Tips For One-Man-Band Worship Leaders And Small Worship Teams

Bobby and I realize that some of you may not have the advantage (and accompanying challenges) of leading and/or serving with a full worship team each week (or anytime for that matter). You may find yourself, more often than not, a one-man or one-woman worship band.  From my own experience of leading worship by myself and in smaller ensembles, I know this can present numerous challenges.  It can also yield fruitful blessings for you and your congregation.

Recently at Sojourn New Albany, I served in a worship band that consisted of me singing while playing acoustic guitar, a lead male vocalist who also played acoustic guitar, and a keyboardist who sang tenor harmony.  This smaller band is atypical for our worship gatherings and it presented a number of challenges for us as we arranged the songs without a bass player, electric guitarist or drummer.  We set out to utilize the strengths of each band member and also embrace new musical challenges without complicating things unnecessarily.  Additionally, we wanted to serve the congregation by encouraging them to actively participate in creating music with us by singing out (since they’d be able to hear themselves better, given the smaller sound we were generating) and adding percussion with hand clapping on upbeat songs.

For example, I usually play keyboard with the band and would consider myself stronger on that instrument than on guitar.  But for this band, the other keyboardist is much more proficient than I am so it made sense to let him carry the keyboard load, which also freed me to focus on leading vocally.  I was also asked by the band leader, Justin Shaffer, to try my hand at percussion (maracas) while adding vocal harmonies on one of the up-tempo songs.  He led the song and, along with the keyboardist, carried the musical weight of the song.  We encouraged the congregation to clap and keep time with us and the result was very uplifting for all of us.

For two other hymns that I led, we followed more traditional arrangements in which I did not play any instrument, and on one of the hymns (It Is Well With My Soul) only the keyboardist played.  This yielded a powerfully encouraging sound as the congregation robustly rang out the truths of this familiar song.  For the other songs, I played rhythm on the guitar while the other acoustic guitarist utilized his exceptional skills playing lead parts.

Since we were without a bass player, the keyboardist emphasized the bass notes in his playing to help fill out the sound, while also adding some beautiful and interesting lead parts during musical interludes.

The last hymn we played, O Church Arise, is one our congregation loves to sing, so we did our best to arrange the song in a way that best accompanied our congregational choir.  We even added a driving kick bass drum (played by Justin, as he continued to play guitar) for parts of the song which emboldened all of us to clap on every beat and sing confidently together.

As a one-member band (or even a 2-3 member band), you will need to acknowledge your limitations and realize your reach in order to be most effective in leading.  Maybe your band consists of you singing and playing a lead instrument (like piano, organ or guitar). Or maybe it consists of you singing while being accompanied by a non-singing lead instrumentalist.  Maybe you sing while playing a lead instrument and have another lead musician supporting you. Whatever your small band may look like, there will be certain arrangements of songs that will simply not be possible for you to achieve.  THIS IS OKAY.

With limited sounds and support in your team, you have the opportunity to simplify arrangements which can serve your congregations very well if you make the most of this opportunity.  Remember to consider the strengths of your band members and emphasize and utilize them well.  At the same time, consider the weaknesses of your band members and strive to improve in those areas before putting them to the test in your service times.

As an example, if your keyboardist is highly skilled in playing traditional arrangements of hymns but less skilled in playing more improvisational arrangements of contemporary worship songs, then make good use of her stronger skill and consider incorporating more traditional hymn arrangements into your worship sets.  At the same time, you could encourage your keyboardist to listen to a variety of contemporary styles of music to help her learn to play along with contemporary arrangements of worship songs.  You could also conduct special practice sessions for listening and discussing together new sounds and arrangements for everyone to be working on long-term.  When the team is ready, introduce those arrangements in your worship gathering.

We’re sure that many of you have a wealth of experience leading by yourself or in a smaller band, and have much instruction and encouragement to share with us here.  We welcome and invite you to add any helpful tips and words of encouragement in the comments section below. We all have much to learn!

Thoughts On Rhythms Of Grace, New Book On Worship Theology and Practice

In 2003 I became acquainted with the guitar skills of Mike Cosper, who regularly stood in with the praise band of the church I was attending. One day, a member of that church said, “The young guy on lead guitar is actually the worship pastor of another church in Louisville. They only meet on Sunday evenings, so he plays with us in the morning service.”

Little did I know that in a year I’d be a member of that church, Sojourn (and little did we know then that in a few years, Sojourn would not only start meeting on Sunday mornings, but would meet 11 times per weekend, across four campuses). Little did I know that Mike Cosper’s worship ministry would become known around the world, especially through the songs and records under the Sojourn Music banner. Finally, little did I know that I would be a part of that, as a songwriter and communications director, or that my future wife would be a part of that as a worship leader and writer.

Earlier this year Crossway Books published Pastor Mike’s first book Faithmapping, co-authored with Sojourn founder/Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery. And now Crossway has published Mike’s first solo outing, Rhythms of Grace: How The Church’s Worship Tells The Story Of The Gospel.

Would you accuse me of favoritism if I told you this is a 5-star book on worship theology and practice, and that I recommend all worshipers, worship leaders, ministers of music and pastors buy it? Hopefully not, because you should buy this book. No, really.

In Rhythms of Grace, Mike guides us through a biblical history and theology of worship, from the Garden of Eden to the wilderness, the period of temple worship, and the coming of Jesus.

Then he unveils his “Worship One, Two Three” paradigm, showing that worship has:

• One Object and Author: God
• Two Contexts: The Church Scattered and the Church Gathered
• Three Audiences: God, The Church (each other), and the World

When we understand this, a lot of the practical and theological questions disappear. We stop arguing whether to sing songs to God or to sing them about God (the answer is “both”). We stop arguing whether worship service planning should focus on our church family or the “seeker’s” in our community (both).

Perhaps the most contentious part of Rhythms of Grace will be Mike’s critique of the Temple Model of worship service planning (often called the Wimber Model, after John Wimber, one of the founders of the Vineyard movement). I won’t go into the argument here, but urge you — no matter where you stand in this debate now — to read Mike’s critique with an open mind.

You’ll also find a full description of “liturgy” that will take the mystery out of that term and teach you how to craft services that repeatedly “tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love” (to borrow a phrase from the hymn “I Love To Tell The Story”). He ends with a chapter devoted specifically to singing, and a chapter on “The Pastoral Worship Leader.”

The Appendix includes several sample “Orders of Service” from different churches, a list of Recommended Resources (books, websites and more), and a short, practical section on technical challenges for church audio and congregational singing — advice about sound equipment, instruments, audio engineering, room setup and more.

I’ve learned a lot from Mike over the years. And many of his mentors have become people that I’ve also learned from, following introductions by Mike, such as Bob Kauflin, Kevin Twit, Harold Best and the late Chip Stam. Now with this book, you can quickly and repeatedly benefit from the wisdom and experiences Mike has gained. His writing style is engaging, and he simplifies complex subjects without reducing them to simplistic formulas or platitudes.

Between today (March 25, 2013) and Thursday night (March 28), Crossway Books is running a Twitter contest to give away 15 free copies of Rhythms of Grace. Your first step is to read the excerpt provided by Crossway at this link, or below:

Step #2: On Twitter, share a quote or idea that impacted you from the excerpt, along with the #RhythmsOfGrace hashtag. We’ll choose 15 winners at random, using the random number generator at Random.org . Remember, you must use the #RhythmsOfGrace hashtag, so we’ll know you’ve registered. We’ll announce winners this Friday, March 29.

If you’ve already gotten a copy, I’d love to know what you think. What are your takeaways from Rhythms Of Grace?

How To Lead Those In Worship Who Don’t Look Like They Are Worshiping

Bobby and I recently attended Refuge SSI, a worship leader sabbatical retreat hosted by St. Simon’s Community Church on St. Simon’s Island in Georgia.  We’re thankful for God’s provision of this much-needed time away to rest and renew our hearts together with the Lord.

All of the speakers at the retreat shared vital encouragement and insights from God’s Word with the help of His Spirit.  As Bobby mentioned in an earlier post, we were encouraged at the outset of the retreat to reconsider our identity as children of God and to remember that our kingdom work is empowered by our life in Christ.  Striving to serve in our own strength is futile and burns us out.  With this groundwork laid in our hearts, we pressed on to hear from the Lord regarding how we can better serve our congregations as we lead worship each week.

Drew Thompson, a logically-minded and gifted pastor (also a college math major), enlightened and encouraged us with practical wisdom to aid our leadership of those in our churches who are literalists, like him.  He hilariously demonstrated to us what it’s like for him to engage in worship from his literalistic desire to prove something is TRUE before he agrees with it in word or deed.  He gave us the example of his inner turmoil when singing Chris Tomlin’s Holy Is the Lord:

The first line of the song says “We stand and lift up our hands.” Pastor Drew does NOT feel right singing this without literally standing and lifting his hands.  What he sings MUST be true or he feels compelled NOT to sing it.  So, he will either stand and lift his hands and sing this line (which he acted out for us) or he will bite his tongue until the next line “for the joy of the Lord is our strength,” which he could easily sing because this lyrical truth is lifted directly from Scripture.

However, the next line “We bow down and worship Him now” creates another internal conflict unless he is actually bowing down.  Although this may sound like a ridiculous predicament, there are probably logical, truth-tenacious members in our congregations who are likely, to some degree, experiencing a similar dilemma.

It’s important for worship leaders to consider such a perspective as we stand before our congregations and sing to the Lord, while many in our gatherings may have a logically laborious time singing along.  From where we stand it looks like they’re simply disengaging or refusing to participate because they don’t want to, or aren’t as in awe of Jesus as we are.  But maybe, just maybe they really want to sing but are struggling because they don’t want to lie and sing something that is literally, even if momentarily, untrue.  We need to be gracious with these brothers and sisters and seek to help them as best we can.

This may include our own demonstrative participation in the worship service as we sing songs that describe lifting our hands.  It may also include striking songs from our hymnal that are too abstract and possibly misinterpret or misrepresent scriptural truths.  We could also take extra time to explain an oblique poetic line or an abstract concept featured in a given song to help the entire congregation understand how these words coincide with the truth of Scripture.

Another encouragement Drew gave us was to teach our people to sing. There are likely people in our churches who don’t like to sing, or don’t know how to sing, or don’t like to sing because they don’t know how to sing. He exhorted us to learn to teach our congregations to sing as we lead them in worship.  He suggested that lead vocalists focus on singing the melody straight, while secondary vocalists should concentrate on singing subtler, easy to follow harmonies.  More simply put, simplify your singing so the congregation can better discern the melodies and follow along, especially when introducing new songs. (I’ve written more helpful tips for worship team vocalists here.)

Finally, along these same lines we were given a helpful example from the Refuge founder and host Fred McKinnon. He described a recent conversation with a long-time member of his church, who always appeared to be disconnected during the worship service. Our friend discovered that this brother actually loved the worship gathering and testified that God would often powerfully minister to him through the songs being sung over him, as he quietly participated by listening.  This disclosure contradicted what Fred had long thought about this member of his congregation.

It also revealed what is likely true of many members in our churches.  This exchange teaches the importance of worship leaders engaging with church members, inquiring what our gathered worship times mean to them.  We should eagerly and humbly seek to know how we can better serve our congregations by humbly soliciting and processing their feedback. We should also be encouraged to boldly sing out God’s truths both to the Lord and to each other whenever we gather because God is working mightily to speak to all who gather, regardless of each person’s visible responsiveness and participation.

Praise God for these helpful insights and instructions. May we all be encouraged to obey the Lord as we follow His Spirit, leading others in worship of Him.

Top photo by Chris Moncus, from Refuge SSI 2013 worship session

Where Do Children Go When They Die? Resources You Can Trust

When our son Parker was stillborn last fall, we ached with sorrow (and still do). But God has given a joy that is greater and flows deeper than the sorrow.

God has graciously answered the greatest longing of my heart, the prayer I prayed most fervently during my 42 weeks of pregnancy with Parker.  God has saved Parker and made our son His own.  He has freed him from the curse and slavery of sin and given him a new, perfect heart that desires only to please and intimately know the Lord.  This is a tremendous victory for the family and Kingdom of God Most High.  And we are right to respond in worshiping our Savior.

But, as Bobby and I have journeyed along the past five months since our son Parker was born into the arms of Jesus on October 21^st, we have wrestled with a number of questions surrounding God’s purpose in Parker’s life and death here on earth.  We know that anyone who’s lost a child has asked the question “Why did my child have to die?” and they’ve probably wondered where their child is now.  This is a natural response to a devastating loss.  Some of the other questions that Bobby and I have been asking are:

• What is God’s purpose for us in this suffering?
• What does His Word say about children who die in the womb, in infancy or in early childhood?
• What assurances has God given us regarding the salvation of our son? 

As we’ve pressed in to know the Lord through our suffering, He has graciously comforted us with the promises of His Word.  Psalm 119:50 says

“My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”

God has been faithfully preserving our lives and guarding our hearts with His great and precious promises that never fail.  Because of God’s great love for us, because of His never-failing Word, because of His goodness and His grace poured out to us, because of all these things, the comfort we have been receiving is truly profound and heart-strengthening.

In addition to God’s proven Word in the Scriptures, we wanted to share some other comforting resources with all of you as we know that many of you have suffered similar losses in your families, or you know someone who has.

I can’t emphasis enough how faithful God is in His Word to speak into our sorrow, particularly when we lose our precious children.  John MacArthur wrote Safe In the Arms of God: Truth from Heaven About the Death of A Child as an encouragement to grieving parents, to help them know what God’s Word says about the eternal destiny of their children.  Nancy Guthrie, a fellow Christian author on this topic who lost two children of her own had this to say about MacArthur’s book:

“Safe in the Arms of God reveals that confidence of heaven for the child you love is based on much more than mere sentimentality; it is revealed in the Word of God and reflective of the very heart of God.”

MacArthur works through the questions we all have when we or someone we know loses a little one: Where is my child? What can we say with certainty to those with empty arms? How does God regard children? Will I see my child again? What is my child’s life like in heaven? Why did my child have to die? How can we minister to those who are grieving?

Needless to say, this book is profoundly helpful and full of Truth from God’s Living Word.

Nancy Guthrie, mentioned above, has also written books on her experience in losing two babies to the same fatal genetic syndrome.  After Parker’s stillbirth, a dear friend gave us a copy of Nancy’s latest book, Hearing Jesus Speak Into Your Sorrow.  She works through the Scriptures and expounds on many ways in which Jesus has endured our very specific sorrows. She invites us to hear Him speaking to us words of comfort like “I too, have known overwhelming sorrow; I, too, have heard God tell me no; I have a purpose in your pain; I am in control of your life and your death.”

See, too, these short web articles:

• See Albert Mohler and Daniel Akin’s “The Salvation Of The ‘Little Ones’: Do Infants Who Die Go To Heaven?”
• See “The Salvation Of Infants: An Additional Line Of Defense” by Nathan Finn

These resources, coupled with God’s Word, have brought much life, peace, hope and joy to our hearts. They have encouraged us to want to know how to tell Parker’s story of salvation and new life in Christ.  It is important that we as believers know what God’s Word says to us about the children we have lost, and all the other children of the world that have entered into His heavenly Kingdom.  As we acknowledge and retell the redemption stories of these precious Little Ones who now belong to God we simultaneously have the opportunity to share the gospel with the watching world.

Throughout history, the Lord has been indescribably good in saving billions of infants and children, not because they were free from any willful acts of sin, but through the sacrifice of Christ’s perfect life which atoned for their original sin, the disease that has infected all of mankind since the Fall.  God is incredibly good in rescuing these little ones from the evil of this world and the very presence and power of Satan, sin and sickness and faithfully adding them to His Kingdom.

So as we fill our hearts and mouths with the perfect Word of the Man of Sorrows spoken into our sorrows, we’re entrusted and empowered to rightly respond in worship of His great saving name, the only name under heaven by which anyone can be saved.

What To Do About Worship Leader Burnout

Last week Kristen and I enjoyed the 2013 Refuge SSI retreat for worship leaders and church creatives at St. Simons Island. You can see a short video recap here, filmed by our friend Chris Moncus:

Refuge 2013 Recap Video from Chris Moncus on Vimeo.

Worship leader burnout is common. Unfortunately it isn’t always possible to attend a retreat, but it is necessary to develop regular rhythms of rest. On Day One of Refuge SSI, St. Simons Community Church Pastor David Yarborough taught a session on Covenant and Kingdom, in which he said “We are a covenant people on a kingdom mission.”

Many of us in Christian ministry have an easier time “living out” the kingdom part than the covenant part, which means we work, work, work but lose sight of our identity. But as Pastor David said, “Our identity is through the Father, not through our kindgom work.”

God created Adam and Eve on the sixth day and gave them a huge mission – to fill and subdue the earth. And then he established the seventh day as a day of rest. What? “Here’s your mission, but first we rest”?

And after Jesus was baptized, he went into the wilderness for a 40 day fast rather than go immediately on a preaching tour. And there, Satan attacked His identity (“If you are really God’s Son …”).

God has adopted us as sons and daughters, heirs to the kingdom with Christ, through Christ, in the power of the Spirit. This is our identity. We can rest in that, exult in that, draw strength from that. Remember kingdom worker, God’s kingdom is one where “What God want done, gets done” to quote our own pastor Daniel Montgomery.

You might think, “If I don’t keep working, no one else will do what I’m doing.”

But you’re likely wrong. And if you’re right, it could be that God doesn’t need for that task to be done at this time. His kingdom will not fall while you are on shore leave.

For more on a biblical theology of rest, listen to these Rest Series sermons from our church, Sojourn.

Many of you have experienced burnout, and I’m sure have learned from your experience. Will you share your practical insights and ideas for avoiding or overcoming burnout? Leave a comment below.

Four Ways To Get People To Volunteer For Your Worship Team

Create A Clear Pathway

At Sojourn, we hold a quarterly audition night. We have occasionally let new church members into the team when we know they’ve got the talent and experience, if the next audition night is a month or more away. No need to make them wait when their entrance into the team would be a foregone conclusion. But this is the exception, not the rule. Our Audition Night is the pathway that we consistently offer and promote, and thus is the clear way to join Sojourn Music.

Promote Your Pathway

Six weeks’ before each Audition Night, Sojourn Music Administrative Assistant Erika St. Clair sends me the link to a new registration form and the text of an announcement, which lets prospective worship leaders know which songs to learn and what to expect on Audition Night. I promote it in this way:

• A blog post on sojournmusic.com
• A listing in the church Event Calendar at sojournchurch.com
• Regularly scheduled tweets and Facebook updates from @sojournmusic and @sojourn accounts (1-2 per week until one week before audition. About 3 tweets the final week, then another the day of the audition).
• A listing in the Sojourn Church Sunday Bulletins — a printed bulletin we hand to all church attendees, which includes that day’s sermon notes and announcements.
• Verbal announcement from the stage on the Sunday before the Audition Night.
• A notice in the Weekly Email to church members, in each of the final two weeks’ before Audition Night.

Ask Your Team Members To Promote The Pathway

We encourage musicians already on the Sojourn Music team to use social media and face-to-face interactions to let people know about the Audition Night. Each person on the team has their own friends, their own Community Group circle, and their own connections. Also, we have four campuses, so the team members from each respective campus are a great help in reaching church members on the campus-specific level.

When we have auditions coming up, our worship pastors like Mike Cosper and Jamie Barnes promote it from their individual accounts. Many of our worship leaders do as well. Kristen wrote our “How To Prepare For Worship Team Auditions” article here at My Song In The Night, primarily to help our church members.

Don’t Just Promote/Never Stop Promoting The Pathway

What do I mean by this? It’s like I’ve written in articles like Social Media Marketing For Musicians and my E.E.R.I.E. System of Social Media Marketing: you won’t have much success recruiting people (or getting them to buy a product, come to a concert, attend a worship service, serve in a ministry or do anything else) if they never hear from you until you’re asking them to do those things. In short, one of the best ways to promote things is to not just promote things.

More people will want to join your worship team if the team seems valuable to your church. For instance, let’s look at Facebook:

• Write a blog post about your Sunday set list/liturgy, then link to it on Facebook.
• Publish Facebook photos of your worship team members, playing and singing.
• Teach your church members the importance of worship, of gathering together and of singing (through whatever means are at your disposal – classes, a blog, YouTube videos, etc.)
• If some of your team members are in other bands, or have singer-songwriter careers (whether nationally or in your city), then link to their solo records from time to time. Encourage their gifting, and affirm it publicly.

In Defense Of The Last Bullet Point

Sometimes when I write things like this, I get negative feedback from people online, usually along the lines of: “We shouldn’t puff people up and play on their vanity. They shouldn’t serve to get a pat on the back — they should serve for the glory of God.”

Of course they should serve for the glory of God. Glory and gratitude are different things. Read the salutations and closings in Paul’s epistles. Paul knew how to compliment people “in Christ.” Being a Christian shouldn’t make us less appreciative of others, but more so.

Paul encouraged, celebrated and affirmed people. I bet, from reading his epistles, that those who worked alongside Paul felt loved and appreciated by him. I bet that when they did something Paul found helpful in ministry or even something pleasing to him personally, he gave them a pat on the back, a hug, a kind word. I bet Paul’s friends often said, “That’s a guy who knows how to treat his friends.” “That guys really appreciates his fellow servants.”

Be that kind of person — be that kind of ministry — and you’ll attract others. Will some of them have an unhealthy desire to hear “man’s applause”? Probably. You’re a minister, right? You will have to do some corrective ministry from time to time (and often, you’ll quickly discern who needs to be dealt with this way). But human beings instinctively know that it is good and right to celebrate whatever is positive. It’s built into our psyche by our Creator, who looked on his creation and said, “It is good.” Affirm what is good — it’s an attractive pull that will cause your ministry to grow.

To put it another way: appreciation and affirmation is a double-edged sword because we’re tainted by sin. It’s easy for us to develop an unhealthy desire to receive compliments. But the solution is not to refrain from affirming and showing gratitude to those who serve well. No one wants to serve under a such a leader.

Photo above courtesy Chuck Heeke from Sojourn New Albany (from left: worship leaders Justin Shaffer, Jeremy Quillo)

 

What Every Writer Must Know About Dynamic Verbs And Static Verbs

Static verbs can wreck your songs, turning them into humdrum babble. Dynamic verbs, on the other hand, draw others into the story.

What’s the difference? Dynamic verbs describe action. Examples include run, slay, fall, lift. Static verbs refer to a condition or a state of being (am, was, were, believe, see, hear, seem, love, hate). Some verbs, like feel, can work as a dynamic or static verb. In Carol King’s

I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down

“feel” is dynamic. If she’d written

I feel excited and nervous around you

She’d have wielded “feel” as a static verb. Which version do you prefer?

Dynamic verbs often show us scenes; static verbs tell. In Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing, Constance Hale says,

“Stasis certainly has its place – whether to express the agitated question “Who am I?” or to make the calmer declaration “I am Cordelia’s father.” But Static Verbs underscore stasis. They lack punch. Dynamic Verbs, on the other hand, whistle your way, sidle up to you, and demand your attention. So Dynamic Verbs, natch, make writing a thrill to read.”

Hymnwriter Isaac Watts knew a thing or two about dynamic verbs. Check out these lines from “O Help My Unbelief” (Andrew Osenga arranged and wrote new music for this, which Indelible Grace recorded in the studio, and which Sojourn recorded live in a concert hall):

Stretch out Thine arm, victorious King,
My reigning sins subdue;
Drive the old dragon from his seat,
With all his hellish crew.

Simple, dynamic verbs like “stretch,” “subdue” and “drive” bring this scene to life in your mind.

When Brooks Ritter and I wrote the song of confession and repentance “Lead Us Back,” I didn’t want to lessen the impact of confession by hiding behind static constructs so I used colorful dynamic verbs:

Now we plead before Your throne,
Power sings a siren tune
We’ve been throwing heavy stones,
Lead us back to life in You

Static verbs creep into my writing all the time when I’m working on a first draft, so I hunt them down and root them out in revisions. You should too. As Hale says,

“Static verbs pour out naturally when we write – is clutters most first drafts. And we often combine the static be with a clunky phrase, as in, for example, be applicable to rather than finding a strong simple verb like apply. Why use be desirous of when the alternative is so much more urgent (like, “I long for my sweetie to return”)? Why say be supportive of when saying it differently puts weight behind our words (‘We support the schools!’)?

“A sportswriter once referred to the method of a celebrated pitcher as a ‘working of the art.’ For writers ‘working the art’ means going back and rewriting, rewriting, rewriting – replacing static verbs with dynamic ones.”

Sometimes static verbs can work. See how Bill Gaither relies more on static than active verbs, yet still creates a magnificent scene in the third verse of “The King Is Coming”:

I can hear the chariots rumble,
I can see the marching throng
As the fury of God’s trumpet
Spells the end of sin and wrong;
Regal robes are now unfolding
Heaven’s grandstand’s all in place,
Heaven’s choir is now assembled,
Starts to sing “Amazing Grace!”

So how do you decide when to use static verbs? And do dynamic verbs guarantee your song will work? Ask yourself these questions from Hale:

“Do you want to sit your subject down and hold a mirror to it? (In which case, go ahead and use is.) Or do you want to plunge your subject into a little drama? (Pick a Dynamic Verb). Many writing teachers argue that you should always prefer dynamic verbs, and I tend to agree. But it’s not enough just to scrap is, was, were, becomes, and seems. You need to scrutinize your dynamic verbs. Has, does, goes, gets, and puts are all dynamic, but what do they tell us? Do they entertain us so much that we can’t wait to read the next sentence?”

Now start cranking out some songs, overflowing with dynamic verbs and well-chosen static ones.

Tornado Destruction Update: One Year Later

What a difference a year makes.

On March 2, 2012, tornados swept through southern Indiana, devastating a couple towns. This included Henryville, where both my brothers live with their families, and where my grandma lives. While my youngest brother’s house and grandma’s house received minor damage, my brother Darrell’s house was lifted from the ground, hurled hundreds of feet and slammed into the earth — with Darrell inside it, along with his wife Trish and their three young children Caleb, Collin and Mia.

You can read our March 4, 2012 blog post about the tornado devastation here, which includes photos and a short video with Darrell in a hospital bed. He’d broken almost 20 bones. Trish’s pelvis shattered, Caleb’s back broke and Mia had a severe concussion. Collin was unscathed.

A year later, they have a new house on the same property — bigger, better, built at cost. Darrell’s back to work, the kids are all doing fine in school, and even Trish is walking again, with the aid of a cane. They are all walking miracles — evidences of God’s grace and saving power.

Many of you prayed for them, many sent cards, letters, gifts for the kids and monetary donations. We thank you all, once again. In such times, when we see Christians near and far acting as the body of Christ, all we can do is say “Praise God.”

Right now at Sojourn Church, we’re working through a sermon series on the Book of Job. My brother didn’t suffer as much loss as Job did, but he did lose everything but his life and the lives of his family in one cruel instant. It was a horrifying night for our family and friends, as Caleb, Mia, Trish and Darrell all received emergency care in different hospitals (the children were together in one hospital, and Darrell and Trish were eventually transported to the same hospital).

I understand a little of what it must have been like for Job — and of course I came to understand a little more in October of last year when Kristen and I lost our son Parker in the birthing process. In times like these the only path to healing lies in saying, “Bless the Lord who gives and takes.” He is our healer, provider, savior and song in the night. And He is faithful to restore, in His time.