Please enter a search term.

Posts for ‘Blog’

» New Sheet Music for O Weary Saint

O Weary Saint is a hymn text that Eric Schumacher and I wrote a couple of years ago on songwriting retreat. After writing it for the tune "Love Unknown" by John Ireland, we found that it was still under copyright. The John Ireland Trust graciously allowed us to use it, and the song has been a blessing to me, Eric, and many others as well. To prepare for our upcoming release concert I created a score that follows the arrangement that appears on our latest album, Merciful to Me. The three page score contains piano, cello, and flute and could be adapted for use with other instruments as well (at the concert we won't have a cellist so I've transposed the cello part for violin). You can grab the score on the right-hand side of the song page for O Weary Saint. I created a separate post about this because such a small change to the song would likely fall below the radar of most readers, and if you have any use for a full piano score that sounds like the recording this should be helpful.

» What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 4

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)

Colossians 3:16 instructs us about congregational singing in at least 7 ways.

The CAUSE and COROLLARY of our singing is God’s Word
God’s Word should be the CONTENT of our singing
Singing is a COMMUNITY activity
» Singing is a COMMAND
There are a variety of CATEGORIES of congregational songs
The CORE of singing is the heart attitude behind it
The CULMINATION of singing must be God’s glory


Singing Is a Command
"singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God"

Notice that Paul doesn't simply instruct leaders to sing to the people, nor does he only instruct those who have exceptional musical gifting to sing; he instructs all believers to sing. Since singing is a community activity, the entire community should participate. When a group of people who are united in the celebration of some shared ideology or pleasure, they often sing about it. Consider how many nations, including America, sing a national anthem at... (continue reading...)

» Giveaway Contest Results

Earlier in September we started a giveaway contest. To enter you simply had to spread the word about our new album via a variety of social media outlets. We're grateful for the many people who took us up on our offer and entered, and for anyone else who spread the word without actually entering the contest. We're glad to announce the 5 winners, chosen at random. Each has been contacted via email:

1st - Jason Delgado
2nd - Nick Smith
3rd - Deon Bell VanNostrand
4th - Aaron Wilson
5th - Kimberly Davidson

Even though the contest is over, we'd still really appreciate your help in spreading the word about this album. If you believe in what we're doing, or just like the music, please spread the word!

» What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 3

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)

Colossians 3:16 instructs us about congregational singing in at least 7 ways.

The CAUSE and COROLLARY of our singing is God’s Word
God’s Word should be the CONTENT of our singing
» Singing is a COMMUNITY activity
Singing is a COMMAND
There are a variety of CATEGORIES of congregational songs
The CORE of singing is the heart attitude behind it
The CULMINATION of singing must be God’s glory


Singing Is a Community Activity
"...with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another..."

Though the aim of Christian worship, singing included, is the glory of God, He is not merely glorified directly as He hears and enjoys our praise. God has also designed singing for our benefit as we sing to one another. Another way of putting it is that singing has horizontal as well as vertical aspects. Have you ever noticed that some of our worship songs address the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit directly, while... (continue reading...)

» Merciful to Me Now Shipping

Just a short post to broadcast the great news - the physical CDs are now shipping! Thanks for your patience as the manufacturing process takes quite a while. It was worth the wait as the digipaks came out great - the graphics and layout look stunning. Kent Swecker of A New Machine did a fantastic job and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him for any print, web, or music design projects. I've attached a copy of the web-quality PDF of the packaging for you to check out - it should appear as a PDF icon in the right-hand column.

Even if you already have the digital version, consider purchasing a copy or two as gifts. Use and enjoy our album to the glory of God!

» What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 2

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)

Colossians 3:16 instructs us about congregational singing in at least 7 ways.

The CAUSE and COROLLARY of our singing is God’s Word
» God’s Word should be the CONTENT of our singing
Singing is a COMMUNITY activity
Singing is a COMMAND
There are a variety of CATEGORIES of congregational songs
The CORE of singing is the heart attitude behind it
The CULMINATION of singing must be God’s glory


God’s Word Should Be the Content of our Singing
"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”

Singing is one way to allow God's Word to richly dwell within us. While there are non-musical ways to allow God's Word to richly dwell within us such as memorization and meditation, singing is a uniquely powerful mechanism that helps us engage our hearts as we memorize and meditate on lyrics. God's Word can richly... (continue reading...)

» What the Bible Has to Say About Singing, Part 1

Today I'm introducing a series of seven short articles outlining what the Bible has to say about singing. This series will not attempt to be a comprehensive list of everything the Bible has to say about singing, but will draw out some implications and applications about congregational singing using Colossians 3:16 as a framework.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 (NASB)

This passage instructs us about congregational singing in at least 7 ways.

» The CAUSE and COROLLARY of our singing is God’s Word
God’s Word should be the CONTENT of our singing
Singing is a COMMUNITY activity
Singing is a COMMAND
There are a variety of CATEGORIES of congregational songs
The CORE of singing is the heart attitude behind it
The CULMINATION of singing must be God’s glory


For today's article, Part 1, we will look at #1 above.

The Cause and Corollary of our singing is God's Word
"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you"

A. The CAUSE... (continue reading...)

» Two Myths About Worship Leading

Our very own Jeff Bourque has posted a couple of helpful articles for worship leaders over at congregationalsongs.com

Myths about Leading: My Heart Is Not Right

Jeff diagnoses several of the spiritual and emotional states leaders find themselves in as they prepare to lead worship.

Myths about Leading: It’s All Up to Me

Jeff discusses a common response when it appears that people just "aren't getting it" - to be anxious, fearful, or manipulative and try to influence people by the way we lead, not the Savior we're leading them to

» Giveaway Contest

To celebrate the release of our first album, we're going to give a bunch of them away! There will be 10 winners chosen, and while all will receive a digital copy of Merciful to Me, the top five winners will receive:


1st prize: 5 CDs
2nd prize: 4 CDs
3rd prize: 3 CDs
4th prize: 2 CDs
5th prize: 1 CD


How to Enter
Contestants can receive up to four entries for promoting the new album by:
(Verification requirements in parentheses)

Posting a link on Facebook (send us a link to your facebook profile)
Posting a link on Twitter (send us a link to your twitter page)
Posting a link on a blog (send us a link to the blog)
Sending an email to your worship leader or pastor (send us the name of your church and worship leader)


The link to our album page is: http://www.reformedpraise.org/store/albums/merciful-to-me/
You can link to or embed the album artwork here: http://www.reformedpraise.org/wp-content/themes/reformedpraise/images/mercifultome-cover.jpg


Results/Deadline
Contact us with your links by September 30th, 2010. On October 1st, 2010, the winners will be chosen at random. The results will be added to this post and... (continue reading...)

» Merciful to Me Now Available on iTunes

Wow - that was fast! Our new album, Merciful to Me, is now available in the iTunes music store. If you've already listened to the album, please add a rating or review, otherwise feel free to pick up a digital copy from iTunes or from our own store. It will be another couple of weeks before we have the physical CDs in hand.



The album is also now available at the Amazon.com Music Store