Ten worship songs from Don Orthner’s book “The LORD My Shepherd.”

Worshipping with us on February 24 were Don Orthner and his wife Shirley from Greenville, South Carolina.  In 2012, Don published his third book entitled The LORD My Shepherd which is a topical study of the entire book of Psalms.  Included in the study are ten songs based on the texts from various psalms with the lyrics of nine being written by Don.  He also composed music for seven of the ten songs and includes standard notation (like hymnbook pages) for these songs within the relevant sections of the topical study.

Fortuitously for me, Don has also recorded an accompaniment CD for all ten songs played by pianist Glenn Christianson who is a music evangelist, arranger, and Christian recording producer. This provides me with 10 new songs for congregational singing. We sang “Magnify the Lord!” for the February 24 morning worship opening hymn and everyone seemed to catch on to the tune readily and enjoyed the song. We will be singing “He Is Worthy” for the opening congregational hymn on March 3, 2013.  I played this song as an instrumental guitar solo last week to introduce the tune to the congregation.

The piano recordings and arrangements by Christianson are very well done and perfect for congregational singing.  All verses of each song are played and an occasional key change is made on the last verse of some songs for variety and emphasis.  Here are a few tracks from the CD so you can hear for yourself:

“Blessed Is the One”

“By the Word of the Lord”

“Magnify the Lord!”

Oddly enough, I can not find anywhere to actually purchase the accompaniment CD even from Orthner’s website. Maybe it comes with the book but I’m not sure. I have sent an inquiry via the website and will update this post once I hear back.

The LORD My Shepherd is an excellent topical guide to the Psalms for personal or small group study.  The icing on the cake is having many of the Psalm themes put to music which helps to solidify the message in your heart and mind.  After all, the book of Psalms is often referred to as the Bible’s hymnbook.  I am very pleased with the recorded accompaniment and have added it to my worship music resources.