Research Notes Part 2

Jordan, the Worship Arts director at Northpointe and my main contact at the church, sent me a .zip file with lyrics (with chord changes!) and mp3s of 3 songs the band typically play at services. This is the file he usually sends to people who are interested in participating in the band. These are pretty clear, clean recordings--taken off of the soundboard at a service. Thanks to close mic-ing and good isolation, I thought this was a studio demo until I heard Jordan (the singer) encouraging people to sing along to the lyrics in the chorus. Take a listen below:


The Highest and Greatest
by: Nick Herbert & Tim Hughes
A/C# - D - E-A - A || A/C# - D - E-A - A

Verse 1:
A/C# D E A A/C# D E A
Wake every heart and every tongue To sing the new eternal song
E D A/C# D E D F#m E/G#
And crown Him King of Glory now Confess Him Lord of all
Chorus:
A E Bm7 A E
You are the highest You are the greatest You are the Lord of all
A E Bm7 A D
Angels will worship Nations will bow down To the Lord of all

Verse 2:
A/C# D E A A/C# D E A
A day will come when all will sing And glorify our matchless King
E D A/C# D E D F#m E/G#
Your name unrivaled stands alone You are the Lord of all

Chorus:
A E Bm7 A E
You are the highest You are the greatest You are the Lord of all
A E Bm7 A D
Angels will worship Nations will bow down To the Lord of all

Bridge:
Bm7 A/C# D
Let every heart let every tongue sing of Your name sing of Your name
Bm7 A/C# D
Let every heart let every tongue sing sing sing
Bm7 A/C# D
Let every heart let every tongue sing of Your name sing of Your name
Bm7 A/C# D
Let every heart let every tongue sing sing sing

Chorus:
A E Bm7 A E
You are the highest You are the greatest You are the Lord of all
A E Bm7 A D
Angels will worship Nations will bow down To the Lord of all
A E Bm7 A E
You are the highest You are the greatest You are the Lord of all
A E Bm7 A D
Angels will worship Nations will bow down To the Lord of all
A E Bm7 A E
You are the highest You are the greatest You are the Lord of all
A E Bm7 A D
Angels will worship Nations will bow down To the Lord of all




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Great Is The Lord
by: Chris Brown

D - A - F#m - E || D - A - F#m - E

Verse:
A D
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
A F#m E
Great are your works in all the earth
A D
The skies declare the glory of Your name
A F#m E
The heavens tell of Your great worth

PreChorus:
D A E D A E
And now we join and sing Father, we bless Your name

Chorus:
D - A F#m E D - A
You are holy We cry with everything that’s in us
F#m E D - A F#m E D - A
Singing the praises of our glorious Our hearts are bowed before Your majesty
F#m E
We worship You our King
D - A - F#m - E || D - A - F#m - E

Verse:
A D
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
A F#m E
Great are your works in all the earth
A D
The skies declare the glory of Your name
A F#m E
The heavens tell of Your great worth

PreChorus:
D A E D A E
And now we join and sing Father, we bless Your name

Chorus:
D - A F#m E D - A
You are holy We cry with everything that’s in us
F#m E D - A F#m E D - A
Singing the praises of our glorious Our hearts are bowed before Your majesty
F#m E
We worship You our King
D - A - F#m - E || D - A - F#m - E

PreChorus:
D A E D A E
And now we join and sing Father, we bless Your name
D A E D A E
And now we join and sing Father, we bless Your name

Chorus:
D - A F#m E D - A
You are holy We cry with everything that’s in us
F#m E D - A F#m E D - A
Singing the praises of our glorious Our hearts are bowed before Your majesty
F#m E
We worship You
D - A F#m E D - A
You are holy We cry with everything that’s in us
F#m E D - A F#m E D - A
Singing the praises of our glorious Our hearts are bowed before Your majesty
F#m E
We worship You our King
D - A - F#m - E || D - A - F#m - E - D



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Cannons
by: Phil Wickham

G - C - Em7 - Am7 || G - C - Em7 - Am7

Verse 1:
G D Am Em
It’s falling from the clouds A strange and lovely sound
C G D
I hear it in the thunder and the rain
G D Am Em
It’s ringing in the skies Like cannons in the night
C G D
The music of the universe plays

Chorus:
G C
You are holy great and mighty
Em7 D
The moon and the stars declare who You are
G C
I’m so unworthy but still You love me
Em7 D
Forever my heart will sing of how great You are
G - C - Em7 - Am7

Verse 2:
G D Am Em
Beautiful and free Song of galaxies
C G D
It’s reaching far beyond the Milky Way
G D Am Em
Let’s join in with the sound c’mon let’s sing it loud
C G D
As the music of the universe plays

Chorus:
G C
You are holy great and mighty
Em7 D
The moon and the stars declare who You are
G C
I’m so unworthy but still You love me
Em7 D
Forever my heart will sing of You

Bridge:
C G D
All glory, honor, power is Yours, amen
C G D
All glory, honor, power is Yours, amen
Am Em Dsus D
All glory, honor, power is Yours forever, amen

Chorus:
G C
You are holy great and mighty
Em7 D
The moon and the stars declare who You are
G C
I’m so unworthy but still You love me
Em7 D
Forever my heart will sing of You
G C
You are holy great and mighty
Em7 D
The moon and the stars declare who You are
G C
I’m so unworthy but still You love me
Em7 D
Forever my heart will sing of how great You are
G - C - Em7 - Am7 || G - C - Em7 - D - C - G



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It's interesting to think about where these songs come from and how they are getting inducted into the cannon of worship music--or at least at the blossoming community at Northpointe. I looked up some of the writers of these songs to contextualize them a little bit.

One of the writers of "The Highest and Greatest" is Nick Herbert, who is the Worship Pastor at St. Mary's church in London (founded 1997). It seems his role is similar to Jordan's at Northpointe--leading the music during the services. Looking at the St. Mary's website, I found it a little hard to find out where the church was coming from. The website is very nice and has good information of the values of the church and such, but I don't see anywhere where it explicitly states what kind of church it is. It appears to me to be non-denominational. In the "history" section, it references the bishop of London, so I am assuming some sort of heirarchical structure within the non-denominational churches, or maybe amongst a group of churches in the UK--this is something I would like to learn more about. My assumption was that non-denominational congregations are independent churches. The non-denominational churches I have encountered throughout my lifetime are remarkably similar in their worship practice & share some basic beliefs and approaches to Christianity. If there is a formalized, international community of non-denominational churches, or are they linked together by common ideas or practices like, say, Nick Herbert's "The Highest & Greatest" song.

It was hard to pick out the Chris Brown I wanted from, you know, Chris Brown. But there was plenty of interweb info on Phil Wickham. Wickham seems to be less involved in a particular ministry and more of a "star" than Nick Herbert. He's got a slick website, myspace (along with all of the other social networking outlets that go along with that), and even a lengthy wikipedia article. He's got tour dates across the world from what looks like huge venues to smaller "chapel" performances, and his myspace has over 6 million listens! The "Cannons live" on his myspace page, as well as link to the "Phil Wickham singalong" available for download from his website tells a lot about this music--the music written for service and worship is meant to be communal art. Accessible, catchy, and based in melody. I'm thinking a modern day kind of hymn. Across the board of these representative examples from my friend at Northpointe, these songs share a pop-rock styled aesthetic and instrumentation. It all sounds as if it has come out of the past 15 or 20 years--it sounds very current, modern, and up to date.

I wonder how genre-preferences and music tastes interact with people's church-going. How music that clearly is based on a rock n' roll form and based around a "lead singer" can break away from the cult of personality that surrounds musicians or rockers in a popular band. It seems as if many of these churches are young and are attempting to attract new members--Northpointe in particular. There is clearly an emphasis on keeping current with musical style. Beyond that, it is clear these churches want to be current and relevant in all aspects of their existence: the websites are very well done and well maintained, if the church has a permanent home, the buildings are often modern in design and architecture, the personalities (e.g. Phil Wickham) have a very polished look:

and keep up to date with all of the latest societal demands (especially online w/ facebook, myspace, twitter, rss feeds, etc.). The role "being new" is playing with this music, and in the bigger picture, this style of church and worship, is a big one. Just some casual thoughts...