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 …

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 …

HBC service recap: 27 February 2011

(Here’s a recap of the service and the songs we chose this past weekend at Howick Baptist Church. You can find links to the set lists of this church and many other churches each week at theworshipcommunity.com. You can also read through previous HBC service recaps here.) —————————– On Tuesday at 12:51 p.m., a magnitude …

Christmas Weekend Service Redux: 25-26 December 2010

For many people, Christmas Day marked the start of the holidays. But I’m thankful to have been part of a faithful music team that sacrificed some family and present-opening time to serve our church family here at HBC. Since Christmas fell on a Saturday this year, it meant that we ran two consective-day services, and …