By Mark Hensch

For Andrew Greer, Scripture is most alive in song.

The singer-songwriter burst onto the Christian contemporary music scene with 2009's Open Book, a collection of achingly vulnerable songs about faith. His current release - Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions - sees Greer going in a completely different direction. It's a sophomore album heavily slanted toward covering classic hymns, a move he says reminds him of home.

"Hymns take me back to my roots," said Greer. "They're where I learned music so it's a very honest place for me. There's a purity being able to connect with that again as an adult. I think hymns are very personal, and very much my story."

Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions includes the title track "Softly and Tenderly," featuring renowned bluegrass singer/songwriter Sonya Isaacs; the song "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus," a duet by Greer and Dove Award-winning singer/songwriter Cindy Morgan; and "I Am Thine O Lord/Near The Cross," performed by Dove Award-winning singer/songwriter Ginny Owens.

Greer said the tale of his life begins in rural Texas. Raised by parents of "strong but not overbearing" Christian faith, he said he frequently attended church and fell in love with choir hymns. Hearing their harmonies and melodies, he said he found the majesty of Christ.

"Music has played a large role in starting, growing and sustaining my relationship with God," he said. "Hymns in particular matured my faith and anchored it. They're a conversation with God. That's what I want to do with my own songs."

Greer relocated to Nashville's Belmont University to study music and find his muse. Upon graduation, he worked at singer Michael W. Smith's Rocketown Records, only to discover he valued songwriting more than business sales. The solo artist has worked as professional musician ever since.

"It can be scary working in a critical and artistic field," Greer said of his work. "You have to get a tough skin and just go for it. All the same, it's very fulfilling surrendering yourself to what you love to do. It's both wonderful and harrowing at the same time."

Greer's path to musical success was not without its struggles, however. Greer said he recorded Open Book during a time of deep personal anxiety. Alone and afraid, he used his music as a way of finding his faith again.

"I was in a really raw place with my relationship with God and my back was against the wall," Greer said. "I wanted him to show up and I was in a place where I was OK if he didn't. I needed help and a sign. He showed up in an extremely personal way."

After going through the personal trial, Greer said he started focusing on exploring Jesus' sacrifices for humanity through hymns. He reached out to a collection of other Christian artists for input, and the resulting hymn reinterpretations are Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions. Returning to the music of his youth, Greer said he realized the hope present in hymns.

"I've been through bouts of anxiety and it's literally felt like my body is crying out," he said. "What I've learned is that I'm not in my final state yet. I'm not home. My soul is anchored in Jesus."

Greer said he hopes his new hymn collection makes listeners understand the effort needed for an energetic relationship with Christ. The best faith takes place in personal interaction, he said, and grows the more people approach God.

"I've learned from life that God must be a very interesting and intriguing person," Greer said. "We can't just bottle him. We have to have a relationship with him to understand who he is."

Among the notable titles on the album is a beautiful rendition of The Lord's Prayer, featuring the renowned banjo playing of Ron Block of Alison Krauss and Union Station.

Other featured guests on Angel Band are the McCrary Sisters, Marc Scibilia and Julie Lee.

The band has played their final show.
What are they going to do now?

The inventive final album from the David Crowder*Band debuted at no. 2 in the US.
Lead Sheets are available here.

Tim Hughes: 'we need to move back to being Spirit led.'

Spirit Break Out is the debut live album from the London-based Worship Central team.

For a movement dedicated to helping unleash praise and worship within local churches across the world, 'Spirit Break Out' is a live album full of energy and experience. But this is no empty title. 'Spirit Break Out' is the perfect summation of a profoundly held belief that we need to allow God more freedom and power within our worship.

Tim Hughes - songwriter, worship leader, co-founder of Worship Central and vicar-in-training - puts it clearly in an interview with Mission Worship magazine:

"We've never had better quality songs to choose from. There are amazing songs on amazing themes coming out of Hillsong, Passion, Soul Survivor and - I guess - Worship Central too. But there's a danger here: that we rely on those songs to create the amazing encounters in worship. If we let the song become the king, then worship becomes more about what we can create and less about our response to God's initiating love and glory.

"We always need to be looking to be Spirit led in our worship. The Spirit gives life, releases freedom and joy, puts a new song on our lips and reveals the beauty and majesty of Christ."

The message is well-explored through the album, which features Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon, Al Gordon, Nikki Fletcher and Luke Hellebronth. The team combined forces to lead at the HMV Forum in March this year, and the album's 14 tracks draw out the very best of the evening's worship. Established songs like Tim Hughes' 'Counting On Your Name' and 'Wake Up' as well as Ben Cantelon's 'Saviour Of The World' are found on the album, along with a great selection of new ones.

From the opening moments of 'Spirit Of The Living God' - rising up, phoenix-like with a call for the Holy Spirit to take control - through to the closing moments of 'Undivided Love' and 'All Glory', the album is urgent, focused and engaging.

'Now Is The Time' brings in some beautiful arrangements while 'Sing Alleluia' clearly has the potential to become a big congregational winner. 'New Day' jumps about, 'At Your Name' gets epic while the title track builds into a mountain-sized cry for something bigger and bolder than can be created by human hands, as Tim explains:

"The title track feels like a revival song: it's a heart cry to see God smashing out of the box, turning us upside down, inside out and leading us into more of His presence and glory. Our heart at Worship Central is that these songs and this album will fire people up and inspire them in their worship and will lead people into a deeper relationship with Christ."

Worship Central is a school of worship from Alpha International with a vision to encounter God, equip the worshipper and empower the local church. Led by Tim Hughes and Al Gordon, since launching in 2006, over 100,000 worship leaders, musicians and worshippers have attended training events around the world, as well as using the online resource, Worship Central.

While this is the first live album from Worship Central, they previously released a studio album - 'Lifting High' - in 2009. They have also just put out their first ever album sung in Mandarin, featuring worship leaders from across Asia.

Worship Central continues to run training conferences internationally, in Holland, Germany, London, Scotland, California, Hong Kong, and India.

When the pieces seem too shattered to gather off the floor; and all that seems to matter is that I can't feel you anymore...I need a reason to sing.

If we're honest, it's a lot easier to talk about and fully embrace the seasons when God's goodness feels so real, those proverbial spiritual mountaintops where faith is effortless and life's little circumstances are easily explained.

But when life is hard and heartache and confusion inevitably reign, what do we do with those moments, and how do we actually worship God in the midst of them? This uncomfortable tension is precisely what fuels the latest release from All Sons & Daughters, the duo who penned the congregational favorite "All the Poor & Powerless."

Born out of what's happening with their unique community of believers at The Journey Church in Franklin, Tenn., worship leaders David Leonard and Leslie Jordan have written songs they hope will give people permission to not only ask questions, but to express their pain in the midst of it.

"I think that's one of the biggest problems in the modern church right now. We don't always give people permission to feel these things," David says. "When things are going wrong, we tell them 'It's okay, God's taking care of it.' But if you read the Psalms, David is never afraid to express exactly what he's feeling, so that gave us the freedom to be honest and transparent."

To wit, the album's affecting title track comes from a very personal place. "A lot of it stemmed from a conversation I had with my sister who was struggling to conceive," Leslie shares. "They'd tried for four years, and she was completely broken from wondering why in the world this wasn't happening for her."

Adding another layer of resonance was David and his wife's own struggles with becoming parents. "It had gotten to the point where we simply accepted that it wasn't going to happen," David adds. "And when we were writing this song, emotions were swirling in the room--just the question of 'why?'. Luckily, I can say now that my wife and I have a little girl. But this is the kind of struggle that countless people are going through every day with varying results. And it's the kind of issue that leaves us with questions."

In this spirit of transparency, David and Leslie wanted Reason to Sing to strip away the layers of guilt and shame so that we can begin to accept God's grace. Posing the question of whether God can love us, in spite of us, tracks like "Oh Our Lord," "All Praise to You" and "Spirit Speaks" point listeners to the One who's always drawing us to Himself, even when we have questions and life fails to make sense.

Adding to that reassurance is "Buried in the Grave," a song inspired by an article David and Leslie read in Relevant magazine. "In the Easter story, we focus on the death and the resurrection but not always the waiting period in between and what that means to us as believers about being patient and obedient," Leslie says. "I liked how the writer focused on the Saturday that comes between Friday and Sunday, which is exactly the season we feel like we're walking through."

Grace was in the tension of everything we'd lost,
Standing empty handed, shattered by the cross
All we had, all we had was a promise like a thread
Holding us, keeping us, oh from fraying at the edge

Produced by Paul Mabury (Hillsong, Brooke Fraser, One Sonic Society), whom David refers to as the "third member of All Sons & Daughters," it was equally important to create an accompanying soundtrack that was stripped of pretense.

"Rather than looking at aesthetics or serving the emotion of the moment, Paul was driving us to look at our church, at the lyrics and the movement of the music and how it all relates to our community," says David. And whether they're ministering at their home church or at congregations across the globe, the one thing that keeps them grounded is community.

"For us, it's an intangible," Leslie shares. "In this past year, we've realized just how much we need our community. It's life-giving and makes such a difference. Plus, as worship leaders, you're not going to know the songs your body needs to sing if you don't know your body. So that's why it's so incredibly important to dig into life with your church."

As the holidays approach, I often remember my days as a student in
music class. My high school music teacher lived for Christmas carols.
I spoke with him recently as I was working on our new Christmas album,
"Joy--An Irish Christmas," and his enthusiasm is as strong as ever. He
even wants Christmas carols played at his funeral.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Because these songs tell the story of the faith like no other songs
can," he told me.

I wholeheartedly agree. Carols blend a story form of writing with
simple melodies, and they've resulted in a unique hybrid of English
folk music and church music traditions. In that sense, the carol has
impacted my own songwriting more than any other form.

Our new Christmas album gave me a chance to relish in my love for
carols by writing some of my very own. Yet we also decided to honor
some of our age-old favorites, so profound in the stories they tell,
by pairing them with new compositions. When it comes to celebrating
Christmas, I think people want fresh sounds--but they also want to
sing what they know.

I love the fact that some of the most beloved carols essentially
originated as rebel songs. In England during the 15th century,
Catholics were forbidden to sing in the English language, or to even
sing at all for the most part. Yet carols were the one exception.
Additionally, certain factions of Puritanism during the late 16th
century forbid any outward display of emotion. But again, carols
remained the one type of song that allowed people to celebrate with
their lips, instruments and even dancing. For those forbidden to even
smile or smirk during the remainder of the year, this was much cause
for rejoicing!

Today, carols continue to be one of the few remaining conduits that
allow us to proclaim our faith in the public square. Amazingly,
they're heralded on secular radio, used in advertisements and sung on
television throughout the holiday season. These songs allow us to
celebrate our faith authentically and share it with others.

We would do well as worship leaders to remember that non-churchgoers
are far more inclined to attend a church service during the Christmas
season where songs are easy and enjoyable to sing rather than a church
trying to put on the slickest possible show. The music of carols,
written by some of the finest hymn writers of all time (such as
Wesley, Watts and Rossetti) and arranged by equally outstanding
composers (Handel, Holst and Mendelssohn) speaks for itself. We have
wonderful songs to use! And Christmas gives us a wide open door to use
those songs to impact culture like no other time of the year.

May we set aside time this Christmas season to give of ourselves
joyfully and wholeheartedly to the music we choose and the services we
plan. And in doing so we'll join with the Christians of ages past
who've told the story of our faith through the carols they sing.

In partnership with Integrity Music, LifeWayWorship.com would like to introduce you to the songs of Daniel Bashta, author of the already popular worship anthem, LIKE A LION (also known as GOD'S NOT DEAD) recently recorded by David Crowder Band and Newsboys.

For the entire month of December, download the free mp3 and chord chart for Daniel's song, "Heaven," right here. Use promo code HEAVEN when you check out for two free downloads! We'll return in January and again in February to introduce you to two more songs!

For more info on Daniel Bashta, please visit www.danielbashta.com.

Have you used anything in your church that "just works" that you can share? Post it in the comments below, on Twitter with the hashtag #hymnandsong, or on our Facebook page.

From Twitter:
@RobTWillJr - "Great Is Your Faithfulness" with "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
@AnthonyCroft - "Here I Am To Worship" with "I Surrender All."
@DennisCCook - "Mighty to Save" with "I Surrender All"
@FSBCWorship - "Stronger" and "It Is Well with My Soul" / "Revelation Song" and "Holy, Holy, Holy"
@jason_carson - "All Creatures of Our God and King" with "Let Everything that Has Breath"
@nathanphifer - "How He Loves" with "Oh, How He Loves You and Me"
@BobTRoberts - "A Mighty Fortress (Nockels)" with "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" or... "A Mighty Fortress (Nockels)" with "Holy, Holy, Holy," keeping the same tempo and rhythm pattern.
@PewPotato - "The Power of the Cross (Oh, to See the Dawn)" with "The Wonderful Cross"

From Facebook:
Linda: "Our God" (Tomlin-Redman) with How Great is Our God and How Great Thou Art.
Rodney: ‎"My Jesus I Love Thee" with "I Love You Lord"
Colby: "Holy, Holy, Holy" with "I See the Lord"
Josh: The creole hymn "Loue" and "Nothing but the Blood"
Kemuel: "In Christ Alone" with "The Solid Rock"
Dennis: "How He Loves" with "Oh How He Loves You and Me"
Leo: "Shout to the Lord" with "To God Be the Glory"
Robert: "Sing to the King" with "O Worship the King"
Alan: "Open the Eyes of My Heart" with "Open Our Eyes, Lord"
Jeremy: "I Know Whom I Have Believed" with "My Redeemer Lives" between verses 1 and 2

This year, there is a Sunday with new significance; September 11th is the tenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself as you make your plans.

How much do we let it influence our service?

Probably the biggest driver to the answer to that question is rooted in the people who are in your congregation. How were they touched by the attacks? Do you have military connections, or even church members whose families were affected by the lives lost?

Look at how your church responded to September 11th ten years ago. If you can locate the plan or a recording for September 16th, 2001, you can see what was said and sung immediately after the incident. If you're new, or don't have records back that far, talk to long-time church members and see what they remember.

Once you've got that picture, decide what is important for you to recognize based on the people in your church today. You may want to use some of the same songs or scripture, or go a totally different direction.

What kind of theme should the service take?

Again, the members of your congregation will largely influence this. Here are some options to consider:

• Thanksgiving and Celebration - focus on God's provision and protection. Celebrate how He has blessed our families, churches and nation in these past ten years. (Isaiah 43:2)
• Remembrance and Hope - make the message of the service one that lifts up God's creation of human life, challenging the congregation to share in the redemption story by sharing the hope that we have in salvation through Jesus Christ (Isaiah 55:6-11)
• Declarative Praise - exalt the name of the Lord, proclaiming that He rules over all things and all people, that even in the face of tragedy, we will rejoice. (I Thessalonians 5:18)

Should we do something patriotic?

There's no problem with including patriotic material in your plan for Sunday if it's something that will connect with the members of your congregation. Remember that the primary purpose of our worship is to respond to God's revelation, so be sure that the core of your worship plan is rooted in scripture.

Resist the urge to do something out-of-character for your church this Sunday just to impress people. If you normally have a praise band and worship team, have a praise band and worship team. However, you may want to engage people differently, using different media or combinations of people to create a special worship moment. If you do pre-recorded videos, consider interviewing some of your members about their experiences since 2001, and how God is working through their lives. Think about how members of your church are gifted, how they were personally affected by the events, and what the intersection of those two could create to help point people to God.

What should we sing?

This Sunday is probably a good day to focus on songs that your congregation already knows - songs that they can sing and not be distracted. You may find that this Sunday draws in irregular attenders and visitors, and you want your congregation to be engaged in worship so that they can see it modeled well.

Depending on the theme of your service, you can search for topics at LifeWayWorship.com. Here are some songs of thankfulness, songs of deliverance and songs of exaltation. If you click on the "I" button for any of these songs, you can see the themes we've attached to them in the "tags" section.

As we get closer to September 11, we'll be posting some service orders for the Sunday here at LifeWayWorship.com. If you'd like to submit one, paste it in on the feedback form on the homepage, message it to @lifewayworship, comment on our post at facebook.com/lifewayworshipdotcom or email it to worship@lifeway.com.

Join us at 2:00 Pacific, 3:00 Mountain, 4:00 Central or 5:00 Eastern for the premiere of Tommy Walker's "Pursuit of God" project. Based on the work by A.W. Tozer, this new collection of worship songs features a couple of familiar titles, but mostly brand new worship songs that help point people to the worship of our holy and loving God.

On the homepage of LifeWayWorship.com, just click the "WATCH NOW" banner, and you'll be connected to the streaming concert.

And, if you like what you hear, you can get charts and tracks for EVERY song! Plus, we have original string charts from the recording available for many of the song, and the complete orchestration for "Taste and See." Just search for "Pursuit of God" in the "Search for Anything!" box on the homepage!

Special thanks to our friends at Maranatha Music who are distributing the record and our friends at TommyWalker.net who are also carrying the concert!

Whether it's the driving, uplifiting praise of "The Distance" or the testimony song "The Lost are Found" that tells of God's work here on earth, or the proclamation of the presence of God in the song "With Us," you'll find songs that can help knit together the hearts of your congregation to express their worship and praise.

At LifeWayWorship.com, our friends at Hillsong and EMI have made it easy for you to incorporate these new songs into your church. You can download single copies of the original "artist" track for every title so that you can have a reference for the style, speed and sound of each song.

Then, you can purchase our flagship chart, the Lead Sheet PLUS for every title. Each Lead Sheet PLUS delivers what you'd expect from a lead sheet - melody, chord symbols, and lyrics, all in a compact package, but then adds on a place for you to type written notes right into the score, all the original harmony parts, extra notes for your band to help re-create the original.

PLUS, you get the song in all twelve keys... so that no matter the vocal range or lead-in or lead-out you need, you can use the song in worship.

Click the link on the homepage to see all the charts available from "God Is Able."

• Every melody and harmony note written out for your singers


• Complete lyrics and chord symbols


• Directions for band members (drums in, lead guitar solo, bass walkdown, etc.)


• Cued instrumental "hooks" for intros, segues and transitions


• A "notes" box that you can type instructions into before you print to give everyone the same information (requires the free Acrobat reader.)


• As few pages as possible


• Every song in all 12 keys so you can pick the one that fits your moment!

Download a sample Lead Sheet PLUS (not printable)

If you'd like to try out Lead Sheet PLUS in your ministry, use the promo code PLUSMYBAND to download two free charts from LifeWayWorship.com. The code expires 7/31/2011.

If you've used our SuperCharts before, you're probably noticing that these features are very similar... in fact, the same! What we've found is that people in churches know what a "Lead Sheet" is, but not what a "SuperChart" is, so we're helping more people discover the great resource that we have available for your worship ministry.

If you've purchased SuperCharts in the past, you'll still find SuperCharts in your media library, but when you purchase new song titles, they'll be listed as Lead Sheet PLUS.