About the author

Hello, my name is Joe Stout and I live in the Pacific Northwest with my wife Elizabeth and our 10 children. Together we love Jesus because He first loved us. I serve as an elder and chief musician at Christ Covenant Church as well as board member and director of music at Christ the King Academy.

The History

I began this Substack publication, Songs for Saints, in the winter of 2023 for the the parents and students participating in Christ the King Academy’s Winter Youth Choir.

The initial vision was a simple tool to send students where they could access the songs we were learning and the accompanying resources (sheet music, 4 part harmonies, mp3 downloads, etc.)

The New Vision

I would like to expand the reach of this tool to the saints worshipping at Christ Covenant Church (Centralia WA) so that together we can continue to grow in our skill as a body of believers who regularly bring the warfare of song to the spiritual battlefield.

I hope this music will also reach and encourage the broader realm of Christendom looking to expand their arsenal of songs that can be used publicly and privately to proclaim the majesty of God, the doom of Satan, the victory of Christ the King over all all his enemies, and the inexorable expansion of Christ’s Kingdom across the globe.

What to Expect

You should expect to hear from me roughly once per week with an email that contains a song that falls under at least one of three categories.

1. Songs for Worship: Songs that the saints of Christ Covenant Church are learning to sing and/or are currently singing together as a congregation in worship.

2. Songs for Edification: Songs that may not be ideal for congregational singing due to length, difficulty, or setting but are perfect for family worship, catechizing children, memorizing scripture, road trips, chores, and filling up your music playlist.

3. Songs for Choirs: Songs that the youth choir at Christ the King Academy is or was learning. These will be more infrequent and often will fall under category 1 and always fall under category 2.

I will include in each post:

1. Podcast episode: A link for streaming the song directly from the post. This will be a substack podcast link and can be easily accessed via the Substack App or (eventually) your favorite podcast app of choice. Note: you won’t have to download the app to use this feature as the weekly song will be accessible via your web browser.

2. Download Link: A link to Google Drive so that you can download the song as an .mp3 and put directly into your phone, tablet, computer, etc.

I sometimes will include:

1. YouTube videos that contains the song with lyrics so that singing along during family worship, car rides, doing the dishes etc. will help facilitate learning the lyrics.

   1. Most of these video links will come from either my YT page or the YT page of Christ Covenant Church.

2. Streaming Links: Links to the location of the song on Spotify, Apple Music, Qobuz, etc. if posted there (these often will come out several weeks following the publishing of the Substack post).

3. Sheet music: If I have been able to create sheet music I will include it here.

4. Four-part harmony: For some songs, I will post the individual soprano, alto, tenor, bass (SATB) parts so that you can practice your own individual parts.

Music for building the next Christendom

The tagline of this site is “Music for building the next Christendom.” This is a direct outcropping to the work of my pastor Aaron Ventura. His site, Local Christendom, seeks to create “resources for building the next Christendom.” This work, Songs for Saints, will contribute one of the many needed resources in this labor.

Music is my passion and I desire to learn and teach others songs that will endure the test of time. Songs that can be used to restore again the inheritance of Christendom we have squandered. Let us all desire to be the “good man” of Proverbs who leaves his (or her) children’s children with an inheritance of musical love and literacy.

Worship is warfare and if we have a desire to see the will of God be done “on earth as it is in heaven” then we must become and equip a new generation of singers in Jehoshaphat’s army, marching before the infantry into battle singing songs of victory for Christ the King.

May God bless us as we learn to “..sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.” Psalm 96:1-3

Deus vult!

Joe Stout
Anno Domini 2024