WorshipGod24: One with Christ
As we serve in Global Missions, music so often goes ahead of us. It’s often what people hear first, and so the following is an update from Bob Kauflin, Director of Sovereign Grace Music, on the wonderful success of WorshipGod 24…
From July 24-27, over 1300 people gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, to participate in our 18th WorshipGod conference. The theme this year was One with Christ: How our Union with Christ Affects Everything.
While WorshipGod is a Sovereign Grace conference, the majority of participants come from churches of all types. That’s largely because our songs are sung by local congregations throughout the world. But this year two Sovereign Grace churches together sent almost 100 people to WorshipGod! That helps explain why we had almost twice as many attendees as in 2022.
WorshipGod is designed for those who plan, lead, serve, or participate in their Sunday gatherings. That includes musicians and pastors, but also songwriters, tech personnel, and anyone who wants to grow in their understanding of congregational worship. As an encouraging reminder of the riches we’ve received in the gospel (2 Cor. 8:9), we love to give stuff away. So this year everyone received a copy of Ask Pastor John, and we had a blast surprising people with books, instruments, and musical gear.
Around 250 people signed up for the pre-conference Master Classes, which focused on technical skills for bass players, drummers, pianists, guitarists, and vocalists. We also offered a general class on Habits of Grace, taught by David Mathis.
During the conference, we explored the meaning and significance of our union with Christ. In three of the main sessions, we were privileged to hear from John Piper, HB Charles, Jr., and Mike Bullmore. For the remaining sessions we were served by three Sovereign Grace pastors, Josh Blount, Devon Kauflin, and Jared Mellinger. Mike Bullmore spoke for many when he began his message by saying, “If Sovereign Grace keeps producing preachers like this they are in great shape for years to come.” Shout out to Jeff Purswell, dean of our Pastors College, who has been training and inspiring us in this area for decades!
The singing at WorshipGod conferences is loud. Really loud. We experienced passion, joy, reverence, celebration, tears, and more as different Sovereign Grace musicians led us. And the volume didn’t diminish when Jonathan & Sarah Jerez and Fabrizio Rodulfo added Spanish to the mix!
On Thursday night we sang through the 13 songs on our most recent album, Knowing God, and heard the stories behind them. It was fantastic. But when we sang “Crown Him with Many Crowns” at the end of the night, it felt like the roof was going to come off! A number of people referenced that as one of their conference highlights.
Along with the times of worship in song each session, we asked some friends to share their own Songs and Stories with us. Caroline Cobb treated us with some of her songs from the Psalms. My son, Jordan, shared 3 songs he's written with other writers from Getty Music. For the last one, "Come Unto Jesus," he invited 4 of his 5 siblings to join him. Definitely one of my highlights. Skye Peterson and Ben Shive introduced us to a few songs they've written together. Colin Buchanan, co-writer of Jesus, Strong and Kind, brought his at times hilarious and always theologically sharp songs for kids. Adam Wright of The Corner Room was back again singing his finely crafted, beautifully performed Scripture memory songs. And our own David Zimmer and Nathan Stiff shared three songs that aren't on an album yet, but a number of people thought should be! We’re working on that. It was a joy hearing from so many other songwriters who share our love for theologically driven, Christ-exalting songs for local churches.
At the top of our planning document we posted this mission statement for the conference: WorshipGod exists to give people the opportunity to see and participate in the ways our biblical values shape our gatherings. So along with musical leadership and teachings in the main sessions and seminars, the Sovereign Grace Music staff (Bekah Heid, David Zimmer, Grace Nixon, Fabrizio Rodulfo, and Devon Kauflin) seek to model the gospel-rooted joy, humility, faithfulness, and excellence that characterize our meetings. But our labors were greatly amplified by the 50+ volunteers and part-time workers from Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville and Covenant Fellowship who served before, during, and after the conference.
And that’s how it should be. Because as I reminded everyone before they left, Jesus didn’t come to build a conference. He came to build his Church. And from all I could tell, that’s what he enabled us to do at WorshipGod24.
Here’s a short video of some of the highlights. Enjoy!