into the ground.

5. Please don’t burst my eardrums.

6. Show us the lyrics.

7. Honor the Word.

What have you always wanted to say to worship leaders?

I had the privilege to tell the crew at Forge Conference about WorshipRises and what is happening with this crazy Canadian dream that God has given us. Some people were asking about some more details on how we run our actual day and I said I’d post the info here for them.

Here’s a rough schedule for how we’ve run our songwriting days before. This is not a “how to” formula for a succesful day. If you’re interested in running a day like this, spend some time thinking/talking about what you want to accomplish through your day together. After we had done that, here’s what we came up with for the events we’ve run so far.

8:30
Arrival
This is an important part of the day. There will probably be people gathering together who don’t know each other so make sure you have some time for people to meet one another. And you probably know that artists just love being on time (!!!) so take some time leading up to your event to communicate the importance of arriving on time.

9:00
Vision & Prayer
We spend the first part of our day together being reminded of the heart and vision behind WorshipRises and praying together. We pray for our day, for one another and for the Canadian church. We usually have someone share on worship from scripture.

9:30
First Songwriting Session
We split people in to pre-assigned groups of 3 for the first writing session of the day. Some tips on arranging groups – women together tend to write great songs, don’t be afraid of putting two women in the same group.. age diversity within a group can be a great thing.. explore different musical preferences when putting your groups together..

10:45
Roundtable
We let people write for about 75 minutes and then have them come back to share whatever they’ve developed with the rest of the group. At the roundtable we record all of the songs, catalog any lyrics which have been written as well as who the songwriters were so that we have accurate records.

11:30ish
Lunch
Sometimes we go to a local restaurant for lunch, sometimes we have lunch catered at the venue. It is important that you do not rush this part of the day. The relationships that come out of days like this will always be more valuable long-term than the songs that may be written.

1:30
Second Songwriting Session
Grab some coffee and head back to the venue. Switch up the writing groups so that nobody writes with the same people in the second session. In the past, we have not had groups who worked in the morning continue a song in the afternoon. We have gone instead in the direction of having new groups work on new songs.

2:45
Roundtable
Share and record the second round of songs.

3:30
Wrap-up
A good chance to thank people for their participation, pray together and encourage one another.

So there you go. Nothing about this is the perfect way to do this – it’s just the right way for us to do this. Go ahead and use that template or use it as a starting point and come up with your own way of doing it.

There is this weird love/hate/love relationship between worship leaders and Chris Tomlin in the church today. I’m not sure if it’s that we love his songs but hate his popularity, love his songwriting but hate his (perceived) simplicity, love his songs but hate his success – I don’t know. There are lots of blogs, articles, websites out there dedicated to tearing down Chris and his shallow ministry – I was sent one again earlier this week and reminded at how we seem to be so, so willing to grab at any piece of inadequacy to try and tear apart someone’s success.

Listen, I’m no rah-rah cheerleader for Chris Tomlin but I do know this: more often than not, if I do a Chris Tomlin song with our church they are singing their hearts out for the glory of God. As a worship leader, what more could I ask for? Why do I care whether the last word of each line rhymes? Why do I care whether the melody is simple or not? Why do I care whether his range is three steps too high for any normal male to sing? :)

All I care is that I am putting words in the mouths of the people of this church which give God glory, stir the hearts of people toward Christ and proclaim the gospel to those who don’t know Him. If it takes famous songs, unknown songs, songs you’ve heard on the radio or songs you’re writing in your basement, I don’t care – I’m going to find a way to get my people to sing them.

As I was reading that article this week which talked about the absolute shame of Chris’ writing, someone sent me another link. This time it was a video of Chris and his band leading “How Great Is Our God.” If your church is like ours, you’ve sung that song a million times and you’ve probably questioned whether or not you should actually sing it half of the times that you did. But.. give yourself a few minutes and watch this video. Hear the song again for the first time, if you can. I know that’s what I did when I watched it earlier this week.

Forget, if you can, that it’s Chris Tomlin who wrote that song. Imagine it was (insert your favourite songwriter here) or someone from your church or someone from your family. Wouldn’t you be on your knees thanking God that He had delivered that song to the writer and now you are able to share that song with your church? That was honestly the response I had this week when I watched that video.. God, thank You for Chris Tomlin, for his talent, for his dedication, for his willingness and eagerness to see the church give You praise.

“Everlasting Light” from WorshipRises
Co-written by Drew Brown (music director at The Meeting Place in Winnipeg, MB – blog|facebook|twitter), Bob Cottrill (worship pastor at North Park Church in London, ON), Luke Holst (ministry intern at West Park Church in London, ON) and Keith Sparrow (worship pastor at The Campus Community Bible Church in Aurora, ON – twitter)

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Thanks to the fine people over at CCLI.com and CCLI.tv for featuring the video of “Worship Rises” on their websites. My friend (and co-writer) Joshua Seller led this song at a Harvest Bible Chapel conference in Chicago and the Harvest folks were kind enough to share the video.

You can watch the video over at CCLI.tv by following this link – http://www.ccli.com/CCLITV/Default.aspx?v=11db77d0-c0b4-43c2-8ba6-6a1f8169fb42

This song is part of a movement of worship pastors/leaders from across Canada who have come together to begin writing songs for the Canadian church. We’re excited about releasing a 4-song EP this summer and can’t wait for you to hear the songs. Lots more news coming about WorshipRises very soon.