Get ready for a new Kristen Gilles EP, recorded with the Sojourn Music band at the studio that brought you Before The Throne, A Savior Is Born and These Things I Remember. She and I wrote these modern hymns together, challenging one another to craft the most ambitious, gospel-centric song cycle possible. To give you a sample of what I mean, this EP begins with the phrase:
You spoke into the void,
created every star;
You made the earth and everything
that sin would one day mar
and ends with Christ’s return to “stamp out each desperate trace of sin” and set up His eternal kingdom in the new earth, with His bride.
In between, we praise God while singing about the Old Testament temple worship and sacrificial system, the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the growth of the church, and the inevitability of God’s everlasting reign of righteousness in a world without Satan, sin and the grave.
These songs will enable you to
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” — Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
We believe the melodies are memorable and the music is interesting, while being highly “singable.” No vocal pyrotechnics, no studio trickery. This is the whole, big story of creation, fall, and redemption … from ashes to glory, cross to crown, told in such a way that everyone will be able to sing along, and church bands from many different contexts will be able to reproduce them. The song cycle keeps the cross central, and explores the wonders of the cross from many angles and facets. We are wrapping up recording this week, and will bring it to you this spring.
And it will be free. But for now, we return you to your life — your own part in the grandest story ever told, as it continues to unfold daily toward its glorious, inevitable end:
And now Hell’s stronghold on the earth
Is plundered by the Risen Lord;
And powerless, the demons roar
When souls are fed the Living Word;
No force can stop the spreading Church,
No foe can stem the rising tide
Of those alive in Second Birth
Through Him who lives, though crucified!— from “Rising Tide,” by Kristen & Bobby Gilles
“Count The Stars” art (top) by Michael Winters of Sojourn Visual Arts
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Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement! We’re really excited to share these songs with you soon!
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