Thought I'd take a quick opportunity to plug a new photography company in Rayleigh, Essex. Joe Honeyands has been a good friend of mine for several years, and he's in the process of starting up his new enterprise. I've been fortunate enough to have had a session with him, and have another booked.

Have a look at some of the work he did for me here:

More of Joe's work can be seen at http://rocksolidphotography.co.uk/Home.html. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Enjoy!

I have had a fair amount of experience over the years of being part of teams leading worship, and of leading worship alone, and one thing that experience has taught me is that consistency of rhythm, melody, and pitch is key to enabling accessible worship. Hymns create something of an interesting situation when leading congregational worship, as in many cases different members of congregations have been brought up singing these hymns to differing tunes. Never has the phrase "all singing from the same hymn sheet" been more apt than in sung worship. Think of well-known hymns such as "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and "Amazing Grace" - all of these hymns have several versions already - do we confuse yet more people by bringing another version of this to the table?

With this in mind, producing an album where every track has a different tune to the one we're used to is potentially ambitious. I must confess, I'm not yet sold on the idea. This is by no means a negative reflection upon the artists (and there are a few notable ones to choose from) - Mac Powell's version of "And Can It Be" is emotive, with an affable melody. Chris Eaton's "Jesus Lover of My Soul" has a beautiful minor chord progression, with a great building atmosphere, good use of drums and ethereal backing vocals. There is some nice synth work and a bright feel to Mark Roach's "Christ Whose Glories Fill The Skies". All good tracks in their own right, and there are indeed some hymns I have never heard before in here. And it is here you find my counter-argument to new versions of hymns - that songs that may have been forever confined to the history books can be re-worked and brought to the fore in albums such as this. Moreover, in some cases, once inaccessible (through melody, quick changing chords, or general predictability) hymns can be reworked, maybe simplified, and actually made better through re-working.

Here, for me is a case in point:

How many versions of this song exist? Hundreds, maybe thousands. What a way to reach out to people, to give them a familiar song to sing, and yet to do it in a new way, with a recurring praise chorus. I'm not saying for a minute that this version is better or indeed more relevant as a whole than any other version of the song, but for me it gives a great hymn a bit of a lift. For you, there may be another version of this song, sung by a different worship leader, a gospel choir, or even an instrumental version that creates that same intimacy in worship, and that too is fine. For me, hymns provide a bedrock, a foundation for worship - Matt Redman once commented that Wesley wrote hymns for pretty much every life situation, and that was his way of communicating with the Lord. Most of Wesley's hymns will not be sung in many churches, yet this new collection proves that by studying what has gone before, we can draw inspiration for what is to come, using hymns that are several hundred years old.

With all this in mind then, am I for or against this idea? I am largely for the idea, though I believe that worship leaders need to be sensitive to their congregation. Rocking out Bluetree's version of "When I Survey" may be what you feel is necessary for the church, but a little pragmatism is sometimes necessary. Try different feels for songs and see what the church worships to - for that should be the goal - a church in worship.

Let me know what you think on this subject - I'd love to hear your views.....

I have faced dilemmas in where to focus my attention for the review. Dave Fitzgerald is, without doubt, a gifted and anointed worship leader - the worship sounds lively, there is a lot of congregational interaction, and the worship flows freely, with lots of "headroom" given in all of the songs to allow space for people to worship. Dave is also an unquestionably gifted singer. His voice is powerful, powerful enough to lead with backing vocalists such as Jenn Johnson (see previous reviews) backing him, and to lead a Bethel congregation in worship. Dave is clearly an accomplished pianist, and he leads well from the piano - something slightly different for Bethel where the focus for the leaders I have encountered thus far is often from vocals or guitars.  Lastly, Dave is a gifted songwriter - all but one of these songs were self-penned, with some collaborations (including Chris McClarney (Your Love Never Fails) and Brian Johnson (Worship Pastor at Bethel Church, Redding)). So where to focus?

If the aim of this album is more good worship from a thriving church of revivalists and worshippers, then this album ticks all the boxes straight off. The worship is accessible, reverent, powerful and meaningful, and many of the songs on this album would be equally at home on any Jesus Culture album. Where this album comes into it's own, however, is at track 5 - "We Are An Ark". The feel of this track is awesome - laid back yet not restrained, strong yet not overwhelming. Here we see all of the gifts of the band laid plain for the world to see. The sensitive nature of Dave's piano and vocal, Jenn Johnson's succinct backing vocals, Ian McIntosh's ethereal keys and Chris Quilala's drums that provide the catalyst for the build up to the climax of this song make it what it is - great. This track provides the turning point  of the album for me - and switches the focus from all of the ancillary factors and theories and places the attention squarely to the Throne of the Lord, and to His glory. Here the album becomes personal, natural, sensitive and glorious. It is here where I "got" this album.

The title track "Hope of Heaven" provides a sublime mix of Jesus Culture and Dave Fitzgerald. The driving drum and bass groove, with the ethereal keys and edgy guitars usually associated with Jesus Culture are interspersed perfectly with a subtle yet very effective piano part from Dave - giving this track it's edge. The album finishes with another 2 nice piano-led tracks - "Shine" (w/ Brian Johnson), and "Sweeter" (w/ Christa Black and Chris McClarney). Once again, we find space, freedom, and subtlety in the piano lines - it's uncomplicated yet more than enough for the atmospheric nature of the songs - which provide a great platform on which the songs can build - which they do to great effect. 

I must confess that it took me a few tracks to work this album out, but now I have it is making it's way steadily up my "most played" playlist. I love piano-led worship, it is for some reason more of a rarity in modern worship, but when it is done this well it is a joy to experience. Buy this album, you will not regret it.

You can find more information about Dave at www.davefizgerald.com