Christian Musicians, Singing to the Heavens
It’s only in recent times that I started listening to a Christian FM radio station that seems to play incredible songs every time I tune in. Since that’s usually only on short trips around town, I can’t claim to be a musical expert.
Yet, when I recently asked the managing editor of a magazine I occasionally write for if it seemed that Christian musicians had upped their game lately, he heartily agreed. He suggested one reason the Asbury Revival caught fire the way it did in March was the music that helped stir the Spirit.
He even offered me the opportunity to write a story about it all. I had to beg off because of a book editing project and other work that wouldn’t leave me enough time to meet his deadline.
Still, his reaction told me that I wasn’t all wet; indeed, something has been going on lately.
Reaching New Heights
It’s not that this is an overnight development. Mandisa, whose hit Overcomer is one I regularly listen to online, won Grammy and Dove awards for the song in 2014. Singer Ryan Stevenson followed in 2015 with the catchy Eye of the Storm.
Yet, it was the phenomenal The Blessing that seemed to catapult everything to a new level musically. I discovered it through a friend’s Facebook post about one of more than 100 versions recorded by groups and choirs worldwide.
That this happened during the height of lockdown fever in 2020 astonished me. It showed that as the world cowered in fear, God could use any circumstances to spread His Word.
More recently, after another friend’s tip led to me to a FM station that I hadn’t known about, I discovered they constantly play songs by Christian musicians I love.
For example, there is Mac Powell’s New Creation, which has a personal connection: I interviewed him about 30 years ago when he was the lead singer for Third Day. Then there’s the melodious Miracle Power by We The Kingdom, which lives on my favorites list.
One day, inspired by the new-found awareness that I could Google many of these songs for a listen, I happened across Waymaker. Though an oft-recorded song I had listened to previously, I had never heard the 28-minute version from Jesus Image. I guarantee it will be worth your time.
Musical Prodigies
A rhythmic toe-tapper I’ve often heard this year is My Jesus by Anne Wilson. With her full-throated, powerful voice, I assumed she was a musical veteran whom I had just happened to learn about.
But then I saw a magazine article this spring about her and discovered she’s only 20. Plus, she had never sung publicly until her brother’s funeral five years ago.
Three years later Wilson had a recording contract and released My Jesus, which soon hit the top of the charts. Currently, Hey Girl from the same album is also a hit.
This all reminds me of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Austrian composer whose home we toured in 2001 while on a visit to family in Germany.
Mozart wrote his first symphony at age nine—and only with a gift from God can a youngster pull off such an impressive feat. It’s why Anne Wilson is singing professionally a few years after a tragic loss put her into the musical stratosphere.
This story is about more than one singer or hit song, though. It’s about a God moving in our midst as He demonstrates His creativity through Christian musicians. Which should lead us to say as the Psalmist did: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6 MEV).
