Deliberate Kids

Today, our worship at church was led by Phil Joel. He is a former member of the band Newsboys. He now tours and produces albums as a solo artist. Our daughter loves guitars so we pulled her out of children's church to join us for worship. She really enjoyed it and we did too. We learned that he just released a children's album for the first time. It's called Deliberate Kids. This is a follow up to his latest regular album, Deliberate People.

Later in the evening, he had a concert that I attended with my mom. She has been a really big fan of his for years. In fact, she took me to my first Newsboys concert years ago before they hit it big. We had a lot of fun, it was a great show.

A few years back, I went though a really rough time. There was one song that was sort of my theme song for that time in my life. It was his song, God is Watching Over You. The lyrics were perfect for what we were going through and really ministered to my spirit. Every time I have heard the song since, it brings me joy. It's amazing that a song can impact you so much but it can. This song is from his 2000 album and he has released three other albums since then and is working on a fourth. I knew that the likelihood of him doing this song was really slim...but a girl can hope, right? Guess what? He ended the concert with that very song. I couldn't believe it!

Afterward, we got to meet him and take pictures with him. I had him sign the Deliberate Kids album that I bought for my kiddos.

I would highly recommend the Deliberate Kids album. It is fun, upbeat, and different from other more annoying kid's albums. It has several songs that are great for memorization. One of them lists the books of the New Testament and the other lists the Fruits of the Spirit. Both kids love the album. It is going to be the most requested music around here for quite some time. Our daughter is requesting the song, "Boom-chaka-laka." She LOVES this song and keeps telling me, "Mommy, I got Boom-chaka-laka stuck in my head but I like it!" Our son instantly starts dancing to the music as soon as it starts. He's so cute. He kinda reminds me of Bill Cosby when he dances...he's an expert at head bopping to the music.

Another good thing about the album is the story behind it. Phil Joel and his wife have two kids and after their personal journey to be more deliberate in their faith, they turned their attention to helping develop that same passion in their kids. That focus also turned to their work with the children in their church. He said this morning that when he started talking about doing a kids' album, many people told him that it would kill his career and he replied, Let's do it then! I like that attitude...do it because it's right no matter the consequences!

I'll close this post with a scripture. When Phil Joel signed the CD for the kids, he wrote both of their names and under his signature, he wrote Jeremiah 33:3...'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'