“Where Would I Be Without You”

“Give Us Your Heart Lord” from album “Where Would I Be Without You?” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard. Produced and recorded  by Ross Gill

I am very fortunate in that my house overlooks The Solent and from my lounge window on the first floor I can look across the water to the Isle of Wight. Whilst sitting on my settee and enjoying this amazing view God has inspired me to write lots of songs, including  “My Beloved King” “This is not Heaven” “Be Set Free” “There is Going to be Party” “Who am I to Judge” and “You Can Call Me Abba?”

I also remember contemplating and then writing the words to the title song of our sixth album “Where Would I Be Without You?”:

“Where would I be without You if you had not taken my sin away, lost without hope forsaken, frozen with fear of the Judgment Day. And how can I live without You, if weren’t there in my time of need, no comfort no strength just aching – life’s painful words left unhealed to bleed. How could I live – how could I live?

The whole CD was recorded in Ross Gill’s studio that he built in the loft of his parent’s house – Andy and Kay; Elders at Lee Community Church.

“Where Would I Be Without You?” has a number of tracks that have now been adapted and incorporated into our forthcoming musical “Risen!”  For example “A Crown Day A Cross Tomorrow” has become “One Day A Crown.” “The melody of “Here I am Because I Love You” is used for Jesus singing “Do you have anything to eat- I’m not a ghost see my hands and feet.” And “Give Us Your Heart Lord” is the same version in Risen! as it is in the “Where Would I Be” album.

I have chosen “Give Us Your Heart Lord” as this week’s featured song, again beautifully sung by Lucy Stimpson- Maynard. I feel it is particularly relevant to how we look and react to the world today with all its massive problems.  I think the song holds one of my favourite lines:

“Peace stems from forgiveness, revenge brings more pain, to give is a gain not a loss, choosing to understand rather than blame these truths cry out from the cross”

In the musical Risen! Lucy sings the part of a Susanna, to whom Luke introduces us in  Chapter 8:3. Susanna, together with Mary Magdalene and Joanna, out of their own resources helped and supported Jesus and His disciples. In Risen! Susanna’s beautiful voice entertains Jesus’ followers as they travel to and from Jerusalem and Galilee.

I think I should take this opportunity to flag up another Christian musical called “Love Beyond.” I have just received information about this brand new production. The promo states “New Bible based Musical Hits the World Stage” It is playing at the Wembley Arena on 1^st and 2^nd of October. http://www.lovebeyondmusical.com/wembley

“Love Beyond” looks really great – now I have to put my hand on my heart and admit that “This old heart of mine” (must be a song title there!!)  did sink a tad because my first reaction was  “Oh no someone has got in first before our Risen!”   However a) that is so selfish -I am seriously embarrassed b) “Love Beyond” features the whole Bible Story whereas Risen!  focuses  on the Resurrection c) God’s grace holds no bounds-  it is indeed “Love beyond” d) it proves that a Christian musical can be produced  West End style” -e) it reassures  me that if God is behind your dreams then you can dream as big as you like and your dreams will come true as nothing is impossible with God.

So I am buying my tickets for “Love Beyond” and hope you do the same.

Next blog features our seventh CD “Lift Your Hearts To Heavenly Places.” We produced this CD for the charity “Release International”  which like “Christian Solidarity Worldwide”” Barnabas Aid” and  “Open Doors” seeks to support the persecuted church.

His Story plays at the Kings Theatre, Southsea

His Story at Central Hall, London

“The One Whose Name Begins With J” from “His Story”  performed live by the Mustard Seed Soul Band featuring Fiona Poustie on lead vocals

At a concert we produced at St Mary’s Church in the grounds of Porchester Castle I remember announcing that it would be a dream to produce a musical focused on the life of Christ; one that featured Mustard Seed songs.  Well the dream came true! I got the title “His Story” after reading a Selwyn Hughes devotional in “Every Day With Jesus.”  I can actually name the day as I still have the rather well -worn copy -Sunday 2^nd May 1999.

Ross Gill (vocals and lead guitar in Mustard Seed Soul Band) suggested that I use the expertise of an old friend of his, Ron Long, together with his brother in law, Bobby Tait as they had experience in writing scripts.

The storyline of “His Story” is as follows:

Mary the Mother of Jesus, and John the disciple whom Jesus loved are told by Jesus on the cross to become mother and son to each other (John 19 25-27) They then go to live in John’s home. Shortly after Pentecost the two are in conversation at Johns home. As the mother of our Lord and the disciple whom Jesus loved, Mary and John would have known more about Jesus life than any two other people in the world. As they reflect on the life of Jesus their dialogue cues up songs.

We took the script straight from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible. The person who played John was an ex- Crofton student, Jez Field who Mustard Seeds had supported when he had volunteered to work for Tearfund in Kenya.  Jez was not an actor and by then he was a church youth worker, however he had been MC at a Mustard Seed Concert in Elim Church, Arundel Street Portsmouth and it was there that I felt that he would be great playing the part of John. He most certainly was – simply a natural. The dialogue of the actors cued up songs from the Mustard Seed Soul Band together with Lucy Stimpson- Maynard and the Crofton Hammond School Choir.   The first production played to a packed audience at the Fernham Hall Fareham. Later productions were held at the Kings Theatre Southsea, The Theatre Royal Portsmouth, Central Hall, Westminster as part of the London Pentecost Festival, and then we returned again to Fernham Hall where the show was filmed.  You can view clips from the shows by visiting www.history.org.uk

As you can imagine there are many stories surrounding the “His Story” productions- the cast was always fantastic. Ron Long switched from assistant script writer to stage manager. He also introduced to me his cousin Wendy Adams, a professional actress, who played Mary the Mother of Jesus so brilliantly in all the other “His Story” productions.  A great friend,  PJ Radcliffe, who is the Risen blog webmaster,  assisted with lighting and just about everything else (thanks v much PJ) Darren Bovis- Coulter produced amazing visuals including a “Talking Head” to help tell the story (with Holy Rood’s very own John Guest starring)

One particular story however is relevant to our forthcoming musical Risen!  Jez Field’s church commitments meant he was unavailable for the show at the Kings Theatre so I was looking for a substitute to play the part of John. Nicola Poustie and Fiona  her sister,  together with Kat Hands and Katy Summer made up the  fabulous  Mustard Seed Soul Band vocalists. Nicola  went to Mountview Academy Of Theatre Arts and I asked her if she knew of anyone who would play the role of John for us. Nicola suggested an ex- Mountview friend of hers, Ben Morris who went on to do a great acting job for us, however I did not realise until later that Ben had won a scholarship to Mountview for  his singing.  Later in 2010, Ben won RTE One’s talent search ‘FAME The Musical’ and starred as Nick on the Irish Tour of FAME. He now performs in the West End production of “Phantom of the Opera.” I had stayed in touch with Ben and was absolutely delighted when he found time in between his musical commitments and “Phantom” shows to record the part of Jesus for us in the Risen! double CD.  The audience at Holy Rood had a preview of his recording when we used it for the Easter Sunday 2014 Risen! concert.

CWR re-brand our first three CDs.

“Oh The Depths Of The Riches” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard

After attaching 80,000 Mustard Seed Mini Cds to the 40th Anniversary edition of “Every Day With Jesus” (EDWJ) Crusade for World Revival (CWR) then began to distribute our three Cds “ I Look Up To The Heavens,” Love is the Way” and “Uplifted.” As you can see from the pics they revamped the artwork to create a unique EDWJ/Mustard Seed Songs brand. CWR had 1000 copies of each Cd duplicated and sold them through their website and their Waverly Abbey House shop. They did the same with later Mustard Seed CDs “Where Would I Be Without You?” and “Precious” (the story of which I will tell you in a future blog)
Later CWR themselves produced a number of Cds of inspirational readings taken from EDWJ. These were devotional thoughts on Bible passages written by Selwyn Hughes and spoken by Russell Boulter. Each of these Cds contained 12 meditations, each one concluding with a short piece of Mustard Seed music orchestrated by David Bankhead of Moonstone Studios. Each Cd also finished with a song featuring Lucy Stimpson – Maynard, so for example “Riches in Christ” finished with “You can Call Me Abba.” “Guidance” with “Where Would I Be Without You?” “Higher with God” with “How Can I Love You More?” “Dying to Live“with “We Can Do Anything.” “Wounded Healer” with “The Season of Singing” sung by Lucy- Jane Rutherford” and “Hidden Treasures” with “A Crown Today A Cross Tomorrow” (a song which features in our forthcoming musical “Risen!)
I had the pleasure of getting to know Selwyn quite well and, on one occasion when she was very unwell, Selwyn prayed with me for Caroline, who, of course, later became my lovely wife.
Selwyn died in January 2006 and it was my great honour to have Mustard Seed Songs played at his Thanksgiving Service held at Central Hall, Westminster. Graeme Kendrick led the worship, Hugh Priddy sang “Here is Love” and one of the reflections on Selwyn’s life and ministry came from Fiona Castle.
The featured song I have chosen for this week is one that has not yet been released “Oh the Depths of the Riches.” After one of the early Mustard Seed concerts a dear friend, Doug Willis who sadly passed away last year, came up to me and suggested that I look at Romans 11: 33-36 as he felt the words could inspire a song. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out. So when I got home I opened my Bible, looked at the passage and God blessed me with a melody.
Sometime later I was at a CWR Partners Day a Waverley Abbey House and Selwyn was delivering a sermon. Selwyn said how wonderful it was that St Paul, in the midst of the deep theology of his letter to the Church in Rome, should stop in mid -sentence to contemplate “The depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” I think this was the impetus to ensure the song was recorded by Lucy. It had, however been sung earlier by Jeremy Wilding at a Mustard Seed concert in Hereford Cathedral. I met Jeremy on a tour of the Cathedral and heard him singing along to himself. A the end I told him how beautiful I thought his voice was and discovered that he had, in his youth, been a choir boy in the Cathedral.
I am not sure why but Lucy’s version has not yet been included on any Mustard Seed album, however not long after Doug died I gave a copy of the song to Doug’s devoted wife Hazel. Whilst speaking of Doug and Hazel, two beautiful servants of Jesus, I must say that it was my real joy to visit Doug when he was nearing the end of his life. First I read a draft of the “Risen!” script, and then later, when they became available, I played musical extracts. When I saw tears streaming down Doug’s face I knew that Risen! was going to be something that would really bless people.
Next week I will tell you about the musical that preceded Risen! – His Story.

40th Anniversary Edition of “Every Day With Jesus” with Mustard Seed Songs Mini CD attached

Waverley Abbey House HQ of CWR Publishers of Selwyn Hughes’ “Every Day With Jesus”

“Lord I Come to Bathe in Your Glory” from album “Love is the Way” featuring Lucy Stimpson – inspired by a devotion from Selwyn Hughes in “Every Day With Jesus”

When taking part in the Alpha course I had started to read Selwyn Hughes’s daily devotions -“Every Day With Jesus” (EDWJ) published by CWR (Crusade for World Revival.)  Some of the songs I was writing were inspired by Selwyn’s words, for example   “Jesus is the Alphabet” and “In Times of Trouble” from our first album “I Look Up To The Heavens.”  “Lord I Come to Bathe in Your Glory,” “Glorious is His Humility” and “How Can I Love You More?” (see blog June 12th) from “Love is the Way,”  our  second album and from our third “Uplifted”  “ We Can’t Set The World on Fire. “

I had become a Partner (supporter) of CWR and on one visit to their HQ, the beautiful Waverley Abbey House in Farnham, (see pic) I visited their shop to find only a limited number of CDs on sale.  Mick Brooks, the CWR Chief Executive explained that the shop was run by a franchise but soon CWR would be running it themselves.  I left Waverley with the idea that I would send them some Mustard Seed CDs in the hope that they would be interested in selling them in their shop.

I did this and then waited and waited.  I decided it was another rejection just like all the pop songs I had written previously. However after a month or two I decided to give CWR a ring and when I did I was told “Have you not received our letter? We have invited you to Waverley to discuss how we can use your songs – to be honest when we read you are a PE teacher with no musical experience we were not expecting much but when we heard the songs we were amazed.”

So off I went to Waverley to have a meeting with Mick Brooks and Mike Ashford, the Head of Marketing.  Mick told me that they were considering giving one of our CDs away to every new subscriber to EDWJ.  I asked how many this might be and was  told about 500 – I was overjoyed;  although our three CDs were selling well it was hard work doing it all by word of mouth. Then Mike Ashcroft interjected to say that the marketing department had just had a meeting in which they floated the idea of making a mini CD of Mustard Seed songs and attaching them to every copy of the 40^th Anniversary edition of EDWJ. Again I asked how many this might be and nearly fell off my chair when the reply was 80, 000 – distributed world- wide!!

The song I have chosen to feature this week is one that Selwyn inspired in the year 2000, when writing his devotional about the Book of Revelation.  He explains that the image of Christ in Revelation 1: 12-16 is the one that he always holds before him when he prays

And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,^] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash round his chest. ¹⁴ The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

The song is “Lord I Come to Bathe in Your Glory” – again featuring the beautiful voice of Lucy Stimpson.

Did the support from CWR finish there? Oh no – next blog I will tell you what they did next

“Uplifted” – Mustard Seed Songs’ third album

Lucy and Maggie recording  “My Beloved King” at Bob Ross Studios, Portsmouth

” Still in Tears” from “Uplifted” album  featuring Lucy Stimpson-Maynard on vocals and piano with  James Oliver on cello.

Mustard Seed Songs’ first concerts featured Lucy Stimpson singing solos and playing piano with the Mustard Seed Girls’ Choir introduced soon after.

I remember after one concert it being suggested that in order to appeal to a wider audience we should consider playing more up-tempo songs. I had grown up on R and B/ Soul music and particularly loved the brass breaks on Wilson Pickett’s “in the Midnight Hour” Sam and Dave’s “You Don’t Know like I Know” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher.” The breaks on all three are similar and I have to admit they greatly influenced the brass break I wrote for the song “Uplifted” (not plagiarism I promise -not even sampling – just influenced!)

I had by now written four upbeat songs and a number of musicians I had begun to know were rapidly evolving into The Mustard Seed Soul Band   – Nicola and Fiona Poustie and Kat Hands on vocals, Ross Gill on lead guitar, Jim Rogers on acoustic, Darren Lewis on drums , Gareth Matthews and  Andy Herbertson on bass,  Chris Backhouse on keys and Matt Goffee on trumpet with Robbie Richardson on sax.

So we used the song “Uplifted” as the title track for our third album (artwork again thanks to Neale Gordon) with the Mustard Seed Soul Band also playing on three other up- tempo tracks-“ There’s Going to be a Party,” “Jesus You are  my Lord and my King” and “JE and then SUS”  however to ensure the album really was family friendly we included a song for children “What would Jesus Do” sung by a Crofton schoolgirl -Yvette Page. This was later sung by the Crofton Hammond School Choir for our musical “His Story.”  Of course the album also included solos from Lucy Stimpson (now Lucy Stimpson – Maynard after marrying David) and one which now features in our forthcoming musical “Risen!”  is “My Beloved King.”  In  “Risen!”  this song is sung by Mary Sister of Lazarus and Martha as she anoints the feet of Jesus the night before His “The Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. In the “Uplifted” version Lucy’s vocals are accompanied by the haunting flute accompaniment of Maggie Horton. Today’s pic show the two of them recording in Bob Ross’s studio, Portsmouth

We used the track “Uplifted” for Mustard Seeds first musical “His Story. ” We also used another track from the “Uplifted” album -“Still in Tears.” Here is the story behind that song. When Lucy left Crofton School to move to Cambridge the school had an end of term “leaving do” in the school grounds. Lucy sang “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and her rendition, together with the fact that she was leaving Crofton, made me really rather emotional. Later that evening the male staff were in Old Portsmouth for a few “end of term beers” and I gave Lucy a ring -she asked me how I was and I replied “I’m still in tears.” The moment I said that I knew that this was the title of a new song. Two days later I took some students to Alton Towers and on the way there made up the song. To begin with the lyrics were secular with something about “there being laughter in the air as another carnival draws near but not for me as I am still in tears.”  However I soon changed them for lyrics based on someone being in tears after the crucifixion of Jesus.

I am still on that hill, pleading “No please no,” as they torture Your flesh and You surrender Your soul. You told us this had to be and that we should all have no fears but even Peter – the rock even he –  is still in tears.

“Still in Tears” is this week’s featured song – the cello part is played by James Oliver who became Head of Music at Crofton after Lucy moved to Cambridge.

So Mustard Seeds now had three albums and were producing concerts on a fairly regular basis, however the songs  were only reaching a limited number of people, but that all changed after a visit to Waverley Abbey House, the Centre for  CWR (Crusade for World Revival) the publishers of “Every Day With Jesus.”  The story of how 80, 000 of Mustard Seed Songs were distributed world -wide by CWR is next weeks story.

James Townend playing Thomas in the 2013 stage production of Risen!

“Love is Patient, Love is Kind” from CD “Love is the Way”  featuring Lucy Stimpson on vocals, Ross Gill on guitar. Arranged and produced by John Hodgkinson

My very special friend Bob Milliken, known as Rob to some and affectionately as Mr Mill to hundreds of Crofton School students had, together with his dad and Rev. Michael Christian- Edwards, been instrumental in me becoming a Christian (see blogs March 27^th and April 3^rd)   Bob is a Trustee of our charity Mustard Seed Songs and six years ago was Best Man when I married Caroline (Miss Bocking to Crofton students.) Bob retired from Crofton last year and on September 20^th we are having a party at the Fernham Hall, Fareham to celebrate his retirement together with  the 40^th Anniversary of Crofton School. All those connected with Crofton are invited. Tickets are on sale from July 1^st and details can be found on my Facebook page.

Anyway I remember being in the school minibus for some reason and asking Bob what our second album should be called and he replied “Love is the Way.”   In last week’s blog I talked about one of the album’s songs “Out of the Depths” and the week before I described how its last track “Great and Marvellous” came about.  The song featured this week is another from “Love is the Way” – “Love is Patient, Love is Kind” and it is dedicated to my good friend James Kennedy who on Saturday is marrying his beautiful bride Leanne in Romsey Abbey. I have been given the great honour of reading at their wedding ceremony from 1 Corinthians 13 which is, of course Love is patient love is kind. It does not anger it does not boast…………… I would like to take this opportunity to wish them every possible happiness together.

My old mate John Hodgkinson  arranged, recorded and produced the song and I have to say it really is his “piece de resistance.”

At the time “Love is the Way” was recorded we were producing more and more Mustard Seed concerts (see blog May 25^th.) In one we were raising money for two ex -Crofton students – Jez Field and Clare Townend who were both off to Kenya to work voluntarily for Tearfund.  I mentioned this in that May 25^th blog and also explained that James Townend, Clare’s brother sung at that concert and that later I would tell you the story – well here is what happened:

Ever year at Crofton Mr Mill would organise a Charities Week and one of the fund raising events was an “Unplugged Karaoke.”  I was sitting in the audience next to Lucy Stimpson when James Townend came on and sang “ Walking in Memphis.” It was fantastic and at the end Lucy and me instantly rose as one to give James a standing ovation as did the rest of the audience.

When it came to putting together a Mustard Seed Concert programme to support Jez and Clare I thought it would be a great idea if James sang – after all it was his sister that we were raising money for.  I chose a song I had made up that I thought would suit his voice “You are my Rock.”  Anyway to cut a long story short it was just not happening for James- however right at the last minute I had the idea of asking  him to  sing “Walking in Memphis” instead – when he did  it sounded great so I then suggested he  just sing “ You are my Rock” in  the same way. James was reluctant as he was “putting on a voice” to sing “Memphis” and he thought that it would be dishonest if he did the same for “You are my Rock.” I assured him that this was not the case and he ended up giving a great performance.

James would then have been 16 then and although I stayed in touch with his family who went to Holy Rood Church I lost contact with James himself.  However I was discussing our musical “Risen!” with my dear friend Dr Graham Giles and the fact that we needed some singers for a forthcoming production.  Unbeknown to me Graham had recently been chatting to James who had just seen the film version of Les Miserables and so felt inspired to get involved with a musical himself. When Graham told me this my mind went back some 12 years to when James sang ”Walking in Memphis” and so James and me met at Holy Rood church and he sang me the part of Cleopas from Risen! which I had earmarked for him. However he told me that he had also practiced another song from Risen!- one sung by the disciple Thomas.  I thought that I might as well hear it and when I did I was speechless – it was so emotional and powerful.  So the part of Thomas has become James’s own- he has sung it for the last two Risen! Easter Sunday performances and also sings it on our forthcoming double Risen! CD.  The 2013 Risen production included a number of professional singers and they all thought that James was professional as well! When you hear him on the Risen! CD you will understand why.

So what came after “Love is the Way?” Answer “Uplifted” but more of that next week.

“Love is they Way” featuring Lucy Stimpson recorded and produced by John Hodgkinson and also Bob Ross

“Out of the Depths” featuring Lucy Stimpson  from second Mustard Seed album “Love is the Way”

The Christian music magazine “Cross Rhythms” had this to say about Mustard Seed Songs’ second album “Love is the Way”

There is an air of dignity about Lucy Stimpson and this album of praise with beautiful vocals, tinkling pianos and soothing synthesisers that steers clear of lounge bar music, evoking genuine pathos. There is an old fashioned church- like holiness that proves poignant and its endeavours should appeal to both old and young alike with the proceeds of all sales going to support Christian missionary work by young people. At times almost angelic sounding, there is a hymn – like passion that is almost angelic sounding.

So obviously God was blessing the music big time!!

The album contained some songs that I had “converted” from the pop songs I had written earlier,  however the majority of the songs were new ones such as  “Great and Marvellous” (see blog June 5^th) “You are the Shepherd of my Soul”  and “Oh Lord by Praise” God just  kept inspiring me with more and more tunes and here is the story behind another one on the album  – “Out of the Depths.”

I was driving home from Waverley House, Farnham, the HQ of Crusade for World Revival (CWR) the publishers of “Every Day with Jesus” (more about that in a later blog) when I found a tune come into my head. It was a fast tune with verse and chorus and I was really excited as I felt it was an especially good melody (it had to be coming from God!) However, unlike a lot of the songs I had written the lyrics did not come with the tune so I just stored it away in my head for use at a future time.

In 2000 I was just about to go into a cinema in London’s Leicester Square with my 15 year old son Chris when I received a phone call. It was truly horrible news saying that Richard, one of Chris’s best friends, had just died. The film obviously had to be missed as I took Chris away into some nearby gardens to tell him the tragic news- as you can imagine he was heartbroken. About that time a Russian nuclear -powered submarine “Kursk” sunk in the Barents Sea and never came up -all on board were lost. The newspapers had photographs of the mothers of the Russian submariners and their faces were etched with anguish. I felt that I had to write a song to try and describe their pain and also that of Richard’s friends and family. I searched through those Psalms that are Laments – prayers in which the writers poured out their hearts in times of personal or national distress.  From Psalm 6 and 130 I took the words –Out of the depths I cry out to you oh Lord – wont You please hear me do not hide your face. My soul is in anguish it pleads why oh why Lord,  I’m worn out from groaning I’m drenched in my tears. Save me with Your unfailing love all my hope rests in Your hand I put my trust in You my rock though so much I do not understand.

So the Psalms were the source for the lyrics but I had no tune – or did I?  The song I had been given on my return from Waverley Abbey had a tempo that was too fast for “Out of the Depths” – but what would happen if I slowed it down?   In fact the song slowed down perfectly for the verse starting “Out of the Depths I cry out to You” and also for the chorus of “Save Me with Your unfailing love.”  So the song was born and of course Lucy Stimpson arranged and sang it beautifully.

The song is now a part of Mustard Seeds’ new musical Risen!  It is sung directly after Jesus’ crucifixion. Lucy’s version is featured in today’s blog.

The title of the album “Love is the Way” actually came before  I had written the song. My dear friend Mr Bob Milliken (Mr Mill) suggested the title – but more of that next week.

Merilyn – Christian Edwards (Back 2nd from left )  with Mustard Seed Home Group
Mustard Seed Girls Choir prepare to sing “Great and Marvellous” at 2000 Millennium concert at Crofton Community Centre

“Great and Marvellous” featuring Lucy Stimpson and The Mustard Seed Girls’ Choir at Millennium Concert, Crofton Community Centre

The pop songs I had made up “converted” into enough Christian songs to complete our first album “I Look up to the Heavens” and also a lot for our second album “Love is the Way.”  When I had ran out of pop songs to convert I thought that was it – but no, something remarkable happened- I  was  sat down in my lounge reading the Book of Revelation and in Chapter 15 it said

“Great and Marvellous are Your deeds Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways King of the Ages” and a tune came into my head- the words continue “Who will not fear You, bring glory to Your Name? For You alone are Holy. All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.  You Lord will reign.” The tune in my head continued.  I really could not believe it, especially as I knew the tune was nice and melodic.

That evening I went to see Merilyn Christian- Edwards;  the wife of Michael,  the Holy Rood Vicar who had run the Alpha Course ( see blog April 3rd) Merilyn was leading a home group of people that had been on the Alpha Course – the home group was  called the Mustard Seeds;  same as  our charity.  I was already close to Merilyn and  earlier  had sought  her opinion on my  “ converted songs”  I remember singing one to Merilyn  with her then disturbing Michael in his office (something you did not do when he was preparing a sermon!) and then me having to sing to him.  Michael said something like “We will have to support you in this.”

Anyway I was in my car with Merilyn on the way to our Mustard Seed home group when I told her that I had made up a new song. After  singing “Great and Marvellous” to her in the car Merilyn said “That’s from the Lord.”  That was the start of God giving me songs – I suppose that so far there have been over 200.

It was decided that the churches of Stubbington should combine to produce a Millennium Concert and so as not to show any favouritism it was to be held on the “neutral ground” of The Crofton Community Centre’s Sports Hall. Someone asked if I had a suitable song for the occasion and I immediately thought of “Great and Marvellous.”  Nicola and Fiona Poustie were still at Crofton School  and part of Lucy Stimpson- Maynard’s School Choir that doubled up in our concerts as the Mustard Seed Girls’ Choir. Nicola and Fiona went on to front the Mustard Seed Soul Band in future concerts and in our musical “His Story.” They both have an amazing gift for harmony and worked out a harmony for “Great and Marvellous.”  I remember them doing this after- school one day in Crofton School’s Music Room Two.

So in 2000, or it may still have just been 1999 “Great and Marvellous” was performed unaccompanied by the Mustard Seed Girls’ Choir with Lucy singing the first verse. Unbeknown to me my colleague at school, Neale Gordon was recording the singing on his minidisk.  Although the acoustics in the Sports Hall were not good the recording came out remarkably well. John Hodgkinson processed it in his studio and it ended up being the last track on our second album “Love is the Way.” It is this week’s featured song.

In our forthcoming musical Risen! I have used some melodies from previous albums for some recitative.  The tune to “Great and Marvellous” is used when Jesus proclaims to His followers on a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28) that “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me- So go make disciples of all men, go and baptise them.” This “Great Commission” finishes with what I would say are the most reassuring words every spoken “Surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So “Great and Marvellous” became the last track on our second album “Love is the Way.” “Love is the Way” was reviewed in a Christian music publication called “Cross Rhythms” and next blog I’ll tell you what was said.

First concert heart and soul concert Hereford concert HR 2 concert LIW concert roberta concert soteria concert St Marys concert You are rock concert

The First Ever Mustard Seed Concert celebrating the 90th Birthday of Mr Milliken – Mr Mill’s dad

“Heart and Soul” from album “Heart and Soul” featuring Mike Backhouse and the Mustard Seed Soul Band

I would visit Mr Milliken (Mr Mill’s dad) pretty regularly at his sheltered accommodation in Titchfield. We would pray together and I would sing him the latest song I had made up- he was always really encouraging but also always really honest (see blog April 17^th “Baptism.”)   I am not sure whose idea it was but on October 27^th 1998, Mr Milliken’s 90^th birthday, we held a special concert for him in Drama Room One of Crofton School. Lucy Stimpson sang and played piano – the audience was not the largest ever consisting  of just five people- Mr Milliken, Mr Mill, Mr Mill’s sister Joy and me.  It was a wonderful occasion with Lucy singing songs from our CD “I Look Up to the Heavens” plus some that had not yet been recorded.  It was the first of many concerts and musicals that Mustard Seeds have produced at places including Holy Rood Church, Stubbington- St Edmunds Church, Stubbington-  St Mary’s Church, Porchester-  Oasis  Church, Portsmouth-Hereford Cathedral, Hereford- Central Hall, Westminster-  Assembly Halls, Chichester- Ferneham Hall, Fareham -Theatre Royal, Portsmouth and King Theatre, Southsea.

Sometimes we would hold a concert to support a particular person, for example my good friend Roberta Cousins who is a missionary in Uganda. On other occasions it would be to promote a new CD such as “Love is the Way” or “Uplifted.”  The concerts were always headed by Lucy Stimpson, who by now had married David Maynard, and so had become Lucy Maynard- but for Mustard Seed Songs -Lucy Stimpson- Maynard.  We gradually added more musicians – Ross Gill, who later produced many of our albums, played acoustic guitar, Neil Elliott, Gaz Matthews and Andy Hertbertson,  bass, Ben Kennedy and Darren Lewis,  drums and later Matt Goffee,  trumpet. At one concert Matthew Sergeant played trombone (see blog Feb 13th“Encouragement”) The concerts also featured the Mustard Seed Girls Choir, who had been formed from the Crofton School  Choir taught by Lucy.

By this time Mustard Seed Songs was supporting young people who had taken time off from their studies to work voluntarily in the Third World.  Catherine Knight had been the first we had supported (see blog May 15^th) but now there were others such as her brother Tim working in Chile for Latin Link and Jez Field and Clare Townend working for Tearfund in Kenya (A future blog will tell the story of how James Townend, Clare’s brother, who had only just left Crofton, sang at this concert – he now sings the part of Thomas absolutely brilliantly in our musical Risen!)

I remember one Crofton girl asking if we could support her missionary work – the trouble was Lucy was pregnant with her first baby, Emily Rose, and so could not be part of a concert. By this time some of the girls from the Mustard Seed Girls Choir were in their late teens and were singing semi- professionally – Fiona and Nicola Poustie and Katherine Hands.  For the CD “Uplifted”  I had started to write some more upbeat songs influenced by the soul music I grew up loving and hearing at the Birdcage club (see blog Feb 6th)  So the time was now right to try a slightly new direction and Ross Gill produced, without Lucy,  our forth CD “Heart and Soul.”  On vocals were Nicola, Fiona, Kat and another ex- member of the Mustard Seed Girls’ Choir who was singing professionally – Katie Summer. Ross Gill was on guitar, Darren Lewis, drums, Chris Backhouse, keys and  Andy Herbertson,  bass. We also had guest vocalists Jassica Castillo- Burley and Mike Backhouse, Chris’ brother. Mike sang the title song “Heart and Soul” and, as he married Becky last weekend, I thought it would be nice to feature his song and of course wish them every  happiness together.

The “Heart and Soul” CD was first promoted at a Mustard Seed concert at The Oasis Centre in Arundel Street, Portsmouth.  We supported the charity founded by my great friend Mick Mellows – “Faith and Football.”  www.faithandfootball.org.uk/Fellow Faith and Football Director Pompey legend Linvoy Primas was seen dancing at the back and the compere was ex- Crofton student Jez Field, who we had supported when he worked for Tearfund in Kenya.  I thought Jez was a natural and sometime later asked him to play the role of John in our first musical “His Story.”  Although he’d had no acting training he was brilliant – but more of that later.

Focusing on concerts I have rushed ahead somewhat in my story and have omitted to say what happened when I ran out of pop songs to convert to Christian ones – however next week all will be revealed!

Registered Charity No.1077618

I Will Tell from album “I Look Up To The Heavens” featuring Lucy Stimpson. Recorded and produced by John Hodgkinson

I left  the last blog saying  that this week I would tell you how many copies of  our first CD “ I Look Up To Heavens” was sold – well a few more than the 50 my son James predicted!- approximately 3000 which is not exactly a Grammy but still not bad.  Later songs taken from other Mustard Seed CDs were used on 80,000 mini CDs that were attached to the 40^th Anniversary edition of “Every Day With Jesus” and then distributed worldwide, however that’s a future blog story!

I had borrowed money to pay for the duplication of the first 1000 copies of “I Look Up To The Heavens” but was selling more that we needed to cover the monthly repayments. I remember having “that feeling inside” that we should send Katherine Knight some money in Peru. Katherine was the daughter of Paul Knight who introduced me to the Alpha Course (see blog April 3rd) Katherine had taken time off from her studies to work voluntarily in Peru for the Christian agency, ““Latin Link”. She was part of a young team that were helping build two projects, the first of which was an orphanage.

I rang Paul in February 1999 to tell him that CD sales were going well and that I would like to send Katherine £500.00 – in fact they were not going that well – I just felt confident that we would be able to raise that amount.  Paul was obviously delighted and agreed to ring Katherine to tell her the good news. When he made the phone call he did give her a chance to first say anything but went straight into “ I have some great news for you- the sales of “ I Look Up To the Heavens” are going well enough for Ken to send you £500.00.” Paul expected some sort of emotional reaction but not the flood of tears that followed.  Katherine then explained that her team was near the end of their orphanage building project, but all of the materials they needed to complete the work had been stolen. The team were devastated and thought that they would have to abandon the project.   In tears they spent the night in prayer. That had been the previous night – so when Paul told his daughter that £500.00 was on its way, that was indeed a real answer to their prayers,  especially as when the money was converted to local currency it turned out to be the exact amount needed to replace the stolen materials  and so finish the project!!

Sometime later I got a phone call from the father of one of Katherine’s “Latin Link” team saying that he had heard the amazing story of how money received from our CD sales had enabled the orphanage building work to be completed.  He then went on to say that he was a Solicitor who specialised in creating charities and would I like our song writing mission to become a registered charity?  “Yes please ” was the simple answer.  Mustard Seed Songs was not a rocket science title – the parable from Matthew 13 seemed totally appropriate for a project that we felt from a small beginning would grow and grow. So in late 1999 Mustard Seed Songs became Registered Charity No 177618.

I remember someone once saying to me that they became a Christian “Because it works.”  Reading the Bible, prayer, worship, being inspired by other people  and attending church are all important factors in increasing one’s faith but so too are  one’s experiences. By building Memorials and creating Festival Days the Hebrew people helped ensure that they did not forget the blessings of God. The story of how Mustard Seed Songs became a charity is one that I can always look back on to help me strengthen my faith but there are many, many more – some of which I will mention in future blogs. But next week I want to tell you about Mustard Seed Songs’ first ever Concert.  It was held to celebrate Mr Mill’s dad- Mr Milliken’s 90^th birthday and was held in Drama Room 1 at Crofton School.  There were only five of us there – Mr Milliken, Mr Mill, Mr Mill’s sister Joy, Lucy Stimpson and me.  However it was a wonderful concert which could really be called the embryo of  our musical Risen!