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!!

Winter Camp: A Note from Mark

I was in the middle of a week of meetings with church leaders and pastors in Hong Kong. I checked email that afternoon and received a message from Andy asking if I would consider leading worship for the winter youth retreat. 'Winter Camp' was less than 2 weeks away! Yikes! The worship leader who was slated for the event was called away to a family emergency - songs were already selected, the band was rehearsed and my head was totally light years away from thinking Youth Retreat!
It's exactly what God had planned for me since the beginning...through the miracle and speed of technology, I was able to review songs from earlier university gigs we did in Beijing, send the chord charts & mp3's to my friend Don McCaleb. He posted them on the youth winter camp web site for the band to download, practice and 2 days before camp - I was sitting on a stool on the stage of Woodmen Valley Chapel, leading a rehearsal. Two days later (and in the middle of jet lag) I was leading 350 students in worship with a very competent and focused band around me.
The Spirit of God was like a fresh wind that blew through that place as students worshiped with abandon! There's something about youth that is 'free' in their worship, no inhibitions, no pretense - just simply "child-like". (Matthew 18:3) It was a refreshing 3 days hanging out with students, hearing their stories of renewal, commitment, brokenness and determination to live the life for Him! I am grateful to God for the opportunity. Honestly, I was ill prepared, jet-lagged, didn't really want to do it, but the Father in his loving ways, always knows what's best for us even when we don't. Note to self: to obey is better than sacrifice.

Disturb us, Lord.

Read at Sunday Night Live in Beijing during the worship service. This poem was written by Francis Drake. He was England's most famous sailor and explorer, he sailed around the world in the ship - 'The Golden Hind' in 1580 and led the outnumbered British Navy to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588.

This prayer was found in his ship's diary, written on the eve of one of his great adventures:

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storm will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push us in the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.

Amen.

From the Mainland to HK Island

After a week in Beijing, the Tedders made their way to Hong Kong for meetings and worship leading with some good friends. On Friday night, Mark Tedder and Jeff Caylor lead an evening of prayer at Island ECC. The evening had a focus on praying for mainland China and Mark was able to share some songs from The Door. Jeff Caylor, originally from Colorado and an artist on The Door, is now the worship leader at Island ECC on Hong Kong Island. The Tedders and Jeff were able to explore Hong Kong together in their free time. Above is a picture taken on one of their adventures.

On Saturday, Mark and Carrie taught a worship workshop at Island ECC. Worshiplanet, the non-profit they spearhead, is a worship-equipping and training ministry.

Sunday morning, the Tedders lead worship at The Vine on Hong Kong Island. They ended the weekend with an afternoon service at The Vine, where Tom Read leads worship. Overall, the week in Hong Kong was a time of reconnecting with Asia-based friends and an opportunity to encourage the Church in Hong Kong with worship from the mainland.