Blog Archives
Cross-centered Worship Songs: “Jesus Died For Me”
I have been responsible for leading corporate singing in the church for years. 
I know how frustrating it can be to find songs that are worth singing. Many of the newer songs never mention the most important aspect of Christianity: The message of The Cross! To be sure, there are songs out there, but it takes time to find them. I often sift through 40 songs, just to find one new song. (Worship team members have affectionately, and some times derogatorily, nick-named me “The Lyric Police”. Call me old school if you like, but I think the songs we sing to our Savior should be worthy of Him!
This column, “Cross-Centered Worship Songs”, was started as a way to serve my many worship leading friends. I hope to introduce some of the lesser known songs out there that you may not have heard. Read the rest of this entry
Keith Green: “How Can You Be So Dead, When You’ve Been So Well Fed?”
The most memorable line from this song for me has always been the line: ‘How can you be so dead, when you’ve been so well fed?” As I listened to this song again yesterday, I had two thoughts. The first was how utterly convicted I was about how I have been living my life! The second was that the church is no longer well fed. In Keith’s day, the pastor still preached God’s word. If you were part of a evangelical church, you were most likely very well-fed. How sad it is in our day, that believers are forced to attend churches that offer only cotton candy. We are starving of mal-nutrition!
Here is a video of Keith Green passionately singing his song “Asleep In the Light.” He was obviously fighting to hold back tears as he sang the song… Read the rest of this entry
Keith Green: Look How Much the Christian Music Business Has Changed!
Keith Green. His music was the soundtrack of my early Christian walk. His lyrics inspired me not only to follow Christ more faithfully, but to go into pastoral ministry. And that was AFTER his tragic death. Most people who have been walking with Christ 20+ years nod their heads in agreement when his name and christian music are mentioned in the same sentence. He was such a tremendous blessing to the body. I don’t know anyone in the CCM scene that even remotely comes close to him.
I recently came across an album of his (while slumming at The Goodwill!) I bought the album called “So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt…”, because it reminded me of the stark difference between today’s Christian Music business that is all about profits, and not quality lyrics, and Keith Green. I have uploaded a picture of the album cover. You will find it at the bottom of this post. I have also included a live video of Keith singing “Your Love Broke Through.” Notice the words on the bottom right… Read the rest of this entry
Is Worship Music a Gift or Has it Become our God?
Has the Sunday morning “Worship time” become our God? Bob Kauflin recently discussed this topic on his blog called Worship Matters. It resonated with me and I thought those who read this blog would benefit from Bob’s observations. So…… I have included them here! Be challenged!
“Music is a very good gift. The 13,000 songs on my iTunes are testimony to that. My eyes have often welled up in tears as I’ve been affected by a lyric, a chord progression, or a musical texture. I’ve thanked God for the gift of music more times than I can remember.
Whenever I think about my love for music, I’m reminded of what Martin Luther said in a Foreword to a 1538 collection of chorale motets:
“I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly treasure given to mankind by God… A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”
While we may not want to emulate Luther’s attitude, most of us will readily agree that music is a gift from God… Read the rest of this entry
Not For Itching Ears 