What’s Gone Wrong with the Worship Song?

I recently came across Andy Chamberlain’s article “Radio Killed the Worship Song” in this month’s Worship Leader magazine and I couldn’t agree more with him. Chamberlain’s point is that today’s worship songs are no longer “congregational”, more particularly, that they aren’t being written with the average church congregation in mind: Many of our best known worship songs […]

Set List: Faith Community Church Sunday Service (28 April 2013)

I had the privilege of leading worship with Faith Community Church’s Team 4 recently. The theme of the set was “Transcendence”. In Exodus 33, Moses asked God a rhetorical question: “what would distinguish God’s people from the rest of the nations if it were not His presence?” God has set eternity in the hearts of […]

New Song: Open Up Our Eyes

Dave Wong, one of the worship leaders at Faith Community Church, recently introduced this song to me. One of the things I’ve found in recent times is that a lot of songs coming out of the modern worship movement is becoming more and more difficult to sing. The melodies are more unwieldy and the lyrics […]

Never Once Did We Ever Walk Alone

We always get a bit reflective when we get to the end of the year. And that’s okay because being reflective is often the beginning of gratitude. I don’t know what sort of year you’ve had, but I’ve had an amazing year! I’ll do a full write-up on 31 December. But no matter what kind […]

Global Day of Worship Song: Hosanna (Be Lifted Higher)

There are certain songs which make your spirit soar, especially the ones that have multiple “key ups” like Dennis Jernigan’s “Who Can Satisfy?” Hosanna is one of those songs. The beauty of the song is in its majesty and simplicity: a four-line chorus and the repeated cry “be lifted higher”. May this be our cry […]

Global Day of Worship Song: Rooftops

As we are getting closer to Global Day of Worship on 12.12.12, I thought I might start sharing some of the songs we are doing so that you can familiarise yourself with them in preparation. I believe that what we do in corporate worship is never confined to those on the platform. Rather, both the […]

Songlist for Global Day of Worship Perth

I’m glad to announce that after a lot of prayer and thought, we’ve finally crafted the songlist for Global Day of Worship Perth. I really appreciate Pastor Yoy’s and Derwin’s input into shaping all the songs that we had to choose from. Here it is: SONGS – PART 1 (LIVE STREAMING) Shout to the Lord […]

Your Presence is Heaven to Me

We often prepare songlists for church services which go for 25 minutes. It gets quite easy and routine. You do four songs, two fast, two slow, maybe have a scripture reading somewhere, a bit of open worship after the first of the slow songs and finish up with some enthusiastic applause. But how do you […]

You are Good – Lakewood

This song is one of my favourites to use as a call to worship. I actually thought the song was brilliant and complete in itself and then tonight, I come across this version which echoes Psalm 150: Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts […]

Love Came Down – Kari Jobe

I love Kari Jobe’s version of “Love Came Down” (originally written by Brian and Jenn Johnson, Jeremy Riddle and Ian McIntosh in 2010). It’s a lot more mellow and contemplative and comes from Jobe’s latest album Where I Find You.