CCM Countdown: 3

We have finally reached the top 3 (well, 4!) on the countdown of the 50-plus Contemporary Christian Music projects that had the most impact on my life and ministry between 1978 and 2006.  To see last Thursday's post and get links taking you all the way back to #50, click here.  Tomorrow we return to stories of the 1994 Mountain Top Mission Trip!

3)  TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER-  Newsboys-  1996
Despite the fact that this is their only appearance on this countdown,  Newsboys have been of the most popular and most durable of all of the Christian acts.  They are still going strong today, with Michael Tait (formerly of dc Talk) as their lead singer.  This project was with most of the original band, including lead singer John James who left shortly afterwards. It is a true masterpiece, with catchy tunes and incredibly creative lyrics, many written my the brilliant Steve Taylor, who also produced the album.  This CD received so much air time in the youth room of First Methodist-Kissimmee that almost everyone knew it by heart.  We saw the Newsboys in concert on at least 4 occasions in the late 90's, including the infamous Love Liberty Disco Airdome Tour...with no airdome!

FEATURED SONGS
The album opens with God Is Not A Secret, a song that gives marching orders to a church that is too often afraid of radical Christianity.  Part of the lyrics tell us "If we keep quiet, if we mass defect, these very rocks will scream, God is not a secret to be kept." This is followed by the ingenious title track (see video below) that reminds us that everyone has issues, and when they do, you need to "take them to your leader's Son."  Breathe, a rocker with a meditative "Breathe on me, breathe oh breath of God" refrain that begs God to make us new.  Reality is a song about God's never-ending love built around a young man who has run away from home and joined the circus, where he is "busy giving blood and shoveling elephant dung (send money!).  Let It Go, Cup O' Tea and Lost the Plot are other classics found on this album.  But out of all the incredible songs, the most memorable is probably Breakfast.  A song about a Breakfast Club much like the one we had in Kissimmee (and other places) that loses a key member to an early death, it reminds us to live life NOW.  It's a fun song to sing, and it has one of the great whistling solos of all-time.  So remember:

When the toast is burned and the milk has turned

and Captain Crunch is waving farewell

When the big one finds you may this song remind you

that they don't serve breakfast in hell...

OTHER RECOMMENDED ALBUMS FROM NEWSBOYS

Not Ashamed-   1992

Going Public-   1994

Step Up To the Microphone-   1998

Love Liberty Disco-  1999

Thrive-   2002

Devotion-   2004

Go-   2006