Charlie Hall Band Album Released

After listening to the free web-streaming of the album about five times last week, I bought the new Charlie Hall Band album, “The Rising.” It was just released on iTunes and in music stores today, so this album is fresh off the mp3/CD burner.

So what do I think about the album? Over the years, I’ve grown more and more impressed with CHB and their music. These guys are passionate about their faith in Christ, and their music reflects an authenticity and soulfulness the likes of which I’ve rarely heard.

As I was listening through my download for the first time last night, I found myself thinking about the members of this band. They have all been friends for years. They’ve experienced deep losses as well as amazing spiritual highs during their many years together, and that’s the really touching part. These guys have stuck together. Their music is not the central aspect of their lives. Their fellowship, their community, and their faith in Christ is the heart of who these guys are.

And what I believe happens when these guys get together to worship God is something truly beautiful, and one of their concerts or listening to an album is an invitation into an intimate encounter they are having with the Creator of the universe.

While I listened I noticed the way the various instruments and the singing worked together with one another to create a compelling group effort filled with mutual encouragement, mutual respect, and mutual desire to worship God wholeheartedly. I believe these guys have each grown as musicians, but even more they have grown in their ability to worship God together. I found myself thinking about this simple truth while I was listening to them. If I went to see them in concert (which I have had an opportunity to do a few times in the past), I don’t think it would matter hugely if there were five or five thousand people joining these guys. Their music is less about a performance for the crowd and more about an opportunity to worship together the risen Savor they love. It is truly a gift that they invite you and I to join in their wholehearted and raw praise of the God who is there.

If you are a Christian, then I think you will appreciate both the heartfelt expression of this new album’s new lyrics, and if you are not a Christian, I think that while you may disagree with the content of the lyrics, you will be impressed with the talent of the musicians who are playing so tightly together on this album.

And, if you can see these guys in concert, by all means GO!!!

Mixed Tears

This morning I awoke with an email from Doug Scott, the Communications Director of Nuru. He's been living in Kuria, Kenya for the last five months, and is responsible for all of the wonderful videos Nuru has produced in the last few months.

Doug had let me know that Episode 4 "Portraits of Kuria" just launched. I was moved to tears while watching the video, and have had a hard time stopping.

They are mixed tears. They are tears that start in deep tragedy. Tears that start in a world that doesn't have to be this way. Tears that flood when you realize how much difference there is in the way we live here, and the way others live in our world.

Like I said though, they are mixed tears. At the same time I was saddened and shocked by the reality I saw, I also had tears of joy. Tears that swelled into puddles as I realized this is NOT the way it has to be. Tears that covered my face and blurred my vision as I saw people empowered and given opportunity. Tears that flood when you realize that there is so much we have in common as humanity.

We want to feed our families. We want to make a difference with our lives. We want those we love to be cared for and healthy. We want to ensure that future generations have opportunities that we do not have, without the hardships that we do have.

Nuru is making a difference.visit the website It's not just in some high quality programs and innovative training.

LIVES are being changed.

I encourage you to today visit the website, and see more of the change that is being brought about.

Maybe your eyes will stream with mixed tears.

And maybe as you see more clearly, YOU can open the eyes of others to both the need, and the opportunity we've been given to make a LASTING difference in this world.

Life is short. For many, it is also harder than we can imagine--it doesn't have to be this way though.

PS My friend Kendall Combes from the Charlie Hall Band produced the soundtrack for this episode.

Charlie Hall Band

Yesterday, Charlie Hall came to Morgantown, and were our special guest worship leaders for the special event we've created to help folks know God and connect with each other in downtown Morgantown. We call the event 17three. They came, and I believe they really helped us to help others connect with the living God. They are a wonderful group of guys, and their desire is to help others connect with God and with others.

It wasn't the first time I've had the opportunity to interact with these guys. The first time was back in early 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland for a conference called Ignite. I picked them up at the airport, and brought them back to the conference. We spent much of the afternoon connecting about what God was doing in our lives, and sharing stories with one another. The really beautiful thing about it all was there was a genuine nature to everything they were saying and doing. I don't know about you, but sometimes I can get a bit skeptical and wonder if folks are really the way they portray themselves in music or on Sunday morning. Maybe it comes from the general sense of distrust we have in our culture.

These guys are the real deal though. Every time I see them, we seem to be able to have a space of time simply for catching up. We are able to share what God is doing in our lives, and beyond that, we are able to spend time encouraging each other in the truths of scripture. The music these guys produce comes from places of deep pain meeting with the rich love of God.

I want to recommend their latest album to you because it is great music, but even more because I know that this great music comes from the heart, and it is the band's musical expression of their great love for Jesus.

In the same vein, I want to encourage you to be genuine as well. As people encounter you, may they experience the life of someone who has been radically transformed by the great love of Jesus!