Album Review: WOW Hits 2015

2014 was a very fruitful year for the Christian Contemporary Music Industry. There is a plethora of 2014 songs I am still cherishing greatly until now from first listen. If someone would ask me at this moment what album I will recommend, it will be WOW Hits 2015 Deluxe. Released in September 2014, I must say this two-disc WOW edition is the best release, to date, in its kind. The tracks are well-chosen, and I am sure you’ll enjoy all of them.

To be honest, this is the first time I enjoyed a compilation album so richly that I almost played it all the time for days. As I said on my review of WOW Worship Lime—for compilation albums to survive in the future, they should be meticulous in choosing the songs, which they have done brilliantly on WOW 2015. Now, there are two simple reasons that make this release worth having. First, it gathers some of the biggest names in CCM Industry such as Newsboys, Sidewalk Prophets, Francesca Battistelli, Big Daddy Weave, Toby Mac, Chris Tomlin, Third Day, Hillsong United and many more. Last, it features numerous of today’s most loved Christian hits, where 11 are #1 radio songs, 17 more in the top 5, plus 4 songs in the top 10. Some in the list are Hillsong United’s Oceans, Steve Curtis-Chapman’s Glorious Unfolding, Alive by Hillsong Young and Free, and More Of You by Colton Dixon. 

Overall, WOW Hits 2015 offers you a wide access to the world of CCM by giving you simply the best of today. If you’re a Christian music geek, you know exactly what I am saying. If you are a newbie and just starting to explore the world of Christian music, WOW Hits 2015 is a very good choice to start with.

WOW HITS 2015 Track Listing:

DISC ONE
1. We Believe - Newsboys
2. The Only Name (Yours Will Be) - Big Daddy Weave
3. Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) [Album Edit] - Hillsong United
4. Thrive - Casting Crowns
5. Do Something (Radio Version) - Matthew West
6. Back To You - Mandisa
7. Keep Making Me - Sidewalk Prophets
8. I Am - Crowder
9. Waterfall - Chris Tomlin
10. All The People Said Amen - Matt Maher
11. Shake - MercyMe
12. You Won’t Let Go - Michael W. Smith
13. My Heart Is Yours (Radio Version) - Passion (feat. Kristian Stanfill)
14. Glorious Unfolding (Radio Edit) - Steven Curtis Chapman
15. Forever (Radio Version) - Kari Jobe
BONUS
16. I Will Follow - Jon Guerra
17. Beautiful - Dan Bremnes
ONLY ON THE DELUXE EDITION
18. Lay It Down - Sanctus Real
19. Mercy (Radio Version) - Matt Redman
20. Lift My Life Up - Unspoken

DISC TWO
1. This Is Amazing Grace - Phil Wickham
2. Fix My Eyes - for KING & COUNTRY
3. Speak Life - TobyMac
4. Beautiful Day - Jamie Grace
5. Multiplied - NEEDTOBREATHE
6. More Of You - Colton Dixon
7. Write Your Story - Francesca Battistelli
8. No Man Is An Island - Tenth Avenue North
9. Press On - Building 429 (feat. Blanca Callahan)
10. Come Alive - Jeremy Camp
11. Alive (Radio Version) - Young & Free
12. Love Alone Is Worth The Fight - Switchfoot
13. Don’t Deserve You - Plumb
14. Your Love Is Like A River - Third Day
15. He Is With Us - Love & The Outcome
BONUS
16. Satisfied - About A Mile
ONLY ON THE DELUXE EDITION
17. Words - Hawk Nelson (feat. Bart Millard)
18. American Noise - Skillet
19. Ready Set Go - Royal Tailor (feat. Capital Kings)

Disclosure: A review copy of WOW Hits 2015 Deluxe was provided for review by House of Praise, from whom you may purchase the album.

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Hillsong UNITED Announces New Studio Album, "Empires," Out May 26

NEWS SOURCE: Merge PR March 16, 2015
NASHVILLE, TENN. (March 16, 2015) - RIAA Platinum-selling group Hillsong UNITED has revealed the album cover for their new studio project, EMPIRES, 95,000 feet from space. Presenting the cover from the stratosphere on their website and social media channels, EMPIRES will release May 26 with Hillsong Music/Capitol CMG. This project follows 2013's ZION, the group's most successful and fastest selling album to date.

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Album Review: Chris Tomlin's Love Ran Red [Deluxe Edition]

Over the last decade, Chris Tomlin’s music has become so recognized by the church worldwide. His “How Great Is Our God”, “Forever”, and “Our God” are just some of the songs that are being sung by thousands of Christians around the world every week. Every time he releases an album, it surely is a big event in the Christian music industry; and at the same time, people’s expectations heighten. Such thing can be tough to handle, but as for his latest release, “Love Ran Red”, he handled that pressure strong enough.

“Love Ran Red” celebrates the love and sacrifice of Jesus, and brings us back to the cross where the redemption was purchased. It is available in standard (with 12 tracks) and deluxe (with additional four tracks) editions.

“Greater” opens the album with a slow-tempo worship song. This Colossians 1:16-inspired song is a very good album kick starter. As the song grows, so does the intensity; and this trend continues to “Waterfall”. Though musically brilliant, I must say that this song along with “Boundary Lines” fell to the pitfall of worship cliché.

 “The Roar” is the album’s most catchy track which sings of the Lion of the tribe of Judah who is roaring over us. It reminds us of the hope found in Jesus in times of troubles; and this message has been elaborated on the next track “Fear Not”, the album’s most musically diverse song.

Re-making of old hymns is one of Tomlin’s strongest skills. “At The Cross (Love Ran Red)” is a re-work of Isaac Watts’ hymn, dressed in a new elegant robe. I heard it first from Passion’s Take It All album, and since then I fell in love with it; it’s the album’s central point. Another outstanding re-make is “I Will Boast” of Steve and Vikki Cook’s 1997 hymn “I Will Boast in the Cross”. Needless to say, this track is this record’s most touching and honest song. I love its latter part where a piano plays a coda from “At The Cross (Love Ran Red)”.

As I stated earlier, the deluxe edition features an additional four tracks, which includes “In the End”, “Waterfall (Tritonal Remix)”, “At The Cross (Acoustic)”, and “Let It be Jesus (Acoustic)”. “Let It Be Jesus”, Tomlin’s co-write with Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin, is another track found on Passion’s “Take It All” release. There, it was sung by Christy Nockels, and unmistakably, one of that record’s prime cuts. In this album, Chris has given it an elegant acoustic makeover, making it more irresistible to sing, and more passionate.

“Love Ran Red” may not top Chris Tomlin’s growing discography, but the fact remains that this record is a very good one. Though I have found some songs with generic, cliché lines, I don’t mark them as album fillers, because they contributed to the album’s dynamic musical element. Overall, “Love Ran Red” is a solid release to celebrate God’s love and redemption.

Disclosure: A review copy of Chris Tomlin's Love Ran Red [Deluxe Edition] was provided for review by House of Praise, from whom you may purchase the album.

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Jesus Culture's Derek Johnson To Release Solo Debut April 7

NEWS SOURCE: Merge PR February 25, 2015
NASHVILLE, TENN. - 25 FEBRUARY 2015 - Jesus Culture artist and worship leader Derek Johnson announces the release of his debut album, Real Love. His first solo project is slated to drop April 7 with Capitol Christian Music Group and Jesus Culture Music.
Real Love features 12 original tracks where Johnson utilizes his passion for message-driven songwriting to share his hope in the God of real and authentic love. He is a relevant voice to this generation for bringing intimacy and the joy of the Lord through praise and worship.
"My heart is to write songs that lead people to Jesus," Derek Johnson shares. "Whether they have a relationship with Him and know His love or they are still searching for truth, my desire is that anyone who hears these songs will be brought into a deeper understanding of worship and the God of real love."
Leading up to the release of Real Love, Johnson recently filmed three music videos for the singles that will release over three consecutive weeks, starting with the pre-order that begins March 17. The videos, captured at Sacramento's historic Old Sugar Mill, will accompany the following songs leading up to the full album's release: "The One We Love" (3/17), "Power In The Cross" (3/24), and "Real Love" (3/31).

(Photos below taken from video shoots held at the historic Old Sugar Mill, Sacramento, CA)

Derek Johnson has been featured on Jesus Culture's CD Emerging Voices, which hit No.1 on the iTunes Christian/Gospel chart. His song "I Belong To You" was also featured as a bonus track on Jesus Culture's 2012 album Live From New York (with Martin Smith), which received a Dove nomination for Best Event Album of the Year.
As a member of the Sacramento-based Jesus Culture team since 2009, he's led worship at every Jesus Culture conference since 2011 and has opened for Kim Walker-Smith and Jesus Culture Band at sold-out venues across the country.
REAL LOVE TRACK LISTING:
1. Our Salvation
2. The One We Love
3. Jesus I See You
4. Power In The Cross
5. I Belong To You
6. Real Love
7. Bright As You
8. My Great Love
9. Heaven Meeting Earth
10. Made To Last
11. Washed Away
12. Glory Come Down
Click below to view the Real Love album promo video:



About Jesus Culture Music: Jesus Culture Music is Sacramento, CA-based and led by Senior Team Director Banning Liebscher. Jesus Culture was formed through the momentum of a movement that is focused on equipping a generation to transform society by bringing people into an encounter with God's love through worship and discipleship. Jesus Culture Music albums capture the heart of this movement. Jesus Culture Music has sold more than one million albums worldwide since their debut project in 2005 and garnered more than 3.8 million followers on social media and over 34.5 million views on YouTube. Jesus Culture Music is a label that contains 12 artists including: Jesus Culture Band, Kim Walker-Smith, Bryan and Katie Torwalt, Chris Quilala, Kristene DiMarco, Derek Johnson, Justin Jarvis, Andrew and Mary Kat Ehrenzeller, Chris McClarney, Skyler Smith and Josh and Amberly Klinkenberg. To date, the Jesus Culture Band has recorded ten albums and released a total of 25 projects on their music label. The latest release from Jesus Culture Band, Unstoppable Love, climbed to No. 2 on the iTunes overall chart and debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and No. 1 on the overall Top Christian/Gospel Albums Billboard retail chart.

CONNECT WITH DEREK JOHNSON
jesusculture.com/artists/derek-johnson

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How Spirituality Is Changing In the Digital Age

In the Internet age, data has become increasingly important. Sites like Facebook and Twitter thrive off gathering and distributing specific information about users likes and habits.

But sometimes it's hard to know how data fits into the mission of the Church and individual Christians. How much should we pay attention to Internet trends and the constant stream of information being thrown at us?
We talked with David Kinnaman, the president of Barna Group, about the role of data in ministry, the changing landscape of the Internet era and the hope for millennials in church.

What do you see as the mission of Barna?
To try to help to give people basically current, accurate and affordable information in bite-sized pieces in a timely manner to help them make better decisions. In a lot of ways, we’re driven by the notion that a good leader, a good Christian has to define their reality accurately. This is something Jesus does so well with His disciples and with the people He ministers to: He constantly reframes questions about what’s really at stake. So what we’re trying to do is use research and good analysis to reframe for people what’s really happening, what’s really at stake at the center of these cultural and faith-related questions.

What would you say is really at stake with these questions?
Well, so much. It’s an incredible challenge. The way I would say it right now is that particularly younger Christians are living in what I describe as Digital Babylon. It’s very similar in some ways to the kind of head-snapping change that Daniel and his peers would have experienced in Babylon—exposure to a broader world, immersion in a whole set of worldviews and beliefs and ideas about spirituality, interacting regularly with people with very different points of view, very different perspectives about God, very different perspectives about human meaning and flourishing.
For a lot of millennials, the question of how to live faithfully, how to have a life of conviction in a world that overwhelms and steamrolls conviction and belief is a really pressing question. Good research can point to what’s really happening in our culture—and then with good solid analysis and interpretation of biblical perspective, we can sort of articulate how it is Christians, and particularly younger Christians, can make sense of and lead effectively in that changing world.
There’s nothing new in human nature, there’s nothing new in human identity and the need for a Savior. But what is different is the incredible amount of access that human beings, and particularly millennials, now have. It’s more accelerated, it’s more immersive, it creates a whole reality.

Do you have to deal with criticism that you’re trying to put a program on something that is sort of inherently mysterious and just hard to quantify?
With the rise of a lot of big data and social data through Twitter and Facebook and other places, we’re quickly becoming a more quantified planet, a quantified species. Quantifying spirituality isn’t the end in and of itself. But a lot of churches have very little clarity about the kind of transformation they are actually having in people’s lives. A good research program ought to give real clarity to the kind of transformation that’s actually happening.
Spirituality is an incredibly complex thing to measure, but it can be measured, and there is important work to do there. This is what Barna tries to do in filling some of this gap in thinking through are we actually making a difference with our dollars and our hours and our efforts in helping to change people’s lives? Or is it just like a cool social club?
Now just a quick caveat: as a Christian, as a committed Christ-follower, saying that doesn’t in any way invalidate what Jesus and the Holy Spirit can do in our lives. But for me, it’s the parable of the talents in Matthew, where if we’re given opportunities to influence people and it turns out we are not stewarding that influence well, then we’re accountable to God for that. Good data should give us a clear sense of accountability.

Do you think most churches overestimate the spiritual health and effectiveness of their millennial congregation or underestimate it?
One of the really cool trends we’re beginning to see is that among millennials who are born-again Christians, they’re actually more likely to be evangelistic—that is, share their faith with others—than is true of Boomer born-again Christians.
I actually believe there’s something of a millennial counter-trend based on the data that is happening which is among these Christians. They’re really turning to their faith more than ever to find meaning, purpose, community, a sense of mission in the world. It’s a positive, powerful trend.
Millennial born-agains are actually showing incredible signs of kind of counter-trend behavior, which often goes under the radar because in fact the millennial generation, as a generation, is more post-Christian. There’s a lot of disconnection and a lot of disillusionment with the church.
It’s easy to miss the signs because you can either be looking for reasons for optimism or reasons for pessimism, and you can find both. Having a more complete picture, where both of those realities can be true, is really hard for most church leaders to come to. Church leaders ought to be both incredibly concerned about the trajectory of this millennial generation and wildly optimistic about the hope for the Gospel that’s being expressed through these young Christians.

What would you say to somebody who feels called by God to do something, but the data would suggest it’s not going to be effective right now?
The data should always be a tool concerning our calling. It should never be the final authority in anyone’s decision. Our data—first of all, it rarely proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that any particular course of action, any particular calling would be a complete waste of time.
This is why being a theologically oriented research company matters. I would never suggest that what we’re trying to do is create a mass-production approach to discipleship. I think, in some cases, we’re called to be more faithful and not necessarily more productive as disciplers.
I don’t think God calls us necessarily to try to convert the world individually. He asks the Church to do that, but that’s not the job of each individual Christian to do that. So just because our data says a particular kind of thing doesn’t work or doesn’t work as well, it doesn’t mean that people should not go down that path. But it also means that if there’s a sort of a blind rejection of the data, then there’s a matter of stewardship that comes with it. Find a way of making sense of the data and using what wisdom was provided through it to become the kind of called Christian you’re meant to be. That’s the way I would sort of hold both of these things in tension.

SOURCE

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