You Called Me

Man, it's been a long time since I posted anything.  I went on vacation right after my last post and hadn't written anything since.  It feels good to get on  here and put a new video on.  I hope you like this song. 

Chords to be added soon.

"You Called Me" came as a statement of who we are to God. We are blessed, chosen, friend. Sometimes I don't think about all the things that God has called me and I just look at what my human eyes can see. God thinks so much about us yet sometimes we can't see the blessings because we don't think that we deserve them.
God has called us His, and that is all that matters, now, isn't it.

Stuff Christians Like

Ever heard of a guy by the name of Jonathan Acuff?  Neither have I, until recently, that is.  Jonathan is the author of the blog Stuff Christians Like.  He started the blog in March of 2008 as a reaction to a popular blog called Stuff White People Like. 
Stuff Christians Like is a blog about the funny things that Christians talk about and do.  One of his topics is Understanding how Metrosexual your Worship Leader Is.  A very funny read.  Do the math for yourself or your worship leader. 
After you read this post, do some searching around the website for more "Stuff Christians Like".

5 Most Influential Modern Worship Songs - How Great is Our God

For the past two weeks I have been writing about the 5 most influential modern worship songs.  To recap, I have written about Shout to the Lord, Heart of Worship, Lord, I Lift Your Name on High and Open the Eyes of My Heart.  For the last entry I wanted to write about the most influential modern worship written in the past decade.

How Great is Our God was written by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash and was initially released on Tomlin's 2004 album Arriving.  HGIOG won the 2006 GMA Dove Award for Song of the Year and Worship Song of the Year and then amazingly it won again for Worship Song of the Year in 2008.  It is currently listed at number 1 on the CCLI top 100 and was number 2 on the past reporting. 

How Great is Our God has been record by many artist including Chris Tomlin, Bethany Dillon, LaRue, Coffey Anderson, and recently Seventh Day Slumber.  And Chris Tomlin has been referred to by Time Magazine as the most often sang artist anywhere.  The Album Arriving was certified Gold in January of 2006 and was RIAA certified Platinum in 2008.

The simplicity of the song makes it a very easy song to play and sing.  Chris Tomlin's said, "The Beauty of the song is that you hear it one time through and you have it."  The powerful lyrics, How great is our God/Sing with me, How great is our God/ and all will see/How great, how great is our God, and the infectious melody became the anthem of churches all around the world.  This is what made it one of the fasted rising songs on CCLI, a organization that tracks music used for congregational singing and videos shown in a church settings.

5 Most Influential Modern Worship Songs - Open the Eyes of My Heart

MercyMe, SONICFLOOd, Philips, Craig, and Dean, Randy Travis, Delirious, Michael W. Smith, John Tesh, Diamond Rio, VeggieTales.  That is just a small sampling of the large list of artist who have record the legendary worship song Open the Eyes of My Heart.
Paul Baloche is an acclaimed singer/songwriter/worship leader who has lead worship all over the world, in places such as Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and his home church in Lindale, Texas.  In a prayer service, Paul heard a pastor say a simple prayer, "Lord, we just ask you to open the eyes of our heart, to help us to see into your Word tonight."  Years later while leading worship the phrase "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord" sprang to his mind.  While singing and leading during the alter service he began to pray out loud, "Oh, Lord, right now, we ask you to just come and touch our hearts, Lord Jesus," as he continued to play his guitar and sing this phrase began to pop into his mind, "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, open our eyes.  We want to see You."
Later that week Paul sat in his office playing back a rough recording of the song.  He later recalled, "I just kind of took that idea, which was mostly written as a prayer, and basically sanded a few of the edges so that it could just be a simple little prayer song."  A simple little prayer song with giant message that has sung in churches all across America, and the world.
Open the Eyes of My Heart has been covered by countless artist, played in thousands of churches and touched millions of lives.  It is listed as the number 5 song on CCLI Top 100 Worship Songs and was number 7 on the most recent Top 25 released February 2010.
When recounting the process of writing such a powerful song, Paul said the following, "Those are moments I try to capture. I’d much rather try to stumble upon a song idea in the midst of worship or in the midst of prayer than sitting in a room trying to come up with clever hooks, because it rings true. It’s more honest because it’s springing from the act of worship instead of saying, ‘ Okay, I’ve got to write some cool Christian worship chords.’ You end up with a Christian jingle. I’ve written those and I’m not proud of those. I find myself just wanting to be in a place of worship and letting songs come as a by-product."

References:
http://www.leadworship.com/resources/thoughts3.html
http://www.leadworship.com/blog/?p=181

Sunday Setlist - May 9, 2010 - Mother's Day.

What a great Mother's Day.  Our pastors wife and one of our worship leaders delivered the message this morning in two services and lead worship in two services this morning!  What a woman!  This was our setlist for Sunday May 9, 2010.

1.      Open the Eyes of My Heart (Paul Baloche)
2.      Say So (Israel Houghton)
3.      Better is One Day (Matt Redman)
4.      Your Love is Extravagant (Darrell Evans)
5.      Special - All I Need (Marty Sampson)

It was a great Mother's Day.  However, our families celebration was cut short when my son threw up in the parking lot to the restaurant before we went in to eat, so we had to go home and tend to a sick child.  Life happens, even on Mother's Day. 

5 Most Influential Modern Worship Songs - Lord, I Lift Your Name on High

One morning in 1989 Rick Founds set down at his computer to read his morning devotional.  He had grown accustomed to playing the guitar while watching TV, so picking at the guitar while reading scripture came natural.
"I'd just reach over and grab my guitar," he recalls. "I'd plunk along with whatever I was reading that day."
As he read the Scripture about God redeeming his children even though He knew we would rebel, Rick thought of Gods grace like a cycle.  He thought of the cycle of rain.  Rain falls to the earth, evaporates back into the clouds and then returns to the earth in the form of rain.  Out of this thought came the now famous lyrics, "You came from heaven to earth to show the way . . ."
When he wrote the song, Rick was a worship leader at a large church so the song found its way to Maranatha! Music and Promise Keepers began to play the song at their rallies in both English and Spanish.
Lord I Lift Your Name on High has been covered by many artist in almost every genre imaginable.  A Reggae version, Petra's rock version, a pop version and too many more to list.  Some of them good, some of them not so good.
Rick has heard many different versions of his song played all over the world.  He said, "Every congregation has its own personality and style," he observes. "It's a lot of fun to hear things you have written done in the character of that church. I've heard 'Lord, I Lift Your Name on High' done in reggae, in 3/4 (almost a polka), and in a Spanish flavor. I've heard it done country. These were the musical characteristics of the praise band or predominant style [of that ministry]. That's exciting, because it means they have taken ownership of it, made it their own."
Lord I Lift Your Name on High held the highest ranking on CCLI's worship charts from 1997 - 2003 and has held high position since.  This song is undoubtedly influential.

5 Most Influential Modern Worship Songs - The Heart of Worship (When the Music Fades)

In the final years of the Twentieth Century Matt Redmans home church, Soul Survivor in Watford, England, was a forerunner in the modern worship movement that was sweeping the world.  While the rest of the world was in a modern worship revival, the congregation at Soul Survivor was at a crossroad.  Pastor Mike Pilavachi made a decision that might not have worked at any other time or at any other place but has made history and impacted millions of lives.
“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” Redman recalled. “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”
Redman soon wrote the song When the Music Fades in his bedroom with no grand aspirations for the song to become the worship anthem that it has become.  More then 10 years later, The Heart of Worship (When the Music Fades) has been heard worldwide.  It has been covered by many artist and worship teams such as Sonicflood, Randy Travis, Phillips, Craig and Dean and was included on Michael W. Smith's platinum selling album "Worship" which was released on September 11, 2001.  Listed in the top 25 of the CCLI Top 100 Redmans "The Heart of Worship" is still a relevant song that reaches multitudes each year.  The worship song has ministered to people of all denominations and walks of life and has a place in history as one of the most influential Modern Worship songs in history.

Check back for part three of the 5 Most Influential Modern Worship Songs.

5 Most Influential Modern Worship Songs - Shout to the Lord

By far the most influential modern worship song of all time.  Nominated for song of the year at the 1998 Dove Awards, Shout to the Lord has been included on many worship albums, has been covered by the likes of Carman, Don Moen, Rich Mullins, Michael W. Smith, and John Tesh, and was sang on the "Idol Gives Back" episode of American Idol in 2008.  After its appearance on American Idol the song charted at 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, based on digital downloads.  In 2006 it was estimated that 25 million churchgoers sang Shout to the Lord in any one week. 
Darlene Zschech wrote Shout to the Lord in 1993 at the age of 28.  She later said about the song,

“I never get sick of [the song] and never talk about it flippantly. It came out of a hard time; I didn't set out to write a song, I was crying out to God. I was at the end of myself and our ministry dreams were so far from reality. It was a tough time where I went to God and the song quickly took a life of its own.”

 CCLI list the song on the Top 25 worship songs sung congressionally by churches in the United States in February 2010, 17 years after the song was written!  Shout to the Lord has been included in over 20 albums since it debuted on "People Just Like Us" in 1994.
What makes this worship song so influential are the doors that it has opened in worship music.  The album Shout to the Lord was the first live worship album with a female worship leader, making way for other female worship leaders such as Kari Jobe, Brooke Fraser and Christy Knockels. 
Even though "Shout to the Lord" wasn't the first album released by Hillsong, it is arguably the album that started the Hillsong worship breakthrough that gave us great songs like All Things are Possible, Eagles Wings, From the Inside Out, I Give You My Heart and the reigning top song in church worship services Mighty to Save.
 
I have been singing this song in church services as long as I can remember.  In fact, we sang this in church just a recently as a month ago.  This song has touched the hearts of millions of people all over the world and will continue to minister for generations to come.

Check back for part two of the 5 Most Influential Modern Worship Songs.

That Just Happened!! - Month End Review

Congratulations to me!!  I just finished my first month as a blogger.  I created this blog to share my music.  The songs that I write I record and put up on Youtube.  After that I post the video on Youtuve I post on the blog of the ones I feel are good enough to share.  Not everything I write I record, and not everything I record I put on Youtube, and not everything I put on Youtube I blog about. 

If you are reading this, thank you.  Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you take an extra minute or two to listen to a couple songs I have written.  In the future I will post audio recordings with multiple tracks of some of these.  If you have any comments, good or bad, please leave it.  I am always wanting feedback of the songs I write.

April 28
No One But My God
This song was a submission for The Worship Communities Songwriting challenge.

April 11
Everything (Psalms 144)
I wrote this song when I got stuck on another song.  I just couldn't figure out a chorus!  I was stuck and didn't know where to go with it.  I said "God, I want to write you a song you'll love."

April 3
Let Heaven Speak
A song that was written in response to a message that my pastor preached.

April 3
Sing Over Me
As I was turning everything off at the house one night and this song flooded my mind.

I also posted Sunday Setlist from my church.  This is part of a series on The Worship Community.

Sunday Setlist - May 2, 2010

What a great time of worship we had this morning!  The attitude of praise was on everyones heart as we entered into a powerful time of worship.  It is amazing the spirit that can fall in a service when everyone is in one accord and is ready to worship.

1. Come, Now is the Time to Worship (Brian Doerksen)
2. My Redeemer Lives (Reuben Morgan)
3. Healer (Michael Guglielmucci)
4. Here I am to Worship (Tim Hughes)

We, like the songlist above implies, are a contemporary church.  Most of the songs we do were written by writers of this generation.  We don't often delve into older songs and we don't have Hymnals in the pews.  Some of the best songs ever written, lyrically, were hymns, but that's just not us.  However, today after worship, Pastor got behind the keyboard and talk about songs they sang when he was a kid (he's only 43).  Songs that were written during the great depression, songs about heaven and songs that looked to better times.  That is all they had when the world seemed bleak, a few songs about how wonderful it will be on the other side.  So we did a medley of hymns about heaven.  Man was it awesome!  The congregation was really receptive even though these are songs that we don't usually put in the rotation.
It's nice to shake things up every now and again!

Be sure to check out what other churches did this Sunday on The Worship Community!

Empty Tomb

There is freedom in the empty tomb.  When Jesus left the tomb behind he freed us from the power of death.  Say goodbye to the captivity that it brings because Jesus has conquered it!  We give so many things power in our lives that we should have power over.  Whether it is fear, hatefulness, lust or pride we give these things power when Jesus left it behind all those years ago.  Thank God for the empty tomb!

Get the chords here!

No One But My God - TWCSW April

I wrote this song for The Worship Community April Song Writing Challenge.  Each month the website post a challenge to songwriters to write a song based on a monthly theme.  This months theme was Isaiah 40.
I chose to write a song based on Isaiah 40:12.  The verse of the song is taken from this verse in Isaiah.

12 Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
Who else knows the weight of the earth
or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
 
The chorus is original, not taken from text.  It is a response to the questions posed in the aforementioned verse.  Who else can do these things?  No one but my God, that's who!!

Sunday Setlist #92 - April 25, 2010

We had a great worship service this week at Triumph.  We kicked it off with some real upbeat songs and takled one that we have never done before.  We Prepare the Way was new but I feel we did really well on this song.  Trent, one of our other worship leaders, lead this song and did a tremendous job.
Below is the setlist we used this week and the writer of the song.

1. Awesome is the Lord Most High (Pierce, Tomlin, Reeves, Abel)
2. Saved By Grace (Israel Houghton)
3. We Prepare the Way (Rick Pino)
4. Here In Your Presence (Jon Egan)
5. Hosanna (Sidney Mohede)

Check out what other churches did this week at The Worship Community.

Sunday Set List for April 18

I wasn't at church last weekend due to my sons t-ball tourney (T-ball on Sunday?!?).  It was fun to watch the kiddos play ball but they lost every game.
This weekend we had a great service.  Below is our set list.
We did one that I wrote back in January called By Faith.

• Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman, Beth Redman)
• Friend of God (Israel Houghton)
• By Faith (Cleveland Sanders)
• No Sweeter Name (Kari Jobe)
• Sermon
• Blessed (Darlene Zschech & Reuben Morgan)

Go check out more Sunday Setlist for April 18th at The Worship Community.

Everything (Psalms 144)

Psalm 144:5
5 Open the heavens, Lord , and come down.
Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.
6 Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
Shoot your arrows and confuse them!
7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
rescue me from deep waters,
from the power of my enemies.
8 Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.
I was trying to write a different song when I wrote this. I was stuck on the verse of another song and could not get the words right. I laid back (I was setting on my bed at the time) and said "God, I just want to write You a song You'll love." This chorus came to me right away. After writing the chorus I decided to write a verse from Psalm 144.

Get the Chords Here!!

Jesus, Your More Than Enough

My pastor told a story of being in a church as a young evangelist. While he was waiting to speak the pastor began to go around the congregation asking people for a testimony of "How Big is Your God." The pastor went around the Church asking people, "How big is your God?" One man stood up and said, "The earth is His throne and the mountains are His footstool." Someone else said, "Big enough to rule the universe but small enough to fill my heart." The pastor then asked an older lady in the church, "Sister, How big is your God?" She slowly began to stand and raised her shaking hand. She then said "Pastor, He's big enough!"
Man! What an awesome testimony. I wanted to write a song that said something like that. This is the song I wrote in response to that story. Thanks Pastor Rob.

Get the chords here!

I Need You More

I have been attempting to write songs based on themes. With this song I wanted to write about how much we need God. Not just "I need You Jesus to bless my food" need, but I need you to save me. I need you to change me. I don't want to be the person that I once was, I NEED YOU!!

Get the chords here!

Let Heaven Speak

Let Heaven Speak was written after a message that my Pastor, Rob Griffin, preached one Sunday. During his message he said "Let heaven speak, let heaven roar." I pulled out my phone and imediately typed this line down on the notepad app. I went home that Sunday and wrote this song.

Sing Over Me

I wrote this song in March of 2010. As I was shutting down everything at the house one night before I was going to bed this chorus came to me. I grabbed my phone (which I use as a voice recorder) and recorded the chorus. It was stuck in my head all day long. As I got ready for work, as I was at work and on the way home. As soon as I got home from work I kissed my family and shut myself up in the bedroom until I had this one completed.

Walk by Faith

I wrote this song in January after watching the Denzel Washington movie "The Book of Eli." At one point in the movie Eli says, "I walk by faith, not by sight." This line stuck with me for a couple of days. Sunday night after watching the movie on Friday I sat down and wrote this song.


Get chords here!