Reviewed by Alastair McCollum

Atlanta-based Lewis is keen to teach and preach through his music and scatters biblical material throughout this double CD collection of R&B, hip-hop, rock, urban and neo-soul and traditional gospel along with interludes of teaching and dramatic interpretations of the message of these songs. Such diversity makes selecting outstanding tracks difficult, because they all stand on their own merits! Songs such as "U Don't Know" and "Cryout" are very much in the urban style, "Show Me The Way" is a gospel styled cry to be changed by Jesus and "Running" has a heavy bass and distorted guitar teen rock feel which made me double check that my CD player hadn't randomly skipped to another disc! The second disc, subtitled "Honest Heart", focuses on Lewis' vocals with quieter, mainly piano/keyboard, accompaniment. These songs are musical prayers, including the exquisite "Flow", a simple piano-based prayer leading into the deeply confessional "Just As I Am", which offers our brokenness to God. This 2CD package makes up an honest, powerful and engaging collection, a call to remain close to Christ and a reminder that any crisis, no matter how difficult it may seem, can be a place where God works to change and move us forward.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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