Unique Songwriter’s Retreat – Hymnish
We’ve had a lot of you ask if/when we’ll be hosting the All About Worship Retreat this year. While we really enjoyed hosting the worship leaders retreat the past two years, this year we sensed the Lord’s leading to hosting a different kind of retreat…a retreat for Christian songwriters…
We are very excited to announce that we’ll be hosting our first ever songwriter’s retreat! We’ve decided to call it “Hymnish”, a term made popular by our good friend, Michael Farren, at All About Worship Retreat 2011. (No, it’s not a hymn-writing retreat!)
“Hymnish” will be hosted by Wisdom Moon (of All About Worship), Michael Farren (of Pocket Full of Rocks), and Jennie Riddle (writer of the popular song, “Revelation Song”).
This retreat will be different from any other Christian songwriter’s retreat or conference, in that you will get the chance to write with one of today’s best Christian songwriters; an opportunity you probably won’t have otherwise!
The retreat will be held May 10-12, 2012, in Franklin, TN (near Nashville). This will be a small retreat with just 25 spots available! We are now accepting applications for those 25 spots. You can read all the details at HYMNISH.COM. Here is some of the key information:
Speakers:
Michael Farren
Jennie Riddle
Mike Murray (Creative Director, Integrity Music Publishing)
Chad Green (Creative Director, Word Music Publishing)
During the retreat you will write with one of the following professional songwriters, in a group of 4:
Carl Cartee (Staff writer for Brentwood –Benson Music Publishing/Universal Music. Artist in Residence at Fellowship Bible Church.)
Chad Cates (Writer for Essential Music Publishing. Six #1 songs and five Dove Award Nominations. Songs recorded by Casting Crowns, Bebo Norman, Brandon Heath, Rebecca St James, Mandisa, and others.)
James Tealy (Staff writer for Centricity Music. Over 30 songs recorded by artists in a variety of genres including: Kari Jobe, Abandon, Matt Papa, Alvin Slaughter, and others.)
Jennie Riddle (Writer of “Revelation Song”, top 100 CCLI songwriter, songs recorded by Jesus Culture, Newsboys, Kari Jobe, Rebecca St. James, Phillips, Craig & Dean, and others.)
Kyle Lee (Former member of Pocket Full of Rocks. Worked as a producer with artists like: tobyMac, Mandisa, and Nicole C. Mullen. Songs recorded by Michael W. Smith, Audrey Assad, Phillips Craig & Dean, Travis Cottrell, and others.)
Michael Boggs (Former member of FFH. Writes for various artists; garnered multiple top 10 singles as well as a featured song in the major motion picture release - Facing the Giants.)
Michael Farren (Lead singer of Pocket Full of Rocks, staff writer for Word Publishing, writer of “Let it Rain”, “Alive”, and many others.)
Tony Wood (Multiple Dove Award Winner, 22 #1 Songs, staff writer for Sony ATV Music, songs recorded by Michael W. Smith, Natalie Grant, Lincoln Brewster, Paul Baloche, and others.)
Cost: $300 per person
DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION: as a PDF file or DOC file
Click a link above to download the application. Deadline is March 15, 2012.
You may email your complete application (preferred) to: allaboutworship[at]gmail[dot]com
OR
mail to All About Worship, PO Box 3082, Olathe, KS 66063
Feel free to send us an email if you have any questions!
Sponsored by:
Episode 68: Live At The Retreat
On this episode we take you live to the All About Worship Retreat for a little glimpse of the experience.
Wisdom and Ben open up a Q&A time with the retreat artists: Michael Farren (of Pocket Full of Rocks), Brenton Brown, Dave Fitzgerald, and Sarah Reeves. We opened up the mic for attendees to ask them whatever questions they’d like. As you can tell from the recording, we had a blast!
QUICK LINKS
- Hosts: Wisdom Moon & Ben Abu Saada — check out their blogs
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Comment Line: 913.735.4229
All About Worship Retreat Tweets
Just a quick reminder this week is a BIG week for us! May 19-21 is the All About Worship Retreat with Pocket Full of Rocks, Brenton Brown, Sarah Reeves, and Dave Fitzgerald.
For those of you interested in seeing real-time tweets from the retreat, be sure to keep an eye on our official hashtag: #aawr11.
Live Streaming – Night of Worship w/ Brenton Brown, Pocket Full of Rocks, & More
We are so excited about the All About Worship Retreat coming up next week: May 19-21! As a part of the retreat we are hosting a free Night of Worship open to the public with Pocket Full of Rocks, Brenton Brown, Sarah Reeves, and Dave Fitzgerald (in conjunction with KLOVE, Air-1, and 93.7 The Fountain).
This will also be the big launch event for our new nonprofit ministry, Sounds of Redemption, which will be the parent organization of All About Worship. AAW will just be one of many ministries that Sounds of Redemption provides. To find out more about Sounds of Redemption, visit the website.
The free Night of Worship will be held at Grace Church in Overland Park, KS, but we know there are tons of you in our community who do not live near Kansas City, so we’ve worked it out with all the artists to be able to stream the event live online FOR FREE! You can join us live on this Livestream channel at 7:30pm CST next Friday night (5/20). Please help us spread the word to your friends, family, and social media network!
Putting on the All About Worship Retreat and this free Night of Worship is a pretty significant financial undertaking for us. If you’re able to support what we’re doing financially, that would be much appreciated! You can donate online by going to the “Give Now” page on SoundsofRedemption.com.
Thank you in advance for your prayer and financial support! It will enable us to continue to provide training events and online resources to thousands of worship leaders around the globe.
All About Worship Retreat – Registration Giveaway!
Hey folks, help us promote our upcoming All About Worship Retreat for your chance to win a free registration! Registration is currently $350. All we ask, if you win, is that you give $50 to help cover your catered dinners. Here’s how to enter:
1. Go to the retreat event page on Facebook and RSVP as “Attending’ or “Maybe Attending”.
2. Go to your Facebook profile page and post our new retreat promo video (http://vimeo.com/22112457 – paste this url as a link) and tag the retreat event page in the same post. (to tag just start typing in @All About Worship Retreat…then choose the link in the dropdown). This will allow us to keep track of who is entering this giveaway.
3. Every time you post you will increase your chances of winning. Deadline is Wednesday, April 20th @ 9pm CST. Please note, the giveaway is only for the registration and does not cover travel expenses. We’ll pick 1 random winner and send them a message on Facebook. Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize.
Check out the new promo video below:
Brenton Brown “Our God is Near” – CD Review & Giveaway
For your chance to win a Pre-Release version of Brenton’s new CD, leave a comment on this post by Friday, March 25th, 5pm CST. We’ll pick two random winners! (Note: US residents only. Must be at least 18 years old.)
Brenton Brown continues his tradition of top-class songwriting and high-class production with his latest offering – Our God is Near. Here are my thoughts on this exciting new release…
I was introduced to “Our God is Mercy” at a recent conference. It was a lively opener with a catchy melody and had a structure that was very easy to follow. The song was quick and upbeat, yet gave enough space for interpretation, and had a nice refrain (“Lift up your eyes, lift up your eyes”…etc.) giving space for the congregation to regain some breath. Within seconds I was hooked, and over the course of the weekend, as the song grew in familiarity, so the passion of the words ignited something deep within me.
The studio version present on this album is again an upbeat offering – with a lively, punchy drumbeat with the rhythm guitar providing a strong, progressive feel to the song. The lyrics invite the worshipper into the song – there is a strong message of hope, acceptance and belonging prevalent within the opener to the album.
We go from here to the second track – “Joyful”, with an instantly recognisable melody line – adapted from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony’s “Ode to Joy”. The message of this song is beautiful – it’s hymnal verses are complemented superbly by a lively praise chorus (“You are the one who saves “etc.). This track (and indeed the entire album) stays faithful to the typical Sunday-morning worship band lineup – a couple of guitars, bass, drums and not much else. The producers (Jason Ingram & Rusty Varenkamp) deserve credit for this, as all too often studio worship albums can be completely over-orchestrated and almost impossible for worship bands to reproduce.
I had heard “Glorious” on Paul Baloche’s album of the same name, a co-write with Brenton, and as with other songs such as “Because of Your Love”, this appears on both Paul and Brenton’s albums. Brenton’s versions of these songs tend to be rockier than Paul’s, and this is no exception, with the introductory riff taken by a crunchy lead guitar. Bass and drums are the key to this version, pounding us through the song with passion and fervour.
Other highlights on this album include “All I Want” – a song that expresses perfectly the Lord’s love, grace and mercy towards us, and in the chorus we offer our response to the Lord of our desire to know Him and feel Him more.
The beautiful closing song “All for You” contains a great message which I will leave you with – this represents my heart for worship and how I feel we should view our relationship with the Lord:
“Jesus this is all for You,
Father this is all for You,
How Your children long to bless Your heart
Lord we’ve tasted and we’ve seen
We’ve held the beauty of the King
And we long to magnify our God”
Standout Songs:
All For You
Our God is Mercy
Glorious
Review by Ed Rotheram
(Review CD provided by Kingsway)
You can hang out with Brenton Brown and worship along to his new songs at the upcoming All About Worship Retreat in Kansas City, May 19-21…along with Pocket Full of Rocks, Sarah Reeves, Dave Fitzgerald, and 60 other fellow worship leaders/worshippers.
Sweet, Sweet Sound – Sarah Reeves Live
Here is Sarah Reeves, one of the artists coming to the All About Worship Retreat in May, singing her song “Sweet, Sweet Sound” at a concert.
Find out more about Sarah on her website or Twitter page.
“I Have A Hope” – Tommy Walker Instructional Video
One of my favorite songs by Tommy Walker is one that he sang at the All About Worship Retreat this past May. It’s called “I Have A Hope”, and it’s a great song that speaks about the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. The story behind this song is just as incredible as the song itself. When Tommy shared the story with us at the retreat, I was amazed to hear how God could use a situation like serving food at a homeless shelter to inspire Tommy to write such a great song!
I found this instructional video for the song, and it’s really a great help for guitarists. You can download the song on iTunes. Check out Tommy’s website for many other videos and more info about his music.
-Barry Westman
Episode 50: Interview with Matt Papa
We’ve reached 50 episodes!!! This week we hear an interview Wisdom did with songwriter/worship leader – Matt Papa. During the recent National Worship Leader Conference here in Kansas, Matt was gracious enough to sit down and talk over dinner. And, Matt’s most embarrassing moment leading worship…it’s a doozy. We’ll also get to your calls and another giveaway! Oh…and accents…
Listener Messages
- We received a voicemail from a longtime listener, Matt Neff. His question is for all of you “How do you start your worship services? Do you use a countdown clock? Prayer? Announcement?” We’d love to hear your answer. Just drop a comment below or give us a call at 913.735.4229.
Quick Links
- WorshipPlanning.com – Once again, be sure to check out this fantastic tool for worship
leaders. Awesome for assigning volunteers, planning music, planning services and communicating with worship ministry volunteers. - Podbean.com – This week’s toolbox item. Check out the podcasting tool we use to make this podcast available.
- Factor7Agency.com – If you need help with podcasting, social media and other web tools, check out how Wisdom can help your local church.
- MattPapa.com – Visit Matt’s website.
- Your Kingdom Come – Get Matt’s latest album on iTunes. One of Ben’s faves of the year.
- Matt on Twitter – Follow Matt @Matt_Papa
- Open Hands – Get the song we shared on iTunes.
- Matt’s Facebook Page – Check out Matt’s Facebook page.
- WorshipRetreat.org – Check out our next retreat in May.
Giveaway
- Free Music – Don’t forget to watch the AAW blog for our CD giveaways during the months of August and September! Lots of music goodies you won’t want to miss out on. So…subscribe to the blog and leave comments on posts with giveaways for your chance to win! You can enter once a week!
- Episode 50 giveaway! – FREE registration to our retreat coming up in May 19 – 21. Learn more about the retreat at www.WorshipRetreat.org. All you have to do is head over to the website and leave a comment on the giveaway post.
Contact Us
- Twitter – Follow AAW on Twitter. You can also follow Wisdom and Ben.
- Facebook – Join us on Facebook.
- 913.735.4229 – Leave us your own voice message.
Listen
Check us out on iTunes. Feedburner. Or stop by our Archive page and listen in.
Thanks
A special thanks to Matt for stopping by the show! Big thanks WorshipPlanning.com for loving the worship leader by sponsoring the show. Give ‘em love friends!
And of course…THANK YOU for listening!!!!
And as promised….Matt Papa is….Napoleon Dynamite:
Episode 48: Darrell Evans Q&A
On this edition of the show, Wisdom and Ben catch up with Darrell Evans. We hear your questions submitted to us before the recording and live over Talkshoe.
Quick Links
WorshipPlanning.com – Stop by our kind sponsors and try them out. There are some fantastic features that Tom and crew continue to roll out for worship teams. Check out their new iPhone App! It’s free and it will make your life much easier!
DarrellEvans.com – This is Darrell’s site. You can also “Like” his Facebook page.
Darrell on Twitter – Follow Darrell on Twitter to see what’s going on in his life.
Nothing Less Than Everything on iTunes – Check out Darrell’s latest album on iTunes and leave him a review!
All About Worship on iTunes – Visit us on iTunes and PLEASE leave some feedback! The smart folks at iTunes deleted our page by mistake recently along with all the listener reviews we had. We would greatly appreciate your leaving a review!
AAWPrayers – Follow and request prayer on this new Twitter feed.
AllAboutWorship Retreat – Log on to take advantage of the Early Bird Registration and find out who’s coming! (You can also follow the retreat updates on Twitter)
Click Here to listen to all of our episodes (Click Here if you’re on a mobile device).
Giveaway
We are doing three big giveaways!
1. A FREE Registration to the Forge Conference. Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2010 in Ocean Grove, NJ.
2. A FREE Registration to National Worship Leader Conference East. Oct 5 – 7, 2010 in Lancaster, PA.
Just leave a comment on this post to be entered to win. Deadline is Aug 18th. We’ll announce the winner here!
3. Free music! Beginning August, visit the AllAboutWorship blog once a week you’ll have a chance to win free CD’s!
Contact Us
Follow AAW – follow our tweets for regular updates and news.
Like AAW – join our growing number of friends on Facebook.
913.735.4229 – leave us your own voice message.
Thanks
We want to say a BIG thanks to WorshipPlanning.com for sponsoring this episode. Start your 30 day free trial today. Be sure and follow them on Twitter at @worshipsense right here or find them on Facebook.
Thanks to Darrell for spending time with us on the show. And as always….THANK YOU for listening!!!!
Check out this new song “You Could Never Be Praised Enough” from Darrell that we discussed on the show:
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