“He Is The Lord” (Isaiah 40)
I don't know if I have ever been more excited about the release of a new song! Because of this, there are a lot of aspects about it that I want to communicate here.
1. There are times when the most fitting expression of worship is one that costs us a lot! The perfect example of this is John 12:3: Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Judas complained that Mary used such expensive perfume but Jesus said to let her do it. This song is an example of that. It took us over 2 years to write, arrange, produce, and release and involved over 100 people to pull it off. State-of-the-art studios, instruments, and many greatly skilled people were involved. It is one of the most complicated yet, heartfelt expressions of worship I have ever released!
2. One of my great passions is to try to expand the sound of what worship music can be and this is certainly one of my biggest attempts at that to date.
3. The heart of the message of this song is from Isaiah 40. It says, "Do you not know, have you not heard, He's the creator of heaven and earth?" In other words, stop and look around, be reminded, and stand in awe of all that you see. For from the beginning our creator, God made it! Our natural human tendency is to shrink God down to our own comprehensible size, but this song seeks to help us do the opposite!
4. I love to encourage and empower people. Jonté Moore plays keys with me when I travel and he is trained in both classical and jazz. I believed that if I assigned him the task of creating a significant orchestra arrangement, he would rise to the occasion—and that he did! Wow, did he ever!
Thank you, Jonté! What an amazing and inspiring job you did and I believe there is much more of this in you. I'm excited to watch it come out!
5. This song is truly a fusion of an orchestrated, choral piece, and a rock/jazz rhythm section piece and I'm hoping it might help unify these groups in a beautiful way in our churches.
6. I hope some of you will attempt to do this song in your church! We have all the stems tracks, charts, and a lyric video to support you. The guitar solo is even written out for guitar or multiple other solo instruments to play!
7. Lastly, I want to dedicate this song to Bernie Federman. He sent me a video of Eric Clapton playing with an orchestra and it inspired me to get started on this adventure. Bernie is a great friend and pastor to me, a TWM board member, and a long-term, generous supporter. Bernie, thanks for your over-the-top generosity and the many ways you've supported and believed in me through the years!
Special thanks to Bryan Taylor and Carlos Gallardo-Candia. Thank you both for all you've given to this project and I will forever be grateful for being on this TWM adventure with you! And of course, Bob Wilson. Bob: you, as with so many of my songs in the past, took my simple guitar/vocal recording and created the foundational parts of what this epic expression has finally become!
WE ARE PLEASED TO OFFER FREE RESOURCES FOR THIS SONG!
SINGLE
• MP3 Master File
CHARTS
• Chords & Lyrics
INSTRUMENTAL TRACK
• Track without background vocals
ORCHESTRATION
• Strings, horns, and more
LYRIC VIDEO
• Combine with stems for playback at your church
GUITAR SOLO
• Note-for-note annotation