Stories behind the songs - Sunday Feb. 3, 2008

"Fields of Grace"
This powerful song was written by Darrell Evans one day as he was taking a walk. He felt the Lord telling him to dance on a high school football field. The song was birthed as he began to enjoy the fatherhood of God.
Darrell Evans is an evangelica singer and songwriter , known primarily for his contributions to contemporary Christian worship. Influenced by the music of Bruce Springsteen and U2, his style of music is noted for its extensive use of free form composition, with several of his songs having been written spontaneously during concerts and worship times. Besides his music writing, he is an accomplished guitar player and singer.

Click here to hear Darrells Evans story of how he wrote the song:
www.theheartofworship.org/stories/Story-209-FieldsofGrace-Evans.mp3
Click here to worship along with Big Daddy Weave:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lR7oRMqwCY
Click here for a high school choirs version - this is from Davenport High school show choir in Davenport, Iowa
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTxnPtfTLcU


"To God be the Glory"
Tommy Walker arranged this great hymn by Fanny Crosby.Fanny Crosby was prob­ab­ly the most pro­lif­ic hymn­ist in his­to­ry. Though blind­ed by an in­com­pe­tent doc­tor at six weeks of age, she wrote over 8,000 hymns. About her blind­ness, she said:"It seemed intend­ed by the bless­ed prov­i­dence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dis­pen­sa­tion. If per­fect earth­ly sight were of­fered me to­mor­row I would not ac­cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis­tract­ed by the beau­ti­ful and in­ter­est­ing things about me."

Click here to worship along with Tommy Walker at the Saddleback Church: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qlfNZiDV4A

"Call upon the Name of the Lord"
Go here to read the lyrics and listen to the song:
www.worshiptoday.com/songlyrics.asp?song_id=694
Click here to read about Jeff Fergusons' ministry
www.jeffferguson.com/bio.shtml

"You never let Go"
This powerful new song by Matt Redman has been described as follows from Christianity Today:

"You Never Let Go" begins with a quiet piano and moody atmospherics that mirror far-from-ebullient lyrics based on Psalm 23: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death/You're perfect love is casting out fear/And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life/I won't turn back, I know you are near…The chorus is a loud, exultant proclamation that God will never let go of us and in it Redman uses the minor-key construction to subtly (and maturely) declare that God's love is still valid, even in the midst of pain.

Click here to listen watch the video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIAdgLR1ZGw
Click here to read more about Matt Redman on his myspace - you can play the song directly from his stand-alone player and can buy the song from his website
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=120781688

Lyrics:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won’t turn back I know You are near
And I will fear no evil For my God is with me
And if my God is with me Whom then shall I fear? Whom then shall I fear?
Oh no, You never let go Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go In every high and every low

Oh no, You never let goLord, You never let go of me
And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comesWe’ll live to know You here on the earth

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

"As the Deer"

This song is by Marty Nystrom. Marty Nystrom has written over 70 songs that have been recorded on Integrity Music and Maranatha! Music recordings. He has written songs such as: As the Deer, I Will Come and Bow Down and Times of Refreshing. He has also led worship on five of Integrity Music’s Hosanna! tapes, Forever Grateful, Enter His Gates, Come to the Table, In Christ Alone and We Draw Near. Marty served for three years as Song Development Manager for Integrity Music, Inc. of Mobile, Alabama. It was his job to find new worship songs for the Hosanna Praise and Worship tapes.Marty holds a degree in Music Education from Oral Roberts University. While there he sang with the World Action Singers featured on the weekly Oral Roberts telecasts. After teaching public school for three years, he became the director of the music department for the New York branch of Christ for the Nations.Marty has taught on praise and worship at events all over North America as well as in the nations of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. He has a special heart and vision for the nations and believes that praise and worship will be a major influence in spreading the gospel worldwide.He resides in Kenmore, Washington with his wife, Jeanne, and two sons, Nathan and Benjamin. Marty currently is a part of the worship ministry at Eastside Foursquare Church in Bothell, Washington, pastored by Jim Hayford.

Click here to worship with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70
Click here to listen to Salvadors' arrangement
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpaurbHiiS8

"Break Dividing Walls"
David Ruis is a great song writer. He wrote songs like "Sweet Mercies", "You're worthy of my praise", "We will Dance", "Let your Glory Fall" and this great song based on Psalm 133 known as the Psalm of unity. Here is a paragraph from his testimony:

I was raised in a very conservative religous household and trained classically musically. My musical journey took me through boys' choirs and classical piano and very little more in the church than the classic "hymn sandwich" every Sunday. My theological journey took me through cessasionsim, suits and ties and very little awareness - let alone understanding or application - of what I now know as "worship".That all began to shift as a young church planter with an encounter with the Lord as the result of colliding with the Vineyard movement of churches in February of 1987. The proverbial paradigm shift propelled me into an intimacy with God that I never even dreamed was possible - a roller coaster of a ride through the gifts of the Holy Spirit and power encounters - to an awareness of the kingdom of God, power that is anchored in compassion and community that has the poor and marginalized at its center.

The following is from a review of the song:

It's a prayer for unity and the words which David sings additionally to those on the sleeve are a challenge to us all. it's an essential prayer for the Church body in time of expectation. The notes say, "Just as the dividing wall between God and man has been destroyed through the cross of Christ, so we in his name break down walls of hostility we encounter on this earth. The joining of the man's, woman's and child's hand on the cover represent the coming together of male and female, generations and traditions. The different colours represent the coming together of races, social "classes", nations and denominations."

Offertory Sunday will be a quartet singing

"Leave it there/ What a friend We have in Jesus"

Leave it there was written by Charles A. Tind­ley a fel­low who was a con­stant wor­ri­er vis­it­ed Tind­ley one day. Af­ter list­en­ing a while, Tind­ley re­plied: "My ad­vice to you is put all your trou­bles in a sack, take ’em to the Lord, and leave ’em there."

What a Friend We Have in Jesus is a hymn written by Joseph M. Scriven in 1855 to comfort his mother who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. It was originally published anonymously, and Scriven did not receive full credit for almost 30 years. The tune to the hymn was composed by Charles Crozat Converse in 1868. William Bolcom composed a setting of the hymn.