In the dusty past, FBR's bassist Vern enjoyed the 90's. The spirit of the album project was to include a diverse variety of musical elements, so as to include a broad spectrum of today's church body. Wanting to steer clear of some obvious references to the previous decade, I opted for a Shawn Mullins -esque arrangement. With Garret on piano, the folk rock vibes flowed freely. " Out of the Deep I Call " is a great song of contrition, where the writer cries for mercy and reveals the inherent unworthiness mankind possesses in the presence of God. It was introduced to me several years ago while assisting in worship at Grace Church Pres. in Fort Collins, and I have kept it in my repertoire in various forms and arrangements since. I was personally excited about the final result of this particular version because I felt it encapsulated the brooding contemplative mood of the lyrics without being over-the-top. The addition of another ballad was nice to round out the m

In an alternate life, I volunteered with a ministry at New Life Church known as theMill . I came into contact with both Aaron Stern , theMill pastor, and Glenn Packiam , then the worship leader. Both exposed me to an outward-focused approach to worship, and Glenn challenged me with one principle that he keeps in mind when writing new worship songs: simple singability. Glenn said that some of the best songs are those that are memorable not just for their encouraging message, but because they have a simple melody. Utilizing this new-found concept, I penned the song "Rift". Written with some nod to the Davidic Psalms, "Rift" contains both confessional and prayerful elements. I personally found writing my first song written specifically for worship quite challenging. So many of my contemporaries are content to write songs that exclude the human condition or acknowledge the supreme sovereignty of the Savior. Being aware of this issue, I felt compelled to dig deeper an

Besides having a vocabulary word in the title that would most certainly challenge most contemporary Scrabble competitors, this hymn was all but lost in obscurity until Kevin Twit got going on what became the RUF Hymnbook project. It was certainly unknown to me, and I for one appreciate Kevin's work ethic in digging this song up. The way the arrangement came about was twofold. First, I am a lazy musician that usually only glances at melodic lines and can't remember them correctly to save my life. Second, I've always had more of a bent towards rock n' roll than I've had towards bluegrass . Consequently, it has been a rare occasion when I have played and sung this version straight from the chart. In its first inception, my arrangement of Kevin's arrangement sounded like a B-side from Third Day 's sophomore album . I was helping lead worship for a Wednesday night ministry known as " Village Cross ", and the depth of lyrics found favor with the