Reviewed by Tom Lennie

Bethany World Prayer Center is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and became a major focus for refugees escaping from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (and where, wonderfully, many gave their lives to the Lord). Worship leader Jonathan Stockstill has a fine voice, and, ambitiously, wrote all 11 songs for this live venture - picked from his songbook for the period 2002-2006 -albeit at times in conjunction with another, as with Israel Houghton on the title track. The two top tracks, in my opinion, are without doubt the tender anthem "Father You're Glorious", which is simple yet affecting, and "Let The Church Arise", which, apparently, was written just before Katrina and became an anthem for what God did during that time. The problem with this CD, though, is that the quality of the majority of songs is mediocre. Certainly it makes for a fairly pleasant listen, but there is simply not enough outstanding material in such a crowded worship market. I feel the album would have been considerably stronger if the producers had allowed more variety in songwriting input.

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.