Bobby and I have drawn much encouragement, strength, and wisdom from you — the body of Christ on earth. Having a stillborn child is the hardest thing we’ve ever gone through, but God graced us with healing through His community of believers, reaching out to us in person, in cards and letters, through social media and the blogosphere. We now have a whole new, deeper appreciation and love for the universal Church, as well as our local church.
This is one reason we wanted to have a whole community of worship leaders and musicians involved in transforming the songs God gave us into a worship album. So when our co-producer Jonatan Barahona came to us with the idea of doing group vocals for most of our ten songs, we said “Yes” right away (and yes, his name is “Jonatan,” not “Jonathan”). On April 1, when you hear these new songs of worship, lament, hope and resurrection, you’ll hear a chorus of friends singing along with me.
Besides Jonny and myself, this chorus includes friends from our church Sojourn, as well as Sovereign Grace. We’ve also included several students from the worship & music program at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. We’re excited to partner with those who will be serving and leading worship in churches around the nation and perhaps across the globe, in the years to come.
Join us in praising God for these faithful brothers and sisters:
Justin and Megan Shaffer are dear friends. Justin is the Director of Worship at our church campus, Sojourn New Albany. I regularly lead worship with Justin and Meg, who both sang on the Sojourn Music records The Water And The Blood and A Child Is Born. And Justin wrote “From Deep Distress,” my duet with Brooks Ritter on The Water And The Blood.
McKenzie Kauflin, Courtney Moore and Angela Clark are sweet sisters in Christ that I met for the first time during our studio tracking sessions. McKenzie, a student at Southern Seminary’s Boyce College, is sister to Devon Kauflin, who sings the duet “God Of All Comfort” with me on this new record. Courtney is a student at the seminary, and Angela is a fellow Sojourn Music worship leader, primarily serving at Sojourn Midtown.
I also met Anderson Eddy Baucicaut and Elliot Lee for the first time during these tracking sessions. Elliot is a Sojourn Music member, primarily serving at Sojourn East. Both Eddy (he goes by his middle name) and Elliot are students at Southern.
All of these vocalists are very talented, and all share a common desire for worshiping God through Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. They brought so much energy, passion and skill to the songs. Bobby and I can hardly wait for you to hear them when the album releases on CD and mp3, April 1!