Thanks to the fine folks over at Integrity Music we’ve got a great GIVEAWAY for our readers this month!
Next Friday (April 13, 2012) we will randomly draw FIVE (5) winners from the comments below. Each winner will receive all of these releases in a huge giveaway package:
1) DELUGE – SWELL:
Known for their ability to engage church audiences of all ages and worship traditions, Deluge calls Baton Rouge’s Bethany World Prayer Center home. Not only do the band members attend Bethany, “frontman” Jonathan Stockstill serves as Bethany’s lead pastor, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather in service to the church.
Hailed by ChristianityToday.com for their “rock-solid musicianship” and “inventive, hard-to-peg style,” Deluge first caught the attention of music critics and fans with the release of their self-titled Integrity Music debut in 2008. Two years later, the band returned with Unshakable, an album filled with songs inspired by faith-trying testimony. Now the band offers up Swell, a 12-track album produced by Brent Milligan (Steven Curtis Chapman/Audio Adrenaline) that features all new songs recorded live at the church’s annual 220 Conference. The project includes songs written by Deluge’s Stockstill, Andrae Harrison and Corey Bastin with guest co-writes by Milligan, Martha Munizzi and Stu G (Delirious), who also serves as a guest musician on the album.
“I can’t remember being this excited about a recording as long as we have been doing live worship records,” says Stockstill of Swell. “I feel the songs are among the best we’ve ever written and they are a lot of fun to sing in a corporate setting.”
Release Date: April 17, 2012
www.delugeband.com | facebook | twitter
2) DESPERATION BAND – CENTER OF IT ALL:
Anchored by the Desperation Band’s passionate approach to worship, Center Of It All is a bold call for believers to rise up and realize that God is not a priority, but the priority, the “Center Of It All.”
“We have found that our mission is to help awaken people to the presence of God,” says Desperation Band frontman Jon Egan. “When that happens, everything else falls into place. Our worship then naturally flows into every aspect of our lives. And it flows into action for others… the less fortunate, widows, orphans.”
“My heart has always been impacted by young people and what I can do to influence a young heart,” says Egan, an associate worship pastor at New Life. “It’s just part of who we are as a ministry. And I’m finding that it’s best for a young heart to worship with the Church at large… young, old and everywhere in between. It’s in community that we experience the even bigger picture of what God is doing.”
Naturally, that sense of community couldn’t help but make its way into the band’s new album. Turning to trusted friends like producer Paul Mabury (Hillsong, One Sonic Society) and Stu G (Delirious), Egan and bandmates Jared Henderson (drums), Niko Perez (keys), Matt Pacco (electric guitar) and Dan Egan (bass) experienced the inherent beauty of collaboration with like-minded artists.
Joining Jon Egan in the creation of songs for Center Of It All are writers Mia Fields, Matt Redman, Kari Jobe, Meredith Andrews, and SESAC’s Christian Songwriter of the Year, Jason Ingram (Chris Tomlin, Tenth Avenue North) to name a few. Further enhancing that collaborative spirit, Jobe and Ingram also lend their voices to the project while Stu G serves as a guest musician. And Hillsong’s Jimmy Rudder served as the album’s engineer with his wife, Sydney and the band’s labelmates All Sons & Daughters, providing background vocals.
“I think if we’re going to write songs that serve the Church, there’s something spiritually significant about the tracks not pointing back to an individual. When they point back to a group, something changes because it’s rooted in community.”
With iron sharpening iron throughout the process, the result is a collection of creative, challenging anthems written with the global Church in mind. From the compelling title track that reminds listeners of God’s rightful place, to the personal snapshot of Egan’s own worship journey in “Take Me to the River,” to the epic reflection of God’s many attributes in “Strong God,” Egan says the goal for Center Of It All is for listeners to grab hold of these songs and ultimately make them their own.
Release Date: April 10, 2012
www.desperationband.com | facebook | twitter
3) ALL SONS & DAUGHTERS – SEASON ONE:
The duo’s album, Season One, follows with a global release on March 13 to digital service providers as well as Christian book/music stores through Provident Distribution. The two-disc project includes the track lists from both EPs including their popular song “All the Poor and Powerless,” plus two new songs, worship resources and bonus video content. (A “complete my album” option will also be available to those who previously purchased one or both EPs through iTunes.)
Referring to the Season One album title, Leslie Jordan states: “Churches are ever-changing and at Journey, we are growing in our faith and exploring new elements of God and worship every day. The songs we write reflect these seasons of growth and change. Hopefully, others can identify with them as well.”
While writing songs for Journey Church and the larger body of Christ is their priority, All Sons & Daughters’ music is finding its way beyond church walls as fans everywhere identify with what Relevant magazine refers to as the duo’s “sweet melodies, melding voices and acoustic underpinnings.” Earning critical acclaim and comparisons to everyone from The Civil Wars to Josh White and the Rend Collective Experiment, All Sons & Daughters continue to bloom where they’re planted at The Journey Church. But the duo does make time to tour as their schedule allows, with appearances this year at the Story Conference in Chicago and the Purple Door Music Festival in Pennsylvania. Concert appearances in 2012 include a Canadian tour with Chris Tomlin in March and July’s National Worship Leader Conference in Kansas.
Release Date: March 13, 2012
www.allsonsanddaughters.com | facebook | twitter
4) FIKE – THE MOMENT WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR:
Integrity Music recently signed Colorado-based worship band Fike with their major label debut, The Moment We’ve Been Waiting For, slated to release April 10, 2012.
Fronted by husband and wife Richie and Dana Fike, the band was previously featured in Worship Leader magazine for their independently released album Make A Sound. The magazine also featured four of Fike’s songs (“Ascend to Heaven,” “Who is Like the Father,” “My Savior Lord,” “Glorious You Are”) in its Song DISCovery series, which introduces new worship songs to the Church.
Richie and Dana Fike have been writing for Integrity Music for the past two years, penning songs cut by The Katinas, Amy Perry, Travis Ryan, Dara Maclean and Phillips, Craig & Dean.
Their song “Ascend to Heaven” was chosen as “Song of the Year” at the Gospel Music Association’s “Music in the Rockies” event in 2008 and was included in the 2009 Dove Award-nominated choral collection by the same title.
Fike’s Integrity label debut, The Moment We’ve Been Waiting For, features 13 tracks and was produced by Brent Milligan (Steven Curtis Chapman/Seventh Day Slumber/The Elms) and Paul Mabury (Hillsong/Brandon Heath/One Sonic Society).
Release Date: April 10, 2012
www.fikemusic.com | facebook | twitter
5) TRAVIS RYAN – FEARLESS
California’s Saddleback Church worship pastor Travis Ryan releases his debut album, Fearless, through Integrity Music on April 10, 2012. Featuring songs co-written with Matt Redman, Jason Ingram, Brenton Brown, Ben Cantelon, All Sons & Daughters, Dan Bailey and others, the album was produced by Ryan’s band mate, Josh Auer (PAX217). Additional band members Dan Bailey (Fiction Family, Phil Wickham) and Brandon Collins join in to create the resulting melodic, dynamic rock influenced worship on Fearless that shares themes of God’s pursuit of his people (“Chase”), the rise of the church (“Battle Song”) and Holy Communion (“Jesus My Victory”). The first radio single from the album, “Jesus, Precious Jesus,” speaks to the theme of grace.
GRAMMY Award winners Adam Hawkins (Switchfoot, Natasha Bedingfield, 50 Cent) and Chris Testa (Jimmy Eat World, Mat Kearney, The Goo Goo Dolls) mixed and engineered respectively as Kevin Bartley (Red Hot Chili Peppers, B.B. King, Queensrÿche) mastered the album. OneRepublic’s Brent Kutzle also added his talents to “Awaken Us.” The resulting original music from Ryan is meant to inspire people to press on past fear, becoming courageous and marked by God’s boldness.
“The title track, and the whole album, is really a prayer that the church would be 1 John 4:18—There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear. This is a prayer for me and truth that the church must come alive to.”
Aligning his musical ministry pastorally with his church, Ryan is taking the “fearless” idea into engaging need across the world with his church’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan. The PEACE Plan (http://thepeaceplan.com/) is a massive effort to mobilize Christians around the world to address the issues of spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy by promoting reconciliation, equipping servant leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick and educating the next generation.
“We all wrestle with fear on one level or another, and I don’t want that to stop me from engaging the needs all around me, and encouraging others to do the same, The PEACE plan is one way we can all get involved to bring hope to a world in need.”
Sharing the message and music of his new album, Ryan will launch the new project with a special Fearless release event at Saddleback Church April 15. At the event, Matt Redman will join Ryan to sing the song they wrote together, “Chase,” and New York Times No. 1 best-selling author and pastor of the church, Rick Warren, will deliver a message.
Married with two young sons, Travis says, “If I died, these are the songs I would want my children to point to and say: that was my dad; my dad believed that. This is an altar to God.”
Release Date: April 10, 2012
TO ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION. PLEASE LIMIT YOUR ANSWERS TO ONE COMMENT (but feel free to respond to other people’s comments as much as you’d like).
- Deadline for entry: Friday April 13, 2012 – 12 midnight Eastern
- U.S & Canadian Residents only
- One entry per person (in the form of an answer to the question)
- Must enter with a valid email (in the comment contact section) – NO TWITTER HANDLES