Themes of God’s sovereignty pervade the songs on this album. Why did you choose to make that focus for this album?
I had a sense that many people right now need re-assurance that God is in control in their lives. So many recent events, particularly economic ones, have reminded us that much of this life and this world is fragile, temporary and changing. We’ve heard so many statistics about mortgage payments defaults and unemployment - but these aren’t just facts and figures - this is real people’s lives. So into this environment I wanted the songs to inject some truth - that in contrast to all of this, God is unchanging, unfailing, unshifting and unshakeable. Jesus is the solid ground and firm foundations we can build our lives upon.

Unlike previous albums, all the songs are co-writes. Was that intentional, and if so, what were the benefits and drawbacks (if any)?
I loved the team dynamic. I wrote many other songs, but this time the co-written ones rose to the top of the pile, and that I think is a good thing. Not many things in the kingdom of God are meant to be carried out lone-ranger style all of the time!

How did you choose Robert Marvin as a producer and what did you enjoy about working with him on the project?
I came across him a while back - he’s a real worshipper but had never worked on a congregational style worship album until my last project. I also loved many of the other projects he’d produced, especially Mat Kearney. This time we went into the album process on such a strong footing, as we had a couple of years of friendship in the mix this time.

What song on the album is the most personally meaningful to you?
It’s hard, to say, but maybe ‘You alone can rescue’ - as we’ve had the privilege of singing this in 18 different countries already, and had a very encouraging response to it.

If there any song that has a unique story behind it?
Maybe the opening song, ‘This is how we know’. It’s based on John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 - so easy references to remember! I tried to finish this song for 3 months or so but had no chorus. My wife Beth came into the songwriting process, and 45 minutes later the song was finished!

Which song took the longest to write, and which song took the shortest?
The longest was ‘Gloria’ - Jonas Myrin and I had never settled on a chorus for this, then one day it all fell into place. That song probably took 18 months to complete (as we live in different nations!). The quickest was ‘How great is Your faithfulness’ - Jonas brought the beginnings of a chorus idea, and the verse thoughts came straight away, as did the bridge. It felt like a theme that was in our hearts and minds already, so when the melody started to take shape, the songwriting process flowed really quickly and smoothly. We made a few tweaks and edits afterwards, but most of that song was written within a few hours. It’s not always like that!

You don’t have to have songs being sung around the world to benefit from Matt’s example. Sometimes songs come quickly, sometimes they come slowly. But unless we’re faithful to write, you can be pretty sure they won’t come at all.

All the corporate worship we know of in the early church is saturated with words. While there are many things we don’t know about the worship of the early church in the Bible, we do know that they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42). We know they were devoted to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13). We know they brought hymns, words of instruction, revelations, tongues and interpretations (1 Cor. 14:26). In other words, while we can make inferences and prudential judgments about the role of visual arts in worship, we know for certain that their gatherings were infused with words.

Paul places a high value on maximum intelligibility in corporate worship (1 Cor. 14:1-25). There are times and places for ambiguity and subtlety. Corporate worship, however, is for proclamation. And words are the least ambiguous (though not always crystal-clear themselves) means by which the truth can be proclaimed. Dance can honor God, painting can praise our Maker, and music can please the Lord, but no other art form can proclaim the truth with as much shared intelligibility as words. Even the parables, which are often cited as encouragement for using stories and drama, were too ambiguous. That’s why Jesus told parables: to be unclear. “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you,” Jesus told his disciples. “But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven” (Mark 4:11-12).

Read the rest here.

Over the past years my first impressions have not only been confirmed; they’ve been deepened.

After listening to his latest album, We Shall Not Be Shaken, I found myself thanking God once again for Matt’s faithfulness to serve the church with his songwriting gift.

We Shall Not Be Shaken contains 12 songs, many expressing confident trust in a sovereign, wise, and loving God. The melodies are creative but singable, the harmonies are fresh, and Matt’s voice is as solid as ever. Here’s my take on the individual songs.

1. This is How We Know reflects on the fact that we know God’s love through the cross, and then translates that thought into loving those around us. There’s an awareness as well that we love God because He loved us first.

2. We Shall Not Be Shaken is a rocker that proclaims with unabashed courage, “Nations could be quaking, economies failing; When fear is found all around You’re the solid ground.” The chorus melody is contagious and filled with heart-strengthening truth: “Our God, You are all that You say You are; You never change, You never fail, You never fade.”

3. Through it All is an anthemic meditation on God’s immutability. “Through it all, You are faithful; Through it all, You are strong; As we walk through the shadows, Still You shine on.”

4. You Alone Can Rescue reminds us of our inability to save ourselves, a much needed emphasis in our self-promoting, self-sufficient culture.

5. The Glory of Our King jubilantly celebrates the privilege of being worshipers of God. “The rocks are going to cry out if we don’t; Now’s the time to raise a song; Hear creation shout loud; We will join our voices to that sound; Stand up, stand up — the time has come.” But rather than remain focused on our priase, the lyrics remind us of the joy we have to “take Heaven to a broken world.” This is another song with a musical hook that’s hard to forget.

6. How Great Is Your Faithfulness is another anthem extolling God’s unchanging character, only this time in a vibrant 6/8. Like other songs Matt has penned, the lyrics encourage us with the truth that “from generation to generation You never fail us, O God.”

7. Remembrance is a beautiful communion song that reminds us there are “none too lost to be saved; None too broken or ashamed; All are welcome in this place.” I wondered about one line that seems at face value to be referring to transubstantiation (”now the simple made divine”). When I read in the liner notes that the words were taken from the Roman Missal, I realized it was more than an implication. That being said, a case could be made that the song is talking about acknowledging God’s divine activity in the simple act of taking the bread and cup together. I’d want to make sure people knew what was meant by that line.

8. The More We See helps us meditate on the unending circle of worship — the more we see of God, the more we want to sing about His glory in creation and in the mercy of the cross. Not one of the strongest songs for me, but still solid.

9. For Your Glory sounds a lot like a remake of Matt’s song, Dancing Generation. Drawing from Ps. 24:7-10, we’re invited to dance and shout for God’s glory. But Matt includes two familiar themes — the cross and evangelism —that educate us as to why we’re so excited, thereby rescuing the song from mere emotionalism.

10. Gloria is a song I could hear being belted out by a massive crowd that’s reveling in God’s glory in creation (vs. 1) and the cross (vs. 2). Another effective anthem.

11. All That Really Matters is a mid-tempo song of commitment, expressing a desire to live for the One who is “the Way, the Life, the Truth.” The chorus reminds us that “All that really matters, all that really counts is found in You.”

12. The album closes with My Hope, a song that adds a chorus to two verses borrowed from Edward Mote’s On Christ the Solid Rock. It’s a hauntingly beautiful rewrite, perhaps better suited for a soloist than a congregation. Very moving.

After a quick listen, one might easily dismiss this album as just one more of the hundreds of modern worship offerings released each year. Don’t do it. While Matt’s lyrics may not always contain the breadth, precision, and theological depth of some modern writers (think the Getty’s and Stuart Townend), his songs are biblically faithful, cross-centered, poetically fresh, and God-glorifying. In addition, his melodies and harmonic progressions are consistently above standard fare.

You can download it from iTunes for $9.99 or Amazon for $9.49.

Matt was kind enough to respond to a few questions I had about the album. I’ll post his responses tomorrow.

In verse 8 the psalmist references a previous generation “whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.” They were remembered as NOT being faithful, and NOT being steadfast.

Have you thought much about what YOU want to be remembered for? That’s the question I ask in this 2 1/2 minute clip from my message.

Here’s a 3 1/2 minute excerpt from the message where I talk about the importance of finding musical styles that multiple generations can sing together.

I appreciated Ryle’s comments on the effect of writing good songs for the church to sing. It makes me more aware of the importance of leading and writing songs for congregational worship.

Good hymns are an immense blessing to the Church of Christ. I believe the last day alone will show the world the real amount of good they have done. They suit all, both rich and poor. There is an elevating, stirring, soothing, spiritualizing, effect about a thoroughly good hymn, which nothing else can produce. It sticks in men’s memories when texts are forgotten. It trains men for heaven, where praise is one of the principal occupations. Preaching and praying shall one day cease for ever; but praise shall never die. The makers of good ballads are said to sway national opinion. The writers of good hymns, in like manner, are those who leave the deepest marks on the face of the Church. (382)

What a difference a worship song writer can make! But in the next paragraph, Ryle criticizes many of the hymns that were being sung in his time. His comments are just as relevant today.

But really good hymns are exceedingly rare. There are only a few men in any age who can write them. You may name hundreds of first-rate preachers for one first-rate writer of hymns. Hundreds of so-called hymns fill up our collections of congregational psalmody, which are really not hymns at all. They are very sound, very scriptural, very proper, very correct, very tolerably rhymed; but they are not real, live, genuine hymns. There is no life about them. At best they are tame, pointless, weak, and milk-and-watery. (382)

If you’re a songwriter, don’t settle for a “milk-and-watery” product. Strive to write the best songs you can. Edit, edit, and re-edit. And if you’re a worship leader, don’t feed your people songs that “have no life” in them and will only have a temporary effect. Choose the greatest songs - lyrically, melodically, and musically - for your church to sing.

“The last day alone will show the world the real amount of good they have done.”

Worship Leader magazine picked our Psalms album as one of the “Best of the Best” products for 2009. We were pretty surprised, especially since we released the album in August 2008. But hey, we’re not going to complain.

To celebrate, we’ve dropped the price for the Psalms CD to $8 (33% off our usual price) through the end of November. You can also download the digital album for $6 (25% off). As always, U.S. orders over $15 get free shipping.

Psalms contains twelve songs echoing the passion, prayers, and praises of the psalmists. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can preview it with a free download of the song “Praise the Lord.” You can also get lyrics (all free) and sheet music (almost all free) at our online store.

Spread the word.

In this section we talk about the importance of planning as well as listening for  the Spirit’s leading during the meeting. In my experience, people tend to value one or the other. Either we trust completely in our plan and wouldn’t think of veering from it, or we minimize preparation and think God is only active when something spontaneous happens. When it comes to leading corporate worship, both planning AND spontaneity are important values.

If you’re interested in reading more on the Holy Spirit, check out this post.

One of the topics we touched on was the place of creativity and excellence when we gather to sing God’s praise. The world around us proclaims unceasingly that God is a creative God. Melodies, harmonies, and  rhythms can be combined in a seemingly endless number of ways to create new tunes to sing to the Savior. Technology has enabled us to do much more, more quickly, and much more effectively for the glory of God and the good of his church.

But if creativity and excellence become the objects of our focus, we’ve moved into idolatry. Here’s an 8 minute clip from the interview where we touch on how to think about creativity when we approach Sunday morning.

Here’s another video, demonstrating how in the hands of a master, a simple task can become a 12 minute comedy routine.

If you haven’t had enough of Altrogge humor, you can visit the Sovereign Grace Vimeo site.