Chuck's Not Anxious

Chuck's Not Anxious

Bruce Von Stiers

I've known Chuck Higgins since 7 th grade. Even back then at Theodore Roosevelt Jr. High, Chuck was into music. He became quite the rocker, later being a key part of a couple of popular bands. I'd lost track of Chuck over the years. But one evening, at a special church event, I got reacquainted with Chuck. I found out he was doing music ministry at the New Hope United Methodist Church.

Chuck was working with Arlie Persell, who was the pastor of New Hope, to modernize the music being played and performed at the church. Arlie also happened to be a friend of mine, so I was glad that Chuck was helping out the church. After Arlie died, Chuck took over as pastor of New Hope.

As part of continuing on with the music ministry, Chuck and his praise band from the church put together an album. The group called themselves Anxious For Nothing. And the album that they recorded is titled Thank You For Saving Me.

I asked Chuck about who performed on the album. He told me that there were several people who performed on the album. They included both current and past members of the church's music worship team. Each song had a different lineup of singers. Chuck's daughter Jiana Higgins,was on bass guitar. Elijah Jimerson was on keys. Mercedes Kroeker did vocals and her father, Todd Kroeker, was the drummer. As for Chuck, he played guitar, slide guitar, banjo and did the lead vocals.

The album has eight songs and a play time of thirty-eight minutes. Chuck wrote all of the songs on the album. It was recorded and released in conjunction with Heartswell Records.

The title track, Thank You For Saving Me, is first up. There is a nice, moderately paced rock guitar intro for the song. The tone of the song made me think of the classic rock band, America. It is all about thanking God for doing everything to make us better people, even if we fall. And that God's love conquers all.

Passion (I See Love) has a great acoustic sounding guitar at the start. It is a ballad with great vocals by Chuck and terrific backing music.

Change My Mind has a definite rock tone. Especially with a tough guitar solo in the middle of the song. It's about changing your ways of life to walk with Christ.

I Will Believe is a great ballad. It is subtle, with fantastic harmonizing vocals. It kind has an alt pop /rock sound. Again, there is a great guitar solo in the song.

My Rock is a terrific praise song. It has a light toe-tapping beat and lyrics that you can catch onto quickly. I can definitely see this sung during a worship service.

Cool duet vocals by Chuck and Mercedes can be found in Only You Know.

Run To You is a ballad with heartfelt vocals by Chuck and terrific harmonizing vocals. This another song that would be at home as part of a praise worship service.

On My Way is the final song on the album. It has some killer guitar in it and super cool vocals. It is about God's saving grace and that we can be on our way to a better life through him.

I'm aware that I am a bit biased as I've known Chuck Higgins for a long time. But I do think that Thank You For Saving Me is a pretty great praise album. It has songs about God's love and how we are better for it. We hear of redemption even through our darkest times. Chuck's rock musician background gives the group a strong foundation to work with. And some of the other performers have also have extensive backgrounds in rock, blues and jazz music. This makes for a solid praise music sound.

Thanks For Saving Me is available on iTunes, amazon and other music retailers. Chuck also let me know that you can pick up a copy of the album for free if you visit New Hope United Methodist Church. You can find out more at https://www.newhopeisalive.com/

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