Thoughts on producing Badminton Road’s first EP

It was nearly a year ago when I had the privilege of leading the band for our College Graduation service. Most of us had sung and played before with each other during chapels and conferences. Apart from serving together at college, we’d have not much in common! But when we ran through this arrangement of …

Reflections on the modern hymn In Christ Alone

(This article was first published in the NZ Baptist Magazine website: http://www.baptistmag.org.nz/discipleship/in-christ-alone/). When was the last time you remember singing about God’s wrath? If the modern hymn “In Christ Alone” is in your playlist, then it was probably more recently that you realised. “In Christ Alone” was the first hymn that writers Stuart Townsend and …

Quotable: what’s a hymn and why we still need them

While preparing for the upcoming seminar on hymns at STAND conference this year (I can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks away!), one of the things I’ve enjoyed is coming across excellent quotes about hymns and singing them. I’ve strung a few of them together for a snapshot of what’s a hymn, why we still need …

Video: Only Your Blood is Enough (Ukulele Cover)

Missed church with HBC yesterday due to being on lockdown from opthalmic shingles. I feel fine but the doctor (and Cheryl) both suggest not infecting other unsuspecting people with the chicken pox virus So instead of gathered worship, we sang a few hymns and I read some Valley of Vision, then worked out this song …

John Wesley’s Rules for Congregational Singing

The Wesleys (John and Charles) had a profound impact in proclaiming the message of Jesus in the 18th century. Charles Wesley penned over 6500 hymn texts in his lifetime, including hymns we sing at church like “Arise My Soul Arise“, “And Can It Be“, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today“, and “O For A Thousand …