Real Worship

I spent an afternoon with local producer Danny, “Dee-Tech” Conran this week.  At the end of our session, we had come up with this song idea.  It’s a first-draft, demo recording.

It would be good to get some feedback about the song.  Have a listen & leave a comment!

“Walk With Me” – Mike Ellis & Dee-Tech

Though new to me, “More Than Noise” is the third studio album from Pocket Full Of Rocks and is set to release March 2, 2010 on Myrrh Records.

PFOR’s lead singer/songwriter Michael Farren had this to say, “A lot of what I’ve been sharing out on the road deals with losing your religion and finding relationship with an amazing God.”  I personally believe that the message conveyed in these words and the title of the album are critical and vital for the Church at this time.

This seasoned five-piece, worship-focused band clearly have a message that, in my opinion, deserves to be heard.  Listen to what else they had to say:

“Much of our message is that you’ve got to make more than noise.  It’s easy to just walk into a room, sing the songs on the screen and lift your hands; but if you can walk out and not be transformed or see the world around you transformed, then that wasn’t worship.  Real worship comes with change, both in you, and the world around you.  If you encounter a real God in a real setting of worship, you can’t leave the same.“

Musically, PFOR’s style is, for me, reminiscent of Casting Crowns and Michael Farren’s vocal reminded me in places of Tom Petty.  More Than Noise was produced by the more than capable Ed Cash (Chris Tomlin, Leeland, Steven Curtis Chapman, Bebo Norman) and from the opening song, “Alive” – the first single (co-written with Stu G, Delirious) – the album resonates with a vibrancy & passion (captured both musically and lyrically) that stirs your heart, fixes your attention firmly on the love, grace and goodness of God, and inspires and invokes heartfelt worship.

The album contains a number of songs that could easily be sung by congregations in a corporate gathering; songs like the anthemic ballads, “Ever Close To You“, “Wonderful” and “Let It Rain” (the song made popular on Michael W. Smith’s Worship Album – written by PFOR’s Michael Farren); the hymn-like, “Jesus Died My Soul To Save” and “Your Love For Me“; and the driving, “Let Our God Be Praised” and the opener “Alive“.

There are also songs that tell a story; songs like, “Strong“, “When Love Whispers Your Name” (written with Farren’s 14 year old daughter, Madison) and “Come As You Are” (co-written with Chad Cates & Tony Wood) – I love the opening lyric to this song, “He’s not mad at you and He’s not disappointed.  His grace is greater still than all of your wrong choices.“

One of the songs which stands out for me is the final track, “A Worshipper’s Prayer“.  It is a beautiful,  intimate and honest song which brought me to tears when I first heard it; stripped down musically (piano & strings), you can hear the emotion in Farren’s voice as it cracks over the lyric:

“Here I am

And like a thousand times before I sing again

And when all my simple words have found their end

Once again I’m even more amazed

By the beauty and the mystery of your ways

Oh how marvelous to hear You call my name

So when there’s nothing left to bring

And there’s no song left to sing

Here I am.“

Worship was never about the songs we sing.  It is so much more than that.  I think PFOR understand that.

I shall be playing this album for some time to come!

More than Words is in rotation on Jango Radio and being played to Jango’s 7 million listeners.

You can imagine the look on my face when I read those words at the top of the email I’d opened.  So, I checked it out and… there it was!  They had even created a profile page.

The email went on to say, “Jango is an extremely popular custom internet radio site (similar to Pandora) with 7 million monthly listeners.“

So, now for the shameless plug… Why don’t you listen to More Than Words and then click on “Like” (that is, of course providing that you do like it).  The more people that like the song, the more it gets played.

I’d appreciate it if you did!

Another release from Windblown Media; “Bo’s Cafe” (John Lynch, Bill Thrall & Bruce McNicol) kind of crept up on me & bit me on the backside!  Don’t get me wrong, I went into it with my eyes wide open; I had read a brief synopsis of the book & thought to myself, “I need to read this”.  It was only while reading some of the later chapters with tears rolling down my cheeks that I became aware of how much I needed to read it.

The story follows Steven Kerner, a young, high powered business executive who seemingly has it all; or at least that’s how it appears on the outside.  Despite his best efforts at home, things are far from good.  Enter Andy Monroe, an old friend of Steven’s dad.  Through Andy, Steven is introduced to a colourful group of characters that meet regularly at Bo’s.  As he gets to know Andy & the others, Steven discovers the freedom of living authentically; no more masks, no more having to perform.

For me, Bo’s provides a beautiful picture of the Church – God’s people (or at least, how we should be); a safe community, where broken people can journey together and are transformed by the power of God’s grace & unconditional love.

The book was  easy to read.  I found myself wanting to read on – keen to discover what happens next and encouraged to by the short chapter lengths.  I liked the characters I was introduced to and found myself yearning for what was on offer at Bo’s (no, not the food).

I would say that though Steven is a man and his situation & circumstances aren’t uncommon among men,  his deepest issue, however – the thing that drives all of his behaviour, is common to both sexes.  I would therefore  recommend this book to both men and women alike.

We recorded this song ourselves; Ali wrote it & Adrian put together a video to acompany it:

It’s one of around 8 songs that we recorded at the Academy (hopefully some more will be ready soon).  Let me know what you think…

I’m currently reading through Frank Viola’s latest book etitled, “From Eternity To Here – Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God”.  In it, Viola explores and unfolds the mystery of God’s eternal plan for the Church.

The exciting news is that I’ll be taking part in the blog circuit and asking Frank 2 questions about the book and publishing them (along with his answers and the review) on June 9th.  The reason for this post is to open out the question asking opportunity.

So, If you’ve read the book and have any questions you would like to ask, let me know.  The deadline for getting any questions to me is May 30th.

"The Shack" by William P Young

Over the last few months, a growing number of friends have been asking, “Have you read The Shack yet?”  Well, now I have!  (Actually I’ve “listened” to the shack – having downloaded the audiobook.)

Without wishing to divulge too much of the plot, the story follows a man called Mack who, after experiencing a tragedy, gets an invite to meet with “Pappa” (his wife’s name for God) at the shack.  Though the setting and storyline are ficticious, the author (Wm Paul Young) has drawn on his own experiences and the questions & conversations that occur are, in his words, “very real”.

It is a beautifully written piece of literature that takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride through a myriad of emotions.  It is an allegory, a modern-day parable that explores and reveals the nature and heart of God.  It isn’t systematic theology (and doesn’t pretend to be), but it isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions like, “Where were You in all of this…?”

There have been few books that have impacted  me like this one has.  I found myself gripped – not wanting to stop listening and excitedly looking forward to each opportunity to listen some more.  It has not only had a profound impact on me, but on every person I’ve spoken to who has read it – spawning hours of conversation and debate.

It has been an uncannily timely “coincidence” that this book should come across my path at this juncture.  As a church, we have spent at least the last year rediscovering God, His love and His grace.  He has been systematically dismantling our preconceptions about the way in which we relate to Him (& others); unearthing and dealing with our religion and revealing His heart for relationship.

You may ask yourself why I would wish to write about this book here;  I mean, it isn’t about worship… is it?  All I can say is that reading The Shack has acted like a catalyst – rekindling a passion long forgotten, renewing a first love experience and causing a growing desire to know, by experience, so much more of God.  After all, worship is expressed in and through relationship, not through rituals and ceremony.

If you have not yet read “The Shack”, I would encourage you to either click here (or the picture above) and read excerpts from the book; then, go out and buy yourself a copy.  For those who have read the book, I would love to hear your thoughts about it.  What has it meant to you?  How did it make you feel?  Do you have any stories to tell as a result?

Please, feel free to comment…