With Easter approaching, I’m reminded of a song that has always been a favorite of mine. Here I Am to Worship. I can’t even imagine what it was like for Jesus to make that great sacrifice just for our sins. We can hear all the words spoken of what Jesus endured when being beaten, when carrying the cross, when being nailed to the cross, when being raised up on that cross. We will never know how much it cost Him because we will never have to endure that kind of pain. What an awesome sacrifice all for us to be saved from our sins. This song always makes me stop and think. All I can say is; Thank you Jesus. You are awesome! I’m not worthy of your great sacrifice. I’m a sinner ashamed for all that I have done. Especially knowing what you endured all for us to go on and do what we do and then be forgiven. That is forgiven for those sins we repent of and do everything in our power to never repeat them again. I will do everything humanly possible to live a righteous life Jesus. It’s the least I can do for what you have done. I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sins upon that cross. I do know when laying those sins at the cross, I bawled like a baby. You done something to me that day I will never forget. Thank you Jesus. Thank you. I can never say it enough. I love you dearly with all my heart.

Siden det er søndag, tenkte jeg at jeg også ville skrive om noe “oppbyggelig”, nemlig om Michael W. Smith. Tidligere i dag fant jeg en veldig bra sang av ham på youtube, nemlig Here I am to worship. Denne sangen synes jeg sier mye om kristendommen på en enkel og grei måte, samtidig som den er dyp. Den krever også av tilhøreren (synes jeg), at du tar stilling til hva Jesus gjorde på korset for deg, nemlig tok på seg din synd slik at du kunne være fri til å følge Ham.

Hvis du følger denne linken her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP04GjifMPk , så kommer du til sangen.

Rebekka

I’ll always love You

by Tim Hughes

To the One above
Who has touched this thirsty soul

And now I’ll never be the same

I’ll always love You
I’ll always sing to You, Jesus
I long to worship You in Spirit and in truth

Everyday I’ll come
Spend my life with You
Learning of Your heart
And what You’re calling me to do

My every breathe belongs to You

And with this song
We’ll lift the name of Jesus higher
And with a shout
We’ll raise up one voice

By Amy Sondova With vocals that are smooth as silk, Anthony Evans continues to redefine his identity as an artist with his latest album The Bridge, which includes the beautiful acoustic melody “Meaningless,” covers of worship songs “Here I Am To Worship” and “Blessed Be Your Name,” and the original song, “The Way You Love Me.” Son of author/speaker/pastor Dr. Tony Evans, Anthony Evans has been heralded by everyone from MercyMe’s Bart Millard to Kirk Franklin. Anthony kindly took some time out of his busy schedule to “Take 5” with Backseat Writer.

Let’s tackle that elephant in the room straight on—what’s it like being the son of someone as famous and influential as Dr. Tony Evans?
More that being what he is to the masses, he is dad to me. He is a dad that has stood by what he believes in and has given me a great example to follow. Everything else, the buildings, the programs, the books…..I admire that about him, but it is how he lives that makes me stand confident in what I am called to do. The rest is just icing on the cake.

The Bridge, your third album, is defined as a worship album—why did you decide to do a worship album now?
I was going through a lot of heart ache in my life at the time, and in writing a new record I was having problems penning new songs. I would sit down to write and the only thing that would come out was “God….why??.” THE END. There was a pivotal moment when I realized that I was at the end of my reasoning and my own efforts. It was at that moment where I realized that it wasn’t my job to figure God out, but to worship him as he worked out what He was already figured out.

Your acoustic song, “Meaningless,” is my favorite song on the album and it seems like a play on Ecclesiastes. What’s the story behind this song’s creation?
Early in my career I was looking for affirmation from the industry. i thought that if they liked my music, that meant that I was succeeding. I soon realized that if pleasing the industry was my goal, then I would be setting myself up for failure. Number one songs and hit records are great, but if that is all I was about, sooner or later I would be disappointed because there would come a day where all that would end. I ultimately had to define success with feeling that I was doing what I was called to do, and that being accompanied by a piece. That became my definition of success. “Meaningless” came at a time in my life when I was figuring all this out. I just happened to capture it in my journal.

What is one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about you as a singer?
We are very quick to categorize or classify each other. I’m often pigeon holed into one genre or another depending on who is making the call. Truth is, my music is a product of my history and experience, which spans a wide variety of genres and styles. There is a misconception that I am trying to please all people by covering a wide variety of tastes stylistically, but that is just a part of who I am. My career has led me from the Southern Baptist Convention, all the way to the Stellar awards. I enjoy and learn from both, so what you hear is who I am.

Besides singing, what are some of your other unique, and possibly quirky talents?
Believe it or not, If I am not singing you can find me at the barn. I have a couple of horses and enjoy giving informal lessons and trail riding with friends.

Print copy of Take 5.

Over the last several weeks, our church has been hosting our Sunday meetings at the house of one of our members. This is a family of nine, so the property naturally accommodates our small congregation.

We sang a song last night that I’ve sung at least 750 times since it was released. It’s called ‘Here I Am to Worship’, and it is an oldie.

Anything that I used to sing when I was in 8th grade is officially an oldie in my books.

Anyways, I was still feeling very sick and tired from a sinus infection while we were singing the song, so instead of attempting to get anywhere close to hitting the notes, I just sat and listened to the words.

I like to do this sometimes even when I’m well. It’s good not to always be concentrating on how good or bad my voice sounds or how well the band is playing. Plus, when I can really get a grasp of what I am are singing, I think my praise has the potential to be a lot more truthful.

The bridge of this song says this:

I’ll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross

I started to meditate on this idea.

Are we really never going to understand?

What about when Jesus returns and we begin our eternity in Heaven at the Lord’s feet?

Wouldn’t having the supernatural ability to fully understand God’s great act of love on the cross make our praises to him that much greater and a whole lot louder?

Then again, this song was written by a man in 2001. It’s not scripture. Maybe his lyrics are wrong and we will actually fully understand the love of God when we enter the gates of Heaven.

But then I thought on it a little further. Maybe this reveals a little more about the system that God created for the relationship between us and Him.

Maybe it is in God’s plan for us to always have things that we don’t understand about Him, and that is what will keep His power and knowledge so great for all eternity.

I don’t think it is important for us to have these answers right now; however, I do believe that by thinking on these types of questions, we can catch a glimpse of God’s true character. I believe that He rewards us in many different ways when we seek to understand Him and His Kingdom better.

I’ll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross

Personally, I hope we get to know eventually. I’m sick and tired of forgetting the power of Jesus’ death on the cross and acting like its just a story.

Sick and tired.

This is Jeremy Manongdo also known as “Passion” in the music industry from San Fransisco, CA. I was introduced to his music a couple of years ago by my sister Sarah. Much of his music has a lot of the R&B flavor that I grew up listening to back in the day. He’s got an incredible voice and is extremely talented. To check out his myspace page click here. You can also check out his youtube page by clicking here.

I am encouraged to see other young filipino brothers proclaiming the name of Christ so openly. Maybe it’s where I live but this is rare where I am from.

This is Jeremy leading worship.

This is Jeremy playing at the Urban Soul Cafe show at B.B. King’s Blues Club in downtown Nashville singing Here I am to Worship.

Ah the dreaded Blue Screen of Death! That’s right. We’re at roughly 8 minutes until the first service is about to start. That’s only 3 minutes until the prelude is to begin with our video countdown when all of a sudden our Welcome logo that’s up on the screen and TVs up fronts flashes to a giant Blue Screen of Death! Honestly, the first thing that the worship team and I did was laugh about this and begin a festive discussion about Windows. Then it occurred to me that I should try to be of some assistance! There was really nothing to do but reboot. The actual culprit was the DVD player. For some reason it decided it didn’t want to run DVDs that morning and so our tech tried burning a new DVD right quick to see if that would provide a solution and in the middle of the burn the computer froze up and went AWOL.

Everything powered up pretty much just in time and the MediaShout script was saved so no real damage was done other than start off a morning quite eerily on the day that our Pastor preached from Luke 4 and discussed Spiritual Warfare and the existence of demons and angels! So, mental note, don’t forget to pray over the technology when preparing for worship! HAHA.

The songs yesterday were:

1. O Worship the King – G
2. Here I am to Worship – E
3. Beautiful One – G
4. Raise up the Crown (All Hail) – E
5. A Mighty Fortress is Our God – C

This was my 1st time back leading worship since Easter and it felt great! I wish I’d videoed it for you. I pulled double duty and played the Korg Triton and Guitar for O Worship the King AT THE SAME TIME and then led A Mighty Fortress on the Korg at the end as well. I was quite the multi-tasker!

Since we have had 3 other people leading worship in my absence and 2 of them were candidates for the Worship Leader position I wanted to set up from the very get go that we were here to worship and not compare me to the the people who’d led up front over the past few weeks. An insurmountable task I know because that’s just what we instinctively do, however, the first 3 songs were very important to me to put forth that message and theme. It’s also why I tried to mix things up a bit. We did a few hymns. 2 with a little revamp and choruses added, 1 very traditional, 2 tried and true worship tunes, 1 rockin’ and 1 reverent. I think this will probably be something I’ll hold on to very tightly until our new leader is chosen and gets here.

The big to do was A Mighty Fortress. Garnett wanted to close with it and try as I might I could not come up with a way that I was satisfied with playing it on the guitar. So beginning on Friday I began learning it on the keys. I found a HUGE pipe organ sound and banged that sucker out. My 7th grade piano teacher would have been proud. Especially since I haven’t really played the piano since high school and that was with my simple 2 years of lessons. The downside was that I couldn’t play AND sing it at the same time. Fortunately, I had 2 back up singers and I was belting out the melody line on the Korg.
Ironically, despite all the positive feedback I received on Sunday, our Worship Planning team didn’t like it!
HA. It’s ironic because they’re the ones who like the traditional versions and styles more than me and I was very pleased

to worship…

It is Holy Week and if I don’t post another thing this week, I think this will sum up where I am, where I am trying to be and how I feel. Never has a song created by any man or woman moved me to the depths of my being. So I share it with you. The imagery is intense so look away if you are sensitive but keep your ears open.

Have a Blessed Holy Week.

MARK AND DARLENE ZSHECH IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA