“Hymns of Peace” is an outstanding collection of fresh instrumental arrangements from award-winning keyboardist and producer Tom Brooks. The album also features long-time friends and musical companions Abe Laboriel, Paul Jackson Jr, Greg Vail, Tony Guerrero, and many more.
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The ‘Language of Music’ is a Gift from God! My prayer is that this music will be a catalyst to help you communicate with Him – let this album be a ‘Soundtrack’ for your conversations with Jesus.
Remember God is not standing far off with His arms folded, waiting for us to say the ‘right words’ …Not even close! Our Father in Heaven is even more excited to reach us than we are to reach Him and He is anxiously waiting for us to stop our world long enough to simply acknowledge His Great Faithfulness, His Amazing Grace, and His Overwhelming Love for us!
Tom Brooks
July, 2009
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1. It Is Well With My Soul Music: Philip Bliss
“When Peace like a river attendeth my way...” It’s amazing to think that God’s Peace is available to us at every moment - and yet far too often we forget to take advantage of this precious Gift that Christ paid so dearly for. Regardless of your circumstances, stop your world right now and thank God for His Perfect Peace; a peace that goes beyond all our human understanding!
2. Come Thou Fount with Greg Vail Traditional American melody
“I’m prone to wander Lord ...but here’s my Heart, please take it and seal it for Your Courts above”. It’s when we wander away that we lose God’s Peace - but when we “...tune our Hearts to sing His Grace”, His Fountain of Blessing pours right back into our lives.
3. His Eye Is On The Sparrow with Paul Jackson Jr.
Music: Charles Gabriel
As much as the Father cares for all creatures great and small, how much more does He watch over us, His Children.
4. Be Thou My Vision Music: Traditional Irish melody
Scripture says, “We see through a glass darkly...” Life on this broken planet is often clouded and confused - We cry out “Why is this happening?” or “Which way should I turn?” The prayer of this hymn is for the Lord to be ‘a Lamp unto our feet and a Light unto our path’. When the world is foggy and we lose our way, He will guide our path and be our Vision.
Just As I Am / Laura’s Hymn of Peace
Music: William Bradbury / Tom Brooks
Warm thoughts of peace & gratitude to sainted evangelist Billy Graham, who ended every salvation prayer with this great hymn - and also to my sweet baby... I love you Laura!
6. Savior Like A Shepherd with Tony Guerrero
Music: William Bradbury
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall want for nothing...”
7. Great Is Thy Faithfulness with Paul Music: William Runyan
Our Lord will never, ever leave us or forsake us - His Faithfulness is beyond the infinite; beyond what we could ever comprehend.
8. Nothing But The Blood with Greg Music: Robert Lowry
Jesus is the only way to salvation - there is no other. It is His sacrifice on the Cross that paid the price for all our failures and offers us an Eternal Home in Heaven.
9. Amazing Grace with Abraham Laboriel
Music: Traditional American melody
As Abe & I were praying over this classic hymn, several different facets of God’s Grace came pouring through - the breathless, speechless, awesome realization of the depth of His Grace... The overwhelming emotion a convict must feel when an innocent Stranger comes along and takes his punishment on the gallows, setting him free... And the unspeakable Joy felt by Jairus in Mark 5, when God’s Grace through Jesus brought his daughter back to life! With those images in our hearts, we began to play the hymn and the result was... well, different than we expected!
10. Wonderful Peace / Perfect Peace
Music: W. G. Cooper / Tom Brooks
To me, prayer is simply a spiritual conversation with God. Often times the challenge is just getting away from all the distractions and cares of this world so you can hear His Still Small Voice. The Language of Music allows us to pray without words and lets God speak directly into our Hearts...
My prayer for you is that you will find that Secret Place - let the music form a shield of protection around you so you can totally focus on the reality of Jesus, His Love for us, His Amazing Grace, and His Perfect Peace.
Tom Brooks
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THE PLAYERS:
Tom Brooks - Keyboards, Grand & B-3, Rhodes & Wurli, synths & samplers, loops & programming, and other miscellaneous musical devices
Friends who stopped by to lend their Gifts to this project...
Abraham Laboriel - Bass on ‘Amazing Grace’
Paul Jackson, Jr. - Guitar on ‘His Eye Is On The Sparrow’ and ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness’
Greg Vail - Sax on ‘Come Thou Fount’ and ‘Nothing But The Blood’
Tony Guerrero - Trumpet on ‘Savior Like A Shepherd’
More great players who contributed to this project: Michael Landau, Bob Somma, Tom Dante, Melvin Davis, Julio Figueroa
Arranged and Produced by Tom Brooks for WorshipAlliance.com
Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by Tom Brooks at
New Earth Studios, Laguna Niguel, CA
For more information visit WorshipAlliance.com
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SPECIAL THANKS
From Tom Brooks –
Abram, meu Irmao eternamente... words just haven’t been invented that are capable of expressing my gratitude Bro! As we all do our best to create a musical pipeline for Jesus to touch this broken planet, you possess some kind of unique fiberoptic Light-Pipe connection from the Throne Room with bandwidth that is Off The Chart! (...something on the order of ‘speed of light to the power of googolplex’
Gbits/nanosecond according to my calculations). When you embrace a song the Love of God comes shining through every note, every groove, every silence, every breath... Your impact for the Cause of Christ in the music world is without equal - Muito Obrigado Irmao!
Paul, the Art and the Heart you pour into a melody is a thing of beauty! Thanks for bringing your creative genius into my life. Blanche’s 3rd production is a HIT! - #1 with a Bullet!
Greg & Tony, what a cool privilege it is to worship with you at Saddleback - thanks for joining me on this project. When the time comes to move our services from Orange County to our permanent venue in Heaven, I wanna stand by you Guys in the multitude!
Very Special Thanks to my 9th Grade Sweetheart Cheri’ - Merci pour votre la patience infinie Ma Cherie Amour! ...my first kiss and my last.
Special Thanks to Dario, Lucia, Jake, you Guys are the Best!
Ed Whitting – you know how to make a piano sound ‘Grande’, Gregg Buchwalter @ Boston B-3, Eric Persing, Stephane Bonvallet, & Bob Wilson @ Spectrasonics, David Kulka @ Studio Electronics, Ken Hirsch @ Euphonix, Mike Troke & Kirk Fyvie @ MicWorks, and David Ell The Rhodes Man.
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