The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music — #72: 2nd Chapter Of Acts, With Footnotes (1974)

Intro

Appearing at #72 in The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music, 2nd Chapter Of Acts’ With Footnotes (1974) captures a moment when craft and conviction aligned. It remains a touchstone for how faith can sing with both sincerity and skill.

The Album in Context

Emerging from the living‑room revivalism of early Jesus Music, 2nd Chapter of Acts brought family‑blend harmonies and fearless testimony to the studio. Producer Buck Herring shaped their raw electricity into focused pop forms without sanding off their wonder. The result sounded homemade and heavenly at once—wood‑paneled warmth meeting radio possibility.

With Footnotes aligned, the movement’s street‑level evangelism with craft: concise songs, clear hooks, and arrangements that let the voices preach. Keyboards brighten the edges, guitars chime rather than grind, and the rhythm section moves with nimble restraint. What began as house‑concert fervor arrived here as a record that other artists would study for years.

The album also modeled a lyrical palette that felt conversational yet biblically rooted. Testimony sounded like everyday speech, and joy sounded like breathless surprise. That approach widened the doorway for countless singer‑songwriters who wanted to sing faith without sounding formal.

Standout Songs

• “Easter Song” — Anne Herring’s exuberant proclamation became a perennial Easter anthem across churches and choirs. Its brisk tempo, luminous harmonies, and unashamed lyric proved that Jesus Music could write a standard that outlived its era.
• “Which Way The Wind Blows” — A radio‑ready confession that balanced folk intimacy with pop finesse. The track’s melodic memorability and pastoral candor helped introduce mainstream listeners to the group’s distinctive blend of sibling blend and scripture‑scented songwriting.
• “The Devil’s Lost Again” — Early spiritual defiance set to buoyant pop, reclaiming triumph language without triumphalism. The song’s crisp arrangement and grin‑through‑grit lyric became a youth‑group favorite and a calling card for the album’s joyful confidence.

Why It Matters

Artistically, the album proved that Jesus Music could mature into pop craftsmanship without losing its revival heart. The sibling blend became a sonic signature that other groups tried to imitate, and the hooks set a bar for memorable, congregationally adoptable choruses. Its production favored clarity over gloss, ensuring the songs translated from sanctuary to stage.

Historically, “Easter Song” reset expectations of what a seasonal hymn could be—fresh, fast, and festal—and it still circulates widely decades later. The record’s success legitimized a wave of faith‑forward pop that would define mid‑’70s CCM. It is a cornerstone whose influence echoes in every modern worship chorus that smiles while it shouts.

What’s Next

Tomorrow in The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music countdown, we continue with #71 — Petra’s arena‑sized blockbuster, Beyond Belief (1990), where faith confessions roared through rock anthems. Be sure to catch the companion podcast episode of The CCM Professor with Greg Rice, where we connect the dots between these landmark recordings.

Soli Deo Gloria!

This post is part of the series The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music, celebrating the artists and recordings that defined a generation of faith-filled creativity.

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