30 days of worship music

Recently, our pastor challenged our youth and young adults to listen to nothing but praise and worship music for the next 30 days.

There are so many good reasons why it's a great idea--worship makes God bigger in our lives (than problems or gas prices!), helps us stay focused on living right, keeps our minds centered on the positive (and not criticism), etc.

But from a practical standpoint, I heard some people comment, "What am I going to listen to for the next 30 days?" or "That's going to be a lot of Hillsong!"

So...I decided to break out my CD collection and look for praise and worship music. I thought I'd use this post as a forum to let you in on some of the worship bands and CDs I like...and if you think of others, let me know:

Hillsong and Hillsong United: I'm probably more of a Hills United girl myself--and have been listening to the "I (Heart) Revolution" and "All of the Above" CDs lately.

Starfield: Starfield is a worship band out of Vancouver, BC (discovered them back in my days at Trinity Western!). "Beauty in the Broken" is an awesome worship CD--love the songs "The Hand that Holds the World" and "Unashamed". I don't have their latest CD "I Will Go" yet (I'm going to buy it on iTunes tonight!), but have been listening to some of the singles on their MySpace page. It's great!

Sonicflood - "Sonicflood" - I broke out this "oldie" worship CD (circa 1999!) in the car this morning. It's still a great CD to me with songs like "Heart of Worship" and "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever."

Delirious? "The Cutting Edge" - Delirious' album, "The Cutting Edge" is also an older CD (1997), but I think it really sparked a lot of the modern worship revolution we've seen in the Church worldwide. It's a 2-CD set packed with some of my all-time favorites like "Lord, You Have My Heart" and "Oh, Lead Me." Simple. Beautiful.




Champions Centre - "Nothing Compares": Our own worship CD includes some great tracks with the heartbeat of our House.





Others worth noting? (Though not completely my style):

• Lincoln Brewster "Amazed"
  
• Third Day "Offerings" and "Offerings II"


• Lakewood Church


• Reuben Morgan


• Planetshakers


• Darrell Evans


• Chris Tomlin


• Vineyard (e.g. the "Breathe" song on the "Hungry" CD is one of my faves)


• Matt Redman

Others? I'm sure there are a ton more. I'm sure the next 30 days of worship will be amazing...but I'm more excited to live a life of worship (beyond just music) forever.

I Want to Hold the Hand That Holds the World...

Can I just say how much I LOVE Starfield? I first heard their music back when I lived in Canadia (as my sister calls it), the motherland of the band. I just got their latest CD "Beauty in the Broken" and I'm loving it. :)

Their guitar-driven, lyrically-charged worship music is awesome (along with Hillsong United, they're my fav worship band)!

I think it's amazing when musicians and writers can put phrases together that just capture an idea, an emotion, an expression of what you want to say--better than you can say it yourself. Anyway, here's one example from their new CD. These are the lyrics from "The Hand That Holds The World" (I highlighted my favorite lines--but the whole song is great!):

No greater joy / Is there than this/ To know for what / We're meant to live /

To hold Your hand / To touch Your face / To find ourselves / In love' s embrace/

I want to stand before the King/

Join in the song that heaven sings/

I want to hold the hand that holds the world/

I want to know the mystery/

Reach out and touch the majesty/

I want to hold the hand that holds the world/

No greater love / Could be bestowed / That You would name us as your own /

Your daughters sing / Your sons rejoice / They gather here before Your throne /

You are, You are / The author of creation / We are, the children of your heart /

You are, You are, / The light of all the heaven / We rise, to worship all You are