43
Christian star offers faith in face of adversity
By John Benson
In terms of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), you’d be hard pressed to find a more-acclaimed artist than Steven Curtis Chapman.
For more than two decades, the Grammy Award-winning spiritual singer-songwriter sold nearly 11 million albums and scored No. 1 singles such as “Love Take Me Over,” “Do Everything,” “Yours,” “Live Out Loud” and “For The Sake of the Call,” as well as earned 58 Dove Awards. Praising God is nothing new to the bellwether CCM artist, yet over that time, the one project that has eluded Chapman has been the recording of a worship album.
Perhaps no one was more surprised that he never ventured down that path than the singer himself, who did point out songs of his such as “I Will Be Here” and “Cinderella,” which were written about his family relationships, are wholehearted worshipping-God songs.
“Yeah, as far as specifically songs that are really written and intended to be worship come together in that kind of a context, I feel like everything I’ve written over the years is worship music, and all of my albums have hopefully been worshipful,” said Chapman, calling from Franklin, Tenn.
“But as far as an album with songs that are specifically written for the church to sing together, in a corporate context, songs directly sung to God and making them more about him and our journey with him, it’s just the first album.”
Due out next month, “Worship and Believe” features 11 studio tracks and six live tracks recorded at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. The album focuses on 10 core truths from Scripture as proclamations of truth.
As far as the timing of releasing a worship album, Chapman said in the past he was asked by labels for such a collection; however, he never felt compelled to see it through. Then tragedy struck nearly eight years ago when his 5-year-old daughter died after being hit by a car.
It’s that experience that provided foundation to the Kentucky native and Tennessee resident on “Worship and Believe.”
“Through that time, especially at the earliest hours – days and months – for me where there was a real time of darkness, sadness and crushing weight, I was trying to relieve my family,” Chapman said “And because of that, there were songs that were anchors for me.
“That’s why I felt like now these songs could be written. I could write an album of songs that really had that kind of speaking directly to God.”
Chapman said he plans on performing the new album lead single, “Amen,” as well as possibly “More Than Conquerors” at his show tonight at Stambaugh Auditorium.
Despite being a celebrity and successful recording star, Chapman has been through so much turmoil and pain in his personal life. He’s hopeful that the message of overcoming adversity through faith is something audience members take away from his live shows.
“I do what I do in my music and in concerts, so when people leave they feel like they know more who God is,” Chapman said. “My hope and goal is that people can walk away and have a deeper understanding of God’s love by taking a journey with me and telling my story.”