“My Soul Yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord;

My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God."

Psalm 84

Our heart’s cry as Vineyard worshippers has always been to know the Lord more intimately, to gain a deeper relationship with Him, and Worship has always been one of our strongest tools in doing this. John Wimber (the Founder of the Vineyard), whose song “Isn’t He” is used in a time of worship in “Lift Up His Name” on this album, was a worshipper in spirit and in truth. A good friend of mine said of this album that it really captured Vineyard Live Worship - simple songs of adoration and praise to a God who we’re called to know better.

Recorded live at the UK’s National Vineyard Leader’s Conference earlier this year, this album contains songs from recent Vineyard UK releases Creator and The Lamb Has Conquered, together with a selection of other Vineyard tracks, both older and new. Also included are a couple of insights into the spontaneous times of worship from the conference, and these come under the two parts of “Lift Up His Name”.

This album has a real feeling of consistency to it, in a similar way to the feel you get from other “brands” of worship (Hillsong, Jesus Culture, Planetshakers etc). I said when I first heard the last couple of Vineyard UK albums that I would have liked to hear them live to see how they played out, and songs such as “I Respond” and “The Lamb Has Conquered” have been given a real lift here. The simplicity of arrangement - just a couple of guitars (acoustic & electric), keys, bass & drums - gives such space for the band and the worship leaders to invite the presence of the Lord to move. The result is just that - you can almost reach out and touch the Lord’s presence when worshipping to this album.

In my opinion, the point of bringing new songs to the church as a whole, is that the whole church gets to benefit from them. Church worship teams of all sizes and technical ability should be able to pick up these songs and run with them, to edify the church and deepen times of sung worship. Presented in this light, every one of these songs does just that - with simple yet effective chord sequences and melodies that are powerful yet easy to learn, churches of all shapes and sizes should have no problems applying these songs to Sunday morning worship times. In order to further facilitate this process, Vineyard Records have made the chord charts available on their website, and even provided “SongTeach” instructional videos to help learn acoustic guitar parts for the songs.

It can often be hard to discern where to get new material from for times of worship on Sunday mornings - we are blessed with many different Worship Leaders, bands and churches to get influence from. One of the principal reasons I started going to a Vineyard church 11 years ago was it’s worship - the songs were living conversations with a living God - a God of love, peace, grace, and mercy, a God who lives through all who call upon His name and love Him above all others. I can think of no better songs to sing than ones that describe this relationship - which this album does succinctly. Bless you guys, this is an anointed worship album.

The latest offering from Vineyard Records UK sees Mercy Vineyard of Southampton bring the fruits of their fledgeling songwriting group to the national stage. Headed up by senior pastor Mike Pearson and worship leaders Kate Cooke and Jamie Pearson, this group sought to create songs for their church to sing, with all the passion and intimacy that forms the hallmark of the Vineyard's worship ethos. In essence, a project album (i.e. an album borne out of the initial project of a church songwriting group), this album follows in the footsteps of other such Vineyard UK releases as Beautiful and All from You (both released out of the Burn church in St Albans). It is here where we find the notable link between these albums - Mark James, Henry Cross, Samuel Lane and Jimmy Cooke formed the backbone of the Burn albums, and we find them here, offering the benefits of their vast experience to a church looking to embark upon their own worship project.

I have known countless people over my years in Vineyard churches whose initial encounters with the movement are recalled as times of intimate, empowering, overwhelming worship. What made these times so special in almost every case was the simplicity of the songs, yet the power of the Lord working through the worship. Songs such as Wimber's "Isn't He" and John Barnett's "Jesus, Holy and Anointed One" are, in my humble opinion as timeless, relevant and powerful as "Amazing Grace" and "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross". In the promotional clip for "The Lamb Has Conquered", Mike Pearson alludes to the first John Wimber conference he ever went to, and the heart of Wimber is overwhelmingly prevalent in "Spirit of Jesus". Wimber would have been delighted to write this song, intimate, simple, and not just engaging, but encapsulating of a heart longing for his enduring presence. Learn this song, play it in your churches, and invite the Spirit of Jesus to dwell in your place of worship.

I have previously said of bands such as Jesus Culture and Hillsong United that what I admire about them is their "brand" - the unique mark which makes their worship their own. Kate Cooke has this down to a fine art, melodies cutting through the acoustic folk guitar undertones of her music, and harmonies which complement the already-becoming tones of the worship succinctly. The 6/8 feel of "See the Risen Lord" and "The Lord is my Shepherd" lend a pleasant Celtic slant to the feel, while the picture in the mind's eye of "He Bleeds" comes through as the worshipper is taken to the foot of the cross to witness the Lord's sacrifice for us.

Overall, this is an album worthy of it's endeavours, and lays down a great example of what can be achieved from humble beginnings. I look forward to attending my own church's songwriting group, and can only pray that our endeavours can bring as much worth as this does to a worthy God. Find out first hand the story behind the album here: