New Frontiers 2002

Live worship from Church of Christ the King, Brighton

Yes, you’re right, this is my home church, and yes, my voice is in there somewhere. The musicians are my personal friends and lead elder has invited me to his home for a meal on a number of occasions. And I work for the company who produces and sells this album.

But despite this predisposition and motive to be positive, I have some questions about the choice of songs, the timing of the sibilance and the size of the congregation.

Here’s the secret: this isn’t a reflection of the songs we’ve been worshipping along to for the past year or so; it’s new songs written for the album and taught to the congregation a couple of weeks before the recording, if we’re lucky. Perhaps that’s the way with these sorts of live worship productions; but like In Christ Alone, the songs aren’t sufficiently part of our worship vocabulary for the congregation to sing them with much confidence or, in my opinion, anointing.

If someone selects a song such as When I was lost (on ICA), we now belt it out with spiritual gusto as well as getting into the groove. The recording doesn’t reflect what we now do with the number.

In the same way, the songs of this album sound, in the main, tentative and hopeful, rather than familiar and well-loved. If that matters to you, then please consider the issues. On the other hand, if you’d like to learn some good new songs, then join the congregation on this album.