If you are a Christian music junky, you won't want to miss this new book from Integrity Publishers! From dc Talk to MercyMe to Steven Curtis Chapman, the recent release, 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music, tells the stories behind contemporary Christian music's all-time favorites. First on the list is "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins. Read about it here and then check out the book for stories of 99 more-you might even discover an old favorite that's new to you.

Rich Mullins: Awesome God
Song written by Rich Mullins, recorded by Rich Mullins on Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (Reunion Records 1989)

There is an irony in having a Rich Mullins song at the top of this list. Of all the artists and writers represented here, he would probably be the least likely to look upon it as an honor. "Actually," chuckles his brother, David Mullins, "it would probably tick him off-I can just hear him, 'It's foolish to try to rate art! Art is not a contest!'"

But for the millions of Rich Mullins fans who still keenly feel his absence since his death ins a car accident in 1997, the choice of "Awesome God" as the #1 Christian song is actually no contest at all. Years before praise and worship songs were the mainstay of most artists' repertoires, Rich's simple hymn acknowledging the awesome power of our Creator became one of his signature songs.

"The story about that song, according to what I've been told," says David Mullins, "is that Rich was driving late at night by himself to a youth concert in Colorado and was having trouble staying awake. He said he was thinking about southern preachers, the kind that say short sentences, real strong. So he rolled his window down and started yelling these statements into the night, trying to stay awake: 'There is thunder in His footsteps and lightning in His fists!' He thought it was funny, and then when he got to the concert he taught the kids the song." Almost every Rich Mullins concert after that included a point in which he started singing that song and then stopped, closed his eyes, and let the gentle, a cappella response of the crowd wash over him.

"'Awesome God' creates a magic moment," Rich once remarked. "It reminds you that this world is not your home."

Rich Mullins never seemed to feel completely at home anywhere, even in the contemporary Christian music field in which he chose to make his living. Restless, eccentric, enigmatic Rich was not an easy fit in an industry that prefers its artists a little more presentable-and a lot less abrasive. Amy Grant, whose recording of Rich's song, "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" brought him to the attention of the industry, says, "Rich was the uneasy conscience of Christian music. He didn't live like a star. He'd taken a vow of poverty so that what he earned could be used to help others."

Rich's longtime view of Christianity as something you do, not something you talk about, was evident in his writing and his travels. He journeyed to Guatemala, Japan, Korea and spent time in Thailand helping farmers dig septic tanks and plant fruit trees. At the height of his growing career, and much to the chagrin of his record label, Rich left Nashville and moved to Wichita, Kansas, to pursue a degree in music education at Friends University. After he graduated from Friends in 1995, he moved to a Navajo reservation in Window Rock, Arizona, to teach music to the children there. However, in typical Rich fashion, his brother David says he actually went there to learn more than teach.

"Everybody always thinks, 'Oh what a wonderful thing, this Christian music artist moving to a reservation to help those people.' But what I heard Rich say about it was, 'I also went there to the Navajo reservation because they are traditionally a shepherding culture, they work with sheep, and so many scriptures were written from that perspective. I went there to learn from them what I could about the Lord as our Good Shepherd.'"

Rich always kept one foot in the music business, however, and continued recording, writing and performing concerts. At the time of his death, he was about to begin a new project, which was eventually released posthumously as The Jesus Record. The 41-year-old singer's death on September 19,1997 left the industry reeling, in much the same way that fellow Christian music rebel Keith Green's fatal plane crash had 15 years earlier. Rich's unflinching honesty, startling intellect and wide-open heart are what his friends and fellow artists remember most. And his quirky, self-deprecating humor is what they will miss most.

Just days before his death, Rich faxed Sound and Spirit magazine his goals and resolutions for 1998 for an upcoming feature. Here is what he wrote:

"My goal is to stop being grumpy. My resolution is my plan of attack:

A. Get up before I have to so I can have a half-hour at least before I have to talk to anyone.

B. Spend an hour each early evening working out-do not hurry.

C. Unplug my phone-use my answering machine as a dartboard. Throw ice cubes at it when I'm frustrated instead of making cutting remarks to people I love.

D. Stop expecting big successes and start celebrating little ones.

E. Chart the movements of the Big Dipper and soak in the sun as much as possible. Live in a world that is bigger than my calendar-more permanent than my feelings, more glorious than my accomplishments (that should be easy)."

At a memorial service held in Wichita, Rich's favorite former professor, Dr. Stephen Hooks, concluded his stirring remarks with this: "There's a Ragamuffin loose in heaven. There are bare feet on the streets of gold. And I tell you, heaven will never be the same!"

For more on the book, visit integritypublishers.com.

Excerpted from 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music, copyright 2006. Used with permission from Integrity Publishers.

More Music . . .