He has some great stuff to say and I’d encourage you to read the whole article here – http://www.worshipleader.com/index.cfm?tdc=dsp&page=features_detail&aid=185 (The top of the page is a solid article from Sally Morgenthaler but keep scrolling down to find the article from Curt.)

I won’t quote the whole thing – go read it for yourself! – but his first paragraph is great:

In recent years I have observed brave worthwhile attempts at convincing the worshiping masses that “worship is not singing.” We, of course, have meant to say that there are far more ways to worship than simply singing. We have invested much effort in educating the church to see the many different ways to worship. I have whole-heartedly joined in the efforts at educating, and I have been thrilled to see the church at large growing in its theology of worship. However, I have chuckled at times because it has felt on occasion as if we’re leading worshipers to believe that “singing is not worship.” So let me shout this loud and clear:

Singing is a great way to worship the Lord!

Go read the article to find out more about what he has to say about each of these:

• Use Singable Songs
• Arrange Songs Mindful of the Novice Singer
• Ask Nicely

Good stuff.

As well as being a clinician for Maranatha’s Worship Leader Workshop and a workshop teacher at multiple National Worship Leader Conferences, Curt Coffield has led worship for Promise Keeper events around the country, has been a part of numerous recordings, and has penned nearly 50 songs that are used in churches around the world. Curt Coffield is currently the Pastor at Sewickley Valley North Way Christian Community in Pennsylvania.

At the end of the day, the EP was sitting at #2 on the Canadian Inspirational chart and had peaked at #20 on the full iTunes Canada chart. We had an incredible response from our friends online who told us how much they are loving the songs.

Those nasty Newsboys fellows. Releasing two albums on the same day!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! When we launched this thing a year ago (our first WorshipRises songwriting day was on May 25, 2009) we had no idea that we would be here a little over a year later. Thanks for your encouragement and your support. We are excited about where things are going and excited to know that we have lots of cheerleaders

A few things to keep in mind now that the songs are out there -

1. Chord charts and lead sheets are available right now from our friends at PraiseCharts. Each of these four songs are already being sung in churches all over Canada & the US so please join the club and let us know how your church responds.

2. We are working on creating a “resource edition” of the EP that would come with chord charts, lead sheets, click tracks and maybe some video content. More news on that soon.

3. We really do live in a whole new world. We saw the success of yesterday happen despite the fact that we spent a grand total of ZERO dollars on marketing. Not one facebook ad, not one sponsored blog post, not one magazine placement. Nothing. Like I posted on our facebook page this morning – Solid vision + Solid product + Solid relationships = Solid results. Artists – be encouraged! People want to support you and the work you are doing and the avenues to allow them to do that are wide open. Go for it!

Thanks for all of the encouragement and kind words leading up to today. Praying that these songs have great impact in the church for the glory of God.

UPDATE #2: Today has been an incredible event in the life of WorshipRises. The EP is sitting at #2 on the iTunes Canada Inspirational chart, peaked at #20 on the full iTunes Canada chart (we’ve been fighting it out with Bieber all day!) and we’ve seen some movement in the right direction on the iTunes US Christian chart. Thanks so much to everyone who blogged, tweeted and bought the EP. Your investment in the kingdom today is significant!

Over the past year and a bit I’ve been spearheading this thing called WorshipRises (facebook|twitter). I’ve mentioned it a bunch of times on the blog and you may be familiar with it. Basically we’ve been gathering Canadian worship pastors/leaders together to develop worship resources for & from the Canadian church.

It’s been amazing to see the response to this thing so far – we’ve had 3 writing days attended by a total of about 50 worship leaders from every kind of church/worship expression you could imagine. Young, old, men, women, white, black, hispanic, conservative, charismatic – it’s been incredible. At our last writing day we were very fortunate to have Paul Baloche and Jared Anderson join the 32 worship pastors/leaders who were there in attendance.

Out of our writing days, we’re releasing our first EP on Tuesday, July 13. We’ve got four songs recorded for this all co-written by the WorshipRises crew. Each of these songs are being sung in churches all over North America and we are excited about releasing them to a wider audience. We are very thankful for our friends at PraiseCharts who are helping to create some additional resources for worship leaders that will help you teach these songs to your bands and to your congregations.

So.. How can you help? Here’s a few things -

1. If you are a Canadian worship leader, I want to hear from you. Comment on this post or send me an email (chrisvacher@gmail.com) and introduce yourself. If you have a passion to see the Canadian church go deeper in her worship, WorshipRises may be something you will want to be involved in.
2. Buy the EP. It will be available on every digital platform on Tuesday, July 13 – iTunes, Amazon, etc. Four songs for under $4 – it’s hard to go wrong with that. Consider it an investment in the Canadian territory of the kingdom of God. (You can actually preview the four songs over at Amazon before they release. Here’s the link – Amazon.)
3. Head over to PraiseCharts and check out the chord charts and lead sheets they have created to help you teach the songs to your bands and churches. We really do want to be writing songs that churches will actually sing and are trying to do whatever we can to make that easier for you. If you think that one or more of these songs will be helpful for your church’s worship, I’d love to hear how it goes when you teach it to them.
4. Blog, tweet, facebook, talk about WorshipRises and spread the word. We have a facebook page, a twitter account and are having conversations with people all over Canada & the US about how they can be involved.

Let me leave you with this – a live video of my friend and WorshipRises compadre Joshua Seller leading a song that he & I co-wrote at one of our writing days called “Worship Rises”. This song has become a theme song for the collective movement and is being sung in churches all over Canada & the US already. It has been amazing to see God use this song in incredible ways. Praying for more!

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The implications of that are huge and I’m looking forward to hearing our pastor preach through this passage. I know he’s excited about it too.

I received this quote by email today and loved how well it fit with what we’ll be talking about on Sunday -

“There is only one way for any of us to resolve the tension between the high ideals of the gospel and the grim reality of ourselves: to accept that we will never measure up, but that we do not have to. We are judged by the righteousness of the Christ who lives within, not our own. Tolstoy got it halfway right: anything that makes me feel comfort with God’s moral standard, anything that makes me feel “At last I have arrived,” is a cruel deception. But Dostoevsky got the other half right: anything that makes me feel discomfort with God’s forgiving love is also a cruel deception. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That message, Leo Tolstoy never fully grasped.”

The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey, pg. 142

To find the WorshipRises songs on their site, click here – http://www.praisecharts.com/albums/8015

(Just in case you got the email newsletter from PraiseCharts, I should just be clear that this EP is really from the WorshipRises collective and not really from me as an artist. I’ve had the privilege of spearheading this whole thing but it is very, very much about WorshipRises and this movement of Canadian worship leaders working together to develop worship resources for & from the Canadian church.)

As a pastor who leads others in worship through song and teaching, there is an overwhelming temptation to value what happens in public over what happens in private. It’s so easy to value public gifts over private faithfulness, and what happens on a stage more than what goes on in your closest relationships. This is true in many areas, but one of the most troubling is the neglect of fathers in leading their families in regular times of family worship.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

The whole Psalm is this beautiful remembrance of some of the history of Israel set in the context of the importance of passing this story on from generation to generation. Those of you who are parents will understand the depth of meaning there is in family tradition, family storytelling, family gatherings and this would be so much more important in a culture where storytelling is really the main way of passing history along.

O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old- what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.

This Psalm traces the story of men of God who were faithful, those who were unfaithful, those who kept their covenant with God and those who did not.

The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law. They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.

The reminders of God’s miracles, the incredible things He has done for His people, tell us of God’s might and His power, His authority and sovereignty. They also serve to remind us that even those who walk in the very presence of God, seeing Him do what only He can do – even they turn their backs, forgetting God’s faithfulness and His promises.

He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.

The pattern of this Psalm is really the pattern of Israel – God makes a covenant with His people and shows His faithfulness, God delivers them from their enemies or from wandering or from sin and the people praise Him. Soon they forget His goodness and turn away, making way for God’s judgment to come. When it does come, the people return quickly to their love for Him.

Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again.

But soon, their faithfulness disappears and they are again found in their sin. God, in His mercy, forgives and moves toward reconciling and renewing His covenant with His people.

Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.

And on and on it goes. The cycle continues – covenant, deliverance, obedience, disobedience, mercy, covenant.

The Psalm ends with the man who may typify this cycle more than any other – David. The pattern of covenant, deliverance, obedience, disobedience, mercy, covenant just repeats itself over and over in his life and as worship leaders we are the better because of it. David’s life, his own successes and failure, God’s faithfulness to him – all of that combined with David’s artistic temperament and ability results in this incredible library of songs and poems written to the Lord. Written from a heart of faithfulness, sometimes very full of questions, even anger, but all of it included as part of the great “book of praises” that we have as the Psalms.

The last line of this Psalm, verse 72, states so much in very few words.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

This verse has helped shaped a new way of thinking for me when it comes to my role as a worship leader for my church. I have some thoughts I want to share with you but I’ll save them for the next post.

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.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OsyiGgSlqY

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.

Watch this video and then keep reading for some thoughts -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPRiE6hRbj4

You can scroll down to the end of the post to read the lyrics if you want to get the words that she’s singing. You can also hit YouTube for the official version of the video from the band -- but take her warning of “disturbing images” pretty seriously.

So here are some thoughts after watching through this video a bunch of times over the past week or so.

• The combination of lyrical wordplay and the cheekiness of some of the words is brilliant. The has a really playful, sneaky side to it.
• I love the “from Satan” perspective of the words. A good wake-up call, makes me think of Screwtape Letters.
• The contrast of the words and melody between the Satan sections and the God choruses is really beautiful. It’s clear they’ve spent some real time thinking through the emotional impact of the different parts of the song
• Here’s where my brain starts to go with this song -- Do you think you could use this song in a worship service? Would it help people focus their minds on Christ? Are some of the references taking things too far to use the song at your church?

I’d love to hear some thoughts back on this one. Watch the video and let me know. What do you think?

Here are the lyrics to the song -

I’ve been here since the beginning
Know exactly how you work
I know all of your cravings
Know what makes you go berserk
Been lying from the start just to make you play a party in my infinite rebellion against the Father God

Hate
Everything he is
And I make you hate him too
Make you hate him with your actions it’s so easy for me to do
‘Cause you like it…
Sin feels good for the ego…
You love it…
Oh, come on baby

And all the time, I’m winding you up
Like my perfect little puppet, you’re my favorite robot, welcome to the show but I’m watching you and all of hell is with me too, helping me make my lies look true

Oh and there is a lie that works for everyone, everyone
A lie that opens your hearts so I can get me some more of your free will
I’m winding you
Winding you
Give me the control that’s why I’m telling you
Selling you
Anything
Everything
Appealing to your human way of being and I use it all against you to just keep your eyes from seeing past the life you’re living
Past the moment you’re in
Past the pleasure of your sin

Or the cigarette you’re smoking
Choking on your lust
I’ll make you drunk with pride
So deeply spun into my system that you won’t see the light
Never mind that I’m drowning you
I keep deceiving you…

‘Cuz I don’t tell you
That God in heaven
Who loves you
Who yearns for you
I don’t tell you
That the freedom of forgiveness and truth
Why would I tell you?
Why would I tell you the truth?

But I’ll say that millions of years ago an accident exploded
And you’re the result of this cosmic unknown with no real purpose
Created for no real intent
The reason for your living is just coincidence
So all the remains is what you can gain
Whatever meaning you attach to your days you decide
Mmm, but I help you recognize important things in life
Introducing money, it’s the root of all, evil they say so
I attach yourself worth to the salary you’re paid, be a slave to your property
Your jewelry
Your cars and things
Advertise that lie up on the TV so you’ll want that bling
Selling bit by bit the little pieces of your soul
Climbing up the ladder of economic control
Oh, the greed of man makes it so easy to pervert the Father’s plan

Or I’ll tell you…
There is a heaven but there’s many ways to get in
Keep you so confused that you stay bound to your sin
Tell you there are many ways to the same God
Keep you distracted with your methods so your heart stays hard,
I’ll make you think you’ve got spirituality, but it’s really just emotional alchemy
Oh, the vanity of self-idoltary I never let you see that it breeds
Hedonism! Whoo!
And it’s the answer of this generation
Come on, drink it, snort it, smoke it, swallow it
Chew on my illusion of freedom till you vomit it

And still I don’t tell you
That God in heaven
Who loves you
Who yearns for you
I don’t tell you
That the freedom of forgiveness and truth
Why would I tell you?
Why would I tell you the truth?

You can find more helpful videos and other resources over at WorshipTeamTraining.com –