stancol
08-05-2008, 02:28 PM
Where do I begin, I think I could post this in just about any of your forums. I just heard three songs from the 'Revelation' Album. Bravo applause and all that kind of noise. You've hit my heart right where I live. Just pulled up "This is Who I Am','Slow Down','Call My Name', and 'Run to You' on my Napster account [can I say that legally?:-)] expecting to hear what I've heard from Christian music for the last several years and was unbelievable surprised...in a good way. I started listening to Christian Music in the late 70's when it was 'Cutting Edge'. In fact it was so 'Cutting Edge' that it wasn't played in most Churches. After the shock value wore off the Christian community people started actually noticing that music with a beat actually had a place in Church.
I continued to listen to Christian Music through the 80's and into the 90's. Then life happened. After a D.I.V.O.R.C.E. and an unplanned child I was down and struggling. Since Church was a place for happy well adjusted people I quickly found out I wasn't welcome there. It wasn't so much that I wasn't welcome it was more that people just didn't relate to me anymore. They were all the 'Happy' Christians and sang 'Happy' songs about how wonderful things were all the time.
I drifted away from Church for a while but continued to listen to Christian Music to keep me going. Slowly I started noticing that they quality of Pop Radio was just so much higher than the Christian station and being the consumer of music that I am I adopted the quality and soaked it in.
From time to time I'd check the Christian station along with songs I picked up on Napster (wonder if I get a royalty check if I mention Napster a third time?). Sadly the quality of Christian songs kept dropping more and more (In my opinion). My hopes started to return when artists like "Switch Foot" came on the scene.
While I'm attending Church again a little more regular I'm finding it heard to relate to the sermons and the songs. The songs are all 'Happy' songs about how wonderful it is to be in Christ. While that's wonderful what about the people that are hurting? Singing 'You Should be Happy' songs to people that are hurting is like pouring salt into their wounds. So now not only are you hurting but your feeling guilty because your not one of the 'Happy' people. One of the Pastors last sermons was about what to do with your Vision. I was hoping he would also address the many people that don't have a Vision and are perishing. I've often heard it said that most men die at 26 and they just wait until their 80's to be buried. My guess is that if you took a pole in most Churches today you would find that the vast majority of the congregation doesn't have a vision. That is unless your on stage as a singer, a pastor, or a musician or behind the scenes as a Sunday School Teacher. People involved in the Church do seam to be more likely to be in the 'Vision' group. Since we can't all be Pastors and Sunday School Teachers where does that leave the rest?
Which leads me pretty much up to today when I played your songs. I was very quickly moved to tears. You hit me right where my heart was with songs that were produced with the same quality that I've been used to on Pop Radio. I can't begin to express the feelings that resurfaced when I heard, "This is Who I Am". Finally a song that reaches down to where I live on a day to day world but yet doesn't leave me there. So many of the 'Happy' Christian songs are so hard to relate to when your hearts been ripped to shreds.
I related to your songs, your quality, and your passion that comes through so well in your songs that I had to look up your web site. On the home page was a You Tube video talking about how you created the album. Normally I probably wouldn't have played the video so I guess it was a 'God' thing when it started playing and I didn't turn it off. Almost everything you talked about in the making of the album was word for word things I had said or thought after having listen to your songs.
So CONGRATULATIONS you've achieve your goals in at least one person. Don't know about you but anytime I volunteer to do anything my goal is to touch just one person's life, if I get more that's a bonus. So if you're like me you should feel proud that you reach that one person.,...and that person was me. All of your hard work and struggles to make this album has paid off.
I continued to listen to Christian Music through the 80's and into the 90's. Then life happened. After a D.I.V.O.R.C.E. and an unplanned child I was down and struggling. Since Church was a place for happy well adjusted people I quickly found out I wasn't welcome there. It wasn't so much that I wasn't welcome it was more that people just didn't relate to me anymore. They were all the 'Happy' Christians and sang 'Happy' songs about how wonderful things were all the time.
I drifted away from Church for a while but continued to listen to Christian Music to keep me going. Slowly I started noticing that they quality of Pop Radio was just so much higher than the Christian station and being the consumer of music that I am I adopted the quality and soaked it in.
From time to time I'd check the Christian station along with songs I picked up on Napster (wonder if I get a royalty check if I mention Napster a third time?). Sadly the quality of Christian songs kept dropping more and more (In my opinion). My hopes started to return when artists like "Switch Foot" came on the scene.
While I'm attending Church again a little more regular I'm finding it heard to relate to the sermons and the songs. The songs are all 'Happy' songs about how wonderful it is to be in Christ. While that's wonderful what about the people that are hurting? Singing 'You Should be Happy' songs to people that are hurting is like pouring salt into their wounds. So now not only are you hurting but your feeling guilty because your not one of the 'Happy' people. One of the Pastors last sermons was about what to do with your Vision. I was hoping he would also address the many people that don't have a Vision and are perishing. I've often heard it said that most men die at 26 and they just wait until their 80's to be buried. My guess is that if you took a pole in most Churches today you would find that the vast majority of the congregation doesn't have a vision. That is unless your on stage as a singer, a pastor, or a musician or behind the scenes as a Sunday School Teacher. People involved in the Church do seam to be more likely to be in the 'Vision' group. Since we can't all be Pastors and Sunday School Teachers where does that leave the rest?
Which leads me pretty much up to today when I played your songs. I was very quickly moved to tears. You hit me right where my heart was with songs that were produced with the same quality that I've been used to on Pop Radio. I can't begin to express the feelings that resurfaced when I heard, "This is Who I Am". Finally a song that reaches down to where I live on a day to day world but yet doesn't leave me there. So many of the 'Happy' Christian songs are so hard to relate to when your hearts been ripped to shreds.
I related to your songs, your quality, and your passion that comes through so well in your songs that I had to look up your web site. On the home page was a You Tube video talking about how you created the album. Normally I probably wouldn't have played the video so I guess it was a 'God' thing when it started playing and I didn't turn it off. Almost everything you talked about in the making of the album was word for word things I had said or thought after having listen to your songs.
So CONGRATULATIONS you've achieve your goals in at least one person. Don't know about you but anytime I volunteer to do anything my goal is to touch just one person's life, if I get more that's a bonus. So if you're like me you should feel proud that you reach that one person.,...and that person was me. All of your hard work and struggles to make this album has paid off.