“Knowing Jesus” album is available on Sunday night at North Side. We are hosting our “Knowing Jesus ” worship event at 6pm and would love to have you join us for worship!
The album is 21 tracks. We would have done more, but we were seconds away from having to go double-disc. We have so much music, we aren’t doing it all on Sunday night, but I have listed a track list to give you an idea on what each of these songs are.
Last night, I had the privilege of listening through the “Knowing Jesus” album with our band at our home. They had each contributed in the writing, arranging, recording of the process, but none of them knew until last night that this project is 21 tracks. It is as close to 80 minutes that the disc will allow.
Why that much music? Why 21-tracks?
The end of John gives us a hint:
You can tell a lot about something based on what words are used the most.
“Wordle” is a program that you can copy a section of text and it highlights the most used words by making them larger. The more the word is used, the larger it is displayed.
So, do you know where this wordle is from?
I am excited to announce the details for our “Knowing Jesus” Night of Worship. Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 30th at 6:00pm for an incredible night of Worship entitled “Knowing Jesus.” Get ready for a unique worship experience where we walk through the life of Christ and worship Him at every turn. We will also be releasing a new album with songs you will hear on this worshipful night. Invite your family and friends, and we’ll see you there (you can get more info on the City and also help us get the word out on Facebook).
Back in January, our worship team began studying Scripture and writing songs around pivotal moments in the life and ministry of Christ. Since that time, we have shared 4 songs from this upcoming project (It is Finished, Risen, All Things Are Possible, and I Will Follow; with more to come this Sunday and in coming weeks). We start with the anticipation of the Messiah, go to the incarnation, Jesus’ baptism, the temptation, and so much more. We eventually end up at the cross, the empty tomb, and the giving of the Great Commission.
I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes). “May Your Life Be” is the 16th (!) and final track off the album we released in June. It is such a wonderful prayer with which to end the entire worship project.
John Kennerly wrote this song and we included it on “The Time is Now” project with an acoustic feel. The vocals on this song are some smooth and open, I wanted to take a different approach to really open it up. We went to a pad being the primary instrument for the song, and besides a few piano parts and timpani hits at the end, that’s all you hear from instruments. Vocally, John and Angela changed up some of the parts, but once again, the congregation on this song sounds amazing.
Since the song is a prayer for lifestyle worship, we needed all of our singers on this one, so North Side is singing their hearts out. Sometimes, I walk into our worship center during the week and see the empty seats and imagine the worship that might be going on all over the city while we are scattered. We want Jesus’ life to be alive in us!
“Oh, what joy could make You stay? Enduring the cross, despising it’s shame…”
I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes). Track #15 is “No Greater Love.” I originally released this song on a solo project that was a fundraiser for our adoption. We had used it often at our church, and so it seemed a good fit to include it on this project.
We also decided to do this semi-live. In the worship world, all live recordings are semi-live. Elements are recorded live, but overdubs are done on every project because of bad notes played or off-tone elements. We don’t have the capabilities at the church to produce a high-quality live recording, but so much of what happens special with our team is when our congregation is in the room with us. So we played along with a click-track to make sure our tempo was correct and set out to record live congregational singing more than anything else.
“If there’s one thing I can’t get over, it’s You.”
I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes). Track 13-14 is the “It’s You” suite.
This song was originally written for our “Submerge” student camp years ago. An in-house band, “Brannon,” recorded this song on an EP. We never used it with the church as a whole, but with much of the teaching we have been focused upon in John, I felt like we needed to bring it back.
The song was basically written as a commitment to the sufficiency of Christ in a prosperity-focused American Christianity. So much of people’s faith nowadays is based upon Jesus plus something else. While Christ blesses us in so many ways, if all of them were taken away, we would still have more than what we deserve.
I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes). This song, “Worship Your Name,” was penned by our very own John Kennerly years ago, and I felt the need to bring it back.
The song was recorded on the first live album North Side recorded probably in 2003. John had written the song earlier than that, and it was a special call to worship song for our church.
In this recording, we took a very acoustic, folksy turn on the song. John is a singer-songwriter. He is great in a coffeehouse setting telling a story and singing and playing his heart out. I wanted to create the feeling on the track that there were a few guitars, voices, and percussion pieces sitting around a circle in a room. We were very pleased to say it feels that way.
“You can take all the pleasures of this world, for You are my portion.”
I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes). Track #11 is entitled “My Portion” and was birthed out of a United Youth Worship event we were having at North Side.
I was gathering together a collective of worship leaders from different churches to form a band for the event. As we prayed about songs, I felt led that a message needed to be sung that we couldn’t find the perfect song for, so we wrote it.
“Till You come, we will go, to the world, till all may know.”
I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes). Track #10 is entitled “However Whenever Wherever” and is a missional commitment song.
I wrote this song as we prepared to go to Ethiopia to adopt Eli. While the activities may be different, God calls each of us to follow him in unexpected ways. This song was a commitment of mine to follow Christ wherever he called. I didn’t want anything to sway me from obedience.
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