Broken Praise

Elevation Worship is a music ministry of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, led by Pastor Steven Furtick. Pastor Steven, along with lead vocalist Chris Brown are credited with writing the title track on the Hallelujah Here Below album.

In an interview with CCLI, Chris covered how the original concept for the title track came from their interest in the ancient Christian Doxology and how it seemed to relate to our heavenly Father’s desire for the imperfect praise of broken people. That imperfection being held in comparison to the praises of His heavenly host.

Musically, this lengthy track (7:03) has a slow building and solemn melody of vulnerable praise with its repeating Hallelujahs in equal sets of three. Each set representing the Doxology’s proclamation for the trinity. The last stanza ends by naming Jesus Christ our King enthroned, All the praise is Yours forevermore, Hallelujah here below, All the praise is Yours.

The entire album was recorded over a night in March 2018 at Elevation Church's Ballantyne campus in Charlotte, North Carolina, where other Elevation Worship projects have also been recorded.

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Sources: CCLI + Wikipedia + Pixabay

My Identity

It was the first time we had written since “How Can It Be”... I just remember feeling like so much had happened the night before, wondering how do I come back down to normal, how do I come back down to reality? And I started realizing these patterns of really high highs and then, okay now there’s a low. Really high high, now there’s a low... And involving expectation in that space can just leave you kind of questioning your identity — Where do I fit in, where is my security, where is my footing?

So when writing “You Say,” I just remember feeling for the first time pretty conflicted. It was definitely the first moment in just being an artist that I was like Okay, where is all this going exactly? And I know that we’ve all faced moments in life where we can feel a crossroads happen — where we can see the past and also see the future, and realize how we are supposed to exist in the present. And it was one of those moments where I could see where things were going and I knew exactly where I came from, and I needed those worlds to still be married.

And thus brought up the issue of identity and trying to figure out how to exist when I felt like so many things were pulling me in so many different directions. I think a lot of times we build these complexes based on insecurity, based on fear, based on rejection, and lies that we have to constantly overcome. And so this song for me was just a reminder of identity. It was a reminder that I know when I’m weak, He’s strong — so how do I change and bring that into my every day life? When I feel inadequate how is it there’s always these moments where I feel like God just steps in and supersedes my inadequacies. This entire song was so every single day I would get up on stage and remind myself — no, this is the truth, this is the truth, this is the truth. Don’t get buried in confusion. Don’t get buried in waywardness. Just remember to steady the course, steady the course.

That’s the story behind “You Say.” — Lauren Daigle

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Sources: CCM Magazine + Jeremy Cowart Photo

Everything Glorious

“I Stand Amazed in the Presence,” also known as “How Marvelous” or “My Savior’s Love,” was written, both lyrics and melody in 1905 by Charles Gabriel. He was an Iowa native, showing a talent and love for music at an early age.

Gabriel’s profession became editing gospel song books and contributing numerous hymns for various publications. He’s credited with between 7,000 and 8,000 songs, thirty-five gospel song collections, Sunday school song books, collections for men’s and women’s choirs, numerous cantatas, including 41 Christmas cantatas, and music education texts. He also wrote under numerous pseudonyms, making it challenging to determine the exact number of songs he wrote.

Chris Tomlin would later popularize his arrangement of this hymn, entitled “I Stand Amazed.” Tomlin’s contemporary approach couldn’t be more fitting, knowing that Gabriel's own hymns had reflected a significant change from the gospel music of the 1800s.

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Sources: Discipleship Ministries + Kingdom Pastor + Jason Blackeye