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“Let the Praises Ring”This powerful worship song was written by Lincoln Brewster. Brewster has been musically inclined since his early childhood in Homer, Alaska. At the age of one, his mother, Cheryl, noticed how well he could keep rhythm on a drum set his grandfather had given him. At the age of five, his mother introduced him to the mandolin. Quickly mastering the instrument, he began playing for cruise ship tourists alongside his mother in Homer, Alaska.
By the age of 12, Brewster had a band called Lincoln and the Missing Links, which included his mother on bass and vocals. In his late teens, he moved with his family to California where he joined the high school jazz band (playing guitar and drums) and marching band (playing snare drum).
Due to connections gained in Los Angeles, he had recording contract offers by 19. Feeling an emptiness in his life, Brewster attended church services with his high school sweetheart and Christian, Laura. He recalls feeling God drawing him close after attending a drama ministry performance with Laura. "I was afraid to lay down a lot of things in my life," Lincoln said. "One night, I laid all my cards on the table. I asked the Lord to come into my life, all by myself. It was the best night of sleep I'd ever had. I was very peaceful. I think that was what enabled me to blow off that record deal."
After receiving a call from Steve Perry inviting him to audition as lead guitarist for his next solo project, For the Love of Strange Medicine, Brewster accepted and began songwriting and rehearsals for the album. Brewster's guitar technique, tone, and equipment choices possessed similar qualities and texturing to Journey's Neal Schon, and was touted as a favorable feature in the resulting album. He also toured with Perry for six months from 1994 to early 1995.
At the end of the tour, Brewster and wife Laura moved to Modesto, California where they attended Calvary Temple Church. After working as a sound technician for the church for a while, the senior pastor offered Brewster the position of associate music director and youth worship leader.
In 1997, the Brewsters left California and moved to Nashville to serve as youth pastors and eventually as full-time music ministers at The Oasis Church. It was there that Brewster met with executives from Integrity Incorporated who were there to work on a new Hosanna! Music album. After seeing his talent on the guitar, one executive listened to a demo project Brewster had produced. Already impressed with the production work and artistry, the executive also learned that Brewster had played every instrument and performed all the vocals himself. In 2001, Lincoln moved back to California to become the worship pastor at Bayside Church in Sacramento.
Click here to visit Lincoln’s myspace:
www.myspace.com/lincolnbrewster
Click here to learn more about Lincoln:
www.lincolnbrewster.com/
Click here to visit Lincoln’s churches website:
www.baysideonline.com/
Click here to worship along with Lincoln Brewster:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIg6RIbLz1c
"Turn Your Eyes Upon the Cross"
Worship choir - Soloist Tami McLallen
"Today is the Day"
This song was written by Lincoln Brewster with Paul Baloche. Lincoln believes there is power when we sing God's word back to Him. Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." We are to live each day as if it's our last.
Click here to listen to Lincoln share how he wrote the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pved9U-P1g
Click here to listen online:
www.last.fm/music/Lincoln+Brewster/_/Today+Is+The+Day
Click here to worship along with Lincoln Brewster:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngHP6ppfRw4
"God You Reign"
Click here to listen to how the song was written:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TySkbs0RbWE
Click here to learn more about Lincoln Brewster:
www.lincolnbrewster.com/
Click here to worship along with Lincoln Brewster:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_RN3nZMSJE
Click here to purchase "God You Reign"
“Turn Your eyes Upon Jesus”
Words & Music: Helen H. Lemmel, 1922.
This hymn was first published in Glad Songs, by the British National Sunday School Union. Its lyrics were inspired by the Gospel tract Focused, by Lilias Trotter, which included these words:
So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face
and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness.
O soul, are you weary and troubled?No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,And life more abundant and free!
Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Click here to worship along with Michael W. Smith:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR0LiRiz4l4
Click here to sing along with Alan Jackson:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO4uIyz_d90&feature=related
"Open the Eyes of My Heart"
Dove Award winner Paul Baloche believes the best worship songs spring from the act of worship itself. Case in point: "Open the Eyes of My Heart," birthed during prayer time at Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, Texas, where he has served as worship pastor for more than 15 years.
Several years earlier Baloche heard a pastor pray, "Open the eyes of our hearts so that we can understand Your Word." The phrase stuck, inspiring Baloche to search the Scriptures—primarily Ephesians 1:18 and stories of biblical heroes who had seen the Lord in His glory.
Then one morning Baloche was lightly strumming his guitar as men and women came to the altar during a revival at his church. "The music had gone on for hours, and I had played everything I knew," he remembers. Aloud, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, we ask You to come and touch our hearts." At that moment "the phrase popped into my mind: 'Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord. We want to see You.'
"It felt right—a sincere prayer," he says. "I sang the phrase a few times and people started singing with me. I don't recall how the rest came about. I was just remembering when Isaiah saw the Lord, and thought, Lord, to see You high and lifted up. It's shining so bright, Lord. Shining in the light of Your glory."
Later that week, Baloche polished the idea into a simple prayer song. "I'd much rather stumble upon a song idea in the midst of worship or in the midst of prayer," he says, "because it rings more true than sitting in a room trying to come up with clever lyrics."
Baloche receives numerous e-mails from Christians sharing the impact the song has had in their lives. His voice cracks as he tells the story of a family that had gathered around the deathbed of a loved one who had asked them to sing "Open the Eyes of My Heart" together as his last prayer.
The song has been recorded many times and in many languages. According to Baloche, some of the most exciting moments on his recent world tour occurred in Sweden and Germany when he sang the song and the audience sang it back to him in their native language.
"It was beautiful," he says. "I feel extremely grateful to be part of a song that helps people connect with God."
Click here to listen to the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ3tn2nJrDo
Click here for another arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wutmEjdbedE
Offertory will be "Oh Buddha"
Click here to listen to the song:
www.rhapsody.com/the-imperials/the-imperials-classic-hits--id18896763
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