"Hello Love" Revisited

About ten months ago (wow...doesn't seem that long) I wrote My Review of Chris Tomlin's "Hello Love"...I thought I'd revisit the review and tell you how we're using this album in worship at NHC now...

As I mentioned before, although I wasn't crazy about "I Will Rise" to begin with, it has definitely grown on me. I've also noticed that many who have purchased this album have identified this song as their favorite from this album, and I can understand why it is connecting with so many people...there are very few things about our faith that people connect with more than Christ's victory over the grave. I almost used this song a few months ago, but decided to go with another song of a similar theme. There's still a strong possibility that we may use "I Will Rise" as well as "Praise The Father, Praise The Son" at some point...the only thing I don't like about "Praise The Father..." is that it never mentions specifically what "the name above all other names" is...

Although we stick close to the live Passion version, "God Of This City" has become one of our church's favorite anthems. And, considering that we're a church that spends a lot of time focusing on vision and reaching our community for God, the lyrics make this a song that we could use nearly every week if we wanted to. Our band has taken a few liberties with the arrangement, while keeping the basic structure of the song the same. If your church has a passion for reaching her community, this is a song you need to be using in worship!

"Exalted" is another song that has become a favorite at our church. It doesn't hurt that our church is currently going through a series focused on the life of Moses, whose God is known as "Yahweh". I felt that this song would sound much sweeter for us if the lead vocal were female, s we moved the key up about 4 full steps so that our two alto vocalists could sing lead, and it definitely sounds great. Our worship choir learned this one as well and it really rocks.

One of the first songs we learned off of this album is "You Lifted Me Out". We had some trouble at first finding the right key so that people in the congregation could sing along comfortably, but finally settled on the key of A with a guy singing lead. The theme of this song is hitting home with a lot of our folks who have either come out of or are going through some rough times right now. Plus, it's a lot of fun to play.

The latest song that we literally just started using about 3 weeks ago is "My Deliverer". We probably wouldn't have given this song a second glance (I didn't even mention it in my review), but it fit so perfectly with the story of the Exodus and the Red Sea that we had to use it...and, it went over so well (it's a super easy song to learn) that we're adding it to our repertoire. Plus, the band loves to play the simple and groovy intro/outro...our percussion section especially has a fun time. Our worship choir learned the chorus and bridge (singing in unison) in about ten minutes, and totally rocked it a few Sundays ago.

How about you...is your church using any songs from this album? Tell us about it!

Nate