Hello Love!

Walking into a christian bookstore you can't miss Chris Tomlin's latest cd 'Hello Love'. The big letters of the word 'Love' draw your attention. Following his 2006 RIAA Gold-certified record, See the Morning, Tomlin's latest project communicates what he describes as the "need to introduce ourselves to love again." Produced by Ed Cash (Steven Curtis Chapman, Starfield, Bethany Dillon), Hello Love gives the Church a voice to worship their Creator.

'Sing, Sing, Sing' is one of the songs that can be described as a happy sing-a-long song. You can't sit still and just have to sing and jump along. Although the song will be live on stage better that on a n album 'Sing, Sing, Sing' is a good start for this new album.
When Tomlin was playing at a concert in Belfast, Nothern-Ireland he came across Bluetree's song 'God of this city'. The chorus particularly was strong 'You'r the God of this city, You're the God of this nation' and so he decided to introduce it at Passion conferences. A christian youth movement he's involved in. Since, this song has been igniting university students around the world to live for the name and renown of Jesus.

The title track 'Love' is sung with the Watoto Children's Choir, This timeless song about love. could be played on secular radiostation's too. The choir adds a cultural flavor too it, which makes the song even more stronger. "Love is the answer. Love will find a way. When we love one another, it's a brighter day."

'I will rise' is a beautiful victorious anthem about how Jesus overcame the grave. This song is powerful and gives strenght to people who go through difficult times.

My ultimate favorite is 'Praise the Father, Praise the son'. This song, written by Chris Tomlin and Ed Cash, was added when recording of the album was almost finished. It's an old hymn that has been changed for todays worship. It's a song that can be sung in churches across the globe. The song is strong yet simple.

Many of us know that Tomlin is one of the best-selling christian recording artist and has several radio hits and Dove award to his credit. He has written some of the most passionate contemporary worship songs and has played a vital role in he contemporary worship movement. All of this isn't what matters to Tomlin: "I've always wanted to write songs to give voice to people to worship God, that's my heart. In the end of the day, what ever awards come my way, I want these songs to reach generations of people to worship Him and to just really open their hearts to sing His praises. Maybe long after I'm gone, maybe when these songs lasts, when people sing it and pass it down, that would be amazing"

That wish and hope is becoming true. Tomlin's songs are sung all over the world and have entered many church buildings. I believe that this album will definitely be picked up by fellow worshippers.



Win HELLO LOVE (Tomlin)

Follow-up

I have one copy of Chris Tomlin's new cd 'Hello Love' to give-away. Everyone can enter this competition (no matter where you live) All you have to do is e-mail me and tell me why you want this cd. The most original e-mail will win! Draw, photoshop or just write down why you want it.

The contest has ended!

Currently reading...


This guy is a genius....

and his name is Jeremy Cowart.

I met this guy at Passion Paris and Passion London back in june. He was making photo's for Passion and he left an impression on me. I never heard of him or actually read about him until I googled him. Well he's the guy behind most of the photo's you probably know and I can proudly say...he photographed me! :-)


.....................notice Crowder??

Win the new Tomlin cd!!

EMI CMG have been so kind to send me the new Tomlin cd to give away to one of my blogreaders.

Stay tuned this week for the cd review and I'll tell you how you can win this cd!!

Chris Tomlin week!

Yes, I made this week into Chris Tomlin week. You just can't get around the fact that Chris Tomlin released a new cd. So why not support it?! Look around on my blog and enjoy all the new promo banners and click on it!

Blackbird cover

My friend Sarah from Austin, Texas moved to Germany this summer to live as a newlywed with her husband John. John serves in the US army as a soldier. Anyway John recorded a cover of the Beatles song Blackbird a few months ago and I thought I would share it with you. I love it and I personally think he did a great job.

New Phone

Here's my new gadget. I wanted an iphone but there are so many problems with it here in my home country that I decided to take another phone. This is my new phone!!! It's a Samsung Touchwiz F480...but from what I've heard it's called a Samsung Tocco in the UK and a Samsung Player Style in France. WEIRD!
Anyways...this is my new phone for this upcoming year and I love it!! It has a touchscreen and a 5 megapixel camera...NICE!

How can something as Passion get so big???

At the moment I’m working on my dissertation about Christian youth movements in the USA. I hope to finish my journalism studies by the end of this year. I’m esp. looking into Passion conferences and their growth over the past few years. Marketing strategies etc.

So if any of you can tell me a bit about:
-the history of Christian youth movements in the USA
-the percentage of Christian young people in the US (is it growing?)
-do more young people attend Christian concerts/ conferences now than they used to?
-the history of worship leaders, is this a modern thing?
-how can something as Passion get so big in the US?

Please let me know! I’ve done my research but I would like to know MORE!
Please e-mail me here.

Flevo!

The Flevo Festival rocked. This year: again part of the web team. I worked my butt off, so unfortunately I couldn’t really enjoy much music but I did get to see a few bands! My list of interviews was very satisfying this time around. On Thursday I had an interview with a band called Starfield. I must admit I like their music a lot so I was pretty stoked about this interview. Unfortunately it was cancelled due some delay. But I was able to go to the press conference. Then on Friday I had Tim Hughes and Fireflight. Tim Hughes was great. It was a short interview but I had the chance to ask him about his writing process and just about his life as worship leader. He’s a great guy. Then in the afternoon a band called Fireflight. Never heard of them but supposedly they have written the title song for a TV-show called Bionic Woman. I think you can compare them with the band Paramore. Pretty solid Christian rock music
Then on Saturday I got to interview four guys from Chicago: Flatfoot 56. A punk rock band. They were really nice and seriously even though people asked them the same questions over and over again they were not bored at all. Their concert was pretty awesome too. Not my kind of music but they know how to play! We had fun watching them.

So highlights of the festival: I think New World Son was definitely rocking the stage. I liked Tim Hughes, although it seemed like he played his set list and then noticed there was still time left so he started his set list again. I loved Starfield. Oh and definitely watching Flatfoot 56 made my whole week. I’m sad that I missed Philippa Hanna. There was less worship music this year, understandable because it is a Christian rock festival but it would have been cool to see Chris Tomlin again up on main stage.











Hairbrush experience by Beth Moore

While I was surfing through the web I came across this blog post:

HAIRBRUSH EXPERIENCE OF BETH MOORE AT THE AIRPORT

For those of you who do not know Beth Moore, she is an outstanding Bible teacher, writer of Bible studies, and is a married mother of two daughters.

This is one of her experiences:

April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville, waiting to board theplane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because Iwant to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you. You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coathanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones. The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man. I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport... an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere?

There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served up on a wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while, my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him. Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man. I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something socontrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be embarrassing. I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. 'Oh, no, God, please, no.' I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, 'Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!' There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His highness, 'Please don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane.' Then I heard it ...'I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair.'

The words were so clear, my heart leap into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainier. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, 'God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man' Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. 'That is not what I said, Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair.' I looked up at God and quipped, 'I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?' God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: 'I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works.' (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, 'Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?' He looked back at me and said,'What did you say?''May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'To which he responded in volume ten, 'Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that.'At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out , 'SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?'At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Long Locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face,and say, 'If you really want to.' Are you kidding? Of course I didn'twant to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, 'Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have ahairbrush.' 'I have one in my bag,' he responded.I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing.

I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands,remembering to take my time not to pull. A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me.

I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes - felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while.The emotions were so strong and so pure t hat I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's. I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees and said, 'Sir, do you know my Jesus?'He said, 'Yes, I do' Well, that figures, I thought. He explained, 'I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior.' He said, 'You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride.'

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it.Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft.I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, 'That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?'I said, 'Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!'And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted,you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way . . all because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

John 1:14 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth'

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, 'Wow! What a ride! Thank You, Lord!'