Back in the mid-90's Kim began writing impromptu reviews of church music CDs (worship music) so that people who were looking for CDs would have an opinion from someone who is also a worship leader and is garnering music for local church use. Up to this point, this was rarely something that was done, because church music was revered as sacred and it was thought that any offering of that sacred worship shouldn't be criticised or evaluated. In fact, Kim wasn't as much a critic as he was an evaluator, helping people find what fit their church. He began posting his reviews on line in a email discussion forum, called the Worship List (website). After a while, when he helped launch Worshipmusic.com, he continued that same concept of trying to help other local church worship leaders and musicians find music that might be applicable to their situations. The reviews continued to be a part of that. Worshipmusic.com went on to grow a staff of writers that would add many more reviews to the collection they have, but Kim continued to participate as a key reviewer. This journal logs all the reviews Kim has written on worship music CDs and projects.
Kim's reviews of CD projects of worship music includes independents, label and main stream recordings, but all having to do with worship music.
Monday, October 22, 2012 at 11:18PM 
Advent is not a word you hear outside of traditional and denominational Christian settings a lot. But as the recent millenium has brought so many changes, we see much of the non-traditional and non-liturgical church groups reaching into the ancient traditions of the Christian church and mining the wisdom of our forebearers in the faith. Advent literally means "coming" and refers to the season of weeks that precede the celebrated birth of Christ and God's coming earth in the flesh as the Emmanuel (literally "God with us"). The Advent as a Christian season of reverence and anticipation was only exceeded in importance by the reflective season of Lent that leads up to the holy week of the death and resurrection of Christ.
Musical worship of advent often focuses on the anticipation of the coming savior, the light rising in the darkness of this world, and preparation of our hearts for His appearing. It is in that spirit that the recent EP "Light Has Come" seems to present it’s finely crafted songs for the Advent season.
WorshipTogether releases the "Light Has Come" EP with six modern worship songs that focus on the light, hope, glory and joy of the advent season not by headlining it with artists. Instead it chose to release a compact collection of very focused songs from its songwriters, keeping the arrangements and presentation accessible and reproducible for churches. Recorded crisply, but with the songs as the focus, one gets the idea this was meant more as a resource to churches coming to Advent than to consumers looking for radio hits.
In fact, even the keys and arrangements of the songs flow seamlessly from one song to another. I was able to sit down with my guitar and play along with each and every song the first time through. Five of the 6 songs were keyed either in F or C (very complimentary keys), making it great to use these songs together in a worship set.
Let’s dive into the songs.
The first song "Let The World Sing Gloria" is a modern song rendering language and context for the traditional phrase "Gloria in excelsis Deo" (which is Latin for "Glory to God in the highest"). Musically, it is an ebbing verse, vaulting chorus and rising bridge which brings the ancient phrase to life. Melodic, well written lyrics and hook laden chorus, this is the best song on the EP. You really should consider this song for the upcoming season- it is excellent!
"Newborn King" is the second track and gives a medium tempo groove to celebrating the coming of the Christ child. Again the musical affinity is crisply acoustic/rock and easy to incorporate into a modern worship set. The lyrics continue to be the language of advent and anticipatory Christmas season. Another good candidate for your Sunday mornings.
The title track "Light Has Come" is a country-ish sounding ballad that reminds me of something from Vineyard Music's "roots worship" sound with Ryan Delmore- somewhere between acoustic/pop and Mumford & Sons. Lyrically, the song focuses a modern spin on the story of Jesus' light come to the broken and weak of our earthly society and bringing God's glory through such humility.
Track five is the pop-driven "End of Exile", the most progressive recording on this collection. Well done, this song soars on power-chords flooding the chorus. It is comprised of a terse lyrical style, leaving lithe phrases such as its compact chorus:
Glorious miracle here is the end of exile
God the invisible flooding the world with light
Definitely a song to look at for the Advent season.
I will leave tracks 4 and 6 to the reader to discover, as they are laid out simply and clearly in easily reproduced arrangements and keys.
Overall, I found the Advent EP "Light Has Come" to be delightful. I especially loved tracks 1, 2 and 5, as noted above and would recommend them to any church looking for new music for the season.
"Light Has Come" find it at Amazon or iTunes
For those who use online planning, you can also find the songs from this album, the full audio, chord charts and lyrics online in WorshipTeam.com.
If you are wondering where you might find some great new songs for the Christmas/Advent season, and you are in contemporary worship context, you should definitely consider the songs on this new album from WorshipTogether, "Light Has Come".
worshiping Him!
Kim Gentes
EP, advent, christian, christmas, emi, light has come, liturgy, music, season, songs, worship, worshiptogether in Advent, CD Review, Christmas Music, Free Download, Music Review Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 11:05PM 
We are all too often carried away by the complexities of modern music production and arrangements, and drawn away from the simplicity of both a song lyric and melody. The purpose of a song is, after all, to draw lyric and music into a partnership and deliver a singular, powerful message. When a song does this, it becomes our song, our anthem, our community script for things we previously lacked the ability to say well together.
As Advent Season is upon us, I had the opportunity to hear a beautiful song that so perfectly punctuates the clarity of this season it instantly captured my heart in worship. Through the song I was drawn up in waiting, in desire and returned powerfully to the coming kingship of the Christ as the song became my declaration of preparation for Emmanuel. Because the song is so poignant and timely, I asked the writer, Darrell Harris, if I could share it with others. He graciously consented, and so I am delighted to present his song "As We Wait" below for you.
Simple, yearning, stark- its a delightful song in the hopeful pattern of the advent season. Feel free to use this resource. Below are three links: the mp3 audio demonstration, a basic PDF leadsheet, and the PDF SATB sheet music. If you choose to use this song, please respect the request of the authors and record any usage of this song in your regular CCLI reports.
Again, a heartfelt "Thank you" to Darrell Harris for sharing his fine song for the blessing of the broader church!
With you in Hope
Kim Gentes
PDF, advent, as we wait, christmas, darrell, harris, hope, lead sheet, mp3, neftzger, song, tyra in Advent, Music Review, Musician Resource Review, Single Song