An Inside Look At Faithmapping, A Gospel Atlas For Our Journey

A little over a year ago, my pastor Daniel Montgomery and I had lunch in Louisville with Justin Taylor, the Acquisitions Editor for Crossway Books. During that meal (Justin’s first sushi experience, I believe) we talked about the growth of Sojourn Church and the fruits of this ministry — baptisms, urban renewal initiatives, church plants and international missions, original worship songs serving the universal church, and more.

Justin asked Daniel if he’d consider writing a book — a “what Sojourn believes about the gospel, and how Sojourn does ministry” book. Daniel immediately began to talk about the need for the whole church to embrace the whole gospel and reach the whole world. He also told Justin that he should have Mike Cosper, our Worship and Arts Pastor, write a book.

If you know Daniel, this is not surprising — Sojourn is a strong community because our founding pastor is so big on community, collaboration, and recognizing the gifts of others. And if you know Mike, it’s not surprising that he’d participate — like Daniel, he’s an incredibly gifted pastor, driven with a desire to to see the earth filled with the glory of God as men and women become more like Jesus.

So in the end, Daniel and Mike wrote this book together. It’s called Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas For Your Spiritual Journey, and it releases today in paperback and on Kindle. Like sermons at Sojourn, this book is both

• Theologically deep
• Easy to understand

Given that Daniel is the founder of Sojourn Church and Mike is the founder of Sojourn Music, Faithmapping is an inside look at our history. But it’s much more than that. The first section, The Whole Gospel, shows that three common perspectives on the gospel (Kingdom, Cross, Grace) are all true, all amazing, and all necessary for forming and fueling a new people called the Church.

Part two, The Whole Church, walks through five basic “identities” of Christ’s Church, showing that we are worshipers, family, servants, disciples and witnesses.

In part three Daniel and Mike put it all together and show how the whole church takes the whole gospel to the whole world.

This is an ideal book to give to a new believer or someone who is struggling to understand what biblical Christianity is all about. But it’s a great book for mature Christians as well, because so many of us have tendencies to emphasize one aspect or another of the gospel to the exclusion of the others, or one aspect of church membership to the exclusion of the others.

At 216 pages, it’s thorough enough to make its case but concise and simple enough to maintain the interest of those who don’t normally do books on theology. Get it here. AND … you can also register to win a free copy, on Twitter. Your first step is to read the Faithmapping excerpt from Crossway Books at this link, or below (RSS and Email subscribers may have to click through to the website to see it).

Now, share a quote or idea that impacted you from the excerpt, along with the #Faithmapping hashtag. We’ll choose ten winners at random, using the random number generator at Random.org. Remember, you must use the #Faithmapping hashtag, so we’ll know you’ve registered.

Incidentally, the Faithmapping cover design is the work of Sojourner Tyler Deeb, a fantastic graphic designer. See his portfolio here.

New Sojourn Record + $5 Sale On All Previous Worship Records

Most of you know that Kristen is a worship leader at Sojourn Community Church, and I write songs for Sojourn (where I’m also Director of Communications). We thought we’d let you know that Sojourn has released a new live worship record called Come Ye Sinners: Sojourn Music Live At Memorial Auditorium.

In addition, Sojourn is selling all previous albums for just $5 each until Christmas 2012. Albums that Kristen and I worked on include:

Before The Throne (2007) This is the Sojourn record that earned a 5 Star review in Christianity Today and brought an international audience to Sojourn’s worship ministry. I co-wrote “All I Have Is Yours” and “Lead Us Back” for Before The Throne.

Over The Grave. This is volume one in our Isaac Watts project. Over The Grave (2009) is a high-octane indie rock worship re-imagining of Isaac Watts hymns. I co-wrote “Warrior,” “Living Faith” and “We Are Changed” for this record.

The Water And The Blood. This is volume two of the Isaac Watts project — a folky, more acoustic project than Over The Grave. The Water And The Blood (2011) is also the first record Sojourn released after Kristen moved to the Louisville area and joined Sojourn Church. She sings lead on “From Deep Distress” and contributes harmony vocals on a few more songs here. I co-wrote “Let Your Blood Plead For Me.”

Other Sojourn records on sale for $5 include Advent and Christmas-themed albums. And the new Sojourn Live features Sojourn originals alongside Sojourn version of songs like John Mark McMillan’s “Death In His Grave,” the Getty/Townend anthem “O Church Arise,” and Brian Eichelberger’s “Satisfied In You.”

Kristen and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Sojourn Music’s First (And Really First) Live Album: My Mike Cosper Interview

Yesterday I interviewed Mike Cosper, Pastor of Worship & Arts at our church, Sojourn Community. In this short audio interview you’ll learn all about the brand new Sojourn worship album Come Ye Sinners: Sojourn Music Live At Memorial Auditorium, which you can preorder right here. The album officially releases Tuesday, November 20.

Download this interview  from the free SojournMusic.com Radio podcast on iTunes, or listen in the player below:

Be A Sojourn Church Communications Intern!

Band of Bloggers seminar photo from 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference, taken by Sojourn Communications Intern Chelsey Scott

My church Sojourn has a robust internship ministry, headed by Pastor Jeremy Lineman. Interns learn through our theology/discipleship classes. They also serve the church through the specific ministry areas they choose. If this sounds good to you and if you have a background or interest in church communications, then apply by October 31 for the internships beginning February 1, 2013.

You’ll work with me (the Director of Communications) as well as Director of Media Chris Bennett, other interns, and the Sojourn communications team led by Lead/Founding Pastor Daniel Montgomery. Current interns include Chelsey Scott (photography, print layout/design) and Shepherd Ahlers (video/filmmaking). We’d be happy to have more interns in these areas. We’re also looking for interns in Web Maintenance (may include light web design work) and Social Media. Other possibilities include:

• Writing & editing
• Graphic design
• Administration/clerical

Pastor Jeremy advises interns on how to raise the necessary financial support, and he and works to see that we holistically develop leaders for the church and the world through shepherding and practical ministry experience.

• For more details on the internship program and application information, please download the intern packet here.
• Apply Online Here
• Recommendation Form

If you have any questions related to internships at Sojourn Church, please email us at internships@sojournchurch.com.

The Secret To Improving Your Creative Works

Dave Moisan & some friends, several of whom are also fellow Sojourn artists

Recently ESPN’s website featured my friend (and co-writer on the Sojourn worship songs Warrior and We Are Changed) Dave Moisan in an interview about Dave’s song “Don’t Worry About Me,” which won an ESPN viewer contest to become the featured song during their March 24 telecast of the NCAA Sweet Sixteen basketball tournament this year. During the interview, Dave revealed an important ingredient in how writers and artists can improve their songs, books, sermons, paintings and other creative works:

“When I got back to Louisville, I got involved in a community of musicians at my church [Sojurn Community Church] where the musicians are unbelievable,” he said. “On any sports team you surround yourself with people better than you, and you’re going to get better. I was surrounded by people who were much better writers, much better singers, much better players. It forced me to hone my skill and step up my game.”

First, don’t let Dave’s modesty fool you — he’s one of our best writers, singers and players. But he’s right in that everyone in the Sojourn arts community would say we’ve become better together than we could have become on our own. We inspire, challenge, mentor, learn from and encourage each other.

Kristen and I often marvel at the artistic talent in our community: other songwriters and musicians, photographers, interior and graphic designers and various creatives. One of Sojourn’s long-term sayings is that we are all “created for community.” This includes the “creative class.”

If you don’t have a creative community in your home town,

If You Don’t Have This, You Won’t Make It As A Songwriter

Frances Mayes writes in The Discovery Of Poetry:

If your blood is on fire with the love of language and the desire to make something with words, you probably know that. You probably know, too, that no matter how awkward your writing is right now, something in you will make you a writer …. Teaching in a large urban university, I’ve been surprised to find that genuine talent is not at all unusual. What is unusual is the perseverance and will it takes to become a writer.

I’ve lost count of the number of short stories, songs and other pieces of writing I’ve done which have never seen dawn’s early light. Before I discovered that I preferred writing songs and nonfiction, I even kept a tally of the number of rejection notices I received for short stories versus the number of stories that literary journals accepted. I believe the finally score was:

• 150 rejections
• 4 acceptances (one of which was by a magazine that went out of business before publishing my story)

To Make It, You Must Persevere

We all know it takes talent and it takes experience. One of our major goals at My Song In The Night is to give you tools and pointers. But realize that it also takes volume — plugging away, day after day. A personal example:

Every time our church Sojourn releases a major, full-length album of original worship songs, we include 10-12 songs from a pool of at least 50 songs that writers have submitted. And these 50 are the resulting work of writers who tested, pruned and started many other songs that they knew not to submit.

You know this may take awhile, right?

Yet occasionally writers have expressed disappointment to me that their song didn’t make it. “Your song?” I ask. “You turned in one?”

How To Design A Church Logo That Tells Your Story

Sojourn fleur-de-lis in reverse type (white Mark, black background). We also use it as a black Mark on white background

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem. Most people think of it as some kind of picture (a mark) but it can also be a stylized signature, or both. A logo is the visual representation of your church. Ideally, when people see it they will identify with you in a positive way. The logo will evoke feelings of your brand essence — what you’re all about.

Your Logo Must Be Simple

Keep in mind your logo must work for a variety of sizes, from tiny web thumbnails to huge outdoor signs. Test your logo:

• How does it look on an 11×17 printed poster?
• How does it look as a 16×16 pixel Flavicon? (the small icon that brand websites dispay on the left-hand side of your browser address bar when you’re on their site — or to the right of your website’s name in the tab on some browsers like Google Chrome).

Notice our My Song In The Night flavicon, which Bryan Patrick Todd designed for us. We wanted something that would convey light breaking through the darkness.

How Your Congregation Can Interact With Your Sermon: Build A Fence!

Last year Sojourn Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery preached on legalism, from Galatians 3. Prior to his sermon, he met with our pulpit communication team to brainstorm ideas for involving the congregation. We wanted to get everyone to wrestle with this truth in a tactile way:

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:1-2)

In the video above, you see what we came up with. Pastor Daniel wanted to use the concept of a fence, and ask the congregation “What have you used to build a fence around the cross? What ‘rules and regulations’ have you used to obstruct yourself and others from the free grace found in the cross of Christ?”

So Art Director Michael Winters built a literal wooden cross, surrounded by a fence. We installed it in our Midtown Campus art gallery, which doubles as the foyer to our auditorium. As Daniel finished his sermon, he told everyone to write their “fence material” on slips of paper we provided, then tie them to the wooden fence before leaving the building.

You see the result in the video. This enabled worshipers to respond to the message of scripture in a “hands on” way, with “fence material” like

• politics
• healthy-living
• self-righteousness

Later that week we shot the film, which uses time-lapse photography to show the fence gradually covered in red paint (the blood of Jesus), then torn down so that the cross stands unobstructed before the viewer.

On a side note, we used a Sojourn song called “In The Shadow Of The Glorious Cross” for the video, written by my friends and co-writers Brooks Ritter and Rebecca Elliott. You can find this on the Sojourn worship album Before The Throne.

What hands-on ways has your church used to get attendees engaged with the truths preached from the stage?

Let Your Blood Plead For Me video- Live By Sojourn At Louisville Memorial Auditorium

I wrote “Let Your Blood Plead For Me” with my friends Jeremy Quillo and Mike Cosper (Sojourn’s Worship Pastor), based on the Isaac Watts hymn “Lord, How Secure My Conscience Was.”  The Sojourn Music band recorded it on our latest album, The Water And The Blood: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume Two. Check out this live performance, recorded by Sojourn at Louisville’s Memorial Auditorium. And you’ll notice Kristen on camera a few times, singing backup on your left.  Brooks Ritter also sings backup, and Rebecca Dennison sings lead: