Song of the Week - We Prepare the Way - Rick Pino

When looking for a song to anchor the upcoming Gospel Light Worship album, Prepare, we had to look no farther than Christ For the Nations alum Rick Pino. The theme of the album from the start has been evangelism - both from the point of view of the call, and the response. All of our songs focus some way on these two aspects of spreading the Gospel of Christ - either "telling the world" what Christ has done, or seeking to "draw close" to God.

The keynote scripture for the the entire project has been Luke 3:4-6 :

...as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘ Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’"

For this reason, Rick Pino's "We Prepare the Way" is the perfect capstone for the record. Answering the call to "prepare the way of the Lord," the record represents our desire to go beyond our walls with the message of the Gospel.

Rick and his Fire Rain ministry were kind enough to share about the origins of the song, from his upcoming songbook: (Thanks to Adam at Fire Rain for getting this to us!)

This song began in a small worship gathering where just a few people who had their hearts set on singing prayers of worship to the Lord. The word of God says that a person who has a pilgrim’s heart is blessed! A pilgrim’s heart is one that pioneers. A pilgrim’s heart is one that journeys into the unknown. A pilgrim’s heart is one that blazes trails where no one else has ever gone! What if every worship leader, every person on the worship team, everyone who has anything to do with worship unto the Lord, began to journey into the unknown in their worship? We would have nothing but blessed worship! The only boundary in your pilgrimage worship journey should be the word of God and nothing else.

Pilgrims are forerunners. They are ones who run before. They find the path for others. One of the things that the forerunner will always come up against is the spirit of religion. Forerunners help to break the bride of Christ into the next level. They usher in the new corporate wineskin. Religion, however, does not want this to happen! The religious spirit of formulas, productions, and traditions wants to keep us enslaved to the old wineskin mindset; but God is raising up His contenders who will push the envelope and believe God for the new! Be encouraged! If forerunners like Elijah, John the Baptist, and Jesus had to face the religious and political demons of their day, then so will you. Just know that the rewards of breakthrough are greater than the battles that get you there.

Our interpretation of this song is a simple arrangement, mainly acoustic guitar and piano. The song will include a musical interlude, with a reprise of the chorus. As it caps off the record, we hope that it will indeed be a voice in the wilderness for those who listen.

Check out the project's Facebook page for regular updates. And check out this video of Rick worshipping with this song. (With CFNI)