Singing about the Resurrection and our Hope in Christ

This Sunday marks the end of our Journey Through John. Pastor Paul will be finishing the study through John and we will be celebrating the resurrection of Christ as we gather together on Sunday.

We will open the service singing Tim Hughes' Happy Day. This uptempo song is a great celebration of Christ's triumph over the grave. We will continue singing about the risen Christ with the song You Have Been Raised from Sovereign Grace. This song begins with questions about forgiveness and redemption and answers them with the bold assertion that Christ has been raised and that hell and its powers have been defeated.

We turn our focus from the resurrection to Christ Himself with a new song from Sovereign Grace The Gospel Was Promised and Chris Tomlin's Jesus Messiah. These two songs serve to remind that Jesus Christ is our only hope and source of life.

After the message we will close with a song by Keith and Kristen Getty O Church Arise. This song is a call to action for the church. In light of what Christ has done and accomplished for us, we are to serve in boldness and confidence because the outcome of our battle is secure.

I hope you will prepare your heart in private worship so that you will be ready to engage fully as we meet corporately to worship God at Calvary this Sunday.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Trent

A Summer To Remember Part 3

     This Sunday we celebrate Labor Day, Pastor Paul preaches the next to last message in the Journey Through John series and our Worship Arts team is bringing back the 80's with the music that we are going to use to help us worship God. We have spent a few Sundays throughout the summer looking back on various eras of worship music and this Sunday we want focus on the praise choruses that were part of a significant shift in church music in the 1980's.

     One of my favorite attributes of praise choruses is the seamless flow of music from one song into another. You will see that Sunday morning as we have a couple medleys that combine some of our favorites from that era.

     Here is the list of songs we will be using along with YouTube links so you can listen ahead of time in case any of the songs are unfamiliar to you.

     What A Mighty God We Serve

     I Will Call Upon The Lord

     We Bring The Sacrifice Of Praise

     He Has Made Me Glad

     All Hail King Jesus

     I Exalt Thee

     Be Exalted O God

     Lamb Of God

     Wonderful, Merciful Savior

     I pray that these songs will encourage worship in our church as we take a walk down memory lane. Over the next few weeks we will be introducing some new songs that will help our congregation worship as Pastor Paul begins his new series Second Chances.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Trent

Songs About The Cross

This week at Calvary we find ourselves approaching the end of our Journey Through John. Pastor Paul will be preaching about the crucifixion of Christ. We will also be observing communion as part of the service.

In choosing songs, there are so many that fit this theme, I had a hard time narrowing down which songs to actually use. I decided to begin with the hymn There Is A Fountain by William Cowper. This classic hymn text helps us celebrate what was accomplished at the cross. Not only does it view Christ's substitutionary atonement, it also has an eye toward eternity and the future glory that awaits the believer.

Two songs we will use after a prayer time are The Power of the Cross by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend and When I Survey arranged by Devon Kauflin. These songs focus on the life changing power of the cross.

During communion we will sing Jesus, Thank You from Sovereign Grace. This song has long been one of my favorites as it talks about Christ enduring the Father's wrath in my place. Our response to that sacrifice is deep gratitude and praise. The idea that we were once the enemy of God and are now seated at His table is simply stunning. The video below is from NEXT 2009 conference with Bob Kauflin and Reilly leading. I trust it will be a blessing to you.

We are also introducing a new song this Sunday called The Gospel Was Promised. This song from Sovereign Grace that was just released a few weeks ago. It is from their newest album Grace Has Come Songs from the Book of Romans. 

I hope you will prepare your heart as we prepare to meet with God corporately and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Trent

O Praise The One Who Paid My Debt

It was a delight to lead worship this past Sunday. Singing songs from the late 1800's and including a few brass and woodwinds was a lot of fun. I am grateful for the many talented and faithful people who serve in Worship Arts at Calvary. 

As I write this blog, I am preparing to leave for a few days to attend the Worship God conference in Louisville. I am really excited to worship God, to fellowship with many other worship leaders, to learn from some very gifted individuals, and to spend time with my oldest son who will be attending with me. I have attached a link above so that you can read about the conference and pray for all those involved.

This Sunday at Calvary, Pastor Paul continues our Journey Through John preaching through the first half of John 18. We will open the service with two worship songs Love The Lord and Made To Worship. Both of these songs remind us of our purpose for existence and the greatest commandment of the Lord. 

Love The Lord

Made To Worship

The next set of songs remind us of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. Jesus died in our place, satisfying the wrath of God for our sin. That message is streaming through Glorious Day, Jesus Paid It All, and Behold Our God.

Glorious Day

Jesus Paid It All

Behold Our God

I hope these videos will help you prepare to engage fully in our service this Sunday. I cannot wait to worship our God with you once again.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Trent

Summer to Remember Part Two

This Sunday we are taking a journey back in time once again and singing songs that the church sang in the later 1800's. This was a fascinating time in American history. The nation was recovering and healing from a brutal civil war, westward expansion was driving a growing economy and the church had begun to be very active in publishing and hymn writing.

The Gospel song began to really become a mainstay of American hymnody. While 100 years earlier songs from the Scriptures and songs about theological truths had been the prevailing lyrical expression, this new era saw a significant move to songs of testimony, surrender, and Christian experience.

This new generation of song writers included Philip Bliss, Ira Sankey, George C. Stebbins, William H. Doane, and many others but the most prolific writer and recognizable name from the era is Fanny Crosby. Her life story is well known and her hymns are sung around the world today.

The majority of the songs in our hymnal at Calvary were written during this time frame. Here are the ones we will sing this Sunday:

Praise Him! Praise Him!  - Fanny Crosby/Chester Allen

Blessed Assurance - Fanny Crosby/Phoebe Knapp

I Am Thine O Lord - Fanny Crosby/William H. Doane

I WIll Sing Of My Redeemer - Philip Bliss/James McGranahan

I Need Thee Every Hour - Annie Hawks/Robert Lowry

Jesus Loves Me - Anna Warner/William Bradbury

Jesus Loves The Little Children - C. H. Woolston/George F. Root

Give Me Jesus - Traditional Spiritual

We will be using some of the instruments from our regular Praise Band but this week we will also add a trumpet, clarinet, saxophone and tuba to help us as we sing these songs together.

I am looking forward to worshiping with you!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Trent

Getting Ready For VBS

Vacation Bible School is upon us and this Sunday night is the beginning. For years now we have used live music for the kids during VBS and it is always exciting to see the kids (and grownups) engage with great joy singing songs about God.

This year we are introducing a new song called Love You More. Here is a video of the song:

We are also introducing a kid friendly version of the Chris Tomlin song Our God. Our version is a bit livelier than the video but you get the idea.

There are a couple of songs we have done is the past that we are bringing back with new energy and excitement. One of those songs is Jesus Came To Save. I think this is one of the best songs we have ever done with our kids as it not only has a catchy and easy to sing melody, but the text explicitly declares the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a very understandable way.

The other classic song we are doing is Great Big God. Over the past 10 years at Calvary, this song has truly been a favorite of the kids coming to VBS.

Last year we introduced the fun song On A Day Like This. Due to popular demand, we are bringing it back. Finally, our VBS rappers are going to teach a couple of songs AMAZING and Luke 19:10 that should be a lot of fun for the children to sing.

Join me in praying that children throughout Holland will hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ through our VBS this year.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Trent

A Summer To Remember

If there is one thing that has been constant in Christian worship, it has been change. Hymnwriters and songwriters throughout history have continued to forge fresh new territory in writing songs of praise to God and while we may be tempted to think that change in worship music is simply a phenomenon of last 20 years, the truth is that worship music has always been changing.

A few months ago at a retreat with the men from our Leadership Council, we sang a number of worship songs that we just simply don't use anymore in our services and it was a very refreshing time of worship. That experience birthed an idea what perhaps we could take a stroll down memory lane if you will and explore various eras in church music history.

This week we begin that journey in what we are calling A Summer To Remember. Deciding where to begin and then what to include has been a very difficult task because there is such a wealth of music available to us but I chose to begin with the time frame of the mid to late 1700's. One of the questions that I asked and began to research was what was the church singing in 1770.

This research led me to hymnwriters like Isaac Watts, John and Charles Wesley, Augustus Toplady, John Newton, Edward Perronet and many others. Thousands of hymns were written in this century and music was literally exploding in the church. Often birthed by the Great Awakening and revival movements, these new hymns were sometimes controversial as many in the church were not ready to sing new songs or new types of songs.

Isaac Watts lived from 1674 until 1748. Many of 500 published hymns are still sung today. He wrote new songs based on the experiences, thoughts, feelings and aspirations common to all Christians. The emphasis of Watts' hymns was related to the sermon of the day and not the season of the church calendar. Often they were written during the week in the quiet of his study as part of the sermon for the coming Lord's Day.

This Sunday we are using two of Watts' hymns in our service, they are I Sing The Mighty Power and When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.

John and Charles Wesley lived in the 1700's. These brothers wrote about the Gospel being free to all but they also wrote about the Christian experience on a personal level. While Charles wrote over 6,500 hymn texts, John wrote only 27 as he was more concerned about writing singable tunes.

Congregational singing was still relatively new in the time of John Wesley so he devised a set of rules or instructions for congregational singing that was first published in 1761. I think you will find them interesting.

1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others, afterwards learn as many as you please.

2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.

3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up and you will find a blessing.

4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard than when you sung the songs of Satan.

5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.

6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep up with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.

7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

I think it is fascinating to see what concerned the musicians 250 years ago. This Sunday we will sing And Can It Be? from Charles Wesley.

Other songs that we will sing are Amazing Grace by John Newton, Rock of Ages by Augustus Toplady and All Hail The Power of Jesus' Name by Edward Perronet.

I am praying that these timeless hymns will move hearts to love God more and to love one another as we passionately pursue Christ and lovingly pursue others for Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Trent