Bluetree members, lead singer/guitarist Aaron Boyd, bassist Andy McCann, drummer Johnny Hobson, and deejay Pete Kernoghan, have never been interested in writing feel-good worship songs that may incite a few goosebumps on Sunday morning, but don’t exactly inspire change and action once the church service has ended. And in this case, their own action led to the creation of a song that inspires both.

Written during a mission trip while Bluetree was on stage performing worship songs in the Climax Bar, a club which doubles as a brothel in the Red Light district of Pattaya, Thailand, “God Of This City” became a message of hope for the people of Pattaya, and for the world.

“Growing up in Belfast means that we’ve grown used to people crying in church, begging God to change our city,” says Boyd. “I don’t know whether you become numb to it all, but I do know that I had never really had those kind of feelings for a particular place. It all changed that night in Pattaya. The feelings of compassion took over and I started just to sing out what I knew was true about who God is to the people of the city.”

Like when Tomlin first heard this anthemic cry for God’s intervention in every city on the planet at a Bluetree concert in Northern Ireland, the lyrics composed during that two-hour worship set in Pattaya, You’re the God Of This City / You’re the King of these people/You’re the Lord of this nation/ You are, are being echoed in churches across the world. Even the Willow Creek Association, representing 12,000 churches from 90 denominations and 45 countries, recently concluded their worship pastor seminar with the song. Martin Smith, CompassionArt founder and Delirious? frontman, calls the song, “A new church anthem for the world to keep its head in the clouds but its heart in the streets.”

In addition to the Church, radio stations across the U.S. are resonating with the song, adding it to their weekly rotation.

“‘God Of This City’ is powerful and timely with a message we all desperately need to hear,” says Steve Swanson, WAFJ (Augusta, GA) general manager. “God is still at work and he’s still in control. I am thankful we can share the song with the Augusta area!”

“‘You’re the light in this darkness, You’re the hope to the hopeless, You’re the peace to the restless, You are’,” says Ernest Beck, KGTS/College Place, WA program director as he recalls lyrics from the song. “Timeless message. The lyrics are so powerful, especially when taken in context with what’s going on in the world. It was written with a different frame of reference, but it still resonates.”

Bluetree is all about being unique in a world that often reveres conformity. “If you’re in a forest and there’s nothing but green trees —everything being as you’d normally see it—but then you see a blue tree with blue bark, blue leaves, blue branches, well, it would catch your eye,” Boyd says. “And as Christians we’re called to stand out, to be different—like blue trees.”

Learn more about Bluetree at www.bluetreeonline.co.uk, http://www.lucidcreativeservices.com/bluetree/.