SGCM :: Online

September, 2010

March, 2010
08 Are You Gospel-Shaped, or Just Religious?
05 Can Christians Drink Alcohol? (A Biblical Response From the Pastors of SGCM)

February, 2010
26 Newspaper Article
25 Beer and Bible

May, 2009
28 Grace Applied
25 Get a New Addiction
15 Don't Waste The Delay

March, 2009
19 "Certain young men..."

February, 2009
25 The Reformed Culture
18 Revival begins with humility
14 The Core Issue
14 The Health of Your Souls
05 The Qualification of a gospel preacher

January, 2009
31 The Kingdom of self vs. The Kingdom of God
30 Bound For Glory
23 Intensifying Desires
22 The Gale of the Spirit
10 Eternal Youthfulness
03 It Is Finished!
01 This much O Lord we want you!

December, 2008
31 Bible Reading for 2009
30 What do you hope for in 2009?
27 Post-Christmas Blues:
19 The Substance Behind the Shadows
17 Amazed Again
05 A Divine Gift

November, 2008
26 Feeling Sorry For Yourself
25 Why be in a Local Church?
18 The Gospel and Family
13 The Prodigal God
07 Billy Graham at 90
06 Kids...who'd 'ave 'em?
06 What the Gospel Does
01 Who are you?

October, 2008
27 ESV Study Bible
24 Interview with Wendy Alsup
23 Gospel-centred Parenting
22 The Problem of Bad Bible Teachers
11 Hard Words For Hurting People
11 Merthyr Produces Some Of The Finest
07 The Posture of Prayer
01 God-reliance!

September, 2008
30 The Discipline of Treasuring Christ
29 Practical theology for Women
29 The Essence of Sin
27 A Miracle of Grace
26 Keep Yourself Satisfied in God
26 How Passionate Are Your Praises?
24 The World's Most Shockingly Scandalous and Glorious Story!
23 Thirsting
22 Monday Morning Awe
17 Intimacy
15 Are you believing in yourself?
15 Your identity is not in your suffering
04 The Gospel Produces Hope

August, 2008
14 Why is there fighting in Georgia?
14 Impressive China?
14 What Tony does in his spare time!!

June, 2008
20 The Happiest Man In The World
19 Hanging with the guys!
19 Humility displayed through lopsided love
19 CJ's 8 most recommended books
18 Spurgeon quote from Sunday's Message
17 Heaven
01 Dad's and Summer holidays (Part 3)
01 T4G Session 3
01 Free ebook!!

May, 2008
29 Maria Sue Chapman Memorial Service
28 Dads and Summer Holidays (Thoughts from CJ Mahaney)
28 Dads and Summer Holidays (Continued)
22 "Where Is Your God?"
09 John Wesley's Accountability Questions

April, 2008
30 T4G Session 2
30 Singing at T4G
25 The Absolute Importance Of Doctrine
24 A Small Mind's Struggle For Retention
23 "Come and See" or "Go and Tell"?
22 Go On Being Filled With The Spirit!
18 America Trip (Final Part???)
15 America Trip (Part 2)
14 America Trip (Part 1)
10 C S Lewis on "5 Tips For Clear Writing"...and talking!

March, 2008
26 The Work of The Spirit in Seattle
25 Taking the Plunge of Grace
23 Jesus Is Alive
22 From A Desert To A Glorious Kingdom
19 Tim Keller @ Google
12 Great Worship Resources Going Cheap!
08 Motivation to Worship
06 The Reason For God - Book Review by Tim Challies
06 7 Characteristics of an Ingrown Church
03 The Reason For God "Doubting Your Doubts"

February, 2008
18 Tim Keller and The Reason For God

January, 2008
07 New Year's Resolutions?

December, 2007
24 Favourite Christmas Films - the Result!!
18 Richard Dawkins ... a Cultural Christian!!
14 Favourite Christmas Films
12 The Gospel and Suffering
05 The Unmarried Woman WIth Lots of Husbands

November, 2007
27 The Truth of Fantasy
23 Free Jonathan Edwards Classic
23 We�re Loving Merthyr! (Update)
22 A Nation in Mourning ... Why?
20 The Good Shepherd
15 Lest we forget�
12 We�re Loving Merthyr!
08 Religion verses The Gospel
08 What Is a Gospel-Centered/Missional Church...
07 No Rest For The Wicked!

October, 2007
29 Advertisers sure know how to grab our attention
15 Praying About Praying
08 Work: A Holy Calling
01 Baby Dedications

November, 0000
00
00 Summer Holidays
00 Summer Holidays
00 Summer Holidays
00 Summer Holidays

Singing at T4G
30-04-2008 | SGCM Blog | Gospel | Application »
Bob Kauflin has some interesting reflections on leading worship at "Together for the Gospel". With the mix of denominations, preferences and traditions Bob clearly showed sensitivity to a variety of tastes an worship cultures.

Here are some of the things I learned, put into practice, or remembered this year.

You can experience and express strong emotions for God while singing hymns. I don�t know how many times I�ve heard someone say that hymns are dry, academic, lyrically dense, and inappropriate for �passionate worship.� That may be true in some people�s experience, but it certainly wasn�t the case at T4G. The times of singing were characterized at various times by awe, gratitude, wonder, joy, sorrow, celebration, and bold faith. I was filled with tearful amazement when we sang Isaac Watts� �How Sweet and Aweful.� Definitely no connection between hymns and a lack of emotion.

The ideal congregational vocal range (at least when it�s mostly men) is about from an A to a D. When I was preparing for the conference, I noticed that a number of the hymns were pitched in keys that were higher than I normally use. Melodies frequently got up around E and F. So I raised the keys of many of the songs. The first night we sang All Hail the Power in the key of G, which put the high note at a sustained E. After straining my voice and hearing a lot of guys drop to the lower octave, I went back to my original keys. Higher notes do make you sing with more passion, but when they�re too high, it�s just painful.

You don�t have to sing a lot of songs in a row to engage with God while singing. Worship leaders sometimes say that you can�t really �worship� unless you�ve sung for at least twenty minutes. Nonsense. We didn�t have any problem engaging with God at the conference even though we never sang more than two songs in a row. It did help that some of the songs had six or seven verses.

Even hymns have complicated melodies. More than once people have criticized modern worship songs for being too complicated. Hymns can be difficult to learn, too. �My Song is Love Unknown,� is a beautiful hymn, but very hard to pick up, even though I sang one verse by myself and the song has eight verses. �And Can it Be� is another challenging song if you�re unfamiliar with it.

Christians of diverse backgrounds and preferences can sing God�s praise together, because their unity is in the Gospel. I�m sure there were guys at the conference who would have preferred using additional instruments and vocalists. I know because I�m one of them. But when we gather to celebrate our unity in Christ, musical preference becomes a secondary issue. I�m happy to sing with anyone when we�re magnifying the greatness of the Savior.

It can be more challenging to lead worship with a single instrument than with a band. When I lead with a band I don�t have to carry every song musically. That means that leading by yourself in a small group can be more difficult than leading in a large congregation. On the other hand, I loved being able to use alternative voicings and chords whenever I wanted to.

When lyrics are projected, the person running them is a crucial part of the team. I forget this too often. A good projectionist has experience, reviews songs in advance, and has equipment that works. Although our lyric operator at T4G was new at the task, she did a great job. After the first session she learned to put up the words just slightly before we actually sang them. We also reviewed the lyrics before I led. A number of songs had wrong, missing, or additional lyrics. Unfortunately, the computer she was using wasn�t operating properly, which resulted in us having to sing the last song (Crown Him with Many Crowns) with no projected lyrics. Oh well�

Leading musically doesn�t mean I can�t direct people�s faith towards God�s Word. Although I�m sitting at a piano when lead, I�m most conscious of wanting to direct people�s hearts and minds to the truths we�re singing. To help me remember that fact, I always have a Bible with me on stage when I lead. Whether or not I use it every time, it makes the statement that we value God�s Word more than musical experiences.

There are many benefits to planning songs with someone else. Planning the songs with Mark Dever was a joy. We started with a list of songs to choose from. I submitted my thoughts for the songs we should sing and it took 4-5 email exchanges for us to come up with a final list of songs and tunes. At Mark�s urging I wrote a new ending for the 4th verse of Come Thou Fount, as well as an alternate chorus for Come Ye Sinners. I also learned a few new songs, including My Song is Love Unknown.

I�m sure the next time I lead worship I�ll have plenty to learn again.

Bob Kauflin
Gareth Lloyd

| Share | send feedback |