Behind the Praise - Sunday June 15, 2008

BLENDED SERVICE 9:30am

“God is Great”
This song was written by Marty Sampson one of the Hillsong worship leaders from Australia. When asked about the modern worship movement Marty commented recently “I think young people are getting more and more passionate about their relationships with God and His kingdom. They desire to see God moving in their lives and in the lives of those around them.” Marty Sampson (b. May 31, 1979) is a Christian songwriter and a worship leader at the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. Originally featuring in the Youth Alive albums of the late 1990s, he was one of original Hillsong United worship leaders and has led worship on every United album to date. He plays guitar and occasionally piano.

When it comes to penning songs, Marty is sometimes a little unorthodox in his approach. For example he explains the inspiration behind "God is Great." "The story is that me and Joel Houston, another guy in our youth group, were cruising along in his car, with a tape recorder. And we were just talking about music and singing, and we decided we needed to write a new song for the youth. We were near my house, and we were singing as loud as we could! Joel started doing this beat box, and then I just started singing, 'God is great, and His praise, fills the earth, fills the heavens!' We both turned around, looked at each other, and said, 'Whoa! That's awesome!' So I put on the tape player and recorded it, and it went from there."


Click here to worship along with Marty:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfZOUVD46TI&feature=related

Click here to learn more about Marty’s ministry:
www.myspace.com/martysampsonmusic

Click here to check out Marty:
www.martysampson.net


“Come Christians Join to Sing”
Come Christians, Join to Sing" began as a Sunday school song for children. Originally entitled, "Come, Children, Join to Sing," the hymn's name was changed when its author realized everyone loved to sing his hymn. The hymn was written in 1843 and first appeared in a Scottish hymnbook for children entitled Sacred Melodies for Sabbath Schools and families.
The words "alleluia" and "amen" are found in each stanza, drawing on rich biblical language. "Alleluia", the Latin equivalent of Hallelujah, is found in many of the Psalms and means "Praise the Lord." "Amen," of course, ends many prayers, and it simply means "truth," "assuredly," or "so be it."
Combining the praise of "Alleluia" with the jubilant assertion of "Amen" this hymn resounds with praise for Christ our King. Calling on Christians to sing praise both now and forevermore, it's a fitting hymn for children and adults alike.
Click here to worship along with Bob Kaufman in a contemporary setting of the hymn: www.youtube.com/watch?v=scIXblXpQN4

Click here to listen to an organ arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k6bkt4nkVs

Click here for a traditional arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_AO21YwTug

“The Heart of Worship”

Matt Redman says the story behind “The Heart of Worship” in particular is a personal reminder that, “I’m just a little songwriter—and a pretty foolish one at that!”
The song dates back to the late 1990s, born from a period of apathy within Matt’s home church, Soul Survivor, in Watford, England. Despite the country’s overall contribution to the current worship revival, Redman’s congregation was struggling to find meaning in its musical outpouring at the time. “There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” he recalls. “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor, Mike Pilavachi, asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”Matt says the question initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way.
“Before long, we reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as we’d gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstance and setting. ‘The Heart of Worship’ simply describes what occurred.”

When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come /
Longing just to bring something that’s of worth that will bless your heart… /
I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, Jesus

Redman remembers writing the song quickly in his bedroom soon after the church’s journey together, with no grand intentions, by any means, for it to become an international anthem. He viewed the words simply as his personal, subjective response to what he was learning about worship.
But when Matt shared “The Heart of Worship” with Pilavachi, the pastor suggested making a few small adjustments to the lyrics so any member of the church could relate to it as well.Amazed by how God has since taken the song around the world for His purposes, the songwriter smiles in regard to his own lack of foresight. “It nearly didn’t go any further than my bedroom. But I love that…”

Click here to worship along with Matt:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgs79jgEyPw

Click here to hear Matt share about the story behind the song:
www.theheartofworship.org/stories.shtml

Click here to listen on Rhapsody online:
www.rhapsody.com/mattredman/theheartofworship

“I have Decided to Follow Jesus”
This songs composer is unknown. The tune is a Hindustani melody. This folk song originated among the Garo Indians, one of the hill tribes in India. The Garo tribe lives in an area that is now the state of Meghalaya, but was until 1970 the state of Assam. The northern part of Meghalaya borders on the Himalayan Mountain range. The earliest appearance of the hymn in the United States seems to have been in Choice Light and Life, a 1950 publication of the Free Methodist Church (Winona Lake, Ind.), compiled by LeRoy M. Lowell. Other publications have followed. The tune was named ASSAM in Christian Praise (Nashville, 1964), for the province of India where the Garos lived.

Click here for a guitar arrangement and a blue grass arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv6gOET62ws

Click here for a traditional arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=55eESzdyPoY&feature=related

Click here for an arrangement with Bill Gaither and the homecoming friends:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISsp2QVTQLQ&feature=related

CONTEMPORARY 11:00

“Open up the Gates”
Planetshakers is more than a band name, it’s more than just a ministry and it’s far from an isolated experience. Planetshakers is a foundation shaking movement that’s sweeping Australia off its feet and it’s about to burst the bubble of American culture. The concept is simple: combine cutting edge speakers with topical relevance and worship woven music that reflects cultural relevance under the context of a super charged conference. Consider it comparable to the Hillsongs movement, but with an explosive, youth-oriented twist.
“There’s something powerful that happens when you mesh a spoken word message with the energy and explosion of live music,” says Planetshakers’ founder and director Russell Evans in his thick accent and contagiously pleasant tone. “This generation is looking for energetic, raw passion and they’re attracted to anything they can perceive as real. Seeing the enthusiastic blend is attractive to people. That passion on stage, no matter if it’s speaking or singing, makes them hungry.”
Planetshakers have been satisfying the appetites of the once spiritually bankrupt since 1997 when its first weekend conference was staged in front of 300 students at Paradise Community Church in Adelaide, South Australia. In the years that followed, the event ballooned at rapid rates, reaching 4,000 attendees by January 2000. Come this winter, Planetshakers pulled in 20,000 faithful in three major Australian cities: Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
“Other than God’s hand being over the ministers, I think the reason for the growth is because Planetshakers understands young people’s needs and are able to bring it beyond just a worship experience,” contends Evans after a moment of reflection on its evolution. “The goal is for people to have an encounter with God and the objective from there on out is to build local churches and ministries that young people can get plugged into. It all boils down to the fact that this is an instrument in raising up a new generation for the church.”

Click here to listen online:
www.imeem.com/people/1gedK/music/0oLABVBy/planetshakers_open_up_the_gates/

We come into this Holy placeTo bring a sacrifice of praise
Bow down before You and seek Your face
We sing of the mighty things You've done
Cry out to You"Let Your will be done"
Tell all the world You're the Holy One
Hear the shouts of praise As they're rising up to You
Come and fill this placeAs we bring glory to Your name

Chorus:
Open up the gates and let theKing of glory in
Fill this house with praises as we Lift our hands and worship You
Open up the doors and let YourGlory fill the earth
King of heaven we dance before Your throne

“Indescribable”

On June 14, 2007, Tomlin's recording of the song "Indescribable" was used as the official wake-up call for Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester on Space Shuttle mission STS-117. What an incredible

This song is all about how great our God is. The artist of this song is Chris Tomlin and originally written by Laura Story. Laura Story holds the CCLI copyright of this song.

Like the twists and turns of a mountain road, Laura Story’s life has held its share of unexpected moments – some exhilarating, some terrifying, and some simply beautiful to behold. Leaning solely on her faith in the sovereignty of God, Story has learned that no matter what comes around the next bend it’s going to be an incredible view.

Once an aspiring symphony conductor, Story didn’t even know she could sing – much less write songs – until she was in her early twenties. Today, Story is not only a gifted vocalist and worship leader but also the composer of one of the most beloved worship songs of our generation – “Indescribable”. The song has topped the charts and been recorded by multiple artists.

Click here to worship along with Chris:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTvr755V8s

Click here for a moving DVD with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmTxZAl7ceU

“Remedy"
This song is by David Crowder. As you might guess from the title and the medical cross on the cover, Remedy focuses on God's constant presence as the answer to our hurts while challenging listeners to be the balm needed in the lives of others. Indeed, the Texas band's 2007club tour is part worship experience, part rallying cry to inspire change in local communities. At the same time, one could view this album as the band's personal healing in response to the tragic death of their friend and pastor Kyle Lake shortly after the release of A Collision.
Here is Davids' answer to what is worship? This is actually a really difficult question because language is such a fluid thing. A word like “worship” changes and evolves and provokes different meanings for different community sets. Over the last few decades, at least within Christian culture, the word has become synonymous with “music within a congregational context.” You say the word “worship” and a person immediately pictures in his head people singing in a room with lyrics projected on a screen. Words and the objects they signify are very difficult to separate. I’ll show you what I mean. Okay, in your head, say the word, “eight”—and try to not picture the number eight. It’s nearly impossible. So, once a word begins to signify something, it is hard to separate it from the thing it is signifying. For me, I tend to not trust moments of congregational singing as an indicator of where our true affections lie. It is a very simple thing to get caught up in the beauty of music and song erupting in a room full of people. So I rarely trust that moment. I think a better indicator of worship may be the way we interact with the world around us.
Click here to watch the David Crowder band on tour:
www.youtube.com/profile?user=davidcrowderband

Click here to learn more about The David Crowder band:
www.davidcrowderband.com/

Click here to visit Davids' myspace:
www.myspace.com/davidcrowderband

Click here to worship along with a powerful video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3UWiJCZAz8

Click here for a live performance:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGIth9d_LXE&feature=related

Here we are Here we are The broken and used Mistreated, abused
Here we are Here You are Here You are
The beautiful one Who came like a Son Here You are
So we lift up our voices We open our hands
To cling to the love That we can’t comprehend

“Surrender”
Here is the story behind the song “Surrender” by Marc James in his own words.
As with a lot of songs, "Surrender" was written at a low point in my life, It was around Christmas time and, due to my past history I was having a miserable time, feeling very lonely and a bit of a failure. I wrote the verse chords and the first two lines and thought to myself, "hmm, that sound a bit like a Brian Adams song"! A month or so later I was invited to play guitar with a worship band called "100 Hours" in Hawaii for a week. My friend Tre, the singer, gave me some money and looked me in the eye and said "I believe in you, and I think that God will provide the rest of the flight money". This blew me away. I had been feeling really worn out from my job as a schools worker, and the time away was amazing. I felt really cared for and had an amazing time of coming close to God and surrendering myself to Him, and His will for my life. I wrote the song at the end of that time in Hawaii. So it started in a very desperate place and ended in a more hopeful place. I find the song quite a challenging one to sing; to choose to serve God and lay everything down is not always easy, and I know that a lot of the time I'm not really living in that, but I know that the song has helped me to come to that place, and I know that it has helped other people come to that place as well which is a cool thing. It is also something I could not have seen happening as I sat writing at my kitchen table feeling hopeless!!

Click here to visit Marc James’ myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=52418918
Click here to listen online:
www.imeem.com/people/QIFUo7/music/2aPHrm2t/marc_james_surrender/

Click here to worship along with Marc James:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6arR-K_5Q1c

Click here for another arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IORMvbM_x8