The Newday 2011 live album is out now on iTunes £7.95!

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Track listing:

1. Here For You
2. No One Better
3. We Are Yours
4. Devotion
5. 10,000 Reasons
6. Father Like No Other
7. Thank The Lord
8. Christus Victor
9. One Thing Remains
10. Our God Is Holy

Featuring Simon Brading, Jules Burt, Jordan Dillon, Sam Cox and Myles Dillon.

Acoustic tasters:

DEVOTION

CHRISTUS VICTOR

DEVOTION

BUY NOW

Back in August, Jules Burt, Jordan Dillon and myself had the enormous privilege of leading worship at Newday 2011. But this time we tried something a little different. Instead of each of us leading the different sessions over the week individually, we decided to co-lead all of them, all together, as a team.

What followed over that week was one of the most profound, exciting and fulfilling weeks of leading worship I’ve ever experienced. God led us places we’d never been; new songs and new sounds just came out of us; we journeyed deep into the heart of God. So after some thought, Jules, Jordan and I have pulled together 9 reasons why co-leading worship worked for us:

1. Breadth of gifting

God builds us to be a body of different parts (1 Cor 12:12-30) so each worship leader has different gifts – no one person has it all. Jules has a strong prophetic gift, I operate more from a leadership and teaching gift, whereas Jordan has a strong American gift. Leading as a team means we can all play to our strength and go places we wouldn’t have necessarily gone if just one person had led.

2. Breadth of songs

When say Jules is leading, there will be some songs she wouldn’t use as they’re more suited for a guys voice, so her song choice is restricted. Leading as a team means Jordan could step in for that song – opening a greater breadth of songs for her to choose from.

3. Breadth of prophetic songs

Sometimes one of us may have a new song to sing out in the moment, either prophetically or as a response song (Ps 96:1, Col 3:16, Eph 5:19). With more of us on the stage, there’s a greater breadth of style and song that would bubble up.

4. Stepping back, taking in

When someone takes over the lead for a bit, it gives you a chance just to step back and see what the Father is doing. It’s often easier to hear Him speak and see Him move when you step back and just watch, without having to lead the meeting. Then you can jump in again and take the reigns if and when is right.

5. More energy on stage

It surprises me how often I see people lead and play in worship bands who quite frankly look BORED. I feel like asking them “Do you actually believe what you’re singing??” Body language is such a big part of leading worship, we lead from our hearts, then our bodies. So having more people on stage, full of energy, zeal and passion for God, means people are caught up in a mighty celebration, rather than a dull life-less meeting.

6. Stops being about one person

Our role is to direct hearts to God and we always want Him to be the focus of what we do. Sometimes having one worship leader all evening, one face on the screen the whole time and one voice coming out of the speakers can be a temptation for us to place too much attention and value on that worship leader. Leading as team helps emphasise the fact we’re there to look to God, rather than enjoy a one-man show. It helps protect our hearts as leaders too.

7. Models team

Closely linked with number 6, there’s something about teams that God particularly loves. God Himself is a team; 3 persons, 1 God. They’re all equal, yet all honour each other. So in a world full of big egos, VIPs and X-factor celebs, it’s a great opportunity for us to try and model honouring each other, preferring each other, and respecting each other as we lead worship. (Note. I’m not comparing Jules, Jordan and I to the trinity. That would be wrong)

8. Sharing the load

Leading worship is spiritually and physically draining, so it’s great to know you don’t have to carry it all but there are others who can step in and carry the meeting with you. It’s like knowing you’re all in it together makes it seem easier!

9. It’s fun!

We love being team, dancing, celebrating and making a huge sound together!

3 leaders, 1 meeting?

So how did it actually work? Basically all three of us would be on stage, with different ones taking a lead in the worship at different points in the evening. One of us would still take more of a lead overall for that particular evening, planing song-list and deciding who’d lead which songs. But the idea was we’d lead as a team – if any one of us felt God leading it in a certain direction, we’d go with it – listening, honouring, respecting each other, and seeing what God would do. This is something I’d seen modelled amazingly well by Dave Fellingham, Stuart Townend, Lou Fellingham, Kate Simmonds, Paul Oakley and Matt Redman over the years, and more recently at Worship Central and was keen to give it a go….

For 2 weeks we’re giving away the sheet music to Stuart’s Gethsemane hymn, for use over Easter. It’s an awesome hymn about Jesus in Gethsemane, moving words and haunting melody.

Download pdf: Gethsemane Hymn

TO SEE THE KING OF HEAVEN FALL
In anguish to His knees,
The Light and Hope of all the world
Now overwhelmed with grief.
What nameless horrors must He see,
To cry out in the garden:
“Oh, take this cup away from me –
Yet not my will but Yours,
Yet not my will but Yours.”

To know each friend will fall away,
And heaven’s voice be still,
For hell to have its vengeful day
Upon Golgotha’s hill.
No words describe the Saviour’s plight -
To be by God forsaken
Till wrath and love are satisfied
And every sin is paid
And every sin is paid

What took Him to this wretched place,
What kept Him on this road?
His love for Adam’s curséd race,
For every broken soul.
No sin too slight to overlook,
No crime too great to carry,
All mingled in this poisoned cup –
And yet He drank it all,
The Saviour drank it all,
The Saviour drank it all.

Stuart Townend & Keith Getty
Copyright © 2009 Thankyou Music

Download pdf: Gethsemane Hymn

Spring Harvest have done a great cover of a song I wrote on John 11 with Graham Kendrick, God of Compassion. It’s for their Newsongs 2010 album, you can buy here.

I like what they’ve done with it, bit different to the CCK album version.

See Martha weeping at a tomb
How deep the anguish of her grieving
Her brother Lazarus is gone
And hope lies cold and buried with him
And then Jesus comes

See Mary stumbling through her tears
To meet the one who could have saved him
Why did it have to end this way?
Did he not care her heart was breaking?
And she falls facedown, in her deep despair
Pours out her pain, and His heart breaks.
Then His anger burns, in the face of death
Jesus weeps, Jesus weeps

God of compassion
God of compassion is here
God of all comfort
Is here with us, has come to us
God of compassion

There is no pain he does not know
No road of bitterness or sadness
No depths of sorrow we can go
He walks the valley there beside us
Let us lift our eyes, look in to the face
Of a God who knows, a God who weeps
And His voice cries out, in the darkest place
I am the Life, I am the Life

And now He lives, He is the life, He is the life
Alive in Him, we’ll never die, never die

Simon Brading & Graham Kendrick
Copyright (c) 2009 Thankyou Music & Make Way Music

Easter is just around the corner and we’d love to resource you  for your Easter and Good Friday services.
For 2 weeks we’re giving away the sheet music to three great Easter songs!

A song on Good Friday:
Gethsemane by Stuart Townend | sheet music

A song on the Cross:
Pardoned by Mike Sandeman | sheet music | video

A song on the Resurrection:
The Third Day by Simon Brading | sheet music | video | MP3

Download all (.zip 10MB)

Pardoned:

The Third Day:

Our good friends The 29th Chapter have released a single mainstream – Invincible. It’s an absolute tune.

They very much feel God is calling them to move into the mainstream world right now and we wanna support them as much as possible. The single was released on Monday 22nd Feb and they basically need 15000 people to buy it in the next 2 weeks to make the top 40.

Please will you stand with our brothers and support them by buying the single?

1. Buy

There are three easy ways to buy it:
iTunes £0.79
Amazon £0.69
HMV £0.79

£0.69, easy peasy – that’s peanuts. Or even better why not buy it 3 times from all three places? £2.27 in total, that’s not even a pint (all three will count towards the total). The charts close 11:30pm Saturday night so be quick. Check out their website, or facebook page for more info.

2. Make some noise…

Please can you tweet, facebook, myspace, text, email this around to anyone and everyone and get people to buy! Here’s the direct URL to the track on iTunes http://bit.ly/brNNdr

For more info check out at www.29thchapter.com
Thanks for all your help.

A series of articles on prayer written by Joel Virgo are currently being featured on The Resurgence Blog, a resource based in America and run in partnership with Mars Hill Church Seattle and the Acts 29 network.

With over 20,000 subscribed followers, the blog is a significant resource and speaks into the lives of many.

The series looks to the book of Nehemiah for lessons in how to pray fervently and effectively. Please take a look at this helpful resource and be encouraged to share it with others.

To see the King of heaven fall
In anguish to His knees,
The Light and Hope of all the world
Now overwhelmed with grief.
What nameless horrors must He see,
To cry out in the garden:
“Oh, take this cup away from me –
Yet not my will but Yours,
Yet not my will but Yours.”

To know each friend will fall away,
And heaven’s voice be still,
For hell to have its vengeful day
Upon Golgotha’s hill.
No words describe the Saviour’s plight -
To be by God forsaken
Till wrath and love are satisfied
And every sin is paid
And every sin is paid

What took Him to this wretched place,
What kept Him on this road?
His love for Adam’s curséd race,
For every broken soul.
No sin too slight to overlook,
No crime too great to carry,
All mingled in this poisoned cup –
And yet He drank it all,
The Saviour drank it all,
The Saviour drank it all.

You can buy the song for £0.79 on iTunes here

Worshipping in spirit is the opposite of empty formalism and traditionalism. Worshipping in truth is the opposite of worship based on an inadequate view of God. Worship must have heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought.

Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and church full of artificial admirers (like people who write generic anniversary cards for a living). On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse he disciple of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and morrow of biblical worship.