A contemporary hymn, 'These Thousand Hills' is a cover from fellow Atlanta band Jacob's Trouble. The heavy guitar tune is enjoyable in its praise: 'These thousand hills roll ever on / Footprints of a Mighty God / They bring me to my knees in praise / Amazing love, amazing grace'.

The organ starts and the familiar drum beats echo as Mac Powell introduces the worship set at a concert. It's the perfect opening song, the much loved 'Your Love Oh Lord (Psalm 36)' from Time. Powell speaks through out the CD and his stage charm is evident: 'We're gonna have a church service tonight ya'll, and we'll begin with praise toour Father'. The song sounds good, just as good, if not better, than the Time recording. There's some great electric guitar parts and a bridge that highlight this track as a live rendition. It's too bad though that we can't hear the crowd singing along. Is it because they don't know the words or because they were mixed out? They were probably mixed out because Powell keeps leading the words before he sings them. It's also too bad that the track doesn't go on for a bit longer, with Powell singing the alternate, high melody line that's on Time.

'Agnus Dei' sounds pretty much like it did on Exodus. Again it would have been nice to hear the crowd singing on this one too, but we hear only the opening crowd applause. The song changes abruptly at an impressive climax: it's a complete contrast changing from the wild electric sound of 'Agnus Dei' to the gentle acoustic, accapella, prayerful sound of 'Worthy'. It works beautifully though: The crowd is mixed in this time, the guitar drops off entirely, and it sounds heavenly.

'Saved' is another cover, from Bob Dylan's 1980 album of the same name. It's one of the liveliest songs on the album, and plenty of fun. 'The heartfelt lyrics and passion in this song remind us of how we felt when we first came to Christ,' says Third Day.

Taken from Conspiracy No. 5 and based on Psalm 25 is 'My Hope Is You'. Particularily enjoyable is the catchy chorus which Powell leads the live crowd in singing, line by line: 'My hope is You / Show me Your ways / Guide me in truth / In all my days / My hope is You'.

The funky percussion and wavering sound effects are present again in the fun prelude / introduction to 'You're Everywhere'. The song then starts off proper with a gentle (Em -D/F# - G) chord progression. Powell's steady vocal stirs until the etheral and angelic chorus: 'You're everywhere...'. This song was actually recorded during a band practice session and they decided it was just as well to put it onto the CD instead of recording it again, since it has some 'unique qualities'. The beauty of the melody in this song can't be described or overstated: Placed a little over the halfway point of the album, it's another highlight from the studio tracks.

Rooted in a piano accompaniment 'Thief' stands out from the rest of the album. This song is about one of the criminals who died beside Jesus. It isn't really a (so-called) worship song, but it's a great live song and the message is encouraging: 'I know that paradise is coming soon'.

If there's a rock song on this album, 'Consuming Fire' is it. Big bass and drums push the song forward, while Powell sings a high melody line: 'And yes, our God, He is a consuming fire / And the flames burn down deep in my soul'. The distorted bass and electric guitars pound heavily throughout the song, growing stronger towards the end where Powell tries to get the crowd to sing along. Unforunately, the crowd is not really audible.

A dreamy organ and shakers start 'All The Heavens' off softly, with two acoustic guitars joining in to pluck out the tune once through before the singing begins. This song, which follows a simple verse-chorus-verse-chorus format and a traditional sounding (yet very catchy) melody line, follows in the hymn tradition of the church fathers. It is a good song to introduce Third Day to worshippers in a congregational setting: 'I can only make my one desire / Holding on to Thee'. The one downfall of this song is that there's only two verses, whereas another two could easily have been added and enjoyed. A penny whistle that had unobtrusively been playing in the background moves to the foreground to finish the song as peacefully as it had begun.

A fan favorite, 'Love Song' is a natural choice with which to end this album. 'Love Song' is the best live track on the album: Powell's vocals lead with the crowd singing along strongly, clearly to be heard. The accompaniment is acoustic guitar, and it adds to the words, undistracting. The lyrics are honest, seeking, and promising, spoken from Jesus' perspective: 'I give my life away just to be with you'.

There's a hidden track which we couldn't get any information about, except that Mark Lee is singing lead. It follows in the same vein of openness that 'Love Song' did: 'Don't let me go / Hold me close to where You are / Don't let me go / Take my heart take all of me'.

As a live album, Offerings succeeds: on the whole, it's mixed well, and a few of the live tracks really stand out as excellent live recordings. As a worship album, Offerings again succeeds: even the most casual listener may find the music and lyrics to be drawing them closer to God. It can't have been easy to try and incorporate both of these aspects into one album, but Third Day have done it well. Even the track order is condusive to the listening (and maybe singing along) journey that is worship.

There is also a worship kit that is available. It includes song devotions written by the band, simple guitar chord guides, complete guitar tabs, transparency masters, and a disc with lyrics. This album isn't meant for us just to enjoy it as a contemporary release from Third Day. All of these songs could be truly excellent additions to congregational worship, and Essential is making it easier for worship teams to learn them by releasing this excellent resource.

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