May
31
2012
Songs for the Book of Luke
The Gospel Coalition seeks to "to serve the church we love by inviting all our brothers and sisters to join us in an effort to renew the contemporary church in the ancient gospel of Christ so that we truly speak and live for him in a way that clearly communicates to our age." We pursue that goal by developing a variety of resources and by directing you to the best resources we can find.
In that spirit that we're excited to launch a new project: Songs for the Book of Luke. Anticipating our focus on Luke's Gospel at next year's national conference---April 8 to 10 in Orlando, Florida---we're inviting pastors and church musicians to begin writing songs adapted from and inspired by the Book of Luke. Our goal is to put together an album of original, congregational songs with rich lyrics, featuring a wide variety of songwriters and church musicians. As the process unfolds, we'll share the details here, introducing you to new artists and musicians and highlighting worship renewal in churches across the country.
Historically speaking, the Christian music industry is a recent development. Lately, the "worship music" industry has set the agenda for singing in the local church. Many wonderful songs have grown out of that movement, but we believe there's much to appreciate about the less visible, pastoral songwriting at the local church level.
In fact, we believe some of the best songs being written for congregational singing are happening at the local level---musicians and pastors writing songs for their own churches. We want to highlight this work by inviting church musicians to contribute to the project: music for churches by churches.
From the songs submitted, we will select and curate a group of them to highlight here, through feature articles and interviews. We'll make demos and chord charts available, so churches across the country can adapt them and use them in their own contexts. We'll also record an album of those songs, and feature them at The Gospel Coalition national conference next spring.
We're eager to hear from you, so if you'd like to contribute to the project, see the fine print below.
- Guidelines for Song Submissions
- The submission deadline is August 15, 2012.
- Songs submissions must be in a demo-quality mp3 format. The simpler the better. Full-production recordings are not necessary. Better to record them simply---even on your phone---with a single voice or voices and accompaniment.
- Songs submissions must also include a pdf or Word document containing the lyrics, chords, and authorship information. Lead sheets are welcome but not necessary.
- Song submissions should also include your contact information (name, email, phone number) as well as the name of the church where you serve and your position (volunteer, worship pastor, kazoo maintenance engineer).
- Send all submissions to songs4luke@thegospelcoalition.org.
- The Process
- Songs will be collected and assessed by a team of pastors and musicians.
- Songs will be chosen for inclusion in the project based upon:
- Rich theological content adapted from or inspired by the Book of Luke. Fresh approaches and ideas will get priority---so try to work on unfamiliar territory: parables, stories, and miracles are rarely touched in contemporary worship music.
- Melodies that are congregation-friendly, singable, and memorable.
- A production team will develop the songs into arrangements with an entire album in mind.
- The Fine Print
- Songwriters will retain 100 percent of the copyright of their songs.
- If your song is selected for inclusion in the project, it doesn't automatically mean you'll sing it. A separate process will be used for selecting singers and musicians on any recordings made for the project.
22 Comments
While these are probably not intended for congregational singing, Michael Card has a great CD with songs based on Luke's gospel: http://www.amazon.com/Luke-World-Turned-Upside-Down/dp/0830838015/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1338557806&sr=8-3.
[...] Cosper, Worship Pastor at Sojourn Community Church (Louisville, KY) is working with the Gospel Coalition to create a whole series of songs based in the gospel of Luke. The project is anticipating the [...]
This is a great idea. Looking forward to it. Will it be blind judging though? Most music composition competitions are through anonymous submissions so as to preclude prejudicial selections.
Does no one manage the comments section?
[...] The Gospel Coalition has a fun thing planned for all you songwriters. [...]
[...] deadline for the gospel coalition ‘Songs for Luke’ project is fast approaching – August 15th. Here is a song I wrote with help and suggestions [...]
[...] Songs for the Book of Luke. [...]
[...] somehow missed TGC’s call for songs for the book of Luke, and only found out because Bruce Benedict posted his submission last night (be sure to check his [...]
[...] Naaman Wood and Bruce Benedict of Cardiphonia Music offer this new work based in Luke 4 for the Gospel Coalition project: Songs for the Book of Luke [...]
beautiful song by both song writers. I love being introduced to new music and am glad when such occasions provide the opportunity to expose new material for the use of the church and for His glory.
[...] the helpful input from my lovely wife and pastoral staff. Here is my humble contribution to the Gospel Coalition’s Songs for Luke project. If anything else this helped me practice a discipline that I don’t exercise enough. My [...]
[...] an organization called the Gospel Coalition. They called on church songwriters to write songs for a musical project based on the book of Luke. Always one to procrastinate, I waited until 15 minutes before the [...]
Anybody know how the project is going?
[...] Hymns of Citylife Church in Boston released a demo of a song for The Gospel Coalition project “Songs for the Book of Luke.” Great song based on Luke [...]
Any new news on this?
The album is being recorded right now. Thanks for asking.
What songs were chosen?
[...] Papa: The Gospel Coalition is making an album based on the Gospel of Luke. When I heard about it, Matt Boswell and I got together—we often write hymns together. I had this [...]
[...] is the last of the Songs for Luke that I contributed too – working with my super talented friend Wendell Kimbrough. Wendell [...]
[...] Gilles: You’re also in Louisville right now and involved with the first worship record for The Gospel Coalition, a collection of songs based from the Gospel of Luke. How did you become involved in [...]
[...] music, including a new EP entitled Messenger Hymns, Volume One, and his role in the upcoming Songs for the Book of Luke project from The Gospel Coalition. I’ve enjoyed conversing with Matt, listening to his music and learning from him, so [...]
[...] months ago, we made a call for entries for "Songs for the Book of Luke," a project that coincides with The Gospel Coalition 2013 National Conference's focus on Luke's [...]