You will need Adobe Reader to view the following charts.

1. WONDER OF YOUR LOVE
2. LOUDER THAN THE ANGELS
3. SHADOW OF YOUR CROSS
4. I BOW DOWN
5. MAGNIFY
6. LIVING SACRIFICE
7. BE A FATHER TO HER
8. SO BEAUTIFUL
9. WE NEED YOU
10. I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN
11. THE FATHER I NEVER HAD

SONG BY SONG
UP CLOSE WITH JOEL ENGLE

Wonder Of Your Love
After battling the effects of my childhood, such as depression and fear for many years, this song is a reflection of the power of God’s love in my life. When I discovered the power of the Gospel, the fact that all of my sin is forgiven and that God loves me and accepts me based on the finished work of His Son, my life was never the same. I think you can hear the celebration of what God showed me in this song. This track is a song of celebration; it’s basically a party song praising God for what He has done in my life. I love the driving guitar riff at the beginning of the song mixed with the contagious groove underneath. When the key change after the bridge happens, I just want to get up and dance. That may not be a good thing though... that is to see me dance.

Louder Than The Angels
The Bible is full of pictures of worship. We read about the angels of God singing nonstop, day and night “Holy, Holy, Holy.” In Isaiah 6, the doorposts and thresholds of heaven shake with the volume of the host of heaven giving praise to God. Yet, this thought hit me, God didn’t send His Son to die for the angels but He sent Jesus to give His life for a lost humanity without hope. How much louder should God’s people sing to Him because of the grace He has given us in His one and only Son? You see, the angels in heaven have never known what it was like to be separated from God and then bought back by God’s most costly sacrifice. I used the idea of hyperbole to show how much more I should be thankful to God for what He has done. This song is so fun to sing as well. I love the piano riff that is used throughout the track.

Shadow Of Your Cross
Like many other Christians, I have seen the movie “The Passion of Christ.” I was a little hesitant to go see the movie just because I didn’t want to see another movie misrepresent the life of my Savior. However, after all of the testimonies of others seeing the movie and being blown away, I decided to go and see it. I remember going into the theater and asking the Holy Spirit to not let me leave the movie unchanged. My prayer was answered. I remember going out of the theater with the prayer “God please don’t let me live a life that ignores what you did for me.” Later on that night, I got back to the house and wrote this song. The whole song was written in less than two hours. I love how Matt Stanfield and Stephen Leiweke (the producers) approached this song musically. It just flows yet it has an unpretentious power in the music. The acoustic guitar in the verses almost takes me back to the road of suffering that Christ walked. I pray that I will never forget what Christ did for me.

I Bow Down
Several years ago, I did a youth retreat with several hundred students in Louisiana. After one service, I sat in the auditorium alone at the piano. I sensed God’s Spirit so powerfully at one moment as I was playing this old beat up piano. God was gently breaking my heart over my pride and self-dependence. The verse came together but the chorus was left unfinished for quite awhile. Finally, after a year or so I finished the song and began to use it as a worship song when I ministered live. After a few more years, this song began to catch on in youth groups and churches around the country. If someone were to ask me what I believed the definition of biblical worship was, I think I could sing this song to give them and they would get it. Worship is bowing down to the King of Kings with a heart of surrender. This song is produced with more of an edge than I used to do it and I think it really makes this song more passionate and intense. The bridge is simply an ad lib that I started doing live a few years ago and everyone involved in the project thought it should be incorporated in the track. I think it really brings the concept of worship back to the cross which is the biblical response for worship.

Magnify
When you hear the guitar line at the beginning this song you are going to be hooked! It’s really a simple riff that just draws you into the song. It’s a real introduction to the lyrics “Come and Magnify the Lord.” This song drives from beginning to end with an infectious beat and feel. I had so much fun singing this song in the studio. The bridge becomes a descant at the end of the song proclaiming the celebration of salvation and the call to worship a holy God. I really like how the piano and electric guitar work together throughout the song. Matt Stanfield (a really amazing piano player) helped me come up with an interesting piano hook in the pre-choruses as well. I wanted him to play it but he made me play it anyway.

Living Sacrifice
I was doing a camp with my good friend Rick Ousely. Rick was the camp pastor that week and one night he spoke on Romans 12:1. He said that the call for every Christian is to offer up their lives to God as a sacrifice of worship. That message really hit me that night. After the big service, I attended a small gathering of students who were taking the Lord’s Supper that night. During that small, intimate service, the Holy Spirit gave me this song. The bridge to this song is probably one my most favorite bridges I have ever written. I have always loved Isaiah 53 and have tried to use it in several songs but Living Sacrifice was the perfect song to graft it into. The song is the heart-cry of every worshipper because every believer longs to find a way to allow Christ to live through them and to be their life-source.

Be A Father To Her
On February 6th, 2003, I became a first-time dad! I know that everybody thinks that their kid is the brightest and the best but they are wrong: mine is! On a serious side, fatherhood has changed my life is the best way possible. I think one of the greatest testimonies of the existence of God is the birth of a child. Yet this world is so dangerous for children today. How can I spare Elizabeth the pain and suffering that happens to children and teenagers in our immoral culture? I came to the realization that only God can protect her from the lies of the enemy. My prayer for her is that God will intervene in her life at an early age and that because of her love for God she will choose holiness over sin. As I recorded this song, I broke down in the middle of recording the vocals out of praise to God for being my Father and my deep desire that Elizabeth can know our Heavenly Father that way that I know Him. Man, I hope God will use this song to encourage Christian fathers all over the world.

So Beautiful
Most of the teaching on worship that I have heard in my life has been about our personal walk with God. However, our relationship with other believers is just as important as are personal walk. To put it simply; we need each other. I don’t think we can truly worship God authentically without being a functioning part of the Body of Christ. Several months ago, I started a weekly bible study back home in D/FW. From the first night, the honesty and vulnerability of these 6 men blew me away. We encouraged each other and we held each other accountable in love. One night one our guys shared some very intimate things to us and many guys in the room lovingly challenged him in his walk with Christ. The next day he sent us all an e-mail of thanks and at the end of it he said “God is beautiful in you.” It hit me so hard! When we choose to live lives of community and authenticity Christ shines is us to this world. My good friend (and A&R director) Darrell A. Harris helped bring this song to life. I had a blast writing it with him and this track is very ethereal and has a really interesting musical texture to it.

We Need You
To me, this is the most powerful track on the recording. Some songs come very quickly and others take a while. We Need You took a while to come to life; like six years! We were looking for some more songs and at the last minute I looked under my piano bench at home and found the lyrics to this song. I tried to remember the music as best as I could and thought “this song probably won’t make the record but who knows.” I called my buddy Mark Stitts to see if I could use his studio to demo this song, drove over there, played it and sang it in about fifteen minutes and headed to D/FW airport for Nashville. The next day I played this song for Darrell Harris at his house in Nashville. As the song finished, Darrell sat there and cried for about five minutes. I wasn’t sure if he liked it or hated it. God used that song in his life in a deep way and needless to say, it made the recording. We Need You is a cry for revival in the church taken out of Psalm 80. I think it is pretty obvious that we are in a moral crisis in our country. We need God to restore our families, churches and lives to a life of worship. This track is so powerful, especially at the end. Matt and Stephen did a wonderful job of interpreting this song musically.

I Will See You Again
Last November, a man who was in my church committed suicide. He was a Christian. He came to Christ on July 4th, 2003. He was a Vietnam war veteran who had seen and experienced things that left him tortured with horrific memories. Those terrible events scarred him for life and in a moment of weakness he ended his life. But even in that short time of knowing Christ, he made an impact. As I ran sound for his funeral, I knew that I would see him again. Yes, he made a terrible mistake, a sin against God and his family but he knew Christ and he was a child of God. That is how powerful our salvation is, that amidst our weakness and our tendency to wander from God, God is faithful. As I recorded this song, I began to think about other people who have passed away and I knew that I would see them again. My grandma and grandpa, pastors, friends who have fallen asleep are alive in heaven forevermore and because of Christ, I will worship God with them for all eternity.

The Father I Never Had
My dad left my mom and I when I was only a month old. I never had any contact with him my whole life; I never even saw a picture of him. My mom died when I was eleven. I lived with my grandparents until my grandpa died when I was fourteen. Because of all of this, I lived with a lot of emotional pain for many years. It even affected my marriage to my beautiful, godly wife for a season. But I have begun to realize that God is my father. Psalm 68:5 says that “God is a father to the fatherless.” Yes, I still feel the pain of my past at times but Christ “has replaced what the locusts have eaten.” This song didn’t need huge production with all the bells and whistles. Just a piano and a vocal will do. This is a song of intimacy. Kemper Crabb helped with the lyrics on this song a long time ago. I pray that it will encourage a lot of people who have had to walk down the road of the fatherless like I had to walk.

printable version

You will need Adobe Reader to view the following charts.

• WONDER OF YOUR LOVE
• LOUDER THAN THE ANGELS
• SHADOW OF YOUR CROSS
• WE NEED YOU
• THE FATHER I NEVER HAD