With career sales now exceeding two million albums, celebrated pop group FFH has released its first worship record, The Way We Worship. The project features an eclectic mix of traditional hymns and original, modern worship songs, including lead radio single "As For Me."

 

The Way We Worship initially was inspired by FFH member Jennifer Deibler's nightly bedtime ritual with her children. As Jennifer's husband and FFH co-founder Jeromy Deibler recalls, "We'd tuck them in together, then I'd slip out of the room as she quietly sang the same few songs night after night. A few years ago, Jennifer had the idea to record a few of those songs for the kids to remember when they got older."

 

Jennifer's folksy vocals shine on acoustic versions of classics including "Come Thou Fount," "Jesus Name Above All Names," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," and "Jesus Paid It All." The remainder of the album reflects Jeromy's role as worship leader at his home church and features several songs he produced for corporate worship. The result is, as he describes, "a blend of our rich traditional pasts and our favorite elements of the modern church music we participate in every week."

 

He continues, "This project literally started in our home, in the sweetest hours of twilight, while our kids drifted off to sleep and ended up becoming a record that is likely to outlast anything we've recorded up until now. It captures the spirit of our young family and the adventure we are living as we try to walk the ancient paths while living in the current system. This music is our roots, our history, and the soundtrack of our lives. It truly is the way we worship."

 

The record's debut single "As For Me," was co-written by award-winning songwriter/producer Jason Ingram. I had the great privilege to speak with Jeromy about "As For Me." 

 

 

In the past, all of our albums have included songs that I've written about our lives. For this album, I wrote a couple of the songs, and our good friend Jason Ingram. He and his wife are in a community group and book club with me and my wife Jennifer. He wrote this song, and we had started singing it at our church. We thought that this song has an amazing thing to say right now. It's not a prophetic Word from Jesus or anything but my sense is that Christians in the United States are actually going to have opportunities to stand up for our Jesus that other Christians in the past didn't have. My opinion is that this song might be important in that regard. I feel that this song is an important statement to make. 

 

We were teaching this song to our church to see if they responded to it. We were in the studio recording this song, and we brought in about 150 of our Thursday night worship service attendees to sing the choir part of the song. As we were singing it, something felt strange to me. I went in the room and said that we need to transport ourselves to another time to really connect to these lyrics. I asked the choir to think about that and as we sing the bridge, and last chorus, let's think about the Church in China, and what it means to "raise your banner high." Also, what is our banner? It certainly is not that we are Christians, so we don't drink, smoke, or date. Our banner for this generation is that we worship the Living Jesus. After that we recorded the song and it was like the understanding of raising a new banner saying we will lay down our arms and we will be men and women of peace, upholding the Name and personality of Jesus.

 

Romans 12:1-2: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

 

1 Peter 4:16: "However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name."

 

...and Joshua 24:15: "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

 

 

As this worship album unfolded, we included many of the hymns that Jennifer sings to the kids, and I asked that we include this song and the worship song "Always." That song also has a similar, new, modern approach to raising this banner--and our banner isn't the guy standing outside with a sign saying you're going to hell if you are an alcoholic, homosexual or whatever. That's not our banner. Our banner is Jesus saves, and all are welcome. 

 

As our country moves into what seems like crunch time for us, I don't sit around all day and discuss Revelation and end times. I'll say that with the way technology is moving and the way our country is turning into a post-Christian country, we're going to have the opportunity to stand up for our faith, and be set apart. Up until this point, being a Christian in this country was assumed. You stood out if you were not a Christian. Now, it's turned into the opposite and you stand out if you are a Christian. That's why I love "As For Me" and "Always." Those songs are about being in the system, but not of the system. What's going to draw people to Jesus is who we are as Christians. The vulnerable things we do as Christians are going to make less and less sense others. They won't be drawn to us, they will be drawn to Jesus. It will be the vulnerable things like singing, and gathering and giving our money to people who need it--laying down our pride and egos to be the ambassadors of the real personality of Jesus.

 

 

Asbury's Bible commentary: "Christians should not be surprised when they suffer. It is the nature of Christian life that it leads to conflict with the non-Christian world. The suffering that ensues, however, has redemptive value and for that reason becomes a cause for joy. Such suffering confirms that Christians are in the succession of Christ and will receive glory as Christ did. Peter does, however, caution his readers. They must be certain that their sufferings are unjust sufferings, that is, on account of their commitments to God. The God they serve is also the God who judges, and his judgment begins with his own people. Suffering, then, must motivate God's people to greater faithfulness and to supreme reliance upon God as their faithful Creator."

 

FFH is back with a brand new collection of Scripture-based songs, hymns and declaration-style anthems designed to inspire listeners to fight the good fight of faith. With this great new worship song, the band articulates what it means to live a God-centered life in a turbulent world. Idolatry is a huge thing. We read about all of the idol worship in the Bible and idol worship is still a huge problem today. The Lord has been refining me and revealing idols in my life and calling me to remove them, one by one. Human beings are idol factories; we can make an idol out of anything--even good things like ministry, our spouse, our children. In the last days--which I think we are in--the Lord is calling us to removed those idols and make a bold declaration that no matter what happens, we will serve Him. 

 

I get swept up in the gorgeous and moving chorus of "As For Me," as Jeromy and his church choir belts out the sincere and challenging lyrics: "As for me I will raise Your banner high / I will shout aloud Your name I won't deny / Jesus You have given all so I give You my life / I will raise Your banner high." The song challenges me to think about how I will stand up for Jesus in the face of church persecution and it is a great new worship chorus for the Church. 

 

FFH is a band I've always enjoyed, and I love how Jeromy and Jennifer never fail to really grab me and fire me up to stand up for God and for my beliefs. The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the carrying on this renewing work, till it is perfected in glory. The great enemy to this renewal is conformity to this world. This song is all about leaning on God's Word in making decisions about what you believe and not letting the media sway your opinions about yourself or your moral convictions. As we cast our votes, we need to remember that we are all judged by God's Word. "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Amen!

 

(Listen to this great song here.)