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Song by Song: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Written during the peak of the Cold War, a time when many Americans feared for the future of their nation (and perhaps the world itself), Gloria Shayne and Noel Regney gave us this beautiful parable, using one of the Wise Men as the backdrop for a story about the Prince of Peace. In this hour, once again, there are many who fear for the future, but take courage! Peace be with you! “The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night—He will bring us goodness and light!”

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Song by Song: Humble King

People inherently love a good rags to riches story. We like tales of humble beginnings that end with success and achievement. Jesus managed to flip the concept on its head and inside out, voluntarily laying aside all the glory of being God in heaven and coming to earth as essentially a nobody. Jesus gave up any kind of earthly glory of His own volition and accomplished more than any other success story in history from the position of a servant.

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Song by Song: O Come O Come Emmanuel

God’s promises don’t expire. Neither do your prayers. Jesus birth came at the end of a 400 year period of silence from God between the Old and New Testaments, a mirror image of Israel’s 400 year time of captivity in Egypt. What do you do when God promises things but they don’t seem to come to pass? You hold on to the promise, because God always keeps His word!

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Song By Song: The Savior’s Here

Christmas can be a rollercoaster season in today’s culture. There are plenty of things to do, events to attend, things to buy.  But since the very beginning, creation’s proper response to the birth of Jesus has been to worship.  The angels, the shepherds, the Magi, Mary, Joseph, Anna in the temple, Simeon in the temple: all of them responded in …

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Song By Song: Little Heart Beats

Earlier this year, I was asked by a pregnancy resource center to be a part of their annual fundraising banquet. I was, at the time, writing for Glory: A Call to Worship at Christmas, and the Christmas story was at the forefront of my mind. I realized that the Christmas story is the most profound pro-life story there is.  By choosing …

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Song by Song: Do Not Be Afraid

I knew when I started writing for this Christmas album, I wanted to have a song that connected Jesus’s birth to His death and resurrection.  The audacity of God’s choice to redeem the world in this way and knowing that He is now with us through the Holy Spirit should give us courage to tackle any obstacle that comes our way! …

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Pre-order for Glory: A Call to Worship at Christmas starts today!

Hi friends! I’m beyond excited to announce a new project that has been nearly a year in the making: Glory: A Call to Worship at Christmas! Pre-orders begin today, and the album will release November 1st.  The album will release on CD, Digital, and a very special premium package that includes hand-painted artwork by my wife Hannah Pickering. Speaking of …

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New lyric video for “Come Find Rest”

I’m really excited to share this new lyric video for “Come Find Rest.”  It features the painting The Good Shepherd by turn of the century American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner, who was the first African American painter to gain international acclaim.  The son of an AME Church bishop, he frequently painted Biblical themes, and his work here is so beautiful that I wanted …

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Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me

“Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.” I haven’t thought about this hymn for a long time, but God brought it to mind today. It was written in 1926 by a Presbyterian music minister from North Carolina who attended a revival in Orlando. Hearing a sermon on the Holy Spirit, he found his way to a church there …