February 2008

The Missing Element of Worship
It was a beautiful spring morning and people were trickling in just before the late service began at New Heights Christian Church. Josalyn, a relatively new Christian, caught sight of David as he walked through the back door of the church. They had dated three times, all within just the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately David had decided that Josalyn really wasn’t the person with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life, so he ended the relationship. Josalyn, on the other hand, had enjoyed their times together. She had begun to think that David would be a good catch. But now she was miffed. What a slug, she thought. I can’t believe he’s got the nerve to still come to church. She dramatically turned in her seat and faced the opposite direction.

SongSelect Vocal/Hymn Sheets: Completely Unique

Indeed, CCLI’s new vocal/hymn sheets are very unique to the world of church music. In my 38 years of involvement in church music as a writer, arranger, orchestrator, publisher, clinician and music engraver, I’ve never seen, let alone been involved with, a tool for corporate worship that is as unique and, I believe, functional as this one. 

Music, Ministry and Money
Nowhere is the tension between art, commerce and spirituality more fundamentally illustrated than in Christian music publishing. ...As Mike Settle wrote in American Songwriter Magazine, "Publishing can be a lucrative and relatively stable arm of the music business. It can also be a bottomless pit of bloodsucking rejection and despair - a hole filled with your valuable time, money, hopes and dreams. Don't it sound like fun?"