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Best Christian Albums of 2021

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Is CCM still alive and active? I'm really not sure on the whole. However, there are always a few landmark records that impacted me greatly. My top 3 are a serious top 3 of amazing albums. The rest, are good but not great.  1. Mike Donehey - Flourish 2. Carrie Underwood - My Savior 3. NEEDTOBREATHE - Into the Mystery 4. Phil Wickham - Hymn of Heaven  5. Cochren & Co. - Don't Lose Hope 6. CAIN - Rise Up 7. Keith & Kristyn Getty - Confessio – Irish American Roots 8. Jeremy Camp - When You Speak 9. Shane & Shane - Psalms, Hymns, And Spiritual Songs, Vol. 1 10. Riley Clemons - Godsend 11. Danny Gokey - Jesus People 12. Mac Powell - New Creation  13. Matt Boswell, Matt Papa - Almost Home - The Hymns Of Matt Boswell And Matt Papa (Vol. 2) 14. Crowder - Milk & Honey  15. Mercy Me - Inhale (Exhale) Another of Note: Bethany Barnard  - All My Questions (I haven't listened yet but want to! It's on my list!) Great EP: Mike Donehey - A Father and Two Sons EP  (only 3

Steven Curtis Chapman's Albums Ranked (Tier-System)

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Steven Curtis Chapman's Albums Ranked! S-Tier 1.  The Great Adventure 2.  Beauty Will Rise 3.  Speechless 4.  The Music of Christmas A-Tier 5.  Declaration 6.  Signs of Life 7.  For the Sake of the Call 8.  The Glorious Unfolding 9.  More to this Life 10.  Heaven in the Real World B-Tier 11.  All About Love  12.     Deep Roots/Deeper Roots 13.  This Moment 14.  First Hand 15.  Real Life  Conversations   16.  Joy    17.    All I Really Want for Christmas/Hallmark Christmas Album C-Tier 18.  Recreation  19. All Things New 20.  Worship and Believ e

Twila Paris Tribute

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Twila Paris Tribute Twila Paris has left an indelible mark on my life and worldview. My mom introduced me to her music when I was just a toddler and her biblically-based songs influenced my spiritual journey and my philosophy of life, ministry, and family. Likely the first non-children's music records I heard were "Keepin' My Eyes on You" and "Warrior is a Child." They, along with Keith Green's "For Him Who Has Ears to Hear" and "No Compromise" were certainly the most memorable. Later albums like "Beyond a Dream" and "Where I Stand" would become soundtracks of my tween years while "True North" helped me prepare for high school and college. Now we play "Bedtime Prayers" every night for our children. God continues to use Twila in my life today! Twila Paris Albums Ranked S-Tier Beyond a Dream Cry for a Desert Sanctuary Warrior is a Child Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies & Peaceful Worship A-Tier Kee

Best Christian Albums of 2020

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 Indeed the CCM industry is, for the most part, on worship-music life support but every so often a good Christian album is released. Here is my brief and hard-to-curate list for 2020.  My actual favorite album released this year in the Christian music industry was Francesca Battistelli's amazing Christmas album This Christmas  but I have always excluded Christmas albums from this list so unfortunately, it will not reign at #1. In fact, this year was an excellent year for Christmas music so at the bottom you will see my top five Christmas albums of 2020! My #1 album this year is a bit unfair because it's an independent release from friends of mine who happen to also be missionaries in Romania. However, during this pandemic, this album was what was on repeat in our house, and to quote my 2-year-old daughter, the song "Promises" "is my best". The song became an anthem for our family during the long lockdown season and remains our go-to reminder of God's fai

Top Christian Albums of 2019

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Top Christian Albums of 2019 I have to be honest, I don't seek out newer CCM music as voraciously as I used to. For one, life is just too busy trying to balance marriage, parenting, church-life, work, and a never-ending list of side projects and ministries (check out my newest passion project Anthem Songs ). But mostly, I'm just not excited about too much of the music coming out of the CCM machine right now. In a word, it's boring.  Much of the CCM glut in 2019 was church collectives or "worship leaders" who have spent too much time trying to copy Ryan Tedder's mid-00's minimalist programmed production style or Hillsong United's "Oceans." I don't like anything coming out of Bethel Music (especially their doctrine), I don't enjoy Hip-Hop (I'm told CCM Hip Hop is pretty high quality but I just can't get into it), the CCM Pop/AC non-worship artists are taking 3-4 year breaks between album releases, and the new artists they are