Behind the Praise - Sunday November 22, 2009

"O Magnify the Lord"

(Regi Stone/Michael Popham)

Click here to learn more about Regi:
www.registone.com/

Michael Popham, who has published and sold 1,000,000 units during his 26-year Christian music ministry. His songs such as "Here in This House" have been recorded by Christian music artists and choirs, including Christ Church Choir, Vicky Yohe, and the Talley Trio. His praise and worship songs, including "At Your Feet" and "God Is My Refuge and Strength," have reached #1 spots on CCLI's recorded charts and been sung by churches all around the world. Popham is one of the worship leaders at Holy Trinity Community Church in Nashville.

O magnify the Lord with me,
Let us exalt His name forever,
O magnify the Lord with
Me let us sing praises unto His name.
For the Lord is good let the earth sing out,
His mercies endure forever,
With a joyful song and a mighty shout
Proclaim His name forever

"You are Good"

Nearly Disposed - Israels' Testimony

My mother became pregnant at the age of 17 in Waterloo, Iowa. You can imagine how this is shaping up. She was given the choice of a back-alley abortion or being disowned by her family. Thank God she chose the latter. Ultimately, she was disowned, abandoned by my biological father, and ended up in San Diego, California. Picture this. It was 1971 and my mother was 8 months pregnant, all alone, thousands of miles from home, and forced to enter reality unprepared. Pretty bleak. One day while walking down the street, a lady pulled up in her Volkswagen Bug, got out, and respectfully yet boldly, began to share the Gospel with her. Words of life and hope began to overtake the words of rejection and abandonment she had grown accustomed to. There on a street corner, she ended up on her knees and cried out to God-committing her life to Jesus Christ. The lady gave her a bible and that's how I got my name. My mother started reading at page one and well, you know-you have a bible, my name's on every page!
I'm often asked by skeptics or the stoic, why I'm as passionate about worshiping God as I am. The answer is simple for me. In this age of disposable relationships, I could have easily become a statistic and at best, a distant memory of a youthful mistake. Instead, a Sovereign God rescued my mother and me and gave us hope, a future, and a testimony of the providence of God. The very least I can do is enter into His gates with fresh thanksgiving, His courts with a passionate praise, and eventually bow before His throne in intimate worship. As far as leading worship goes (which is my passion and calling), I now realize that there have been demands put on me from every part of my experience since day one - culturally, emotionally, musically, and more. So things tend to sound cross-cultural, cross- denominational, and cross-generational. I like to call it, "The Sound of New Breed Worship." I tend to lead from an internal platform founded in Psalm 124:2, "If it had not been for the Lord who was on my side"....where in the world would I be? In an age of disposable relationships, maybe we should be asking ourselves that question a lot more often. I am confident that we would worship with far more conviction, intensity, and overwhelmed gratitude if we did. It is my delight to encourage you today.
Israel

Israel leads a worship band called "New Breed" here's their website, you can listen to portions of the songs they sing including "You are Good" www.newbreedmusic.com/

Click here to learn more about Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Houghton

Click here to worship along with Israel:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAGZ8HmiWCM

Click here to see Israel singing "You are Good" in concert:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCpy1Bg255A&feature=related

"Every Where that I Go"

Click here to hear about the story behind the song: www.youtube.com/watchv=5TI9yRDbdZE

Click here to learn more about Israel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Houghton

Click here to worship along with the Lakewood Church: www.youtube.com/watchv=d0W0oCGcu8k&feature=related Click

Click here to listen online: www.imeem.com/pickurnose/music/fEmluTVP/everywhere_that_i_go/

"Thank you Lord"

This song of thanksgiving was written by Paul Baloche & Don Moen.

We are commanded to give thanks:Psalm 136:4-9 -

Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to him who placed the earth on the water. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights -- His faithful love endures forever. The sun to rule the day, His faithful love endures forever and the moon and stars to rule the night. His faithful love endures forever

Click here to learn more about Don Moen www.jjonline.com/biographies/donMoen.php

Click here to learn more about Paul Baloches' testimony www.christianmusic.com/paulbaloche/bio.html

Click here to worship along with Don Moen www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZwl_VJJ3xM

“Step By Step”

David Strasser wrote this popular worship song. David also writes under the pseudonym Beaker. David is a christian songwriter and musician well-known for his collaborations with artist Rich Mullins. He received his nickname as a young man, when friends said he looked like Beaker the Muppet.
When Beaker was in the seventh grade, his youth pastor introduced him to his friend Rich Mullins, and the two soon became collaborators. Beaker co-wrote, performed, and toured with Rich Mullins for several years. The first song they wrote together was "Boy Like Me, Man Like You", a 1991 hit for Mullins. Beaker is also responsible for writing the modern praise chorus "Step By Step" ("Oh God, you are my God, and I will ever praise you..."). He was also instrumental in co-founding the Kid Brothers of St. Frank with Rich Mullins, and well as co-writing a musical about Saint Francis of Assisi entitled “Canticle of the Plains”.
In the mid-90s, Beaker dropped out of the spotlight to focus on family life. He and his wife Julie had a son named Aidan, for whom Rich Mullins penned his hit song "Let Mercy Lead".

Click here to worship along with Rich Mullins: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6INI7LteJZg

Click here to worship along with Rich Mullins & Bebo Norman: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ugTc4bJ-o&feature=related

"HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD"

This worship song was written by Chris Tomlin. Chris said he almost apologized to the Lord for writing such a simple song, but felt that the English language could only go so far in describing the greatness of our God. After writing the song he felt in his spirit that he had written a song that would be embraced by the church around the world.
Chris received his first guitar from his father, Connie, at the age of eleven after contracting a case of mono. Then, Tomlin wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. He entered college planning to study medicine, but he stated that he felt God's calling to something else and did not pursue that career.In the mid-1990's Tomlin spent time leading worship at the Dawson McAllister Youth Conferences, as well as at various camps around the state of Texas.Following college, at Texas A&M University Tomlin continued to play and write songs, and in 1997, Louie Giglio asked if he would be interested in working with the Passion Conferences. Tomlin agreed, and he has played a key role ever since. His first nationally released solo project, entitled The Noise We Make, was released in 2001, which saw the emergence of songs "Forever" (his most famous song other than "How Great Is Our God"), "Be Glorified", and "Kindness", all of which made the top 200 in the CCLI 2005 top 500 worship songs.
According to Christian Copyright Licensing International's list of the top 25 worship songs in the United States as of August 2007, Tomlin held 5 spots with songs he has either written or co-written with other songwriters: "How Great Is Our God" (#1), "Forever" (#5), "Holy Is the Lord" (#7), "We Fall Down" (#12),and "Indescribable" (#22).
Click here to listen to the story behind the song:www.theheartofworship.org/stories/Story-302-HowGreatisOurGod-Tomlin.mp3
Click here to listen to Chris share about how the song came about on newsong café: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpfKli_4LQ0&mode=related&search=

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

Click here to learn more about Chris’ ministry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tomlin#Biography

Click here to visit Chris’ website:
www.christomlin.com

Click here to visit Chris’ myspace:
www.myspace.com/christomlin

"Always Forever"

Offertory Sunday will be "Always Forever" sung by Tetelestai. This song was written by Martha Munizzi. In an interview about the album "Change the World" that produced this song, she writes:"This record has songs that we wrote and songs that were brought to me. We went back to the beginning. Songs talk about how we’re created for a purpose, to be loved by God, to love and be loved. When we walk in that understanding, it releases us to love other people. When we’re working so hard, thinking we have to earn His love, then it’s hard to love others.When we receive His love for ourselves, then we can open our hearts and see people the way God see’s them, on another level and another plateau. That’s how the world is transformed by God’s love and not by our religion or our ideas but by our kinship with God, and that’s how we change the world."

For the full interview, click here: http://blackgospel.com/martha-munizzi-interview-2008/

To listen to this song on Youtube, click here: www.youtube.com/watchv=OzdZT3LRinQ&feature=PlayList&p=05093B054F498DC8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=61