Chris Tomlin shares the story behind the song God of Angel Armies from the Burning Lights album releases in January 2013.

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Responding to the devastating F5 tornado that raged through Moore, OK this week causing significant loss of life and property, Integrity Music’s Franklin, TN-based worship duo All Sons & Daughters are donating all proceeds from their Songs for Oklahoma EP that is available now through Noisetrade.com.

Featuring the songs “Give Me Jesus,” “Reason To Sing” and “Your Glory – Nothing But The Blood,” 100% of the proceeds/tips received for the EP through Noisetrade will go to Convoy of Hope, which is sending relief teams to Moore, OK.

“Please consider donating for the EP, and please continue praying for those devastated by this terrible storm,” says All Sons & Daughters members Leslie Jordan and David Leonard. For more information and to make tax-deductible donations to Convoy of Hope, please directly visit www.convoyofhope.org.

Having recently partnered with the feedOne campaign (onedaytofeedtheworld.org), a division of Convoy of Hope, All Sons & Daughters is doing their part to help those that are the poorest of the poor. Just last month, the duo also joined Robbie Seay, Derek Webb, Shaun Groves and others on a charity album via Noisetrade for the Baylor University West Relief Fund and to benefit those in the wake of the explosion in West, TX April 17.

In addition to the charity projects, All Sons & Daughters’ first live, full-length CD/DVD recording LIVE, launched amidst wide acclaim last month, with the DVD going all the way to No. 1 on the iTunes® Top Concert Films Movie Sales chart. Released April 23 from Integrity Music, LIVE was recorded in the chapel at Oceanway Studios in Nashville and features the duo sharing their best-loved songs, such as “All The Poor and Powerless” and “Reason to Sing,” as well as new songs, all delivered in a congregationally-friendly, organic worship setting.

www.allsonsanddaughters.com | www.noisetrade.com/sonsanddaughters/songs-for-oklahoma

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David Crowder*Band Releases a ‘Brilliant,’ ‘Solid Collection of Hits’
All This For A King: The Essential Collection – May 21, 2013

Nashville, Tenn. (May 21, 2013) – The last David Crowder*Band album, Give Us Rest (A Requiem Mass in C [The Happiest of All Keys]), debuted as the No. 2 record in the country and marked the highest selling debut for the band. Paired with an epic final performance at the Passion 2012 Conference, the release was the denouement to an impactful, multi-decade career. Now, fans of the David Crowder*Band can cherish their career in full with the release of the first DC*B Greatest Hits, All This For A King: The Essential Collection, May 21.

The 14-track album features some of the band’s biggest songs, including “How He Loves,” “O Praise Him (All This For A King),” “Everything Glorious,” as well as three new remixed tracks from Family Force 5, Capital Kings and The Digital Age (consisting of former DC*B members Mike D., Jack Parker, Mark Waldrop and B-Wack). The album concludes with an all-new track from CROWDER, “This I Know.”

Share your worship confessionals, recaps, and setlists for the week of: Sunday, May 19, 2013!!

Welcome to the 252nd consecutive week of “Sunday Setlists!”

Share your experiences from your worship gatherings. How’d it go this weekend?

What songs did you sing? What creative elements did you incorporate into your service? Any special readings, videos, or songs?

Join others from all over as we share our Sunday Setlists!

Click here to receive an email reminder each week to participate.

Click here to view the archives of “Sunday Setlists” posts.

To participate:

1. Blog about your worship services this week. In that blog, mention that you are participating in “Sunday Setlists” at TheWorshipCommunity.Com and link back to this post.

http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/sunday-setlists-252/

2. If you don’t have a blog, leave your own recap right here by simply adding a comment to the discussion thread below.

3. Share your information (links, media, etc) and encourage others to do the same.

Oh … and whatever you do … don’t forget to leave a comment below! If you aren’t a member of TheWorshipCommunity.Com, you can register quickly, or just use the “Facebook Connect” login!

Share your Experience:

1. If you blogged about your worship recap, add the link in the comments below. Be sure that the link goes directly to the specific entry about this week’s “Sunday Setlists” post, and not to your blog’s homepage.

2. If you use Twitter, use the #sundaysetlists hashtag. Your “tweet” will show in the box below soon. You can even tag videos or images with the #sundaysetlists hashtag.

3. Regardless, don’t forget to leave a link and comment in the discussion area. Subscribe to the thread so you can come back and see what others are doing.

Links: (add a link to your “Sunday Setlists” blog post in the COMMENTS below)

facebook.com/richmullinsfilm | twitter.com/richmullinsfilm

They have a 5,000 view goal by the end of this month, let’s help make it happen!

Over the weekend I was able to ask the Brothers a few questions and they shared some great insight into what makes them tick and what really drives the band these days.

TWC: Share a little bit about the band. What passions drive you? Any hobbies?

Bros: Being in a band is interesting. My brother and I are both passionate about the local church and building up worship leaders. We also lead in different churches. We have big hearts for outreach in our city and we do monthly prayer walks as well as various outreach projects in our local communities.

We’re all really into hockey, it’s big up here in Buffalo. Some of the worship projects that we have all really been enjoying are Glenn Packiam’s new record and Jason Upton’s Glimpse. We also enjoy a band out of Pennsylvania called Sister Brother, check them out. Also really love Anthony Skinner’s Crush ep.

TWC: What projects have you got coming up?

Bros: We are currently hitting the road in support of our record join in the sound. We are looking to book dates all over the states and abroad . We are starting to write for our next record hopefully we will start recording early 2014.

I’ve also been producing worship projects recently encouraging other artists to find their sound and join in the sound so to speak. I feel like worship music as a genre is so wide open for new artists that are leading in their own artistic way. We are just scratching at the surface of that I feel like the younger artists coming up are craving different sounding worship projects that break into new directions musically.

TWC: Your name is an interesting representation of your musical heritage. Tell us a little about your roots and why it was important to represent that with your name .

Bros: Brothers McClurg pays homage to our maternal grandfather who started a worship group in the 70′s with my mother, aunts and uncles called McClurg family singers. They traveled all over the country for many years in a motor home singing folk music.

The first 5 years of my brother and I’s life was spent on a motor home traveling with my parents as they played and sang. It’s important for us to honor them because we wouldn’t be doing ministry if it wasn’t for them. We feel like we are walking in their footsteps so to speak carrying on the legacy they started.

It’s still cool I have people all over that tell me they find my parents’ vinyl records in amvets and salvation army stores all over the country!

TWC: Your new song (and music video) You Shine Through is so heartwarming. Tell us about the creative process to come up with the concept for the video.

Bros: Back in the day when churches were built with stained glass windows you were supposed to be able to look at the window and it would depict a story without having to say anything. We believe that we are the stained glass windows of our generation that when people see us they see the truth and beauty of Christ shining through us.

The video was shot in one of the churches I lead worship in. It’s this beautiful old Presbyterian church and there is this one stained glass window that depicts the prodigal son returning home to his father. We wanted to frame the whole video around that idea, that through our cracks, our guilt and shame, that Jesus greets us in our shame and loves us and shines through our cracks.

The most fun part about the video was having a meal together the night of the video recording. It was fun to reflect on the song together and what the message of the song is really saying. We also took communion together and prayed that the Lord would use the video to reach folks that needed to hear it.

TWC: What theme is resonating with the band these days?

Bros: The thing I’ve been thinking about lately is hope.

I’ve been thinking about that old Burt Bacharach song that says, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love,” and I’ve been replacing those words to say, “What the world needs now is hope, sweet hope.”

With all the tragedy going on people are in desperate need of hope, the kind of hope Jesus offers us.

TWC: If you could give advice to worship leaders and teams what would you say?

Bros: We consider ourselves blue collar worship leaders, so to speak. We all work in different churches in our area and understand the ins and outs of leading worship. One thing I will say is that worship leaders, like all artist types, go through a lot of highs and lows emotionally. I know a lot of worship leaders, including myself, that struggle with depression and anxiety. I think because part of our job is to tap into the feelings of God’s heart sometimes it’s joyful and sometimes it’s sad.

But I would encourage worship leaders to be aware of those feelings and understand God has given you access to His heart in that sense. Also remember that when you’re feeling low that His yolk is easy and His burden is light. So when you’re feeling low or depressed cast your feelings upon Him.

TWC: How about for those of us who are songwriters?

Bros: Song writers I would encourage you to worry less about trying to write the next big worship anthem and just write what’s on your heart before God. He will give you the words. I believe God is raising up movements all over the world that all have a unique sound and that encourages me! I’m interested to hear where worship music is going to go in the next 10 years!
I hope to hear many more different sounding worship projects that all have a unique voice!

***

In 2013, The Brothers McClurg are looking to travel and be a part of many churches through nights of worship. If you’re interested contact booking@brothersmcclurg.com

Share your worship confessionals, recaps, and setlists for the week of: Sunday, May 12, 2013 – Happy Mother’s Day!!

Welcome to the 251st consecutive week of “Sunday Setlists!”

Share your experiences from your worship gatherings. How’d it go this weekend?

What songs did you sing? What creative elements did you incorporate into your service? Any special readings, videos, or songs?

Join others from all over as we share our Sunday Setlists!

Click here to receive an email reminder each week to participate.

Click here to view the archives of “Sunday Setlists” posts.

To participate:

1. Blog about your worship services this week. In that blog, mention that you are participating in “Sunday Setlists” at TheWorshipCommunity.Com and link back to this post.

http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/sunday-setlists-251/

2. If you don’t have a blog, leave your own recap right here by simply adding a comment to the discussion thread below.

3. Share your information (links, media, etc) and encourage others to do the same.

Oh … and whatever you do … don’t forget to leave a comment below! If you aren’t a member of TheWorshipCommunity.Com, you can register quickly, or just use the “Facebook Connect” login!

Share your Experience:

1. If you blogged about your worship recap, add the link in the comments below. Be sure that the link goes directly to the specific entry about this week’s “Sunday Setlists” post, and not to your blog’s homepage.

2. If you use Twitter, use the #sundaysetlists hashtag. Your “tweet” will show in the box below soon. You can even tag videos or images with the #sundaysetlists hashtag.

3. Regardless, don’t forget to leave a link and comment in the discussion area. Subscribe to the thread so you can come back and see what others are doing.

Links: (add a link to your “Sunday Setlists” blog post in the COMMENTS below)

The question is: “How do we best accomplish this?” Is the answer as simple as having great musicians and singers and then letting God take care of the rest? I think we all know that answer is only half true. Yes, God will take what we authentically and humbly offer and use it for His purposes and glory but every church has the people they have and unless you hire out, you’re not always going to be blessed with the most gifted musicians and singers on the planet.

The good news is that whomever we have, whatever level of talent we, or they, may possess the playing field of worship leading is surprisingly level. To be a “great” worship leader we don’t need to be a great musician or a great singer. The reality is that we don’t ever have to step up to the microphone. (One caveat here: we don’t want to create distractions during worship so do you and your congregation a favor – if you utilize only one or two singers on any given Sunday, choose the best available to you!) Moving along…there is one prerequisite we DO need to have.

We need to be a great worshiper with the ability to communicate the love of Jesus and what He has done in our lives to those we are ministering to. There are a lot of definitions of what a “great worshiper” is and there are a lot of people a lot smarter than me who have done a lot better job writing at a deep level about the spiritual and theological qualities of a great worshiper such as authenticity, humility, brokenness etc. For the sake of argument, I’m assuming that we all realize this and are constantly striving to make these qualities part of our ‘worshiper DNA’ so I don’t want to get into that now. I would, however, like to focus a bit on what being a great worshiper may look like on Sunday morning…without a mic.

More and more, it seems, worship teams are singing less. What I mean by that is, although we may have several singers on stage during our worship time, we don’t necessarily need to have everyone singing everything on a microphone all of the time.

To me this is a welcomed change. All too often when we have groups of people singing unison all on a mic during, for example, the verses of a worship song, it becomes too homogenous and watered down. To me, the intimacy of any given lyric gets lost in translation when there are too many people on microphones singing the same thing. As a result, the potential power and impact of the song suffers. There are many exceptions to this but, again, that’s not what this article is about. It’s about what to do as a worship leader or worship vocalist when we’re not on a microphone.

Following are four things to consider.

1) Sing away

I want to emphasize that just because we’re not on a microphone doesn’t mean that we should stop singing. Quite the opposite. Praise is praise and God still hears us. Also, when we sing off-mic it cues the congregation to sing too. Otherwise, they may think that whoever IS singing is soloing and they shouldn’t participate. If I am the only one singing I often ask everyone in the congregation to sing along with me. Simple phrases such as, “Let’s sing together” or “join with me” will give permission for the church to sing too.

2) Instrumental breaks; they aren’t just for musicians anymore

During times of an extending intro, outro, transition or instrumental solo, simply rest in, bathe in and enjoy His presence. This will look differently on different people. The point is that we can still engage in and communicate a spirit of worship without words. Often I will pray out loud off-mic during these times just thanking God for something He is doing in my life or at the moment. Sometimes I pray for the congregation as a whole or individuals in our midst who I know personally that need healing, comfort, strength, revelation, revival etc. Sometimes it’s best to just “be still and know….”. It’s OK to engage with the others on stage. There’s nothing wrong with an acknowledging smile to those around us that says; “Hey, isn’t it great to be worshipping God all together?”

3) Understand that being heard isn’t as important as being humble

Leading worship is less about singing and more about communicating. If our understanding is that in order for me to lead I need to be heard, we’re missing the point. The real reason we’re there is to help people engage with God, to show what our
relationship with Him means to us and offer to take them, through the music, to a place where it’s no longer about us but all about Him.

4) Reality check

If we behave or express ourselves differently off a mic than on a mic then we need to examine our intentions. “Why am I doing this? Oh, yeah, to show others that the God we serve and sing about is awesome and worthy of our praise!” In fact, I find that when I’m not “on-mic” I am freed up from the responsibility of singing well and I can focus totally on worshipping well.

This is just something I’ve been thinking about lately and is only my humble opinion. As C.S. Lewis says repeatedly in Mere Christianity; “if it doesn’t help you, then forget it.”

Patrick DeRemer
Founder, PraiseVocals.com

Multiple Platinum-Selling Recording Artist Carman Set To Begin Work On
First Album/Music Video In 10 Years As Kickstarter Campaign Nears $200,000 Goal

With 16 RIAA Certified Platinum and Gold albums and videos, over 10 million albums sold and attendance records for the largest solo Christian concerts in history, Carman plans to record an album and video of all new music for the first time in over 10-years. Remarkably, it was a death sentence by doctors that paradoxically revived this entertainer’s creative spirit through his fans.

In March of this year, singer, songwriter and television/film actor/writer Carman was diagnosed with terminal, multiple myeloma cancer, a cancer of the blood that affects the body’s bone marrow, and was given a three to five year life expectancy by doctors. Stunned and initially devastated by the news, Carman’s spirit was soon lifted up by the overwhelming love and support received by tens of thousands of fans after posting the news on his Facebook page. Turning the death sentence into a renewed vision and hope for the future, Carman is not only determined to fight the cancer, but is also well underway to his first independent, fan-funded new album and music video through Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects.

Launched April 19, Carman’s Kickstarter campaign has already become the most successful Christian music campaign ever for Kickstarter. Raising more than $158,000 to date, the campaign donations are on target to reach Carman’s $200,000 goal by his June 18 deadline. Fans are able to donate as little as $1 up to several thousand dollars with commensurate gifts of appreciation from Carman once the campaign is fully funded and the album and music video are recorded and released. See http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/886460906/new-carman-album-and-music-video for all the details.

“I’m so excited about this incredible opportunity we all have through Kickstarter to make something happen as a team and a family,” says Carman to his fans. “Cancer pronounced a death sentence, but you have been life to me, rallying me back into the fight and praying me back to my feet. As one fan said on my Facebook page, ‘Look at what Jesus did in three years.’ So as for you and me, with this new project and us working together, the next three years are going to be a blast.”

In addition to the new music, Carman is determined to not let cancer detract from doing what he does best, sharing the hope of the gospel to live audiences. Touring from coast-to-coast, Carman shares his hit songs alongside his most recent offering, “The Flag,” a compelling anthem that weaves the Pledge of Allegiance into a melodic and inspirational message of pride in America. “The Flag” concept video can be seen now at http://youtu.be/4QDxqlP3Fn0, and Carman’s full schedule can be seen at http://www.carmanlive.com/.

About Carman:

Carman, whose full name is Carman Domenic Licciardello, is an enigmatic Christian music pioneer. Often described as part evangelist, part Vegas showman, his concerts are like a rock and roll Billy Graham Crusade. They combine drama, rock, comedy, funk, satire, acting, singing and preaching, all woven together for a unique style not duplicated by any other artist in any other musical genre.

The only Christian “stadium act” ever, Carman drew 80,000 outdoors in Charlotte, NC, 71,132 to Texas Stadium and 50,000 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He also held the No. 1 position on the Billboard Christian sales charts for an astounding 33 weeks, with his The Champion album staying on the Billboard overall sales charts for a record 168 weeks. Known for such hit “story” songs as “Sunday’s on the Way,” “Satan Bite The Dust,” “Lazarus Come Forth,” “Revival in the Land,” “Witches Invitation,” “No Monsters,” “The Champion” and more, Carman has also has written songs for several motion pictures, including The Prince of Egypt.

With as many as 5,000 people responding each night to the gospel message delivered by Carman, he has also collected the most names on a petition in American history by any individual – one million signatures for a constitutional amendment favoring prayer in public school. He is further the co-founder of the Parable Christian Film Festival and received the Humanitarian Award, whose other recipients include former President and Mrs. Regan, Dr. Billy Graham, Dr. Bill Bright and others.

Among the greatest of Carman’s contributions to Christianity at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century is his bringing back a full force, worship revival – not just through song and music, but also through dance and drama, revolutionizing Christian arts and music.

More information on Carman can be found at http://www.carman.org, www.facebook.com/CarmanLicciardello and Twitter (@carmantv).

Proclaim Church Presentation Software is hosting a giveaway (on their site) for a songwriting and studio demo recording session with Paul Baloche. Baloche is the writer of some of modern worship’s most beloved praise and worship songs. Here is Proclaim’s list of his top 10:

1. “Open the Eyes of My Heart”
2. “Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)”
3. “Your Name”
4. “Above All”
5. “Offering”
6. “Today Is the Day”
7. “Our God Saves”
8. “The Same Love”
9. “Because of Your Love”
10. “All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises”

Make sure to enter today! And spread the word!

Question: What would you want to write about if you could write with Paul Baloche?

Don’t forget to share your Sunday Setlists this week!