As I begin to enter into another season of songwriting, I continue to hold a deep conviction within me to be someone who “adds” to the conversation creation is having about God, not someone who just regurgitates other artists’ creations (they probably did it better anyway). There are many incredible songs, and it can be so easy to just jump on the bandwagon and draft behind someone else’s momentum without ever seeking that intimate spark of inspiration for yourself. We can forever delve deeper and deeper into the being of God without fear of ever reaching bottom…yet often I settle for what I already know and what I have seen work in the past.

Settling for the mean, that which is safe and popular and acceptable and tested, is mediocre.  Scripture doesn’t speak highly of mediocrity. We need risk takers. We need explorers to go before us and call us into new territory.

Are we as artists and creatives forging fresh tracks or following a paved bike path? As you relentlessly pursue the heart of God, where is He taking YOU? How can YOU uniquely add to the conversation?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

“Almost without exception, every great songwriter whom I know personally or that I’ve heard of or read about, uses a specific technique: Some free-associate on legal pads for hours and then pare lists of cross-referenced words or phrases down to related components that can by used in lyric lines.

“Many write draft after draft – as many as twenty- of a whole lyric in composition notebooks, lining out their less fortunate efforts as they go. Some sit at a piano or hold a guitar and ‘chain-of-consciousness-sing’ any old thing that comes into their heads at the outset – getting a ‘sound’ first and working out the intricacies of meaning later.

“Another well-known writer stands in front of huge speakers and ‘word-jams’ to tracks that are already finished.

“Some write lyrics, some only music. Some write both and among these, many write the words first. Others write a catchy tune and add words that fit. Many move the lyrics and melody along simultaneously in careful steps.

“All these techniques are valid. It is almost a certainty that before a writer achieves full-fledged professional status, they will have developed a unique method of working their tail off.”

-  Jimmy Webb “Tunesmith”

I have always been amazed by songwriting; the process of musically communicating and sharing stories, emotions, and experiences in a way that causes the listener to respond. The best song is one that makes us feel something. A Dream Theater song causes me to revel in their machined technicality and skill, while a Ray LaMontagne or Joe Pugg song causes me to stop and contemplate. Some songs make you wanna dance and move, others stir up tears. Whether you like them or not, they are effectively invoking a response from the listener. This is my goal as a songwriter: to share a moment with someone.  In order to do this, you have to write good songs. As Jimmy Webb stated above, there are many techniques and processes when it comes to writing songs. I am by no means an expert on all forms of songwriting, but I will share my own journey and process.

Growing up playing in garage bands, we would usually jam around a couple cool ideas until we had something we liked. We then incorporated lyrics and melody in and around what the band had created. The lyrical phrasing, spacing, and melody for the most part were determined by what the band had already created (this was the songwriting process of Jethro Tull).  We created some great songs with this method, but oftentimes found ourselves forcing a melody to fit the accompaniment instead of the other way around. In this era of my songwriting, the goal was to play loud, fast, and technical, so we wrote the music first and then retrofitted the melody and lyrics.

Soon I began writing songs on my own, instead of with a band, and adopted a new process of writing. At this point I began singing in addition to playing guitar, thus caring more about melody and lyrics (which, in popular opinion, are the most important elements of a song). I would write melody, lyrics, and accompaniment all together. Usually I had a small hook, lyric line, or musical idea that would cause me to grab my guitar and notepad. Then it was a process of trial and error (fitting vocal phrases to chord progressions, experimenting with meter and tempo, etc) until I had a finished song. This process worked for me because I was writing all the elements, but it’s definitely a different animal because everything develops as you go. You may start off going in one musical direction, then upon completion find yourself in a totally different place than you intended. It’s like building a car body, interior, drive train, and chassis all at the same time. It’s a very organic process that allows for each individual element to change the course of the outcome. I found that this process worked well when I was songwriting without a real end goal in mind (ex: “I want to write a song” vs. “I want to write a sad ballad”).

At this point in time I began to daily practice songwriting. Sometimes it was lyrics first. Sometimes melody first. Sometimes I would take sentences from books and put them to music. I removed myself from my comfortable process and challenged my ability to write, adapt, retrofit, retool, and accompany. Songwriting is incredibly hard, time consuming, and doesn’t happen overnight…Yeah, it’s pretty much like any other job or skill. I read books on songwriting, counterpoint, music theory, and accompaniment.  I paid attention to my favorite songs and tried to comprehend why they had such an affect on me while others didn’t. I would write lyrics during class, even notate random melodic lines.

Though I practiced songwriting regularly, I struggled writing corporate worship songs because I felt I was forcing the process. It just didn’t feel natural. I found myself proof texting scripture to find good ideas to write about while at the same time feeling like I was adding to the noise. Why say something if someone else has already said it better?  My lyrics weren’t convincing. They felt artificial. It was just easier to write songs when all I really wanted to do was write cool melodies and grooves without a specific purpose.

Most corporate worship songs are simple in structure, repetitive, and often have a small melodic range.  This doesn’t make them lame songs. This is because corporate worship songs have a specific purpose: they are written so the average person can sing them (similar to pop songs).  They are engineered to imprint in our mind so that during the week we find ourselves singing them and thinking through the lyrics and content. Take a look at songs like How He Loves, How Great is Our God, and Your Grace is Enough. They all utilize popular western song structure, simple chord progressions, 4/4 time, and catchy melodies. On paper they may not look very impressive, but all three songs cause a tremendous response when sung in a group. They contain a very clear, convicting message. They are inspired and written in such a way that the majority of the church can not only listen to them but also sing along. They are so exposed and vulnerable: its clear to the listener if the songsmith is inspired or not.  I really believe corporate worship songs are some of the hardest to write.

Inspiration. Inspiration is the spark that can start a fire. Your songwriting method is the process you use to fuel, fan, and grow the fire into something contagious. You can have the most amazing process, but with out inspiration, the flame feels like those fireplace videos you can play on your TV if your house doesn’t have a real fireplace.  It may look real, but its not. An inspired song feels like you’re on a bear rug in front of a huge hearth in Hurst Castle.  At this point in my life I had a handle on the process but still lacked inspiration when it came to crafting songs for the corporate worship setting.

In 2009 my wife and I found out we were going to lose our daughter to a disorder called Hydrops. We ended up having a stillbirth on August 26th after 26 weeks of pregnancy. This was an incredibly hard time for my wife and I and it caused me to really dive into scripture and challenge my idea of faith. I read, prayed, and wrote on a daily basis…not because I had to but because I needed to.  It was incredibly humbling and terrifying and painful: to open myself to the unknown and release control of a situation.

During those 6 months inspiration overwhelmed me. As I sought after God, He answered. I wrote lyrics and poems almost every night- not to turn into songs, just to write and express what God was doing in my life at that moment in time.  I couldn’t put my pen down. Lyrics just flowed. Pages and pages. Some were free-association and random, some were metered and structured. I would often wake up in the middle of the night with complete choruses or melodic lines in my head. I kept a voice recorder near my bed so I could document even the most unimpressive idea.

Several months into this journaling process, I decided to take 10-11 of my favorite writings and put together an album. I had been reminded that God was with us in our pain, though He may not take it away. I had a collection of lyrics that all spoke to this point from different perspectives. In a sense it was a concept record. I didn’t just sit down and say, “I need to make an album.”  It developed out of my journey to align my life to that of Christ’s. I wasn’t songwriting…I was maturing.

“This Valley” wasn’t necessarily a corporate worship album in its design. It was an expression of what God was doing in my life…a natural response.  During the writing process I decided that I didn’t just want to let people observe the journey I had been on, I wanted them to be a part of it. We all have hurt. We have all felt abandoned. God’s reminder of his unbending faithfulness wasn’t meant to stop with me. I decided to make roughly half the album corporate worship songs (songs that could be sung in our church) while the rest were personal songs of worship that weren’t written with the Sunday gathering in mind.

Every song on This Valley came out of a mostly complete set of lyrics before I even grabbed my guitar.  Many of the songs are syllabically even (ex: each line in verse 1 has the same amount of syllables as each line in verse 2). This makes it easier for the singer to apply the same melody to several sets of lyrics.  Most lyrics and rhyme schemes developed naturally, though I did use a rhyming dictionary and thesaurus in spots that I either had something very specific to say or needed a word to fit into a specific rhythmic pattern.

As We Go is an example of a corporate song. I had about 80% of the lyrics finished when I wrote the melody, then finished the other 20% once I had the basic melody and structure completed. I wrote it specifically for my local church community to sing.

Open Sea is a song containing a series of stanzas, without choruses or bridges. Essentially, it was written as more of an audible poem then a song for people to sing. It also utilized 5/4 and 7/4 meter to achieve a tossed about, unsettling cadence.

Emmanuel is an example of a song that started from a specific feel and Duran Duran style guitar riff I had in mind. I then thumbed through my lyrics and found a set that fit. I actually left out about 8 verses I had written and kept the ones that I felt were the most effective.

In the end I had to put all my lyrics into a crucible. I eliminated excess lines, rearranged, and sometimes rephrased. This process was new to me because every song had a message and a set of lyrics before I started adding the music. I structured the accompaniment to support the melody and not the other way around.  I think it worked because I had a very specific message to communicate.

There is no right or wrong way to write a song, but every way takes diligent practice. You must also have that spark of inspiration to shape into a fire.  I believe inspiration comes in seasons. Sometimes you may have to wait for it, other times you may need to search for it, but I don’t think you can successfully force it. I had an incredibly vibrant burst of inspiration during those months, and I continue to practice and reform my songwriting so I am ready when the next idea hits.

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Deep V-neck shirts. Designer jeans. Custom Toms. Messenger bags holding an assortment of Apple products.  Salon hair massaged with product. Perhaps even a tattoo peaking out of a flurry of chest hair. No, it’s not a contestant from Design Star, its probably your worship leader.

Styles have always changed and adapted, and modern worship leaders have always had their own sub-culture: a mix between tradition and MTV.  Yesterday it was Journey and the NIV, today its Coldplay and Bible iPhone apps. Native habitats of the modern worship leader include the Apple Store, Buckle, American Apparel, indie record stores, and any place serving hummus.

Today’s modern worship movement features songs steeped in programming, delay, 4 on the floor kick patterns, and every keyboardist’s nightmare: pads. The environment has changed as well. Floor monitors are replaced with in-ears, set list CD’s are replaced with Planning Center, and PowerPoint is replaced with Propresenter. Concert lighting and fog machines help set the mood. Popular songs include All Because of Jesus, Song of Hope, How He Loves, and Everlasting God.

Now these are of course generalities that don’t begin to sum up all of the different styles and genres we have today. Additionally, none of these observations question the integrity or leadership of an individual. These observations may not describe your resident worship leader, but I think we can agree that we have, at one point or another, come into contact with this “modern” or  “pop” leader.

But where have we come from? What trends have we come out of? Let’s take a look at some of the roots of today’s modern style worship leader. We will discover some key qualifiers to help you identify some stylistic evolutions.

Frankie Says Lift Your Name on High

Mullets, perms, silk shirts, and Dockers (acid wash jeans for the contemporary service). Perhaps a pastel jacket paired with penny loafers. These are a few identifiers of the 80’s worship leader. Songs tended to drip with chorus and flanger, and bands took their cues from sheet music. The 80’s worship leader favored colored, foam-topped mics for the vocalists.  Almost every song had an electric guitar or synth solo, and the drum sets had to be loaded in through the bay doors in back (thanks, Phil Collins). Musical weapons of choice included Kurzweil and Roland keyboards, Yamaha baby grands, and Jackson electric guitars with Picasso paint jobs (the acoustic guitar was still to come as a worship regular).  Regardless of service or style type, a Bolo tie was always the right choice for neck dress. Key 80’s worship songs include As The Deer, The Battle Belongs to the Lord, Awesome God, and of course… Lord I Lift Your Name on High.

Hootie Could Sing of Your Love Forever

The 90’s worship leader loved technology. Cell phones were usually clipped onto a leather-braided belt just below a tucked in short sleeve shirt (perhaps Tommy Bahama). Acid washed jeans began to give way to stone washed, and Bolo’s gave way to “sport your flare” ties.  The outdated “mic on a stand” was replaced with the headset mic…though the huge mic capsule and foam cover stayed (this is an important factor…it allows you marvel at the fact that YOUR worship leader has a HEADSET mic).  This was of course attached to a belt pack the size of a VCR (clipped next to the cell phone). Drum sets were replaced with every sound guy’s dream: electric drums. Tube amps were replaced with solid state and guitar effects were replaced with the multi-effects processor. Acoustic guitars replaced the keyboards as the main worship instrument, and Ovations were the acoustic guitar of choice. If you ever had to lead a song from the baptismal you were good to go…those synthetic bodies wouldn’t warp in water! Shakers, chimes, and percussion sets rounded out the 90’s worship sound.  Sheet music was replaced with chord charts, and the overhead projector gave way to PowerPoint. The 90’s featured “worship choruses” which would become the staple among church services for years to come. Key 90’s worship songs include: I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, Open the Eyes of My Heart, Shout to the Lord, and Better is One Day.

Clash of the Worship Titans

The 5-year period after the turn of the millennium brought some very memorable styles within the worship leading culture, including an array of Christian slogan shirts. In the event someone wasn’t sporting Abercrombie, you might catch him or her in a “Know Fear,” “Pick Jesus,” or “His Pain, Your Gain,” shirt. These were of course accented with puka shells, leather sandals, and cargo shorts. Hair was spiked with some good old L.A Looks, and bleached tips ran rampant. Carabiners replaced cell phones as the belt décor of choice, and jeans began to see the modern age of distress and bedazzle. Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and the rest of the Passion movement dominated the late 90’s and 2000’s with anthem after worship anthem.  Following in Tomlin’s footsteps, goatees thrived (though cut shorter than the 90’s goatee…except for the case of David Crowder and Charlie Hall). Synth strings gave way to pads, drum kits began to sneak back amongst the V-Drums, and delay became a lead guitarist’s best friend. Tubes and analog tone returned among the solid-state amps and digital processing. Worship leaders began to trade in their acoustics for Telecasters and Strats and their PowerPoint slides for MediaShout. Key songs of 2000-20005 include Famous One, Blessed Be Your Name, and God of Wonders.

That brings us up to the last 5 years, where labels abound and pop culture continues to evolve.  “Traditional” seems to mean “archaic, “ contemporary” ironically now means “traditional,” and “blended” means “no one is happy”.  “Modern” gives way to “post-modern”, which gives way to “minimalism” which gives way to “neo-traditionalism”. However you label it, worship leaders continue to evolve their styles to engage and invite the surrounding communities to join in the conversation. What we call “traditional” used to be cutting edge. Many hymns were Christian lyrics set to the tunes of bar songs, so if a drunk stumbled into church they would know the melody!  The music may change but the message stays the same. The beauty of the whole thing is that worship is so much more than music. Worship is giving God the rightful place of authority in your life.  When God’s fame is the focus of your endeavors, He is glorified.  I truly believe that our God loves to hear praise in every sort of style and genre when our hearts are in the right place, though sometimes we may look a little ridiculous doing it.

So these are some of my observations… what are yours?

All 11 songs started as lyrics from a prayer journal as I began to converse with God and struggle through the reality of losing our firstborn. As a worship leader, I had to examine myself and see if I truly believed everything I said and sang on stage. Half of the album is geared towards the corporate worship setting, and the other half reflects some honest and hard personal conversations I had with God. This is the first full collection of music I have worked on that started lyrically…This may happen once or twice but normally I have a catchy tune or riff to build upon. It has been a fun challenge to craft melodies and song structures around pre-existing meters.

God has revealed himself to me during a pivotal time in my life, and I don’t want it to stop with me, so I’m putting it out in song. I hope you guys will enjoy! I will have some snippets up soon, but right now, I have to get back to tracking electric guitar!

The doctors said if for some reason our baby did make it to term, it would most likely be mentally disabled. That was when I realized I was helpless. I honestly never thought I would ever have a child with mental disabilities and didn’t know if I had what it took. I can barely handle being a husband, let alone a dad to a child who needs a real hero. In this moment I realized I couldn’t just rely on my skill or talent to get me through. I saw the edge of my abilities and knew I couldn’t make it. I found my limits…came face to face with my frailty.  I needed God to prepare me drastically for whatever outcome.

Its a scary moment: surrendering something to God. We talk about it and sing about it, but in the back of our minds we know that we have it under control. We have money in savings accounts, friends who can help us, locks on our door, a strong government, etc. In this moment I realized I had nothing to fall back on. God shows up in our desperation…its up to us to let go. That’s faith.

It hasn’t been easy, but God has grown me immensely. I’ve learned to take refuge in the fact that GOD IS WITH us, not in the hopes that God will make everything the way I want it. My daughter didn’t live. My wife and I are grieving. Life is hard. Pain is real. Yet I am not alone, and if I can manage to stay pliable God will shape me and I will emerge stronger and wiser than before.

If we don’t surrender and honestly listen to and seek God’s promptings, we waste incredible opportunities to mature and grow. Gold is refined in the fire.

God has filled me with lyrics relating to this situation in a wave I haven’t experienced in a long time. I have a hunger for the word. A desire for daily communion. I feel His presence more than ever before. There is something on the other side…but we have to trust that He will get us there.

What will you say
when the gales pound
when their winds have run your ship aground
When the sails rip and hull gives way
What will you say

what will you do
when the tempest blows
and calls the raging waves to rows
when icy waters cover you
what will you do

where will you go
when the currents pull
when surrender has you in its lull
when death is waiting down below
where will you go

well i must brave
the open sea
and face the terror holding me
I’ll swim until a changing tide
takes me to the other side.

“Love Alive” is a worship song I just finished in the last few weeks. It was a journey for me to write this song. In the midst of our pregnancy complications, I really felt God challenging me to look at the big picture and to soak in His grace, instead of just focusing on the day to day hardships. Through weeks of prayer I was reminded of the immensity of what Christ did for us and what that really meant to me. It affects absolutely everything I do. The more we let that amazing truth grow in our hearts, the more we have to share it…We just can’t contain something of such great porportions. I hope you enjoy this live version.

Additional Musicians:

Ashur Benjamin- Bass, Casey Block- Drums, Phil Tipping- Keys, Brett Reinhart- Guitar