Revelation Song by Kari Jobe

[El Ben]

This song is an INCREDIBLE worship song that I don't do simply because I like it too much to mess it up. I try not to listen to it too much just so it stays fresh when I do hear it. The lyrics, pulled straight from scripture, are gripping and powerful. The chord progression is a refreshing departure from the 1-5-6m-4 pattern or variations thereof that even I am guilty of writing songs in. It's almost Coldplayish to play on piano. Check it out here:

http://www.myspace.com/karijobemusic

This is a myspace artist page. Simply click on the song "Revelation Song" in the media player there and get ready to have your socks blown off.

[fmckinnon]

I love the stuff by Kari. She's one of many in the Gateway church out in Dallas - I have lots of friends there, and it's an amazing place. I've actually attempted to contact Kari a couple of times about podcasting her music, but so far, no luck. She's got a cool karijobe.com website, too.

From what I read in Worship Leader magazine, she's been doing some co-writing with Paul Baloche, also!

[worshiptrench]

Noticed a lot of you saying "by Kari." Actually Kari only performs the song. The song was written by a housewife named Jennie Riddle from McKinney who says she only knows about 3 chords. Not bad for 4 chords.

[El Ben]

You are correct, sir!

I just checked out globalworshipnow.com to confirm that. My bad. There it is, plain as day on the chord chart: Jeannie Lee Riddle.

[russhutto]

a nice looking layout as well on that myspace page!

[El Ben]

I know, right? Gotta love that vintage record meets coffee-house blend, but then, you can never ever go wrong with brown. It's the world's friendliest color.

[davestoy0402@mcshi.com]

We do this song on a regular basis, as our Pastor is preaching from the book of Revelation on Sunday nights. You want to talk about getting you in the right frame of mind to study what Revelation says about the Lord? Do this song just before the sermon begins! WOW! It will make you sit up and take notice of just how much of a loving, yet, wrathful God we serve! Our praise team and band does a bang-up job of it. The lady that sings lead sounds a lot like Kari, too.

[BillyChia]

Wow. We sung this song at my old church and I never liked it. Hearing it now I love it.

Here's the difference:

The girl who sung the song at my church had a very powerful voice. Problem was she belted everything. Sometimes it really worked, other times it didn't. Kari Jobe has such a soft sweet clear voice. It makes the song very understated and that makes it more powerful. For me that's what works with this song.

I'm personally very guilty of pushing harder on parts of songs I can't sing well instead of backing off and doing it understated.

[fmckinnon]

Billy -

I agree ... somtimes, "less is more" ... we've not done it yet in our church, but I love the song. I felt the same way about that song "Mercy Seat" that came from the Brownsville Revival - Charity did it pretty good, but then everybody else did it, and I heard some girls do it that just screamed it, and it was like scraping your finger nails across a blackboard!

PS: COOL FEEDBURNER loopin your sig!

[BillyChia]

Yeah, Honestly I hate motion graphics, especially when your trying to read and and your eye keeps getting drawn to the motion. I debated about even using it as a sig, but we'll see if I get some click throughs. I'd be really happy if I could do a static graphic that just contained the headline of my latest post and dynamically updated.

[fmckinnon]

Hey, so are you anti-video loops during worship then (as backgrounds?)

Ooh - that sounds threatening .. but don't read it that way - I mean, just curious about that - in our church, there are those who love'em, and those who don't ... like anything else. I like them if they are more than eye-candy - I mean, I get tired of it when it's just spirograph, but if there are images to enhance the lyrics and propel me further by engaging my emotions and mind visually, I love them.

[BillyChia]

Actually Fred, you bring up a WONDERFUL point.

Yes, I have found myself on multiple occasions not only frustrated with ridiculous video loops behind words, but also the large array of crappy distracting graphics in general. Seriously, just use a blank one color screen (black, or dark gray with white words). It's much better than putting up uncompelling imagery on the screen that only distracts.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbsite/guitarbig.gif (http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail51.html)

So am I totally against all video? No, I've seen tons of video I love that I love that truly brought me into the presence of the Lord. I'm actually a huge fan of multiple things going on at once/controlled chaos/"emergent" style worship, which includes use of video. My problem is using video just for the sake of using video. Seriously there's no mandate. If you don't have quality stuff at your disposal just don't do it.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbsite/fire1.gif (http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail51.html)

Ultimately it comes down to accessibility and usability. For example, notice the annoying graphics I've placed in this post. They constantly move. The motion is a trigger for your eye. As soon as you try to read the text, your eye is ripped away from the words you want to read and zipped over to the motion graphic.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbsite/diamond.gif (http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail51.html)

A general rule for using motion behind words is that it should be "floaty" with soft transitions. Use low contrast within the image/video itself as well as high contrast against the words.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbsite/fire1.gif (http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail51.html)

Take for example our feedburner banners. Because it uses a soft transition I believe it is tolerable. It doesn't "rip" your eyes from the words. However I'd be even happier with a static image. My purpose here primarily is to create quality forum posts... then as a secondary purpose my website is marketed. People will visit it if they like my words. I don't want the marketing of my blog to overshadow my posts. Ya know?

[Klampert]

Kari is an amazing worship leader...and she does this song really great

[Klampert]

Billy: I do most of the graphics for the slides in our services...I am not a fan of the moving backgrounds...however...if you ever go to a delirious show...they do the moving lyrics really really cool