Stories behind the songs.....Breathe

A friend's suicide had left her reeling, but out of Marie Barnett's desperate need for God came a worship classic sung around the world.
Marie Barnett didn't consider herself a worship songwriter, although she had led worship with her husband John for years and wrote her own compositions during her personal worship time. John was the writer, penning what Barnett terms "tons" of worship music through the years (including "Holy and Anointed One"). "He's the worship writer," she explains, adding "I never sat down and wrote thinking, This could be sung in a congregation. It was more between me and the Lord in my bedroom with the door locked."
But that all changed during a Sunday evening service at the Mission Viejo Vineyard in Southern California. The Barnetts were leading worship as they had done hundreds of times before, and words to what would become the worship song "Breathe" just spontaneously came out.
" We had been singing 'Isn't He' by John Wimber," Barnett recalls, "and my husband continued to play. I was so enthralled with Jesus at that moment, thinking I could never live, I could never even take a breath if I didn't have a word from Him every day. And so I heard those words-'this is the air I breathe, this is my daily bread'-and I started singing them."
Before she knew it, the congregation had joined her. Still, it wasn't as if Barnett left that night convinced she has a worship hit on her hands. There had been other spontaneous songs, but she soon realized "Breathe" was different. "People would come up to me at the grocery store and say, 'You know what we were singing on Sunday night? I've been singing it all week.'"
So they began to sing the song regularly in church and it continued to elicit a strong response, bringing many to tears. Barnett says even now she can hardly get through it. "I think the word 'desperate' digs deep into me," she says by way of explanation. "The longer I'm a Christian, the more desperate I am for God."
Not to mention Barnett was feeling particularly desperate around the time the words for "Breathe" came to her. A dance teacher by day, Barnett's boss of 10 years had recently taken his own life, leaving behind a note asking her to take over the dance studio. "He was very depressed and had just gone through a divorce and was on all kinds of weird medications and into New Age thinking," she recalls of the tragic incident. "He even came to church with me once right before he took his life and I was like, Well, what good did that do? In the end, the event left Barnett with questions for which there were no answers. And that desperation came out in her songwriting."
Shortly after being written, "Breathe" wound up on Vineyard's Touching the Father's Heart #25 and seemed to be on its way to finding a broader audience. But if there's one thing Barnett learned from watching her husband's songwriting career, it's that the timing isn't up to us.
"We recorded the song for Vineyard and then nothing happened," Barnett says. "Not that I thought anything about it because to me it was just a neat thing the Lord gave to our church." Five years later, worship leader Brian Doerksen was putting together Vineyard's Hungry and contacted Barnett about including "Breathe." Then came Michael W. Smith's version on his 2001 release, Worship.
Barnett was driving in her car when she first heard the track playing on the radio. "I just started bawling. I love that version because at the end when he's saying 'Cry out to Him' it's like 'Oh! People are worshipping Jesus! Yea!'"
The news that Rebecca St. James was also including "Breathe" on her new project, Worship God, was discovered by a friend of Barnett's on the Internet.More important than who is singing the song is what it is doing in the lives of those who hear it.
"One lady came up to me and said she had known the song for a year, but she couldn't sing it yet because every time they played it in church she'd just starts bawling," Barnett recalls. It's a response she understands all too well. "I'm still affected that way. I can't even sing the words. I love hearing that kind of stuff. To know that God is moving people."
Since writing "Breathe" Barnett regularly contributes songs to the worship time at Vineyard Community Church of Laguna Niguel, the California church plant where she and her husband lead worship today. And she continues to run the dance studio as her late boss wished. With more than 600 students and 20 classes to teach each week, Barnett says the business venture provides with her plenty of material for her songwriting. And to round out her schedule, she also teaches at worship conferences, going "wherever people invite me."

From the website 'Integrity resources'

Tim Hughes; Worship-a passionate response

For all you ipod owners and non-ipod owners, check out a brilliant talk on worship by Tim Hughes at HTB entitled 'Worship-a passionate response'.

Didn't realise that Tim Hughes was such a good speaker and he talks which such passion and conviction about the subject. Its available as a podcast from itunes (which you can download free-and is worth having anyway, whether or not you have an ipod) or by following the link below. You may well be seeing some quotes from the talk on this site in the near future. It lasts about 20 mins, if you have the time.

Happy listening!

http://www.htb.org.uk/downloads/default.htm

John Wimber on Worship; Intimacy with God

Worship, the act of freely giving love to God, forms and informs every activity of the Christian's life.
Many people who visit Vineyard Christian Fellowships remark on the depth and richness of our worship. This has not come about by chance: we have a well-thought-out philosophy that guides why and how we worship God. In this article I will communicate that philosophy.

follow the link to read the rest;

from the fantastic 'wimber resource room' at the Fathers House Vineyard, Cedar rapids, Iowa
http://www.crvineyard.org/Wimber/WIMBER5.htm

Remembering our priorities

It was great to have Mike Pearson and Kate Cooke lead us in worship last weekend. Its always good to get a different perspective from the normal stuff that we're used to week in week out. They certainly do things a bit differently from what we're used to up here (they made the set up at 45 minutes before the service. Not sure we'd get away with that!), but the main and the plain things were the same (did you like that?).

The real thing that stuck for many of us, was the importance leading people to Jesus in worship above all other things.

I know that sounds quite obvious, but it is so easy to get distracted with the periferal things of what we do, such as getting everything sounding right, what kind of songs we sing, how well the band are working together etc. These things are important in the whole scheme of things, and as the church gets bigger they'll play a bigger part. But our first priority is to lead people closer to the Lord, whether its with a large band or one man and a guitar, no matter what song we sing, its leading people into intimacy with Jesus, in the most accessible way we can, with as much integrity we can.

Welcome back Jo!

Fresh from a few months off, we welcome back Jo Daniels to week 4 band. Jo took some time out to concentrate on her kidzone team, but is back this month bubblin' and full of passion and enthusiasm for what God is going to do through John D and the week 4 guys.

Good to see you back Mrs D!

Stories behind the songs.....Your love is amazing

Sometimes a moment of inspiration can come when it is least expected. That's what Canadian worship leader Brian Doerksen has come to know as an all-too-frequent truth in his own songwriting career. Having penned some of the last decade's best-loved worship songs such as "Faithful One," "Refiner's Fire," "Come, Now is the time to Worship" and "More," Doerksen is quite successful at crafting an inspired chorus, even when the circumstances or surrounding environment make for a far-from-perfect setting. Such was the case when the inspiration came for "Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing)," a worship favorite Doerksen co-wrote with U.K. worship leader Brenton Brown.
Doerksen and his wife, Joyce, have six children and live in Abbotsford, British Columbia, where they raise their family in the same farmhouse he spent his childhood. Brown, an accomplished songwriter who wrote "Refuge in You, "Lord Reign in Me" and "All Who are Thirsty," among others, was visiting Doerksen's family in Canada a few years ago when he came up with the original concept for "Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing)."
"Brenton was in one of those songwriting modes one day," Doerksen recalls, "and I was in the 'caring-for-a-fussing-kid' mode. He walked into the room as I was trying to calm down our one-year-old, and said, 'What do you think of this song idea? Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging... etc.' When the verse ended he said, 'I need your help for the chorus.' In the spur of the moment, I sang out 'Hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing,' and it stuck."
Your love is amazingSteady and unchangingYour love is a mountainFirm beneath my feetYour love is a mysteryHow You gently lift meWhen I am surroundedYour love carries meHallelujahHallelujahHallelujahYour love makes me sing
"This song really just makes me smile," Doerksen adds. "It's probably one of the most singable choruses I have written. My wife likes to remind me that sometimes songs come in the middle of crazy family life, and she is absolutely right!"
Doerksen says songwriting is a natural outlet that comes from his genuine love of music. He grew up watching his father, Harry Doerksen, sing in a quartet and lead the congregational singing at their church. His love for stringed instruments was inspired by his grandfather, Peter Doerksen, who played the mandolin and was a band leader.
After marrying and serving in Southeast Asia with Youth With a Mission in the early 1980s, Doerksen joined the staff of the Langley Vineyard Christian Fellowship as a 22-year-old worship pastor and began to write some of his first published songs during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"When I began to lead worship, I never used any of my own songs for years because I didn't have any, and because I found other people's songs that said what my heart wanted to say to God," Doerksen says. "Several years into leading worship, I began to reach for songs that weren't always there. When I wanted to say, 'Father, I want you to hold me,' I couldn't find any song written that said that, so I wrote one. I thought no one else would ever hear it, let alone record it."
Writing songs for worship, Doerksen says, is not necessarily for those who want to "make it" as a songwriter in the music industry. "I think the writing is secondary, and the worship is primary. I believe that's one of the ways God purifies us in the process. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to be a songwriter, either of secular or Christian music. I just don't think that is the way 'in' to writing worship songs."
So where does the inspiration come from in those unexpected moments like those that produced "Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing)?" Is it always such a swift and painless process? "Well, the inspiration comes quickly and quite naturally," Doerksen explains, "but actually working the songs out, researching and re-writing takes lots of hard work and time. But it's important to remember that God is fully capable of arranging things without a huge amount of help from us. The best songs find their way out without a lot of effort by the songwriter."


taken from the website 'Integrity resources'

New CD from Mark James

Also, fans of Mark James may wanna know that he has a solo album out called 'King of Glory, King of greif' (Intreguing title!).

Here's the spiel from VRUK

This acoustic driven offering from Marc James is his first since moving from St Albans (where he was a part of the Vineyard Church St Albans) to Luton.
King of glory king of grief is an acoustic album recorded and performed almost entirely by Marc (with Paul Evans featuring on drums on a handful of tracks). The songs map the journey, the struggles of faith, the ups and the downs, the longing to live a more God filled life

Check it out at
http://www.vineyardrecords.co.uk/uk/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=362

Vineyard UK do free downloads!

Hey, after the rant a couple of weeks ago on this blog about only Vineyard Canada offering free downloads. Along come Vineyard records and put a free download of one of the songs 'Love Divine' on their site. This is to become a regular thing apparently!

Don't know if they read this site up there at VRUK, but good on ya guys!

Also, the new cd from Trent Vineyard is out shorty. Check out the samples on the VRUK site.

Very exciting stuff!

Farewell.....but not goodbye (part 2)

Just to let you know, Louise Williams, our esteemed Assistant Pastor, is stepping down from singing in bands for a while to concentrate on other areas of her ever growing ministry, and to let others have an opportunity in this ministry.

'Our heartfelt thanks to you Louise! You model how to worship in such an inspirational way and put so much heart into your singing. Keep leading people to Jesus, Louise.'

"See, we told you you could sing!"

Stories behind the songs.....Draw me close

It's easy to get bogged down doing things for God, for your church, for other people, and start to think those things constitute your relationship with God. While God desires to be in relationship with us, we sometimes think doing is more important that just being. Kelly Carpenter's worship prayer, "Draw Me Close," was birthed during a time like this. In the midst of being busy serving God, he was feeling that God wanted more of him.
Kelly Carpenter's worship anthem "Draw Me Close" has connected with hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.
Kelly caught "the worship bug," as he calls it, about 12 years ago while attending a worship conference at his California Vineyard church. He was on the worship team and was able to spend some time with Canadian worship leaders Andy Park and Brian Doerksen. A couple of years after the conference, he started leading worship, as well as writing worship songs.
One of those songs was "Draw Me Close."
As it happened, Kelly had just finished a church service in late January 1994, but his heart was not quite in it. "My heart was heavy that day because I had come to the realization that I had put my ministry in front of my relationship with the Lord. So I literally cried out to Him, "I lay it all down again to hear You say that I'm Your friend." Within 20 minutes, he says, "the song just spilled out."
"This song has always been intensely personal for me," Kelly adds, "and continues to bring me back to my knees, that my relationship with God should come first before the call, the vision, and the ministry that He has given me."
At first, he didn't actually use the song at his church because it was such a personal song. "I cried when I wrote it," he explained. "Still, I actually thought it was a really different song, like something Barry Manilow would write." Worship leader Andy Park was the first to hear the tune, oddly enough, while he was busy replacing the kitchen floor in his house. "He had it playing on a boom box," Kelly says, "and when he heard the line, 'I lay it all down again,' he broke down."
Park then asked him to play on a live record in July of 1994, and asked if he would lead on the original recording of the tune. Over the next couple of years, Kelly was invited to do a lot of conferences, where he would be asked to present his song. But because it was so personal, he rarely did it.
The years following these were filled with struggle and disappointment for Kelly "We've gone through some tough times in the last five years. Times when I felt God was calling me to full-time ministry. Honestly, it's been very difficult figuring out my faith and my walk with God. During these years, 'Draw Me Close' became much more to me than an 'I'm in ministry' kind of song. It became much deeper for me. Life, and all the stuff we wind up going through makes it really hard to keep the Lord at the center. God ends up using pain and brokenness to draw us to Him. The song became very germane and poignant to those moments--a 'come home again' kind of song."
Kelly says brokenness, as he's come to understand it, is a universal experience throughout life. "The song connects with anyone who is going through brokenness." He continues, even years down the road to hear from people who've been impacted by the song.
Over the past few years, a couple of high profile Christian music artists have recorded his song. The Katinas recorded his song for Rocketown Records' Exodus project, taking the song to number one on Christian radio charts. Most recently, Michael W. Smith recorded "Draw Me Close" on his Worship project, which has sold over a million copies in just about a year. It's also on Smith's Worship live video and DVD.
Kelly, a soft-spoken man, is in awe of what's happened, yet at the same time he doesn't follow the charts or keep tabs on where the song is being played or how wide reaching the impact of the song has gone. "I don't even think it's important to know the hugeness of what has happened. I see it as only a gift from God to me...and it's turned into the gift that keeps on giving. People in ministry like to know that what they're doing is making a difference."
He also said he doesn't revel in the uniqueness of the song, choosing to look at this song's success in the larger context. "I've written 75-80 worship songs, probably had about a dozen published, and this is the one that has done well. It's really a bit of a phenomenon, if you ask me."
by Mark Smeby who is a freelance writer who lives in Franklin, TN.

taken from the website Integrity resources

Welcome, Cameron

Big welcome to Cameron Mathers who is joining week 1 band as a lead guitarist. He is replacing Chris who is stepping back from that band to have a sit down in a darkened room somewhere!

Cameron has to be our youngest ever band member (14, I think?), but we just want to say, if you've got the heart, the character, the desire and the guts to do it (plus talent), then we don't put age limits letting people into the bands. And plus, it just wouldn't be the same having just one Mathers in the band!

Good on ya, mate!

New Band Co-ordinators....Mike & Laura Aspinall

We are delighted to announce that Mike & Laura Aspinall will be taking over as joint Band Co-ordinators of Week 1 band.

Mike & Laura have been in the church since October, but are seasoned worship leaders having helped lead worship at events at Reading Vineyard and at Laura's parents church, Wells Vineyard down in Somerset.

As well as being both extremily talented both muscially and in their worship leading, they bring a real passion and sensitivity to their role which has been much evident in the events that they have led here so far and they have a great ability to really draw people into the presence of God.

I'm sure you'll agree, that they will be a real blessing to us!

Stories behind the songs.....Shout to the Lord

If you've ever seen or heard Darlene Zschech sing, you'll know what an amazing super-confident worship leader/songwriter she is. This story blew me away and I hope it gives confidence to all budding songwriters, that even the big superstars had to start somewhere and weren't always like they are today!

Shout To The Lord Story by Daryl-Anne Le Roux

Darlene Zschech is amused when asked to tell the story behind the song. "There is no big 'story'," she insists. "I really didn't sit down one day and decide to write an incredible song that will touch the nations."
If anything, Darlene has been surprised and almost embarrassed by the attention the song has received. But that is her nature - very modest and humble about her God-given talents. She doesn't want any glory because she knows it is not hers alone. It is the purity of her heart and her deep love for God that has raised her up to became the acclaimed worship leader she is today.
"The melody is simple and the lyrics are generally from the Word," she explains. "It just came from a quiet time I had with the Lord."
Although she had been writing songs since she was 15, she didn't even consider herself to be a songwriter, but she does recall, however what inspired the song.
"It was one of those dark days in my life," she remembers. "Everything felt as if it was on top of me, there seemed to be no way out and the only one I could turn to was the Lord." Desperate for His peace, she opened to the Psalms. As she sat at the old piano, she began tinkling the keys and Shout to the Lord flowed from her heart.
She smiles when she describes the scene. "The piano was a gift from my parents when I was five years only. It's old and I'm sure was even a little out of tune. I wasn't even consciously thinking about the song," she says, "but I sang it and sang it, over and over again, and it lifted me up."
That is how the song was born. From the depths of despair, it took her to the heights of faith. Over the next few days, the song didn't leave her and it began to dawn on her that it might be a worship song.
Terribly shy and feeling a little embarrassed, she mentioned to Geoff Bullock (then Music Pastor at Hills CLC) and Russell Fragar that she thought she has written a song. "My hands were sweaty and I could hardly play it, I was so nervous," she said. "I kept starting and stopping, and apologizing for it before they had even heard it."
Eventually she made them stand with their backs to her, facing the wall while she played them the song. Even when they turned around and proclaimed that it was magnificent, Darlene was convinced they were just being polite.
When Pastor Brian Houston heard the song for the first time, he predicted it would be sung around the world. The rest is history.
"We hadn't even recorded it and I began receiving letters from people all over the world who had sung the song in their churches," says Darlene. "One came from a seven year old boy in Nigeria, thanking me for writing it."
"Shout To The Lord" was written at time when a child of God ran to her Lord, seeking Him in the midst of desperation. As you sing it you are filled with faith, strength and peace - exactly what Darlene experienced the day she wrote it.
Darlene grabs a Bible and turns to Psalm 96. You can see her passion for the Word shining as she describes what it means to her: seeing the sea roaring and the mountains bowing down. You catch a glimpse of what inspired the song: the true love and pure heart focussed completely on her beloved Lord

Taken from the website 'Integrity resources'

No week 3 band this month

Just to let you know, that Mercy Vineyard band will be playing on Sunday instead of the usual Week 3 band. This is so we can get a taste of something different from what we're used to. Very much like having a visiting preacher coming to do the sermon, we know that our preaching team are fantastic, but its sometimes good to get the message from someone different for a change.
This is the same, and the band from Mercy Vineyard will do a fantastic job, and will probably include the awesome Jimmy Cooke on drums and Kate singing.

Week 3 band be back to normal next month.