Guitar Chords for Though I Was Born an Orphan

This Sunday is being celebrated as "Orphan Sunday" by many churches, following the lead of the Christian Alliance for Orphans who started calling on churches to recognize such a day in 2009. We wrote a modern hymn called Though I Was Born an Orphan to address the theme of adoption and the mandate to care for orphans and to give the church a congregational song about this important topic. To help musicians learn and perform this song with their local churches, we have added a guitar chord chart (for use with a capo) to make playing along with (or instead of) a piano easier. Just head on over to the song's official post and look for the chord chart on the right-hand side of the page.

May God strengthen our love and propel us to greater care for orphans this Sunday, and year-round.

Suggestions for Reformation Sunday

This coming Sunday, October 31st, is celebrated as "Reformation Sunday" by many protestant churches. This is a day when we take time to acknowledge and give gratitude to God for the sacrifices made and doctrine defended during the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe. If you've never publicly acknowledged the Reformation during a worship service, let me make two suggestions. The first one is simple: use hymns from Martin Luther. His famous hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God has been called the battle hymn of the reformation and includes several of the biblical principles that Luther fought to return to the church. Another popular hymn text from Martin Luther is From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee. I set an alternate English translation into a more traditional sounding tune in the song By Grace Alone. Indelible Grace also has a contemporary tune for this hymn.

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What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 5

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)
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New Sheet Music for O Weary Saint

O Weary Saint is a hymn text that Eric Schumacher and I wrote a couple of years ago on songwriting retreat. After writing it for the tune "Love Unknown" by John Ireland, we found that it was still under copyright. The John Ireland Trust graciously allowed us to use it, and the song has been a blessing to me, Eric, and many others as well. To prepare for our upcoming release concert I created a score that follows the arrangement that appears on our latest album, Merciful to Me. The three page score contains piano, cello, and flute and could be adapted for use with other instruments as well (at the concert we won't have a cellist so I've transposed the cello part for violin). You can grab the score on the right-hand side of the song page for O Weary Saint. I created a separate post about this because such a small change to the song would likely fall below the radar of most readers, and if you have any use for a full piano score that sounds like the recording this should be helpful.

What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 4

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)
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Giveaway Contest Results

Earlier in September we started a giveaway contest. To enter you simply had to spread the word about our new album via a variety of social media outlets. We're grateful for the many people who took us up on our offer and entered, and for anyone else who spread the word without actually entering the contest. We're glad to announce the 5 winners, chosen at random. Each has been contacted via email:

1st - Jason Delgado
2nd - Nick Smith
3rd - Deon Bell VanNostrand
4th - Aaron Wilson
5th - Kimberly Davidson

Even though the contest is over, we'd still really appreciate your help in spreading the word about this album. If you believe in what we're doing, or just like the music, please spread the word!

What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 3

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)
Continue reading...

Merciful to Me Now Shipping

Just a short post to broadcast the great news - the physical CDs are now shipping! Thanks for your patience as the manufacturing process takes quite a while. It was worth the wait as the digipaks came out great - the graphics and layout look stunning. Kent Swecker of A New Machine did a fantastic job and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him for any print, web, or music design projects. I've attached a copy of the web-quality PDF of the packaging for you to check out - it should appear as a PDF icon in the right-hand column.

Even if you already have the digital version, consider purchasing a copy or two as gifts. Use and enjoy our album to the glory of God!

What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 2

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)
Continue reading...

What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 1

Today I'm introducing a series of seven short articles outlining what the Bible has to say about singing. This series will not attempt to be a comprehensive list of everything the Bible has to say about singing, but will draw out some implications and applications about congregational singing using Colossians 3:16 as a framework.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)