Day 1 - Rich Mullins - Awesome God

1. Rich Mullins - Awesome God
From the album Winds of Heaven...Stuff of Earth
(Reunion, 1998)

With Awesome God Mullins would fundamentally change Sunday morning worship at English speaking Churches across the world. Originally written quickly for a Michigan youth group, it became the single most often sung modern worship song in history.

Awesome God was the first single from the album "Winds of Heaven ... Stuff of Earth" and rose to the number one spot on Christian radio and subsequently became a popular congregational song. The song was inspired by Old Testament verses like Psalms 47:2 that refer to God as awesome. "For the LORD Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth."(NIV)

Actually, Mullins did not think the song was one of his best. In an interview with The Lighthouse Electronic Magazine in April 1996, he said:

"You know, the thing I like about Awesome God is that it's one of the worst-written songs that I ever wrote; it's just poorly crafted. But the thing is that sometimes, I think, that when you become too conscientious about being a songwriter, the message becomes a vehicle for the medium. This is a temptation that I think all songwriters have. I think a great songwriter is someone who is able to take a very meaningful piece of wisdom - or of folly or whatever - and say it in a way that is most likely to make people respond. But, what you want them to respond to is not how cleverly you did that; what you want them to respond to is your message."

Awesome God was listed as the Number One Christian song in history in CCM Magazine’s countdown of the greatest songs. It peaked at #1 on Billboard's Christian Singles Chart. Here is the original album version of the song: