We’re in a series now in our church about Nehemiah and the “power of everyone” working together on building the kingdom and physical structures for the continued pursuit of building the kingdom. One of the songs we’ve been singing each week is “The Power of Your Love” by Lincoln Brewster.

After reading a review of the album on Christianity Today, I found out some interesting information about him.

Though he still seems like a relatively new talent in Christian music, Lincoln Brewster actually has been long involved in the music business with multiple tours and two previous albums. Originally from Homer, Alaska (the same community where recording artist Jewel grew up), Lincoln already was playing the guitar by the age of 7. After realizing he had limited performance opportunities in his home state, Lincoln’s family relocated to Los Angeles, and the young guitarist earned the chance at a recording contract by age 19. But thanks to his high school girlfriend Laura (who’s now his wife), Lincoln came to know Christ and chose to focus on being a worship leader for his local church’s youth program. His guitar skills couldn’t remain unnoticed forever, and he eventually attracted enough attention to tour as lead guitarist for Steve Perry (Journey) and Michael W. Smith. Lincoln eventually settled with Integrity Music’s youth-oriented Vertical Music label, recording two projects since 1999 and gaining recognition as one of Christian music’s most promising new worship artists. Thanks to worship hits such as “Take Me Higher,” “You Alone,” and a fine remake of “The Power of Your Love” with Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay, Lincoln Brewster is poised to reach a new level of artistic success, making Amazed his most potentially ambitious project to date.

I wonder if he and Jewel have ever spoken to each other, I wonder how much age difference is between them. 

Getting back to the song though, I love the melody and the lyrics. I’ve specifically placed in bold the section below that really speaks to me everytime we sing the song in our services.

The Power of Your Love 

Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed renewed
Flowing from the grace that I found
In You

Lord I’ve come to know
The weakness I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love

Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side

And as I wait
I’ll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
By the power of Your love

Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see You face to face
The knowledge of Your love as You live
In me

Lord renew my mind
As Your will unfolds my life
In living every day
By the power of Your love

Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side

It’s a great song, really puts you in the mode of refocusing and reminding yourself of Who’s really in control and that there’s nobody better to be in control of things, because it’s for sure not you.

Russ shares in a recent e-mail newsletter the following:

Traditionally, Christian music radio is targeted to mothers between the age of 35 and 44. Does that sit right with you? It doesn’t with me. Not because so-called “soccer moms” are enjoying Christian music so much. After all, they’re the primary influence on what their children listen to at a younger age, and the ones who most likely to buy music for their kids.

But it troubles me that the “primary demographic” is so narrowly defined. Part of what first attracted me to Christian music 15 years ago was its diversity in style, all under the banner of Jesus Christ. So shouldn’t we see similar diversity among the target audience? Where are the soccer dads in all this? Are teens and twenty-somethings not finding anything worthwhile on Christian radio? Or are they not adequately being serviced by the Christian music industry?

Like I said, I hadn’t really thought about it and was under the impression that with all the choices out there, surely Christian Music has a significantly large market base. This all may be true and the “soccer mom” group still just happens to be the largest, but it still seems odd.

You can read more of some thoughts along these lines in Christianity Today’s series “What’s up with radio?”, a four-part statement of the status of Christian Music on the radio. 

Our annual selections for Best Christian Albums in small part serves as a snapshot of the state of the industry, and what’s particularly interesting about this year’s list is how many of the finalists seem “outside the box.” Many of the artists have a foot in both Christian and mainstream markets without finding runaway success in either, and some of them are established artists who today continue to record and distribute music independently. It all reflects our commitment to exploring the full breadth of Christian music (released between December 2005 and November 2006), not because of their reach, but because of their potential to reach with artistic excellence.

Jars of Clay and Bebo Norman made the list, but I won’t tell you where. Also, I learned something very interesting in their list, Jonny Lang has released a Christian album. It seems he became a Christian about 5 years ago and is releasing some Christian music. If you don’t recognize the name, he was a blues singing phenom and an amazingly young age. He was featured in the movie Blues Brothers 2000.

Blues wunderkind Jonny Lang has taken his share of praise and critical lumps over the last ten years, and continues to receive it today. Yes, some Christians are seemingly only embracing his latest album because of his conversion five years ago; no, Turn Around is not completely grounded in blues like Lang’s earlier albums. Preconceptions and expectations aside, it remains a sizzling and eclectic effort, stretching beyond the blues to effectively dabble in soul, gospel, funk, and even some pop balladry. It’s also a powerful testimony for Lang, an album he needed to make to explain that the dramatic change in his life is possible for anyone. Plus, let’s face it—we’re all still amazed that a white kid from North Dakota in his mid-20s can sing and play like a timeworn veteran three times his age. Taking his music from the streets to the sanctuary, Lang’s album overflows with talent and hope.

Has anyone heard this album yet? I’d really like to hear what you have to say. This is the first I’ve heard of him being a Christian, I loved his music before.

Review Christianity Today’s full list of The Best Albums of 2006

The specific quote that really hits home is:

The gospel never calls us to live our lives privately, but the idea of individualism and isolation has worked itself into our idea of what a good Christian life looks like—that it’s full of quiet times where it’s just us and God. But for me, when I get into that scenario, the only voice I’m really hearing is my own. And when I’m trying to wrestle with some truth of the gospel or some new element God is trying to teach me, it’s just me using my own knowledge base rather than living that out in community with other people. So it never really works. The kind of maturity that I hope for, the kinds of things I want to have freedom from, they never come, because it’s just me working it out by myself.

They also cover some of the specifics of the “honesty” issue that my previous post about cursing artists very lightly touched upon briefly.

After seeing the band in concert at the Indiana State Fair a few weeks ago, I’m very excited about picking up their new album and enjoying their music all over again.