Song of the Year award
“Follow You” – Ed Cash, Jack Mooring & Leeland Mooring (Reunion)
Press release: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
(Pompano Beach, FL) – Cross International is proud to present the first annual Harmony of Hearts Award to Christian band Leeland for their song “Follow You” as the 2009 Mercy Ministry Song of the Year.
Jack and Leeland Mooring, Mike Smith, Jake Holtz
The annual Harmony of Hearts Award goes to the creative forces responsible for the song which best represents God’s concern for the poor and call to serve them. It is designed to spur songwriters and musicians towards creating songs that illustrate God’s compassion to the poor and the church’s obligation to serve them in Jesus’ name.
“Cross International commends Leeland for using their gifts and platform to put feet to their faith and encourage others to do the same,” says Chuck Burge, Director of Music Outreach for Cross International. “’Follow You’ spotlights well the responsibility and opportunity for serving the poorest of the poor in Christ’s name and will move others to ‘go and do likewise.’”
Finalists for the award included “The Twenty-First Time” recorded by Monk and Neagle, and “Give Me Your Eyes” recorded by Brandon Heath, who was also featured on Leeland’s recording of “Follow You.”
Burge says that “’Follow You’ represents the renewal of interest in mercy ministry among Christian artists and songwriters, recently chronicled by the November cover article “Songs of Justice, Mission of Mercy” by Christianity Today.
“With ‘Follow You’, Leeland shows that they realize the intrinsic connection between worship and service to the poor that is mandated by the Scriptures,” says Burge. “From God’s providing clothing for Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 through Jesus’ call to care for ‘the least of these’ at the judgment in Matthew 25, God illustrates His concern for the destitute and disenfranchised throughout redemptive history. We trust that this award will encourage Leeland and other artists that create songs for the church dedicated to serving the poor.”
Burge says, “With every great movement of the Holy Spirit comes a concern for the poor. This has been true from the Great Awakenings to William Booth and the Salvation Army.”
“The first chapter of the New Testament book of James points out, if our religion is genuine, we will demonstrate concern for widows and orphans.” says Burge, alluding to James 1:27. “Spiritual movements bear tangible results, and chief among those are caring for the poorest of the poor.”
Formed in 2004, Leeland is a quartet hailing from Baytown, Texas, and consists of Mike Smith on drums, Jake Holtz on bass, and Jack and Leeland Mooring on keyboards and guitar respectively. “Follow You” is from their recent third release, Love Is on the Move (Reunion).
“Follow You” was written by brothers Jack and Leeland Mooring along with veteran producer Ed Cash, and was inspired by time the band spent overseas among the poor. Jack says, “I learned that poverty is complex, but the God we serve is truly omniscient and all-powerful. He knows the solution even when we don’t. He is more than capable of healing broken lives, cities, & nations. Here’s the amazing thing though: He wants us to play a vital role in this process.”
A challenge by Bono, the lead singer for superstar band U2, provided the impetus for the writing of “Follow You.” Jack’s brother Leeland was inspired by the Irish singer accepting an award himself. While observing the event, Leeland says, “Bono actually started preaching and saying, ‘God is with the poor and with the needy, and if we want to be with God, we need to follow Him to the poor–where the poor play house inside of cardboard boxes.’ I ran out to the hallway with this melody in my head. The whole chorus came right away.”
Leeland says, “For awhile, we were just this band from Baytown, Texas, and all we saw was our little church where God had been doing awesome and incredible things. But He’s really been opening our vision to all the hurting people, especially the poor, around the world and making it clear we should help by being a part of spreading His kingdom.” He quotes 1 John 3:18 – “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions” – then says “If we’re not loving people, then we’re just making a bunch of noise.”
Leeland’s brother Jack echoes this sentiment: “We don’t want to sing another song if we’re not taking care of the poor. If we’re not being the hands and feet of Jesus, we might as well just stop making records and go home.”
Harmony of Hearts is the music outreach program of Cross International, which delivers food, shelter and hope to the poorest of the poor in Jesus’ name. The goal is to incite mercy through music, and that God would be pleased to revive and renew His people through worship and serving the poor.
Harmony of Hearts provides music and worship material free of charge to local churches for a worship service as special music or an offertory. Materials include music charts, song suggestions, DVD accompaniment, and audio Scripture readings by James Earl Jones that reinforce serving the poor. While there is no cost for materials, we request credit given to Cross International by distributing a brochure, saying a word with the presentation, or printing our website in the bulletin.
For more information contact Chuck Burge, Cross International:
Phone 1-800-391-8545 ext. 174
Leeland quotes courtesy of Leeland On-line.
