Fresh Worship in Kenya

On Sunday morning, Mark was tuning his guitar on-stage at Woodmen Valley Chapel, when a man approached him and told him a quick story.
Just a week earlier, this man was in Kenya worshipping along fellow African believers. After the service, he approached the pastor and they began chatting about the worship songs in the church. They discussed the need for fresh, new worship in their church. The pastor agreed and asked for some examples of new music. At that point, the American pulled out his iPod and picked the song "More Of You". He put the earphones in, and as the song progressed, the pastor had tears streaming down his face. He said he was ministered to by the song and encouraged to bring new songs to the congregation.
Who knew that this recording in Beijing, China would minister to a man in Kenya, Africa just a year later? We are thankful that God uses us as tools in His Kingdom and we are praying that the ministry of this project would continue to spread to the far corners of the Earth.

The Door in Japan!

At Worshiplanet, our aim is not to have our name in bright lights. More exciting to us, is to know that worship music is going to all corners of the Earth. We were so excited to find The Door on Japanese version of Amazon. Now if we could only know what it says...

Spring Harvest. Abbreviated.

After a couple weeks in the UK, everyone has returned home and is getting some rest. Who knew that rocking out in worship could be so exhausting?

Let's rewind a bit. On April 1st, the team came together from all around the globe. Mark, Carrie, Jessica and Alli flew from Denver, Colorado. Daniel caught a flight from Beijing, and Manu took a short flight from Germany. Joe drove up from Brighton and Richard took the train from Brunel.  We all met at the Butt's home in London for some team time and rehearsals. After some fish and chips, we dove right into learning new songs and getting all the equipment together for our 10 days at Spring Harvest.

We did find some time to do a short tour of central London. It was Jessica and Alli's first time to see the city so we toured Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, shoved ourselves into a phone booth, and spent some time in Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Square.  It was a whirlwind tour and the beginning of great team bonding.  

And, of course, we made time for espresso. As a rule, there is always time for caffeine with Worshiplanet.

On April 4th, we loaded everything (and everyone) into 2 vehicles and headed north to Skegness. Skegness is an oceanside town with a Butlins Resort that hosted the 30,000+ people that attend Spring Harvest. The first week, the band led worship for the young adults in the iScape program. It was a joy to worship alongside young people as they learn to be Jesus' apprentices.

The second week, Mark and the band switched over to the Big Top to lead worship with the adults. The Big Top is named that because it's truly a circus tent. Every morning and evening thousands of worshippers would raise their voices under that yellow and green striped tent. It was absolutely beautiful.
This, of course, is the Reader's Digest version of a fantastic two weeks.  For those of you that attended Spring Harvest- it was our pleasure to meet you and worship alongside you!  

-The Worshiplanet Band

Spring Harvest UK

Hey everybody – we’re heading out to the UK for three weeks to lead worship at Spring Harvest. Spring Harvest (www.springharvest.org) is Britain’s largest Christian event which happens annually over the Easter holidays. Spring Harvest exists to equip the church into action. We will be leading worship week one for iScape. iScape is a program designed for those in their late teens and early twenties. With a strong emphasis on worship and Bible teaching, we're going to discover what it means to have an extreme faith and how we can live this out in the world. We will be leading worship for morning and evening celebrations alongside a team of some of Britain’s leading youth communicators. It’s gonna be fun & loud!!!

Week two, we’ll be leading worship in the Big Top. Worship in the Big Top is a little different. We’ll be working with a team of the UK’s leading communicators and equippers in post-Christian Europe. The theme this year for Spring Harvest is Apprentice”, with the backdrop of Matthew 11:28-29 - 'Come to me... learn from me...' said Jesus, 'for I am gentle and humble in heart.' Jesus' constant challenge to the people he met, was 'follow me'. His first disciples were apprentices, learning from his words, his stories, his actions and his attitudes. We will be leading worship for the Big Start – an early morning celebration including 4000 adults and about 2000 of their kids! The morning is basically a ‘wake-up’ to the day with fun, worship, short bible teaching and prayer. Then there’s the Evening Celebration which will include a full-on time of worship, teaching and creative expression in worship.

Week three we will be leaving Spring Harvest and heading down to London for a few days of meetings before taking the train to Norwich for a weekend of worship services with King’s Church. (www.kings-norwich.com) Thanks guys for hanging in there with us and covering this trip with your prayers. We need them!!