So I Like Lists, Okay?

Yes, I know. Another Top Ten. Hey, I like filling out surveys in my spare time, too.

My Top Ten Contemporary Christian Songs

Praise and Worship and Hymns are not included. Come on... that would severely limit the number of categories I can blog. I will have to admit right off the bat that this list is subject to frequent change. I'm sure there are dozens of songs I could have included, and several that will come to mind in a mere matter of moments. So a better title for this list might be, "Ten Contemporary Christian Songs that I Think are Really Neato but Might Not Be My All-Time Favorites After All!"

10. Fields of Grace - Big Daddy Weave
"There's a place where religion finally dies!" Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

9. Shine - Newsboys
Please. This was just a given. I think it's in the Bible somewhere... Thou Must Include The Newsboys in any Top Ten Christian Music List. I'm sure I remember reading that.

8. Stranger to Holiness - Steve Camp
I know, I know. The guy could be opinionated, but he nailed the raw, gut feeling of anyone who has ever fallen short of the glory of God, and longed to be more for Him.

7. I Wish We'd All Been Ready - DC Talk
Larry Norman did it first and did it well, but DC Talk did it better. Chills every time.

6. Thought You'd Be Here - Wes King
Spoke as loudly in my life as Mark Schultz's "He's My Son." When he sang, "I never knew that I could miss someone I haven't met," it was like he penned every emotion I've ever felt toward my son in one simple phrase. My story is so far removed from his, but that's the thing about music. It's universal. It can mean a hundred different things to a hundred different people. Thanks, Wes.

5. Selah - One Thing I Know
I've sang this as a solo in church more than any other song. Again, nailing my testimony and I'm sure the story of many born-again believers perfectly.

4. The Great Divide - Point of Grace
Congratulations, girls. You've made two top ten lists in a row. The greatest group in all of Contemporary Christian Music, their lyrics always hit home with someone. And their lives match the music. What a great ministry.

3. Shadows - The Rez Band
A powerful 80's metal ballad; raw and pointed. I never lived the story, but whenever they sang it, I felt like I had.

2. Dust to Dust - Keith Green
What can you say about Keith? Too many songs to choose from, so I chose the first one I remember. I accepted Christ the day after Keith died in a plane crash. I never even heard of him until a couple years after. What a legacy.

1. I Surrender All - Clay Crosse
The man just sings the living daylights out of this song. I've done this one a few times in church too, but never can seem to do it justice. Yet it's just how I want to live my life - surrendered to Christ, no matter what the cost.

Haven't heard of these songs? Well, that's one good thing about YouTube... you can find just about anything. Or, just stop by for a cup of coffee. I'll dust off the CD's for you.

Maybe even a cassette.

"These Go to Eleven"

Yesterday, I presented the ten songs that quite frankly, make me want to hurl. So today, we turn to the positive with the top songs I have to crank as loudly as I can whenever I hear them. From praise and worship to meaningful to just plain fun, these are the songs I would have to take with me if I were stranded on a desert island with a CD player and batteries. Because after all, where do you plug in on a desert island?

By the way, I couldn't narrow this list down to ten.

11. The Great Divide - Point of Grace
It's obvious enough that POG has the most unique and endearing sound in all of Contemporary Christian Music, but the words to this song are amazing. There's a cross to bridge the great divide... a way was made to reach the other side... the mercy of the Father cost his Son His life...
It's a river of tears every time. And speaking of rivers...

10. Moon River - Andy Williams
Andy was, and is a singer's singer. They just don't make 'em like Andy anymore. Bobby Darin does a great cover, but Andy owns this song.

9. Take My Hand - The Kry
The best song you've probably never heard. Look it up on YouTube and you'll understand. It's one of those songs that has brought me through a difficult time more than once.

8. Centerfield - John Fogerty
The best "crank it up and roll down the car windows even if it's 20 degrees" song ever. This song could make an Eskimo think it's summer.

7. Moonlight Serenade - Glen Miller Orchestra
No better song to dance to - or so I've been told.

6. Then Came the Morning - Guy Penrod
I would listen to Guy sing the phone book. Backwards.
In Swahili...

5. Come Sail Away - Styx w/ Dennis DeYoung
If it ain't Dennis, it's just a lousy imitation. This song was also the theme of my High School prom. Also a great song to dance to, or so I've been told.

4. He's My Son - Mark Schultz
Just as we learned my son was diagnosed with autism, Mark hit the airwaves with this song. No other song I've heard has felt like it was written for me as much as this one. I pray for the day when he starts writing songs like this again.

3. Above All - Michael W. Smith
With a nod to authors Paul Baloche & Lenny LeBlanc, thank you for an amazing praise and worship song. Why don't we sing it more in church? Because this Pastor can't get through it without choking up. What a marvelous picture of what Christ did for us on the cross.

2. Do You Hear the People Sing? (Finale) - Colm Wilkinson
From the best musical ever (don't argue me on this point) Les Miserables', comes the song that will be sung at my funeral. If not, I'm a-comin' back to haunt somebody.

1. Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin
From the undisputed king of music comes the #1 song of 1959, from the #1 artist of the century, Mr. Bobby Darin. His life was cut short by heart disease, but what a legacy of musical talent he left behind. A nice little family number about a gangster who goes around whacking people, Bobby never sang it the same twice. And he always nailed it perfectly.