Congregations Listening More, Singing Less: Thoughts From Bifrost Arts’ Isaac Wardell

Like Christmas music? Check out "Salvation Is Created" by Bifrost Arts on iTunes

I met Isaac Wardell of Bifrost Arts this past April, when I traveled with Mike Cosper and Brooks Ritter of Sojourn Music to the 2011 Gospel Coalition National Conference.

Not only does Bifrost do a great job of adapting old hymns and bringing new attention to classic hymnody in the “modern hymns movement,” but Isaac and his team are doing the important work of encouraging us to sing and to remember what many of us have lost, as churches and individuals. Isaac can tell you about it better than I can, so watch the very short film below, then visit bifrostarts.com to listen, watch and read their many helpful resources.

Who will benefit from these resources: Worship leaders and pastors, songwriters, hymnodists and all those who come together on Sundays to worship in churches or any other day to worship in homes.

Let The Redeemed Of The Lord Tell Their Story

See yourself in God's story -- you're the one He rescues from destruction

Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
Those He redeemed from the hand of the foe,
Those He gathered from the lands,
From the east and west, from north and south.

Some wandered in desert wastelands,
Finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away . . .

[But] then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
And He delivered them from their distress.

(Excerpts from Psalm 107)

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.”  Here it is folks, an encouraging directive from God’s Word to tell our stories.  It even includes descriptive examples. This Psalm caught my attention several years ago when I was in the throes of a failing marriage and battling a destructive eating/body image disorder.  I saw myself in this Psalm, but not where I wanted to be: in prison, suffering in iron chains; wandering through desert wastelands searching for home; living as a foolish, flagrant rebel in denial of my obvious need for help.

But then, I cried out to the Lord for help and salvation. And He answered at an acceptable time, in the abundance of His steadfast love, according to His saving faithfulness (Psalm 69:13).  He saved me from my distress. He delivered me from my fears. He sent His Word to heal me. He rescued me from the grave and He led me along a straight path where my heart could settle in Him. Praise the Lord!

Do you see yourself in Psalm 107?

Think about your own story.  Think of others you’ve heard.  Consider the history of mankind. 

My Stephen Altrogge Interview: Writing Principles, Musical Influences, Pastoral Wisdom

Stephen Altrogge in the recording studio

Stephen Altrogge is a husband, father, pastor, songwriter, musician and author of several books. He’s contributed as a songwriter and vocalist on multiple Sovereign Grace records, including the father-son album In A Little While with his father Mark Altrogge. Stephen and Mark also write together on their popular blog The Blazing Center.

Kristen and I are honored to have him as our guest on My Song In The Night. His answers to my questions below should be a big help to you if you’re a writer, pastor, musician or someone who benefits from the work of writers, pastors and musicians. So, all of you.

Bobby Gilles: Your bio on The Blazing Center says that one of your main jobs is to shine your dad’s shoes. Also, that you drink lots of coffee. Do you ever spill coffee on your dad’s shoes?

Stephen Altrogge: No. Believe it or not I’m actually a bit of a neat freak. Clutter stresses me out. If I spill something I try to get it cleaned up pretty quickly.

Gilles: Seriously, you’ve followed in your dad’s footsteps in becoming a pastor, singer and writer. What do you say, pastorally, to people who maybe don’t have any good “father” stories to tell, who had a bad father or who never knew their father?

Sovereign Grace's "In A Little While," featuring Mark & Stephen Altrogge

Altrogge: Wow, thanks for that wonderfully smooth transition from the ridiculous to the serious. I would say first of all that I’m so sorry that they never had the opportunity to know their father. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been. I would also say, at the risk of sounding trite, that God can be the father that they never had. God can meet them in ways that no human father ever can. God can heal the wounds inflicted by their earthly father. God delights in them even though their earthly father never did. I would also encourage them to not let their terrible experience with their earthly father shape their view of their heavenly Father.

Gilles: Well said.  In fact you’ve said, sung or written so many good words, full of biblical truth, and skillfully crafted. Do you follow certain techniques or principles of writing, regardless of whether you’re working on a book, song or blog post?

Church Graphic Design: Telling The Baptism Story Through Visual Art

Banner version of Sojourn's Baptism Sunday graphic, by Bryan Patrick Todd

At our church Sojourn, we make a big deal about baptism. Because God does. Even Jesus insisted that John baptize him, and we all know what happened then. The Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and the Father said

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

At Sojourn we hold a “Baptism Sunday” once every two months, and we continuously make people aware of the next date, through:

• Sunday stage announcements
• Sunday printed bulletins
• Weekly Email from campus pastors
• Campus website event calendars
• Weekly “Baptism Testimony” posts on TravelBlog, the official blog of Sojourn Church
• Social media
• Announcements in our community group meetings
• And our church graphic design collateral, such as web banners, posters and PowerPoint slides.

Meanwhile, our baptismal candidates write out their testimony of salvation with the help of our pastors (for more on how to write a personal testimony, click here). During Baptism Sunday, we all hear the testimonies, witness the baptisms, and we party “like its 1999,” to quote a Prince lyric.

Poster version, in restroom. Don't laugh - restrooms are great places for posters of church events

I asked our graphic designer Bryan Patrick Todd (see his freelance work here) to write a statement about how he created the poster and web banner we use to promote our Baptism Sundays on our campus websites and in our church buildings. Don’t underestimate the importance of visual art in promoting and telling the story of God’s work through your church — some people learn and receive stimulation through visuals more so than through text.

Bryan’s statement may help you think about how to visually promote the importance of baptism at your own church, or to understand the

Writers: Why Are Singers Putting The Wrong emPHAsis On The Wrong sylLAbles?

Mike Myers' "View From The Top" character can teach songwriters something

When singers put “the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble” (to quote Mike Myers in View From The Top) it is often either because songwriters have put an odd combination of words and syllables together, or because the melody is forcing singers to make the error.

Before we move on, you may want to scan our “Modern Hymns” page for a basic overview of hymn meter, and terms like “iambic” and “trochaic.” But for a snapshot:

Iamb: a unit (called “one metric foot”) of two syllables, where the emphasis is on the second syllable.

Trochee: a unit of two syllables with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Look at:

And now I know heaven is mine

This line combines iambs and trochees in a way that singers, if presented with a melody written for iambic lines, will often sing as:

And NOW i KNOW heavEN is MINE

Try it yourself: sing the above line using the melody of the first line in the standard American tune for Amazing Grace (a tune called New Britain). You see? But correct pronunciation dictates:

And NOW i KNOW HEAven is MINE

The singer often gets the blame but look at the other suspects:

1. The lyricist
2. The composer

Poor singers get the blame. (Photo courtesy Dan Canales)

Of course today these are often one in the same person, although in previous centuries of church music, not only were the hymn text writer and the tune composer usually two different people, they often didn’t know each other. Sometimes they were separated by many miles or decades.

Writing Advice From G.K. Chesterton

You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world. ~G.K. Chesterton

Too many of us write too little, because we’re sick with pride and the fear that we might write something bad.

Sometimes you will write drivel. It’s true. And it’s true of me. It’s true of your favorite author or songwriter. It was true of James Joyce and Isaac Watts; it was true of J.R.R. Tolkein and it’s true of Bob Dylan.

Give yourself permission to write anyway. You’re not better than the best; if they pressed on, so should you.

Okay?

Photo “Detritus of the Day,” courtesy Psyberartist

Share Your Story And Add To The Beauty

The title of this post refers to one of my favorite songs by Sara Groves and Matt Bronlewee; it’s also the title track of Sara’s album Add to the Beauty. I want to share the lyrics with you before expounding a little more.

We come with beautiful secrets
We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls
We come to every new morning
With possibilities only we can hold, that only we can hold

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That’s burning up inside

It comes in small inspirations
It brings redemption to life and work
To our lives and our work
It comes in loving community
It comes in helping a soul find it’s worth

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That’s burning up inside

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful
This is grace, an invitation

When I first heard this album I found myself trying to relate to what Sara was singing about. This song in particular encourages us to “add to the beauty” by “tell[ing] a better story” in “shin[ing] with the light that’s burning up inside.” But what does this mean? My story at the time of first hearing this song was anything but beautiful.

Know What Your Testimony, Song or Sermon Needs?

Passion and correct theology, of course. Know what else?

Active voice. When you say, sing or write in the active voice, the sleepers awaken, the sluggish perk up and the perky dance.

Action voice conveys authority and conviction. Think about the inverse: when reporters catch businesses or politicians in wrongdoing, the offenders often issue statements like:

Mistakes were made.

No, mistakes weren’t made — you made mistakes (notice the dishonest noun too, “mistakes” instead of “sins,” “atrocities” or “felonies”).

In Active Voice, the subject of your song lyric is doing the action. In Passive Voice, the writer treats the target of the action as the subject, even though the target isn’t doing anything.

• “We magnify Your name, Lord” (active)
• “Your name is magnified by us, Lord” (passive)

Look how less compelling the titles of “Lord, I Lift Your Name On High” and “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross” would be if written in passive voice:

• Lord, Your Name Is Lifted On High By Me
• When The Wondrous Cross Is Surveyed By Me

Yet we writers often slide into passive voice – not so much in titles, which are often too short to allow for such mistakes, but in the most text-heavy sections, like our verses. Look at these lines from “Jesus Paid It All” by Elvina M. Hall and John T. Grape. Then compare them to their passive alternatives:

“Sin had left a crimson stain” – NOT – “A crimson stain had been left by sin”

“He washed it white as snow” – NOT – “It was washed white as snow by Him”

You can see by these examples that passive constructs are often either awkward or vague, and usually more wordy than active constructs. But passive voice can be a good choice. For instance, passive voice creates a sense of mystery, which is why mystery fiction writers often employ it:

• Suddenly, a shot rang out (passive)
• Suddenly, someone fired a shot (active)

The passive sentence carries a sense of mystery and ambiguity.

I used passive voice in “We Are Changed,” a song I wrote with Neil Degraide and Dave Moisan, based on an old Isaac Watts hymn. I wrote, “We are changed” instead of “You change us” to convey our passivity and helplessness in the salvation process. God elects us because of His grace, not our merit.

 

 

 

 

What’s In A Name? Southern Baptists, Southern Gospel, Pandas Versus Wrestlers

So America’s largest protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, might change its name. A growing number of voices have clamored for the change for years, but as Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler wrote this week, they are gaining ground.

Groups and businesses change names all the time, and not always by choice. In 2001 the A.P. wrote that “the Panda bodyslammed the Rock” when the World Wildlife Fund beat the World Wrestling Federation in court over the use of the “WWF” acronymn (the wrestling corporation is now WWE: World Wrestling Entertainment). WWE waged their biggest (and most real) fight in years – a massive rebranding effort that involved everything from a new logo to the digitized erasure of the old “WWF” logo on thousands of hours of tape in their library.

Many of you who grew up on Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper matches in the 1980s may have still thought of the organization as “the WWF” which points to one of the biggest difficulties of a name change — you can’t change the perception of thousands or millions of people overnight, or next month, year or even decade.

Church Photography Ministry: Telling The Story Of Your Community Through Photos

Baptism photo by Chuck. We make a big deal about baptisms at Sojourn.

One of the compliments I most often hear regarding my church Sojourn’s communications ministry is our volunteer photography team. We’ll post many articles here in the future on the different ways we use photography as a testimony/documentary tool at Sojourn. To start, here is an overview Q&A between me and my lead deacon in charge of the Sojourn Servant Photography Corp, Chuck Heeke (follow Chuck on Twitter here, and follow the photography ministry on Twitter here).

Bobby: What are some of the different things the photo ministry has covered?

Chuck: We cover everything from the weekly services to special events at all of our Sojourn campuses. We have shot the Acts 29 church planting conference, Christmas events, portraits of new pastors, and the annual fall festival. We also cover concerts at The 930 including: Danielson, Seabird, Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken, Katie Herzig and Matthew Perryman Jones.  We also encourage our photographers to be involved in the community and serve where they can outside the church with events like photographer meet ups and events like Help Portrait where we can serve and show the love of Christ in our community. Coming up in September, we are partnering with Sojourn J-Town to provide pictures for the Chamber of Commerce at the J-Town Gaslight Festival.

Village Church Pastor Matt Chandler, from Acts 29 Louisville Bootcamp at Sojourn.

Bobby: How do you balance the need to get good shots with the need to not become too much of a distraction, particularly in a worship service type of setting?

Chuck: We’ve made a science of using our Ninja Skills to avoid detection.  But seriously, by implementing a combination of shooting with long zoom lenses and using the environment to our advantage, we are able to minimize distractions. For example at the Midtown campus it is very dark and we have columns that provide some cover to hide ourselves from view. At the J-Town Campus we have an upper level that provides a great vantage for shooting. Also, shooting from the front row helps keep from being too much of a distraction.

Our general philosophy is that while it’s important to get great shots of worship services, it’s a higher priority to do all we can to avoid interfering with anyone’s experience during worship, even if that means not getting a particular shot. Being a photographer is very much about being a problem solver and being able to work under varying, sometimes less than stellar, conditions and still producing great images.

Bobby: Roughly how many people are involved with the Sojourn photo ministry?