Sovereign Grace Music finished another training video, this one for "Hail the Day" from Risen.

Our Pastors Conference registration opened this week. This year we have the honor of Sinclair Ferguson joining C.J. Mahaney, Dave Harvey, and Jeff Purswell as a main session speaker.

And on a lighter note, Crossway Community Church (Charlotte, NC) shared about the world's first "openly shallow small group."

Watch this page to see what people are talking about at Next 2011, our worldview conference in Orlando, Florida. The first main session is at 7:30pm on Saturday (view schedule).

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Lisa Blanco, a member of Sovereign Grace Church (Tucson, AZ), recently contributed an article to The Gospel Coalition blog titled "It Was Not Wicked for the Lord to Take Our Son."

Sovereign Grace Music is beginning to provide training videos to help musicians learn their songs. The first, which they just posted, walks through how to play "Jesus Lives" on the guitar. And the lead sheets, guitar charts, and lyrics sheets for Risen are now available as free downloads.

Curtis Allen, a pastor at Solid Rock Church (Riverdale, MD), was featured in a recent Christianity Today article about Reformed hip-hop.

For those of you near Philadelphia: On May 20, Covenant Mercies is hosting A Note of Hope, a benefit concert featuring some of the premier jazz musicians in the area. Covenant Mercies is a ministry of Covenant Fellowship Church (Glen Mills, PA) that provides care for nearly 1,000 fatherless children in Uganda, Zambia, and Ethiopia. Read more.

Video has been added to the pages for “The Great Commission and Church Planting” (Mark Dever) and “Profile of a Church Planter” (C.J. Mahaney).

C.J. Mahaney released an ebook on his blog: "The Pastor and Personal Criticism" (PDF).

We're grateful for the honest and helpful reviews that our new album, Risen, received. If you haven't heard the music for yourself yet, here are some takes on it: Christianity Today, Worship Leader Magazine, Church Music Today, and Amazon.com reviewers. 

Bob Kauflin shared reflections from leading worship at a conference in Wales, as well as a new animated video set to "All I Have is Christ."

Sam Shin and Kurt Weaver both shared some thoughts from their time at C.J.'s Pastoral Ministry class this week.

And in case you were wondering, Eric Turbedsky explained "Why We Party."

Help for memorizing Scripture: Tim Kerr (Sovereign Grace Church, Toronto, ON) wrote a free PDF booklet with Scripture passages listed by category to be memorized for use in prayer, and Eric Holter (Redeeming Grace Church, Durham, NC) shared a similar resource on his church's blog.

As of this month, all the PDF piano scores at our online store are free. 

Sovereign Grace Music posted videos of songs from Risen on their Facebook page (meaning, yes, you can listen to the songs for free).

Crossway Church (Millersville, PA) recently shared a chart explaining several counterfeit gospels and some related messages from C.J. Mahaney.

We're looking for volunteers to serve at our WorshipGod11 conference in August. The Covenant Life blog shares more info.

Audio is now available from Bob Kauflin's talk on spontaneity and letting the Spirit lead in worship from a Resurgence event last year. 

On April 12 Dave Harvey will participate in a free pre-conference roundtable on church planting at the Gospel Coalition National Conference. More info at the Crossway blog.

March 15 - early April, pre-order Stephen Altrogge's (Sovereign Grace Church, Indiana, PA) book The Greener Grass Conspiracy and get 35% off. Stephen blogs more info here.

Covenant Life Church (Gaithersburg, MD) sent a medical mission team to Ethiopia last month to partner with Covenant Life Church Addis Ababa. They shared highlights on the church blog in two updates.

Eric Turbedsky (Sovereign Grace Church, Irvine, CA) posted a gracious note about our own Melissa Goins (assistant to Jeff Purswell), who volunteered as an administrator for the church's recent prayer seminar despite living about 2,600 miles away. 

Fans of the Sovereign Grace Music Facebook page have already gotten two free song downloads from our upcoming album, Risen. Join the Facebook page to find them and get other album previews in the future. 

New on Vimeo: The details behind the making of our Spanish album, Allí en la Cruz.

Stephen Altrogge, a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church (Indiana, PA), has a new book available for pre-order: The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence.

Covenant Life Church (Gaithersburg, MD) posted some information about ministries working with local churches in Japan to whom they'll be sending financial aid. If your church is looking for ideas, these suggestions may be a helpful starting place. 

Crossway Church (Lancaster, PA) posted an encouraging evangelism story from a church member on their blog.

KingsWay Community Church (Midlothian, VA) had their "send out meeting" on Sunday for Keith Breault, who will plant a church in Redeemer Church (Charlottesville, VA) this year.

In case you missed it, Tony Reinke posted a useful "Reader's Digest" to the Rob Bell debate on C.J.'s blog this week.

Song samples of our upcoming album, Risen, are now available.

C.J. recently preached at at Capitol Hill Baptist Church (Washington, DC) on "Called, Loved and Kept."

The video below features C.J. interviewing James MacDonald about what steps a man should take when he feels called to ministry:
(If you're reading this via email or an RSS reader, you may need to visit the website to see the video.)

If you're in SoCal, consider joining Sovereign Grace Church of Orange County (Irvine, CA) for a prayer seminar on March 12 based on Paul Miller's book A Praying Life.

Mark Mitchell, a pastor at Covenant Life Church (Gaithersburg, MD), shared with the church about a recent ministry trip to Haiti.

If you didn't watch all the pieces of Jeff Purswell's interview with Wolfgang and Christian Wegert last week, below is an interesting excerpt on the Christian landscape in Germany:
(If you're reading this via email or an RSS reader, you may need to visit the website to see the video.)

Desiring God invited Dave Harvey to write three articles on the topic of "Planting Churches That Last" for their  blog. You can read them here: Study the Past, Study Mistakes, Study Others.

Want to become a better songwriter? Bob Kauflin offers some help.

Several Sovereign Grace churches are hosting marriage conferences or seminars in the weeks ahead: Covenant Life Church (Gaithersburg, MD) on February 26, Riverside Christian Fellowship (North Lauderdale, FL) on March 12, and Metro Life Church (Orlando, FL) on March 18-19.

C.J. preached this sermon at Southern Seminary's chapel service on Thursday: 
(If you're reading this in an email or RSS viewer, you may need to visit the website to see the video.)

Earlier this week we announced the details of our annual February sale (30% or more off of everything). We decided to drop the price of music even lower though—so all Sovereign Grace CDs are now $6 or less and all Sovereign Grace MP3 albums are $5 or less. 

If you're planning to attend our conference about worldview this May, we recommend you register and book airfare soon. Several of our breakout sessions (which you must register for) have limited capacity, so late registrants may not have their pick of speakers. And it's a holiday weekend near Disney World, so we expect demand for airline tickets to be high.

Dustin Neeley, author of Church Planting for the Rest of Us, is attending our church planting conference to interview all the speakers. He is taking question suggestions via blog comments or Twitter if you have topics you'd like to see addressed by C.J. Mahaney, Darrin Patrick, Mark Dever, Dave Harvey, or any of the other guys.

KingsWay Community Church (Midlothian, VA) has arranged for author Gary Thomas to lead a marriage conference February 18-19 near Williamsburg, Virginia. If you're in the area, check out the website for details.

Riverside Christian Fellowship (North Lauderdale, FL) will host authors Gary and Betsy Ricucci for a marriage conference on March 12. Registration is $25 per couple. Learn more or register at their website.