The Worship Project Moves Ahead With Completion Of 100 Songs
 |
Photo Gallery: Worship Project Songs |
 |
|
NASHVILLE, Tenn., 12/4/06 -- The Worship Project, an innovative venture coupling a downloadable audio hymn and worship song repository from which an updated, hardbound Baptist Hymnal will be drawn, has progressed with the completion of the recording of the first 100 songs.
LifeWay Worship Music Group, an area of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, embarked on the new project to meet the worship needs of churches and plans to have the project complete in 2009.
"When we launch in 2009, we’ll be able to offer churches everything they will need to build a complete worship experience," said Mike Harland, director of LifeWay Worship Music Group and project executive. "There will be a new hardback hymnal with about 700 songs, a digital hymnal with 1,000 songs and a worship planning tool available through an online portal at LifeWayWorship.com."
Harland said the recording project is one of the largest recording projects ever done. "This project has attracted huge interest from the movers and shakers in the Christian music industry here," he said. "They have joined in with us - musicians, producers, arrangers - to get the songs recorded.
"When musicians in Nashville began putting together the first 100 songs, I asked which one was the first one recorded," Harland said. "It was ‘The Church’s One Foundation.’ I can’t imagine any song more appropriate to be the first."
New hymnal, new mentality
Harland said the new hardbound hymnal is being planned with a new mentality. "In other hymnals, we’ve had the mentality of publishing what planners thought the churches ought to sing," he said. While most hymnals contain about 650 songs, most churches probably sing less than half of the songs, he explained.
"In this selection process, we are engaging hundreds of music leaders and asking, ‘what are the churches singing?’ and we’ll make selections from there." Harland also said the music leaders engaged in the project are "overwhelmingly Baptist. No question, this will be a Baptist hymnal."
The new hymnal will include old favorite hymns as well as new favorites and choruses.
"It’s funny," Harland said. "We’ve gotten a lot of flack about ‘I’ll Fly Away’ not being in the last hymnal. That’s one of those songs people still love and still sing. I’m pretty sure it will be in the new one."
With the digital portal, 1,000 songs will be available at the launch with 100 songs added each year.
For updates on The Worship Project, go to LifeWayWorship.com.
About Polly House
Polly House is LifeWay's corporate communications specialist and editor of Facts & Trends. She came to LifeWay in 1999. Polly and her husband, Sam, live in Nashville, and are the parents of Tyler and Travis, both college students. They are members of Crievewood Baptist Church. Polly can be contacted at polly.house@lifeway.com.
- Share this:
-
Blink
-
Del.icio.us
-
Digg
-
Furl
-
Simpy
-
Spurl
-
Y! MyWeb