Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled featuring Ben Morris from the album Risen!The Musical “Original Cast Recording” recorded and produced by Joffy Girling

Last week I was on holiday in Wales and took with me a book written by Bob Gass entitled “Do Not Be Afraid. “ In addition to “Every Day With Jesus” I also read “Word For Today” which Bob writes for United Christian Broadcasters (UCB). Both of these daily devotions have inspired lyrics for many Mustard Seed songs.
As I was reading “Do Not Be Afraid” I thought I would find out a bit more about Bob and was astounded and very saddened to discover that he had died only 2 days earlier on June 5th aged 75.
Here is a little of his amazing life:
Bob was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father died when he was 12 and his mother was left to rear him as well as his brother, Neil, and sister, Ruth, on a government pension. His mother was a formative influence on his life, encouraging him to attend church as often as possible. ‘She came into the Kingdom at a hundred miles an hour,’ Bob says, ‘and never slowed down.’
By the time Bob was 12, his heroes were not movie stars or sports celebrities but men and women of God. At this time, he gave his life to Christ. He preached his first sermon at 13, writing it out in a school exercise book. As he began, so he continued writing out each reading for Word for Today longhand in a yellow legal pad.
He was fortunate as a teenager to have Gordon Magee as his mentor. When he moved from Ireland to the United States, Magee offered to pay for Bob’s passage to America. A few weeks before his 18th birthday, Bob arrived in Houston with two sermons in a briefcase and 25 cents in his pocket. Magee asked his friends across the US to give Bob opportunities to preach. For many years he gave Bob constructive criticism of his sermons.
Bob’s first church was in the Bay of Fundy, Back Bay, New Brunswick, Canada. He pastored there for two years and then moved to Bangor, Maine to take over a church from a retiring pastor. Upon his arrival, there were approximately 300 families in the church. After twelve years the church had grown to over twelve hundred families
In 1994, Bob wrote the first edition of Word For Today. At that time, God connected him with United Christian Broadcasters, who were trying to launch Christian TV and radio in the U.K. Bob partnered with them, and today they publish more than 450,000 copies of the devotional each quarter in the U.K., and an additional six million copies per quarter in other countries.
Bob was married to his wife, Debby, for more than 20 years and she helped with the writing of Word for Today.
In addition to his passion for his family and his calling to share God’s Word, Bob and Debby shared a deep passion for the orphans of Romania. They first went to Romania in 1991, and in the last 28 years they built a transition home called The Village of Hope, and have rescued over 5,000 children from the streets, the sex-trade, and orphanages and placed them into foster families.
Bob himself, actually planned for his passing several years ago with a long writing project, which means the devotional will continue long after he passed away.

Bob’s vision for Word For Today was to ‘whet your appetite so much that you’ll say, “Wow! I didn’t know that was in the Bible! Maybe I’d better go and read it for myself.”‘
All at Mustard Seed Songs send their deepest sympathy to all Bob’s family and friends. He was truly inspirational and will be very much missed.
Quote of the week
Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the mastery of it”
Bob Gass.

Tudor Davies receiving a BAFTA for Sound Engineering on “Later Live with Jools Holland”

Don’t Lose Sight Of My Shore featuring Louise and Cole recorded and produced by John Hodgkinson

So what is the connection between Mustard Seed Songs and Tudor Davies I hear you ask.

Well Tudor was very much the start of it all. Here is an extract from my blog of over five years ago.

One day I went for a meal at the home of Mrs Jan Davies and her husband Barry.  Jan was the first PE teacher at Crofton, having started a year earlier than me when the school was housed in the temporary accommodation at Crofton Hammond.  Jan had twin boys Tudor and Alun.  Tudor was really into music (he now works for the BBC Sound Department) and had a keyboard in his bedroom.  I left the adults downstairs drinking coffee (which is a pet hate of mine) and went to chat to Tudor.  He played me some stuff on his keyboard and I hesitantly asked if he could play something if I sang it to him (apologising profusely about my voice of course) I sang him a new song I had made up “Don’t Lose Sight of My Shore”  Again not the happiest of lyrics – “When you start your journey tonight , have to leave my arms once more, please don’t forget all that’s been said don’t lose sight of my shore. Stay in touch with my touch, let my emotions still soar, keep my hand within reach, don’t lose sight of my shore”

To hear him play the melody back, which up to then I had only heard in my head, was utterly amazing.  He then played “If Love Had Never Died” and some of the other songs I had made up. I went home buzzing.

Next day I went to see my mate John Hodgkinson (Mr Hodge) who was Crofton’s Head of Science and also a brilliant musician, in fact he played in a band with Tudor – “Trilogy.” When I told John what had happened the night before he said “ I can do that. My nickname is Xerox–  I can copy anything. “  Sing me your song.” “No way”   I said whilst secretly hoping he would persist- which he did. So that break -time I sang to John “Don’t Lose Sight of my Shore” which continued“  For we made magic held each other spellbound but our love was no illusion just the truth that we both found”

John was quiet when I had finished and then said “ We had better record that- come over to my place – I have a recording studio”  And that’s what happened.  We then got a girl in my tutor group- Louise to record  a somewhat better version than my effort and later we decided that it worked better as a duet so we added the voice of a guy called Cole who was lead singer in another band that Tudor played in -“Yellow Cab”

And  then we sent it off to record companies and believe it or not  we got a  phone call from a record company that had produced a big hit – “I Love Rock and Roll” by Joan  Jett and the Blackhearts. They said they wanted to use “Don’t lose sight of my Shore” for their Eurovision Song Contest Entry – Fame at last? – Well actually no but it was the start (not of fame but of writing songs!)

Quote

Opportunity is a visitor; don’t assume it will be back tomorrow

Word for Today

The disciples are at first blinded by the light as Jesus ascends to heaven ( from Risen! The Musical)

Ascension Medley from Risen!The Musical featuring the Original Cast recorded and produced by Joffy Girling

(Sorry this was given to me to put online yesterday but clean forgot but kept the tenses and dates the same as if done yesterday due to it being Ascension Day – Webmaster PJ)

So today is Ascension Day which marks the 40th day of Easter and in another ten days there is the Day of Pentecost when the disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit.
As the name indicates, Ascension Day describes the day of Jesus’s ascension into heaven 40 days after his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
After rising from the dead, Christ spent his final few weeks on Earth passing on his teachings to his disciples. He then led them up to the Mount of Olive in Jerusalem, where he said the time had come for him to be returned to God.
Acts: 1:
“Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Christ’s Ascension empowers the following words , which I personally find so encouraging:
John 14: 1-3 (New International Version- 1984)
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Quote for the week
You can’t control the direction of the wind but by God’s grace you can adjust your sails to take you where you need to go.
Word for Today

“Walking With Jesus” featuring The Mustard Seed Soul Band from the album “Heart and Soul” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

So Genna, our lovely Labrador is now 9 months old. Until about two weeks ago she was pretty well trained as you may have seen from the video I shared in the blog of April 12th. However when we were walking and she was off the lead trying to get her to come back (recall) when she wanted to play with other dogs was a nightmare—– and then she discovered that chasing after a ball was even more fun than chasing after other dogs (plus she was less likely to get bitten or told off my me!) So now as long as I have a ball in my pocket she is never far from my side- hardly interested in other dogs at all. I have to say it is great to watch her enjoy her walks, sniffing here and there and every so often looking back to check on me- it’s great for her and it’s great for me – a real bonding thing. I am not trying to make a far -fetched analogy but I did have this in mind when I chose today’s featured song “Walking with Jesus.”
Anyway as I have been out with Genna I have been amazed how the coordination of her four feet changes as she goes from walk to trot to canter to sprint ( I hope you click on today’s pic to see the different gaits of all quadrupeds.) Watching her again reminded me of the fact that there is no way that this beautiful animal could have been created by accident – she was obviously designed – by the Intelligent Designer who we could call God – and then I realised I had already posted a blog on this thought on December 13th 2018 and would be repeating myself. But then I thought “so what, it is important” so this next part is simply a repeat of what I believe to be true.
Anyway if there is a Designer who we could call God – it would be pretty amazing if we were able to get to know Him – even more amazing if He wanted to get to know us. But how could He do that? Would He not have to leave where He abides (let’s call it heaven) and come to earth? Now wouldn’t that be amazing – God coming to live with us – God with us – Emmanuel – yes that would be truly amazing! That would warrant a really big celebration and we could call it ….. Christmas!!
Quote of the week
I am never down- I am either up or I’m getting up
The Word for Today

Map of Nigeria

Love is the Way  featuring Lucy Stimpson-Maynard from the album Love is the Way recorded and produced by Bob Ross

Nigeria is a country close to my heart as Mustard Seed Songs have been fund raising to construct a church – the Risen Christ Central Chapel in Cross River Stage, Southern Nigeria.

In Cross River State Christians are relatively safe but not so further north where Christians can be brutally attacked by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram which is said to be fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. In addition, according to the 2018 Global Terrorism Index, 1,700 violent deaths have been attributed to Fulani herdsmen in attacks carried out between January and September 2018.

So it is in this horrific context that I was overjoyed to read this story in “Barnabas Aid” which is a publication for Barnabas Fund; a charity which supports the persecuted church.

When Boko Haran militants attached a group of 500 Nigerian Christians converts from Islam 76 Christians were captured. Four male leaders amongst the 76 were asked to return to Islam or be shot. They refused and were killed. Then their four widows were asked to return to Islam or their children would be executed. While the women were agonising, their children ran in saying that Jesus had appeared and told them all would be well. Then Jesus appeared to the whole group of 72 telling them not to fear, not to renounce Him and He would protect them. The following day the militants lined up the children and when their mothers refused to deny Christ took aim. But before any child was shot the gunmen started grabbing at their own heads screaming “Snakes!” and fleeing from the scene. Some dropped dead. A Christian man picked up the gun of a dead militant but a little girl stopped him from using the weapon saying “You don’t need to do that. Can’t you see the men in white fighting for us?” Praise God for this miraculous intervention and pray that the surviving militants will turn to Christ.

Quote of the week

Go with what you have got

Steve Dimon

Paul Clements singing Peter

James Townend singing John

“Peace Be With You”- “Put Your Finger Here”- “You Are My Lord” featuring

the Original Cast from Risen! The Musical recorded and produced by Joffy James

So yesterday Joffy and I  spent the day recording the final two vocal pieces for the sequel to Risen! The Musical – Acts The Musical – Part One “Fire.” Peter was performed by Paul Clements who sang the part of Judas in the Original Cast recording of Risen!  Paul also runs Visionworks who are holding auditions on Wednesday May 15th for their next production which is “The Lion The Witch and the Wardroom.” If you are interested in auditioning then please contact info@visionworksproductions.co.uk

The part of John was performed by James Townend who sang the part of Thomas in the Original Cast recording of Risen!  When I see James and hear his amazing voice I am always reminded of the story of how he got to play the role of Thomas. Below is an extract from the blog post of 2014

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-Maynard when James Townend came on and sang “Walking in Memphis.” It was fantastic and at the end Lucy and I 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 two people that were to work for Tearfund I thought it would be a great idea if James sang – especially as one of the people we were  supporting was  James’ sister Clare.   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 I 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. he just had to have the part!  

So for James to now be able to sing the role of John for our new musical is simply brilliant!

Quote of the week

When we focus on what we believe we divide when we focus on WHO we believe we unite

Anonymous

I Know Its Not Yet The Start Of The Day featuring The Original Cast from Risen! The Musical recorded and produced by Joffy Girling

The first production of Risen! took place at Holy Rood Church, Stubbington on Easter Sunday 2012. There were further Risen! performances at Holy Rood on the Easter Sundays of 2013 and 2014. Then in March 2015 the Risen!  CD, featuring the Original Cast, was released and in May of the same year the first professional stage production featuring the London Touring Cast took place in Coventry. This was followed by another London Touring Cast production in November at the recently re opened New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth.  In April 2016, again at the New Theatre Royal and again featuring the London Touring Cast Risen! The Musical was filmed by Global Fire Creative. Since then Risen! has been viewed countless times on You Tube and in broadcasts from Revelation TV in the UK and from Alfa- Omega TV and Credo TV in Romania.

It is truly wonderful to know that many, many people have been blessed by Risen! I was overjoyed when I received a letter this week from a lady living in Central France who wrote:

First of all I want to congratulate you on a truly inspiring programme I watched over Easter on Revelation TV.

It was so fantastic to see the Gospel delivered in such a way that didn’t stop at Christ’s death, with fantastic singers and a really simplistic but powerful set. My daughter missed the presentation but watched it on YouTube last night, phoning me at the end in tears, as both my husband and I were after the broadcast.

Quote of the week

The world bases importance on the number of people serving you but God is much more interested in the number of people you are serving

The Word For Today

The Name That’s On My Lips featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Where Would I Be Without You? ” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

On January 28th 2018 Risen! The Musical had the following views on You Tube:

English – 393

Mandarin subtitles- 130

Spanish subtitles – 90

Romanian subtitles – 93

Which is a total of 706 views

Today those figures are;

English- 668

Mandarin subtitles – 187

Spanish subtitles – 117

Romanian subtitles- 145

English with English subtitles (only recently added) – 43

Which is a total of 1162 views – an increase since January of 65%!

So many thanks to all those who have viewed and who have shared. It would be great if you could continue to do so – all versions can be accessed via www.risenthemusical.com

Quote of the week

You can be rich in two ways – in the abundance of your possessions or the fewness of your wants

Every Day With Jesus

“Against Jesus- One Day A Crown” featuring the Original Cast recorded and produced by Joffy Girling

First I just wanted to say thank you to Revelation TV who continue to broadcast Risen! The Musical. The next showing is on Saturday April 20th at 2.00 pm.   Risen! is also available with subtitles in English, Mandarin, Spanish and  Romanian – just visit www.risenthemusical.com

Today is Maundy Thursday but why Maundy?  Wikipedia says:

Maundy is the name of the Christian rite of footwashing, which traditionally occurs during Maundy Thursday church services. Most scholars agree that the English word maundy  is derived through Middle English and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum (also the origin of the English word “mandate”), the first word of the phrase “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (“A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”) This statement by Jesus is from the Gospel of John 13:34 by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.

Others theorize that the English name “Maundy Thursday” arose from “maundsor baskets” or “maundy purses” of alms which the King of England distributed to certain poor at Whitehall before attending Mass on that day. Thus, “maund” is connected to the Latin mendicare, and French mendier, to beg. A source from the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod likewise states that, if the name was derived from the Latin mandatum, we would call the day Mandy Thursday, or Mandate Thursday, or even Mandatum Thursday; and that the term “Maundy” comes in fact from the Latin mendicare, Old French mendier, and English maund, which as a verb means to beg and as a noun refers to a small basket held out by maunders as they maunded.

And why is Easter not a fixed date as is Christmas? The explanation below comes from The Economist

Unlike other Christian holidays, Easter can move around a lot from one year to the next, its date sometimes varying by more than a month. It falls between March 22nd and April 25th for the Western church, and between April 4th and May 8th for the Eastern church. Why does Easter move around so much?

According to the Bible, Jesus held the Last Supper with his disciples on the night of the Jewish festival of Passover, died the next day (Good Friday) and rose again on the third day (the following Sunday). The beginning of Passover is determined by the first full moon after the vernal equinox, which can occur on any day of the week. To ensure that Easter occurs on a Sunday, the Council of Nicaea therefore ruled in 325AD that Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. But there’s a twist: if the full moon falls on a Sunday, then Passover begins on a Sunday, so Easter is then delayed by a week to ensure that it still occurs after Passover. To confuse matters further, the council fixed the date of the vernal equinox at March 21st, the date on which it occurred in 325AD (though it now occurs on March 20th), and introduced a set of tables to define when the full moon occurs that do not quite align with the actual astronomical full moon (which means that, in practice, Easter can actually occur before Passover).

The earliest possible date for Easter occurs when the notional full moon falls on March 21st itself, in a year in which March 21st falls on a Saturday. Easter is then celebrated on Sunday March 22nd, a rare event that last happened in 1818 and will next take place in 2285. The latest possible date for Easter occurs when there is a full moon on March 20th, so that the first full moon after March 21st falls a lunar month or 29 days later, on April 18th. If April 18th falls on a Sunday, then the special Sunday rule applies, and Easter is celebrated the following Sunday, or April 25th. This last happened in 1943, and will next happen in 2038. There is therefore a 35-day window in which Easter can fall, depending on the timing of the full moon relative to March 21st.

Eastern Christianity applies the same basic rule but uses the older Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, giving a different range of possible dates.

Quote of the week

Difficulties cause us to grow just as trees expand their roots during a storm

Release Internationalz

Bathe Me In Your Light featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album I Look Up To The Heavens recorded and produced by John Hodgkinson

Our gorgeous Labrador “Genna” is now 8 months old. My gorgeous wife Caroline had today’s featured video of Genna recorded in order to show her brother and sister in law, who now have a lovely 3 month old Lab called Bella.

Genna loves “training” with Caroline and it really is wonderful to see the increased bond between the two that comes from them spending time together.  The “training” is of course in no way a means by which Caroline tries to master or dominate Genna – letting her know whose Boss. No, Caroline knows that a lot of the commands she teaches Genna such as “wait” and “leave” will potentially keep Genna free from harm.  Genna may not realise that something she thinks will taste nice could in fact be poisonous or that a nasty car could hit her if she does not wait but rushes at something of interest on the other side of the road. Furthermore Genna loves being stimulated by learning new things and she loves pleasing Caroline. In turn Caroline loves spending time with Genna, seeing her become more obedient and more capable and as a result of the increased bonding their love for each other grows.

As I watched the two of them so obviously enjoying the “training” and the subsequent bonding I could not help but think that here was a bit of an analogy with God and our relationship with Him. Now of course I do not want to be in any way blasphemous and make comparisons which are in appropriate, however God does teach, guide and lead us to follow His commands and His ways – we are dependent on Him for everything – He does discipline us for our own good- He does know what is best for us – does tell us when to wait, when to come and when to leave. By responding to His voice we draw closer to Him, we bond with Him more and our  love for Him grows and grows..

Sometimes the simplest things in creation can teach us so much.

Quote of the week:

Jesus had to be man in order to die but God in order to save.

The Word for Today