Well, here we are.
Welcome to the first edition of the Family Worship youth newsletter.
It may be a while since you subscribed, so see the end for details.
Allow me to introduce myself...
I'm Chris Juby, I've been working for Family Worship for about nine months now, doing all kinds of website things, mailing out all the cd's and travelling with Mike on the FW Roadshow. I'm 23, which is maybe properly old, but hey, old is good.
Basically, what's going to go on in this newsletter is that I'll gather up all kinds of bits of information on the scene from the UK and beyond, get excited about good music and books, find interesting interweb links, free stuff...that kind of thing, and attack you with them at irregular intervals, if that's ok!?
Now, by any normal standards this is off-the-scale advance warning, but it's probably important enough to warrant it...
In case anyone in the UK is not aware, you need to book August 2004 as 'coming to London for Soul In The City' time. What am I talking about? Let me give you some background: In 2000 Soul Survivor hooked up with The Message to put on an awesome two week mission in Manchester, during which eleven thousand christian young people descended on the roughest areas of the city, cleaned, painted, built, mended and generally loved people there during the day, then had huge celebrations in the evenings led by Matt Redman, World Wide Message tribe etc...
Hundreds of people found Jesus, the crime rate dropped to zero in some of the areas the teams were, and the impact is still felt in the city today as The Message team keep following it up.
Fantastic, yes? Well, the same thing is happening in London next summer, except on an enormous scale. It is nearly essential to get involved in this event. There are loads of ways to do that - check out the Soul In The City website for more details, and be there.
That goes for everyone not in the UK too - come over, it really will be worth it.
http://www.soulinthecity.co.uk/
In anticipation of Delirious? forthcoming studio release (described as something of a return to the d? of King of Fools), here's a review of their latest live project, Access:d, just in case you missed it...
Access:d - songs in the key of d:
Delirious?
c2002, Furious? RecordsFor over a decade Delirious? have been redefining "worship music" to varying degrees of critical acclaim. Access:d is a double cd compilation of some of the most powerful moments of worship from dozens of their live concerts, covering material from the King of Fools album to their most recent Audio Lessonover.
Live albums tend to be for die-hard fans only, but this is undoubtedly Delirious? most powerful arena, and Access:d should actually help any doubters understand the heart behind what they've have been up to for the last few years.
More ruthless editing could perhaps have produced one truly exceptional disc (and maybe spared us the occasional moments of guitar solo indulgence) but this is worship music that speaks the language of rock without a hint of compromise, demonstrating once and for all that the Delirious? mission to broaden the horizons of both genres has only become more passionate as time has passed.
7/10
In other Delirious? news, apparently the band have recorded a cover of 'Pride (In the name of love)' for a U2 tribute album, which also feature's P.O.D taking on 'Bullet The Blue Sky'...now that should be an interesting record.
In case you haven't spotted, FW run a Songwriters Showcase, where you can download a whole bunch of worship songs for free...there's a big mix of styles and outlooks, but I must draw your attention to the current 'Featured Artist' - Goodbye Audio - I wont say too much more, but just check them out. It really is properly outstanding music by anyone's standards, and all their tracks are straight-up worship songs.
There are three free mp3 files to download on their page.
http://www.familyworship.org.uk/showcase/goodbyeaudio.htm
Please email me if you want to contribute to this newsletter, have any outstanding ideas for it, etc.
Adios...