Nicola, Fiona, Kat and Katy of the Mustard Seed Soul Band

Lucy Jane Rutheeford singing “The Gospel of Christ”

Ross Gill playing at a Mustard Seed Concert

“The Gospel of Christ” featuring Nicola Poustie, Fiona Poustie, Kat Hands and Katy Summer  of the Mustard Seed Soul Band

“The Gospel of Christ” featuring Lucy Jane Rutherford. From album “Heart and Soul”

Last week I said that in this blog I would tell you about the album “Precious” but I want to delay that for a week or so as I have realised that I had not completed my previous story relating to Lucy Jane Rutherford.  I spoke of how she had taken some of my songs and transformed them with her wonderful interpretations.  I have to be honest and admit that in the main I am rather “precious” with the melodies with which God has inspired me and therefore do not take too kindly if a  musician does not copy them pretty much exactly. With Lucy Jane, however it is different matter as she takes my melodies to a very lovely but “different place.”

Perhaps a good example is the song “The Gospel of Christ.” I remember God giving me those words and the first line of the melody when I was driving my car from my house in Portsmouth Road just around the corner to Wotton Road.  The Mustard Seed Soul Band recorded a “soul” version of the song for the album “Heart and Soul.” However I had always felt it to be appropriate for a folk feel.  I therefore asked Lucy Jane to sing her own interpretation and this was added to the “Heart and Soul” album as a “bonus track.” It also featured in our first musical “His Story.” Both versions feature in today’s blog – I think this is a good example of how a song can be interpreted in very different ways.

Lucy Jane also sings a song on the album “Where Would I Be Without You? (see blog July 24th)  The song is “If You Call His Name” and was specifically written for my future wife Caroline, when she was going through a very difficult time and was most unwell.  The song is taken from the story of the woman who Jesus healed in Luke Chapter 8 after she had suffered for years from bleeding. The second verse is:

I know you feel that all is lost, your pain’s so great, it is all hopeless, but if you touch His hands just gently, you will know He has scars too, And He will say, “Yes I have suffered, I have cried out just like you. Oh precious child, oh precious one, you’re not alone now; now you’ve come to me.

Ross Gill recorded the song in the studio he built in his parent’s house. Ross was responsible for arranging, recording, producing and mastering the following Mustard Seed albums: “Heart on Fire”- “His Story” – “Where Would I Be Without You?”- “Precious”- “Lift Your Hearts to Heavenly Places”- “Unsung Heroes” and “The Season of Singing.”  In addition I am indebted to Ross for his brilliant singing and guitar playing. The blog of February 27^th featured Ross on the track “Be Set Free” but he also sings and plays on “You Are My Rock”-“Walking With Jesus”- “Allow His Loving Arms”  and “Mustard Seed Of Faith.” Ross is now dedicated to the work of Global Fire Productions of which he is Co -Director with Craig Johnson -wwwglobalfireproductions.co.uk

Ross was leader of the Mustard Seed Soul Band, the main vocalists of which were Nicola Poustie, Fiona Poustie,  Kat Hands and Katy Summer.  I have already mentioned Nicola as she was the vocal MD for the Easter 2012 Holy Rood production of Risen!  In addition the blog of June 6^th talked about how Nicola and Fiona arranged the harmonies for the song “Great and Marvellous.” Harmony is one of the many gifts that Nicola and Fiona have.  In fact on leaving school they and Kat formed a group called “Akappela Blue” which had considerable success.  Mustard Seeds have been so fortunate to have had their vocal talents together with that of Katy Summer who joined a little later. The four girls sung in all the productions of our first musical “His Story” -all the Mustard Seed concerts and most of our CDs. They also sung at the wedding of Caroline and myself and I will always be indebted to them and I thank them all so very much.

So next week is the “Precious” CD story which includes how my mum became a Christian aged 101!!

Two compilation albums for “Release International”  – Lift Your Hearts To Heavenly Places” and “For Unsung Heroes”

“A Mustard Seed Of Faith” featuring Lucy Jane Rutherford from  an unreleased album “His Story Live”

“Lift Your Hearts To Heavenly Places” featuring Lucy Jane Rutherford from album “Lift Your Hearts To Heavenly Places”

Sorry about missing the blog last week but I was really busy with the Crofton Summer Sports Week – check out www.cssw.org.uk for pics

However I did find time to meet Richard Harley, the writer and producer of the new Christian musical “Love Beyond.” Richard’s  work with “Love Beyond” is an amazing story of faith and sacrifice – one that has certainly inspired me to try, with Joffy our MD, to  “ raise the bar” on our own  musical Risen! But in the meantime please don’t miss “Love Beyond” at the Wembley Arena on Oct 1st and 2^nd – www.lovebeyondmusical.com/wembley

I have been very fortunate to have had so many brilliant people help me in the work of Mustard Seed Songs.  I am indebted to the support and wisdom of our Trustees – Bob Milliken and Paul Knight.  I have spoken of the recording and arranging of John Hodgkinson and, of course the beautiful singing of Lucy Stimpson- Maynard. Both she and John were also brilliant at converting my awful singing into chords.  Ross Gill has done the same and has also been invaluable with his recording and producing skills together with his musicianship and singing.  Nicola Poustie was amazing as our vocal MD for the Risen! musical of 2012. Paul Clements was a Godsend with the stage direction of that production. And there is no praise high enough for Joffy Girling our MD for Risen!

Another person I would like to highlight for thanks is Lucy Jane Rutherford. Lucy Jane was a student at Crofton School with Lucy Stimpson – Maynard being her music teacher.  Lucy Jane was awarded a degree in Folk and Traditional Music and is , at present  dedicated to her work with Ellel Ministries at Glyndley Manor.  Lucy Jane sang as part of the Mustard Seed Girls’ Choir, soloed at a concert in Hereford Cathedral and also in our first musical “His Story.” Lucy Jane has taken some of my songs and transformed them to such an extent that, on first hearing her interpretations; I have ended up in tears. One such song “Lift Your Hearts to Heavenly Places” was inspired by the writings of Richard Wurmbrand in his incredible book “Tortured for Christ.”  This is one of the two  songs featured this week.

Richard Wurmbrand, whose sufferings at the hands of the Communists in Romania, are beyond belief founded the charity “Release International.  A dear friend of mine, Imtiaz Asraf was working for “Release” when he suggested to a friend of his, Joanne Freer that she come to see a production of “His Story.” Joanne was so impressed that she suggested to “Release” that   “His Story” become their project for the 2008 Pentecost Festival in London.  And that is exactly what happened with “His Story” playing at  Central Hall, Westminster – a fantastic location just opposite the Houses of Parliament. Because we missed last week’s blog I have included another track sung live by Lucy Jane from “His Story” -“A  Mustard Seed of Faith.”

“A Mustard Seed Of Faith” is an appropriate title because “His Story” at the Pentecost Festival had an Asian influence celebrating the work of “Release International “ in that continent.  So the production included music from Anal Kant who flew over especially from Mumbai. We also had “The Angel” Bollywood dancers.  The plan was include  an “Asian Buffet” for the ticket holders to enjoy before the production began, however there were last minute problems with the  Indian Restaurant that was providing the catering.  I tried everything but with no joy until just about my last phone call when I spoke to some wonderful people from a College in London that specialised in catering -they could have not been more helpful and the food was absolutely amazing.  Looking back, I remember feeling that,  although things were getting desperate with  the tickets sold to include the Indian Buffet, I didn’t have any doubts that God would open a door somewhere and that it would be a door to something better than had originally been planned.

We later produced two compilation CDs for “Release International” the pics of which are featured today – “Lift Your Hearts to Heavenly Places” and “For Unsung Heroes.”

Next week I will tell you about the  album that followed and  which is the most special to me-  “Precious”  It comes with an amazing story of how it is never too late to become a follower of Jesus.

Ken is very sorry but he has been running the Crofton Summer Sports Week for nearly 100 children but the blog will return next week.

“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.