Uniting tens of thousands of university students in an effort to make God’s fame known in the campuses and churches of the nation, the Passion movement continues to gain momentum.
According to Passion founder and leader, Louie Giglio, “At the heart of it all, Passion exists to see a generation stake their lives on what matters most. For us, that is the fame of the One who rescues and restores, and our opportunity to amplify His name in everything we do. Having just returned from a six-continent, seventeen-city World Tour, we are convinced more than ever that God is raising up a generation all around the globe that is passionate about making their lives count for His fame. From London to Jakarta, Tokyo to Johannesburg, Sao Paula to Sydney we have seen their faces and had the privilege of saying with them, “Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done.” That’s true globally, and in the cities and campuses of our nation, and why we are so excited about Passion Twenty Ten.
More than simply an event, Passion Twenty Ten is another step in a journey that is all about finding true meaning as we take our places in a story that is so much bigger than ourselves. It’s about trading in small dreams for a role in a grand epic that is shaping history and has no end. And it’s a rare chance for tens of thousands of university-aged young people to gather from across the US and around the world to celebrate their common faith and purpose.”
Sixstepsrecords presents Passion’s latest disc, highlighting some of the best moments of Passion 2010 in Atlanta, GA with over 23,000 university students. The album will feature new music from Chris Tomlin, David Crowder*Band, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill and more.
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01.
Awakening - Chris Tomlin
02.
Say, Say - Kristian Stanfill
03.
Our God - Chris Tomlin
04.
How He Loves - The David Crowder*Band
05.
Healing Is In Your Hands - Christy Nockels
06.
King Of Heaven (Isaiah 61) - Charlie Hall
07.
You Alone Can Rescue - Matt Redman
08.
Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is - Chris Tomlin & Christy Nockels
Passion [Awakening]| Posted March 13, 2010 [MAIN REVIEW]
Passion: Awakening was recorded live in Atlanta this past January with more than 22,000 college-age students in attendance. I eagerly wait for each new Passion worship collection, From the beginning Passion268 has been rooted in the confession of Isaiah 26:8: “Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls.” As a result, Passion seeks to gather college and university students across the nation and around the world to seek the face of God, asking Him to ignite in our souls a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ and a desire to spread His fame to everyone on earth. Louie Giglio says “We believe God is calling out a generation of college students committed to the glory of His name in all things. God longs to bring awakening to every campus, mobilizing the students of today to finish the task of global evangelization in this generation. God is calling us out for this purpose, in this moment, for His renown.”
I’ve been collecting every Passion worship collection since the inception in 1998. The conferences have developed and introduced worship leaders David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Charlie Hall, and most recently Kristian Stanfill and Steve Fee. My favorite Chris Tomlin songs have generally been the new live recordings found on the Passion worship collections, going back to “We Fall Down,” “Enough,” “How Great Is Our God” and “God Of This City.” This collection starts with the great new Chris Tomlin worship anthem “Awakening,” which I hope will soon be a song I’ll be singing with fellow believers, along with the 2 other new Chris Tomlin songs “Our God” and “Chosen Generation.” “Awakening” has a great worshipful chorus which ends with “Let Your will be done in me,” which is the cry of my heart as well. There are 8 new songs on this 12 song collection. The new songs “Say, Say” by Kristian Stanfill, “King of Heaven” by Charlie Hall and “Where The Spirit of the Lord Is” by Christy Nockels and Chris Tomlin are all upbeat, catchy and worshipful.
The standout songs for me are back to back starting with my favorite song of last year, “How He Loves” as recorded by David Crowder*Band. The energy and power of this song are amazing as a studio version, but the song was truly meant to be experienced live and loud, make sure you turn up the volume when you listen to “How He Loves” and you’ll be drained as you sing along with this amazing song. The new Christy Nockels song “Healing Is In Your Hands” gives me chills. I could hardly imagine Christy could out-sing herself after “Hosanna,” but don't miss this amazing new song. You'll be mesmerized by the power and beauty of the lyrics and Christy's incredible vocals.
The collection also includes great live versions of “You Alone Can Rescue” by Matt Redman and “Rise and Sing” by Fee which are wonderful new worship songs from albums released by those artists last year. David Crowder*Band adds another new recording with “Like A Lion” and I was thrilled to hear Hillsong United’s “With Everything” as the closing song, which is a great way to cap off this stellar album.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
These are some of the best new original worship songs of the past few years. If you want to experience a worship "awakening," then you can't go wrong with the biggest names in the business. Tomlin, Stanfill, Crowder, Nockels, Hall, Redman, Fee and Hillsong United are all in top form on this excellent Passion: Awakening album, easily the best in this great series.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10 (95%, A)
Review written by: Kevin Davis | Review can also be found here.
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from ChristianMusicReview.org. Click here to visit ChristianMusicReview.org today!
NEW INVITEES ONLY STRENGTHEN PASSION'S LATEST| Posted March 23, 2010
Passion 2010 brought over 20,000 young adults together to worship, serve, discuss and learn about the need for a generation to rise up and pursue God's call to bring the kingdom here on Earth. It's a popular refrain found within the songs on Passion: Awakening, and it's one that rings well with the rest of us who depend on the disc to deliver the goods.
More guests of honor were invited to this most recent Passion worship gathering around New Year's Day in Atlanta, Georgia. Alongside Passion staples such as David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall and Christy Nockels, the uber-popular Hillsong United also joined in the proceedings as well as worship rock act FEE. The new inclusions were good enough, but the center stage still belongs to the familiar faces.
Chris Tomlin's title track sets the tone early for this disc and maintains its place as the album highlight through the rest. The song is simply a stunning anthem that slowly develops from plaintive piano to an epic build of guitars and drums while the crowd sings at full volume. The lyrical refrain of "For you and you alone/Awake my soul and sing/For the world you love/Your will be done in me" will most likely be sung in churches nationwide by the end of 2010.
With eight new songs and other favorites such as "How He Loves" from DCB, Passion: Awakening adds another impressive offering to a catalog that already leads the worship music pack. -Matt Conner
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
Music Review: Awakening| Posted March 23, 2010
By Brian Hall
GENRE: MODERN WORSHIP
LABEL: SIXSTEPRECORDS
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 9, 2010
RATING: 5 OUT OF 5
If you are of college age, or had been in college at some point over the past 7-10 years, then there is a really good chance you have heard of the Passion movement. Maybe you’ve been to one of their conferences, or listened to one of their albums, or seen Louie Giglio’s captivating DVD’s. If any of this sounds like something you have done, then chances are good that you know exactly what I am about to say about Passion’s newest record, Awakening. If you aren’t familiar with the Passion events then here’s a quick overview before I jump into the review: “Passion exists to see a generation stake their lives on what matters most. For us, that is the fame of the One who rescues and restores, and our opportunity to amplify His name in everything we do.”
Like previous Passion albums, this one has the “usual” line-up; Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, David Crowder*Band, Christy Nockels, Charlie Hall, FEE, and they add some fresh faces to the show with Kristian Stanfill and Hillsong United. Also as per usual the album features mostly new material, most notably from Tomlin who debuts a dazzling FOUR new songs on this album and DC*B who just keeps cranking them out with their mega-hit “How He Loves” and a newbie “Like a Lion”. Every artist delivers the goods here; from the criminally under-used Christy Nockels to Matt Redman. Hillsong United makes their Passion debut with a beautiful rendition of Hillsong’s With Everything, the passionate vocals, the rallying “bridge” and its rocking music is sure to be an instant hit with anyone, familiar or not with their music.
The album never fails to give us what we all want; fresh and powerful worship music that is sure to have you patting your steering wheel as your drive down the street or flat on your face in your prayer closet. Some true standouts are Tomlin’s Awakening and his duet with Nockels on Where The Spirit Of the Lord Is, Stanfill’s Say, Say further secures his place among the up-and-comers of modern worship, Crowder’s How He Loves takes on a whole new dynamic live, and United’s With Everything sends chills up my spine on every listen! FEE impresses with their song Rise and Sing even if I personally wished they had chosen Glory to God Forever instead. While I am sure some would challenge me, Awakening is possibly the best Passion album to date, and to miss this would be downright sinful.
Review copy provided courtesy of sixstepsrecords
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from The Christian Manifesto. Click here to visit TheChristianManifesto.com today!
Live Worship| Posted March 12, 2010
The selection of the artists is very, very good: Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, David Crowder Band, Christy Nockels, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, Fee, and Hillsong United (in order of appearence).
The music is amazing, and in many of them it is possible to hear the crowd singing along. What is amazing specially in live worship albums.
All songs say something deeply to our hearts, but my favorite is the 7th one: "You Alone Can Rescue" by Matt Redman
Great for personal listening, so-so for corporate worship| Posted October 26, 2010
Worth getting it? If you're buying this album for personal edification, get it. You will be encouraged. If you're a worship leader looking for congregational material, save money and just buy the few songs worth evaluating (see the song-by-song analysis below).
Songs I would most likely end up using in worship: "You Alone Can Rescue" (Redman), "Our God" (Tomlin).
Accessibility: As usual, their sung keys favor tenors and altos (singing in nearly the same vocal range), alienating the bass and soprano vocal range. But good worship leaders should have the musical ability to re-set these songs in accessible keys (and if they don't, they should think about getting some musical training or else choosing a different vocation...because they're not serving the church well when they lead these songs in the recorded keys). Once the songs are set in congregation-friendly keys, the majority of them are accessible and singable for most congregations.
Theological depth: Passion still cannot stand up to the great hymns of the faith, but the longer they're around the more their songs progress to being God-centered rather than human-centered, with a stronger gospel focus. There is still a lack of substantive reflection on one major part of the Christian experience--suffering. Where one of my friends had described the texts and styles coming from Hillsong United as "adolescent," I would comparatively describe this latest collection from Passion a bit more mature (20s, early 30s?) with some deeper songs that push the average upward. Whether they know it or not, the Passion folks still reflect a charismatic/Pentecostal theological perspective in the way they choose to express, experience, and request God's presence.
Musicality: As always, superb. I would characterize the style as modern, yet conservative, with a slight edge. They are not as experimental with rhythm, electric guitar work, synth sounds, and song structure as, say, Hillsong United, but they aren't remaining stuck in the same stylistic forms that they were using on the previous albums (I keep comparing them to Hillsong United, so it's worth pointing out that United actually made it on this album). Musically, Tomlin's "Our God" is enjoyable to me, especially for its bridge and musical interlude (see below). The album is well-produced and polished, as always, and they've included more of the congregational "sound" (background voices) than in previous albums. Probably because of the influence of Hillsong United, there are more congregational "whoa's" (I don't know what else to call them); they appear on several tracks. I personally like this (to me they serve the biblical function of "shout of praise") but I know that it seems to many in the church like pointless, rock-concert frivolity. Still, could congregational "whoa's" be the new version of call-and-response antiphonal singing? Ancient-future, baby!
For the full review, including a song-by-song analysis, go here: http://www.zachicks.com/blog/2010/3/15/review-of-passions-new-worship-album-awakening.html
Our God is Greater!| Posted October 18, 2010
Passion: Awakening is a collection of songs from Passion 2011. It features loud rockin songs like "Rise and Sing" by Fee and "Say, Say" by Kristian Stanfill. There are a few dynamic songs as well like "With Everything" by Hillsong United and "Our God" and "Awakening" by Chris Tomlin. Personally this is my favorite worship cd in my life so far. My favorite song is "Where the Spirit of the Lord is" by Chris Tomlin with Christy Nockels. This cd is full of great music but more importantly it is full of rich, worshipful lyrics that will be an awakening in your relationship with our great and awesome God!
2010 Worship Album of the Year| Posted May 01, 2010
If you are going to buy one worship album this year- buy this one now! The Passion team hit it out of the park on this CD. Chris Tomlin gets the CD started with a great opening and title track. Say Say is a great follow up song! David Crowder has two great songs on the album with How He Loves and Like a Lion! Like a Lion has the best chorus with "My Gods not dead, He is living on the inside roaring like a Lion!" Then Chris Tomlin follows that song with Chosen Generation which is a great song about all of us but especially the youth. Then Hillsong ends the CD perfectly!
This has been done| Posted April 22, 2010
I love all the artists that contribute to the Passion movement. but I must say that I was unimpressed by this collection of songs. While the songs and artists are good, it just has this worn out feel to it. It's getting old. I mean on "God of this City" The title track was powerful with the masses singing behind Tomlin- and it was a little known song at the time from a little known artist (Bluetree)- so Passion introduced it to the US- and it took off. But this cd really doesn't have one of those moments.
There are alot of songs that sound similar to other worship songs either in lyrics or chord structure- (example: Christy Nockels "healing is in your hands" sounds like an updated version of "Amazed" or "Grace Flows Down")
to add lyrics if not listed.
