Tim Hughes’ latest album returns to raw, genuine worship.
Contributed By Lim Jie Min Jamie
Worship leader-cum-songwriter, Tim Hughes. PHOTO COURTESY OF KINGSWAY
You know it’ll be a more than decent listen when names like Martin Smith (Delirious?), Kim Walker (Jesus Culture), Nikki Fletcher, Jerry Brown (Girls Aloud) and Josiah Sherman (The Listening) are on board this new release.
But Tim Hughes can well hold his own—he is, after all, the songwriter behind worldwide hits such as “Here I Am To Worship” and the fiercely exuberant “Happy Day.”
In his fourth studio album, Love Shines Through, the British worship leader attempts to break out of the “formula” he feels congregational worship is settling into. “My only fear is that we miss the raw, messy, Spirit-led type of worship that leads people to engage with God.”
The album not only instills a sense of purpose in its listeners, it goes back to the basics of faith. “At Your Name (Forever)” is a touching, hauntingly melodious ballad about the power and goodness of God, while “Counting On Your Name” builds up into a grand ode of surrender.
Says Hughes, “It captures so much of what faith comes down to; that we’re nothing without God. We try to rely on so many things—finances, health, friendship, love, sex, happiness, whatever—but none of these physical things are eternal, only God is the one we can really depend on. To trust in His name is a scary thing, but the more I think about it, it’s the only option we have. I hope the song captures a sense of desperation, a rawness, a sense of it being all or nothing.”
Love Shines Through is available from www.kingswayshop.com or iTunes.
