I've just returned from a very enjoyable weekend at Centerparcs for New Wine's "Retreat to Advance" conference. I was expectant of a good weekend of lively worship, good teaching and powerful ministry, and it's safe to say my expectations were exceeded.

Indeed, the worship was particularly good - "Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people", the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 149:1 [NIV], and this was the theme of Friday night's worship for me. The first song that was [for want of a better expression] belted out by the worship band was Brenton Brown's "Our God is Mercy" - a lively opener with a catchy melody and with a structure that was very easy to follow. The song was quick and upbeat, yet gave enough space for interpretation, and had a nice refrain ("Lift up your eyes, lift up your eyes etc.) giving space for the congregation to regain some breath. The studio version present on this album is again an upbeat offering - with an almost Merseybeat-style drumbeat and a very strong rhythm guitar line. The lyrics invite the worshipper into the song - there is a strong message of hope, acceptance and belonging prevalent within the opener to the album.

We go from here to the second track - "Joyful", with an instantly recognisable melody line - borrowed from Beethoven's 9th Symphony's "Ode to Joy". The message of this song is beautiful - it's hymnal verses are complemented superbly by a lively praise chorus ("You are the one who saves "etc.). This track (and indeed the entire album) stay faithful to the typical Sunday-morning worship band lineup - a couple of guitars, bass, keys, drums and not much else. The producer deserves credit for this as all too often studio worship albums can be completely over-orchestrated and almost impossible to replicate for worship bands.

Other highlights on this album include "Glorious" - another of Brenton's co-writes with Paul Baloche, "All I Want" - a well written heart's cry to the Lord, and the beautiful acoustic-lead closing song "All For You".

"All for You" contains a great message which I will leave you with - this represents my heart for worship and how I feel we should view our relationship with the Lord:

"Jesus this is all for You,

Father this is all for You,

How Your children long to bless Your heart

Lord we've tasted and we've seen

We've held the beauty of the King

And we long to magnify our God"