Steven Curtis Chapman

All Things New

Sparrow Records

51:16 TRT

Do you have a favorite Steven Curtis Chapman record? Mine's “Speechless.” It's a disk that I could play over and over. In fact, one of my all-time favorite concerts was seeing SCC on his “Speechless” tour at the Tri-County Assembly of God in Cincinnati in 1999. The man played for over two hours without a break and never slowed down. I was so inspired I sat down and wrote Mr. Chapman a nice long letter.

SCC returns with his 14 th release, “All Things New.” If you liked “Declaration,” you should get “All Things New.” In general, some of the things I like about SCC is that he doesn't hide His Light behind generic lyrics and he also cites scripture verses as an inspiration for his songs.

With all that being said, “All Things New” won't come close to becoming my favorite SCC record. There are several average songs on the record. The first single, the title track, expresses nothing new and is somewhat pedestrian with lyrics such as “You change winter into spring.”

“Much of You” is about surrender; “Give you my life, take it and let it be used to make much of you.” This song also has some smaltzy orchestration.

Musically, the start of “Only Getting Started” reminds me of “Declaration's” “Live Out Loud.” While the lyric “deeper than the ocean” is right out the song “Dive” from “Speechless.” I do like the overall theme of the song. SCC has known Jesus since he was a little kid but after all these years he “ain't seen nothing yet.” There's always more to discover.

“Last Day on Earth” totally reminds me of “Next 5 Minutes” from “Speechless.”

“What Now” is a good song. “I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl standing on the other side of the world.” SCC's adoption of abandoned Chinese children is well documented. Commenting on Matthew 25: 31-46 in the devotional The Word in Season , Pastor Howard M. Reinschmidt of Rochester, MN, writes, “faith shows itself in ordinary, everyday acts of service to those we encounter: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the shivering, the sick, the imprisoned. We meet Christ in hungry and hurting people everyday.”

“Big Story” is Beatlesque and one of the more interesting musical experiences on the record.

Every parent should listen to “I Believe in You,” a song of encouragement for his growing children.

I hope “Angels Wish” gets released as a single. Lyrically, I think it's the strongest song on the record. “I got no halo on my head” and “I've felt loneliness and shame” but while I “can't picture heaven's beauty but I've been shown the Savior's love, I know things the angels only wish they knew.” It's hauntingly beautiful and has a shot at the Dove for “Song of the Year.”

This is a very good record, on several levels. However, because it strikes me as so familiar, I don't know that I'd miss it if it were not in my collection.

- Rob S.