Worship leaders, you are probably familiar with Aaron Shust and his song “My Savior, My God” from a few years ago. Singable, simple-not-shallow songs are what Aaron is known for and he’s back with a new CD releasing today from Centricity Music, “This Is What We Believe”.

I’ve had the opportunity to listen through the CD a few times and I’ve got to say that I am a fan of these songs. The production is great (what else would you expect from Ed Cash?), the songs are accessible and memorable. I can hear several of these songs working as part of our Sunday morning repertoire here at my church.

More than the songs, though, what impacted me as I listened to the song was the story that Aaron & his family have lived through the last few years. Listen to Aaron talk about it here -

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeZu6rTuDTk

As a dad, I can’t imagine the pain and helplessness he must have been feeling as the doctors tried to look for answers. And what a celebration that family must be going through knowing that God has healed their son!

“Through all of the sickness and heartache and loss,” Aaron says, “my family has run to God and his promises. We’ve been forced to our knees, but this trial has made life exponentially more meaningful. And through it all, God has never left us.”

Amen. The conviction of this new reality for the Shust family comes through on several of the tracks – starting with the opening title track, a great song filled with timeless truth of the nature and character of God, his goodness and faithfulness and inspiring reminders of who he is.

You can buy this CD today in a few different spots -

Aaron’s website – www.aaronshust.com
Centricity Music – www.centricitymusic.com
iTunes –  Canada | USA

Coming out of Christmas this may be how many of you are feeling -

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpRAeLbQMzk

Before you hit stop, make sure you read the story behind the song from the Page CXVI blog -

When I first wrote, or I should say re-wrote, “Joy” I had no idea the
wave it would make.  I have received countless emails, questions, and
comments on this one song, several with the similar theme of “she sure
does not sound joyful to me!”  I’ve even had people tell me that they
did not finish the song but skipped it because it sounded too
depressing and confused them in contrast to the rest of the Hymns-I
record. If perchance you are someone that has not finished the song
yet please listen through the end. It would be like starting a story
and never finishing it.

The first time I played Joy was the night my father passed away.  He
had a short and painful battle with cancer.  My dad was not perfect
but he did the best he could with what he had.  A year before he died
he was diagnosed with dementia.  The day he told me he had cancer he
said it was a blessing.  To him, cancer was a better way to end his
story than a mind with no memory of his family or his life.  So as I
sat at the piano, the only place that felt safe that night to me, the
weight of loss hit my chest.  I remembered my eyes were blurred with
tears and I literally began to play the now familiar progression of
Joy.  I kept cycling through the progression and then, as if it had
already been written, I began to sing a different melody to a song I
sang in VBS as a child, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my
heart…” The truth is that I was terribly and profoundly sad.  The
reality of grief had not even entirely hit me yet.  But at the same
moment I had a deep sense of peace.  He was no longer in pain.  He was
no longer sick.  He was free from all his ailments and restored.
Although I still miss him, I know that God has weaved redemption
through death into my father’s story.  That brings me great joy.  It
was not until grief became a part of my story that I realized that joy
is not simply an expression, but an attitude and acknowledgment of the
deep peace of knowing a Savior.

I believe it is important as a community that wants to comfort the
weary we allow space for those who are grieving, suffering, and
experiencing loss to say, “Hey! I am hurting! I am in pain!”  It is
okay to give them space to figure out what joy means in that time.

I now know that you can experience grief and joy simultaneously…
and if not, that joy can and will come if you allow it to.

I had Joy written without the ending that is on the record for a
while.  And after I had some time to grieve I remembered the hymn “It
is Well With My Soul.”  The author of that hymn lost multiple members
of his immediate family when he wrote those deeply wise words.  It
seemed appropriate to end “Joy” with this hymn in acknowledgement that
God brings us peace.  He even brings us joy when it seems and feels
impossible.

If you like it and want to support what these guys are doing, you can buy their music on iTunes (USA|Canada) and find out more on their website – http://www.pagecxvi.com

As a follow-up to this last post I thought it might be helpful to post a video from Bluetree (facebook|twitter) telling the story behind their song “God of this City” -

Okay, so it’s not available on iTunes in Canada but if you live in the US you’re able to buy this EP today from fellow re:create peep Carlos Whittaker. You may be familiar with his blog – www.ragamuffinsoul.com – but you should check out these songs.

Here’s a short video that tells some of the story behind these songs and why Carlos is excited about them –

If you’re looking for chord charts for the 3 songs, Carlos has posted them on his blog here – www.ragamuffinsoul.com/music

This is all that I’ve seen of the RIFF iPhone Guitar App and it’s already got my vote for best iPhone app ever! Cannot wait to get to try this out.

My review of Matt Papa‘s new CD “Your Kingdom Come” from Centricity Music has gone live over at The Worship Community. Check it out and leave your thoughts.

If you haven’t heard the CD yet, here’s something you might want to check out. Centricity has been kind enough to release the audio, chord chart and teaching video for the song “Open Hands” – very cool.

Download the files here and here’s the video –

Here’s a quick video review of the Israel Houghton CD “Power of One” with some added features for the worship leader edition. Check out the videos below –

Okay – so this is stupid. The video works fine on my computer but YouTube has decided to detach the audio from the video. Hopefully you still get the gist.

Israel Houghton – Power of One – iTunes
Worship Leader Edition – WorshipMusic.com
Israel Houghton – iPhone/iPod App

I went to see the Newsboys play in Toronto last night – it`s been a long time since I`ve seen those guys play and although I`m not a huge fan of the band they put on a great show and were really entertaining. I was definitely intrigued by the recent addition of Tait as their new lead singer and he did not disappoint. These guys for sure have a bunch of years left in them!

It was also really nice to see a good crowd for a good show! We have had some rough times with the Christian concert scene in eastern Canada but some good tours are starting to pop up every now and then. All of the bands that night were great – DecembeRadio, Vota and Bread of Stone all made new friends in southern Ontario last night and hopefully they`ll all be back.

Click here for the gallery
RSS peeps you might have to hit the blog to get the photos

Lots of people have been fascinated with Bono’s obsession with quasi-religious language in lots of his music and there are lots of songs in U2′s library which can be taken as epic anthems of faith. With the release of their newest album yesterday, one of the first questions for many people was ‘Does the trend continue?’

After watching their incredible performance of ‘Magnificent’ on Letterman last night, I came across an article this morning that describes ‘No Line On The Horizon’  as U2′s ‘most thoroughly Christian project to date.’

“Like the last two albums, No Line is much more overt in its Christian rendering of the world, what with lyrics like ‘Justified until we die/You and I will magnify/Oh, the Magnificent’ from the album’s second track,” commented Steven R. Harmon, an associate professor of divinity at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala.

“Yet what qualifies this album as thoroughly Christian is not so much its pervasive biblical/theological images as its overarching eschatological vision,” he wrote Friday in a music review featured by the Associated Baptist Press.

The Christian themes in U2′s music have been widely recognized since their 1981 album, October, which was ranked as No. 41 on CCM Magazine’s 2001 list of the greatest Christian music albums of all time. Also included in the list was the group’s 1987 album, The Joshua Tree.

The article has some good stuff to say – check it out.

If you missed U2 last night on Letterman, here’s their performance – incredible! (Make sure you put your mouse over that little up arrow and click the HD button to get really nice video quality.)

Bono and the boys just killed it, again, on Letterman. Bono got his preach on doing ‘Magnificent’ off their brand new album, No Line On The Horizon.

Read the lyrics – tell me this is not a modern psalm:

Magnificent
Magnificent

I was born
I was born to be with you
In this space and time
After that and ever after I haven’t had a clue
Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born
I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise…

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent
Magnificent