The Talens' Tales

We have been singing "Mighty to Save" around the house a lot lately. It was one of the songs that Joash sang at his closing program. And it is clear that he did a good job teaching is little sister. ( Please pay no attention to my poor angle with the milk jug in the way. We have to be a bit sneaky taking a video of Mataya. As soon as she sees the camera she say, "Me want to see.")

I used to think that I was really on top of things when it came to the Christian music scene. I knew all of the new bands and songs and enjoyed them all. But, I have found my new favorite at the Calvin Worship Symposium - Keith and Kristyn Getty . I didn't really know who they were, so I didn't sign up for their session. But, then they led us in worship at the first large worship service and wow! They were awesome. Then I learned that they wrote this song I know. You may have heard of it too. It is called "In Christ Alone." How come I didn't know who wrote "In Christ Alone," probably one of the top five worship songs to have some out in the last 10 years. And here they were, leading us in worship. So cool! They are fantastic for lots of reasons. First, they are Irish, so they have cool accents. Second, they write songs that are very singable. They call themselves "modern hymn writers" which makes a lot of sense. Their songs are great for congre...

I was at the Calvin Worship Symposium this past week and it was awesome. I think that everyone who is involved in a church in any way should go. I have lots to say about it, so I am going to try and focus on a few different things in my next few entries. One of the things I came away with from this conference was a renewed sense for how universal the church is. I know that the body of Christ is worldwide, but when worshiping with people from all over the world, I couldn't help but be struck by it. I also appreciated how the conference spanned the diversity of church styles in their worship services. There were two worship services every day and they ranged from very liturigcal with songs sung by a choir in Latin, to a gospel choir and preaching style, to a contempory service with a full praise band, to hymns sung with the organ. And no matter what style the worship service was, God's name was being praised passionately and that was wonderfully refreshing.