Song of the Week | Casting Crowns 'Courageous'

This is the first single to be taken from the new album by Casting Crowns. 'Come To The Well' is released in October this year and Courageous speaks about just how we should be in this world, His world. Get inspired, sing your heart out!

Moving Forward With God

Yesterday our friends moved house. From the place he first helped her move into 7 years ago, where they got engaged, married and brought not one but two children back from the hospital to. Great memories, but a new chapter of their lives has begun. Granted they are only a few minutes away from the old house, it got me thinking about how our lives do move on, our present becomes past and we head into our future.


God told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you." - Genesis 12:1 (The Message)

God told Abram at the start of Genesis 12 to leave everything he knew for a place that He would guide him to. That's a massive decision to make, to trust in the Lord to show you the way and trust that he will provide. Fair enough, these days we have masses of paperwork, surveys, immense pressure of bidding, packing and moving but often we do not think about the Lord guiding our way.

Our friends always had an open door policy in the old house, a brew would always be on and the cake tin at the ready. I am sure the policy moves on with them (I hope so anyway, the homemade cakes are amazing!) but it's more than that. This house is slightly bigger, with room for a big table in the kitchen where we can have our house group meetings. So even now, in the simplest ways, God does provide. I know God will bless their new home & I hope they make many happy memories there.

Trust God's plans that are guiding you into your future.

Upcoming Interview

Hey everyone.

Just thought I should let you know we've just secured another interview - yey!

This time with LifeGiver Band. Really excited!

Out.

Song of the Week | Sanctus Real 'The Redeemer'

I love this track!

GoldDigger Interview

Hello Mandy & Beth from GoldDigger. How are you doing? Where are you currently?

Hello! :) We're doing great thanks. Currently we're in different places actually. Mandy's in Sheffield spending a last few days in our current offices before we move into our new city centre base for our girls project and Beth is homeless for a little while while she waits for her new house in Sheffield to complete and
is getting married next month! So she's hopping between Manchester and Liverpool. Our band are mainly based in Manchester too so Friday we are all reunited in the same place for our gig at Harvest!

How’s 2011 going thus far?

Mandy: 2011 has been a great year. We always try to plan out our year but it rarely ends up looking anything like the plans that we draw up – and I guess we like it that way. You never know what opportunities will turn up and because our vision is so big there are so many opportunities that mean we can have some big adventures but never have to compromise on what we stand for. We've loved touring with the new album with our awesome live band, being busy in loads of Sheffield schools performing and teaching whole year groups and working with groups of girls on our girls course, presenting teaching material for all the girls
streams on Urban Saints new online discipleship initiative Mimic, visiting lots of new places and meeting new people and now planning for the next phase of our girls project here in Sheffield as we move into our new city centre base to expand our work and to dedicate more time to working with girls at risk of sexual
exploitation. We love the variety of the work we do and that we get to meet so many people and yet really spend time investing in a few really significant lives we can really make a difference in.

If people don’t know GoldDigger, how would you describe yourself?

Beth: Well Golddigger is part of the ministry of Golddigger Trust, which is a charity that Mandy and myself run. Golddigger Trust has been going for around 6 years now. We are a band who tour all over the place, aiming to speak into young people’s lives and problems through the music we write and perform, plus we’re a youth work charity who specialise in self esteem work with young people, and working with girls who are being sexually exploited- it’s quite diverse! Our sound is a mixture of rock and electro and we have a live band of 6 of us (4 of which are boys, but people still insist on calling us a girl band- not sure what that says about them!)

When did you give your life to God and what made your life turn in God’s direction?

Beth: I had the great privilege of growing up in a Christian family, and in a church family who were brilliant, and so I’ve known God my whole life, learning more about him as I got old enough to do so. When I was 11, I responded to a talk on a youth weekend away to definitely nail my colours to the mast, but I’ve been lucky enough to have never really not had a relationship with God. I was baptised when I was 14, another signpost on my journey, and hope I’m still growing and getting to know God better now too!!

Mandy: I made a conscious decision that I believed in God and in what the Bible teaches about who he is when I was about 13. I'd questioned things a lot and was a particularly deep thinker at that age. It was when I was about 16, after a few turbulent years that I decided to give my life to God and let him in properly. I think it was that I'd been scared of giving over control to anyone else but I remember an overwhelming feeling that God had my back and wasn't going to abuse that control over me. I guess that was an experience of his love for me.

You released your debut album 'If Destroyed Still True' in late 2010, how has the response been to it?

Mandy: We've had a really good response. Its always great to read good reviews but even better when fans tell you how much they like it. We always hope to write songs that connect with people in a very real way if they are going through a particular issue. Most of the songs are about relationships or the way we feel about who we are, sometimes how we struggle to make sense of who God but one song 'Hanging On' is about self harm. We heard very recently of someone who had been really struggling with this issue and had been totally amazed that this song seemed to understand completely how she felt. She stayed up the entire night memorising the lyrics and listens to it on repeat! If bits of what we write connect with people and become something to get them through a situation then that is the greatest response we could hope for. Its an amazing feeling to have helped someone so much just with something I sat on my bed writing away 2 years ago when it was just draft 1 of a song that we very nearly threw out and forgot about...and now is changed someone's life who we've never even met.

Where did the name of the album come from?

Mandy: Haha 'If Destroyed Still True' or IDST is that thing that gets scrawled on parks and desks in old skool graffetti...meaning that whatever its written next to stays true even if it gets scribbled out. We'd love to say it has a really deep clever meaning but it doesn't! The name Golddigger is all about digging through the rubbish of media pressure, nasty comments etc people have covering over who they are to find that real value they have and all the songs are written specifically with different meanings but the album name isn't so intentional. We did the photo shoot first in an old abandoned school and the name just seemed to work on a
tatty old school wall.

If you had to pick your favourite track from the album, which would you pick?

Beth: I Can’t Pretend

Mandy: Bad Habit

You've recently made a music video for your single The Princess Song, what's the story behind the song?

Beth: I wrote this song (in its first form) years and years ago after being around at my friend’s house and her little girl was dancing and asked me if she was a princess. I remembered how when we’re little, we have so many dreams for who we want to be, and who we’re going to spend the rest of our lives with, but then we get older and get told to settle on anyone who’ll do. So this song is a challenge to that really, to wait for your prince (or princess) charming, for someone who thinks you’re amazing and who fits you perfectly.

What made you decide upon the location you did for the video?

Mandy: A song called Princess Song just needs a castle really doesn't it? It would have been wrong to go anywhere else! Augill Castle were brilliant and let us use their beautiful rooms and amazing grounds and even kept the energy levels up with home made biscuits and tea!

What message do you want to give through your music?

Beth: For us, we want to write music that had a bit more truth in it than the stuff in the mainstream. We want to talk about relationships and life and the struggles you have in a way that has hope but is also honest, not like the fluffy stuff Rhianna and people churn out- hopefully we provide an alternative voice in all of that rubbish!

As well as GoldDigger Music, you do a lot of work with young people. Tell us about that.

Mandy: Right from the start of Golddigger we also wanted to work and focus our local work in Sheffield around a project with teenage girls. We wrote 'I'm the girl I want to be' an 8 week girls course which we take around youth groups and schools in South Yorkshire. We get to know the girls we work with really well over the course as we spend time looking at our self worth, how we are different, the media and the pressure on us to be and act a certain way, fashion, facebook, relationships, values and sex and dreams and goals we have for the future. We love this work – we just have a great time sitting round discussing these things and sharing stories from our own experiences while we also give the girls space to make up their own minds about how they want to deal with these pressures/ decisions in their own lives. We're excited to be expanding this work from September when we move into a city centre base. We'll be running more of our courses from our own room as well as opening drop in time for girls to come and talk and starting some detached work in the city centre. We are are also going to be spending more time working alongside the Sexual Exploitation Service with girls who are particularly 'at risk' or who have been abused. This horrific problem is huge in our city and we can't think of anything we need to be doing more urgently than working against this happening. As well as this work in Sheffield we also are starting to run the 'I'm the girl I want to be' course as a weekend residential for youth groups across the country so that groups outside of Sheffield can finally go on it! We do also work with boys when we deliver our PSHCE schools days to whole year groups at a time which are a mixture of roadshow style teaching mixed in with a gig and project tasks around the issues of media manipulation and media expectation. There's quite a lot going on!

Back to your roots, how did you first come to music?

Mandy: My dad. I was brought up in a house with an extensive record collection. He had his Vanilla Ice filed right next to his Van Morrison- he was into EVERYTHING. There was constantly music playing so I was surrounded. In long car journeys however, he refused to put any music on so me and my brother would make up songs and sing the whole time. I don't know how my parents didn't go insane- we used to travel a lot- but they tolerated it and are now still tolerating albums and music projects we are both doing. My brother is now a producer.

Beth: I too grew up around lots of music, although it mainly came from the church. My dad was a worship leader and everyone in my family did some kind of music- and my parents realised when I was really little that somehow this tiny little blonde girl had a big voice. I got involved in church worship stuff, singing songs for services and shows and it just grew from there really.

How do you write music, how does the process work?

Mandy: Ooh interesting...I think we tend to start with a vibe. Because we generally plan to gig with songs we think about how it would fit into a set and what kind of vibe we want to create with it and then we make that into a basic chord sequence. This bit normally happens between 3 of us, Beth, our producer Andy and myself...and then Beth or I will take it on from there. We never tend to write together. Beth can quite happily sit working out ideas in our busy office and try out lots of different things so I tend to know how hers are going and have an opinionated input into the process but I really hate writing in front of people. I have to either sit on my bed or go for a drive – something where I'm not going to get distracted and work out ideas – I don't start with words or melody either – they kind of have to arrive at the same time otherwise it feels too contrived. So quite often my verses vary and verse 1 scans a bit differently to verse 2... and that's because I really like the scanning and the phrasing to be genuine so it often is the first phrase that I've written down that I haven't wanted to alter just to fit neatly and I think the message can stand out more clearly when its written ike that. So then when the basic idea is formed and we have a chorus, the verses and whatever bridge sections we want we'll all get back together to do that very vulnerable thing where you have to sing your idea that you've been working hard on and see if the others like it! Then we iron out the structure and tweak any bits in the melody we might need to and decide the key so that we don't sound like men or like chipmunks and then we take it to gig with!

Who would you love to perform with, past or present?

Mandy: Goldfrapp in a really obscure costume.

Beth: I’d say Adele or someone, except they’d sing me out of the room! I’m from Liverpool originally so I’ve got to say the Beatles really!

What artists have you most loved sharing a stage with?

Beth: Mainly our band!! The boys from Band_C are brilliant, and entertain us greatly when they fall over on stage, or do backwards rolls whilst playing! We get the privilege of touring and working alongside loads of great bands- we probably most enjoy when we get to work with our good mates though, so gigging with
Philippa Hanna, Roo Walker, The now disbanded Myspoon, The Gentlemen etc is really good fun. There’s lots of cliques in the Christian music world so it’s always refreshing to be with people who are genuine mates who are really for you.

What are you currently listening to on your mp3 player?

Beth: Natasha Beddingfield’s new American release.

Mandy: Mike Snow

Best live performance you’ve played?

Beth: We’ve done a few great gigs this year alone, stand out ones would be headlining York Minster for a big youth event- that’s an impressive building! And we played our home town of Sheffield at the o2 Academy a few months ago after we did a load of schools work and that was great to see a home crowd of over 700 young people there!

What do you miss the most when you’re on the road touring?

Mandy: I miss my family... my 2 gorgeous children especially :( but we're never on the road for too many days at a time so I get to rush home and still get to make the pack lunches and do the school run in the mornings even after a late one on the road!

Beth: I’m quite lucky really as my soon to be husband is also the drummer in the Golddigger band, so I get to take him on the road with us. I most miss leg room I think :)

How has the Christian music scene changed since you've been part of it?

Beth: The Christian music scene is so difficult to define, and it’s a bit of a weird term anyway- is Christian music songs about God, or songs by people who are Christians, or songs written by Christians… or is it just people who play at Spring Harvest?! I think the scene that we’re in has changed recently with some bands finishing over the last few years, and newer bands coming onto the circuit, which is always great. I find the whole “Christian music scene” thing so confusing as there’s some bands who are at the “front” of the scene who’s songs really don’t have any content, yet there’s others who are very much more in the mainstream venues scene who have a lot more integrity and meaning in their music, but they’re not seen as CCM because they don’t do a gospel preach at the end of their set. I hope the scene will continue changing to value quality and content over hype, but we’ll see if we get there! :)

If GoldDigger was a Jelly Bean, what colour and flavour would you be and why?

Mandy: Well we'd have to be a bit like a half and half pizza – I'd be popcorn. Why? Well I like popcorn...and its exciting to make at home and if I were to go out to buy a new dress it would be that colour too. Everyone has a default item in their wardrobe they accidentally always buy too many of...lots of people have too many blue t shirts – I have too many cream dresses.

Beth: errm, raspberry? Not everyone’s automatic default flavour (strawberry of course) but actually, much nicer and has a lot more depth!

Some quick fire questions:

Tea or coffee?

Mandy: Both?...tea?

Beth: Definitely tea!

Summer or winter?

Mandy: Both... sorry... thats too hard – I love really christmassy cosy winters and I love summer parties and birthdays- really can't choose!

Beth: Summer, in Sheffield there’s too much snow in winter- last year I got stranded at Mandy’s house for 3 days and couldn’t get home!

Superman or Batman?

Beth: BATMAN!

Mandy: Love Batman

Mac or PC?

Both: Mac

Bread or Wine?

Mandy: Errr? Bread??

Beth: Is that a deep theological one or just for dinner… bread with butter, (but not for communion!)

Favourite passage from the Bible?

Mandy: James 3

Beth: 2 Chronicles 7 v14

What’s coming up in 2011 and next on the agenda for GoldDigger?

Mandy: The big move into our city base and a real focus on our girls ministry – we are so excited!

And finally, how would you describe the love of God for all those people who are unsure of their direction and of course those already on their journey with Christ?

Mandy: For anyone unsure of anything I think they need to know that God gets them – completely...and that he has the power of hindsight that we don't have in the situations we are in so sometimes we just have to stick close and listen carefully.

Beth: I think the amazing thing about God is that he knows us completely yet still wants us- there’s something so freeing about acceptance for who we truly are, and not only does he want to know us, he’s also the creator of the whole universe, that makes us pretty loved!

Thanks ladies, have a blessed day!

Song of the Week | MercyMe 'Only You Remain'

This song is amazing, plain & simple. We've had the album on in the car a lot recently and it's one of those tracks you can't help to get engulfed by. Sing along, let those goose-pimples take over your body & Praise Him!

After the riots...

Hello to you all, wherever you are in the world. Maybe you've seen the news this past week of the riots here in the UK? People have been setting fires on property, breaking and entering, looting, causing chaos and destruction to our city streets. They have different reason, some believe they are right to be doing this because of their economic situation, the government, society status, some are just after some free mobile phones & trainers, perhaps a new television set.

Other people, innocent victims have lost homes, possessions & even their lives this week because of this madness. In one case, 3 men were ran over by a one of the looters whilst protecting their mosque. They were Muslim men who died, standing up for their faith. The father of one of the lost stood up the next day, opposed the madness and declared his faith openly. It got me thinking, do we as Christians do this? Would we do this?

Would we have the bravery, the faith if you will to stand up in front of the entire country, news cameras & all and declare our love of God? This man's faith is super-strong, he wasn't angry, upset yes, but not angry. Do you have the faith you should in God? Do you give Him your life every day and let Him guide you, without any worries? Be strong, be that person who wouldn't be afraid, be it for Him.

New Wine 2011

We've got a guest writer for you, a chap who goes to the same church as me & helps lead the youth work. Dave Mason visited New Wine this year...

Well what an experience. I'd never been to any New Wine summer conferences before, so I didn't know what to expect at all. I first applied to be on the Club One team (11-13s) as I lead that sort of age group at the church youth group, however it's very popular and sadly I didn't get on the team. Still there were loads of places on the Stewarding team and I was invited to serve as a Welcome Steward at the Meeting Place. 

The Meeting Place is the main venue at New Wine and working there was one of the most exciting experiences of my life. Simon Guillebaud from All Nations, a mission training college, gave talks every morning that were massively challenging and inspiring. In the evenings there were talks from a variety of different speakers: Nadine Parkinson, Tanya Bright-Cook, Steve Chalke, Jonathan Oloyede, Mike Pilavachi, Gavin Calver and Anthony Delaney. 

For me personally the most touching and relevant talk was from Jonathan. He really challenged the delegates to lead a better prayer life and put Christ first and that really hit home for me as quite often I don't really do either of those things. He suggested we make an effort to set out a particular time each day to pray. He also asked if we could all set an alarm on our mobiles for 12pm each day to remind us to pray the Lord's Prayer each day. I've stuck to that and it's really helped to me to spend more time with him.

Aside from the fantastic speakers it was time for real refreshment, prayer and healing. I don't think I've ever received so much prayer in such a short time! I came from Newark feeling very refreshed and some of the healings that took place there were truly amazing. Just from what I gathered at the Meeting Place alone, a deaf man was healed and two ladies who were restricted to wheelchairs before the event were up on their feet walking with no pain or other problems. That was just from what I had seen and heard in the Meeting Place. I'm more than certain there were further healings in that venue and elsewhere. 

I don't think I've ever been to an event that was so spirit-filled and spirit-driven. Hundreds of people committed or recommitted their lives to Christ and I can't see why you wouldn't when it was so obvious at that event that Jesus is very much alive and working in peoples' lives. I'd recommend being a Welcome Steward or at least on team to anyone. Being able to serve Christ and His people and seeing the Holy Spirit working in their lives: there's nothing like it!


Dave Mason

Song of the Week | Tenth Avenue North 'Healing Begins'

A line from this song gives Tenth Avenue North's latest album it's title. We've had a track from 'The Light Meets The Dark' previously as song of the week and this track is just as fantastic. This recommendation is from my gorgeous wife. Thanks darling!

Living Oasis

It's sad to see a Christian presence, the only real Christian presence on our High Streets enter liquidation.

Living Oasis needs your prayer, the support of your church and ultimately, you to shop there.

In the last four months Living Oasis has shrank from 19 stores, to only 2, with Watford & Harrogate the only ones still trading. I was lucky enough to visit the Harrogate branch today, and with a fantastic sale (I wonder if there would be such a sale if the situation was different) it is difficult to see why the chain has depleted.

Please, have this company, it;s employees & it's mission in your prayers. They are literally selling everything they can as they cannot bring any more stock into the business. Visit the shops today, we bought so much for (really) so little. Without wanting to steal another shop's tagline, every little helps. Evidently there is someone interested in purchasing the chain, let's hope it works out & this fantastic presence can remain on the high streets of the UK!

God's priority

It's really not about us, how we live and our lives, it's about how Christ lives in us.

Check out Luke 10:21 for more.

Song of the Week - Natalie Grant 'Your Great Name'

You may have seen that life is getting in the way of this Blog sometimes. Posting Monday's song of the week on a Thursday isn't the best practise but sometimes life does get in the way. We must bring it back to Him though, bring it back to God.