Return
to the Phillips, Craig and Dean home page
Return to the
Christian Music Lighthouse home page
Some things you do for the money. Some
things you do out of obligation, responsibility or a sense of nobility.
But some things you do simply because you love-love-LOVE it. You can't
imagine not doing it. It's the joyous gift God has put in your
heart that makes passionate living possible.
For Randy Phillips, Shawn Craig and Dan Dean—Phillips, Craig &
Dean—that thing is ministry through music. More succinctly put: These
guys love-love-LOVE to sing about God. And way beyond the 10 albums, 18
No.1 singles and 2 million+ records sold in the past 16 years, the story
of God's grace in their lives just keeps getting bigger. The only way
they could stop singing is to stop breathing, which is unlikely, because
these guys just inhaled their second wind.
For starters, Shawn, who finished his MDiv degree in 2005, moved into a
senior pastor role at the St. Louis church he's served for more than 25
years. And somewhere along the way, in Boise, Idaho to be exact, he met
the girl of his dreams. They've set the wedding date for November. Dan,
senior pastor in Dallas, hit the big 5-0 this year, celebrated the
marriage of his eldest son Dusty, and is training for his first
marathon. He and his wife, Becky, will celebrate 30 years of marriage in
August. Randy and his wife, Denise, started a new church in 2005 in
Austin, which is growing by leaps and bounds. Somehow, between that and
keeping up with both a 4-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old daughter,
he finds time to host his own TV show, The Awakening on TBN.
Their individual lives are steeped in local church ministry, but it's
the power of song that keeps them coming back to the studio and stage.
The latest project from Phillips, Craig & Dean, Top Of My Lungs,
brilliantly captures the loud, boisterous excitement and joy these guys
feel when they open their mouths to sing of God's bigger-than-life
grace.
Let my love be loud, a sweet joyful noise /
Only for you I lift up my voice / I lift up my voice
At the top of my lungs I will sing hallelujah |
|
Produced once again by Nathan Nockels
(Watermark, Downhere), who also produced PCD's hugely successful worship trilogy
Let My Words Be Few (2001), Let Your Glory Fall (2003) and Let
the Worshippers Arise (2004), Top Of My Lungs bridges the praise and
worship music fans have come to expect from PCD with a more eclectic,
progressive musical palette.
"On every album you want to stretch a little bit, sonically, to move
forward, so that was certainly a goal," Shawn Craig says of Top Of My
Lungs. "We'd toyed with the idea of doing a hybrid, more of the
signature ballads and fun songs we used to record, but the more we dug into it,
the more we found ourselves going back to praise and worship. That's really the
bottom line for us now. We love singing it; we love leading it. We see the power
of praise, the avenue it creates to people's hearts … It's just a very
personal thing to us."
"Top Of My Lungs represents the kind of praise and worship we want
to be part of, the kind of worship that holds nothing back," Randy Phillips
adds. "It's 'everything out on the table' because God deserves nothing
less. Great songs compel you to sing—fresh, deep, magnificent and strong
lyrics about the goodness of God, they beg you to sing them as loud and with as
much passion as you can."
From the guitar-crunching opener of "One Way" to the sweet closing of
"'Tis So Sweet," Top Of My Lungs is packed with 11 compelling
worship anthems, new songs that will be on the worship radar for years to come.
The sweeping, symphonic "Saved the Day," is sure to be an instant
Easter classic. "It's not often you come across a great resurrection song,
so when you get 'em, you want to hold on to it," Shawn says of the Michael
Neale penned song. "Whatever struggle you're going through, there's
resurrection in every situation," adds Randy.
The piano-driven "Your Name," written by Paul Baloche, is another
great example of the accessible songs on Top Of My Lungs. "When you
sing about the name of Jesus, the power is undeniable," Randy says. "I
got very emotional in the studio, just trying to make it through the
lyric."
With every song here, Phillips, Craig & Dean aim not only in praise of their
Creator, but also squarely at the hearts of hurting people. Songs like
"Saved the Day," "Because of That Blood" and "Let the
Redeemed," which Dan Dean wrote with Roger Hodges, reach through and beyond
the church.
"Most of our songs come from real life experiences," Dan says.
"We sing to reach out to people who are going through difficult places in
their lives. We choose songs that will bring the reality of Christ into those
places."
Certainly Top Of My Lungs charts progressive new terrain for Phillips,
Craig & Dean. Nockles brings a razor sharp edge to their signature harmonic
blend that enhances their God-given interpretive skill. Simply put, it's not an
overstatement to say that they've never sounded better or delivered a stronger
collection than this one. "Nathan was downright medieval in stretching us
beyond what we thought we could do," Randy says. "Vocally, it's not
like anything we've done before. We hit notes we've never hit before, notes I
didn't think I was capable of."
It's no wonder that after 16 years, the ministry of Phillips, Craig & Dean
continues to resonate with audiences far and wide. The energy and excitement
they feel seeing God continue to use the gifts they love using to impact
people's lives is tangible, like the clothes on their backs. You can hear in
when they speak; you can feel it when they sing.
"It really is the ultimate dream fulfilled," Randy says, "to be
able to write and sing songs that people want to hear. After 16 years, labels
have come and gone and so much has changed in the business end of it—we just
went to Toronto, where there's no Christian radio to speak of, and 2000 people
showed up to hear us sing. What an honor! We're so grateful for the opportunity
and for all those folks in retail and radio here that make it possible."
So that's what happens when you're not working for the money or for success or
because somebody told you to. The grace of God makes the money, the success and
any sense of obligation irrelevant. All that's left is a burning desire to take
what you've been given and share it … as loud and as long as possible.
Click here to read a biography for "Let My
Words Be Few"