North Point en Vivo

What better worship leader than Seth Condrey to record an all-Spanish live album for Atlanta's North Point Community Church? A fast-growing congregation, North Point also works with the likes of Fee, Christy Nockels, Todd Fields, and Eddie Kirkland -- all quasi-celebrities in modern worship circles. Condrey, who became fluent in Spanish after attending Bible college in Argentina, is no stranger to Latin Christian music, having netted a Dove Award -- gospel's version of the Grammy -- for his Spanish debut, De Corazón a Corazón. North Point en Vivo comes most naturally to the worship leader, not only because of his command of the language, but also because he knows these songs inside and out: he sings them week after week in church. More remarkably, the song translations, most of them consisting of North Point staples, do not sound like translations, but are aptly adapted for a Latin audience, while retaining their stadium rock edge. In a field where a dearth of official song translations has caused many a worship classic to be butchered beyond recognition by well-meaning amateurs, North Point en Vivo sets itself apart as a case study on how a church ought to transpose its own repertoire into español, while remaining true to the heart and soul of the originals. Worship leaders with global aspirations, take note. ~ Andree Farias