Kim Gentes

Review of "A Taste of Heaven" (EP)

View a brief profile of Andy Park.

Andy Park

If you have been involved in worship ministry or just enjoying the music of worship that has been written and used in churches in the last 20 years, you've probably used a song written by veteran worship songwriter, Andy Park. While he has been a major voice and trainer in the Vineyard movement, he is internationally known for popular songs such as In The Secret (I Want to Know You), Precious Child, My Delight, Only You, The River Is Here, Blessed Be The Name, We Will Ride, Yahweh, Yet I Will Praise, and Wonder Working God. Andy has been writing worship songs that have become the soundtrack of the modern church around the world.

When one gets the idea that someone has had long term "success" in worship songwriting this could conjur up ideas of mountain top retreats, cluttered writing rooms, VIP studio access, co-writing with gifted compatriots and a life of creative seclusion. While that may be someone's dream, that is not the reality of Andy Park. Of all the high profile worship writers I have met and gotten to know personally, Andy is one of the most diligent servants to the Body of Christ I have ever met. Yes, he has written over 120 songs that have been scattered across the globe, but he did that while planting churches, pastoring, raising a large family, traveling around the globe, helping train churches in worship, writing books, mentoring dozens of others and following God. Andy is the real deal- a local church pastor/worship leader who understands the struggles and frustrations of everything from small church plants to mega-church campuses.

Why does all this matter? Because Andy writes these songs from the trenches. He isn't musing over something ethereal that he doesn't have to live through. In the real work of the kingdom of God and community of family, the kinds of songs that we write must survive the "reality" test of being true enough not only to believe, but to use on a regular basis in local churches at home and around the world. I am thankful for mentors and leaders like Andy Park, who have continued to lead and write from the trenches of local church work, while remaining an encouragement to the greater body of Christ.

For more info on Andy Park, his music and ministry, go to www.andypark.ca .

When I started listening to this short EP I was working frantically on another work project. But as the songs "A Taste of Heaven" and "Perfect Peace" began to rise up from my office sound system, I began to listen. It was beautiful.

The first track, "A Taste of Heaven", is presented in both a standard and extended version (track 2) on this project. This song is about God's grace and favor on His people, and how that favor is a foretaste of the glory of heaven come to earth today. This song is really about God's presence being the unmerited favor of blessing for us, as he states in the second verse:

Standing under the shower of your unmerited favor
Your blessings upon us
You have given so freely your affectionate mercy
Your blessings upon us

This is not an indulgent declaration, but a thankful praise to God for his incredible love towards us, and this theme continues throughout the song. It is uplifting and engaging, pointing the worshiper towards the great Giver as we wait patiently on His presence to guide us.

Producer Kelly Carpenter has done a very nice job of keeping the music well suited to Andy's style, guitar playing and voice. The arrangements here are easily recognizable as Andy Park songs from the first bar. And the "extended versions" of the English and Spanish translations of "A Taste of Heaven" have a nice vamp into electronic/looped soundscapes that give Andy space to mix both English and Spanish in the ad lib sections. With a chorus echoing in the background perhaps this is a prophetic vision of all peoples, all languages worshiping God. Very worshipful.

As the next song, "Perfect Peace", began playing, my wife came upstairs to my office and asked about it. She said, "that song is for you." She was right.

Park has always used scripture foundations in his songs, such as this one that elegantly weaves Psalm 62:5, Isaiah 26:3 and Matthew 11:28-30, reminding us:

Perfect peace, he will give you perfect peace

As you think about his goodness and his kindness...

...Come and rest, come and let your soul find rest

For the burden that he gives you is light

The song is played with an acoustic guitar framed arrangement, keyboards, and programmed instrumentation. It's simple and lilting arrangement is perfectly suited for its message of peace by trusting in God. I found myself surrendering, singing along and reciting the lyrics as prayers throughout the day.

"Perfect Peace" is one of 3 different songs on this short EP, but the collection contains both "A Taste of Heaven" and "Perfect Peace" in Spanish versions as well, "Un Sabor De Los Cielos" and "Perfecta Paz" respectively. In fact, Park has wrote "Un Sabor De Los Cielos" in Spanish originally and translated it for the English version. It was beautiful to experience a worship EP that contained English and Spanish versions of the songs. In light of this, I asked Andy Park more about his music and ministry, and his work on this recent project.

View our brief interview with Andy Park.

The final song on this EP is a Spanish version of the classic Vineyard worship song "Precious Child", entitled "Precioso Hijo". This powerful song is about God's love for us as His children. It is about how we should see ourselves as being chosen for his family- bound, not by our performance, but by God's faithfulness. This is a familiar theme for Andy Park, as many of his songs explore God's love and characteristics, our identity in Christ and our community identity as the church (global and local).

If you are a local church worship leader looking for some excellent worship songs on the topics mentioned in this review, I encourage you to consider listening to the samples online at Amazon (or if you have WorshipTeam.com, you can preview the songs there). Especially if you are looking for Spanish worship songs, I encourage you to check out these 3 Spanish songs on this EP.

For churches using WorshipTeam.com, all of the songs, chord charts, lyrics and audio from this album are already available and pre-loaded for you in the WorshipTeam.com system song database. If you are not part of WorshipTeam.com and want to listen to audio samples or purchase the album directly yourself, see the Amazon link below.

Blessings
Kim Gentes