Creed

The goal in most of my class devotionals, otherwise known as "Coach Harsh plays a music video from a Christian band and then reads a scripture or tells a story or shares about his faith", is to open up the eyes of my students to good Christian music. Many times I pick something new. A brand new band. A brand new album. A brand new band with a brand new album. You know, things like that.

And other times I find something, in my search, that might be new but is one of my favorites. Today's devo is like that. One of my favorite songwriters of all time. One of the first Christian bands I ever actually... well, liked. And a new artist that I have just started to listen to. Rich Mullins' 'Creed' performed by Third Day with Brandon Heath. Pretty much a trifecta in my book. In fact, I've blogged about this song multiple times over the past 6 years including this one.

My hope and prayer is that you develop your faith and see God for who he really is. That you would be able to agree with this statement of faith and make it your passion to share the good news of Jesus Christ and as Louie Giglio + Chris Tomlin always say, "Make his name famous."

I know I've already played Third Day this school year but I couldn't help share this one too. Once of my daughter's favorite songs - she loves to sing along to the end, especially in the car.

Lift up your face - Third Day

Growing up in a Christian home, we listened to "gospel" music more often than secular music; unless you count classical or bluegrass as secular 'cause we listened to a lot of that - not by choice. My dad has always loved music - good music, so the stereo was always on. Records, cassette tapes, radio, and eventually CD's. The gospel music that my dad had was not terrible by any means but as an adolescent it was definitely not what I would have chosen for myself. In fact, my first CD was given to me for Christmas when I was in high school. The album? Steven Curtis Chapman's Live Adventure from 1993. I'm pretty sure I liked one song on the album at the time. My options at that point were SCC, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, dc talk, Twila Paris, and Susan Ashton. So I pretty much listened to the popular music of the day.

It wasn't until 1996, while I was in college, when my brother bought me the self-titled release from a brand new Christian band from Atlanta. You got it, Third Day. They had a good sound, great lyrics and it made me feel good to listen to them. So good, that I started to find other Christian bands like Audio Adrenaline, Caedmon's Call, Rich Mullins, then Jennifer Knapp, Chris Rice, Jars of Clay, Burlap to Cashmere, and Ginny Owens. The bands started to become more and more plentiful. In my opinion, Christian music started to become worth listening to.

As I've matured and my life has transitioned from being single in college to a mid-30s husband and dad of 3, I realize how important it is for me to listen to Christian music. Around the house. In the car. Wherever we are, there are three sets of ears that listen to EVERYTHING. I'm pretty sure our eldest has super-sonic ears. We can be whispering to each other, my wife and I, in the front of the van and she hears everything. Every morning I share a ride to school with Macy, our eldest, and more often then not she's singing along to whatever it is I have on the radio. And because of this, more often then not I'm playing the Fish or my iPod with a mix I've made of the latest Christian hits.

Today if you look at my music collection I have an abundance of Christian music. Pop. Rock. Hip-hop. Metal. Rap. Folk. Singer-Songwriter. Gospel. A cappella. But Third Day is still one of my favorites. And here's their latest. Great song. Great video. Great band. Enjoy.

THIRD DAY - LIFT UP YOUR FACE