wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Conference supports songwriters

["LCMS e-News" <LCMSENEWS@lcms.org>]

>       
>       
>       
>       
>5.6.2010               
>       LCMS News               
>       

>THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod             
>       

        

        May 6, 2010 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 41

Conference supports LCMS songwriters, congregations

>By Joe Isenhower Jr.

"Amazing, edifying, encouraging, affirming, equipping, and worshipful"
is how songwriter Mia Koehne of Phoenix began describing her thoughts
and impressions of the first LCMS songwriters conference, April 21-23 at
St. John Lutheran Church, Ellisville, Mo., in suburban St. Louis.

Several other songwriters registered similar enthusiastic feedback when
asked about the conference sponsored by the LCMS Commission on Worship
for this article.

And overall, a solid majority of the some-75 conference attendees gave
it positive marks via an online survey.

Participating in the conference funded by a grant from Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans were 55 songwriters from across the Synod,
members and staff of the Commission on Worship, and representatives of
Concordia Publishing House and Concordia University System colleges and
universities.

Conference planners also indicated that it accomplished its goals.

"The goals for this conference were simple," said Rev. David Johnson,
executive director of the worship commission -- "to gather songwriters
from a variety of Lutheran communities, to enrich each other with our
confessional theology of Jesus in Word and Sacrament, and to hone their
craft of creating songs for God's people to sing through education,
conversation, and fellowship."

Johnson also said the commission "desired to partner with Concordia
Publishing House to launch an inaugural effort to provide sacramental
songs to the congregations in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. ...
Through this event, vibrant faith-filled people were ignited into the
joy of being Lutheran, and encouraged to shape the [Synod's] song
repertoire."

He indicated that the commission plans to develop with CPH a multimedia
CD -- available perhaps by late summer -- with "select sacramental
songs" (including audio recordings and PDFs of lead sheets) from
conference participants.  The publishing house will send the CD to each
LCMS congregation "for congregations to consider using," Johnson said.

A number of songwriters performed their original songs during the
conference, and all of them submitted songs they had written as part of
the application process for conference scholarships funded by the
Thrivent grant.

"There was an unmistakable spirit of gratitude" expressed by
participants in the songwriters conference, Johnson said -- "an
eagerness to listen to the needs of the church, and a spirited
willingness to respond."

Bobbie Schroeder, a member of the Commission on Worship who is director
of music and worship at St. John Lutheran Church, Ellisville, sat on a
five-member committee that reviewed the applications and songs of 175
songwriters who submitted material for conference scholarships.

Schroeder said an "amazing thing in the entire process" for him is that
"our church body is incredibly blessed in musical gifts to share with
our entire church.  It was a challenge to decide which songs would not
be chosen. We also realized this is just the beginning of networking and
sharing music with fellow worship leaders and songwriters.

"I want to use many of these songs in our own worship setting here at
St. John," said Schroeder.  That congregation -- for which the 2010
Lutheran Annual lists an average weekly worship attendance of 2,076 --
has "multiple [worship] venues and several worship leaders," Schroeder
added.

At the songwriters conference, Bob Lail, lead developer of Emerging
Products for Concordia Publishing House, announced the launch of the
Concordia Writers Cooperative, a social marketplace allowing freelance
authors to publish their resources "with ease."

He said that the cooperative "will serve new authors by giving them
exposure and compensation, CPH customers by giving them access to a
wider array of materials, and the church by increasing partnership among
congregations."

The Writers Cooperative may be previewed at http://concordiawriters.com.

In addition, Lail said that CPH will be expanding the social marketplace
in the fall with the launch of the Songwriters Cooperative. This
expansion will allow songwriters to upload scores, lead sheets, and MP3
previews of their musical works.

"We're very excited about the exposure that the Writers Cooperative and
the Songwriters Cooperative will give to authors," Lail said, "and all
the possibilities these sites will create for partnership and
collaboration among churches!"

He added that anyone will be able to post to either cooperative. "In
fact," he said, "all an author needs is the ability to save PDFs of
their books and other documents, or MP3s of their music.  Before selling
content on the Cooperative, each resource will be sent through doctrinal
review to ensure that it is doctrinally sound. CPH is working to ensure
that this process will be as quick and easy as possible."

The program for the songwriters conference also included worship,
"breakout" workshops, and presentations by theologians and worship
leaders, in addition to songwriters presenting their work and resource
information from Concordia Publishing House representatives. Also on the
agenda were three "Making Connections" sessions, when participants could
share ideas with each other and with several of the presenters.

"I can't tell you what a good idea I think this conference is.  It's
long over-due," Dr. Jeffery Gibbs of the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis,
faculty told those attending the breakout workshop he led on "singing
the festival half of the church year." Gibbs also addressed "the songs
in the sacraments" in a conference plenary presentation.

Mia Koehne, the songwriter from Phoenix whose glowing adjectives about
the conference began this story, said the event also conveyed "the
message ... that what we write matters. ... I learned that we can use
this gift and inspiration the Lord gives us to write music, [and that]
there is a craft and a learning process that goes into writing great
worship music for the congregation.  It is a great calling and a great
responsibility."

Koehne is a member of the worship team at Christ Church -- Lutheran in
Phoenix, for which she writes and leads worship songs. She describes
herself as "a stay-at-home mom who loves to worship and serve the church
through music."

Faith Martin, another songwriter, sang and accompanied on keyboard her
original song, "You Carry Me," during the conference's "open mic"
portion. She serves Somerset Hills Lutheran Church, Basking Ridge, N.J.,
as full-time contemporary worship leader and youth engager (with those
who are confirmation- and high-school-age).

"I loved the songwriters conference," Martin wrote via e-mail. "It was a
great opportunity to grow as a Christian songwriter. I have taken
songwriting classes and read books, but this was the first learning
experience for me specifically targeting on what [conference presenter]
Mark Roach referred to as 'corporate' worship music. The practical
songwriting tips [and] theological information on corporate worship
music are things that I will be able to apply in songwriting for my
congregation. ... I am excited to try some of the new techniques we
learned about.

"It was also a great opportunity for us to network with other Christian
songwriters who are writing corporate worship music -- so we can get
feedback on our songs, both musically and lyrically," Martin said.

"I hope that the Synod continues to hold conferences like this," she
said, "so that the worship leaders and songwriters in our Synod can
continue to grow as Christian songwriters."

"I was blown away by the conference," Brian Drever of El Dorado Hills,
Calif., said in an e-mail message.  He is a member of Trinity Lutheran
Church in nearby Sacramento, where he has been in a nine-member praise
band for 12 years, leading the band for the past eight years.

A senior technical consultant with a company that primarily contracts
with the state on internet technology projects, Drever wrote that he did
not know what to expect from the conference, since it was the first of
its kind.

At its conclusion, he said he was "very encouraged" and "looking forward
to future conferences" like it. "The musicians were all very talented,
and it was great to meet other worship leaders doing the same thing that
I am. ... I look forward to [our] being able to share music with one
another and with other churches in the Synod."

>****************************************

If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release, contact
Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org
<mailto:joe.isenhower@lcms.org>  or (314) 996-1231, or Paula Schlueter
Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org <mailto:paula.ross@lcms.org>  or (314)
996-1230.

>****************************************

>       
>       

This Edition of "LCMS News" e-News is provided
by:

Board for Communication Services, Division of News and Information

Contact Editor

<http://www.lcms.org/enews/contact_editor.asp?title=LCMS%20News&editori d
=6> 
        

This LCMS e-News message comes from a "Send Only" mailbox that
does not recognize replies. To reply to this message, please click on
"Contact Editor" above.

>_____

To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this Newsletter and many others,
please visit LCMS e-News <http://www.lcms.org/enews> .
Share this Newsletter <http://www.lcms.org/enews/forward.asp?m=8703
with a Friend.  
MessageId=8703 UserId=10073

>_____

© 2002 - 2008 The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod  <http://www.lcms.org/
.
No reproduction without consent. All rights reserved.