New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO, is known for originating some of the biggest anthems being sung in the U.S. church, with songs like "Overcome", "Great I Am", "I Am Free", "Your Name", "My Savior Lives", and many many more.
New Life Worship continues their 20+ year legacy by bringing you their brand new 10 song live worship experience - Strong God. In this new project, Worship Pastor's Brad Parsley and Jon Egan (Desperation Band) set out to raise up the next generation of New LIfe songwriters/worship leaders, while collaborating with well-seasoned writer's like Michael Farren, Jason Ingram, and Meredith Andrews.
This resulted in Strong God - a heart-stirring live worship experience with fresh voices and Christ-centered songs that encourage the body of Christ to stand up and proclaim that God alone is strong!
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Declarations of New Life| Posted August 28, 2013 New Life Church is an artistically prolific megachurch sitting at the foot of the towering Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, serving as origin and home to Desperation Band, the Desperation Conference, and a nationally touring Passion play. Their most recent endeavor is the live album Strong God from the New Life Worship team, making the church’s Sunday morning experience available weeklong and worldwide.
The album begins with a few selections with a massive, sweeping musical sound and a heart of declaration. "Jesus Reigns" immediately sets the tone of a corporate worship environment, from the strong presence of many voices in unison supporting the swell of the lead vocals to the emphasis on "we" language in its lyrics.
This lofty, joyful sound builds through "All to Him" into "Victorious God," which is perhaps the most upbeat cut from this collection. "Strong God" takes the energy levels down a notch, focusing on God’s strength as He stands as our Father and Defender. "More Than Enough" is another track that takes a more restrained approach, closer to the indie stylings of All Sons & Daughters than the arena-ready style of Hillsong Live. These quieter moments serve as space for reflection and stillness, fostering an awareness of our great need for a great God.
After the reprise for "More Than Enough," "Ascribe" takes a bit of a different direction again with a strong emphasis on acoustic guitar and violin, building an atmosphere reminiscent of a tender love song as lyrics call listeners to "ascribe unto the Lord the glory due His name / ascribe unto the Lord the honor and the praise." "Unassailable" takes the form of declaration again, focusing on the character and glory of God.
The chill "Who Compares" sets the mood nicely for "Love Divine," which is easily the strongest song from the album. The instrumentation takes a backseat here, simply building a gentle atmosphere for the earnest lyrics "From the dawn of time before the world began, You were the Savior / sent to live a life inside our brokenness."
"Alive and Free" ends the collection on a note of unrestrained joy with lyrics of celebration and music that could easily inspire dancing. It echoes and completes the tone of the first few songs and ties the album together nicely.
Closing Thoughts: This worship project features the gifts of many different leaders throughout (including Desperate Band leader Jon Egan and worship songwriter Cory Asbury), which serves to avoid the trap of focusing too much on any one leader or voice. Although there is not much fresh material brought to the musical table here, the album is best understood for what it is: an effort to capture congregational worship in album form. The songs are primarily confident corporate declarations of the character of God. These statements are made more even meaningful given that they come from a city that has suffered two years of devastating loss from fires and floods. This is worth the listen for anyone looking to be drawn into songs universally affirming the unshakeable nature of God.
Song to Download Now: "Love Divine" (Get it on iTunes here.)
Strong God| Posted October 14, 2013 New Life Worship is one of my favorite worship movements, and I am so happy and excited to review this newly released albumStrong God.They have become a big part of my journey as a lead worshipper and as a Christian. Our church used to sing their worship anthems includingHere in Your Presence, Counting on Godand their trademarkI Am Freewhich has been our local church’s favorite.
In our present time, it’s undeniable that the world is rapidly changing. There’s crime, violence, trafficking, corruption, and it seems that they’re getting worse every day. When you open the television—there’s bad news, surf the internet—it’s bad news, the radio—still bad news. Then you open the Bible, and there’s good news! In the Book of Psalm chapter 68 verse five to six, David declares: “A Father to the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” There’s a hope and strength in our God; and He is telling us right now; “The world may get insane but I, the Lord your God is your refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, for my strength is made perfect for your weaknesses!”This is what clearly captured by the New Life Worship Team in their latest 12-cut album (10 tracks, two reprises) recorded LIVE at New Life Church in Colorado. Its purpose is to bring healing, comfort and restoration to those that suffered loss from the most destructive fire in Colorado’s History.
Unlike their previous albums, this is a collaboration of well-seasoned leaders and writers including Michael Farren, Jason Ingram, Cory Asbury, Meredith Andrews and Mia Fieldes, together with NLC’s very own worship pastors Brad Parsley and Jon Egan of Desperation Band. Jon opens the album with Jesus Reigns in an echoing sound of guitar. With its simple and easy to follow lyrics and arrangement, it’s awesome to hear various voices in proclaiming the Name that’s above all names! Another Jon Egan-led song is the title track Strong God, the ultimate worship song in the album. Jon passionately delivered every inch of the song with high conviction.
With their rich and diverse musical quality and instrumentation, Victorious God and Alive &Free stand out in energy and enthusiasm. Both led by Brad Parsley, he really has the same voice timbre with his brother Ross. I love the message of these worship anthems; rejoicing in the victory God has won and living out the freedom brought by our Victorious God.
Another song that stands out is Cory Asbury’s All To Him, its instrumentation is familiar with me; partly parallel to Citipointe Live and partly with Worship Central. People’s participation is highly manifested and its plonking piano adds an excitement throughout the song. Ascribe is another Cory-led, before listening to it, I am expecting to hear Cory’s 2009 song with the same title, and then suddenly I’m wrong. It’s a new anthem penned by Him. This folky, acoustic based song is perfectly captured in a solemn atmosphere. In a stunning worship duet, Abby Merkel and Nico Perez deliveredMore Than Enough. Inch by inch, the song increase on its intensity, then in silence they passionately sang the reprise.Jon Egan is here again with Unassailable,a Hillsong-like song but special on its own way. The reprise is very heart-pounding where Jon boldly proclaimed the Lordship of Jesus Christ and He encouraged the crowd to worship: “To the One who gave His life... to the One who gave it all, to the Unassailable, You cannot be defeated...” More worshipful moment come with Brad Parsley’s Who Compares. Nothing is greater than hearing people singing-out God’s praise in a nice orchestration. Another worship duet is Rachael Kiehne & Jonathan Moos’ very intimate Love Divine. It started very solemn then at the middle point it shifted to a spirit-moving grand instrumental part that will surely carry you along.
Strong God is another great and anointed album and I could see that many lives will be touched by the songs captured in this record, and I pray that people would see how great God is, that in Him we can find strength, hope and courage as we walk in this life with Him.
ABOUT NEW LIFE WORSHIP
One of the most important things we do at New Life Church is to come together every week and experience the power of God's presence. People from different backgrounds and generations join as one to engage in worship as a family. It is there that we are refreshed and realigned. From the place of corporate worship, we go into our homes, schools, and workplaces as carriers of the joy, hope, and life found in presence of God.
That's what worship is all about. And that’s why the heartbeat of New Life Worship is to help people experience the presence of God and develop a life of worship. Every CD, every resource, every facet of our ministry is designed with that end in mind. So, as you browse this site, keep your heart open. God is near and He wants to engage you in an all-consuming, life-long conversation called worship.
Integrity Music is a division of David C Cook, a leading nonprofit global resource provider serving the Church with life-transforming materials. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Integrity’s resources are distributed in more than 160 countries and sold worldwide. Originally founded as a direct-to-consumer music club in 1987, Integrity grew into one of Christian music’s biggest success stories and in the process helped ignite the widespread popularity of contemporary praise and worship music. Integrity Music’s roster includes: Lincoln Brewster, Paul Baloche, Rend Collective Experiment, All Sons & Daughters, Brothers McClurg, Daniel Bashta, Gateway Worship, New Life Worship, Christine D’Clario, ALM:uk, Planetshakers, Worship Central, Brian Doerksen and GRAMMY Award winners the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and Israel Houghton. See more at: http://integritymusic.com/
Disclosure: I received free review copy of the album in exchange of my honest review and opinion. Special thanks to Ms.S.Walker
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