Review

As I review this CD, I won't be able to separate it from the movement that is springing forth from New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. That's because this album, like the one that preceded it is a moment captured, a glimpse into a body of believers that want so badly to be sold out, to give themselves away to the only One that matters.

Desperation is actually a conference that was born out of prayer meetings. The idea was to equip the body to be an active participant in the answer of those prayers. To do this, it takes people who give their lives away to God. The meetings take on a structure, if you will, of worship, prayer, worship, prayer. It's not one aspect alone, but rather, expression of the heart leading to spoken word and vice versa. It is this synergy that is so powerful.

The three worship leaders on this project are Glenn Packiam, Jon Egan and Jared Anderson. These three guys were all students together in college. Amazingly, they all ultimately ended up on staff at New Life. Jon leads the high school age group worship, Glenn, the college age, and Jared the young married group. All three are gifted leaders, writers and musicians. During the conferences, they combine their talents and bring along some of their other band mates. The result is top-notch. These guys can hold their own with anyone on any label.

One of the things I like about these guys is the way they lead people into worship. One thing you should know about the Desperation conference is that they play all these original songs, pretty much exclusively. So they need to teach people the songs over a couple of days. The worship leaders know this and don't expect that everyone knows exactly how the songs are going to go. They call out what's expected from the worshipers… they help them along. This is facilitation, and it's one of the keys to leading. And the songs lend themselves to be quickly learned, anyway.

Let's talk about some of the songs, shall we? For those who want driving, power chord songs, check out "Everyone", "Rooftops" and "The Whole Earth". "Rooftops" especially rocks, as well as tugging at your emotions. I mean, after all, who hasn't wanted to get up on the top of the building and shout out to the world just how much you love Jesus? This is a good time to mention the excellent work on this album by electric guitarists Mike Rossback and Eric Todd.

The first few songs are good, old-fashioned songs of praise, acknowledging the love of God and His greatness. There are several songs following that share a common theme: giving oneself over to Jesus. "Give Myself Away" says it beautifully… "For all of Your suffering and Your sacrifice, receive Your reward and take my whole life". Likewise with "This is My Life", which avows "I'm giving it to You".

"Willingly" is one song of note to kind of show how the Word and the expression are joined together so well. David Perkins, who is the one of the driving visionaries behind Desperation, as well as one of the pastors at the church, was preaching on Psalm 110:3. The text is "In that day of battle, your people will serve you willingly…" As Glenn Packiam listened, he began to get the chorus of the song. By the next Friday, he was playing the song during worship. The simple refrain is "We say yes, Lord, we willingly come". I love the tag at the end, which fades out far too early for my liking… "I wanna go where You're going, Jesus, I wanna say what You're saying, Lord, I wanna do what You're doing, Jesus, I am Yours".

One last song I want to highlight is "I Am Free". You need to realize that all these songs were recorded at last year's Desperation conference. And they have really captured the live worship feeling. After Jon asks the crowd if they're good for one more song, the joint starts jumping. If I may make a secular comparison to those who may remember, this song sounds like something Bruce Springsteen would do. The chorus is a call and response where the congregation echoes the worship leader in proclaiming "I am free to run, I am free to dance, I am free to live for you, I am free. And the band is cooking! Now, mind you, this is a, by and large, young crowd, and you might expect that age group to respond accordingly. But I am told that when this song is played Sunday morning at New Life, which has a diverse demographic, the place comes unglued as well! The church "owns" this song!

And that is one of the great points about this whole movement. Songs written today are meant for us today, in our churches, today. Desperation has done a great job of listening to God and putting what they've heard into song, and then delivering it in a way that stirs us into action.

Well, I could actually go on, but I think you get the idea that this is a powerful piece of work. I reviewed their earlier CD, and felt the same way. I'm champing at the bit even now to see what they do next time. Till then, I'll be playing these CDs over and over.

Review by John Ausmus