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Calling the Church to Sing Scripture: ‘The Goal Is, We’re Changed’
What if believers had hundreds of Scriptures committed to memory—in melodies the Holy Spirit could call to mind at any moment?
This question has animated songwriter Randall Goodgame for almost two decades.
“Every time we engage with Scripture, it’s an opportunity to encounter Jesus,” he says.
After writing four Sing the Bible albums with Slugs & Bugs—songs that work on multiple levels to edify kids and parents—Goodgame felt called to write for congregational singing. His new Scripture Hymnal, which releases October 21, contains 106 word-for-word Scripture songs.
“God’s Word is our light, our food, and our weapon for battle against the enemy,” he writes in his introduction to the hymnal. “We need it close, and when we sing Scripture, it can get no closer. It joins our breath and vibrates inside our bodies with that mysterious engine of hidden powers: Music.”
Unlike most hymnals, this one contains a QR code that’ll link directly to recordings of all the songs. An EP of five of these songs released in September, and the first full album released October 4. Full recordings of all 106 songs are coming. More resources, including downloadable four-part sheet music and choral recordings, are planned for the Scripture Hymnal website.
I sat down with Goodgame to talk about this extensive project, how the Lord prepared him for this season, and the special team that came alongside him.
What is the goal of the Scripture Hymnal?
The goal is to inspire revival in the church through biblical literacy. When we sing God’s Word, it takes root in our hearts, changing us from within. I know because my walk with Jesus has been totally shaped by Scripture memorization through song. The Scripture Hymnal exists to provide that same opportunity to the body of Christ through congregational singing.
The goal is, we’re changed.
You’ve been writing Scripture songs for Slugs & Bugs, which you’ve said started when your young kids were trying to memorize Bible verses. How did you start thinking that the whole congregation might need these types of songs?
On my way home from a concert, I was thanking God for the stories I had just heard from so many moms and dads—about how our Scripture songs were transforming their family culture, centering Scripture and the gospel in their life together in amazing ways. And suddenly the Lord dropped this question in my heart: What if those stories could happen in the church?
Obviously, congregational songs are a different animal, and I wasn’t sure if I could do it—but I wrote a few and took them to my friend Pete Peterson, who is the publisher at the Rabbit Room, and said, “I think I’m supposed to write a bunch of these. Would you maybe be interested in publishing them?” I played them for him, and he loved them and said, “Let’s do it.” That was the kindling to the spark. I spent the next two years writing a song a week, sometimes two a week.
How did you choose the Scriptures that are included?
For the whole previous year, before I realized the Lord had called me into this project, I was doing the Bible in a Year study. Whenever I ran across a Bible verse that I wanted to learn, I would put it in my journal. Once I realized the Lord was calling me to write a lot of Scripture songs for the church, all I had to do was go back through my journal.
Once I got through all of those, I started asking around. I asked a lot of different pastor friends—if they could have one Scripture their congregation could learn and sing for themselves, what would that be? Fascinatingly, nobody chose the same verse.
How do you start developing a tune for a Scripture?
I listen for so many things from the Scripture itself. I read it really slow and listen for where my accents and pauses are. I look for natural rhythms and rhymes, natural breaks, but I’m also thinking, What is the main thrust of this Scripture? What should be the main thing we lift up and sing loud?
I let the way I would want to embed the Scripture in my own heart come out. I’m trying to match the tone of the song to help communicate the message of the text as best as possible.
How did you put together the team for this hymnal, which included songwriters Ginny Owens and Ellie Holcomb?
We go to church with the Holcombs, and Ginny is an old friend, but the opportunity to collaborate on this scale has been an enormous answer to literally decades of prayer.
When I’d been writing the hymnal songs for about a year, I started to see melodic and harmonic ideas repeating themselves. I realized—which I trust was from the Holy Spirit—that I was going to need other people to make sure songs didn’t start to sound the same.
So I called my buddy Andrew Osenga. He’s had years of experience building collaborative teams. We made a list of writers and friends, and he started putting together writing days. And that’s how it started and that’s how it grew.
Did having that team inoculate you against writer’s block?
Absolutely. I made a list of all the Scriptures that I’d had trouble finding melodies for, and I saved those passages for the writing days. It was incredible seeing these gifted writers bring their energy and passion for God’s Word into the process, from their own unique perspectives. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole process.
And then, in addition to the songwriters, you brought in worship leaders to help?
Yes. The point of this project, as opposed to other stuff I’ve done, is that [the songs are] able to be sung and learned quickly in church. The only way to make sure that was the case was to put the songs to the test.
The point of this project is that [the songs are] able to be sung and learned quickly in church.
Andrew and I rallied 35 worship leaders from all over [Nashville] and around the country to come to the Rabbit Room on September 14 of last year. We divided them up into five groups, and each group got like 13 songs, and they spent three hours playing through all 13 songs and making notes and suggestions that made a significant impact on the songs. It would be hard to overstate the effectiveness of that day. All of those people lead worship as their vocation, and they had incredible insight that was invaluable for making the Scripture Hymnal a truly useful resource for the church.
How can individuals use the Scripture Hymnal?
So many ways. Even if they don’t read music, but they have a phone, they can open up the QR code and it goes directly to the playlist of all 106 songs. Then they can open up the hymnal and sing along. So they could just start at the beginning of the playlist and listen all day.
But my hunch is—what I anticipate it being used for—is when someone has a verse they want to dwell on or remember, or they’re studying, or the preacher mentioned in a sermon, they’ll write it down. Later on, go open up the Scripture Hymnal, go to the QR code, and they’ll be able to read and sing along with the music. And play it again and again and let it get into their heart. That’s how I hope individuals engage with the book and the music. We built it to be really user-friendly.
You have a release concert in Tennessee on October 11. Will there be a Scripture Hymnal tour?
I believe so. Our hope is to go and do events in cities around the country, where we resource churches and schools with material to learn the songs ahead of time, so that we have a huge choir and an orchestra from the churches in the city and celebrate this foundational, unifying thing that is God’s Word—by singing it together.
If we can all gather and sing it together, suddenly we can look across the aisle and see people who don’t look like us, don’t have the same language of origin, but we’re all singing God’s Word together, letting it do its work in us—which is to draw us toward him and make us new. When we all are celebrating and worshiping with God’s Word together, experiencing that transformation, I can’t wait to see what the Lord might do.
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