Dear Church,
it seems so long since we've been with you - we've had two weeks holiday in Spain and now we're working at New Wine. Jan's working in the coffee shop, Jasmine is working with young children and I'm playing percussion in Venue One. One of the worship leaders I'm playing with is someone called Vicky Beeching - very good worship leader - she has a couple of worship albums out so have a listen on itunes.
One of the more unusal things was when we were rehearsing for the Sunday evening session and listening to us were 5 Maasai warriors in full Maasai dress. Very cool. They're over here promoting a mission outfit called 'Walking with the Maasai" (www.walkingwithmaasai.org). A great organisation that would be good as a church to get involved with.
The morning bible readings are being done by David Parker, pastor of the Desert Vineyard in LA. He gave a great talk this morning on Jesus weeping over suffering and that we need to identify with that suffering and getting involved with people.
One more thing I think God wants me to say - 'God loves Brighton!' He really is madly and passionately in love with the people of Brighton. 'Lord give us your love for the people of Brighton',
love
Alan
2 Comments:
Hi Alan – great to hear from New Wine! I hope the weather's being good to you all.
Interested to know – you describe Vicky Beeching as a "very good worship leader". What, in your opinion, denotes such a classification (particularly amongst worship leaders who are paid full time for their service)?
I've always been interested in opinions surrounding this question, from a biblical vs. worldy perspective. I find that, in a context such as this, the word "helpful" often seems far more apt than "good". If I'm a "good' musician then the emphasis is solely upon me. If I'm a "helpful" musician then this suggests the involvement of others, as does the task of a worship leader. I find the worship leadership of someone like Brian Doerksen 'helpful' not because he's a great musician in a worldly sense (although he's not bad) but because he helps lift my focus onto God and removes any round-about distractions. These distractions include what's going on 'on-stage', musical talent of the worship leaders themselves etc.
Interested to know your thoughts...
Tim
I find that she's is passionate about God and loves to worship. In practices she is very focussed and encouraging - as a result the band is happy and works very well together. I think also her song choice is very good - they are particularly ones that people can engage with rather than difficult tunes. She just has a real presence on the stage and is good at ad-libing and bringing people into the presence of God
Thanks
Alan
Post a Comment