Every once in awhile you hear one of those songs that you know has been around a bit, and wonder why you never really paid it much attention. That's the story of me and this week's song, "All Because of Jesus," written by Steve Fee. I've heard the song a few times prior to this year, most notably on the Casting Crows The Altar and the Door album, but didn't really hear it until recently.
Steve Fee is one of the woship pastors at the massive Northpoint Community Church in Georgia. His band released it's first major-label record in 2007, called We Shine. "All Because of Jesus" became an instant smash, landing on the Billboard Hot Christain AC chart at #2.
The song quickly swept through churches across the country, including Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church in neighboring McDonough, where Casting Crowns member Mark Hall is youth pastor. The song was so popular at Eagle's Landing that the Crowns put in on The Altar and the Door, which only increased the popularity of the song.
According to Steve Fee, there was about a four year gap between the writing of the verse and the chorus. He had written the verse and, not finding a suitable chorus, put the song aside. Years later, in reading Ephesians 2, he was insipred to write the chorus, and put the two together.
Although the Crowns' cover rocks, and has a texture and polish indicative of their experience, I prefer the We Shine version of the song. It has more energy, and seems to bring the "praise" aspect of it out more. The song has an almost frenetic energy to it, compounded by multi-delayed guitars, pounding drums, and a U2-like vibe.
At Gospel Light, we introduced this song last week, and it will be kicking off our worship set this coming Sunday. We play it in F, which is a stretch, but it encourages the congregation to sing loudly. The song is simple to sing (provided you can hit the notes) and play, with the single verse repeating itself. My favorite part is the transition into the bridge, where the chorus is intentionally cut off, and the whole tone of the song changes.
Here's the band doing the song, as posted on their Youtube channel.
Steve Fee is one of the woship pastors at the massive Northpoint Community Church in Georgia. His band released it's first major-label record in 2007, called We Shine. "All Because of Jesus" became an instant smash, landing on the Billboard Hot Christain AC chart at #2.
The song quickly swept through churches across the country, including Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church in neighboring McDonough, where Casting Crowns member Mark Hall is youth pastor. The song was so popular at Eagle's Landing that the Crowns put in on The Altar and the Door, which only increased the popularity of the song.
According to Steve Fee, there was about a four year gap between the writing of the verse and the chorus. He had written the verse and, not finding a suitable chorus, put the song aside. Years later, in reading Ephesians 2, he was insipred to write the chorus, and put the two together.
Although the Crowns' cover rocks, and has a texture and polish indicative of their experience, I prefer the We Shine version of the song. It has more energy, and seems to bring the "praise" aspect of it out more. The song has an almost frenetic energy to it, compounded by multi-delayed guitars, pounding drums, and a U2-like vibe.
At Gospel Light, we introduced this song last week, and it will be kicking off our worship set this coming Sunday. We play it in F, which is a stretch, but it encourages the congregation to sing loudly. The song is simple to sing (provided you can hit the notes) and play, with the single verse repeating itself. My favorite part is the transition into the bridge, where the chorus is intentionally cut off, and the whole tone of the song changes.
Here's the band doing the song, as posted on their Youtube channel.
