Why the Distinction Between “Praise” and “Worship” Matters

In an earlier post entitled Defining Worship, I introduced Harold’s Best definition of worship as continuous outpouring. If worship encompasses all of our life, then “worship” is a much bigger concept than “praise”. In fact, we can think of “praise” as a subset of “worship”. Robert Webber once said that “worship is a verb”, but […]

In Christ Alone

Darkness. Doubt. Fear. Broken promises? Death. Silence…. Stillness. And then the stone moved. Light came bursting forth from darkness! Silence was broken with angelic shouts of victory! Promises fulfilled. Hope replaces despair. Doubt to faith. Fear to freedom. Death to life. Jesus is not here. He is risen! See the place where they laid Him. Those […]

Above All/Lord I Lift Your Name on High

As we prepare for Good Friday, I thought I’d share one of my favourite songs “Above All” written by Paul Baloche and Lenny LeBlanc. I remember being so moved when I watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. There was the scene when Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa with the heavy cross on His back, […]

Flashback – Experimental Worship (FGA Creative Arts Ministry Mass Choir)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EeO3A6hpDA I recently came across this video again and it really brought back some memories. Thanks Kelwin Wong for recording it. The context of it was this: we were determined to bring a “fresh” and experimental approach to worship. One of the joys of starting out a new thing (a new satellite service for our […]

Epochal Song 5: Ancient of Days (Jamie Harvill and Gary Sadler)

Today, I’m continuing the series on Epochal Songs of the Praise and Worship Movement. At number 5 is “Ancient of Days” which in my view, was the high watermark for musical excellence. Hosanna Music had been slowly building up its musical prowess before deftly unleashing some of the best, world-class Christian worship musicians onto the […]

How to Choose Songs

Whenever I teach on worship leading, one of the most common questions I am invariably asked is: “how do you choose the songs?” I think a lot of people presume that the songs are found in a special room in my apartment called “the secret place” where I go “beyond the veil” to “download” the […]

Epochal Song 4: As the Deer (Martin Nystrom, 1984)

I first came across “As the Deer” shortly I became a Christian. I was attending a family “care group” and one of the group members, who was a very seasoned worship leader in the church, led this song off the piano. I immediately fell in love with the song. Today, when people ask me if […]

One Thing is Needful

As some of you may know, we’ve been spending a few months now visiting different churches throughout Perth. Since the start of the year, we have made a more concerted attempt to settle in a home church so for the last couple of weeks, we have started going to Faith Community Church (FCC) to absorb […]

Epochal Song 3: I Love You Lord (Laurie Klein, 1978)

This song has became a worship standard around the world and a trigger song because of its simplicity and its intimacy. I remember a powerful moment in 2002 at a Planetshakers conference in Adelaide when Sam Evans was trying to encourage the delegates to worship on their own. After a very brief sharing, she left […]

Epochal Song 2: Give Thanks (Henry Smith,1978)

Give Thanks remains one of the most enduring songs of the praise and worship movement and is still regularly sung today in church services all over the world. The song would also introduce the church to a young worship leader by the name of Don Moen, who would later become one of the fathers and […]