Evangelicals Now
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Live from Atlanta

Beating Time

LIVE FROM ATLANTA
By Casting Crowns
(CD/DVD package)

Here is a 'worship band' with a difference.

Many 'worship bands' assume an unbiblical 'bringing people into presence of God' priestly role. But Casting Crowns are much more in tune with Paul's command to 'let the word of Christ richly dwell in you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs' (Colossians 3.16).

So, whether you watch the DVD or listen to the CD, put the disc in the machine, sit up, and prepare to be admonished...

'It's crowded in the worship today / As she slips in trying to fade into the faces / The girls' teasing laughter / Is carrying farther than they know / Farther than they know / A traveller is far away from home / He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row / The weight of their judgmental glances / Tells him that his chances / are better out on the road

But if we are the body / Why aren't His arms reaching? / Why aren't His hands healing? / Why aren't His words teaching? / And if we are the body / Why aren't His feet going? / Why is His love not showing / There is a way?

Jesus paid much too high a price / For us to pick and choose who should come / And we are the body of Christ.'

Of course, we might try to soften the impact by nitpicking, but we could really use much more music like this!

But at £8 for the DVD/CD pack you can't expect quantity. The other five songs are mostly good (although one song's allusion to fighting personal Goliaths conflicts somewhat with biblical theology, and then they've messed with Stuart Townend's words in another).

In addition to live performances, the DVD also provides useful background information on the band and about some of their songs. The band members are youth workers first and musicians second (some are more musically competent than others, but the overall effect is good). The music video 'American Dream' is a little cheesy (but mainly because the lead singer looks alarmingly like David Brent)! In a word: edifying.

PGDH