Previewing "Boomerang Express"

Yes, I'm an overachiever when it comes to all things VBS. I first heard the 2009 theme during last year's VBS week. This evening, I got a quick opportunity to check out Lifeway.com for the rest of the songs for the upcoming year.

"Boomerang Express," huh?

The theme song is a little more simplistic this year. Not really challenging lyrics-wise, which sometimes disappoints me. But in some cases, less is more, and the core message is most important.

The big news is that they finally made a change on the A-B-C theme. I'd griped in years past that the A-B-C song usually gets short-changed because, in a lot of ways, it's the most important one of the bunch (because it presents the plan of salvation), yet it's always set up as a mouthful to try and sing. Either too fast-paced or too many words for the kids to grasp the deeper meaning.

Day 3's song "Because" nicely gets around that. It nixes the peppy, high-octane riffs for the slow pace usually reserved for Day 4. Add in a beautiful violin backdrop, and the effect is stunning.

The rest of the songs, at first glance, aren't too bad either. I'll have to listen to them more to get a better feel for them. Good blend of fast-to-moderate pace, some simple lyrics, some a little bit more complex. Day 2's "This is Why" takes what worked in last year's "Jesus Is" and kicks it up a notch - I like songs that go beyond merely "what is" and try to tackle the often stickier part: "why it is."