Document your inspiration when it comes, for it will not come again! I believe that a song starts as a seed—a clear single idea that contains the “songvision” of the song. It’s the “one thing” of your song. Make sure when the inspiration comes, when the seed falls into the soil of your life, you plant it! Write it down, record it, and take a mental picture of playing the melody on the piano. Invest in something that makes documenting the idea really simple. Repetition is good; actually, it’s more than good—it’s great! Think of the way “Come, Now Is the Time to Worship” repeats the word come. I keep on sounding that simple, clear invitation. If you are working on a song, look for the key word that you can repeat. Make sure you have a strong melodic hook to build on. This song starts with a very clear, strong melodic hook on the third note of the major scale. A good hook is memorable and easy to sing. (Of course, coming more

From the moment I heard the beginning of this song floating through the air early on a September morning in London, England, I knew something special was happening. In the mid-1990s I had become somewhat disillusioned with worship music and the ministry connected with it. I grew tired of the striving, weary of artists jumping on the worship bandwagon just because worship music projects were selling more units. There was also my own shallowness as I compared myself with some of those artists. Looking back, I can see that I was passing through a patch of wilderness; God desired to break me in different ways so He could use me in new ways. In the previous five years, I had experienced some successes with songs and recording projects (all of which were a surprise) and some failures, too (not a huge surprise but still discouraging!). I had also spent a good portion of those years pursuing a dream to communicate the Father-heart of God through music and story in a musical called Father's House. more