This is one of my favorite songs from the new Hillsong album. Take a few minutes and listen to this song and just be.

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The new Hillsong live album, Faith+Hope+Love, came out today, (or last night for those in Alaska) and I felt that it might be a good thing to chime in with some of my initial thoughts on the album, having listened to it all the way through.

It’s also a slow day as far as ideas go to keep up with NaBloPoMo.

There’s a lot of high expectations around this album from the guys down under. After the awesome-epicness that was This is Our God.

I think that off the bat, my favorite song on the CD is I Will Exalt You. Brooke Fraser sings it (that’s enough of a reason right there) and it has a beautiful and simple feel to it that build intensity but never reaches a full on anthem sound like Hillsong does so well.

I also really, really like You Hold Me Now at the end of the CD. This song is also on the United CD that came out this year, but the combined placement and arrangement of the song on this album made for a truly awesome time of worship. There’s also the time at the end singing a part of the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

The one little thing about this album that you’ll notice in contrast to the last few live albums if the flow of songs. This album was recorded on separate nights as opposed to one night like previous albums. This leads to a few spots where it abruptly changes and goes to the next song. Other than that though, I really like this album.

This is the 18th live worship album that Hillsong has done and it doesn’t show signs of stopping soon. Their songwriters continue to write incredible songs that people across the earth can worship to. This CD, like most, will get better the more it’s listened to and I’m excited for the new songs to sing to our Lord.

Go buy this album.

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On September 2, 2008, my friend Lindee and I traveled from Eagle River, Alaska to San Jose, California for a Hillsong United concert there. It was a whirlwind experience and an unforgettable 24 hours. Below is a video and a blog post that hopefully show and tell just how amazing of a trip it was.

Originally written on September 4, 2008, 11:00 a.m.

So now that it’s the day after and I’ve had a little bit of time to fully process what all went on in the whirlwind of excitement that took place on September 2, 2008, I feel that I am adequately prepared to share the experience. The whole day can be pretty much summed up in one word, blessed. In fact, this whole trip can be summed up by the same word. God’s hand in guiding us and making it possible for us to be here has been so apparent and clear. From the offer of plane tickets, to the housing, to the flight loads, to the VIP status for the concert.

The morning started off early, 3:30 a.m. for those of you keeping track at home, with getting up, showering, picking Lindee up at 4:20 a.m. and jetting off to the airport for our 6:30 a.m. flight. We got checked in and already had seat assignments even though we were on standby. So we didn’t have to sit and wonder if we were going to get on the flight, and we talked to the gate agent and she was able to get us two seats next to each other. The flight from Anchorage to Seattle was quite pleasant, everything from the airplane safety to meeting our new friend, Betty, from Texas and who sings in the over 60 choir at her church. Our flight made it to Seattle about 30 minutes early, (can you say “miracle?!”).

In Seattle we ate our only food of the day, minus the breakfast cookie back home, at Ivar’s in the grande sized food court that is the Seattle-Tacoma airport and headed off to our gate where we were able to, again, get seats next to each other. The flight from Seattle to San Jose was a short one hour and thirty-six minutes of nap time and games, Lindee slaughtered me at dots. Our flight again arrived a few minutes early.

We arrived in San Jose just before 2:00 p.m., hit the potty, and jetted to the curb and called Greg, our host, to let him know that we were there. He picked us up right away in a nice silver Audi and gave us a tour of San Jose. After our tour we proceeded to Jubilee Christian Center, the site of the concert, and got a tour of their campus. That’s right, I said campus.

When we got there around 3:00 there were already several people in line to get into the concert and the doors didn’t open for another three hours. Fortunately for us we didn’t have to bother with the line because we were VIP’s thanks to Pastor Charlton who totally hooked us up. We got our wristbands to get in and then went over to the Urgency building where their youth group meets. Their facility is amazing, flat screen TVs, game systems, computer lab, pool tables, basketball courts, and other amazing stuff.

Greg then took us to the San Jose version of Jitters, Peet’s Coffee and we spent some time just hanging out and talking. On our way to Peet’s we saw the van that had the United guys in it as they were making their way to the church for sound check.

We got back from Peet’s and decided to head inside the church for the concert. The line out front was ginormous, but since we were on the VIP list we got in the back before the doors were even open. We checked out the merchandise tables and scouted out the best spot for the concert. We weren’t actually allowed in the sanctuary yet because sound check was still going on.

The doors opened and we headed to where we were told the best seats would be for the sound. We sat right next to the sound booth in the front row of the balcony. Great seats. We were able to see everything great and we were where the sound was best in the building.

The concert itself was incredible. 3,500 people all gathered together, singing as one, giving it everything they have, holding nothing back, and worshiping God with everything. It was three hours of all out worship with a short video and talk about Compassion. It was an amazing night of worship and encountering God. There was more than one instance where I just kinda stepped back and was just in awe of what was going on. To be joined in song with people who are joined together through Jesus Christ and to worship him with all we can, singing at the top of our lungs and jumping and dancing until we’re sweaty and out of breath.

While I was a picture taking machine for most of the day there, I did not take any pictures of the actual concert. There were specific instructions to everyone that photography was not allowed. I was actually relieved about this because this meant that I got to focus on the night and encountering God rather than taking pictures. However there were professional photographers there and the photos will be uploaded to the Urgency website in the next month or two.

After the concert Greg had to help take the lights down, and that took several hours to complete so Lindee and I got to hang out in the sanctuary and chill/relax/nap. We left the church around 2:30 a.m. or somewhere close to that on the way to a late night snack and some much needed sleep. We stopped at a Burger King (which totally violated my “No eating at places you have at home while traveling” policy, but when it’s 3:00 a.m. and you’ve been up for almost 24 hours and haven’t had anything to eat since 11:30 a.m. the day before, you don’t care about that policy) and got something to eat before bed.

We got to Greg’s house around 3:30. Lindee went to bed almost immediately while Greg and I stayed up a little bit just talking and whatnot while I blogged and did some Facebook stuff. I got to bed shortly after 4:30.

I woke up this morning around 9:30, showered and did some more blog updates via the wifi I stole from a nearby house. We left the house at about 11:30, got some breakfast and then headed to the airport to catch our flight out at 1:00. Nothing exciting happened on the flights home. We made it to Anchorage on time, and safely, and immediately stopped at Chili’s to grab some much needed dinner.

Overall this trip was incredible. God really had his hand on this trip from the start and his hand was evident every step along the way. Everything from the opportunity to go, the flight loads, the accommodations, and just being there and worshiping God was an enormous blessing.

So thank you to everyone who made this trip what it was. I especially want to thank Charlton and Greg again. They didn’t have to do anything for us, but they chose to. They chose to take us in and take care of us. They chose to pay for our meals and to make us VIP’s for the concert. Thank you guys for really making this trip amazing for Lindee and I. We are very grateful and hope we can get a chance to show the same hospitality you showed us if you ever want to come to Alaska!

This was the best concert I’ve ever been to, and God blessed this trip so much. It’s amazing.

He is amazing

Dustin