I recently had the privilege of listening to A Greater Glimpse: Live Worship from Church of the Living God, a new release from worship leader Mike Kim. Mike is the worship pastor at Church of the Living God, in Manchester, CT. In addition, Mike is a songwriter, producer, and author. I first met Mike last May at the All About Worship Retreat. Mike was one of the worship leaders/workshop instructors there, and I really appreciated both his music and his heart as a pastor and worship leader!
A Greater Glimpse was recorded live at some regional nights of worship in Manchester, where hundreds of believers from across New England and the Northeast U.S. gathered to worship and contend for renewal, revival and restoration. The album features several area worship leaders including Mike Kim, Eric Peoples, Sarah Warner and special guest Kent Henry.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this recording, because I had not heard much of Mike’s music before. Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised! It’s a very professionally-sounding live recording, with a great mix of familiar worship songs and original songs written out of what God is doing in New England and the Northeast U.S. The project opens with a great rendition of the familiar song “All Because of Jesus” from the band Fee. Next are a couple of original worship songs written by Mike Kim, “Grace Fell Like Rain” and “The Great I AM”, both of which would be excellent songs for corporate worship! Mike describes the circumstances surrounding writing “The Great I Am” – “I tried to put into words some of the things I’d been meditating on regarding the greatness and awe of God … how impossible it is to truly describe him despite our best linguistic efforts. Wordy verses, easy chorus, but it was intentional and if I could just put ‘!!!!!!!!’ into a song to somehow express our inexpressible God I would have.”
There are also some powerful times of live prophetic worship and intercession on songs like “I Will Calm Every Raging Sea” and “Come Alive” with worship leader Kent Henry. Kent also sings his rendition of the IHOP song “Where I Belong”. The album ends with “Jesus You Are”, written by Nate Cronk, and Jessie Goodman’s celebratory song “There Is A River”.
I would definitely recommend checking this album out! You can easily tell that God was moving mightily during this live recording, and this album provides a glimpse at that event, while also allowing us to enter into worship as well each time we listen. It’s very well done with the quality sound of a studio recording, but yet obviously live with the response of those worshipping. Here’s the best part – you can actually listen to the entire album online before purchasing it at mikekim.bandcamp.com! Also, be sure to check out other resources from Mike, including books he’s authored and other recording at his website.
Packed show this week with updates and interviews. Wisdom and Ben catch up with Mike Kim, Phil Wickham and Tom Metz from WorshipPlanning.com. Stay tuned at the end of the show for a special announcement. We also have some great listener feedback from around the globe and Star Wars. Yes…see if you can count the number of Star Wars references in this episode. Check out the notes below:
All About Worship Retreat
Ben and Wisdom talk with our good friend and worship leader Mike Kim. You’ll hear about his breakout sessions that he’ll be teaching at the upcoming retreat. Learn more about Mike at his website www.MikeKimMusic.com. Follow Mike on Twitter here. If you haven’t registered yet for the retreat…GO NOW!!!! Visit www.WorshipRetreat.org Check out Mike’s latest release “In Our Day” on iTunes here. If you enjoyed the song “Greatly to be Praised”, you can pick it up on iTunes here.
One of the greatest challenges worship leaders face is managing the administrative side of leading. We talk with Tom Metz who created WorshipPlanning.com. A fantastic resource for team scheduling, song tracking, worship service planning and communicating. Huge thanks to Tom for taking time to talk with us about this great tool. You can try it out for 3o days free!
HUGE thanks to Phil for stopping by the show. Once again…we are extremely grateful for the love and support of YOU the listener. We’re thrilled and honored that you’re a part of the show. Thanks for listening and encouraging us to keep going! To our sponsors and friends….THANK YOU!!!
For your chance to win one of these all you have to do is send us an email with a comment or a tool suggestion for the Worship Leader Toolbox segment: podcast@allaboutworship.com OR leave a message on our hotline: 206-984-2441 and email us and let us know you left a message so that we have your email address as a way to get in contact with you if you win.
We will announce the three winners, picked at random, on our show on Wednesday, December 10th.
This is the NEW and IMPROVED All About Worship Podcast, with a new segment and a new co-host, Ben Abu Saada. Also, we recorded this show while we were live on Mogulus and had some folks watch us live on our webcam.
On this edition of the AAWP, we feature a special interview with worship pastor and songwriter, Mike Kim. He shares from his heart and challenges and encourages us to keep our focus on God.
We also give away two CDs by Mike Kim. To submit your name for the giveaway, email us your ideas or comments for the AAWP by Dec. 7th to podcast(at)allaboutworship.com.
