Congregational Songs – New Songs for Corporate Worship

Evening of Worship at Song DISCovery

June 8, 2011

The final event of the conference was a worship service which began with new worship songs being sung “in the round” by those who wrote them. Those attending the conference could submit a song ahead of time to Song DISCovery to be considered for inclusion in this service. I submitted “Greatest End,” and it was chosen. It was a blast to get to open the service with this song that we have sung at Grace for years and to get to introduce it to a new group of worship leaders and writers.

Also singing and playing (I hope I don’t forget anyone!) were Debi Selby, Bill Wolf, Wendy Wills, Richie Fike, Mia Fieldes w/Sons & Daughters, Ian Eskelin and Chris August.

Some of these folks are more well-known than others, so I want to draw your attention particularly to two of them that you may not have heard of, but you need to check out. Wendy Wills is at Grace and on my worship team, and we have collaborated on several songs in the past. She sang “The Bread Has Been Broken” which you can hear here. I must be a dork, because we’ve been singing this off and on at Grace for a while now, but it wasn’t until this evening that some of those lines jumped out at me – what a great song! We’ll be singing more of it, Grace folks.

Also, Bill Wolf is a worship leader in Knoxville, TN that I knew of before the conference because we sang his song “A Baby Will Come” during our Christmas Worship Service (that I was not able to attend due to the birth of my daughter). Bill and Emilie Cook sang a gorgeous new song of his called “Unknown Wounds” that still gives me goosebumps when I sing it in my head. His creativity reminds me of Michael Card, though he is a bit more raw with his lyrical choices. He handed me his collection of Good Friday/Easter songs after the time of worship, and I’ve really enjoyed listening to his musical take of the events of Holy Week. I don’t see where there’s anywhere you can listen to it unless you go ahead and purchase it, but it’s worth it in my book for that one song and several others that struck me.

My overall impression of the night was that I may have some songs that I think are great and that I pray serve the Church well, but there are so many hugely talented writers out there that inspire me and make me want to work harder to refine the gift of songwriting. May God be glorified by us all as we work toward that end!

Filed under: Outside Songs You Need to Hear,Resources