If you like praise & worship, don’t hesitate to attend the current tour featuring Phil Wickham and MercyMe. Both artists recently released their best albums in my opinion and I had the privilege to attend their show on Friday, October 15th in Reading, PA.

In some ways, the seed that eventually grew into Phil Wickham’s third studio album, Heaven and Earth, was planted while reading Donald Miller’s Searching For God Knows What, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite books. There is a chapter about Adam and Eve and how humanity falls in the third chapter of the Bible. Like Phil, I am also very moved thinking about the concept of struggling with our separation from God knowing that we had Paradise. Even with the critical acclaim he’s garnered, for the first time in his career, Wickham feels that he has a story to tell: he wants to remind the Church for what and who we are created for.

With that context, Phil Wickham opened his set with "Your Arrival," a great worship anthem from his 5 star album, which was one of my top albums of 2009. That led perfectly to "Cannons," the title track from Phil’s last album. I attended the concert with my friend Tony who is the worship leader from my church. We sing “Cannons” on a regular basis and it is a real treat to sing the amazing chorus at the top of my lungs “You are holy, great and mighty, The moon and the stars declare who You are, I'm so unworthy, but still You love me, Forever my heart will sing of how great You are!”

The first single on Heaven and Earth, "Safe" also features a duet with MercyMe’s Bart Millard who just so happened to be passing through San Diego as Wickham was recording the song. What was awesome at this show was how Bart came out and sang the entire 2nd verse and then harmonized brilliantly with Phil for the rest of the song. The lyrics of “Safe” serve to encourage, strengthen and remind listeners that they are not alone as they say, “You will be safe in His arms, You will be safe in His arms, the hands that hold the world are holding Your heart, this is the promise He made He will be with You always, when everything is falling apart you will be safe in His arms.” Next Phil sang "Divine Romance" from his debut album as a stripped down acoustic performance, which was very comforting and worshipful.


Phil’s emotional vocals and catchy musical style continued the great musical experience leading up to the worshipful tracks from Heaven and Earth, "In Your City" and "Heaven Song" which had Phil quietly confessing “Oh my God, I’ll be ready for You, I want to run on greener pastures, I want to dance on higher hills…my soul is getting restless for the place where I belong.” This concert was just filled to the brim with Phil Wickham’s brilliant songwriting, singing and musical style. As we were all standing and singing the end of "Cielo" “I can’t lift my hands high enough, lift my hands high enough, When I’m reaching for You my God,” Phil closed with his most emotional song "True Love," which is one of the most amazing songs you’ll ever hear at a concert. I’ve recently seen Phil Wickham twice, and I can’t help but get emotional when singing along with this great song. My favorite part of the song is at the end when Phil cried out “it doesn’t end there…’cause Jesus is Alive, He is Alive, He rose again!” What an amazing Truth! God sent His only son Jesus to die for us just to save us! Phil Wickham is my male vocalist of the decade!


Phil Wickham had us completely warmed up, and I have to add that Phil is by far the best opening act I’ve ever seen for a concert. He sets the bar pretty high on what to expect for an opening to a concert, however due the musical and lyrical excellence of MercyMe, he is the perfect choice to lead into the band that I consider to be the premier band in all of Christian music who also just released their best album in my opinion, The Generous Mr. Lovewell.

The album revolves around a fictional character the band created who reminds us that we simply need to love others well. For some of us, it means that we need to put hands and feet on our ideology and rhetoric. For others, it means that we need to continue in doing well, but to not stop there. We need to let people know why we are called to make a difference. The band’s prayer is that this album would mobilize the body of Christ to encourage people in word and deed. I’ve been telling people that the new MercyMe album reminds me of a classic theme album like Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles so it was fitting that MercyMe opened by covering The Beatles song "Revolution," which led perfectly into their hit song "So Long Self." I love the electronic rock beat of "This Life," which sounded even better live in concert than I expected. Something MercyMe does amazingly well is gets the crowd up and dancing and singing along before launching into their string of consecutive hit worship songs. A surprise was next, a cover of Tom Petty’s "I Won’t Back Down." As a fan of music from the 1980’s, I was having a blast as they broke into my most anticipated song of the night "Move." The song actually took it up a notch musically. “Move” has a fantastic rock-dance arrangement like “This Love” by Maroon 5. True to form lyrically, the song keeps the Love Well theme going as Bart passionately sang “gonna move to a different drum no matter what life brings.” The harmonizing by guitarists Mike Scheuchzer and Barry Graul and bassist Nathan Cochran was literally ridiculous. I can’t enough of the song.

One of the highlights of the evening was next with "Alright" sung as a medley with “Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles. Bart told the crowd that he grew up “where dancing alone was a sin, but dancing as a group of Christians is choreography.” He urged the crowd of about 3,000 people to step from side to side during the song and the sight of the crowd moving in unison to the great song was truly enjoyable. At this point, we sat down for the next set of reflective songs, “Crazy Enough” and “Won’t You Be My Love.” A major strength of the album and the concert is how the theme of loving others is found in every single song mixed with basically three musical styles. “Crazy Enough” ushers in a more laid-back musical style yet continues the focus on Christ’s commandment to “love one another.” For those looking for MercyMe’s classic worship-filled musical style, that’s what we got for the rest of the evening. “Word Of God Speak” is a worship chorus written for the Church. Hearing the crowd sing the song was very moving. Then, the chorus of “Homesick” blended perfectly with “Finally Home.” I am also consumed by the idea of what it will be like to be in God’s glory forever in Heaven. This song is certainly autobiographical and inspiring, but for me I break down when I spend time "imagining" what it will be like to hear "the sweetest song my ears have yet to hear, voices of the angels."

Next, we sang the hymns “Because He Lives” and “Amazing Grace” before breaking into the hit worship song “God With Us.” Right from the opening imploring question: “Who are we, that You would be mindful of us, what do You see, that’s worth looking our way?” I find myself praying and singing along with this amazing song as it really expresses a deep desire of my heart. The song is based on Psalm 103, verses 1-5 (NASB): Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.


Before the concert, I had the great privilege to interview Bart about the current single “Beautiful” which is my favorite song on the new album. “Beautiful” was written with the band’s daughters in mind. Having three young daughters, I’m extremely moved by the passion behind the lyrics speaking of how the world says we are never good enough, yet Christ saw something beautiful in us worth dying for. The message of committing to extravagant selflessness and faithful optimism threads its way through every song on the new album and while “It’s one thing to be kind to someone, to be decent,” Bart said before singing the gorgeous song, “If we really believe we have this hope, then to stop short—to not be the hands and feet of Jesus—seems almost offensive. Our dream is for this album to inspire others to ‘pay it forward’ to the cross. It doesn’t have to be about major sacrifices. Just let your life become such that people know what you stand for.”

"You Reign” had us all singing along with our hands raised before Bart sang the hymn “Going Home” leading into the all-time best selling Christian song “I Can Only Imagine.” As many times as I’ve listened to the song, there are no words to describe the emotional feeling I get when I’m singing this song to my Savior. In fact I get so choked up during the song especially during the line “will I be able to speak at all” the tears start streaming down my face thinking of worshipping Jesus in heaven. The band briefly left the stage and came right back out singing U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name” which kept the thoughts of heaven going before closing with this year’s hit song “All Of Creation” about which Bart told me earlier this year that “he set out to write a song that was confessional and refers to the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus in each verse.” The song is based on 11 different Bible verses and is my choice for worship song of the year. It was a perfect song to end an amazing night of worship.


In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. --1 John 4:10-11

If you are like me and have been enjoying this band ever since the first time you heard “I Can Only Imagine,” then make sure you go see them on tour, you won’t regret it. This album truly establishes MercyMe as the premier artist in all of Christian music. I didn't think MercyMe could top All That Is Within Me but The Generous Mr. Lovewell rocks, has some incredible new musical twists and Bart's vocals have never sounded better.