November 26, 2024 • 41 mins
It's our 100th episode!
To help us celebrate (and get in the mood for a holiday season worthy of its name), Keith Lancaster and Anthony Lancaster of Acappella Ministries are here to talk about the state of a cappella worship among Church of Christ congregations and what they are doing to restore and revive "the best part of our heritage." That includes traveling the world to teach Christians and congregations how to sing together in harmony.
They also announce two opportunities for Christians to enjoy singing with them, including a "living room style" reunion concert featuring Acappella, AVB, the Lancasters and Vocal Union on New Year's Eve and an all-day singing marathon at Madison Church of Christ in Madison, Tennessee, on New Year's Day.
And they unveil Incarnate God, a new Praise & Harmony collection of 25 congregational arrangements for Christmas.
Link to sign up for the New Year's Day Singing Marathon at Madison Church of Christ in Madison, Tennessee
Link to Incarnate God, the new Christmas album from Praise & Harmony
Link to audition to be part of the Praise & Harmony recording in Fort Worth, Texas (August 2025)
Link to the Worship Leader Institute from Acappella Ministries
Link to sign up for emails from Acappella Ministries
Link to Episode 8 (April 2023) featuring Keith Lancaster and Anthony Lancaster
Find more news and stories at christianchronicle.org
Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate
Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org
Get the education and formation that can help you become the best minister you can be. Learn more about Freed-Hardeman University at fhu.edu/chronicle.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Praie & Harmony (00:00):
Hear the cry from Bethlehem.
O children come, son of God nowborn to men.
O children come, bring yourtroubles, bring your fears,
bring the needs that draw younear, find the hope of all the
(00:25):
years.
O children come.
Peace on earth, goodwill to men.
O children come, righteous rulethat will not end.
O children come, lay down allyour bitterness, turn from sin's
(00:51):
toil and distress.
Holly Linden (00:54):
Find His grace and perfect rest.
Praie & Harmony (00:58):
O children come .
O children come.
O children, come when theFather's grace has walked.
O children, come when you seethe hurt and lost.
O children, come, show themercy shown to you Gifts of
(01:26):
kindness to renew Love fromheart, sincere and true.
Oh children, come, show themercy shown to you Gifts of
kindness to renew Love fromheart, sincere and true.
(01:46):
Oh children come, oh childrencome, oh children come.
Holly Linden (01:58):
Welcome to the Christian Chronicle Podcast.
We're bringing you the storyshaping Church of Christ
congregations and members aroundthe world.
Here's our host, BT Irwin.
BT Irwin (02:09):
Family, friends, neighbors and, most of all,
strangers.
Welcome to the ChristianChronicle Podcast.
May what you are about to hearbless you and honor God.
Today, you'll be glad to knowthat we're bringing you an
encore interview with KeithLancaster and Anthony Lancaster.
They were on the show way backin episode eight, which remains
(02:31):
one of the most popular episodeswe ever released, and in honor
of that and the start of theholiday season, we're giving you
the gift of anotherconversation with Keith and
Anthony and more of their music.
What could be a better way tomark our 100th episode and enter
the season of Advent?
Keith Lancaster formed thegospel vocal group Acapella back
(02:52):
in 1982.
Over the years, that groupreleased many albums that led to
crossover success, major recorddeals and world tours.
Building on that momentum,keith started multiple new a
cappella worship projects thateventually grew into A Cappella
Ministries, which exists, toquote carry out the great
commission of Jesus Christ byspreading the gospel far and
(03:15):
wide through music.
End quote Today, a CappellaMinistries is not only releasing
a cappella worship recordingsin a variety of styles and
voices.
Keith travels the worldteaching Christians and
congregations how to worship invocal harmony.
His son, anthony, has been apart of a cappella ministries
almost from birth.
Today he is a composer,performer and producer with the
(03:35):
ministry.
He also serves as a worshipminister with Madison Church of
Christ in Madison, tennessee.
Keith and Anthony are heretoday to talk about two new
projects that I'm sure ouraudience will love, and they're
coming just in time for theholidays.
Keith, anthony, happyThanksgiving and Merry Christmas
.
Keith Lancaster (03:52):
Hey, how's it going.
BT Irwin (03:54):
I'm having a good time because I'm here with you.
Thank you.
Keith Lancaster (03:56):
It's good to be back with you.
Yeah, come on.
BT Irwin (03:59):
Yeah, so it's been 92 episodes since the last time
that we had you on.
And yeah, how about that?
I can't believe it's been thatlong.
When we last had you on theshow, you were about to head out
on the road for an acapella40th anniversary tour.
It was a big deal, because youwere getting the whole band back
together again for the firsttime in a long time.
How was the tour?
Anthony Lancaster (04:22):
It was phenomenal.
It was truly, uh, truly special.
A big turnout in every city andit was uh correct me if I'm
wrong, dad, but I think it was12 cities in 13 days.
Yep, we were boom, boom, boom,boom, boom, boom, boom, and that
that harkens back to, toacapella's heyday.
So it was uh, it wasappropriate that we would get
(04:43):
that experience when we'recelebrating a cappella's history
.
It was really, reallyphenomenal.
But I would say, not only werethe concerts themselves special,
but there was, I think, anumber of special moments where
we felt God was ministering farbeyond what we had anticipated.
(05:05):
Are you familiar with our bass,robert Guy?
He's sung with us for manyyears.
There was a very special momentin a hotel and he, just on a
whim, he started singing.
There's a little bit.
He sings in Espanol and he sangit for somebody at the
breakfast buffet at this hotel,just as a little, you know, not
(05:27):
thinking about it.
He just wanted to, you know,brighten their day, cheer him up
a little bit.
So he starts singing for thisperson and then this very
separate lady over at anothertable, she just starts crying
and he steps over.
He's like what Is everythingokay?
Did I sing that bad.
You, you know, I didn't know.
So she says it's like no, youdon't understand when I, when I
(05:50):
heard you singing and I just Ifelt that that that was god
comforting me.
I just my son committed suicidelast night and I'm here in town
, we have to take care of thearrangements but I just felt
like your song came at just theright time and it was.
It was God letting me know thateverything's going to be okay.
So we got the whole, the wholegroup together and we, we had a
(06:11):
holy moment and we, we prayedwith her and sang with her a few
more songs, and so I think thatwas the more meaningful
revelation that you know God is.
It's awesome to have the soldout concerts and thousands of
people and singing along, butyou never underestimate the
little moments that God will useto impact the kingdom.
Keith Lancaster (06:34):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
And one of the things thatreally overwhelmed me and now
that we're traveling so muchwith Praise and Harmony and
working with churches, we'reconstantly hearing and it is
encouraging.
They'll say I heard you back in1984 and you stayed in our home
(06:54):
and I was at that concert andthose kind of things.
Well, the special thing aboutthe 40 tour was people would
come up and I've been a fan allmy life and here's my grandchild
and now this my grandchild is afan.
We're introducing anothergeneration, even a second
generation, third generation, sothat that was really neat Trick
(07:16):
of the trade question here.
BT Irwin (07:18):
If you did 12 shows in 13 days, how in the world do
you keep your voices fresh?
Keith Lancaster (07:28):
I don't know.
That's one reason why we hadtwo basses, two baritones, two
second tenors and two firsttenors.
It helped by having that wasthe largest combination of
acapella we'd ever had, and wedid that on purpose to help the
stamina of the voices throughthat period, because it was very
(07:51):
, very tiring and we tried toget cities that were close
together so that we weren'ttraveling such long distances in
between, but still we have toadmit it was grueling, wasn't it
, Anthony?
Anthony Lancaster (08:05):
Absolutely.
Now.
I think one thing that helpedus all, we developed a good
habit, one that I've tried tokeep up.
I hadn't really been in thehabit before this tour but I've
tried to keep it up since then.
But doing vocal warm-ups everyday, Every day we would do, you
know, we'd wake up, do our ourvocal warmups, kind of build
that stamina and endurance andthat went a long way.
(08:27):
In particular, there's someplaylists on Spotify for any
worship leaders listening tothis podcast.
There are some great resourceson, or you can find it YouTube,
any of the platforms.
Just look up worship leaderwarmups and there's some really
great resources there.
Worship.
Keith Lancaster (08:45):
Leader Warm-Ups and there's some really great
resources there.
Speaking of the 40 tour, nowit's been 42 years that acapella
was started and that albumcalled 40, anthony wrote so much
of the music on that and hewon't tell you this, but he's
been nominated by the NationalAcademy of Christian Acapella
Music for several differentcategories Song of the Year,
(09:07):
songwriter of the Year, producerof the Year, social Awareness
of the Year, music Minister ofthe Year.
I'm very proud of Anthony.
He's not going to tell you that, but that's very appropriate to
the question you just asked.
BT Irwin (09:22):
Well, we're all very proud of Anthony, which I loved,
that album, by the way.
I played it every morningbefore my adult Bible class at
church so everybody else couldlisten to it.
Which song got nominated forSong of the Year?
Anthony Lancaster (09:35):
It was Heaven and Earth.
BT Irwin (09:37):
Heaven and Earth.
Okay, well, congrats, anthonyon that.
That's fantastic andwell-deserved, I reckon.
When a lot of people think of acappella, they think of
concerts and records, but thereal base note of your ministry
now seems to be invitingChristians to gather to sing
together or to learn to singtogether.
How has the last year been forthis part of your ministry, and
(10:00):
what have you observed about theChristians and congregations
you've encountered as you'vetraveled the world?
Keith Lancaster (10:16):
I think people are craving that experience.
It's the one time of theassembly where everyone's
contribution is equal male,female, young, old, members,
visitors.
And that's what makes acappella congregational singing
great, is it only works wheneverybody adds and contributes
to it.
And even if they're tone deaf,it just all mixes together to
this one wonderful combinationand contribution and worship to
(10:41):
the Lord.
And so just last week we werein a town with a population of
124.
And we had 200 people there andit was just an incredible
experience.
And so we go to churches of allsizes.
Earlier this year we were inthe UK and then France, the
southern part of France and justin a short time we're going to
(11:03):
be going to Trinidad, and justin a short time we're going to
be going to Trinidad.
But it's everywhere we go.
It's just the best part of ourheritage that makes us unique
those of us who were blessed togrow up in acapella churches and
so it's something when it'sdone well and emphasized that
there's nothing like it.
Anthony Lancaster (11:24):
That's right.
Yes, yes.
And on the region, harmonyfront, which is the more
youth-oriented wing of Praise,and Harmony Acapella Ministries.
(11:44):
Just a couple weeks ago, to tagonto that, we had an event
celebration in Kentucky and JeffWalling was there, so we were
leading the worship and it'sit's funny.
You know you do so manyconcerts and and people love to
listen and that's good.
You know we should, we should,we need to listen to, to good
things and put that which islovely and helpful and beautiful
and have that going around inour mind.
And I do believe you know yourinput affects your output.
But there's, there's a deeperstep where, when you see young
(12:09):
people singing and actuallyputting from their mouths, they
are committing scripture tomemory or they're praising God.
There's power in the tongue.
Like in James, the rudder pilesthe ship's.
It's profound to see youngpeople doing that.
BT Irwin (12:31):
So regents had a blessed year as well I a lot of
people, uh, that listen to thisI'm sure have been to some of
your, uh, some of your workshopsor your gatherings where you're
teaching people to sing again.
You know, maybe they need arefresher on that.
For those who haven't been apart of that experience, could
(12:52):
you just kind of walk us throughreal quick what would happen if
they came to one of theseevents?
Keith Lancaster (12:58):
Oh, we try to make it a lot of fun.
Our target audience for ourtraining are beginners,
non-musicians, people who don'tknow how to sing harmony,
because we're convinced that youcan learn harmony by ear.
So we actually have people sitin sections.
So you can imagine, you know,if you have several hundred
(13:19):
people and all the basses areover here on this side and the
tenors are on the other side andthe sopranos, the altos, people
will say, well, I don't knowwhat part I sing.
Well, we say it's okay.
It's okay If you sing low, sitover here, and if it seems too
low you can get up and move andtry another section.
But that's one of the firstthings we do is sit in sections
and we have these tools.
(13:40):
That makes it fun to learn howto sing harmony.
And then people are excitedbecause they're surround,
they're immersed in that partand if all you can hear are
basses, it makes it so mucheasier to learn how to sing that
that's how I learned how tosing tenor when I was sitting
next to someone growing up and Icould hear that really loud, I
didn't want anybody to hear me.
(14:01):
As a young lad I was under mybreath, you know, trying to
match what he was singing.
But then I actually learned howto sing tenor that way, and so.
So that's one of the thingsit's it's.
It's very like I said, it's fun, but we make it simple and easy
and a quick way to teach, andso that's our.
(14:21):
Our whole mission is tomobilize the entire church to
sing harmony again, and if wedon't start training and
emphasizing it, then it willdecline, and that's what.
That's what we're seeing in alot of churches.
Anthony Lancaster (14:39):
Yes, absolutely.
And that's accessibility is abig part of both praise and
harmony and region harmony.
Accessibility is a big part ofboth praise and harmony and
region harmony.
We want students to sing,elderly to sing, people who
maybe they've never venturedinto a harmony part before.
But you know, I believe peoplecan learn that skill.
It's, it is a skill and in ourexperience dad, I think you
(15:03):
would agree with this thebiggest obstacle to overcome in
learning to sing a harmony partis not music skill, it is
attitude.
Attitude every time, becausesomebody inevitably has told,
told the person you can't sing,don't sing, you don't you have,
(15:26):
you don't have a good voice, andso they don't try.
And they, they have in theirmind that they can't and so they
don't try.
So attitude is the biggestobstacle.
So we want to promote thenecessity of hey, if we're going
to do this, let's, whatever youdo, do it all in the name of
(15:47):
the Lord Jesus, work at it withall your heart.
It's working for the Lord, notfor human masters.
We want to give our best for Godand if SATB, acapella, worship,
is how we're going to do that,then not to say that you can't
give a heart-yielded offeringwithout musical skill, because
(16:10):
you certainly can.
So everybody gives what theyhave.
But I think everybody also haspotential to develop music skill
and maybe just take a few stepsfurther.
Maybe learn a bass harmony oran alto harmony or something
here or there.
Even just learning dynamics issomething we talk about in the
workshops.
Singing a little more softly onthe verses, louder on the
(16:32):
chorus, it accentuates the textand really drives home the
meaning behind the song.
Keith Lancaster (16:40):
And that's why we produce so many training
materials to make it easy forpeople to learn Alto, only tenor
, only bass, only the same song.
We make it so that people canhear just that part.
We have an app,praiseandharmonytv, and so many
people know about Praise andHarmony through the YouTube
videos.
That are ubiquitous.
But I'm so excited about whatAnthony started with region
(17:04):
harmony.
It's for teenagers and collegeage especially, but they like
the mashups where everyone'ssinging a different part.
You know how the GreatestCommands those who are aware of
that song.
That's kind of a mashup.
Well, anthony has arranged somany songs in that way.
Anthony, I was talking tosomebody just last week and I
(17:25):
was telling him one of songsthat you and they didn't know
that you had arranged that putit together.
But they're singing it at theiryouth rally and at their
churches and it's starting tocome because the mashups are
really important.
So we're trying to providematerials for all ages.
BT Irwin (17:42):
I was talking to my mom a while back and we had a
really good choir program at myhigh school growing up in the
1990s and one of the things thechoir director said to some
maybe my parents at some pointis they always loved to see the
Church of Christ kids comingBecause the Church of Christ
kids always knew how they justthey were amazed that, you know,
(18:06):
when a kid walked in and theyfound out, oh, they're from the
church of Christ, they weregoing to know how to sing a part
.
And um, we were just talkingyesterday in the car on the way
home from church, my son's inchorus now and uh, I said I
learned how to read the musiccause I'd sit next to my dad and
church growing up and I wouldlisten to him sing the bass part
and eventually I learned tolook at the notes while he was
(18:27):
singing the bass part.
I can't really read music, butI can pick my way through it now
just from listening to my dadwhile looking at the notes in
the songbook.
So that's a that's a uniqueskill that Church of Christ kids
in my day had when they, youknow, went off to join the choir
at school or whatever.
They were ahead of everybodyelse, because it's just what
people would say how did youlearn?
(18:47):
And you're like I don't know.
Keith Lancaster (18:50):
Going far upon the mountain, that's right.
BT Irwin (18:53):
That's exactly right, so we just knew.
So I, we you mentioned you'vebeen around a lot of churches
and the possibility of declinein this part of our heritage.
We're going to.
We're working in a newcollaboration here at the
Christian Chronicle called theChurch Research Council, which
is going to compile a newdirectory of Church of Christ
(19:15):
congregations in the UnitedStates.
It's been a few years sinceanyone published one of those,
and one of the things I'm goingto be keen to see in that
directory is what percent ofChurch of Christ congregations
now feature instruments in theirworship, and my guess it'll be
much higher than it was a fewyears ago.
Apart from how somecongregations are coming to a
different understanding ofbiblical worship, that's
(19:38):
certainly a part of it.
What do you think are someother factors that are
contributing to congregations inour heritage moving away from
their a cappella tradition?
Anthony Lancaster (19:52):
One major factor that my dad and I
typically bring up in ourworkshops is the lack of
introduction of new songs.
New songs will play on theradio and it's human nature.
We're going to hear, we'regoing to see things like oh, oh,
can we do that?
I want to do that, and thechurches don't feel equipped to
(20:12):
introduce new songs.
They don't feel equipped tolearn new songs.
But there are resources outthere and that's what we're
trying to produce make it aseasy as possible.
So I at Madison Church ofChrist, we will actually utilize
the training videos that weproduce.
We'll play them in a serviceand we try to create a
(20:33):
worshipful moment out of it.
I mean, that's learning a songwell.
To sing it well to God is anact of worship in and of itself.
So we say, okay, we're going toplay this song once and the
first time.
We want you to.
We say, okay, we're going toplay this song once and the
first time.
We want you to internalize it.
We want you to familiarizeyourself with the lyrics, pay
attention to the harmony partand BT, just like you just
(20:56):
described.
For those who don't have acomprehensive music literacy,
they almost will always be ableto.
With enough repetition,repetition, they will be able to
intuit that, oh, I see that thenote is going up and down.
I see, maybe, that the theshape of the note on the note
head is changing when the noteis changing and there are things
(21:18):
that just with repetition youwill figure out that, oh,
actually I can read music, eventhough I couldn't tell you that
that's a D, but I can see howthe notes are moving.
So we encourage people to beopen, pay attention to what's
happening, soak it in and then,after we've played the video
once, we'll sing the songtogether and without fail.
(21:40):
It's almost as if we'd alreadybeen singing the song for a
while.
And I know a lot ofcongregations in order to
introduce a new song, they justgo for it and a lot of times it
doesn't go well and thereforethey don't get to do the song
anymore because the pastor orthe shepherds will be like we're
not doing that again.
It didn't go well.
It's like well, a lot ofdifficult and challenging things
(22:03):
are worth doing and you willnot succeed the first time you
do them.
So once again, it gets back toattitude.
Attitude is a huge obstacle.
Keith Lancaster (22:11):
Right, it's whatever's important to us,
whatever's a priority, we'llmake happen, we'll emphasize.
And so I'm very blessed thatwhen I was growing up in West
Tennessee, that when I wasgrowing up in West Tennessee,
our elders brought in RalphCasey from Georgia and he did
(22:32):
seminars for the whole church toteach them how to sing and how
to read music and training, andso I think this may be a
simplistic answer, but I thinktraining is what's lacking.
We've got to train the entirechurch.
I view the whole church as thechoir and so if we look at it
that way, then let's traineverybody how to sing and how to
(22:54):
sing harmony and the secondpart of that, equally, is
important.
We've got to train the songleaders, preachers.
We would have it no other way.
We want preachers to be trainedand experienced and have a
great understanding of the Bible.
Well, we need to do the samefor song leaders.
So the adverse of that is, if wedon't train the congregation,
(23:18):
if we don't train song leaders,then the singing becomes very
poor or dead and thereforepeople are seeking solutions.
How do we fix this?
How do we fix this Then?
The right answer in my mind istrain everyone to sing, train
song leaders.
But that is a major investmentand priority.
(23:39):
It's a lot easier to do someshortcuts and say, well, let's
just put a few singers together,crank them up, and it's going
to sound better.
It's like putting a Band-Aid onit, or you know, let's put a
band together, well, but itchanges.
We run the risk of changing itto a spectator activity, and
(23:59):
worship shouldn't be a spectatoractivity for the congregation.
BT Irwin (24:05):
Uh, we had at the steel Avenue church of Christ in
Ashland, ohio, where I grew up,we had singing practice every
Sunday night at six o'clockbefore the Sunday evening
worship.
So for the first 15 or 20minutes that we were together
every Sunday night 23 years thatI was there we had song
practice, uh, before we wentinto the Sunday evening worship
(24:29):
and that was one of thehighlights of my week man.
Even when I was a little kid, Iloved going to singing practice
every week.
It was emphasized, it wasimportant, yeah, and we were a
good singing congregation.
Speaking of singing, I wasthinking about this recently.
When I was a kid growing up inOhio, we used to have area-wide
(24:50):
singings a few times a year andour congregation would host one
or two and folks would come fromall over to spend a whole
Sunday afternoon just singingand I loved that and it occurred
to me the other day.
I can't remember the last timeI heard about an area-wide
singing or a congregationhosting a singing.
Now I live up in MichiganMichigan and a lot of Church of
(25:11):
Christ congregations are kind offading and closing up here in
Michigan.
Do they still have area widesingings down in the Bible Belt,
where you all live?
Keith Lancaster (25:20):
Oh yes, yep, Anthony, you had one yesterday,
didn't you?
Anthony Lancaster (25:24):
That's right.
We had our.
Ours is called Thanks Singing,and so we had Andrew Leaper from
Brentwood Hills and MarkSullivan from Hillsboro and
Rayshon Booker from SchraderLane, and we had Luke Coles and
Micah Kennedy from Harpeth Hills, and we also had the Lancasters
(25:44):
with us as well, and so we sang.
I sang for about 16 hoursyesterday.
I might be a little more raw,more of my bass range today, but
it was.
It was phenomenal.
It was phenomenal.
We had a great, great area widesinging last night.
Keith Lancaster (25:59):
I think the singings are making a comeback.
Steve Letty over at theJefferson Avenue Church in
Cookville is putting onetogether and a lot of
congregations are areparticipating in that and
they're getting really greatattendance.
Alabama, across Tennessee,texas.
There's a lot of singings thatare happening in different ways.
(26:21):
Some of them are spontaneousand casual, you know, just throw
out songs or whatever.
But I like and I think Anthonyprefers, prefers when we put a
lot of planning in it and makeit not just fun singing but a
real worshipful, a worshipfulpre-planned, really quality
experience.
BT Irwin (26:42):
Well, speaking of singings, you've got a really
big one, a really long one,coming up on New Year's Day in
Madison, tennessee.
Would you like to tell us aboutthat?
Anthony Lancaster (26:53):
Yes, yes, absolutely so.
New Year's Eve, andspecifically New Year's Day, is
our New Year's Sing-a-thon, andthe bash is also on New Year's
Eve, and so let me tell youabout New Year's Day first.
That'll take place at theMadison Church of Christ and
(27:15):
it's going to be an all daysing-a-thon.
It's come and go and it's aticketed event, but we already
have basically a thousand peopleregistered and I think we're
probably going to get closer tothe 2000 range when we're, when
all is said and done.
But we my dad was observing thatnashville is quickly becoming a
(27:37):
destination city, like la newyork, and people they want to
come to nashville to, especiallyin new years, they love to see
the fireworks there and there'slive music, and so what we've
done is try to create acomplimentary event that, if
people hey, if you're coming toNashville to be part of this, or
(27:57):
even if you're not there'ssomething special happening that
harkens back to Tulsa, soulWinning Workshop or Jubilee or
these events of old that havekind of faded away.
You know, we still haveuniversity lectureships that are
great, but very often thosedon't attract a diverse age
(28:18):
range and it's not considered afamily event.
It's more parents, grandparents, and they will attend, but
there's nothing for the kids todo.
So we wanted an all familyworship sing-a-thon and we're
going to go from 9 am to aboutdinner time and it's come and go
.
But it is a ticketed event soyou have to sign up at.
(28:40):
I guess is it acapellaorg thebest place for them to find that
.
Keith Lancaster (28:45):
Yeah, you can find the link there, and that's
why we're not used to singingall day long.
That's why we're calling it amarathon, even though you don't
have to run or be a physicalrace.
It's a singing marathon and, ashe said, it's ticketed but it's
free.
But you need to registerbecause we need to know how many
(29:05):
are coming.
Anthony, did you see that wehave 45 states already
registered and nine countries?
45 states and nine countriescoming just for this marathon on
New Year's Day.
What a way to start offdedicating the new year to
worship and singing.
And you said there's going tobe food trucks there, right?
Anthony Lancaster (29:29):
That's right.
That's right.
We've got, yeah, there's apizza truck and a burger truck,
and so, yeah, there'll be foodtrucks and there'll be some
other area activities happeningon campus around the same time.
But we wanted to do somethingbig and invite people to say,
hey, what better way especiallyin the world in the state that
it's in to say hey, what betterway especially in the world in
(29:52):
the state that it's in whatbetter way for God's people to
kick off the new year than topraise God, to thank Him for
what he's done, sing praises, topray together.
I mean, I can't think of abetter way to kick it off, and
we really want this event togain traction and become maybe a
staple that people will find intheir calendar for years to
come, like those Tulsa workshopsor jubilees or things of the
(30:16):
past.
Keith Lancaster (30:17):
So Anthony, there's two different events.
So New Year's Day is allcongregational singing, New
Year's Day is the marathonall-day congregational singing.
Tell us about the New Year'sEve, which is is different,
right.
Anthony Lancaster (30:32):
Yes, and New Year's Eve.
So if everybody who, if you canget in, new Year's Eve, we're
going to have a special concert.
Now, yeah, and there there wassome confusion we're not going
until midnight on New Year's Eve.
We're going to.
We're leaving the evening foreverybody else.
So I think we wrap up fairlyearly in the evening.
I think it probably starts atwas it six o'clock or so, but
(30:53):
it's an all-hands-on-deck,all-star, a cappella ministry's
reunion concert.
So a cappella, the LancastersAVB Reunited Vocal Union and
some special guests that y'allaren't going to want to miss.
So we're going to have allhands on deck.
(31:15):
Anybody who's an AcapellaMinistries fan, we're pulling
out all the stops for that NewYear's Eve bash concert and
isn't that more of like a livingroom setting?
Keith Lancaster (31:25):
It's not like a splashy concert with laser
lights and smoke, it's more of ahomecoming gathering, like
you're singing in your livingroom, hearing ABB and vocal
music.
So it's not like an intense,super high sensory concert but
(31:46):
more of a living room setting.
But, like you said, that's justgoing to be a couple hours so
people can still bring in thenew year and there's a lot of
fireworks all over Nashville, sothat's going to be so much fun.
BT Irwin (32:02):
We'll put links to both of those in the show notes
so people can maybe get to all50 states here in the next week
or so.
That'd be amazing.
So we are recording this justbefore Thanksgiving.
So the holiday season is aboutto kick off, it's about to get
into Advent and Christmas andyou have put together, through
(32:22):
the Praise and Harmony part ofyour ministry, a collection of
Christmas songs 25 Christmassongs that folks are going to
hear on this episode.
Tell us about this specialcollection and how it came
together and what you hopepeople will receive from it.
Keith Lancaster (32:39):
Our tradition has been we record 25 songs
every year in a collection andwe get volunteers from all over
the country who once they do it,they really love being a part
of it.
25 songs, in whatever citywe're recording in.
And it's a Praise and Harmonycollection where we record a CD
(33:01):
and then we record the trainingvideos and release the
PowerPoints for churches and allthese items.
Well, in the end of August ofthis year, believe it or not, we
recorded 25 songs about thebirth of Jesus and we're calling
it Incarnate God.
(33:23):
Why I said it's hard to believeis because normally it can take
sometimes months, months to doall the production and the
editing and the artwork andbringing it all together and
putting all the pieces together.
Well, we have already releasedin record time Incarnate God as
far as in CD and in the digitalformat and all the PowerPoint
(33:45):
slides and the videos, and sowe're excited.
I think it's the best work thatwe've ever done with Praise and
Harmony and the 25 songs just astellar recording, especially
thanks to my daughter andAnthony's sister.
Melissa Lancaster has done sucha great job of making sure that
the audio is just stellar, butthe songs are great.
(34:08):
Mike Rogers does a fantasticjob, as well as others on the
arranging, and so they're allsingable congregational, but
it's Incarnate God.
25 songs, praise and harmony.
Anthony Lancaster (34:19):
Yeah, madison , we're learning some of those
songs, trying to get them readyin time for Christmas.
I recommend people worshipleaders if they get a chance to
check that album out, one ifthey're in a kind of a crisis or
in a bind and they don't knowwhat new Christmas song they
want to teach for Christmas.
(34:40):
There's a very accessible onecalled Messiah.
That's very beautiful, so Iwould check that song out.
Yes.
Keith Lancaster (34:48):
So I've checked that song out.
Yes, I, speaking of therecording next year, we normally
have like 300 singers to recordwith us Next year 2025, our
goal is to have one thousandvolunteer singers in Fort Worth
(35:08):
end of August, but they theyhave to audition and auditions
are open now.
It's open for us period of time, but we're going to our.
Our goal is to have 1000 voicesto record the next praise and
harmony recording in 2025.
So that's going to be good, butbut I'm I'm always encouraged.
I heard Dr Randy Lowry say thatwhen he was talking to a leader
(35:31):
in Christian thought and inChristian circles.
He spoke to Randy and he saidyou know, you folks in the
churches of Christ, the singingis incredible.
You need to teach everyone elsehow to sing.
And I thought what anencouraging thing to say.
And so, anthony and I and ourministry, we believe that it's
(35:54):
the best part of our heritagethat makes us unique, and so
it's worth the investment oftraining congregations, training
song leaders.
That's why we started theWorship Leader Institute and
that's why we do the Praise andHarmony Weekends and the Regen
recordings, and so it's just anhonor to get to share this with
you and I really appreciate thisopportunity.
(36:14):
Bt.
BT Irwin (36:16):
It's always a pleasure to hear from you all.
Keith Lancaster and AnthonyLancaster are in the middle of
everything that AcapellaMinistries is doing to encourage
Christians everywhere to lifttheir voices and sing to God
together.
You can listen to their latestwork from Praise and Harmony
Incarnate God, a collection of25 a cappella compositions for
Christmas, as we've been talkingabout.
We'll put a link to that in theshow notes and you can sing and
(36:37):
worship with them in person atMadison Church of Christ in
Madison, tennessee, all day onNew Year's Day, january 1, 2025.
That's free, but it's aticketed event.
We'll put a link to that in theshow notes, as well as the New
Year's Eve concert that they'rehosting there at Madison Church
of Christ.
Keith, anthony, thank you forbeing song leaders for
(36:57):
Christians everywhere in theworld and thank you for spending
the first day of Thanksgivingweek with us today.
Keith Lancaster (37:03):
Thank you and be looking for Anthony's.
He's written new music for theLancasters, which is his
siblings.
It's going to be incredible.
They just shot a new videoyesterday, a new recording.
So the Lancasters I'm excited.
Of course I'm with the proudfather, so I can't wait to hear
that.
But it's been a pleasure to bewith you guys.
BT Irwin (37:25):
Long awaited, precious promise son of God and son of
man.
We hope that something youheard in this episode encouraged
, enlightened or enriched you insome way.
If it did, please pay itforward.
Subscribe to this podcast andshare it with a friend.
Recommend and review itwherever you listen to your
(37:47):
favorite podcasts.
Your subscription,recommendation and review help
us reach more people, and pleasesend your comments, ideas and
suggestions to podcast atchristianchronicleorg.
Don't forget our ministry toinform and inspire Christians
and congregations around theworld is a non-profit ministry
that relies on your generosity.
So if you like the show and youwant to keep it going and make
(38:09):
it better, please make atax-deductible gift to the
Christian Chronicle atchristianchronicleorg.
Slash donate Until next time.
May grace and peace be yours inabundance.
Holly Linden (38:21):
The Christian Chronicle Podcast is a
production of the ChristianChronicle Inc.
Informing and inspiring Churchof Christ congregations, members
and ministries around the worldsince 1943.
The Christian Chronicle'smanaging editor is Audrey
Jackson, editor-in-chief BobbyRoss Jr and president and CEO
(38:43):
Eric Trigestad.
The Christian Chronicle podcastis written, directed, hosted
and edited by BT Irwin and isproduced by James Flan.
Us adore Him, christ the Lord.
Praie & Harmony (39:33):
Long awaited, precious promise Coming back
again.
Messiah, messiah, a baby bornto save us all.
(39:53):
Messiah, messiah, on our knees,we fall.
On our knees, we fall.
Hear the cry from Bethlehem.
O children come, son of God nowborn to men.
O children come, bring yourtroubles, bring your fears,
bring the needs that draw younear, find the hope of all the
(00:25):
years.
O children come.
Peace on earth, goodwill to men.
O children come, righteous rulethat will not end.
O children come, lay down allyour bitterness, turn from sin's
(00:51):
toil and distress.
Holly Linden (00:54):
Find His grace and perfect rest.
Praie & Harmony (00:58):
O children come .
O children come.
O children, come when theFather's grace has walked.
O children, come when you seethe hurt and lost.
O children, come, show themercy shown to you Gifts of
(01:26):
kindness to renew Love fromheart, sincere and true.
Oh children, come, show themercy shown to you Gifts of
kindness to renew Love fromheart, sincere and true.
(01:46):
Oh children come, oh childrencome, oh children come.
Holly Linden (01:58):
Welcome to the Christian Chronicle Podcast.
We're bringing you the storyshaping Church of Christ
congregations and members aroundthe world.
Here's our host, BT Irwin.
BT Irwin (02:09):
Family, friends, neighbors and, most of all,
strangers.
Welcome to the ChristianChronicle Podcast.
May what you are about to hearbless you and honor God.
Today, you'll be glad to knowthat we're bringing you an
encore interview with KeithLancaster and Anthony Lancaster.
They were on the show way backin episode eight, which remains
(02:31):
one of the most popular episodeswe ever released, and in honor
of that and the start of theholiday season, we're giving you
the gift of anotherconversation with Keith and
Anthony and more of their music.
What could be a better way tomark our 100th episode and enter
the season of Advent?
Keith Lancaster formed thegospel vocal group Acapella back
(02:52):
in 1982.
Over the years, that groupreleased many albums that led to
crossover success, major recorddeals and world tours.
Building on that momentum,keith started multiple new a
cappella worship projects thateventually grew into A Cappella
Ministries, which exists, toquote carry out the great
commission of Jesus Christ byspreading the gospel far and
(03:15):
wide through music.
End quote Today, a CappellaMinistries is not only releasing
a cappella worship recordingsin a variety of styles and
voices.
Keith travels the worldteaching Christians and
congregations how to worship invocal harmony.
His son, anthony, has been apart of a cappella ministries
almost from birth.
Today he is a composer,performer and producer with the
(03:35):
ministry.
He also serves as a worshipminister with Madison Church of
Christ in Madison, tennessee.
Keith and Anthony are heretoday to talk about two new
projects that I'm sure ouraudience will love, and they're
coming just in time for theholidays.
Keith, anthony, happyThanksgiving and Merry Christmas
.
Keith Lancaster (03:52):
Hey, how's it going.
BT Irwin (03:54):
I'm having a good time because I'm here with you.
Thank you.
Keith Lancaster (03:56):
It's good to be back with you.
Yeah, come on.
BT Irwin (03:59):
Yeah, so it's been 92 episodes since the last time
that we had you on.
And yeah, how about that?
I can't believe it's been thatlong.
When we last had you on theshow, you were about to head out
on the road for an acapella40th anniversary tour.
It was a big deal, because youwere getting the whole band back
together again for the firsttime in a long time.
How was the tour?
Anthony Lancaster (04:22):
It was phenomenal.
It was truly, uh, truly special.
A big turnout in every city andit was uh correct me if I'm
wrong, dad, but I think it was12 cities in 13 days.
Yep, we were boom, boom, boom,boom, boom, boom, boom, and that
that harkens back to, toacapella's heyday.
So it was uh, it wasappropriate that we would get
(04:43):
that experience when we'recelebrating a cappella's history
.
It was really, reallyphenomenal.
But I would say, not only werethe concerts themselves special,
but there was, I think, anumber of special moments where
we felt God was ministering farbeyond what we had anticipated.
(05:05):
Are you familiar with our bass,robert Guy?
He's sung with us for manyyears.
There was a very special momentin a hotel and he, just on a
whim, he started singing.
There's a little bit.
He sings in Espanol and he sangit for somebody at the
breakfast buffet at this hotel,just as a little, you know, not
(05:27):
thinking about it.
He just wanted to, you know,brighten their day, cheer him up
a little bit.
So he starts singing for thisperson and then this very
separate lady over at anothertable, she just starts crying
and he steps over.
He's like what Is everythingokay?
Did I sing that bad.
You, you know, I didn't know.
So she says it's like no, youdon't understand when I, when I
(05:50):
heard you singing and I just Ifelt that that that was god
comforting me.
I just my son committed suicidelast night and I'm here in town
, we have to take care of thearrangements but I just felt
like your song came at just theright time and it was.
It was God letting me know thateverything's going to be okay.
So we got the whole, the wholegroup together and we, we had a
(06:11):
holy moment and we, we prayedwith her and sang with her a few
more songs, and so I think thatwas the more meaningful
revelation that you know God is.
It's awesome to have the soldout concerts and thousands of
people and singing along, butyou never underestimate the
little moments that God will useto impact the kingdom.
Keith Lancaster (06:34):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
And one of the things thatreally overwhelmed me and now
that we're traveling so muchwith Praise and Harmony and
working with churches, we'reconstantly hearing and it is
encouraging.
They'll say I heard you back in1984 and you stayed in our home
(06:54):
and I was at that concert andthose kind of things.
Well, the special thing aboutthe 40 tour was people would
come up and I've been a fan allmy life and here's my grandchild
and now this my grandchild is afan.
We're introducing anothergeneration, even a second
generation, third generation, sothat that was really neat Trick
(07:16):
of the trade question here.
BT Irwin (07:18):
If you did 12 shows in 13 days, how in the world do
you keep your voices fresh?
Keith Lancaster (07:28):
I don't know.
That's one reason why we hadtwo basses, two baritones, two
second tenors and two firsttenors.
It helped by having that wasthe largest combination of
acapella we'd ever had, and wedid that on purpose to help the
stamina of the voices throughthat period, because it was very
(07:51):
, very tiring and we tried toget cities that were close
together so that we weren'ttraveling such long distances in
between, but still we have toadmit it was grueling, wasn't it
, Anthony?
Anthony Lancaster (08:05):
Absolutely.
Now.
I think one thing that helpedus all, we developed a good
habit, one that I've tried tokeep up.
I hadn't really been in thehabit before this tour but I've
tried to keep it up since then.
But doing vocal warm-ups everyday, Every day we would do, you
know, we'd wake up, do our ourvocal warmups, kind of build
that stamina and endurance andthat went a long way.
(08:27):
In particular, there's someplaylists on Spotify for any
worship leaders listening tothis podcast.
There are some great resourceson, or you can find it YouTube,
any of the platforms.
Just look up worship leaderwarmups and there's some really
great resources there.
Worship.
Keith Lancaster (08:45):
Leader Warm-Ups and there's some really great
resources there.
Speaking of the 40 tour, nowit's been 42 years that acapella
was started and that albumcalled 40, anthony wrote so much
of the music on that and hewon't tell you this, but he's
been nominated by the NationalAcademy of Christian Acapella
Music for several differentcategories Song of the Year,
(09:07):
songwriter of the Year, producerof the Year, social Awareness
of the Year, music Minister ofthe Year.
I'm very proud of Anthony.
He's not going to tell you that, but that's very appropriate to
the question you just asked.
BT Irwin (09:22):
Well, we're all very proud of Anthony, which I loved,
that album, by the way.
I played it every morningbefore my adult Bible class at
church so everybody else couldlisten to it.
Which song got nominated forSong of the Year?
Anthony Lancaster (09:35):
It was Heaven and Earth.
BT Irwin (09:37):
Heaven and Earth.
Okay, well, congrats, anthonyon that.
That's fantastic andwell-deserved, I reckon.
When a lot of people think of acappella, they think of
concerts and records, but thereal base note of your ministry
now seems to be invitingChristians to gather to sing
together or to learn to singtogether.
How has the last year been forthis part of your ministry, and
(10:00):
what have you observed about theChristians and congregations
you've encountered as you'vetraveled the world?
Keith Lancaster (10:16):
I think people are craving that experience.
It's the one time of theassembly where everyone's
contribution is equal male,female, young, old, members,
visitors.
And that's what makes acappella congregational singing
great, is it only works wheneverybody adds and contributes
to it.
And even if they're tone deaf,it just all mixes together to
this one wonderful combinationand contribution and worship to
(10:41):
the Lord.
And so just last week we werein a town with a population of
124.
And we had 200 people there andit was just an incredible
experience.
And so we go to churches of allsizes.
Earlier this year we were inthe UK and then France, the
southern part of France and justin a short time we're going to
(11:03):
be going to Trinidad, and justin a short time we're going to
be going to Trinidad.
But it's everywhere we go.
It's just the best part of ourheritage that makes us unique
those of us who were blessed togrow up in acapella churches and
so it's something when it'sdone well and emphasized that
there's nothing like it.
Anthony Lancaster (11:24):
That's right.
Yes, yes.
And on the region, harmonyfront, which is the more
youth-oriented wing of Praise,and Harmony Acapella Ministries.
(11:44):
Just a couple weeks ago, to tagonto that, we had an event
celebration in Kentucky and JeffWalling was there, so we were
leading the worship and it'sit's funny.
You know you do so manyconcerts and and people love to
listen and that's good.
You know we should, we should,we need to listen to, to good
things and put that which islovely and helpful and beautiful
and have that going around inour mind.
And I do believe you know yourinput affects your output.
But there's, there's a deeperstep where, when you see young
(12:09):
people singing and actuallyputting from their mouths, they
are committing scripture tomemory or they're praising God.
There's power in the tongue.
Like in James, the rudder pilesthe ship's.
It's profound to see youngpeople doing that.
BT Irwin (12:31):
So regents had a blessed year as well I a lot of
people, uh, that listen to thisI'm sure have been to some of
your, uh, some of your workshopsor your gatherings where you're
teaching people to sing again.
You know, maybe they need arefresher on that.
For those who haven't been apart of that experience, could
(12:52):
you just kind of walk us throughreal quick what would happen if
they came to one of theseevents?
Keith Lancaster (12:58):
Oh, we try to make it a lot of fun.
Our target audience for ourtraining are beginners,
non-musicians, people who don'tknow how to sing harmony,
because we're convinced that youcan learn harmony by ear.
So we actually have people sitin sections.
So you can imagine, you know,if you have several hundred
(13:19):
people and all the basses areover here on this side and the
tenors are on the other side andthe sopranos, the altos, people
will say, well, I don't knowwhat part I sing.
Well, we say it's okay.
It's okay If you sing low, sitover here, and if it seems too
low you can get up and move andtry another section.
But that's one of the firstthings we do is sit in sections
and we have these tools.
(13:40):
That makes it fun to learn howto sing harmony.
And then people are excitedbecause they're surround,
they're immersed in that partand if all you can hear are
basses, it makes it so mucheasier to learn how to sing that
that's how I learned how tosing tenor when I was sitting
next to someone growing up and Icould hear that really loud, I
didn't want anybody to hear me.
(14:01):
As a young lad I was under mybreath, you know, trying to
match what he was singing.
But then I actually learned howto sing tenor that way, and so.
So that's one of the thingsit's it's.
It's very like I said, it's fun, but we make it simple and easy
and a quick way to teach, andso that's our.
(14:21):
Our whole mission is tomobilize the entire church to
sing harmony again, and if wedon't start training and
emphasizing it, then it willdecline, and that's what.
That's what we're seeing in alot of churches.
Anthony Lancaster (14:39):
Yes, absolutely.
And that's accessibility is abig part of both praise and
harmony and region harmony.
Accessibility is a big part ofboth praise and harmony and
region harmony.
We want students to sing,elderly to sing, people who
maybe they've never venturedinto a harmony part before.
But you know, I believe peoplecan learn that skill.
It's, it is a skill and in ourexperience dad, I think you
(15:03):
would agree with this thebiggest obstacle to overcome in
learning to sing a harmony partis not music skill, it is
attitude.
Attitude every time, becausesomebody inevitably has told,
told the person you can't sing,don't sing, you don't you have,
(15:26):
you don't have a good voice, andso they don't try.
And they, they have in theirmind that they can't and so they
don't try.
So attitude is the biggestobstacle.
So we want to promote thenecessity of hey, if we're going
to do this, let's, whatever youdo, do it all in the name of
(15:47):
the Lord Jesus, work at it withall your heart.
It's working for the Lord, notfor human masters.
We want to give our best for Godand if SATB, acapella, worship,
is how we're going to do that,then not to say that you can't
give a heart-yielded offeringwithout musical skill, because
(16:10):
you certainly can.
So everybody gives what theyhave.
But I think everybody also haspotential to develop music skill
and maybe just take a few stepsfurther.
Maybe learn a bass harmony oran alto harmony or something
here or there.
Even just learning dynamics issomething we talk about in the
workshops.
Singing a little more softly onthe verses, louder on the
(16:32):
chorus, it accentuates the textand really drives home the
meaning behind the song.
Keith Lancaster (16:40):
And that's why we produce so many training
materials to make it easy forpeople to learn Alto, only tenor
, only bass, only the same song.
We make it so that people canhear just that part.
We have an app,praiseandharmonytv, and so many
people know about Praise andHarmony through the YouTube
videos.
That are ubiquitous.
But I'm so excited about whatAnthony started with region
(17:04):
harmony.
It's for teenagers and collegeage especially, but they like
the mashups where everyone'ssinging a different part.
You know how the GreatestCommands those who are aware of
that song.
That's kind of a mashup.
Well, anthony has arranged somany songs in that way.
Anthony, I was talking tosomebody just last week and I
(17:25):
was telling him one of songsthat you and they didn't know
that you had arranged that putit together.
But they're singing it at theiryouth rally and at their
churches and it's starting tocome because the mashups are
really important.
So we're trying to providematerials for all ages.
BT Irwin (17:42):
I was talking to my mom a while back and we had a
really good choir program at myhigh school growing up in the
1990s and one of the things thechoir director said to some
maybe my parents at some pointis they always loved to see the
Church of Christ kids comingBecause the Church of Christ
kids always knew how they justthey were amazed that, you know,
(18:06):
when a kid walked in and theyfound out, oh, they're from the
church of Christ, they weregoing to know how to sing a part
.
And um, we were just talkingyesterday in the car on the way
home from church, my son's inchorus now and uh, I said I
learned how to read the musiccause I'd sit next to my dad and
church growing up and I wouldlisten to him sing the bass part
and eventually I learned tolook at the notes while he was
(18:27):
singing the bass part.
I can't really read music, butI can pick my way through it now
just from listening to my dadwhile looking at the notes in
the songbook.
So that's a that's a uniqueskill that Church of Christ kids
in my day had when they, youknow, went off to join the choir
at school or whatever.
They were ahead of everybodyelse, because it's just what
people would say how did youlearn?
(18:47):
And you're like I don't know.
Keith Lancaster (18:50):
Going far upon the mountain, that's right.
BT Irwin (18:53):
That's exactly right, so we just knew.
So I, we you mentioned you'vebeen around a lot of churches
and the possibility of declinein this part of our heritage.
We're going to.
We're working in a newcollaboration here at the
Christian Chronicle called theChurch Research Council, which
is going to compile a newdirectory of Church of Christ
(19:15):
congregations in the UnitedStates.
It's been a few years sinceanyone published one of those,
and one of the things I'm goingto be keen to see in that
directory is what percent ofChurch of Christ congregations
now feature instruments in theirworship, and my guess it'll be
much higher than it was a fewyears ago.
Apart from how somecongregations are coming to a
different understanding ofbiblical worship, that's
(19:38):
certainly a part of it.
What do you think are someother factors that are
contributing to congregations inour heritage moving away from
their a cappella tradition?
Anthony Lancaster (19:52):
One major factor that my dad and I
typically bring up in ourworkshops is the lack of
introduction of new songs.
New songs will play on theradio and it's human nature.
We're going to hear, we'regoing to see things like oh, oh,
can we do that?
I want to do that, and thechurches don't feel equipped to
(20:12):
introduce new songs.
They don't feel equipped tolearn new songs.
But there are resources outthere and that's what we're
trying to produce make it aseasy as possible.
So I at Madison Church ofChrist, we will actually utilize
the training videos that weproduce.
We'll play them in a serviceand we try to create a
(20:33):
worshipful moment out of it.
I mean, that's learning a songwell.
To sing it well to God is anact of worship in and of itself.
So we say, okay, we're going toplay this song once and the
first time.
We want you to.
We say, okay, we're going toplay this song once and the
first time.
We want you to internalize it.
We want you to familiarizeyourself with the lyrics, pay
attention to the harmony partand BT, just like you just
(20:56):
described.
For those who don't have acomprehensive music literacy,
they almost will always be ableto.
With enough repetition,repetition, they will be able to
intuit that, oh, I see that thenote is going up and down.
I see, maybe, that the theshape of the note on the note
head is changing when the noteis changing and there are things
(21:18):
that just with repetition youwill figure out that, oh,
actually I can read music, eventhough I couldn't tell you that
that's a D, but I can see howthe notes are moving.
So we encourage people to beopen, pay attention to what's
happening, soak it in and then,after we've played the video
once, we'll sing the songtogether and without fail.
(21:40):
It's almost as if we'd alreadybeen singing the song for a
while.
And I know a lot ofcongregations in order to
introduce a new song, they justgo for it and a lot of times it
doesn't go well and thereforethey don't get to do the song
anymore because the pastor orthe shepherds will be like we're
not doing that again.
It didn't go well.
It's like well, a lot ofdifficult and challenging things
(22:03):
are worth doing and you willnot succeed the first time you
do them.
So once again, it gets back toattitude.
Attitude is a huge obstacle.
Keith Lancaster (22:11):
Right, it's whatever's important to us,
whatever's a priority, we'llmake happen, we'll emphasize.
And so I'm very blessed thatwhen I was growing up in West
Tennessee, that when I wasgrowing up in West Tennessee,
our elders brought in RalphCasey from Georgia and he did
(22:32):
seminars for the whole church toteach them how to sing and how
to read music and training, andso I think this may be a
simplistic answer, but I thinktraining is what's lacking.
We've got to train the entirechurch.
I view the whole church as thechoir and so if we look at it
that way, then let's traineverybody how to sing and how to
(22:54):
sing harmony and the secondpart of that, equally, is
important.
We've got to train the songleaders, preachers.
We would have it no other way.
We want preachers to be trainedand experienced and have a
great understanding of the Bible.
Well, we need to do the samefor song leaders.
So the adverse of that is, if wedon't train the congregation,
(23:18):
if we don't train song leaders,then the singing becomes very
poor or dead and thereforepeople are seeking solutions.
How do we fix this?
How do we fix this Then?
The right answer in my mind istrain everyone to sing, train
song leaders.
But that is a major investmentand priority.
(23:39):
It's a lot easier to do someshortcuts and say, well, let's
just put a few singers together,crank them up, and it's going
to sound better.
It's like putting a Band-Aid onit, or you know, let's put a
band together, well, but itchanges.
We run the risk of changing itto a spectator activity, and
(23:59):
worship shouldn't be a spectatoractivity for the congregation.
BT Irwin (24:05):
Uh, we had at the steel Avenue church of Christ in
Ashland, ohio, where I grew up,we had singing practice every
Sunday night at six o'clockbefore the Sunday evening
worship.
So for the first 15 or 20minutes that we were together
every Sunday night 23 years thatI was there we had song
practice, uh, before we wentinto the Sunday evening worship
(24:29):
and that was one of thehighlights of my week man.
Even when I was a little kid, Iloved going to singing practice
every week.
It was emphasized, it wasimportant, yeah, and we were a
good singing congregation.
Speaking of singing, I wasthinking about this recently.
When I was a kid growing up inOhio, we used to have area-wide
(24:50):
singings a few times a year andour congregation would host one
or two and folks would come fromall over to spend a whole
Sunday afternoon just singingand I loved that and it occurred
to me the other day.
I can't remember the last timeI heard about an area-wide
singing or a congregationhosting a singing.
Now I live up in MichiganMichigan and a lot of Church of
(25:11):
Christ congregations are kind offading and closing up here in
Michigan.
Do they still have area widesingings down in the Bible Belt,
where you all live?
Keith Lancaster (25:20):
Oh yes, yep, Anthony, you had one yesterday,
didn't you?
Anthony Lancaster (25:24):
That's right.
We had our.
Ours is called Thanks Singing,and so we had Andrew Leaper from
Brentwood Hills and MarkSullivan from Hillsboro and
Rayshon Booker from SchraderLane, and we had Luke Coles and
Micah Kennedy from Harpeth Hills, and we also had the Lancasters
(25:44):
with us as well, and so we sang.
I sang for about 16 hoursyesterday.
I might be a little more raw,more of my bass range today, but
it was.
It was phenomenal.
It was phenomenal.
We had a great, great area widesinging last night.
Keith Lancaster (25:59):
I think the singings are making a comeback.
Steve Letty over at theJefferson Avenue Church in
Cookville is putting onetogether and a lot of
congregations are areparticipating in that and
they're getting really greatattendance.
Alabama, across Tennessee,texas.
There's a lot of singings thatare happening in different ways.
(26:21):
Some of them are spontaneousand casual, you know, just throw
out songs or whatever.
But I like and I think Anthonyprefers, prefers when we put a
lot of planning in it and makeit not just fun singing but a
real worshipful, a worshipfulpre-planned, really quality
experience.
BT Irwin (26:42):
Well, speaking of singings, you've got a really
big one, a really long one,coming up on New Year's Day in
Madison, tennessee.
Would you like to tell us aboutthat?
Anthony Lancaster (26:53):
Yes, yes, absolutely so.
New Year's Eve, andspecifically New Year's Day, is
our New Year's Sing-a-thon, andthe bash is also on New Year's
Eve, and so let me tell youabout New Year's Day first.
That'll take place at theMadison Church of Christ and
(27:15):
it's going to be an all daysing-a-thon.
It's come and go and it's aticketed event, but we already
have basically a thousand peopleregistered and I think we're
probably going to get closer tothe 2000 range when we're, when
all is said and done.
But we my dad was observing thatnashville is quickly becoming a
(27:37):
destination city, like la newyork, and people they want to
come to nashville to, especiallyin new years, they love to see
the fireworks there and there'slive music, and so what we've
done is try to create acomplimentary event that, if
people hey, if you're coming toNashville to be part of this, or
(27:57):
even if you're not there'ssomething special happening that
harkens back to Tulsa, soulWinning Workshop or Jubilee or
these events of old that havekind of faded away.
You know, we still haveuniversity lectureships that are
great, but very often thosedon't attract a diverse age
(28:18):
range and it's not considered afamily event.
It's more parents, grandparents, and they will attend, but
there's nothing for the kids todo.
So we wanted an all familyworship sing-a-thon and we're
going to go from 9 am to aboutdinner time and it's come and go
.
But it is a ticketed event soyou have to sign up at.
(28:40):
I guess is it acapellaorg thebest place for them to find that
.
Keith Lancaster (28:45):
Yeah, you can find the link there, and that's
why we're not used to singingall day long.
That's why we're calling it amarathon, even though you don't
have to run or be a physicalrace.
It's a singing marathon and, ashe said, it's ticketed but it's
free.
But you need to registerbecause we need to know how many
(29:05):
are coming.
Anthony, did you see that wehave 45 states already
registered and nine countries?
45 states and nine countriescoming just for this marathon on
New Year's Day.
What a way to start offdedicating the new year to
worship and singing.
And you said there's going tobe food trucks there, right?
Anthony Lancaster (29:29):
That's right.
That's right.
We've got, yeah, there's apizza truck and a burger truck,
and so, yeah, there'll be foodtrucks and there'll be some
other area activities happeningon campus around the same time.
But we wanted to do somethingbig and invite people to say,
hey, what better way especiallyin the world in the state that
it's in to say hey, what betterway especially in the world in
(29:52):
the state that it's in whatbetter way for God's people to
kick off the new year than topraise God, to thank Him for
what he's done, sing praises, topray together.
I mean, I can't think of abetter way to kick it off, and
we really want this event togain traction and become maybe a
staple that people will find intheir calendar for years to
come, like those Tulsa workshopsor jubilees or things of the
(30:16):
past.
Keith Lancaster (30:17):
So Anthony, there's two different events.
So New Year's Day is allcongregational singing, New
Year's Day is the marathonall-day congregational singing.
Tell us about the New Year'sEve, which is is different,
right.
Anthony Lancaster (30:32):
Yes, and New Year's Eve.
So if everybody who, if you canget in, new Year's Eve, we're
going to have a special concert.
Now, yeah, and there there wassome confusion we're not going
until midnight on New Year's Eve.
We're going to.
We're leaving the evening foreverybody else.
So I think we wrap up fairlyearly in the evening.
I think it probably starts atwas it six o'clock or so, but
(30:53):
it's an all-hands-on-deck,all-star, a cappella ministry's
reunion concert.
So a cappella, the LancastersAVB Reunited Vocal Union and
some special guests that y'allaren't going to want to miss.
So we're going to have allhands on deck.
(31:15):
Anybody who's an AcapellaMinistries fan, we're pulling
out all the stops for that NewYear's Eve bash concert and
isn't that more of like a livingroom setting?
Keith Lancaster (31:25):
It's not like a splashy concert with laser
lights and smoke, it's more of ahomecoming gathering, like
you're singing in your livingroom, hearing ABB and vocal
music.
So it's not like an intense,super high sensory concert but
(31:46):
more of a living room setting.
But, like you said, that's justgoing to be a couple hours so
people can still bring in thenew year and there's a lot of
fireworks all over Nashville, sothat's going to be so much fun.
BT Irwin (32:02):
We'll put links to both of those in the show notes
so people can maybe get to all50 states here in the next week
or so.
That'd be amazing.
So we are recording this justbefore Thanksgiving.
So the holiday season is aboutto kick off, it's about to get
into Advent and Christmas andyou have put together, through
(32:22):
the Praise and Harmony part ofyour ministry, a collection of
Christmas songs 25 Christmassongs that folks are going to
hear on this episode.
Tell us about this specialcollection and how it came
together and what you hopepeople will receive from it.
Keith Lancaster (32:39):
Our tradition has been we record 25 songs
every year in a collection andwe get volunteers from all over
the country who once they do it,they really love being a part
of it.
25 songs, in whatever citywe're recording in.
And it's a Praise and Harmonycollection where we record a CD
(33:01):
and then we record the trainingvideos and release the
PowerPoints for churches and allthese items.
Well, in the end of August ofthis year, believe it or not, we
recorded 25 songs about thebirth of Jesus and we're calling
it Incarnate God.
(33:23):
Why I said it's hard to believeis because normally it can take
sometimes months, months to doall the production and the
editing and the artwork andbringing it all together and
putting all the pieces together.
Well, we have already releasedin record time Incarnate God as
far as in CD and in the digitalformat and all the PowerPoint
(33:45):
slides and the videos, and sowe're excited.
I think it's the best work thatwe've ever done with Praise and
Harmony and the 25 songs just astellar recording, especially
thanks to my daughter andAnthony's sister.
Melissa Lancaster has done sucha great job of making sure that
the audio is just stellar, butthe songs are great.
(34:08):
Mike Rogers does a fantasticjob, as well as others on the
arranging, and so they're allsingable congregational, but
it's Incarnate God.
25 songs, praise and harmony.
Anthony Lancaster (34:19):
Yeah, madison , we're learning some of those
songs, trying to get them readyin time for Christmas.
I recommend people worshipleaders if they get a chance to
check that album out, one ifthey're in a kind of a crisis or
in a bind and they don't knowwhat new Christmas song they
want to teach for Christmas.
(34:40):
There's a very accessible onecalled Messiah.
That's very beautiful, so Iwould check that song out.
Yes.
Keith Lancaster (34:48):
So I've checked that song out.
Yes, I, speaking of therecording next year, we normally
have like 300 singers to recordwith us Next year 2025, our
goal is to have one thousandvolunteer singers in Fort Worth
(35:08):
end of August, but they theyhave to audition and auditions
are open now.
It's open for us period of time, but we're going to our.
Our goal is to have 1000 voicesto record the next praise and
harmony recording in 2025.
So that's going to be good, butbut I'm I'm always encouraged.
I heard Dr Randy Lowry say thatwhen he was talking to a leader
(35:31):
in Christian thought and inChristian circles.
He spoke to Randy and he saidyou know, you folks in the
churches of Christ, the singingis incredible.
You need to teach everyone elsehow to sing.
And I thought what anencouraging thing to say.
And so, anthony and I and ourministry, we believe that it's
(35:54):
the best part of our heritagethat makes us unique, and so
it's worth the investment oftraining congregations, training
song leaders.
That's why we started theWorship Leader Institute and
that's why we do the Praise andHarmony Weekends and the Regen
recordings, and so it's just anhonor to get to share this with
you and I really appreciate thisopportunity.
(36:14):
Bt.
BT Irwin (36:16):
It's always a pleasure to hear from you all.
Keith Lancaster and AnthonyLancaster are in the middle of
everything that AcapellaMinistries is doing to encourage
Christians everywhere to lifttheir voices and sing to God
together.
You can listen to their latestwork from Praise and Harmony
Incarnate God, a collection of25 a cappella compositions for
Christmas, as we've been talkingabout.
We'll put a link to that in theshow notes and you can sing and
(36:37):
worship with them in person atMadison Church of Christ in
Madison, tennessee, all day onNew Year's Day, january 1, 2025.
That's free, but it's aticketed event.
We'll put a link to that in theshow notes, as well as the New
Year's Eve concert that they'rehosting there at Madison Church
of Christ.
Keith, anthony, thank you forbeing song leaders for
(36:57):
Christians everywhere in theworld and thank you for spending
the first day of Thanksgivingweek with us today.
Keith Lancaster (37:03):
Thank you and be looking for Anthony's.
He's written new music for theLancasters, which is his
siblings.
It's going to be incredible.
They just shot a new videoyesterday, a new recording.
So the Lancasters I'm excited.
Of course I'm with the proudfather, so I can't wait to hear
that.
But it's been a pleasure to bewith you guys.
BT Irwin (37:25):
Long awaited, precious promise son of God and son of
man.
We hope that something youheard in this episode encouraged
, enlightened or enriched you insome way.
If it did, please pay itforward.
Subscribe to this podcast andshare it with a friend.
Recommend and review itwherever you listen to your
(37:47):
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Your subscription,recommendation and review help
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suggestions to podcast atchristianchronicleorg.
Don't forget our ministry toinform and inspire Christians
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So if you like the show and youwant to keep it going and make
(38:09):
it better, please make atax-deductible gift to the
Christian Chronicle atchristianchronicleorg.
Slash donate Until next time.
May grace and peace be yours inabundance.
Holly Linden (38:21):
The Christian Chronicle Podcast is a
production of the ChristianChronicle Inc.
Informing and inspiring Churchof Christ congregations, members
and ministries around the worldsince 1943.
The Christian Chronicle'smanaging editor is Audrey
Jackson, editor-in-chief BobbyRoss Jr and president and CEO
(38:43):
Eric Trigestad.
The Christian Chronicle podcastis written, directed, hosted
and edited by BT Irwin and isproduced by James Flan.
Us adore Him, christ the Lord.
Praie & Harmony (39:33):
Long awaited, precious promise Coming back
again.
Messiah, messiah, a baby bornto save us all.
(39:53):
Messiah, messiah, on our knees,we fall.
On our knees, we fall.
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