From Christian Post

By Mark Hensch

For Andrew Greer, Scripture is most alive in song.

The singer-songwriter burst onto the Christian contemporary music scene with 2009's Open Book, a collection of achingly vulnerable songs about faith. His current release - Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions - sees Greer going in a completely different direction. It's a sophomore album heavily slanted toward covering classic hymns, a move he says reminds him of home.

"Hymns take me back to my roots," said Greer. "They're where I learned music so it's a very honest place for me. There's a purity being able to connect with that again as an adult. I think hymns are very personal, and very much my story."

Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions includes the title track "Softly and Tenderly," featuring renowned bluegrass singer/songwriter Sonya Isaacs; the song "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus," a duet by Greer and Dove Award-winning singer/songwriter Cindy Morgan; and "I Am Thine O Lord/Near The Cross," performed by Dove Award-winning singer/songwriter Ginny Owens.

Greer said the tale of his life begins in rural Texas. Raised by parents of "strong but not overbearing" Christian faith, he said he frequently attended church and fell in love with choir hymns. Hearing their harmonies and melodies, he said he found the majesty of Christ.

"Music has played a large role in starting, growing and sustaining my relationship with God," he said. "Hymns in particular matured my faith and anchored it. They're a conversation with God. That's what I want to do with my own songs."

Greer relocated to Nashville's Belmont University to study music and find his muse. Upon graduation, he worked at singer Michael W. Smith's Rocketown Records, only to discover he valued songwriting more than business sales. The solo artist has worked as professional musician ever since.

"It can be scary working in a critical and artistic field," Greer said of his work. "You have to get a tough skin and just go for it. All the same, it's very fulfilling surrendering yourself to what you love to do. It's both wonderful and harrowing at the same time."

Greer's path to musical success was not without its struggles, however. Greer said he recorded Open Book during a time of deep personal anxiety. Alone and afraid, he used his music as a way of finding his faith again.

"I was in a really raw place with my relationship with God and my back was against the wall," Greer said. "I wanted him to show up and I was in a place where I was OK if he didn't. I needed help and a sign. He showed up in an extremely personal way."

After going through the personal trial, Greer said he started focusing on exploring Jesus' sacrifices for humanity through hymns. He reached out to a collection of other Christian artists for input, and the resulting hymn reinterpretations are Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions. Returning to the music of his youth, Greer said he realized the hope present in hymns.

"I've been through bouts of anxiety and it's literally felt like my body is crying out," he said. "What I've learned is that I'm not in my final state yet. I'm not home. My soul is anchored in Jesus."

Greer said he hopes his new hymn collection makes listeners understand the effort needed for an energetic relationship with Christ. The best faith takes place in personal interaction, he said, and grows the more people approach God.

"I've learned from life that God must be a very interesting and intriguing person," Greer said. "We can't just bottle him. We have to have a relationship with him to understand who he is."

Among the notable titles on the album is a beautiful rendition of The Lord's Prayer, featuring the renowned banjo playing of Ron Block of Alison Krauss and Union Station.

Other featured guests on Angel Band are the McCrary Sisters, Marc Scibilia and Julie Lee.

The band has played their final show.
What are they going to do now?

The inventive final album from the David Crowder*Band debuted at no. 2 in the US.
Lead Sheets are available here.

From Kingsway Music

Tim Hughes: 'we need to move back to being Spirit led.'

Spirit Break Out is the debut live album from the London-based Worship Central team.

For a movement dedicated to helping unleash praise and worship within local churches across the world, 'Spirit Break Out' is a live album full of energy and experience. But this is no empty title. 'Spirit Break Out' is the perfect summation of a profoundly held belief that we need to allow God more freedom and power within our worship.

Tim Hughes - songwriter, worship leader, co-founder of Worship Central and vicar-in-training - puts it clearly in an interview with Mission Worship magazine:

"We've never had better quality songs to choose from. There are amazing songs on amazing themes coming out of Hillsong, Passion, Soul Survivor and - I guess - Worship Central too. But there's a danger here: that we rely on those songs to create the amazing encounters in worship. If we let the song become the king, then worship becomes more about what we can create and less about our response to God's initiating love and glory.

"We always need to be looking to be Spirit led in our worship. The Spirit gives life, releases freedom and joy, puts a new song on our lips and reveals the beauty and majesty of Christ."

The message is well-explored through the album, which features Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon, Al Gordon, Nikki Fletcher and Luke Hellebronth. The team combined forces to lead at the HMV Forum in March this year, and the album's 14 tracks draw out the very best of the evening's worship. Established songs like Tim Hughes' 'Counting On Your Name' and 'Wake Up' as well as Ben Cantelon's 'Saviour Of The World' are found on the album, along with a great selection of new ones.

From the opening moments of 'Spirit Of The Living God' - rising up, phoenix-like with a call for the Holy Spirit to take control - through to the closing moments of 'Undivided Love' and 'All Glory', the album is urgent, focused and engaging.

'Now Is The Time' brings in some beautiful arrangements while 'Sing Alleluia' clearly has the potential to become a big congregational winner. 'New Day' jumps about, 'At Your Name' gets epic while the title track builds into a mountain-sized cry for something bigger and bolder than can be created by human hands, as Tim explains:

"The title track feels like a revival song: it's a heart cry to see God smashing out of the box, turning us upside down, inside out and leading us into more of His presence and glory. Our heart at Worship Central is that these songs and this album will fire people up and inspire them in their worship and will lead people into a deeper relationship with Christ."

Worship Central is a school of worship from Alpha International with a vision to encounter God, equip the worshipper and empower the local church. Led by Tim Hughes and Al Gordon, since launching in 2006, over 100,000 worship leaders, musicians and worshippers have attended training events around the world, as well as using the online resource, Worship Central.

While this is the first live album from Worship Central, they previously released a studio album - 'Lifting High' - in 2009. They have also just put out their first ever album sung in Mandarin, featuring worship leaders from across Asia.

Worship Central continues to run training conferences internationally, in Holland, Germany, London, Scotland, California, Hong Kong, and India.

From Integrity Music

When the pieces seem too shattered to gather off the floor; and all that seems to matter is that I can't feel you anymore...I need a reason to sing.

If we're honest, it's a lot easier to talk about and fully embrace the seasons when God's goodness feels so real, those proverbial spiritual mountaintops where faith is effortless and life's little circumstances are easily explained.

But when life is hard and heartache and confusion inevitably reign, what do we do with those moments, and how do we actually worship God in the midst of them? This uncomfortable tension is precisely what fuels the latest release from All Sons & Daughters, the duo who penned the congregational favorite "All the Poor & Powerless."

Born out of what's happening with their unique community of believers at The Journey Church in Franklin, Tenn., worship leaders David Leonard and Leslie Jordan have written songs they hope will give people permission to not only ask questions, but to express their pain in the midst of it.

"I think that's one of the biggest problems in the modern church right now. We don't always give people permission to feel these things," David says. "When things are going wrong, we tell them 'It's okay, God's taking care of it.' But if you read the Psalms, David is never afraid to express exactly what he's feeling, so that gave us the freedom to be honest and transparent."

To wit, the album's affecting title track comes from a very personal place. "A lot of it stemmed from a conversation I had with my sister who was struggling to conceive," Leslie shares. "They'd tried for four years, and she was completely broken from wondering why in the world this wasn't happening for her."

Adding another layer of resonance was David and his wife's own struggles with becoming parents. "It had gotten to the point where we simply accepted that it wasn't going to happen," David adds. "And when we were writing this song, emotions were swirling in the room--just the question of 'why?'. Luckily, I can say now that my wife and I have a little girl. But this is the kind of struggle that countless people are going through every day with varying results. And it's the kind of issue that leaves us with questions."

In this spirit of transparency, David and Leslie wanted Reason to Sing to strip away the layers of guilt and shame so that we can begin to accept God's grace. Posing the question of whether God can love us, in spite of us, tracks like "Oh Our Lord," "All Praise to You" and "Spirit Speaks" point listeners to the One who's always drawing us to Himself, even when we have questions and life fails to make sense.

Adding to that reassurance is "Buried in the Grave," a song inspired by an article David and Leslie read in Relevant magazine. "In the Easter story, we focus on the death and the resurrection but not always the waiting period in between and what that means to us as believers about being patient and obedient," Leslie says. "I liked how the writer focused on the Saturday that comes between Friday and Sunday, which is exactly the season we feel like we're walking through."

Grace was in the tension of everything we'd lost,
Standing empty handed, shattered by the cross
All we had, all we had was a promise like a thread
Holding us, keeping us, oh from fraying at the edge

Produced by Paul Mabury (Hillsong, Brooke Fraser, One Sonic Society), whom David refers to as the "third member of All Sons & Daughters," it was equally important to create an accompanying soundtrack that was stripped of pretense.

"Rather than looking at aesthetics or serving the emotion of the moment, Paul was driving us to look at our church, at the lyrics and the movement of the music and how it all relates to our community," says David. And whether they're ministering at their home church or at congregations across the globe, the one thing that keeps them grounded is community.

"For us, it's an intangible," Leslie shares. "In this past year, we've realized just how much we need our community. It's life-giving and makes such a difference. Plus, as worship leaders, you're not going to know the songs your body needs to sing if you don't know your body. So that's why it's so incredibly important to dig into life with your church."

Special guest post by author, song and hymn writer Keith Getty

As the holidays approach, I often remember my days as a student in
music class. My high school music teacher lived for Christmas carols.
I spoke with him recently as I was working on our new Christmas album,
"Joy--An Irish Christmas," and his enthusiasm is as strong as ever. He
even wants Christmas carols played at his funeral.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Because these songs tell the story of the faith like no other songs
can," he told me.

I wholeheartedly agree. Carols blend a story form of writing with
simple melodies, and they've resulted in a unique hybrid of English
folk music and church music traditions. In that sense, the carol has
impacted my own songwriting more than any other form.

Our new Christmas album gave me a chance to relish in my love for
carols by writing some of my very own. Yet we also decided to honor
some of our age-old favorites, so profound in the stories they tell,
by pairing them with new compositions. When it comes to celebrating
Christmas, I think people want fresh sounds--but they also want to
sing what they know.

I love the fact that some of the most beloved carols essentially
originated as rebel songs. In England during the 15th century,
Catholics were forbidden to sing in the English language, or to even
sing at all for the most part. Yet carols were the one exception.
Additionally, certain factions of Puritanism during the late 16th
century forbid any outward display of emotion. But again, carols
remained the one type of song that allowed people to celebrate with
their lips, instruments and even dancing. For those forbidden to even
smile or smirk during the remainder of the year, this was much cause
for rejoicing!

Today, carols continue to be one of the few remaining conduits that
allow us to proclaim our faith in the public square. Amazingly,
they're heralded on secular radio, used in advertisements and sung on
television throughout the holiday season. These songs allow us to
celebrate our faith authentically and share it with others.

We would do well as worship leaders to remember that non-churchgoers
are far more inclined to attend a church service during the Christmas
season where songs are easy and enjoyable to sing rather than a church
trying to put on the slickest possible show. The music of carols,
written by some of the finest hymn writers of all time (such as
Wesley, Watts and Rossetti) and arranged by equally outstanding
composers (Handel, Holst and Mendelssohn) speaks for itself. We have
wonderful songs to use! And Christmas gives us a wide open door to use
those songs to impact culture like no other time of the year.

May we set aside time this Christmas season to give of ourselves
joyfully and wholeheartedly to the music we choose and the services we
plan. And in doing so we'll join with the Christians of ages past
who've told the story of our faith through the carols they sing.

For instance:
How Great Is Our God with How Great Thou Art

Have you used anything in your church that "just works" that you can share? Post it in the comments below, on Twitter with the hashtag #hymnandsong, or on our Facebook page.

From Twitter:
@RobTWillJr - "Great Is Your Faithfulness" with "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
@AnthonyCroft - "Here I Am To Worship" with "I Surrender All."
@DennisCCook - "Mighty to Save" with "I Surrender All"
@FSBCWorship - "Stronger" and "It Is Well with My Soul" / "Revelation Song" and "Holy, Holy, Holy"
@jason_carson - "All Creatures of Our God and King" with "Let Everything that Has Breath"
@nathanphifer - "How He Loves" with "Oh, How He Loves You and Me"
@BobTRoberts - "A Mighty Fortress (Nockels)" with "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" or... "A Mighty Fortress (Nockels)" with "Holy, Holy, Holy," keeping the same tempo and rhythm pattern.
@PewPotato - "The Power of the Cross (Oh, to See the Dawn)" with "The Wonderful Cross"

From Facebook:
Linda: "Our God" (Tomlin-Redman) with How Great is Our God and How Great Thou Art.
Rodney: ‎"My Jesus I Love Thee" with "I Love You Lord"
Colby: "Holy, Holy, Holy" with "I See the Lord"
Josh: The creole hymn "Loue" and "Nothing but the Blood"
Kemuel: "In Christ Alone" with "The Solid Rock"
Dennis: "How He Loves" with "Oh How He Loves You and Me"
Leo: "Shout to the Lord" with "To God Be the Glory"
Robert: "Sing to the King" with "O Worship the King"
Alan: "Open the Eyes of My Heart" with "Open Our Eyes, Lord"
Jeremy: "I Know Whom I Have Believed" with "My Redeemer Lives" between verses 1 and 2

Wednesday afternoon, we pushed out a quick update to LifeWayWorship.com that should fix some of the problems that a few of you contacted us about in the checkout process. In addition, we're going to add some more bells and whistles in the coming days that will help you plan worship more quickly and easily. Stay connected with us on Twitter and Facebook for all the details!

Every week, when we plan for worship, we have to take into account what we want to share in our service. You might follow the Christian year, the pastor's preaching plan, or search each week for exactly the plan that will help your congregation respond to God this Sunday.

This year, there is a Sunday with new significance; September 11th is the tenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself as you make your plans.

How much do we let it influence our service?

Probably the biggest driver to the answer to that question is rooted in the people who are in your congregation. How were they touched by the attacks? Do you have military connections, or even church members whose families were affected by the lives lost?

Look at how your church responded to September 11th ten years ago. If you can locate the plan or a recording for September 16th, 2001, you can see what was said and sung immediately after the incident. If you're new, or don't have records back that far, talk to long-time church members and see what they remember.

Once you've got that picture, decide what is important for you to recognize based on the people in your church today. You may want to use some of the same songs or scripture, or go a totally different direction.

What kind of theme should the service take?

Again, the members of your congregation will largely influence this. Here are some options to consider:

• Thanksgiving and Celebration - focus on God's provision and protection. Celebrate how He has blessed our families, churches and nation in these past ten years. (Isaiah 43:2)
• Remembrance and Hope - make the message of the service one that lifts up God's creation of human life, challenging the congregation to share in the redemption story by sharing the hope that we have in salvation through Jesus Christ (Isaiah 55:6-11)
• Declarative Praise - exalt the name of the Lord, proclaiming that He rules over all things and all people, that even in the face of tragedy, we will rejoice. (I Thessalonians 5:18)

Should we do something patriotic?

There's no problem with including patriotic material in your plan for Sunday if it's something that will connect with the members of your congregation. Remember that the primary purpose of our worship is to respond to God's revelation, so be sure that the core of your worship plan is rooted in scripture.

Resist the urge to do something out-of-character for your church this Sunday just to impress people. If you normally have a praise band and worship team, have a praise band and worship team. However, you may want to engage people differently, using different media or combinations of people to create a special worship moment. If you do pre-recorded videos, consider interviewing some of your members about their experiences since 2001, and how God is working through their lives. Think about how members of your church are gifted, how they were personally affected by the events, and what the intersection of those two could create to help point people to God.

What should we sing?

This Sunday is probably a good day to focus on songs that your congregation already knows - songs that they can sing and not be distracted. You may find that this Sunday draws in irregular attenders and visitors, and you want your congregation to be engaged in worship so that they can see it modeled well.

Depending on the theme of your service, you can search for topics at LifeWayWorship.com. Here are some songs of thankfulness, songs of deliverance and songs of exaltation. If you click on the "I" button for any of these songs, you can see the themes we've attached to them in the "tags" section.

As we get closer to September 11, we'll be posting some service orders for the Sunday here at LifeWayWorship.com. If you'd like to submit one, paste it in on the feedback form on the homepage, message it to @lifewayworship, comment on our post at facebook.com/lifewayworshipdotcom or email it to worship@lifeway.com.

Join us at 2:00 Pacific, 3:00 Mountain, 4:00 Central or 5:00 Eastern for the premiere of Tommy Walker's "Pursuit of God" project. Based on the work by A.W. Tozer, this new collection of worship songs features a couple of familiar titles, but mostly brand new worship songs that help point people to the worship of our holy and loving God.

On the homepage of LifeWayWorship.com, just click the "WATCH NOW" banner, and you'll be connected to the streaming concert.

And, if you like what you hear, you can get charts and tracks for EVERY song! Plus, we have original string charts from the recording available for many of the song, and the complete orchestration for "Taste and See." Just search for "Pursuit of God" in the "Search for Anything!" box on the homepage!

Special thanks to our friends at Maranatha Music who are distributing the record and our friends at TommyWalker.net who are also carrying the concert!

Whether it's the driving, uplifiting praise of "The Distance" or the testimony song "The Lost are Found" that tells of God's work here on earth, or the proclamation of the presence of God in the song "With Us," you'll find songs that can help knit together the hearts of your congregation to express their worship and praise.

At LifeWayWorship.com, our friends at Hillsong and EMI have made it easy for you to incorporate these new songs into your church. You can download single copies of the original "artist" track for every title so that you can have a reference for the style, speed and sound of each song.

Then, you can purchase our flagship chart, the Lead Sheet PLUS for every title. Each Lead Sheet PLUS delivers what you'd expect from a lead sheet - melody, chord symbols, and lyrics, all in a compact package, but then adds on a place for you to type written notes right into the score, all the original harmony parts, extra notes for your band to help re-create the original.

PLUS, you get the song in all twelve keys... so that no matter the vocal range or lead-in or lead-out you need, you can use the song in worship.

Click the link on the homepage to see all the charts available from "God Is Able."

LifeWay's Lead Sheet PLUS chart gives your worship ministry the ultimate flexibility with the newest songs at the right price! For only $1.99 per chart, you get:

• Every melody and harmony note written out for your singers


• Complete lyrics and chord symbols


• Directions for band members (drums in, lead guitar solo, bass walkdown, etc.)


• Cued instrumental "hooks" for intros, segues and transitions


• A "notes" box that you can type instructions into before you print to give everyone the same information (requires the free Acrobat reader.)


• As few pages as possible


• Every song in all 12 keys so you can pick the one that fits your moment!

Download a sample Lead Sheet PLUS (not printable)

If you'd like to try out Lead Sheet PLUS in your ministry, use the promo code PLUSMYBAND to download two free charts from LifeWayWorship.com. The code expires 7/31/2011.

If you've used our SuperCharts before, you're probably noticing that these features are very similar... in fact, the same! What we've found is that people in churches know what a "Lead Sheet" is, but not what a "SuperChart" is, so we're helping more people discover the great resource that we have available for your worship ministry.

If you've purchased SuperCharts in the past, you'll still find SuperCharts in your media library, but when you purchase new song titles, they'll be listed as Lead Sheet PLUS.

Kenny Lamm has a great post on his blog "renewing worship" about creating a comprehensive song list.

With LifeWayWorship.com's Media Library, you can have always-on access to all your worship songs anywhere you have an Internet connection. You can even filter the list by the words in the title to find things quickly.

Chris McClarney has created a great new version of the Walter Chalmers Smith smith hymn "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise." It's CCLI song #5705467, and you can get the charts for FREE this month from LifeWayWorship.com! Writers John Hartley and Chris Eaton have helped shape a fresh, new version of the classic hymn that will help your congregation worship the "most glorious Ancient of Days." Just log in to your account, add it to your cart, and check out with the rest of your order. If it's the only thing in your cart, we still require a LifeWay account number or credit/debit card to verify that you're a human being and not a machine.

The SuperChart for this song comes in all twelve keys so no matter how the flow of your service is going, or who's leading, or who's playing... you'll have every option available to you for key choice.

One listen to this new song from Nicole C. Mullen, and you'll know the heartfelt truths that it embodies, pulled from the pages of scripture, are the kind of message that our world needs to hear today. One reviewer at dreaminsoul.com said

Look at the news today and you'll see so many heart-moving stories - the aftermath of the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, uprisings in Egypt and Libya, and even more closer to home. Nicole C. Mullen's timely new song Kingdom Come, inspired by The Lord's Prayer is a soothing reminder of God's reign and power on the Earth - as it is in Heaven.

At LifeWayWorship.com, you can download the original version, soon the accompaniment track, and, of course, the SuperChart for "Kingdom Come" in all 12 keys, so no matter the soloist, worship team or choir, you can sing it this Sunday in your church as a prayer to God to "let Thy kingdom come!"

Every track, every Superchart from Nicole C. Mullen's newest release "Captivated" is coming to LifeWayWorship.com on Tuesday, May 3!

You may know Nicole C. Mullen as an artist, as a songwriter, or as a speaker, but you probably know her best from her songs. Her songs "Redeemer" and "Call on Jesus" have become favorites in worship ministries around the world.

With "Captivated," Nicole says "Often I write songs that are more horizontal instead of vertical where I'm talking to the people about the Lord, but in this case I found that I kept writing more vertical songs. Before I knew it, I had a body of work and as I looked back I saw that I had a worship album here."

Be sure to come to LifeWayWorship.com on Tuesday for the exclusive launch of this brand new set of songs!

Read more about Nicole's new release on MaranathaMusic.com

Our friends at Second Baptist Church have graciously made available the 1080p version of "Rise Up" for download for your church to use in your Easter celebration this Sunday! At LifeWayWorship.com, you can download the accompaniment tracks for "Rise Up," and have your worship team sing along to the video! Just complete the form below, and you'll receive a link to a page where you can download the 402MB MP4 format video.

Love Divine celebrates the legacy of one of the most significant voices in church hymnody: Charles Wesley, connecting the dots between two centuries of the worshipping church.

Each of the thirteen tracks on Love Divine has been arranged by Chris Eaton and John Hartley, and recorded by some of the most well known contemporary vocalists today, including: Aaron Keyes, Brenton Brown, Brian Johnson (Bethel Live), Chris Eaton, Chris McClarney, Chris Quilala (Jesus Culture), Jason Roy (Building 429), Jenn Johnson (Bethel Live), John Ellis, Kim Walker-Smith (Jesus Culture), Leigh Nash (Sixpence None The Richer), Mark Roach and Tim Hughes.

"Our church society throughout the world has maybe become too 'familiar' in our expression of worship at times," says Chris Eaton. "I longed to paint a musical picture in production of these new melodies, that truly enhances the text, born out of great liturgy, so that our modern experience of worship links us directly to the passion of the early hymn writers.

Producer and LifeWay Worship songwriter John Hartley says "Love Divine may be rooted in a time before the industrial revolution, but Wesley's songs can be communicated with just as much passion and purpose as when they were first aired."

Sing "Rise Up" this Easter Sunday at your church with the accompaniment track from Second Baptist Houston's viral video hit "Dance Your Shoes off."

With over a quarter million views on YouTube, this energetic new song from Josh Moore, Lauren Camey and Jonathan Camey challenges the people of the Lord to live out the resurrection celebration with their lives.

If you haven't seen Second Baptist Houston's video Dance Your Shoes off, take a look! Inspired by last year's Easter celebration video from Budapest, it's been featured at worship.com, at CNN's iReport site, on Facebook, and on countless blog posts.

The song in the video is "Rise Up," written by Caedmon's Call keyboardist and Second Baptist Church member Josh Moore. We're excited to announce that very soon, you'll be able to get charts, tracks and more for "rise up" right here at LifeWayWorship.com! Stay tuned!

No coupon needed!

Holy Rain

In dry and barren land,
Our fields have turned to sand.
Before you now we stand.
Lord, come and heal this land.

Let your holy rain fall down,
Let your holy rain fall down.
Wash and cleanse within, without.
Water our soul's thirsty ground.
Let your holy rain fall down.

The wells of our supply
Are broken and run dry.
With desp'rate hearts we cry;
Lord, open up the sky.

Let your holy rain fall down,
Let your holy rain fall down.
Wash and cleanse within, without.
Water our soul's thirsty ground.

Let your holy rain fall down.
Let your holy rain fall down.
Let your holy rain fall down.

Copyright © 2006 Van Ness Press / Experience Worship Music Publishing /
Belden Street Music Publishing / ASCAP.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. CCLI # 4742933

Just add the SuperChart to your cart and check out! You'll need to enter LifeWay account information or a credit card to verify that you're a human being, but once you go through checkout, the SuperCharts will be added to your media library free of charge!

Bring the worship songs of the 2011 CentriKid camps home to your church with the new CentriKid Worship Charts series! Chosen specially for CentriKid camps this summer, these songs are made for first through sixth graders to lift up the name of the Lord in worship.

You'll find well-known worship songs from writers you know with lead sheets for singers and players and QuickCharts for your guitarist or bass player (no page turns!), ready for your kids' worship team to play.

You voted, and the winner is "In Christ Alone," the modern hymn from Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. All day on March 31, we'll feature all three versions of this song for FREE at LifeWayWorship.com!

Pricing for all versions of this song are now $0.00!

The three versions are:
- a more traditional hymn version that could be used in a traditional service, or as an easy choir piece
- a more contemporary version that's a bit more like the version you hear on the Keith and Kristyn Getty recording of the same name
- a transcription of the version that Adam Young of Owl City recorded and posted on his blog a few months ago

Whichever version you choose, we hope it'll be a blessing to your church and congregation, especially during this Easter season. Thanks for playing, and keeping up with LifeWayWorship.com!

• Come, People of the Risen King
• Communion Hymn (Behold the Lamb)
• The Power of the Cross

We've made it to the championship game! You voted, and the final two candidates are:
In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)
and
It Is Well (with My Soul)

Vote for your favorite below and get a download code good for TWO free downloads at LifeWayWorship.com! Plus, after you vote, tweet or post on our facebook page to get two MORE free downloads... instructions on the confirmation screen!

"Always" by Jason Ingram and Kristian Stanfill is one of the new original worship songs written for one sonic society's new release "society," now available for download from LifeWayWorship.com.

This worship anthem is one that serves as a rallying cry for your congregation. Rooted in Psalm 121, the chorus testifies:

Oh my God, He will not delay.
My refuge my strength always.
I will not fear, His promise is true.
My God will come through always, Always.

"Always" is available at LifeWayWorship.com, both as a downloadable MP3 of the original one sonic society recording, and as a SuperChart. SuperCharts come in all twelve keys, giving you the flexibility to sing the song in any range you need for this Sunday!

one sonic society's newest EP "Society" just released, and you can get the charts for every song right here at LifeWayWorship.com! You'll find two original songs penned by the members of one sonic society Jason Ingram, Stu Garrard and Paul Mabury, as well as songs co-written with Kristian Stanfill, Paul Baloche and Hillsong's Mia Fieldes.

All three members of one sonic society agree that this album is not artist driven, rather song driven. It's not about performing in front of massive crowds or gaining the next radio hit. The oss focus is to stir the church with new worship music that connects and resonates within people.

Paul Mabury of the group describes the album this way:

"In the 2nd chapter of Acts when Christian church was born, one of the most powerful elements was unity. God pours out His blessing where there is a group of people unified by love... His Love. The "society" element of this album is celebrating this, not only as an ideal but as a goal. We are intentionally wanting to connect people together, to not be competitive but creative and see what God does. These are exciting times!"

Look for posts about all five new songs this week at LifeWayWorship.com/blog!

We're down to the final four songs in our LifeWayWorship.com bracket challenge! Vote for your choice in the two games below and get a coupon good for TWO free downloads at LifeWayWorship.com!

Next Monday, we'll announce the championship game, and vote on it for 24 hours. Then, at noon on 3/31, we'll announce the winning song, and it will be FREE for download for 24 hours at LifeWayWorship.com!

This round is closed... vote in the Championship Round!

Planning worship for St. Patrick's day is probably not a high priority for you. We don't often look for worship songs about luck or green or the gold at the end of the rainbow. If you really wanted to sneak St. Patrick's day in your setlist, you could be looking for songs that have scripture references for chapter 3, verse 17. The good news is that if you were looking for any of these terms at LifeWayWorship.com, you'd find results... but chances are, you're not.

Luckily, all is not lost on St. Patrick's day... you can use the code ENDOFTHERAINBOW at LifeWayWorship.com for three free downloads up to $1.99 each, expires on 3/18.

And, as a special bonus, our friends at GettyMusic.com have made three songs available for free today on their website. Download the MP3 and lead sheet from their site, and then come back and use your ENDOFTHERAINBOW coupon on the tracks, media or orchestration of Communion Hymn, The Power of the Cross, or Come People of the Risen King.

Today is your lucky day!

Round 1 is in the books... with some upsets, and some great songs in the tournament!

A recap of the rules: Watch each week and vote for the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship. Your vote determines the most popular song at LifeWayWorship.com. On March 31, the winning song or hymn will be announced and made available for FREE - ALL DAY LONG!

The final four will be listed from March 22 - 29, and we'll have the Championship Game - March 29-30 and announce the winner on March 31. When the winning song is announced, we'll offer FREE Downloads of the winning song all day long!

Help us get to the final! Choose your winners for each matchup below, submit the form and you'll get a code good for a FREE DOWNLOAD at LifeWayWorship.com!

Voting is closed! Look for the Final 4 post!

Download every original artist track and SuperCharts for all 15 songs on the new Passion release Here for You at LifeWayWorship.com!

Track Listing

1. Here For You
2. Symphony
3. Waiting Here For You
4. All My Fountains
5. Shadows
6. Lord, I Need You
7. Set Free
8. Forever Reign
9. Sometimes
10. Always
11. Carry Your Name
12. Spirit Fall
13. All To Us
14. Constant
15. Our God

With LifeWayWorship.com SuperCharts, you can sing every song in any of the 12 keys right now! Plus, for several of the titles, we have versions of the song you can download that include orchestrations, PowerPoint, and accompaniment tracks.

Better searches

To that end, we've totally reworked the search algorithm at LifeWayWorship.com. We're indexing information we've never indexed before, and we're returning searches the way you expect them.

Song Titles

Themes and Topics

Lyric matching

That's just the tip of the iceberg for our search. Look for more posts about tips and tricks to make search work for you. We're always looking for ways that we can improve LifeWayWorship.com for you... let us know how we can help you in your worship ministry!

You voted, and what a great set of matchups there are in this round! We had a TON of votes... and there are a few surprises from some you might not expect to see in the big dance!

Our top seeded songs are:

1. In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)
2. There Is No Sin That I Have Done
3. I'd Need a Savior
4. Revelation Song
5. Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
6. Our God
7. How Great Is Our God
8. Mighty To Save
9. Amazing Grace
10. It Is Well
11. Everlasting God
12. How Great Thou Art
13. I Will Follow
14. Blessed Assurance
15. Glorious Day (LIving He Loved Me)
16. How Deep the Father's Love for Us

Just knowing the diversity of votes we got, I bet there are a few titles in there you may not know. Just click through the links in the above list - we've got samples of every title on the site.

A recap of the rules: Watch each week and vote for the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship. Your vote determines the most popular song at LifeWayWorship.com. On March 31, the winning song will be announced and made available for FREE - ALL DAY LONG!

Just like in any bracket challenge, the top seed plays the bottom, number 2 plays number 15 and so on. Choose your winners for each matchup below, submit the form and you'll get a code good for a FREE DOWNLOAD at LifeWayWorship.com!

Voting is closed! Cast your vote in the Elite 8 round!

Nominate your favorite worship song or hymn below and get a FREE download!

For the next week, we'll be taking nominations for titles to put into our "Sweet 16" single-elimination tournament bracket. You'll cast your vote for each title, and when we're down to the championship round, the winning song will be free for download for an entire day!

Nominations are closed!

Brackets will be posted at 1:00 p.m. today!

Today's promo code is: BEYONDABOVE

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

You Gave Your Life Away

"You Gave Your Life Away" was written as a complement to Paul Baloche's "Above All," another featured Easter song at LifeWayWorship.com. Watch the video posted above for the story behind the song!

Use today's promo code BEYONDABOVE to download "You Gave Your Life Away" today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/27/2011.)

Today's promo code is: TOTHELAMB

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

Worthy Is the Lamb

We have THREE songs titled Worthy Is the Lamb, at LifeWayWorship.com, a classic praise chorus by Don Wyrtzen, a new worship song by Darlene Zschech, and an even newer one by Jesus Culture. Whatever your worship style, you're sure to find one that will match your church's needs this Easter season!

Use today's promo code TOTHELAMB to download "Worthy Is the Lamb" today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/24/2011.)

Today's promo code is: TREMBLETREMBLE

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

Were You There

At LifeWayWorship.com, one of the constant requests we get from our churches is "we can't get enough of the contemporary versions of hymns!" They really serve two purposes. One, if you have always done a hymn a certain way in your church, this gives you a fresh take on it. Two, if you have never sung hymns in your church, you can easily fold these in with the worship song sets that you build to create a connection to the legacy of song that our faith enjoys.

When we surveyed our Easter hymns with contemporary treatments, "Were You There" floated to the top as a well-loved hymn that didn't have a contemporary version. Our take on it is in the vein of "The Wonderful Cross," with a sparse, modern treatment that builds into the last verse, but ends ready for a quiet transition, whether that's into a sermon, another song, or a video that answers the question, "were you there?"

Add Were You There to your cart and click "Map this Song?" to hear the whole arrangement. If you're interested, we also have a traditional hymn version, fully mappable with charts, tracks and media.

Use today's promo code TREMBLETREMBLE to download "Were You There" today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/23/2011.)

Today's promo code is: ARMSOUTWIDE

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

To the Cross

Paul Baloche is a unique songwriter. You'll find that many of his songs come straight out of a worship experience at his church, and "To the Cross" is no exception. Watch the video above to hear how the message of this song came out of a time when Paul was willing to ask the question, "what can we do to show our love to Him?"

Use today's promo code ARMSOUTWIDE to download "To the Cross" today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/22/2011.)

Today's promo code is: ISURVEY

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

The Wonderful Cross

Here's how "The Wonderful Cross" came into being:

"It came just at a sound check at a camp and Jesse the bass player was playing it on his bass. He was strumming it on the bass and I said, 'I haven't heard that hymn in a long time. I haven't sung that hymn in a long time.' I can remember as a kid, my mom would play that on the piano and the words were just amazing to me. In the middle of sound check I got up there with him and just started singing it. We started to play and I just started singing, 'Oh the wonderful cross,' just like that. Spontaneous. We were really into it and caught up in the moment. Then when we got to the studio we started putting it down and we wanted to really capture this hymn and give new life, not that we could add anything to those words but make it more into the music of our day." - Chris Tomlin radio interview

Use today's promo code ISURVEY to download "The Wonderful Cross", today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/21/2011.)

Today's promo code is: SEETHEDAWN

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

The Power of the Cross (Oh to See the Dawn)

Keith Getty and Stuart Townend's modern hymn "The Power of the Cross (Oh to See the Dawn)," will send your congregation home with the Easter message loud and clear. The simple verse and memorable chorus melodies are married with a lyric that is part Easter story song, and part response, the lyric models our reaction to Easter, proclaiming "Death is crushed to death life is mine to live, won through Your selfless love, this the power of the Cross."

LifeWayWorship.com

Use today's promo code SEETHEDAWN to download "The Power of the Cross (Oh to See the Dawn)", today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/18/2011.)

Today's promo code is: SUCHLOVE

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

See His Love

"See His Love," is a modern lyric that imagines each of us at the foot of the cross, seeing the amazing sacrifice that God gave for us. It's really a very clear worship song, giving us the opportunity to respond to the revelation of salvation. The version that we've created for LifeWayWorship.com is based on the Jesus Culture recording "We Cry Out."

Use today's promo code SUCHLOVE to download "See His Love", today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/17/2011.)

Today's promo code is: SIMPLEMADEDIVINE

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

Remembrance (Communion Song)

At first glance, with a title like "Remembrance (Communion Song)," Matt Redman's song is easily pigeonholed into your Lord's Supper Sunday plans, but the chorus is one that can be sung any time:

Lord, we remember You, and remembrance leads us to worship.
And as we worship You our worship leads to communion.
We respond to Your invitation, we remember You.

Use today's promo code SIMPLEMADEDIVINE to download one of three unique versions of Remembrance (Communion Song), today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/16/2011.)

Today's promo code is: LOVEPOUREDOUT

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

Lead Me to the Cross

"Lead Me to the Cross," is a Hillsong tune by Brooke Fraser that spells out the sacrifice that Christ gave at Calvary from our modern perspective. It is a song of confession, confessing that we abandon ourselves and submit to the authority of the One whose "love poured out" for our sins.

Use today's promo code LOVEPOUREDOUT to download one of three unique versions of Lead Me to the Cross, today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/15/2011.)

Today's promo code is: INTHELOVEOFCHRIST

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)

Written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend in 2001, "In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)," has become one of the most popular Christian songs of all time in the UK. Getty shares, "With 'In Christ Alone', I wanted to write a song that would tell the whole story of the life of Christ; almost like a modern creed."

Townend adds, "So much of it encapsulates what we need to know about who we are in Christ. It speaks about our hope. It speaks about death and Jesus' resurrection, but then it goes on to speak about what that means for us. In the last verse it talks about 'No guilt in life no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.' It goes on to say nothing can pluck us from His hand.

I think probably perhaps it's taken on a particular significance because it's very important for us to be thinking these things in the light of what's happened... in terms of 9/11 and all those things; that actually we need to recognize that there is someone who is in control amid all the fear that's happening in the world. God knows what He is doing. We are in His hands and I think that's been part perhaps of the popularity of this song."

Use today's promo code INTHELOVEOFCHRIST to download one of three unique versions of In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found), today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/14/2011.)

Today's promo code is: VASTBEYOND

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

When Stuart Townend wrote "How Deep the Father's Love for Us," he was already established as a contemporary worship writer. However, he felt that at some point he would draw from his musical background and write a hymn even though that was not his usual musical form of writing.

As Stuart said, "Nevertheless, I'd been meditating on the cross, and in particular what it cost the Father to give up his beloved Son to a torturous death on a cross. And what was my part in it? Not only was it my sin that put him there, but if I'd lived at that time, it would probably have been me in that crowd, shouting with everyone else 'crucify him'. It just makes his sacrifice all the more personal, all the more amazing, and all the more humbling. As I was thinking through this, I just began to sing the melody, and it flowed in the sort of way that makes you think you've pinched it from somewhere! So the melody was pretty instant, but the words took quite a bit of time, reworking things, trying to make every line as strong as I could."

The end result is a song that has become a standard in worship gatherings as diverse as home church groups to liturgical settings.

Use today's promo code VASTBEYOND to download one of three unique versions of How Deep the Father's Love for Us, today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/11/2011.)

Today's promo code is: SAVESUS

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

Hosanna (Praise is Rising)

Brenton Brown's praise anthem Hosanna (Praise is Rising) is a Kingsway worship song that fits right in with the Palm Sunday "Hosanna" message, but also is a great testimony song for today. It is a great opening to worship, welcoming God to inhabit our praises, at the same time being a song of commitment. You might try "bookending" a worship service with part of the song at the beginning and part of the song at the end.

Use today's promo code SAVESUS to download either the LifeWay Worship or Dick and Mel Tunney version of Hosanna (Praise is Rising), today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/10/2011.)

Set against the backdrop of Calvary itself, this modern hymn lets the worshipper express their gratitude and joy at the ultimate story of salvation. With lyrics from Michael Farren describing Jesus' "depth of love" and "reach of grace" at Calvary, "Jesus Died My Soul to Save" is very appropriate for Communion, Good Friday and times of ministry and invitation.

Download the new SuperChart for "Jesus Died My Soul to Save," and use it in worship this Sunday! The SuperChart gives you the right notes, the right words, the right rhythms and the right harmonies in all 12 keys.

Today's promo code is: STONEROLLED

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

Christ The Lord Is Risen Today

"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today", originally had eleven stanzas and was entitled, "Hymn for Easter Day". Written by Charles Wesley to the music of "Lyra Davidica", (1708), the song was first published in "Hymns and Sacred Poems"(1739). The present version contains the original stanzas 1, 4 and 5, the first two lines of stanza 2, and the last two lines of stanza 3. It is possible that a follower of the Wesleys, Martin Madan, an Anglican vicar, added the "Alleluias".

The hymn was first sung in what is known as the Foundry Meeting House, which was a deserted iron foundry in London that became the first Wesleyan chapel. This was one of Charles Wesley's earliest songs, written just a year after he was converted, for the first service in the foundry.

John Wesley at age seventy-seven, didn't include this hymn in a Methodist Hymnal collection highlighting his brother's best hymns. It was not until fifty years later that it was found by another editor and included in a new Wesleyan hymnal.

Use today's promo code STONEROLLED to download either the traditional or contemporary hymn version of Christ The Lord Is Risen Today, today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/9/2011.)

From the Gateway Worship album Living for You comes a tender, introspective new worship song. The lyric of "The More I Seek You" envelops the singer in an intimate encounter with the living God. Sing this song when you are concerned about guiding your worshippers to a greater connection with Christ, like in the context of a Lord's Supper moment.

At LifeWayWorship.com you can download the original artist demo, a stereo accompaniment track, or our SuperChart.

The SuperChart for "The More I Seek You" comes in all 12 keys, giving you every possibility that exists for a smooth transition from one song to the next, something essential when planning a quiet time of worship.

Today's promo code is: ENCOUNTERGOD

Every weekday in February, we'll be featuring one of your favorite 20 Easter songs at LifeWayWorship.com, and giving you a coupon good for one free download. If you're interested in a song we feature, you can use the code to download the demo, track or chart and start using it in worship!

Christ Is Risen

One of the newer Easter songs on our site, Christ Is Risen was based on a 3rd century sermon that was centered on the idea that God used death to conquer death. In the video above, Matt shares how the song is perfect for any Sunday, helping us to proclaim Christ's victory.

Use today's promo code ENCOUNTERGOD to download Christ Is Risen today! (coupon good for one free download, up to a $1.99 value, expires 2/8/2011.)