These days there are more minaret towers that dot the landscape from Hadrian's Wall to the beaches of Sicily than church steeples.  Where the church was once the prevailing voice of the society now church-attending Christians hardly cause a whimper in Europe.  There are four times more Muslims who attend the mosques on Friday than Anglicans who attend church on Sundays.  In some parts of the continent madrasahs have to turn students away due to their long waiting list while in many churches it is hard press sometimes to even spot a non-grey haired person in the pews. But thank God for conferences like Soul Survivor and Momentum.  Just when you thought Christianity is dying in the UK, 22,500 teens and youth leaders attended the three Soul Survivor events this past summer.  And another 6,600 young adults attended Momentum, a Soul Survivor event that reaches out to 20-30 year-old adults.  With a focus on the Gospel, prayer, worship and healing, 1,656 teens and young adults have committed their lives to Jesus Christ for the first time.  Integrity Music's "The Flood" captures live some of the worship moments of three out of the four events where new songs as well as worship favorites are included in this 2 CD set.

"The Flood" features live worship led by Soul Survivor's worship leaders such as Beth Croft, Tom Field and Sam Bailey and their special guest Acts 29 and Rend Collective Experiment.  The songs here are neatly divided between Soul Survivor's worship leaders' new original material as well as familiar worship favorites.  Let's start off first with the originals:  Tom Field gets the first crack with the album's lead single and tile cut "The Flood."  Calling to mind Martin Smith and Chris Tomlin's "God's Great Dance Floor," "The Flood" starts off with a slow balladry start before the electronic rock amps get rev up to its crescendo as Bailey belts out an explosive chorus:  "There's enough for everyone/Let the rain of Heaven come/There's love for everyone/In the flood, the flood, the flood."  Infusing some Brit dance swirls into its sizzling rock groove, Field gets us all pump up for worship with "Let It Be Known," a co-write between Worship Central's Nick Herbert, Tom Smith and Tim Hughes.  Beth Croft has the most commanding presence of them all.  Using her sturdy and powerhouse soprano (which calls to mind Hillsong's Jill McCloghry) Croft boldly declares the power of God's word on the Croft and Tim Hughes co-write "Say the Word."

One of the greatest truths about God is that you can never over-exaggerate his attributes.  Sam Bailey does our souls a service when he waxes eloquence on God's kindness on the heart soothing "Magnificent Kindness."   Those who have attended these conferences would tell you that a major highlight is when you can get to sing with thousands of like-spirited Christians some of their worship favorites.  Beth Croft leads a stunning version of Hillsong's "Cornerstone."  While Hillsong's original is set on a higher key making it a challenge for who do not have the pipes to sing along, Croft's version is more comfortable to sing to.  Recalling some the Psalms in the Old Testament, Aaron Keyes' hugely popular "Sovereign Over Us" has some of the most poignant words about God's sovereignty and justice: "Even what the enemy means for evil/You turn it for good/You turn it for our good and for your glory." Croft again shows her mettle as a stellar worship leader when she leads us into a soaring read of Bryan and Katie Torwalt's "Holy Spirit." 

More tangential to the corpus is "Love Me Home."  Given the fact that these conferences have more youngsters than baby boomers, it makes sense that they have brought in Acts 29 to rap on the hip hop flavored "Love Me Home."  Given that many of our teens have different musical tastes and preferences, it is encouraging to see the worship leaders at Soul Survivors acknowledge that not all anthemic pop-rock worship appeals across the board.  As far as Christendom in Europe (and the rest of the world) is concerned, "The Flood" moves along in the right direction.  These are events and music that will get young people excited about Jesus Christ again in powerful and life-changing ways.