Third Day’s roots go back to Marietta, Georgia. They released their self-titled major label
debut on Reunion Records in 1996. They
have won an impressive 4 Grammy Awards and 24 GMA Dove Awards. Their two worship albums, OFFERINGS: A
WORSHIP ALBUM (2000) and OFFERINGS II: ALL I HAVE TO GIVE (2003), were their
best-selling albums. Today Third Day is:
Tai Anderson (bass), David Carr (drums), Mark Lee (guitars), and Mac Powell
(vocals). Their twelfth and latest
studio album is LEAD US BACK: SONGS OF WORSHIP (2015, Essential). Jonny Macintosh and JT Daly, who are known as
The Sound Kids, produced it. Terry
Hemmings served as executive producer.
‘Spirit’ is a song of humility: “Oh, Lord, fill us with Your
Spirit/Guide us by Your presence/How we need You, God/Oh, Lord lead us to Your
Kingdom/Bring us back to freedom/How we need You, God (2X)”. ‘Soul on Fire’ was written by the group along
with Brenton Brown and Matt Maher. It
features All Sons & Daughters and is a catchy pop song of passionate
pursuit: “God, I’m running for Your heart/I’m running for Your heart/Till I am
a soul on fire/Lord, I’m longing for Your ways/I’m waiting for the day/When I
am a soul on fire/Till I am a soul on fire/Lord, restore the joy I had/And I
have wandered, bring me back/In this darkness, lead me through/Until all I see
is You”.
‘Your Words’ features nice complementary female vocals by
Harvest Parker. These lyrics remind us
just how powerful God is: “Let us speak Your words/More than ours, more than
ever/Let us share Your love with all the world/Your words give us life that’s
never ending/Your words bring us love that never fails/Everything else will
fade away/But what will remain are Your words/The grass will wither and the
flowers will fall/But the Word of our God will last forever”. ‘Our Deliverer’ is a great light rock song
written by the group and JT Daly. It
offers believers in Christ great hope: “Every burden one day will be lifted/And
every broken heart will be redeemed/The Lord Almighty is coming to our
rescue/Salvation’s waiting for all who will believe/Our Deliverer is
coming/With salvation in His wings/Our Deliverer is coming/Here to set His
people free/Our Deliverer is coming/Coming back for you and me/Our Deliverer is
coming”.
‘He is Alive’ is one of eight songs written by the band
alone. It shares the Good News with one
and all: “He is alive/Death is defeated/Sin has retreated/From the power of the
Son/And He is alive/The enemy is faded/The battle still rages/But the war has
been won/The stars in the heavens rejoice/With the sun and the moon/And with
all of the earth/Let all of creation now lift up their voice/Singing ‘He is
alive! He is alive.../Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive!’” ‘In Jesus’ Name’ is a good adult contemporary
track featuring the vocal talents of CCM stars Michael W. Smith, Natalie Grant,
and Michael Tait. It has a very biblical
chorus: “Name above all names/Savior and our Lord/Every knee will bow/And every
tongue confess/No other name is given/By which we can be saved/Let us find our
life and love in Jesus’ Name”.
The title track, ‘Lead Us Back’, is short at just 1:20. It simply calls out to God for help: “Lead us
back where we belong/Call us as Your very own/Lead us back/Safe into Your
arms”. ‘Maker’ is a lively folk/pop song
of confession: “We built our idols just to see them fall/And our false gods
brought us nothing at all/How foolish we have been/Forgive us for our
sins.../And on our own, we have nothing but shame/But by Your grace, we all can
stand again, yeah/How foolish we have been/Forgive us for our sins”.
‘Victorious’ uses strings and percussion to good
effect. Sarah Macintosh contributes
backing vocals. This song extols Christ:
“In all the heavens, there is One/Who conquered death alone and brought our
freedom/Your throne will last throughout all time/Let all the nations bow and
bring You praise/Victorious, You reign victorious/Over sin, over death, over
all, over all of us”. ‘I Know You Can’
makes some bold requests of Christ: “Give me the words to say/Bring me the
strength to stand/Take all the doubt away/Jesus, I know You can/For if I’m to
follow You/It’s only by Your hand/Help me to make it through/Jesus, I know You
can”.
Michael Gungor sings backing vocals on ‘Father of
Lights’. This one is a joyful song of
praise: “Great and marvelous are Your deeds/Oh, Lord God Almighty/Just and true
are Your ways/So we praise You and You alone/We magnify Your Name/ We lift You
up and praise/We magnify Your Name/Lord, God Almighty”. ‘The One I Love’ is a soft song that finds
Christ assuring us: “Oh, you of little faith/Why do you let the wind and the
waves distract you?/Oh, you of little faith/Don’t you know that when you’ve
fallen, I’ll be there to catch you?/And when all your world is gone/And you
cannot sing your song/I will help you carry on/The one I love”.
Third Day’s Christian music career has been similar to that
of Petra. They have put out a great
catalogue of albums that prove they are a great rock band with clean
lyrics. In addition, they have provided
the church and individual Christians with some terrific praise and worship
albums and songs. LEAD US BACK: SONGS OF
WORSHIP is contemporary, relevant, and points people unashamedly to God. I recommend this project to fans of Michael
W. Smith’s SOVEREIGN (2014) and modern praise and worship music in
general. Mac Powell’s vocals are nicely
added to by a variety of talented background vocalists. I’m rating this album 95%. For more info visit: www.thirdday.com.