Day 28 - Newsboys - He Reigns

28. Newsboys - He Reigns
From the album Adoration: The Worship Album (Sparrow Records, 2003)

This was the Newsboys tenth album but their first strictly worship album, so it was a bit of a risk for a band that dominated the Christian Pop charts for almost a decade. The gamble paid off as Adoration: The Worship Album became the best selling artist-worship album of 2003 and was nominated for both a Grammy and a Dove award. He Reigns claimed the #1 spot on the Christian Pop Chart for five straight weeks and was the most played song of the year.

In an interview with Kim Jones of ChristianMusic.About.com, drummer Duncan Phillips talked about He Reigns being one of his favorite songs on the album. "When I first started hearing the roughs of He Reigns it was like 'Oh my gosh.' This song is bigger than the Newsboys. It's got kind of this global reach about it. I was just so excited. I guess that would be one of my favorites."

The album peaked at #33 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and #1 on the Christian Albums chart. It has since been certified Gold with sales of over 500,000 copies. He Reigns peaked at #4 on the Christian Hot Songs chart and at #1 on both the Christian Adult Contemporary and Christian Hit Radio charts.

Here is the original studio released music video for the song.

Day 27 - Nichole Nordeman - Holy

27. Nichole Nordeman - Holy
From the album Woven & Spun (Sparrow Records, 2002)

Nichole Nordeman got her start in the Christmas music industry when she entered, and won, a talent competition produced by the Gospel Music Association. After two well received albums she released Woven & Spun which many consider to be one of the best Christian albums of all time.

What sets this album apart from the majority of CCM fare is its sheer simplicity. There are no big pop-music hooks, no overproduced wall of sound strings or horns and no attempt is made to follow the tried and true Nashville formula. It's just a collection of 12 incredibly well written songs carried by Nichole's stunning voice and sung with genuine transparency, authenticity and vulnerability.

Here's what Nichole had to say about the song Holy.

"Every artist has a song that they measure time by. For me Holy was that song. Many were suddenly referring to my music as either ‘pre-Holy’ or ‘post-Holy.’ Certainly up until that song, most of my writing had been pretty introspective. … When it was time to write for the third project, I discovered this wonderful thing as a songwriter that I hadn’t experienced yet, and that was to write something that was more universal, that would speak to everyone’s experience. It came from a personal place, but I knew even in writing it that a lot of people would connect with it on a much broader scale and be able to sing that as an anthem along with me. So that was a really great moment to step back and see that this songwriting thing just doesn’t have to be about me. it can have some arms out there.” (source: CBN.com)

In 2003, Nordeman won four Dove Awards including Female Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year all for the song Holy.

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 26 - Steven Curtis Chapman - I Will Be Here

26. Steven Curtis Chapman - I Will Be Here
From the album More to This Life (Sparrow, 1989)

This is Steven's second appearance on this list. When it's all over he will be listed with five songs and four of them in the top 100. It's not surprising, considering he has released 20 albums in his career winning 5 Grammy awards, 56 GMA Dove Awards (more than any other artist in history), and many other accolades. I will be Here is from his 3rd album, More to This Life, which has been certified Gold with sales of over 525,000 units.

The tender lyrics paint such a beautiful picture of a man's unconditional commitment to his wife and his marriage, but they were inspired by a painful experience in his life. When Chapman and wife Mary Beth married in 1984, they were young but they had a good role model to follow; the strong, spiritually-centered marriage that Steven’s parents had. But shortly after they wee married, Stven's parents relationship began to come apart.

"So in the process of that," Steven says, "my parents did end up divorcing, [and] it really shook the foundation of my faith, my ideas of marriage and everything because, again, with my parents, there was a strength there."

With the fears the Chapmans had about the state of their union, Steven wanted to assure his wife that their marriage wouldn’t crumble. "It felt like I needed to drive a stake in the ground again and say to her, ‘No matter how I feel when I wake up tomorrow, no matter how disillusioned we may be at different points of this, I have made this commitment to you, and I will be here when you wake up.’ Because I think there was this real fear in her that said, ‘Wow, if this happened in his parents’ lives, what assurance do we have that this won’t be our story as well?’"

In writing the words "And just as sure as the seasons were made for change/Our lifetimes are made for these years/So I, I will be here," Steven found a release for his troubled heart and also discovered a way to encourage others. "I was so surprised when people began to use the song as a wedding song and to have them say to me what a beautiful song of commitment it was for them," Chapman recalls. "It was one of many ways God redeemed that [experience] in my own [life] and continues to." (source)

Here is the original album version of the song.



And here is a live performance of the song were Chapman talks about the inspiration behind the song:

Day 25 - Audio Adrenaline - Big House

25. Audio Adrenaline - Big House
From the album Don't Censor Me (ForeFront Records, 1993)

Big House is easily Audio Adrenaline's biggest hit, most recognizable, and most popular song of their career. The song reached number 1 on Christian radio and won the 1996 GMA Dove Award for Long Form Music Video of the Year. CCM Magazine named it the Song of the Dacade for the 1990s and the 25th best Christian song of all time.

The song loosely takes it's inspiration from    John 19:2; "My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?"(NIV)

Originally, it was a song that the band performed live, but lead singer Mark Stuart was reluctant to record it. His dad kept telling him that if they put it on an album it would be a big hit--and it was!

Here is the original studio released video for the song.

Day 24 - Third Day - Show Me Your Glory

24. Third Day - Show Me Your Glory
From the album Come Together (Essential, 2001)

2001 was a big year for Third Day. After winning Dove Awards for Group of the Year, Artist of the Year, Rock Recorded Song of the Year (for Sky Falls Down), Praise and Worship Album of the Year (for Offerings: A Worship Album, and Special Event Album of the Year (for City on a Hill: Songs of Worship and Praise), the band released Come Together, an album which eventually won them three more Dove Awards for Artist of the Year, Rock Album of the Year and Rock Recorded Song of the Year! It also earned the band their first Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album.

"Third Day guitarist Mark Lee describes Show Me Your Glory this way: 'The songs that I try to write by thinking commercially or try to write 'for our audience' are usually the ones that end up on the Third Day scrap heap. But the ones that I write just for myself, out of that personal place. are the ones that, for whatever reason, people end up latching on to.'" (source: CCM Presents: 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music, Integrity Publishing 2006, P. 88)

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 23 - Avalon - Testify to Love

23. Avalon - Testify to Love
From the album A Maze of Grace (Sparrow, 1997)

A Maze of Grace is Avalon's second album, released in December 1997. It contains the hit single Testify to Love, which has become the group's trademark song, the longest-running Adult Contemporary song in the history of the CCM Update AC chart. The album was Avalon's first to be certified Gold by the RIAA." (Source: Wikipedia)

Avalon was hugely successful right from the start. Their eponymous 1996 debut album produced four straight #1 radio hits and garnered the group a Dove Award for New Artist of the year. With A Maze of Grace the group scored 4 more #1 radio hits including Testify to Love. Produced by Charlie Peacock, the song demonstrates Avalon's flair for smooth, seamless harmonies and light pop hooks.

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 22 - Michael W. Smith - Place in This World

22. Michael W. Smith - Place in This World
From the album Go West Young Man (Reunion Records, 1990)

With the possible exception of Amy Grant, no other Christian artist has had more success than Michael W. Smith. He has won an American Music Award, three Grammy Awards, and earned 40 Dove Awards. Over the course of his career, he has sold more than 13 million albums and recorded 29 No. 1 Hit songs, fourteen gold albums, and five platinum albums. He has also published 12 books. And if all that is not enough he was also once named one of People Magazine's "Most Beautiful People!" 

After five successful Christian albums, Reunion Records signed a distribution deal with Geffen and released Go West Young Man. Smith scored the biggest hit of his career with Place in This World, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1991. The song spurred sales of 1,000,000 copies earning him a platinum record. Smith talks about his experience writing the song: "I was in my basement in my house, and when I wrote it, I just thought, 'This sounds like a pop hit,' Michael recalls. "I got chills and the whole deal."

Here is the original studio released music video for the song.