Artist: Elevation Worship
Album: Only King Forever
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Label: Provident Music
Elevation Worship’s new album just came out and it seems it’s what everyone is talking about. Why the hype? Elevation Worship is a great example of a worship team writing for their church. They write songs using inspiration from the sermons their pastor is working on, they dig deep into what is happening in their church, and the outcome is that they write songs that are congregational and easy for other local churches to grab on to.
Not only is this album filled with songs your church can add to its services, but Elevation does a great job of making their resources extremely accessible to you as the Worship Leader. If you click on this link, http://elevationworship.com/onlykingforever/only-king-forever/ , you will be brought to their website that has video tutorials, chord charts, loops, lyrics, and both male and female acoustic versions of each song listed on this album.
Only King Forever// The title track of this album, the song starts out strong and doesn’t stop. This is what I expect from Elevation, with phrasing that isn’t expected and a chorus that almost seems to break down the beat. Out of all the songs included on this album, this may be one of the trickiest to teach your church. You could always get around that by doing it at a Night of Worship or other church event and then sneak it into your sets without having to really teach it all that much. All in all, it’s a great beginning track for this album and sets you up for the focus of the rest of these songs.
Glory is Yours// A great song for your church. You can arrange this song in so many ways. Strip it down to guitar, cajon, and keys. Add a banjo? Go full band. This song is catchy, fun, light, and worth checking out. Be creative with it!
I Will Look Up// Sung directly to Jesus, this song is a prayer put to music. Lots of synth underneath that keep this one moving until the electrics build it up. Check out the link above for the loops to this one.
Grace So Glorious// This song is in Db and I asked myself who writes a song in Db? Then I saw that Israel Houghton is one of the writers of this song. So Israel does, because he is amazing. This is one of my favorite songs. It has everything I love; good lyrics, a pre chorus, and beautiful harmony opportunities. You can teach this one and you should, it’s that good.
Grace So Glorious (Reprise)// Pastor Steven Furtick takes a couple minutes here to explain how glorious grace is and the previous song is reprised.
The Love of Jesus// The acoustic version of this song is absolutely beautiful and you can find it on the link above or on YouTube. Vocally the chorus is simple and the lead line can be given to your electric guitar or keyboard player depending if you go acoustic or not.
Last Word// I love this song. I love the lyrics. My confession is that I am biased and was visiting this church when they introduced and taught it for the first time. However, I can say from first hand experience that teaching this to your church will not be hard. To me the bridge is the best part of this song and when teaching it that is where they focused their attention. However, when teaching it to your church I’d say you need to include teaching the other parts of the song as well. Declaring “You have the last word, It is finished” lends the season of Easter as a great time to teach this song and include it in your services for a few weeks. I’m looking forward to many people in other churches grabbing on to this song and proclaiming the truths in it. “You speak and strongholds surrender, Your name overcomes the enemy. In you we are more than conquerors.”
Mighty Warrior// Between the toms creating a modern day march and all the layers of guitar work on this song, it’s fun, catchy, and I really want my church to hear this. This song speaks of our God as a mighty warrior and Jesus as the great commander, creating visuals of the victory that we know will one day take place. They did a great job with these lyrics. Both full band and acoustic versions of this song are great, try them out!
I Will Sing// This is the heaviest sounding of all the tracks on the album. You won’t need any loops or backing tracks for this. Your church will learn it easily and may even enjoy all of the “Ohs”.
Everlasting Father// The verses on this song remind me of an old hymn, I think it may be the phrasing. It’s a very pretty, slow, prayerful song. The bridge turns the intimacy up and is especially beautiful in the acoustic version when you let the voices carry it out. Even if you don’t introduce this to your church, it may turn into one of your own personal worship songs.
Blessed Assurance// This is Elevation’s version of the hymn, starting off with a pad and keyboard the song goes straight into the original hymn we know. The song continues the melody until after the chorus when they vamp using new lyrics they’ve written. I enjoyed the extended ending to the hymn. It’s easy to catch on to, because it’s really just one line repeated over and over again. Your congregation could easily participate in this section of the song.
Great and Mighty King// As soon as I saw Brett Younker was on the writing credits I recognized his sound. (He wrote Burning in My Soul from the last Passion album.) Great song to add to your list if you’re looking for a big song with a build that stays up.
Unto Your Name// Lyrically, this song is wonderful. Full of truth just pouring out of these lyrics, “Matchless in gracious compassion, mighty in power to save, clothed in the sorrows of sin for the glory of our God”. This is your power ballad of the album.
Raised to Life// With Matt Redman also on these writing credits, the song is sure to be congregational and from the voice of the church. This too has a march feel to it at times and leads to a bridge that you just want to shout out at the top of your lungs. Elevation did a sermon series this year titled Raised to Life that they completed by holding thousands of baptisms at each of their campuses. Again, another great example of this team writing songs that speak of what is happening in their church.
Overall, this album was written by Worship Leaders who lead each week in a local church and these songs are for the local church. Check out the overwhelming amount of free resources Elevation Worship has made available and use some of these songs in 2014.