DEFINING MOMENTS

A while ago I was asked to write down 7 life-defining moments for a magazine. This is probably insanely boring for most of you but share a little bit of my journey. It’s quite a cool exercise to do; a chance to remind ourselves of God’s interaction in our lives when life is both exciting and tough.

Life Defining Moment 1

New Wine Conference - 1989

My father is a vicar and I grew up in the church. One summer in 1989 my dad was asked to speak at a family bible week called New Wine. I remember as an 11 year old feeling pretty gutted that for one week in August, we were going to spend a whole seven days attending church meetings. Not my idea of a great holiday! I attended the youth meeting led by a young youth leader called Mike Pilavachi. I was blown away - it was like nothing I’d seen before. We spent 30 to 40 minutes singing songs to Jesus. Mike would then speak effectively about the person of Jesus, and we’d then wait for the Holy Spirit to fill us. Amazing things would happen. People would be healed, people were becoming Christians and there was an amazing passion in the meetings. It profoundly struck me that people weren’t just singing about a God, there were singing to a God they knew personally. It was like nothing I’d seen before. One evening I went forward for ministry and was filled with the Holy Spirit. I received the gift of tongues and since that week my life has never been the same. I fell in love with Jesus and made a whole-hearted decision to follow him. It was after that week that I went home with a passion for worship and music. Shortly after I started to learn the guitar.

Life Defining Moment 2

GAP year in Durban, South Africa - 1996

When I was nineteen I spent a year living in Durban, South Africa, working as a youth and worship pastor. It was an amazing year for me. God taught me some invaluable lessons. The most significant being that God uses weak and broken people. When I left England to travel out to South Africa I was full of hope and excitement. Initially I travelled with a friend, but sadly after a few weeks he became ill and had to return home. I’ll never forget feeling totally alone and out of my depth. I was living in a foreign country, I had no friends or family to rely on and I now had to lead a youth group - something I had never done before. My confidence was so low and it felt like everything had crumbled around me. About this time I stumbled across some words by a guy called William Carey. He said, “Attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.” In the midst of my struggles I decided to believe in these words.

At one point early on in the year I was organising a youth weekend away. I had diligently planned ahead and arranged a speaker to lead the weekend. Literally four days before the event, she phoned up to inform me that she had to pull out. Disaster! I contacted everyone that I could think of, and eventually realised that I was going to have to give the talks, myself. It was all very stressful and as we drove to the camp my heart was seriously lacking in faith. On the second night I spoke on the prodigal son. As I finished I knew that we needed to allow space for God to minister his love and forgiveness into people’s hearts. I’d never led a ministry time before and I was terrified. I invited the Holy Spirit to come and then simply invited people forward if they wanted to receive prayer. What happened next blew me away. Gradually people came to the front and God started moving in a very powerful way. Many tears were shed as young people received God’s acceptance and mercy. In that night four people made first time commitments. Later two girls came up and told me that they had been speaking in a funny language and didn’t understand what was going on. I could explain to them about the gift of tongues and how it was a wonderful gift from God. That weekend saw God breathe life and passion into a small youth group.

Life Defining Moment 3

Sheffield University - 1997

Many people say that University are the best days of our lives. That was not the case for me. I had returned home from a year in South Africa feeling excited and exhilarated, knowing that God was calling me into leading worship. That summer I led worship at the Soul Survivor festival for 6,000 young people and out of that an opportunity opened up for me to join the staff of Soul Survivor. I was left with a dilemma; studying history at university or working for a church? After much prayer and discussion, I felt that it was right to go to university. Here was an opportunity to live in a very diverse culture, to really be challenged in my faith and to live with lots of people who didn’t yet know Christ. Looking back I can see how these 3 years were the making of me, but it was so hard. I was broken, humbled, challenged, frustrated and refined through the whole experience. There were some wonderful people in Sheffield, but essentially it was a time for God to work on my character, behind the scenes.

Life Defining Moment 4

Joining staff of Soul Survivor Watford/Writing ‘Here I am to worship.’ - 2000

After finishing off university I headed down to Watford to join Soul Survivor and work with Mike Pilavachi. Mike has been a key influence in my life - a wonderful mentor and friend. I’ve had the privilege of travelling the world with him and seeing God do wonderful things amongst young people. Just before I joined the staff at Soul Survivor I wrote a song called ‘Here I am to worship.’ I wasn’t particularly impressed with it at the time, but Mike encouraged me to use it in worship. I’ve been truly humbled by how people have responded to this song. It’s opened up many doors for me and has given me the opportunity to speak into the lives of other worship leaders. As I look back, it’s clear to see that it was God’s hand of favour on the song. There’s nothing particularly special about it, but for some reason God has blessed it. Writing that song has significantly changed my life. It’s enabled me to write and record more songs and opened my eyes to realise that God can do extraordinary things with very ordinary people.

Life Defining Moment 5

Getting married - 2004

I’ve known my wife all my life. It wasn’t though until we were in our mid-twenties that we fell in love. Marriage has completely changed my life. Rachel is an amazing support, encouragement and inspiration to me. She cheers me on and pushes me to pursue my dreams. An amazing gift from God!

Life Defining Moment 6

Joining HTB - 2006

In November 2006, Rachel and I moved into London to join HTB. It’s been an amazing adventure for us. It’s an incredible church, led wonderfully by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel. We’ve already learnt so much from them. As part of my role I head up a school of worship called ‘Worship Central.’ We run training events, retreats and a website - worshipcentral.org. I’m learning to take risks, I’m seeing God raise up leaders and I’m getting to work with some fantastic people. I’m so excited as I look at the adventures ahead!

Life Defining Moment 7

The birth of my children Phoebe and Simeon – 2007 & 2009

Phoebe and Simeon are the most amazing addition to my life. I love them more than I could have imagined and am happiest when I’m spending time with them. Life is never dull with them around!