Track Listing

1. The Gospel Song
2. The Glories of Calvary
3. Jesus, My Only Hope
4. Wonderful Savior
5. The Glory of the Cross
6. This Fathomless Love
7. The Look
8. I Will Glory in My Redeemer
9. Only in the Cross
10. Glory To
11. I Come by the Blood
12. Before the Cross
13. Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed
14. Before the Throne
15. The Gospel Song (reprise)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56148 in Music
• Released on: 2004-04-01
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
A first for Sovereign Grace Ministries, Songs for the Cross Centered Life is a worship CD inspired by a book. What the book does in print, this CD does in 14 cross-centered songs, five of which are new and nine are updated favorites from earlier recordings. The CD includes a booklet that contains the entire first chapter from The Cross Centered Life, making the project an inspiring reminder of how to preach the gospel to ourselves and equipping us with songs by which to do this.

From the Artist
'My heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary.' This line from the chorus of 'The Glories of Calvary' by Steve and Vikki Cook explains why we produced Songs for the Cross Centered Life. Using various musical styles ranging from Celtic to pop, from classical to gospel rock, we extol the glories of the Lamb who was slain for our sins. Some of the songs may be familiar, some you’ll be hearing for the first time. But all of them are simply a distant echo of the glorious new song being sung around the heavenly throne. Our prayer is that as you listen, you will be drawn to worship the Savior whose cross will ever be the center of our lives." – Bob Kauflin, Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries

Customer Reviews

A Great Collection of Cross-Centered Songs; Half Already Released
According to my iTunes, Sovereign Grace Music is by far the most-oftened played tracks in my music collection. The songs on Songs for the Cross Centered Life help me do exactly what CJ Mahaney suggests that music do in his book The Cross Centered Life, "Sing about the cross...with songs and hymns that speak of the cross with clarity and power."According to my iTunes, Sovereign Grace Music is by far the most-oftened played tracks in my music collection. The songs on Songs for the Cross Centered Life help me do exactly what CJ Mahaney suggests that music do in his book The Cross Centered Life, "Sing about the cross...with songs and hymns that speak of the cross with clarity and power." My wife lovingly bought this CD for me for my birthday. I was elated and popped it in...the first two songs--"The Gospel Song" and "The Glories of Calvary"--were new and I loved them. I even repeated "The Glories of Calvary" before moving on. The thing is, from there on out there are only 5 more out of the remaining 12 tracks are new. The rest are already in my collection from other Sovereign Grace Music albums. I really wish that some more time had been taken to get some additional songs new songs on the album.

Nevertheless, if you do not own all of the Sovereign Grace Music CDs, this is an excellent place to start. I hope that this CD would quickly rise to a favorite place in your collection as the Words of each and every song truly are cross-centered and are written in a way that I have never seen outside of Sovereign Grace that shepherds your heart into God's presence each and every time you sing them.

Thanks again, Sovereign Grace, for another collection of awesome songs.
[...]

Simply the Best!!!
This is the first collection from Sovereign Grace Music I've purchased, and I'll have to admit that it's one of the most awesome collection of songs on the market, but of course, it's kind of a rare collection in most Christian Book Stores. Usually you have to go to the website or look for it on Amazon or some other site. "I Will Glory in My Redeemer" has to be one of the favorites, but they all stand on their own, from the beginning intro, to the upbeat second song, and all the way to the end. It's kind of like a story which is woven throughout the album, focusing on Christ and His glory through the Cross, and our need for Him alone. I can't recommend this collection enough, and I've just gotten a second collection which I hope to be listening to repeatedly and then reviewing. I must've listened to this dozens of times already, and each time I listen to them, they are fresh and brand new again. Highly recommended. I give it a RESOUNDING TEN!!!

The Song or the Performance?
A collection of modern hymns can be viewed from several different angles. How are the songs themselves, simply as melodies and words one might use in corporate worship? How are these particular versions of the songs, taking into additional consideration the arrangements and performances? Viewed from this second vantage point, Songs for the Cross-Centered Live is just OK. Nothing detestable, nothing exceptional in the vocals, orchestration, or musicianship. It's acoustic pop MOR adult contemporary at its MORest, suitable for all the soccer moms who fund Christian radio around the country. Nothing wrong with that; it is what it is.

The real value of this CD is that it collects some excellent contemporary hymns about Christ's atoning work, a sadly under-represented theme in church singing today, if the CCLI song charts are any indication. "Before the Throne of God" is the one with which I was most familiar. This version is quite slow for my preference, but it's still an outstanding song. "Wonderful Savior" and "This Fathomless Love" and "I Come By the Blood" deserve serious consideration as well. This is the kind of music Christians need to patronize to get church music out of the "seven words sung eleven times" ghetto of trite and thoughtless worship music.