Who says you can’t go home?

A few weeks ago I returned to my hometown of Winnipeg to play some music for folks. It was wonderful to be back and see old friends, and also meet some new ones. So, first off, a quick thanks is in order to everyone really – it meant so much to me be received the way I was. The welcome felt great!

From media appearances at CHVN and Trinity TV, to performances at the Bridge Alliance church, Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School, Calvary Temple and the Meeting Place, and an in-store appearance at the Light Christian Bookstore, it was a whirlwind trip really but it was great to meet new friends and catch up with others. Y’all know who you are!

What kept coming to mind was how much I miss the big sky. I sure love where I live now, in Vernon BC in the Okanagan Valley. But there is nothing – really nothing, like that big, never-ending prairie sky. I love the prairies. I miss the prairies. And what I miss even more than the prairie skies are the people – and that’s what coming home reminded me of.

You see, where I live now is also a beautiful place. But what has made it my new home is the people… New friends and community that I have come to love and serve, and who have come around my family and I. And people are also why I can still say ‘I’m going home’, when I’m traveling back to Winnipeg for whatever reason. Warning – shameless plug coming here… And people are why I’m excited to come back to Winnipeg on September 11 to my favorite venue in Canada – the Walker theatre (aka the Burt) for a worship concert and CD release of LIGHT UP THE SKY… come on out people!

I’ll forever be grateful to you Winnipeg, and Southern Manitoba of course. Family, friends, supporters of my ministry – you have shaped and formed me, my music and my ministry. See you again soon!

Story Behind the Song - MEET ME IN THE RIVER

Meet Me in the River came about over morning coffee and a songwriting session with my friend Larry Campbell after about a year of having the hook 'Meet me in the river and I'll wash your sins away' percolating in my mind. To be honest that hook was driving me a bit crazy - knowing that there was a song to be borne somehow, someday, and it would just repeat over and over and over...

So, almost just to get the hook out of my mind, I invited Larry over and said, hey let's try and write this song - so I can move on. Ha! My idea was to have 3 verses, each with an individual inviting people to come to the river to be baptized. Verse one, a pastor. Verse two, John the baptist. Verse three, Jesus. Some songs come with painstaking crafting and re-crafting of lyrics and melodies, chords and progressions. Not so with Meet Me. 2 pots of coffee, loads of laughs and even a few extra verses that never made it to 'press'. We finished the song in about 2 hours. It was a total gift from our Creator - allowing us to be creative writing a song.

Since then, the song has taken on a life of it's own. I recently heard that it is a regular part of the repertoire at a camp in California that I have never been to. How it got there, I don't know - but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to write it with Larry and take it from our hearts and minds and offer it to people. Hopefully to join with other songs and bring some more joy and truth into the world.

And that's the long story short!

I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN - Part 2

For part 2, I promised to write about 'a leadership opportunity that would change us even more'. This may be hard to articulate but I'm going to try. You could say in many ways that Turkey is the birthplace of Christianity. The seven churches of Revelation are seven major churches of Early Christianity as mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation. They are all in modern day Turkey. I won't give you a history lesson here, but do some quick web searches on the history of Turkey and you can understand why the strong Christian presence that was once there is no longer. My team and I had the privilege of being invited to lead worship for a Christian conference held in Turkey, where hundreds of pastors and leaders would converge to meet, be inspired and then disperse to various parts of the rest of the world for their work and calling. And so with a couple days to adjust to the time change and get perspective on this wonderful country, we set our minds and hearts to the job at hand for our first week there - leading worship for those people who have already given up their lives to serve God.

It's challenging to describe what it's like to lead music for that many people, in a now decidedly Muslim country, but in the birthplace of the Christian church - who have already truly committed their lives in service of their faith. You could say that standing out for your faith in this part of the world is not without its' risks. Even more-so obviously for someone from Turkey who might be called a convert. Interestingly, however, on our fourth day of the conference we were honored with 2 dignitary visits. Those were the Canadian Ambassador to Turkey, and the Assistant to the Minister of Culture and Tourism in Turkey (hopefully I am accurate on those titles). At the conference we took a generous offering for earthquake victims in Turkey and gave that to the Turkish dignitary. Of course he was thankful, and he welcomed our conference to return again someday. But I risk losing my point! What a tremendous experience, knowing that God dwells in the praises of His people, and therefore knowing that He was there with us in power and presence as we sang. And doing that 'where it all began' you could say...breath-taking really.

It was tremendous to see the development of my own team and how they rose to the challenge of the task set before them, whether on the ground in Turkey or in a support role back in Canada. Part of what I do at my church VAC and Hear the Music is the develop, train and disciple - and I saw that work bearing fruit which was very rewarding for me. About a years worth of preparation went into planning this conference, so to participate in it all coming off, really without a hitch - was a great faith builder and testimony to God's greatness and presence removed 'in the fore-planning'.

I'm not a fan of the word 'awesome' because I feel it's overused, and has lost its' meaning. But it's really the only word I have to describe this whole week of music in Turkey. Awesome because of the experiences I've described above. Awesome because of the incredible production team we got to work with. Both the Turkish and Canadian crews were really the shining stars! Awesome because of new and lasting friendships formed. Awesome because of the leaders I worked with, met and the leadership opportunity it gave take out 'me'. And that's a whole other story. The personal and spiritual growth experience I was given, I am so grateful for.

And so to all of my new friends, and the supporters and pray-ers who made this happen, I thank you. You have blessed me and changed me - and my whole team. Some great song lyrics come to mind now...

There are higher heights, there are deeper seas
Whatever You need to do, Lord do in me
The Glory of God fills my life
And I will never be the same again

(I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME - Geoff Bullock)

I get a bit scared praying or singing 'whatever You need to do, Lord'...I generally add 'in Your mercy' to that! But I am confident of this, that 'He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus' (Philippians 1:6). And God is Good...again He was, and is the one who brings change in us - from glory to glory...never to be the same again.

I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN - Part 1

It's been almost 3 weeks since I returned from my trip to Turkey. My band stayed a little bit longer to tour the country with a recording artist from Turkey, of the band Storybox. They flew home just over a week ago. Tomorrow night we'll be getting together for a de-brief of the whole adventure and I am eagerly anticipating hearing the stories of what I missed, as well as processing through what God did in us and through us while we were all together.

What's so important to me and the whole team is to say THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for us and supported us. You need to know that in supporting us you were directly involved in real Kingdom activity and that lives and hearts were changed, and will be changed as God's work continues through the seeds that were planted. We are looking forward to HEAR THE MUSIC NIGHT on May 2 at Vernon Alliance church, where we will be able to publicly thank you and tell more of our stories from this incredible trip. I expect there will be a few blogs from me in the near future related to Turkey - which is why I've titled this first one 'Part 1'.

On week 1, we arrived in Turkey, overnighted in Istanbul and caught another flight to Antalya early the next morning. Now a popular tourist destination, ancient Antalya was probably founded around 150 BC and was originally known as Attalia. It was visited by Paul of Tarsus, as recorded in ACTS: "From Perga, Paul and Barnabas went down to Attalia and sailed from there to Antioch after preaching in Pisidia and Pamphylia" (Acts 14:25-26). Our first 2 days in Antalya we spent adjusting to jet-lag and trying to take in some of the history and sights before our conference started. This involved visiting the ancient ruins of Perge, historically known as Perga. This was significant since Perga was founded probably in 1000 BC and the Roman ruins that we saw there probably date back to about 188 BC.

Here is where my faith and my reality came crashing together in a life-changing way. At the ruins we walked the same Roman roads that St. Paul would have walked. We very likely stood where he would have preached his Message to the city inhabitants. I looked around at the hills and mountains, the same landscape that he would have seen as he arrived in the city, and I even had modern day merchants trying to sell their wares to me in the exact area where the traveling merchants would have set up shop 2000 years ago! All of a sudden - I could place myself in the Story. The Story of Faith. The story of the very beginnings of Christianity. There was no magical transcendent moment, but as I look back I can see in myself a true deepening of my faith. This was much more than a sight seeing trip to a very old city. It was a significant moment in my faith journey and I know I won't be the same again.

Before writing this blog, I read 2 Corinthians 4. ^18"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal". I feel like my experience of seeing these ruins enabled me in a new way to fix my eyes on what is unseen. Faith. And I was somehow more 'sure of what I hope for, and more certain of what I do not see'. (Hebrews 11:1). The next day we were back at our hotel doing sound checks and preparing to lead worship for almost 1000 leaders and international workers and I was a different person than I was the day before. God was preparing me for a leadership opportunity that would change all of us even more. That will be 'Part 2'.

Story Behind the Song - BROKEN BEAUTY

Time for another song story. This one, BROKEN BEAUTY came about under similar circumstances as did KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, which I wrote about in my last blog. At that same songwriting retreat up in the mountains of Whistler BC, we were hearing all about Trinitarian theology. I have a wonderful friend who has this idea (a good one I think) that since music can be so influential in people's lives, the music we write needs to be thoughtfully and carefully formed, and our lyrics need to be True, not just great poetry! In fact, much of the theology (study of God) that we learn and hear in church or wherever, comes in the form of songs.

So anyway, I had been listening to some great Christian thinkers and writers talk about the Trinity, and in particular the Incarnation. The word incarnate derives from the latin and means 'in the flesh'. So, the incarnation is 'God in flesh' - Jesus. I heard more teaching about Christian art at that retreat from David Goa, an expert in Christian historical art and someone who was instrumental in compiling a book of art called 'A Broken Beauty', and an art exhibition of the same title. That title was compelling to me, and as I was playing my guitar later that evening I wrote the line 'sometimes beauty is in the breaking, and healing comes in the taking on the wounds of Christ'. At that moment I wasn't really thinking 'hey I've got something here'! But I did say to myself, I think I should keep following this inspiration. The next line followed easily 'as joy can follow crying, living will follow dying, when we die in Christ'. I can't remember exactly what happened next, but somehow I ended up sitting down with Bob Bennett and off we went in co-writing the song.

The best word for Bob when it comes to songwriting, both in music and lyrics is 'brilliant'. These were some lines he contributed 'it goes against the way we think that it should be, that imperfection seems to suit us perfectly, His sacred fingerprints, upon our broken beauty'. There were many lines we wrote that we didn't keep, but the direction that we were both pushing was for the contrasts in life that are considered beautiful - joy that follows crying, living that follows dying (as a symbol, as in nature, as in eternal life...), finding completeness out of emptiness, the breaking of the glass at a Jewish wedding...I actually remember Bob saying 'hey what about when you're walking in the dark you laugh nervously?' What if we said 'As I hide from You in mourning, and face the dark with nervous laughter, somehow the moments that are miracles I never know them until after'? And I was like 'ok now I know you really are good at this.

That's really the truth of it. The Incarnation is a miracle of God. God with skin on, limiting Himself to human form, so that He could be broken for us. He entered our reality so that we could enter His. And that leads to perhaps the most important line of the song...'It goes against the way I think that it should be, that God should wrap in flesh, this Holy mystery - the perfect sacrifice, became our broken beauty'

What Gives Me Life

I may be stating the obvious here, but it's always been easy for me to forget this. And I often need reminding. So at the very least I am reminding myself of the following realization.

The way out of weariness, boredom, exhaustion, depression - you name it - for me, is to choose to do things that I know will give me life. If you are not feeling like any of those things, that's great! A way to avoid them is... you guessed it - to do things that you know will give you life.

I had a fantastic fall season. My new CD LIGHT UP THE SKY was completed and released. I traveled to various destinations with a fantastic band, shared my songs with people and received generous encouragement from my home community. Working at Vernon Alliance I am affirmed in my role as a worship pastor regularly, and my family now includes 2 beautiful children, and an incredible wife. But I have to confess, I know I pushed a little bit too hard this fall, and I am spent. And I know many other people who feel exactly the same as me, albeit for different reasons.

So now what? How do I recharge. I am reminding myself today to find the things that give me life and do them - so that I can recharge body, mind and soul. Most things are obvious... trips to the gym, exercise, simple family time (being present at home - not running around), maybe even an indulgent time of movie watching and pop-corn. The best thing for me though is my time alone with God - bible reading and prayer... I have shared before, my lack of discipline in this area. But every time I focus back in, I feel my spirit, soul and body restored.

That's my reminder to all of us today - including myself. I think I'm off to do something that will give me life - you do the same!

Jon

Story Behind the Song - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

So I was just writing about building God's house, and how easy it is to find myself building my own house instead. Building my kingdom instead of His. Being that I am a pastor, but also a Christian musician, it's easy to get my kingdom and God's kingdom mixed up (confession time again!). It's not bad to be successful, but it's dangerous ground when my goals for success start driving what I do, as opposed to my relationship and obedience to God's call on my life. So I've been trying to refocus on what it means to build God's Kingdom.

I've been wanting to write about some of the new songs that I wrote, and KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is one that I co-wrote with a great friend and guitar virtuoso Jacob Moon.

About 3 years ago Jacob and I were at a songwriters retreat in the mountains of Whistler, BC (tough life I know!). Thanks to a ministry called INCARNATION we were blessed to have the opportunity to hang out for a weekend with some theologians and other wonderful songwriters like Bob Bennett, Steve Bell and Carolyn Arends. What a time to learn and write music! We were inspired to write about the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN because we were learning about how we pray for God's kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10, the Lord's prayer), but that God's kingdom has also already 'arrived' through the INCARNATION of Jesus (God in the flesh), and the mystery that Jesus lives within us through the presence of His Holy Spirit. Because of this 'the kingdom of Heaven' is already here - within us, and we need only live it out so that it will continue to come to fruition.

In Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Jacob and I wrote about that.

So let the children come, and sing a holy song - for theirs the Kingdom is, and all the glory His.

The chorus became significant for me to, since there was a time in my life where I was paralyzed by fear and depression. My favorite bit of theology is that God is a Trinity of 3 'persons', the Father, Son and Spirit. One very important thing about this is that it says God is about 'relationship'. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father and the Spirit makes them known to us. In other words God is 'Love'. And we know that 'Perfect Love casts out fear'. So we wrote

There's freedom from darkness and fear, the Kingdom of Heaven is here.

A special thing for me that happened when we recorded the song was that my friend Tim Neufeld, lead singer of STARFIELD agreed to come in and sing a guest vocal. So Tim sings on the 2nd verse and through to the end of the song. And may I humbly say, it sounds great! So, two great friends and favorite people of mine were involved in making this song a meaningful reality. We also sing this song often as a worship song in the church where I am worship pastor VERNON ALLIANCE. So I feel like it is giving voice to some important theological truths, and I hope it helps us understand them a bit more. That God became one of us, and then sent us His Spirit to live within us, so that we could truly be part of realizing His Kingdom coming and His will being done, in us and among us. So that we could sing with truth

All who now weep will rejoice, sing to the Lord with one voice, glory hallelujah there's freedom from darkness and fear, the Kingdom of Heaven is here.