Jesse Murray
Senior Reporter
Lee University’s U-Church ministry will welcome Gungor to the Cleveland, Tenn. campus on Sunday, April 22. The performance will be held at 7:30 PM in the Conn Center.
Gungor presents a unique brand of worship, complete with streaks of pop, indie and folk influence. They have two albums to date, the first being Beautiful Things and the most recent being Ghosts Upon the Earth. Both albums have gotten almost unanimously positive reviews from Contemporary Christian sources. Christianity Today suggests that with the newest album, following in the footsteps of their debut release, Gungor is “pushing the boundaries of modern worship music in all the right ways” and that “Ghosts Upon the Earth proves worship music can be experimental and still accessible.”
David Huey of christianmusiczine.com calls it “one of the best albums of the year, if not the best” while comparing Gungor’s sound to that of Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros and Bon Iver.
“Music doesn’t have to fit the mold to move people’s hearts,” says front man Michael Gungor. “And at the end of the day, that’s really what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make honest music that opens people’s hearts.”
Michael Gungor, whose roots are in Denver, Col, and who is known for his earlier worship hits such as “Friend of God” and “I Am Free,” has made his worship philosophy clear on his website.
“If leading worship is just about bringing a group of people into a room so we can get goose bumps and sing songs together, there’s not much value in that,” says Michael Gungor. “But if leading worship is a means to an end, that we leave this place as a different kind of people, as part of a new humanity that God wants to create–the people that are caring for the widows and orphans, that aren’t bound by the systems of this world but becoming free, becoming fully engaged in our world–then that matters.”
Doors open in the Conn Center at 6:30 and admission is free. Seating is limited, and attendees have been asked to bring a canned good to donate to the Leonard Center Food Bank.
To learn more about Gungor, visit the band’s website at gungormusic.com.