Music That Blesses Others

“Grace Found Me” by Rich Kirkpatrick

2012-04-27T07:52:39Z

The Song: “Grace Found Me”

Use the player below to listen to “Grace Found Me″ from Rich Kirkpatrick‘s album Drink the Divine.

Story Behind “Grace Found Me”

From Rich Kirkpatrick: I wrote the five songs for my EP that “Grace Found Me” comes from in the context of being a worship leader and worshiper. What is true religion and how does that come across in what we sing to God? My journey is not complete, but I am learning that much of what I thought was “true” was just a hollow piety, starving my life from the one who is my life. Jesus. I hope you discover with me the sacred place where the help that we need exists. Grace.

Brennan Manning, a beloved author and speaker, repeated in his memoir All Is Grace this idea that “grace found me”. God loves us for who we are today, not what we think we should be. It is from that love that we follow. It is the riches of his love blessing us and kindess reaching us that turns us to God. Our efforts do not earn. In pondering the book by Manning, I wrote this song. I sure hope it can encourage others to see how much God has already blessed us–even in our brokenness. Sometimes, especially in our brokenness.

Song Lyrics

In the dark of doubt, I’m closer to good news
For it takes a broken heart
To finally hear the truth

A prodigal I am, reaching for the father’s hand

Grace, grace you found me
From my shame now I’m set free
Grace, grace you saved me
From my blindness now I can see, grace
I see grace

Your favor can’t be earned
My efforts fall in vain
For I have a broken heart
And, I’m the one to blame

A prodigal I am, reaching for the father’s hand

Grace, grace you found me
From my shame now I’m set free
Grace, grace you saved me
From my blindness now I can see, grace
I see grace

Rich Kirkpatrick Bio

Rich is a family man, blogger, musician, worship leader, pastor who loves espresso, social media & life-changing conversation. His blog, Rich Kirkpatrick’s Weblog (or RKWeblog.com) has been in the top 50 Christianity blogs for the past several years, recently winning “Best Religion Blog 2012″ by World Media Awards, and “Editors Pick” for best blogs by Worship Leader Magazine. Rich hosts a podcast for worship leaders and worshipers at http://worshipmythbusters.com where the goal is to help debunk myths or ways of thinking we hold on to that get in the way of our worship and liturgy.

As a songwriter, Rich brings his pastoral experience, artistic training, and years of local church work to the table. He has been an effective worship leader, songwriter, blogger and pastor serving the local church. His music, deep in theology and musically cinematic, comes from the context of leading worship. Modern worship music today has the potential to tell stories, express our creeds, and bridge the generations but rarely dares to go there. Rich’s music strives to do this against the odds. In “Drink the Divine” Rich artistically explores telling the story of history, experience, and grace with the worshiper of today.

Connect with Rich:

The Album: Drink the Divine

Drink the Divine by artist Rich Kirkpatrick

Justin Fox – Blessing Champion Interview

2012-03-07T19:01:26Z

Justin Fox Bio

Justin Fox has been pushing boundaries and drawing outside the lines for over two decades. He graduated from a Christian college with a major in Church Leadership, but never quite settled in one church. Feeling the call instead toward a touring ministry of music and teaching, he and his new bride hit the road for the adventure of their lives. 10 albums and 20 years later, we find the couple with four grown kids and a fresh vision for local mission and community involvement.

As a City Pastor for ROCKHARBOR Church, Justin has jumped into the Spirit’s movement within his city of Costa Mesa; mobilizing the faith community toward incarnational relationships, community development, church unity partnerships, and cutting edge outreach.

His latest album, The Sound Forgiveness Makes, captures this fresh passion for reconciliation and a renewed dependence on God’s strength and guidence. It features his long-time band on soulful blues jams, souring rock anthems, and folksy, acoustic prayers. It’s his most richly diverse work to date and paints a colorful picture of an artist on the move.

Connect with Justin:

Listen to and watch Justin’s song, Psalm 23.

The Interview Transcript

Shon: Hi my name is Shon Stuart. I also have with me my parents, Tom and Jorja Stuart and our blessing champion Justin Fox. Welcome to music that blesses others Justin.

Justin: Thanks, thanks for having me.

Jorja: Justin, why don’t you tell us a little about your family, how long you’ve been married, the names and ages of your children and anything else you’d like to tell us about ‘em.

Justin: Yeah. I’ve been married eighteen years. It’s been a really fun, fun adventure. We got married a week after I graduated from bible college so it was a whirlwind of friends and family and really, really, really neat time and so eighteen years later here now we have four kids – they’re fifteen years old, twelve, ten and eight. No, we just had some birthdays fifteen, thirteen, eleven and eight. Now yeah.

Jorja: Great.

Justin: Yeah they’re fun. We have one boy. He’s our thirteen year old and these girls (and). Kind of a musical family. A few of our kids have gotten my musical genes and so it’s been kind of a boisterous home and a lot of fun.

Jorja: Great.

Tom: Justin, as a parent why do you feel the blessing is important, is an important message and why would you encourage people to take the blessing challenge?

Justin: Well in our family I’ve seen the power of that verbal blessing, that, that part. My mom use to, in kind of an informal way, she would bless us as kids. She would kind of as we went of to school or as we were, uh I don’t know, you know headed out the door she would say a kind of a “May God be with you. May God give you wisdom,” or something like that and they were neat prayers that kind of sort of rang in our hearts throughout the day. And I thought they were really appropriate. And so in our lives now as a family, I’ve been kind of repeating that pattern, that tradition with my kids. And just felt challenged in other, in other ways to formalize that a bit more, and to think of a few sentences, to structure them together that really empower our children and even, even my wife even being able to just empower each other with that kind of a blessing.

It’s neat and it’s so neat and I think poignant and that its biblical and has this real biblical history to it. So you see these biblical characters imparting these blessings and you think well maybe that’s cultural or maybe that’s old and it doesn’t relate to us these days but yet we see its power right, right in it as we step into that with each other so I love it and I’ve seen the effect of it in our family and I am excited to encourage others.

Tom & Jorja: Great!

Shon: So Justin, tell us about your ministry and how you came to write this particular version of Psalm 23.

Justin: I’ve been traveling, singing, and writing songs for a lot of years since I got married, pretty much since college and I had the chance to visit a lot of different churches so my ministry was kind of under the radar, kind of grassroots style church ministry and traveling to churches all around the country and the world and singing these original songs that I had written on acoustic guitar, sometimes having a band with me but a lot of times just kind of being solo but it, it was it’s really been great about so almost eighteen years now just traveling all over and kind of going through every door that God opens whether it’s small opportunity or a big grandiose thing and seeing God work in all of those settings.

It’s been, been neat to see and an honor to be a part of and I’ve been you know recording these cds throughout the years, I feel like in the times I’ve spent alone with God he seems to almost most of the time give me a song or something original thought or musical phrase and so I’ve been putting those to song and recording these cds throughout the years and so this last cd is my tenth one and I was kind of compiling my batches of songs that I had kind of compiled through the year thinking about what God had in store for this record and one of things I’d been really inspired by in the last maybe five to so years is the Message translation of the bible, Eugene Peterson’s Message paraphrase.

It’s kind of this loose paraphrase of the bible but it’s written in sort of everyday language you know street-talk vernacular kind of thing. I just really liked it. Growing up in a Christian home around the bible all my life, it gave a fresh perspective to the scripture for me. It kind of brought it alive in a new way so I latched on to it and was really moved by it as I would read it through the years. And I thought it had kind of a sing-songy kind of feel to it I thought. Maybe there could be some songs that could come out of it and with my times with the Lord I’d be strumming my guitar and these Message phrases you know from, from scripture would just kind of come out and I just kind of started experimenting with how those would go along with the, with a melody.

So, looking at Psalm 23 I loved the language that Eugene Peterson brought to it and I had this tune and it was kind of out-of-the-box, the idea of this song. It was kind of a quirky thing but it seemed to sort of work and I was able to put it together with these chords and the producer of the album helped kind of shape it, and put the rest of it together but I’m excited how it came out and, and it, to me when I sing it, when I share it with others it just reminds me of God’s faithfulness, like His blessing you know on us.

The way that He sets us up you know for resting in Him and for this path that He set out before us you know these by streams of water you know, pleasant pastures and, and the refrain near the end that I caught and latched on to in the song was May God’s beauty and love it says God May your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I thought that is so powerful, May God’s beauty and love chase after us every day of our life and what a neat blessing we can pass on to others you know, may God’s beauty and love chase after you every day of your life and I’m, I’m hoping that that blessing comes through on this song.

Shon: That’s really cool.

Justin: Thanks.

Tom: So you’ve obviously chosen to use your musical talents to bless others. What words of encouragement do you have for those new voices who would consider becoming a featured artist on our website?

Justin: I would just encourage them to, to go for it, to send in your stuff. You know I think some of us think oh I don’t know if I have a song that’s particularly about blessing or does it fit you know exactly right? Maybe this song can be an encouragement to you that, that it’s kind of a, it’s a, it’s a big concept and this idea of songs that can bless others are are probably pretty diverse and I would just encourage folks to take a step out you know and to send it in.

I think sometimes we think oh I need my music to be just perfect or it doesn’t have this part or this part and I don’t, I don’t know about putting it our there. I think for me watching God really bless that active obedience of just putting it out there whether I thought it was the best thing or not or whether I was perfectly proud of it. It’s just one of things where we just kind of surrender and we say God I want to give this to you and let you direct it and guide it.

So I just encourage folks to yeah, step out and like my story to go through every door small doors, big doors, just to, to go through them and to honor God with what He’s given you. God’s blessed us with these talents and gifts and I would encourage other artist to pass that blessing on. How can we be a blessing if we don’t step out and share what we have?

Jorja: That’s great. Well, thank you and we are so thankful that you could come and join us and we’re really happy to have you on board as a blessing champion and we look forward to all that God’s going to do in your ministry and as we work together as well.

Justin: Thanks, great to be on you guys.

Justin Fox’s Latest Album: “The Sound Forgiveness Makes”

The Sound Forgiveness Makes from artist Justin Fox

“Psalm 23″ by Justin Fox

2012-04-27T07:31:15Z

The Song: “Psalm 23″

Use the player below to listen to “Psalm 23″ from Justin Fox‘s album The Sound Forgiveness Makes

The Story Behind “Psalm 23″

From Justin: “Several years ago, I discovered The Message paraphrase of the Bible, and God used it to bring His Word alive to me in new ways. I fell in love with the language and rhythmic qualities of the text. I immediately began thinking of melodies along with the words, and several songs soon formed around my favorite scripture passages. Psalm 23 is a classic. I get such a feeling of peace when I read it. Psalm 23 helps me realize again that God is with me, He cares for me, and that He’s trustworthy. I can rest in His blessing. One of the last lines gives me so much hope, “His beauty and love chase after me everyday of my life.” What a joy it is to be living a life on the lookout for his beauty and love everyday.”

Song Lyrics

(From Eugene Peterson’s The Message)

God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
      you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
      you let me catch my breath
      and send me in the right direction.

Even when the way goes through
      Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
      when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
      makes me feel secure.

You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.

Justin Fox Bio

Connect with Justin:

Justin Fox’s Latest Album: “The Sound Forgiveness Makes”

The Sound Forgiveness Makes from artist Justin Fox

Sarah Studebaker – The Interview

2012-03-07T07:35:17Z

Sarah’s Bio

Sarah grew up in Oklahoma, where she, her parents, and her two younger sisters made music a way of life in a very musical family. She spent her childhood participating in music lessons, tagging along to concerts, performing in various groups, and ultimately pursuing a couple of music degrees. While in college, Sarah stumbled upon and fell in love with contemporary worship music. Since then, she has played, sung, and led people in worship in various churches, retreats, etc.

Along with various worship music opportunities, Sarah also works as a Music Therapist where she uses music as a tool to help kids with developmental disabilities build skills and gain independence with their various difficulties. She has a passion for music that has purpose and, whether it’s helping kids find God’s image within them, or pointing people to worship the One who puts that image there, she feels there is great purpose.

The Interview Transcript

Shon: Hi, my name is Shon Stewart and I have Sarah Studebaker with me, and we’re going to be talking a little bit about her musical career.

Jorja: I’m also with Shon and Sarah, here. This is Shon’s mother, Jorja Stewart.

Sarah, we were listening to your song, “The Blessing”, and we were very much touched by it. Even though you shared a bit about it on your video, why don’t you give us a quick overview of how you came to write it.

Sarah: It was really kind of a cool experience. I was playing at a retreat, doing some worship for a church group. I remember showing up at the retreat kind of wondering why I was there. It was an interesting mix of people. I was by far the youngest person there and I just thought, ‘Mm, I wonder what this is about.’ It was great watching God unfold the week-end.

These were all church-goers and believers and they loved the Lord, and yet, I was seeing God free a lot of people from some of the junk that the world kind of piles on our shoulders. I remember going into my room the night before the final worship time and I thought, ‘What can I send these people off with? I don’t have advice or wisdom or any of that kind of thing to impart to these people. What do I do?’

Then it dawned on me. What better way to send them on their way than with a blessing, reminding them that they’re walking away with God’s blessing, and that He will keep them, and that He will smile on them and give them that peace that just makes no sense in this world. So, it’s fun. I thought the song was just going to stay at that retreat, but it has been really fun to see how this little chorus has just popped up, and I’ve sung it so many times at so many different places.

Jorja: That’s great, and I’m sure the Lord will use it on this program to bless many people, and it’ll be fun to hear their comments.

Sarah: I hope so.

Jorja: We noticed that your email address had ‘cello’ in it. Do you play the cello?

Sarah: I do. I grew up in a musical family. My parents were both professors of music at the university. I grew up around music a lot, tagging along to different concerts, hearing music at home, and grew up playing music and singing, all that kind of stuff. So, I ended up doing a lot with music and played the cello as one of those instruments for many years growing up. I still play it occasionally here and there.

Jorja: Oh, that’s great. Shon, tell her what one of your favorite musical instruments is.

Shon: One of my favorite musical instruments is the saxophone. I love the the saxophone. But I actually have a cousin who played the cello, so that’s kind of neat, too.

Sarah: Awesome.

Jorja: So, where do you live, and how long have you lived there, and what do you do, right now?

Sarah: I live in Phoenix, and I’ve been here just about four years, now. I work as a music therapist with kids with autism and other developmental disabilities, and that kind of thing.

Shon: How do you like doing that? How does that work?

Sarah: Music therapy? Music therapy is using music and its different elements like rhythm and melody, or singing and creating music, different things like that, to help people build skills and build independence in moving and speaking, thinking, communicating, and so forth. It’s really fun to see music as a tool to help these folks, but really, what I love about my job is, at the end of the day, it really boils down to believing in people. I mean, when I think of this blessing challenge and the idea of passing a blessing onto other people and looking at it in my life, I think of these kids a lot.

Shon: What is your faith background? How did you come to know the Lord, and how does that apply in your current line of work?

Sarah: People often ask, ‘when did you accept Christ?’ and things like that, and I’ve always thought that the question is sometimes a little odd, you know, a little like knowing a person for years and only ever talking about thefirst time you met. But, I grew up in the church and gave Christ my heart at a very young age. I think more what amazes me is the journey—how God can use every bend in the road, every mountain and every valley, to teach me to give more and more of my life to Him in every day. It’s a roller coaster ride.

Shon: Oh yeah, I know that!

Jorja: You mentioned that you grew up in a musical family, so I gather that’s where you got your interest in music?

Sarah: Yes, I think I’ve spoken music as much as I’ve spoken English.

Jorja: That’s kind of Shon’s language, too.

Shon: Yes, in fact, Mom and Dad were asking, ‘what’s your favorite kind of music, and why do you like music’ and I said, ‘I don’t know, I just do.’

Sarah: It’s a hard question.

Jorja: Yes. Shon just recently had a little surgery on his lip and they said, ‘we don’t want you to sing for a month’, and Shon said, ‘Oh, you might as well ask me not to breathe!’

Shon: Yeah, really.

Sarah: I understand that.

Jorja: Obviously, we’ve heard some ways that the Lord has used music in your life, and this wonderful way that you’re blessing all these children, and obviously, you use your gift in retreats. How, personally, would you say the Lord has used music in your life?

Sarah: Oh boy, that’s a tough question because music has just been such a big part of my life. God has used it throughout my life. I would say the words of Zephaniah 3:17 kind of ring true here. The end of that verse says something along the lines of I bathe you with love, and that He will rejoice over you in singing. Music has definitely been a place where the Lord does both of those: He quiets me down and He infuses me with His joy.

I love listening to positive and encouraging music, and it seems to lift my spirits up. Also, writing music, especially music to share with other people, just never fails to be anything but a blessing to me. I know that there’s no greater joy in my own life than lifting my voice and worshipping God in music, and one of my favorite sounds in the world is hearing a room full of people all singing to the Lord. It’s one of the most humbling things just to recognize that God chooses to use little old me to help people worship Him.

Shon: That’s really cool. Isn’t Zephaniah 3:17 your favorite verse, Mom?

Jorja: It’s one of them, yes.

So, Shon, do you have any other questions you’d like to ask?

Shon: No, I think we’re pretty much on the same page as far as the whole musical experience. God has really used music in my life to minister. I don’t know what I’d do without my music. That’s a big part of my life.

I think we’ve covered everything.

Jorja: All right, that sounds great.

Thank you so much, Sarah, for your time, and we really look forward to seeing how the Lord’s going to use this song of yours.

Sarah: Looking forward to it. Take care.

“The Lord Bless You” by Sarah Studebaker

2012-03-05T07:38:10Z

The Song

Use the player below to listen to “The Lord Bless You”:

Story Behind “The Lord Bless You”

The Lord Bless You is a song written both in response to watching God work in the lives of people and to God’s leading my heart to bless His people. During the course of a weekend retreat, I watched God lead people to break away from the weight of the world that so often finds its way to our shoulders. As I sat in my room the final night of the retreat, thinking about how to go about our closing worship time, I felt there was no better way than to send them on their way with God’s blessing.

Song Lyrics

The Lord bless you
And I pray He keep you well
The Lord shine on you
And I pray He be gracious still
And turn His face to you
And give you peace

The Lord bless you
And I pray He keep you well
The Lord shine on you
And I pray He be gracious still
And turn His face to you
And give you peace
And give you peace
And give you perfect peace

Welcome From Shon Stewart

2012-02-23T17:12:54Z

Shon would like to cordially welcome you to Music that Blesses Others!

Shon has been passionate about music for his entire life and is looking forward to hearing your music and meeting new artists. Music that Blesses Others is part of The Blessing Challenge, brought to you by Strong Families and many other well-known Sponsors.

Don’t forget to learn how to Submit Your Song or feel free to say hello by visiting our Contact Us page.

“The Blessing” by Shon & Jorja Stewart

2012-02-24T07:54:32Z

Shon Stewart has an amazing story. He was born prematurely at 2 pounds 12 ounces with Cerebral Palsy. Despite his physical difficulties, he has grown into an accomplished musician who loves to lead people to Christ with his testimony.

“The Blessing” (sub-titled “On Eagle’s Wings”) is a beautiful example of the body of Christ working together to accomplish God’s plan. Read the lyrics and learn more about the background of “The Blessing” here.

Below, listen to Shon sing “The Blessing”, written by his mother Jorja, and watch photos of his life and story.

“The Blessing” Song Background Story

2012-02-23T17:13:13Z

“The Blessing” (sub-titled “On Eagle’s Wings”) is a beautiful example of the body of Christ working together to accomplish God’s plan.

The lyrics came to me one week-end during a stay at our mountain home. It was inspired by Shon’s life and Dr. John Trent’s message on “the blessing” (how parents can bless and empower their children). My husband, Tom, encouraged me to share the song.

Since I don’t write music, I prayed for a musician to help me. About a week later, Tom and I hosted a retreat at our mountain home, and I met a talented young man named David Shay. We discussed the song, and I liked his ideas, so we teamed up to create the version of the song that Shon will sing on the website. (I later shortened the song for radio).

Once that was complete, Tom and I took Shon to producer Don French and, with Shon’s voice teacher, Andy Boettner, coaching, Shon was recorded. We then added photos from Shon’s life to create the DVD for this website.

The most difficult part for me was deciding which memories to eliminate. How do you capture 30 years of life in less than 6 minutes? That was the challenge.

The Lord did, indeed, use Shon’s birth to bring about Tom and my salvations. We then led our children, Shon, Heather, and Kristy to the Lord. Through the Bible, and people like Dr. John Trent, Tom and I learned ways to bless our children. It is our prayer that this song, and Shon’s life, will bless and encourage you.

Jorja Stewart

Welcome from John Trent

2012-02-24T07:52:04Z

Listen to a special Welcome Message by Dr. John Trent below:

Welcome to Music That Blesses Others! You’re going to love this part of The Blessing Challenge Community where our goal is to inspire you to keep giving and living the Blessing -- with great, God-honoring music!

Every week or two, you’ll get to meet and listen to another “new voice” in Christian music who has added their voice to The Blessing Challenge! What’s more, you’ll get to know and love our host for Music that Blesses Others –Shon Stewart! Shon is an outstanding person and Christian singer -- who, by the way, can sing at your church or conference as well! Just contact us by going to www.TheBlessing.com or by using the Contact Form on www.MusicThatBlessesOthers.com for more information on booking Shon for a Sunday, conference or special event.

Get ready to be inspired as you give and live the Blessing!

John Trent, Ph.D. and Tony Wheeler, Ph.D.