The Worship Wars

Yeah, not what you think!  Welcome to The Worship Wars!  I have taken 76 of my favorite worship songs from my MP3 player and have randomly placed them in a 4-region bracket - NCAA basketball style.  They will go head to head and the winner will be determined by my own ratings system to see who comes out on top.

Each song is special to me, enough that I have it on my MP3 player.  But I will rate each song in 7 areas for

the first round, with a possible 10 points per area:

-Personal Attachment - How personally connected am I to the song based on how it has been used by God in my life?

-Worship Quality - Just how worshipful is the song?

-Musical Quality - How good is the song as a song?  Christian music has come a long way, but is generally still the "minor leagues" of music.

-Originality - Is it more than a cookie-cutter worship song?  Many worship songs can generally sound very similar.

-Content - How deep is the lyrical content?  Many worship songs can be easily swapped out with human love songs.  There is a place for this, but it is good to have some meat on the bones!

-Emotion - How much emotion comes through, at least with the particular artist's version of the song?

-Instrument Use - As a musician, I appreciate a song that can be more than guitar, keyboard and drum.

So, a song can receive a possible score of 70 in the first round.  After the first round, additional criteria will be added.  So, I hope you enjoy this journey.  Feel free to add your thoughts throughout the "tournament."