LifeWayWorship.com is the flagship component of LifeWay's Worship Project, our strategic initiative to equip the Church with resources for the rapidly-changing arena of worship ministry. After almost two years of arranging, recording, editing, and developing this little technology we called SongMap, the site finally went live on October 27, 2008.

1,200 songs and 22,000 active accounts later, we are celebrating our one year anniversary. It is our desire that we not just crank out the latest tunes and play with innovative technology, but to equip you with real solutions for your ministry.

To help us celebrate, I want to offer you 5 free downloads from LifeWayWorship.com. Simply enter the promo code: 2009ANNIVERSARY at checkout. (As always, be sure and get all of your downloads in a single session). This offer is good until December 1.

2010 looks to be another exciting year. Although, we're not adding another 1,200 songs, we will be adding new material on a regular basis. We''re not only growing our list of songs, but expanding our stylistic repertoire. Watch for our expanding list of genres to include kids, country, and messianic material. And I'm not allowed to reveal much yet, but be sure to watch for a special announcement on November 17th.

In order not to miss this announcement and to keep up with the happenings of LifeWayWorship.com, consider following us on Twitter and check this blog often.

I would love to hear from those of you who have been using the site regularly. Simply leave your comment below. Thank you. Thank you for what you do to serve the Body, of which we are all a part. And thank you for choosing LifeWayWorship.com.

We're excited to add stereo track mixes to our line of 21 titles from the Worship KidStyle series. If you're not familiar with Worship KidStyle, check out the embedded promo video below.

Also recently added are two more from country artist Dan Schafer: Trading My Sorrows and Indescribable.

Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research had an interesting post on his blog last week about worship wars that are all too common in today's church. You can read it here.

(originally posted on A Worshiper's Heart). John Mark McMillan posted a recent entry to his blog concerning his song, "How He Loves." With the right audience, this is a really powerful song regarding the passionate love of God. But, some people get hung up on the second verse, specifically the phrase "sloppy wet kiss" in the line "So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss." They find it to be too graphic and/or sensual. Others say the image gives them the "willies" or is just plain distracting to their worship.

The song will likely become even more popular now that the David Crowder Band recorded it for the new CD Church Music. Crowder changed the lyric to "unforeseen kiss," which is admittedly less jarring. I fault neither Crowder for changing the lyric nor McMillan for allowing him to do so. After all, the song is not really about sloppy, wet kisses and the metaphor is not essential to the message of the lyric. Crowder's lyric will, in the end, be the one the song will be known by.

But personally, I like the original lyric and I'm glad Kim Walker recorded it. It speaks of both the passion of God and the mess of humanity. It's both divine and gritty, much like the Incarnation itself. And if it makes people stop and think about what they're singing in church, so much the better.

iTunes has both Walker's recording and Crowder's. What about you and your church? Are you singing this song? What lyric do you use? Should this song be on our site?

Update: We did it. This song is now available.