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.

Day 21 - Rich Mullins - Step By Step

21. Rich Mullins - Step By Step
From the album The World as Best I Remember It, Vol. 1 (Reunion, 1992)

Rich Mullins makes his second appearance on our countdown (or count-up!) with Step By Step, his 7th #1 single from his first #1
album. "The Chorus of Sometimes by Step first appeared on The World as Best I Remember it, Vol 1 as a simple chorus written by Beaker called Step By Step. It
was sung by a young child and opened and closed the album. By Vol. 2, Rich had reworked it and written new lyrics to form verses around the now familiar chorus.

The song both opens and closes the album. The opening cut is sung first by a boy soprano before Rich takes up its plaintive refrain. On the closing track the song is sung by a large chorus. The little boy sings a single line a capella near the end to bring it all together. The song wasn't a radio hit so much, but it became a very popular chorus for contemporary worship services. 

Here is the original opening track from the album.



Here is the original closing track from the album.


And finally, here is the Sometimes By Step the song that it turned in to on Volume 2.

Day 20 - Twila Paris - How Beautiful

20. Twila Paris - How Beautiful
From the album Cry for the Desert (StarSong, 1991)

Twila Paris has had an astonishing 32 #1 hits, five Dove Awards, three American Songwriter Awards, and sold over 2 million albums. This is the first of four of her songs that will appear in the top 100 of this countdown. She released her first album, Little Twila Paris, in 1965 at the age of 7; a collection of songs she sang with her family at evangelistic outreaches.

Here's what she says about How Beautiful: "I think, 'how did I think of that chord progression. What in the world made me stumble onto that?' I look back on some of the songs that I have written and I really do know that I'm not that smart!" She says. “I write from personal experience. Most of my songs are prayers from me to God and are very vertical … I believe that we all go through the same things though not at the same times.” However she does it, it works. Several of her songs such as He Is Exalted, We Will Glorify, Lamb of God, and We Bow Down, have made their way into modern church hymnals.

How Beautiful only peaked at #6 on the Adult Contemporary Christian Music Chart but has since come to be regarded as one of the greatest Christian songs of all time.

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 19 - Point of Grace - The Great Divide

19. Point of Grace - The Great Divide
From the album The Whole Truth (Word Records, 1995)

Point of Grace charted 6 #1 singles on their 1993 eponymous debut album, an achievement no other artist in any genre of music has been able to match. Before them Gloria Estafan and Mariah Carey both held the record for #1 singles from a debut album with 4. The Great Divide turned out to be yet another #1 single from the female quartet who are known for their great trademark harmonies. The ladies have a long term agreement that they won't record a song unless all 4 of them really like it and their tastes in music has paid off for them.

Songwriter Grant Cunningham has a line in the chorus that says "there's a bridge to cross the great divide," but at one point he accidentally transposed two of the words and wrote "there's a cross to bridge the great divide." The dual meanings of both words works perfectly and what was a typo turned out to be a very clever line. The ladies loved the "mistake" and decided to keep it in the song.

The Whole Truth remained at #1 on the Christian Albums Chart for 11 weeks and in the top 10 for 45 consecutive weeks. The Great Divide peaked at #1 on the Christian Adult Contemporary Chart. They won a Dove Award in 1996 for Group of the Year and also won Doves for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Album of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year.

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 18 - Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses

11. Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses
From the album Butterfly Kisses (Shades of Grace) (Diadem Records, 1997)

Before Butterfly Kisses became the biggest hit of his career, Bob Carlisle was best known (and not very well known at that) as the former lead singer and guitar player for the 80's Christian rock band Allies, which he formed with Randy Thomas of Sweet Comfort Band. Songs from both those groups will appear much later on in this list. Few people know that this was actually Bob's second big hit song. He also wrote Why'd You come in Here Looking Like That? which became a #1 country hit for Dolly Parton.

The song was originally recorded as a gift for Carlisle's daughter, Brooke's 16th birthday. He hadn't planned on releasing it at the time and only included it on his album after his wife had urged him to do so. "I was shy about it," Carlisle said, adding that he had to leave the room when he played it for his producers. When he returned the men were in tears.

Bob Carlisle

The song, which just happened to be released around Father's Day, became a big hit after Diadem was purchased by Zomba Recording Group. The parent label's Chariman, Clive Calder discovered it when he was familiarizing himself with the new music his company had just acquired. He believed the song would strike a chord among fathers and daughters and urged his promotion people to push for airplay on top 40 and adult contemporary radio stations.

Around that time a New York Deejay started playing it after he heard that the phone lines lit up every time a deejay in Tampa played it.

According to Barry Weiss, president of Jive, another label owned by Zomba, "When WPLJ in New York started playing it, it turned into an overnight phenomenon. I mean, people were pulling over to the side of the New Jersey Turnpike and crying in their cars when they heard this song."

The song peaked at #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, 10 on the US Radio Songs Chart, 13 on the Adult mainstream chart, 16 on the  US Pop Chart and 45 on the Country chart. Another version recorded by the Raybon Brothers hit #22 on the Hot 100 chart and 37 on the Country Songs chart. It earned Carlisle a Grammy Award for Country Song of the Year (as the songwriter) and three Dove awards for Inspirational recorded song of the Year, Song of the year and Southern Gospel Song of the year (also as songwriter). 

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 17 - Michael English - Mary, Did You Know?

17. Michael English - Mary, Did You Know?
From the album Michael English (Curb, 1995)

"Poignant, profound, tender and reverent." These are the words used in CCM Magazine's book, 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music to describe Mary, Did You Know. These are not words one would normally associate with comedian Mark Lowry, but he is the author of the song.

In 1984, Lowry was asked to write a script for a Church Christmas play. He wrote a series of questions that he would like to ask Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to be used in between scenes of the play. These questions became a poem and for the next decade or so Lowry tried to find someone to write the music to go with it. Finally, musician and songwriter Buddy Greene put the music to the song. Legend has it that he wrote the music in about 15 minutes.

The song has become a popular Christmas song performed by more than thirty artists including Cee Lo Green, Clay Aiken, Daniel Childs, Natalie Cole, Pippa Wilson, Kathy Mattea and Michael Crawford. A duet version recorded by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks Chart in 1997. That was the most popular version of the song, but this recording by Michael English was the first released and the best. 

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 16 - Third Day - Agnus Dei

11. Third Day - Agnus Dei
From the album Exodus (Rocketown Records, 1998)

Exodus was a compilation praise and worship album that Michael W. Smith put together for his own Rocketown label. Smith is also the songwriter of Agnus Dei (which means "Lamb of God"). The song is a classically based worship song, so when Third Day approached him about doing a rock cover of it for the album, Smith was naturally skeptical. "It was one of those songs I wrote in five minutes, because it all just came flooding out," he says. "I actually cried on that one; I had a meltdown." This version is heavier and more edgy than the original which appears on Smith's breaktrough Go West Young Man album, but after hearing Third Day's treatment, Smith was very happy to allow them to cover it.

The album won a Dove Award for Special Event Album of the Year and the song still gets frequent airplay, today.

Here is the original Exodus album version of the song.

Day 15 - Bill Gaither Trio - Because He Lives

15. Bill Gaither Trio - Because He Lives
From the album Because he Lives (Heartwarming Records, 1974)

Bill and Gloria Gaither have written a bunch of hit songs over the last 45 years as the Gaithers and part of the Bill Gaither Trio and the New Gaither Vocal Band. They continue to create award winning music today, receiving two Dove Awards in 2011 for Southern Gospel Song of the Year and Southern Gospel Album of the Year. Because He Lives was perhaps their biggest hit, winning a GMA Dove Award in 1974 for Song or the Year, and an ASCAP Award* for Best Gospel Song of the Year.

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 14 - Jaci Velasquez - On My Knees

14. Jaci Velasquez - On My Knees
From the album Hevenly Places (Myrrh Records, 1996)

At only 17 years old, Jaci Velasquez won the Dove Award for New Artist of the year on the strength of her stunningly successful debut album Heavenly Place. She was also voted Best New Artist in both CRR and CCM's Reporter polls. In 1997, she was nominated for 3 more Dove Awards including Artist of the Year and Inspirational Song of the year, The following year, On My Knees won the prestigious Song of the Year award. All four of the singles released from the album reached #1 on the Christian Songs Chart.

The album was later certified Platinum. Velasquez has been distinguished as the fastest selling solo debut recording artist in her genre and the first solo artist in Christian music history to reach gold status with a debut album, prior to releasing a second project.

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

Day 13 - Larry Norman - I Wish We'd All Been Ready

13. Larry Norman - I Wish We'd All Been Ready
From the album Upon This Rock (Capitol Records, 1969)

After a brief stint with the band People!, Capitol Records released Norman's first solo album, Upon This Rock, in 1969. Many consider this to be the first full-blown Christian rock album ever recorded. Capitol gave him full artistic control of the music, lyrics and packaging. Unfortunately, he delivered an album that was too religious to appeal to a mainstream audience and too "progressive" musically for the Christian market. Norman was heavily criticized by various television evangelists, and Capitol deemed the album a "commercial flop" and dropped him from the label. However, his music gained a large following in the emerging counter-cultural movements and sales of the album rose following its distribution in Christian bookstores.

The original version of the song appeared on Upon This Rock but a longer, better and far more popular version of the song was recorded on Only Visiting This Planet (Verve,1972). This is the version discussed here.

The song is about the rapture and takes it's inspiration from Matthew 24. Norman sings,

"a man and wife asleep in bed
she hears a noise and turns her head
he’s gone
I wish we’d all been ready
two men walking up a hill
one disappears and one’s left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready"

The song gained more popularity when it was included in the soundtrack of the movie A Thief in the Night and later inspired the Left Behind book series.

Here is the Only Visiting This Planet album version of the song.

Day 12 - Nicole C. Mullen - Redeemer

12. Nicole C. Mullen - Redeemer
From the album Nicole C. Mullen (Word, 2000)

Redeemer first appeared on Mullen's debut release on Word Records in 2000, but her participation in the music industry goes all the way back to 1991 when she released her first album, Don't Let Me Go, on the independant Frontline label. She was perhaps better known as a back up singer on the music video at the end of the VeggieTales program, Larry-Boy and the Fib from Outer Space! and the opening of the VeggieTales presentation, Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed. In the 90s, she also sang back-up for Michael W. Smith and the Newsboys and worked as a dancer/choreographer with Amy Grant. Her first big hit was a song she wrote for Jaci Velasquez called On My Knees. (See Day 14.)

Nicole C. Mullen

According to Cross Rhythms, "Nicole is possessed of a beautiful voice that bears favourable comparison with Whitney Houston and a talent for writing catchy songs that get your foot tapping then hit you between the eyes when the lyrics filter through to the brain."

Upon its release Redeemer immediately became a huge hit quickly rising to #1 on the Christian charts. The music industry rewarded her talent with her second Dove Award for Song of the year. She received her first Song of the Year award for co-writing On My Knees. She also received Dove Awards for Songwriter of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Record of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.

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

Day 11 - City on a Hill - God of Wonders

11. City on a Hill - God of Wonders
From the album City on a Hill: Songs of Worship and Praise (Essential, 2000)

City on a Hill was actually a collaborative effort spearheaded by Producer Steve Hindalong and features members of Jars of Clay, Sixpence None the Richer, Third Day, FFH, Peter Fuhrler, Gene Eugene (from Adam Again), The Choir, SonicFlood and Caedmon's Call. God of Wonders, the albums biggest hit, features Mac Powell of Third Day and Caedmon's Call among the 12 musicians performing in the song. God of Wonders is a simple declaration of the holiness and majesty of the Creator.The singers and the music combine for the perfect mix of awe and adoration as the song starts out slow and reverent and builds to a robust climax. The subtle inclusion of the a line from the traditional hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty blends traditional and modern worship in a way that works perfectly.

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 10 - Darlene Zschech - Shout to the Lord

10. Darlene Zschech - Shout to the Lord
From the album Shout to the Lord (Hosanna/Integrity, 1996)

Zschech got her start in the entertainment industry at the age of 10 when she was a regular on the Australian kids' show Merry Go Round. She went on to record Jingles for international companies such as McDonalds, KFC and Coca-Cola. From 1996-2007 She was the Worship Pastor at the famous Hillsong Church.

"A native of Queensland, Australia, Darlene's self-penned Shout to the Lord is practically the theme song for the entire [praise and worship] movement. It is sung by an estimated 25-30 million churchgoers every week, has been covered by at least 20 other artists and has been performed for the President of the United States and the Pope at the Vatican." (source: CCM Presents: 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music, Integrity Publishing, 2006, p. 38)

Here is the original album version of the song.

Day 9 - Newsboys - Shine

9. Newsboys - Shine
From the album Going Public (StarSong Records, 1994)

Going Public was an imprtant album that had a huge impact on the Christian music industry. But it also needs to be recognized for it's incredible music and stronger lyrical themes than many of it's contemporaries. This is undobtedly due in no small part to the influence of Producer Steve Taylor who co-wrote some of the songs including Shine. The breakthrough album was the band's first real success and won a Dove Award in 1995 for Rock Album of the Year. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album

The song peaked at #1 on the Christian Hit Radio Chart and was nominated for a Dove Award for Song of the Year. The video was also nominated for a Dove Award for Short Form Video of the Year.

Here is the studio released concept video for the song.