Passion [Awakening]
Posted March 13, 2010
By christianmusicreview,
[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.
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