This weeks feature song is "Honor and Majesty" inspired by the imagery of Psalm 96.
"Honor and majesty are before him,
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary" v.6
Part 1 of the song is for the inner court, that place of intimacy where we sense and express Adoration.
"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" v.9
Part 2 of the song is about celebrating our future in God (fancy idea - eschatology) , where all creation rejoices at the return of the Lord. This is the message of verses 11&12 - a Celebration.
This weeks featured free song, “Never Alone” was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “A Knock At Midnight.” This is an incredible story. Living everyday under the threat of death and extensive criticism left him discouraged and full of doubt, then he had a profound encounter with God at his kitchen table. "I discovered then that religion had to become real for me and I had to know God for myself, I bowed down ... and then the Holy Spirit revived my soul"
It tears me up every time I hear him say “He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone, never alone, no never alone .“ This speech inspired the lyrics for “Never Alone”. In remembrance of Black History month, here is Kings speech.
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Musically, I was trying to compose a black gospel vibe with a Southern California twist - like Jackson Browne’s “Here Come Those Tears Again” or some of Karla Bonoff’s songs.
We recorded the basic tracks back in the day at the Orchard Recording studio.
Will McKelvey cut the guitar solo this summer (check out his awesome podcast here) . The amazing Chris Lowry arranged and played all the strings in December (he did the perc too). At the last minute I decided I couldn’t live without an organ part, so in the Christmas spirit, Larry Hall did me a big favor and added the organ. The choir was all my Belmont Worship Leader friends, arranged by Jonathan Riggs , we had a nice night of chili and my famous bread to fuel our vocal session back in October.
If you like this song or the “What Words Can’t Say” project , you can help spread the word by liking it on Facebook, or write a review for I-Tunes or CD Baby. Thanks for your support!
“When the heart is in a right state it must praise God, it cannot be restrained; its utterances leap forth as waters forcing their way from a living spring. With all his strength David blesses the God of his strength.” (from Spurgeon’s commentary on Psalm 144)
This weeks free download song is “A New Day”,based in part on David’s Psalm 144:1 “Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.”
It is my prayer, my hope that this song arouses faith and confidence in God’s love and power. That our hearts may respond “in a right state”, and believe His promises. He ready, willing and able to deliver.
Well hallelujah I'm done mixing the new project. You can check it out now for free - my birthday gift to you. Watch the video and check out the link below.
Hanging out with the kids on Day One in the dorms @ the school of worship. This was just for fun . "Ang Dios Aye Mabuti." Yes, it's an American teaching Romanians how to sing in Tagolag, a language of the The Philippines. Go figure. I wrote this with the students of the songwriting class in Quayan, Phillipines many moons ago.
So I'm out in the audience blown away by Decean's set (maybe the best rock band in Romania?) and I hear Nick say in Romanian "bla bla bla Rob Still .... Rob are you here?" And the kids next to me say, "he's asking you to join them". Then Nick says, "come up here man, all those times you called me up front at Sozo ..." (which is true, but I forgot all about). A lot of fun and a nice gesture from a great group of guys. They are really impacting Romania for Christ, especially among university students.
