Like Colman Hall in 1989

Tonight I had one of the coolest experiences of my life. Here's the story.
This past summer, we tracked some songs live at a camp. The thought was to have 8-10 songs that we could then package for students to have a reminder of the things God did that week. So we tracked the songs but there are only really 4-5 that we can use. We prayed about it and decided to go ahead and track some of the new songs in the studio. We recently got the funding to finish the project (finally!) and were wrapping up some tracking tonight with a group singing backgrounds for one song.

The Song
- "I'd Rather Have Jesus" has been around for a while. It was the song that God used to bring my grandmother to faith in Christ. Out of a deep, deep respect for the legacy my grandmother and grandfather are entrusting to us, I started doing the song at events. It floors me every time the lyrics leave my mouth. It's such a great truth that Jesus is better than EVERYTHING. It's so often not true in my heart and I'm convicted of the things that so often take God's place in my life. Do I really treasure Jesus above material things? Do I really understand that Jesus is better even than the ministry to which I cling so often? Floors me every time.

The Group
- I come from a rich family. We are extremely wealthy, I assume. I won't really know until that day Jesus returns. Lee & Ruth Hunt served in vocational ministry for well over 50 years. One of the greatest memories I have is watching my grandfather (Papa) ask the nurses where they go to church as they wheeled him into the room where he would eventually meet Jesus face to face. They sired 3 kids. Those kids met Jesus, went to college and met spouses that love Jesus, too. They all went into music ministry. They ALL went into music ministry.
While growing up in this family, my brother, cousin, and I were subjected to the arbitrary praise of the greatest generation as we sang cheesy songs in between my parents, aunts and uncles singing the latest Gaither tunes. There may or may not have been a Sandy Patty song or two. This took place in Coleman Hall beneath the sanctuary of First Baptist Dallas where my grandfather was on staff.

As I've hit 30, I am appreciating my family history more and more. So as I was recording this song late last night, i got a crazy idea. My parents, aunts, uncles and grandmother were going to get together for a birthday. I called my mom this morning and asked her to see if they would come up to the studio after dinner and sing some choir vocals on this song. They did. and it was AWESOME.
I watched my grandmother watch her children sing a song recorded by her grandson. We sang the lyrics that opened my grandmother's heart to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It was an incredible experience.

So this CD that will be available on iTunes some time in January will have 4 generations represented on it. My grandmother's heart, my parents, aunts and uncles voices, my songs, and the teenagers who worshipped God unashamedly with us this past summer. We sang songs that are brand new and songs that are very much old. All proclaim the truth that Jesus is better. All declare the holiness and perfection of a God that demands holiness from us and provides a way for us to be holy in Christ. What really excites me now is the picture of our faith that is represented in this recording. Our faith is not ours alone. Our faith has been built upon the generations before us. It will be built on the generations after us until that glorious day when Jesus comes to claim His bride. That's what makes me more excited about this CD than about anything I've done in ministry before.