Review Detail
Overflow - Tommy Walker
We Mobile Music
Tommy Walker, who has gifted the Church with some of its best loved devotional music ("He Knows My Name," "Only a God Like You," "Lord I Believe In You," and "Mourning Into Dancing") continues his love affair with God, worship-and the guitar-on
Overflow. A master at combining simplicity and complexity, Walker crafts melodies, singable for even the vocally challenged, floating on intricate, rhythms, harmonies, and first-rate composition and musicianship.
Known for his stewardship of all God has given him, Walker has served as worship leader at Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock, California, for 20 years. He has shared his offering of worship around the world and teaches at Churches and Conferences, from Saddleback to Willow Creek, as well as being a valued faculty member at the National Worship Leader Conference and Song DISCovery events.
A World In Need of JoyOverflow emerged out of Tommy's experience of traveling to the Middle East and visiting with courageous Christian leaders. In that process, he also encountered "many, many people living joyless lives without a Savior," he says. Walker was profoundly moved by what he saw: "I felt so challenged to be a person marked by the joy of my Lord. A kind of joy that is deep and lasting and that speaks to a hopeless world, that there is a God of mercy, love and peace!" The title song reflects that hope and is a very short-just over a minute-simple worship prayer that bears repeating many times.
Mixing Style & ContentOverflow exudes an overall adult contemporary worship feel nuanced here and there by some Latin and gospel, the former typified by "Now Is the Time" and the latter on "I Will Not Be Shaken," co-written with Jacob Park. The ascendant "Shaken" includes an interlude of "Holy, Holy, Holy," a screaming guitar solo and is featured on Song DISCovery 82. With sensitive arrangements and expansive dynamic range, it moves from sweet intimacy to all out adoration, power, and triumph, returning to quiet assurance.
Drawing from the Book of Revelation, "To Thee Be the Glory" combines some Keith Green "Easter Song" syncopation and Hallelujah Chorus-infused chromatics with all-out Tommy rock. Walker has sprinkled some country in the mix with his "I'm Forgiven," Jacob Park's "This Is What My God Has For Me," and Craig Michael Ahern's song "The Blood," which draws from classic songs such as "There Is a Fountain" and "Jesus Paid It All."
The Beauty of Sung Prayer"I'm So Glad" is part of the ongoing conversation of prayer in this album; the two most evocative of these talks with God are "Find Me Faithful," and "Nearer." The former recalls Hebrews 12 and the faithful servant of Matthew 24 and is adorned by another soaring guitar solo. In the latter, the attributes of God are alluded to rather than declared, and yet, ironically, the lyrical treatment only adds power to the message that God brings safety, renewal, forgiveness, comfort, and joy. Every song is church ready, but these two songs are especially so. Worship leaders can also look to "He Came," which is written from the we-and-us perspective and juxtaposes His coming to love us, to live, die, and rise, with our coming in return to give Him praise, thanks-and our lives. "I Give Thanks" is rife with Tommy-ness and sweet simplicity offering gratitude for everything from the beauty of creation, to the comfort of a hot meal and roof over our head to the joy of worshiping and the hope God has sewn in our hearts.
For those who prefer the "we" perspective in worship, a number of songs will need some pronoun work, but other than that, the majority of songs are ready for takeoff, lyrically and musically accessible, direct and powerful. Once again Tommy has brought us his gift of worship: rock solid, scripturally-based and straight from the heart.
-Andrea Hunter
A Pastor's Point of View
The title track of
Overflow epitomizes its multiple strengths. "Overflow," the song, contains only 22 words: "Overflow, overflow / Let Your joy, Lord, overflow / With a joy that's deep and sets our spirits free / Let Your joy, Lord, overflow." This song is simple, yet reflective of a deep yearning for God. Its simplicity reminds me of classics like "I Love You, Lord." Here we find economy of words yet a richness of godly desire.
The songs on this album, most of which were written by Tommy Walker, consistently express solid, biblical faith. Some songs, like "To Thee Be the Glory," almost paraphrase passages of Scripture, in this case, Revelation 5:11-13. Others weave together diverse biblical phrases and images. The result is a theologically weighty collection of songs that help us to worship in Spirit and in truth.
Tommy Walker has an unusual poetic gift for using uncomplicated words that exercise the mind and move the heart. "I Give Thanks" collects a variety of reasons for gratitude, "For my clothes and my bed, a roof over my head / And a piping hot meal when our table is set / For a walk on the beach where Your beauty is seen / I give thanks." The song's closing focus on Christ's "stripes," "crown," and shed "blood" anchors the lyrics in the bedrock of God's grace.
Several of the songs on this album impressed me as resulting from a mature faith, a long, authentic walk with the Lord. It's not often that worship songwriters mention "that great cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1), believers who have gone before us to be with the Lord. In "Find Me Faithful," Walker acknowledges that he's "strayed" on "this long and winding road" of faith. Yet in "surrender" this road will "someday lead me home." Thus the cry of our hearts is to be faithful: "Find me faithful, ever faithful, I make this the goal of my life." Indeed,
Overflow will help us to be more faithful in worship and in daily discipleship.
- Dr. Mark D. Roberts
tommywalker.net
