Hear Our Prayer is now available on iTunes here!

Hear Our Prayer was recorded live and in the studio by a diverse group of NPU students who led worship together for the North Park community from 2008-2010. Guest Artists include North Park University’s 150 voice student Gospel Choir, and student organist Michael Gagne. Under the direction of Stephen Kelly, the Worship Arts Coordinator and director of the Gospel Choir, the live recording took place at Anderson Chapel on North Park’s campus on Sunday, April 18, 2010. Four of the tracks for this recording were produced in the studio to artistically highlight the musicianship of this talented team.

What is most rewarding about this project is that from start to finish, the focus has truly been to create a worship experience and not a performance. The strength of this recording is the attention to detail when representing different styles of worship. Student vocalists as well as the instrumentalists were given a unique avenue to express their own cultural and worship upbringing, while also capturing shared experiences of our communal campus worship over the last three years.

Because of the diversity of the student body at NPU, students involved in North Park’s Worship teams and Music and Worship degree program have the awesome and unique opportunity to experience and learn from a diverse group of student leaders that bring their own voices into the fabric of worship here at the university. The opportunity and privilege to do this week in and week out produces a rich culture of worship that is rarely experienced in colleges and churches around the United States.

The mission of North Park University, as an intentionally Christian university of the Evangelical Covenant Church, is to prepare students for lives of significance and service through education in the liberal arts, professional studies, and theology. Our vision, building on our core institutional identity – Christian, urban, multicultural – is to fashion a university of uncommon character and enduring excellence where faith, learning, and service meet. www.northpark.edu

Special thanks to Mark Olson, Dean of Enrollment for North Park University and to the Department of University Ministries (www.northpark.edu/umin) for their collaboration, staffing and financial resources.

The names of individuals who helped give life to this project are too numerous to mention, but here is the core team:

Rosa Baez, alto
Paul Burger, tenor
Kara Clearman, soprano
Peter Farnum, electric guitar
Rachel Farnum, soprano
Tiffany Hines, soprano
Ryan Lane, drums
Robert Marshall, tenor
Sarah Mateus, violin
Seth McConkey, tenor
Deborah McPherson, cello
Lesley Morales, alto
Lina Murkland, piano & vocals
Anders Nordstrom, electric guitar
Jennifer Reaves, alto
Ryan Roberts, drums
Peter Schamp, piano & vocals
Teel Short, acoustic guitar
Marikje Stob, bass
Jennifer Tiemeier, alto
Alicia Tilson, soprano
Rita Umiliza, alto
Brian Wallin, acoustic guitar
Chris Welander, bass
Michael Gagne, organist
North Park University Gospel Choir

Producer, Arranger, Director of NPU Gospel Choir, Keyboards: Stephen Kelly
Producer: William Harmon
Live Recording Producer: Todd Hiller
Live Audio Engineer: Joe Fernicola
Pro Presenter graphics: Jen Anthony
Executive Producers: Rich Johnson and Mark Olson
Live recording by Metro Mobile (Glenview, IL- Timothy Powell, owner)
Engineered by Mike Konopka, assisted by Darren Styles and Dan Glomski
Studio recording, mixing and mastering by William Harmon
Design, Artwork, Licensing: Paul Johnson