|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| We're still hanging in at #5 after 3 WEEKS!! If you've purchased The_Bright_Sadness on iTunes...THANK YOU! Make sure and post a review of the new music and let everyone know what you think!!
There are some great reviews up at iTunes and we hope that more and more of you will weigh in on The_Bright_Sadness. Word of mouth is a HUGE help for this record. We really did our best to say something we can stand behind and judging by the reviews there are some people out there that are picking up what we're putting down. ; )
Thanks again and keep it up!
P.S. I've included a little picture for your enjoyment!
| | |
| I know that most of you are already aware of this little nugget of knowledge, but for those that aren't....here's your "heads up"! We're one week in and we're pretty thrilled. Lots of good reviews have been coming in and they're not just good reviews, but we've had some encouraging glimpses in them that maybe someone is starting to understand us a bit...Christianity Today said, "The bulk of The Bright Sadness is admittedly far from the stuff
of Sunday morning church services, but that doesn't negate its
effectiveness as a worship album. It's alternative, but it's still a
terrific disc that could well find an audience among more
left-of-center congregations and ministries. Better yet, it sounds
great on a stereo, which makes it ideal for a time of worship in a
personal setting."
It feels good for someone to say these things about us out loud. We're a band who leads worship, but worship songs aren't just the songs that every congregation knows before they even hear them. They can also be songs that we listen to as we meditate and think on Jesus...songs that we can grit our teeth and confess our failures and doubts and still bring them to the feet of Jesus our Redeemer.
I can only speak for myself with absolute certainty on this one, but I think the rest of the guys would agree. One of our hopes is that the worship music that's being written (in general) would begin to look and sound more and more like Psalms. There's lots of beautiful honesty and truth in that book. Honesty is about acknowledging how and where you are, truth is about acknowledging how and where God is. A big part of faith is submitting the former to the latter. For some reason, we tend to be afraid to admit our weakness and doubts until after we have conquered them and can learn a lesson from them. I don't see David modeling that in scripture. I see him embracing God even when he doesn't understand Him.
Charlie's been saying a phrase here lately that's caught my attention. "I understand God less, but I love Him more." Every so often I'm reminded of how human I am, and how big God is. It's comforting and unsettling all at the same time. C.S. Lewis summed it up well in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, "He is not safe...but he is good" and that's the bottom line for me. We can't always figure Him out, but we know that He's holy. We know that life doesn't always make sense, but we know that somehow He turns our mourning into dancing. I don't pretend to understand all of this, I just know that in the darker moments of life I hang onto that truth when my knuckles are bruised and bleeding, like now.
This is My_Bright_Sadness.
| | |
| 
hey just a reminder the CD comes out today (Tues, Aug 19th) Stay tuned as we start our travel this week playing the new stuff and hanging with you guys, of course you'll have to come out for that to really happen. check www.charliehall.com or www.myspace.com/thecharliehallband for the schedule. :)
stay tuned . . .
| | |
| Just a little shout out to our friends over at Shure.
They're having an exciting new Worship Arts Technology Summit at Maranatha Bible Missionary Conference. It's in Muskegon MI this fall. Sept 14-18 brought to you by Shure, Yamaha and Martin Lighting. Shure has been so good to us for all these years. Check it out at http://www.shurenotes.com/how27/spotlight.html
| | |
|
Don't have any pics to share, but last night was Kyiv, Ukraine and the kick-off of the Passion World Tour. Wish I could show you what nearly 4,000 people packed into a sports arena looked like last night, but let me put it this way....it was amazing. Wasn't sure what to expect in a room full of people who didn't speak English, but as the night progressed, the voices got louder and bolder and more raucous. To say it was an inspiring way to start the tour is an understatement.
Right now, we're sitting in the airport in Amsterdam waiting for our flight to Stockholm, Sweden. From there our band heads home for a few days while the Tour progresses on through Brazil and then we meet back up with them in Uganda. Pray for the Tour and the tremendous amount of details that go into it. Pray that God moves clearly and uses this to encourage believers at every stop. There's really no way of knowing what the real impact of something like this, but whether it's a drop or a flood, we're out here. God is the one that looks down through all of time and knows the turning points, the defining moments, and the little breaths that occur all along the way. | | |
|
