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Welcome to the 18th Family Worship Newsletter, 30 June 2000
http://www.familyworship.org.uk
Previous newsletters are available on the website archives at
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/newslett.htm#archive
Contents
========
With relentless "Humour spots" in-between every item...
FW Site stats
Recent site additions
Coming soon
Jesus Day - report
Showcase Spotlight - David & Laurie Summers
Check out...
Newsletter information
FW Site Stats
-------------
Newsletter subscribers are now over 1,400 - a special welcome to new subscribers.
Visitors to the website jumped to an average of over 600 people a day through
June.
Recent site additions
---------------------
A report of the London event on Jesus Day is now online, with pictures of the
children's choir, the Archbishop of Canterbury (well, the back of his head...),
and of me, conducting the choir, from a very unflattering angle!
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/mfj.htm
You can also read a report of the day from Premier radio, and listen to a RealAudio
of their live broadcast, including worship led by Matt Redman and Noel Richards,
as well as the song from the Family Worship choir.
http://www.premier.org.uk/content/programmes/stories/00061206.html
MP3 files of the backing tracks for all songs are now available at http://www.mp3.com/backingtracks
CD's of backing tracks for all the albums are also available for the first time
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/Order.htm
TEACH US TO PRAY - CD
As promised last month, the CD for "Teach us to pray" is now available.
Family Worship is always keen to be at the forefront of new technology, and
the CD includes not only regular audio tracks to play on a normal CD player,
but also includes MP3 files and lyric files which can be played and read on
a computer, and also be downloaded to portable MP3 players.
Humour spot
===========
Three boys are in the playground, boasting about their fathers.
The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper,
he calls it a poem, they give him £50"
The second boy says, "That's nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a
piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him £100."
The third boy says, "Beat this: my Dad scribbles a few words on a
piece of paper, he calls it a sermon, and it takes four people to collect all
the money!"
Coming soon
-----------
FAMILY WORSHIP 4
We're excited to announce that things are starting to shape up for the next
Family Worship album, and recording is provisionally scheduled for October/November,
with release early 2001. (We've resisted the urge to jump on the Millennium
bandwagon by releasing "FW2000"...!)
Also in the pipeline is a second album specifically for children, to follow
on from "Teach us to pray", possibly on the theme of the Bible. The
aim is to gradually develop a series of thematic albums for children on some
of the key areas of Christian life: prayer, the Word, evangelism, etc.
Humour spot
===========
A three year-old put managed to put his shoes on by himself. His mother
noticed the left was on the right foot. "Son, your shoes are on the
wrong feet"
He looked up at her, raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't be silly, Mum
- I know they're my feet"
A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read "The
man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but
his wife looked back and was turned to salt"
His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"
Jesus Day
---------
June 10 marked the last global March for Jesus. The event, "Jesus Day",
was held in around 120 countries worldwide. Reports from many countries are
available at http://www.gmfj.org/jdayreports.htm
In London, over 30,000 took to the streets, marching to Blackheath in South
London, a beautiful open parkland, which overlooks Greenwich and the River Thames,
on the line of the Prime Meridian. Following the march, which was broadcast
live on Premier Radio, was a stage programme, with worship led by Matt Redman
and Noel Richards, and a presentation of songs from Graham Kendrick's Millennium
Chorus.
Family Worship provided a children's choir to sing one of the Millennium Chorus
songs, "Once upon a universe". The children rehearsed in the morning
on the stage, overlooking an empty park, and then waited backstage while the
marchers were arriving, so had not anticipated the extraordinary experience
of climbing onto the stage and looking out on a sea of people. One child summed
it up: "I just couldn't believe it!"
Having sounded great in rehearsal, the children seemed to rise to a new level
when faced with the challenge of singing not only in front of such a large crowd,
but also on live radio, and their performance was excellent. My feelings were
a mixture of extreme pride in their achievement, and relief!
The theme for the day was the plight of children around the world, and there
was a lyric in the song which describes how Jesus as a child, looking up at
the world, would have felt very small. The smallest child in the choir stepped
forward at that point, and gazed up at the sky. The visual and emotional impact
of that moment was very strong, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, watching from
the front row, remarked how moved he was.
This prayer was composed for the day:
The Millennium Child prayer
===========================
At the start of a new millennium
we welcome you Jesus.
You came to us as a child
2000 years ago.
Your example of love
and sacrifice for others
has shone ever since
bringing hope to the world.
Help us to see you,
the millennium child,
in the face of each
of the new millennium's children.
Help us to follow
your example of love
and sacrifice for others;
so that each of them
has a new start;
so that each millennium child
has shelter, care, love and hope.
Amen
You can read the report of the day in pictures at
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/mfj.htm
and listen to the live broadcast at
http://www.premier.org.uk/content/programmes/stories/00061206.html
Details of the Millennium Chorus are available at
http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk
Humour spot
===========
A little girl became restless as the preacher's sermon dragged on and on. Finally,
she leaned over to her mother and whispered, "Mommy, if we give him the
money now, will he let us go?"
Showcase spotlight
------------------
Continuing this section where we feature a different artist each month from
the selection of "grass roots" writers in the Family Worship Songwriters'
Showcase, this month we feature David & Laurie Summers.
Their showcase page is at
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/showcase/david_summers.htm
1. Tell us who you are, and where you're from.
Hi we are David & Laurie Summers of Millennium Praise Ministries. We are
located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and we lead worship at Southridge
Outreach Centre.
2. What genre(s) do your songs fit into?
We both write Praise & Worship songs mostly. Laurie also writes songs
of personal healing and ministry in the prophetic song genre.
3. What inspired you to start writing songs?
Both of us grew up in musical families so writing was a natural progression
for us. Of course once Jesus got a hold of us He became our source of inspiration.
A lot of times songs come out of personal times of worship and trials in our
lives.
4. Choosing one song that you have in the Showcase section, tell us the "story
behind the song"
"I Will Worship" would be the song I would pick. This song came out
of a time of inner healing for me. God was in the process of taking me
through some painful memories and hurts in my heart. I wanted to write about
the pain I was feeling but all that would come out on the paper were the words
I will worship. Then, as I thought about how I was feeling the rest flowed out.
I had come to him empty-handed with no gifts to bring except my worship.
Great healing came to me as I wrote and sang this song. It's funny how God will
use something like a song to continue our process of healing in life.
5. What are your hopes and dreams for the future in relation to songwriting?
Laurie and I have a vision to take His praises to the streets and worship in
the parks and streets of the nations. We want to praise our God everywhere to
let the people know that God is Good and He loves them.
In Christ's Love
Dave & Laurie Summers
Millennium Praise Ministries
http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/Stage/2465/
If you are a writer and are interested in having your songs featured in the
Showcase, then visit
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/showcase.htm
and complete the online form to register your interest
Humour spot
===========
True life embarrassing moments...
One woman tells of her most embarrassing moment, which happened when she was
entertaining some very special guests.
After making sure the entire house was in order, she put a note on the guest
towels which read, "If you use these, I'll kill you!" It was intended
for her husband, but in the haste of her preparations, she forgot to remove
the note. When the guests had departed, she found the towels - and the note
- exactly as she had left them.
Check out...
------------
David Lyle Morris' new album, "Jesus, King of the Ages", is now out,
distributed by Kingsway Music. Featuring a wonderful blend of songs, old and
new, including a previously un-released song by Matt Redman, this album is well
worth getting hold of. In the cover notes, Robin Mark described David's songs
and worship leading as a "hidden gem".
Available in the UK online at http://www.worship-direct.com
and soon in the USA.
Check out David's songs in the Showcase at
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/showcase/david_lyle_morris.htm
and MP3 files are available at
http://www.mp3.com/davidlylemorris
If you haven't heard the new Brown Bear Music single, "Never Known"
yet, then check out
http://www.brownbearmusic.co.uk
and http://www.mp3.com/brownbearmusic
With an incredibly catchy feel-good hook, and featuring sax by Ben Castle, this
is an excellent CD
For a comprehensive directory site on Christian Music, edited by Robin Parish,
check out
http://christianmusic.about.com/religion/christianmusic/mbody.htm
For UK christians, a new site is gearing up to offer free Internet access, with
a proportion of revenue going to support churches and charities. The site will
also feature a comprehensive directory to all that's best on the Internet, christian
and secular.
Should be a good alternative to Freeserve and the other free providers, and
you can register for details at
http://www.solidrock.uk.net
If you have a website that you would like us to cover in future newsletters,
please email
newsletter@familyworship.org.uk
River of Life Discount Christian Bookstore, US distributors for the Family Worship
resources are online with a great site featuring an ever-increasing range of
worship recordings, songbooks, etc.
Check it out at http://www.riveroflifecbs.com
Don't forget that Family Worship, as well as loads of other "grass roots
level" ministries are featured in the christian sections of mp3.com
http://www.mp3.com/familyworship
Newsletter information
----------------------
This newsletter is written by Mike Burn and is published by Family Worship Resources,
part of Ichthus Christian Fellowship, London, UK Copyright 2000, Mike Burn.
Inclusion of links and quotations does not imply full endorsement of the
contents. The newsletter may be forwarded or reproduced in full or in part providing
that the source is acknowledged.
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MikeBurn@familyworship.org.uk
Thanks for reading, and if you've made it this far, or even if you just skipped
to the end before hitting delete, blessings to you in Jesus' name
Mike