The power of worship music and its role in Jesus Christ's Great Commission as found in the Bible's New Testament is the theme of this year's Sing! The Great Commission is currently being held through Sept. 6 at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Conference organizer Keith Getty told The Christian Post (CP) that the event is intended to bring into focus three anchors of the Great Commission -- local, global, and future -- in order to challenge those who attend to spread the Gospel.
"The New Testament says we're letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly when we meet together singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs," the songwriter told the outlet.
Getty also encouraged Christians to "fill our homes with songs of the Lord."
"So much of modern Christian behavior is, 'I don't want to be on the wrong side of history,' or, 'I'm worried this is going to not go down too well.' I think we've got to stop being such cowards. If we believe in Christ, His death and resurrection, the Gospel story, and the authority of the Word of God, then we want that to be coming into every part of our minds, our emotions, in our families and in our homes," he told the CP.
"Fill our homes with songs of the Lord. Start where you are, fill your own mind with songs of the Lord, and fill your family's minds with songs of the Lord. If you have a role in your church, help your church sing songs of the Lord," he noted.
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The conference offers seminars and sessions led by Christian speakers and musical artists with several of the seminars focused on the importance of singing worship songs and how singing helps to instill faith, especially in children, according to the CP.
"We think less about singing as being a way to learn our faith, and I think that's a concern," Getty told the outlet. "The Bible is 20 percent poetry and songs for a reason … God made us to sing and God made us to remember the things that we sing … if we're in a generation where we're singing less, and the songs have less truth, then we have to presume that we're going to have a lot less of the Bible dwelling richly in us as we grow older."
Keith and Kristy Getty, are a musical duo from Northern Ireland who are best known for the hymn "In Christ Alone," co-written with Stuart Townend.
Other well-known hymns in the Getty Music catalog include "Rejoice", "The Lord Almighty Reigns", "His Mercy Is More", "He Will Hold Me Fast", "The Power of the Cross", "The Lord Is My Salvation", "By Faith", and "Speak O Lord."
They have recorded 26 albums together were nominated for a Grammy Award and won two Dove Awards. According to the CP, more than 100 million people around the globe sing their hymns every year.
Getty told the outlet more than 10,000 people were expected to attend this year's conference.
Getty Music posted some of this year's conference highlights to their Instagram page Tuesday.
One of the goals of this year's event is to help people integrate more spiritual songs and hymns into their daily lives.
Getty believes technology can help in this regard.
"Take something like the iPhone; it's led all of us in ways that have not been correct in our lives at times, but we can use it for God's Kingdom in so many different ways as well, from streaming the Sing! Conference to creating a playlist of the songs you want your children to grow old with and start playing them and start singing along," he told the CP.
"Your kids tend to love what you love," he added. "If you love singing, they tend to love it too. But we have to make that effort every day in our lives. Our kids are going to be listening to songs and singing the truths of those songs into their hearts. So we have to decide: Do we want Taylor Swift and Disney or do we want spiritual leadership in our kids' lives? It's crucial."
For information about the conference and to watch daily highlights, click here.
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