Mercy me

If you have never heard any music by the band Mercy Me then you should make a special effort to check them out. They are an American Christian band who have been around for many years and every time I hear their music it blows me away a little. They are a bunch of pretty down to earth guys who are talented musicians - but what I love is the way they express what they are trying to say in a song. They sing about things in ways that I'd never think of - and it takes me aback when I hear a new song they have written. They are a worship band primarily, but not the type of worship you'd sing in church (although they did write I can only imagine - which is sang a lot these days).

Such an occasion happened yesterday when I googled them and spotted one of their videos on YouTube. Fantastic song and quite a cool video too. And once again, the lyrics blew me away. Check it out...

Christian Success

I was really encouraged by a quality blog and preach I heard on WorshipMatters.com. The post was talking about whose glory we make music for. So often it can be really easy to get bogged down with the feeling that what we do has little significance when it comes to the bigger picture - yet we look around and can find a hundred Christians, especially worship leaders who seem to be blessing thousands with their ministries.

Yet this post reminded me that we cannot measure success in the way the world measures success. As Christians we should use God's measuring 'rod' as our measure - and actually that is all the counts. It also reminded me that perhaps when I feel that I am unsuccessful, perhaps I am being a glory-hunter rather than a glory-projector.

I am often reminded that while it is awesome that we have stacks of inspirational worship leaders and song-writers out there, the place they are greatly needed is in the local church. It may seem that we are leading worship week after week to a handful of people, but yet our local churches need quality, God-fearing worship leaders. It may seem that any songs we write only get heard by the small number of people in our church, but our local churches need quality, God-inspired songs to help express where the church is at in that time.

I have an incling that if we even remotely understood this stuff - wait, scratch that, if I remotely understood and grasped this stuff it would put into perspective what I do and why I do it so much more. My heart deep down is to be a glory-proector - why do I forget this so easily? Lord, give me Your understanding on this!

New Generation Music

I am currently starting up a project which I loosely call 'music mentoring'. In the area of Portsmouth where I live and work, there is a great need for positive role models, self-esteem and a sense of purpose. I believe I have this through knowing the greatest role model that ever lived (Jesus Christ) and part of the reason I am made like I am is to pass some of that on to others.

So music mentoring is taking music and using that as a tool to instil a sense of vision and purpose into the lives of local young people. I am just starting out - and while I'm struggling with limited resources I see real potential in the idea and believe God is calling me to invest more of my time into it.

So I was really encouraged today when I looked at the website of NGM based in Bristol. Run by Ray and Nancy Goudie they have a similar vision and passion but are much further down the line than I am. Man it is inspiring to actually see a vision I have already in action somewhere else. It encourages me to think that perhaps one day, the teeny music mentoring project we have down here could be impacting as many young people as they do. What a transformation it could bring to this run down area of Portsmouth.