hope city magazine (2011 edition)

sheffield - liverpool - leeds - newcastle - birmingham - accra

HOPE CITY MAGAZINEWhat's Inside?

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hopecitychurch.tv

HI THERE!Welcome to the second edition of the new look

Hope City Magazine! We want everyone in Hope City Church to stay connected to our amazing vision, ministries and activities that make up our church.

We are one church, located in soon to be seven cities - so a big welcome to everyone in Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Accra

in Ghana and soon to be Frankfurt!

In this issue, apart from giving you a glimpse at what’s coming up in 2011, we are looking at a day in the life of the

team at Hope City Accra, getting the low down on the songs from the latest album from Hope City ‘We Are Ready’ and

chatting to Lauren Shipman about how God has turned her life around 180 degrees from a life of abuse and self harm

to a life of freedom and hope as part of God’s family. There’s some brilliant articles and book extracts to read over a hot cup of tea and biscuit including one from a good friend of

the church, Dr Scott Wilson from Denmark. He’s given us his pet hates that he’s throwing into Room 101.

It’s loaded with lots of extras and we hope it gives you a taste of life as part of Hope City Church.

Dave & JennyDave and Jenny Gilpin

Hope City Church Senior Pastors

25th Wedding Anniversary Celebrations

liverpool

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!

Liverpool oozes culture and heritage. The City has a glorious past as the nation’s second port and ‘gateway to the ends of the earth’. It was from Liverpool that the people of Britain set off on an adventure of discovery to the New World.

So now is the time for the Church of God, the gateway to heaven, to rise up and declare it’s a new day for the City of Liverpool. God has a plan and a purpose for every Liverpudlian and Wirralsider to set them off on a divine adventure. He’s intent on launching people into the seas of His favour, influence and significance. It’s time for God’s church to reignite the bright spark of hope that once ran through the city, that unbreakable belief in a better and bigger tomorrow. This is our City. This is Hope City. Let’s bring in the new world of God’s hope and love through Jesus.

HOPE CITY THEATRE COMPANYPerforming thier version of ‘3 words’

LIVERPOOL’S CHAMPION CHILDThe winner of Champion Child with World Champion Gymnast Beth Tweddle

ROGER PHILLIPSGuest presenter at Liverpool’s Night of Honor awards 2010

hopecity

liverpoolNEVER WALK

WE WILL

ALONE

Roger and Anna DaviesLiverpool Congregational Pastors

Roger & Anna

LIVERPOOL’S NIGHT OF HONOUR AWARD’S

Finally after 5 years of building a great church in the heart of the city of Leeds - we’re entering into the space where we were almost meant to be! Space to grow, space to see lives changed and space to praise and celebrate our amazing God!

When the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon she was amazed at all that she saw. From the great palace, to the setting of the table to the happiness of

*A BODY DOUBLE WAS USED FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS PHOTO

Chris & Gosia

LEEDS MEGACENTRE REFURB FOR A 400 SEATERAUTITORIUM OPENING JANUARY 2011

his court. We’re believing that over the coming years we’ll see many come into the Megacentre and be amazed at all they see. From not just a great building but a great congregation of people who are living the incredible call of God on their lives.

Today is just the start of all the great plans God has for us. Let’s begin to really live it, fill it and have faith for God to do EVEN more!

Chris and Gosia DenhamLeeds Congregational Pastors

LAUNCHING

FEBRUARY 6th

NEW WHARFEDALE

CAMPUSSundays 5:00pm in ILKLEY

We’re welcoming Discovery Church

into the Hope City family and they are

becoming our new Hope City Leeds

Wharfedale Campus. Join us for a night

of family and celebration as we launch

into a brand new season together!

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HOW INCREDIBLE IS OUR GOD! He takes what is old, lacking and on it’s last legs, and makes it new, more than enough and thriving! The bible says that anyone who is in Christ has become a new creation. The old is gone and all things are made new! It’s The Great Turn Around!

Can you imagine taking your old, faulty and rusting car into the garage, then returning to find the garage gives you keys to a new, highly tuned and pristine vehicle? You’d be ecstatic! So

how much more should we get excited over what God has done for us - not for some material possession we have, but our very life!

This is the good news that we get to bring into peoples’ worlds, letting people know that they too can accept The Great Turn Around that God wants to give them.

In the Newcastle congregation we’re thrilled with the recent decisions people have made to accept all that Christ has done for them. We’re expecting many

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1 1. IT ANNOYS ME WHEN cars are not parked straight in between the parking lines.

2. IT ANNOYS ME WHEN I can’t make one trip upstairs with the laundry, because I need to go back for the sock that got away.

3. IT ANNOYS ME WHEN hand dryer machines only blow cold air.

4. IT ANNOYS ME WHEN the weeds manage to get through my specially designed membrane sheet & tons of gravel

5. IT ANNOYS ME WHEN visiting friends who live on a long terraced street, with cars parked either side, that you end up parking miles away.

The top five things that annoy Simon Taylor more than anything.

Images taken from Dave Gilpin’s eBook ADHA Available today from hopecitychurch.tv/shop

more to come and be added to our family. We’re eager to see God complete what he’s begun in all our lives.

Simon& Rachael

Simon & Rachael TaylorNewcastle

Conregation Pastors

If Birmingham had a traditional

dish what would it be?

OLLY “KFC or chips and mushy peas

(say it with the Brummie accent and

you’ll understand!)”

What was the weirdest thing about moving to Birmingham? SIMON “Probably the Brummie

accent. I’m warming to it now but at first I found it really difficult to understand....you just don’t expect it when you look at someone for them to sound like that....weird!”

If you could plant a church anywhere in the world where would it be? OLLY “Except Birmingham? Ha well probably somewhere with lots of sun & nice beaches!”

What’s your favourite thing about Birmingham congregation?SIMON “I love that it’s very quickly become like a family!”

Who’s your greatest role model? OLLY “Gonna say the cheesiest answer that you’ll cringe at but the most honest...my mum! She’s a fab lady, the queen of reinvention and has taught me almost everything I know! She makes a great curry too!”

See you at the weekend Simon & Olly

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See you at the weekend Simon & Olly

05:20 The buzz and crackling of what passes for radio here blasts me awake, tearing me out of my hard bed in the tiny room. Next door they’re building a new house and living in a cardboard box on breeze blocks, and they can’t seem to do it without a screaming radio. The only thing for it is to get up and into the freezing cold shower (with snails in if you’re lucky) and head to breakfast - a fabulous choice of toast, toast or toast.

08:30 We head for the school where we yell devotions to 400 kids in the schoolyard

10:00 Nana, on his bike, grabs hold of the car window as we drive to hitch a lift to what Ghanaians call their Oxford Street, the main shopping street and where our new building will be. Churches here wouldn’t let him in because he’s got dreadlocks, but he’s beginning to get to know us, and every time we invite him he says: “I’ll be there, I’ll be there.” Today he pulls out the x-ray of his broken leg for us to see.

15:00 We head to the only coffee shop in a ten mile radius for a taste of home and to cool down - but on the way a lion jumps out of a bush! Used to this by now, we pull out a can of whiskas, throw it in the other direction and run for our lattes, leaving him purring gently.

17:00 We head back to base where Joseph, the guard, greets us with a mournful “Lights off,” which means there is a power cut, which also means no running water. Calls to the companies are no use - it could be out for an hour or three days. Pastor Andy gets a call from the university where we’ve been trying to book a Campus Life venue and have sent letters to and visited every dean, head of faculty and chaplain.

18:30 Half of the team stay for connect, the others go to the YES course back at the cafe. There people arrive in perfect Africa time - two hours late, but at the pastor’s house people have been sat outside waiting for two hours. Later, the power still out, I climb back into bed, and a baby screams from the cardboard house next door.

Lions. Coffee. Dreadlocks. Children. X-rays. No one ever said church planting was easy - but the Hope City Team in Ghana brave these every day to spread the kingdom of God and plant our first African congregation. We gave them a call to find out about their typical day and this is what they told us - though the lines may have been a bit dodgy...

every day, using goalposts as props. As we walk stall holders shout ‘obolo’ - which means fat and took me a while to take as a compliment, and ‘abruni’, which is white person. We call back “abibini,” or, black person, and they laugh their heads off. It’s becoming a regular joke.

If you would like to do a one year internship in Ghana starting this September through the Leadership Academy visit www.leadershipacademy.org.uk


“THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU, HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE. HE WILL TAKE GREAT DELIGHT IN YOU, HE WILL QUIET YOU WITH HIS LOVE, HE WILL REJOICE OVER YOU WITH SINGING.T” -- Zephaniah 3:17

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Jesus didn’t hesitate as he passed the third and last of the canoes, heading directly for the end of the pier. Reaching the end of the dock, he turned to Mack and grinned.

“After you,” he said, with a mock flourish and bow.

“You’re kidding, right?” spluttered Mack. “I thought we were going for a walk, not a swim.”

“We are. I just thought going across the lake would take less time than going around it.”

Mack laughed, more out of nerves than anything.

“You want me to walk on the water to the other side - that is what you are saying, right?”

“You’re a quick one Mack. C’mon, it’s fun!” Jesus laughed.

Mack walked to the edge of the dock and looked down. The water lapped only about a foot below where he stood, but it might as well have been a hundred feet.

He looked back at Jesus, who was still chuckling.

“What are you afraid of, Mack?”“Well, let me see. What am I afraid of,”

began Mack. “Well, I am afraid of looking like an idiot, that you are making fun of me and that I will sink like a rock. I imagine that”

“Exactly,” Jesus interrupted. “You imagine. Such a powerful ability, the imagination! That power alone makes you so like us. But without wisdom, imagination is a hard taskmaster. If I may prove my case, do you think humans were designed to live in the present, past or future?”

“Well,” said Mack, hesitating, “I think we were designed to live in the present.”

Jesus chuckled. “Yes, exactly. But now tell me, where do you spend most of your time in your mind, in your imagination, in the present, past or future?”

Mack thought for a moment before answering. “I spend a big piece in the past, but most of the rest of the time I am trying to figure out the future.”

“Not unlike most people. When I dwell with you, I do so in the present - I live in the present. Not in the past, although much can be remembered and learned by

looking back. And for sure, I do not dwell in the future you visualize or imagine. Mack, do you realize that in your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you?”

It was true. Mack spent a lot of time worrying about the future, and in his imaginations it was usually pretty depressing, if not outright horrible - and God wasn’t there.

“Why do I do that?” he asked.

“It is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can’t. It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn’t even real and won’t ever be. You try to play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try to make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear.”

“So why do I have so much fear in my life?”

“Because you don’t believe. You don’t know that we love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. To the degree that imagined fears have a place in your life you neither believe that I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about it, but you don’t know it.”

Mack looked down at the water again and breathed a huge sigh. “I have so far to go.”

“Only about a foot, it looks to me,” Jesus said, placing his hand on Mack’s

shoulder. Mack stepped off the dock.

The landing was softer than he had thought it would be. His shoes were wet instantly but the water did not come up even to his ankles. He turned to find Jesus standing next to him, smiling and they walked out across the lake.

Mack looked up. The beauty was staggering. He could make out the shack, where smoke leisurely rose from the red, brick chimney as it nestled against the greens of the orchard and forest.

“You do great work.” he said, softly.“Thank you, Mack. You’ve seen so little -

and can you imagine if the earth wasn’t striving to survive against the humans who were supposed to look after it?”

“So why don’t you fix it?”“Because we gave it to you.”“Can’t you take it back?”“Of course we could, but then

the story would end before it was consummated.” Mack gave Jesus a blank look.

“Have you noticed that even though you call me Lord and King, I have never

really acted in that capacity with you? I’ve never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you

were about to do was destructive or hurtful to yourself and others.”

Mack looked back at the lake before responding. “I would have preferred you did take control sometimes. It would have saved me and people I care about a lot of pain.”

“To force my will on you,” Jesus replied, “is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are bad. That is the beauty that you see between me, the Father and the Holy Spirit. We are all fully submitted to each other. Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience, it is all about relationships of love and respect. We are submitted to you in the same way.”

Mack was surprised. “Why would the God of the universe want to be submitted to me?”

“Because we want you to join us in our circle of relationship. I don’t want slaves to my will; I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.”

“And that’s how you want us to love each other, I suppose?”

“Exactly! When I am your life, submission is the most natural expression of your new nature within relationships.”

Mack shook his head. “And all I wanted was a God who will fix everything so no one gets hurt.”

‘The Shack’ is available at MegaStuff today

WITHOUT WISDOM, IMAGINATION IS A HARD TASKMASTER

THE PERSON WHO LIVES BY THEIR FEARS WILL NOT FIND FREEDOM IN MY LOVE



There is no reason they’d not look at it closely. The Sonographer stood up, and told me she was going to talk to someone to work something

out - and that she’d be back in two minutes.

Those two minutes felt like a lifetime. Eventually, the Sonographer came back into the room with someone else and they talked in hushed voices, looking at the screen. Crazy thoughts stacked up in my mind - what if it has two heads? Four arms? It’s amazing where your mind can go when fear takes over. And then she turned to us, and told us there was a problem with our baby’s heart.

My heart dropped. I wanted to cry my eyes out there and then - but there was something else; a peace and a strength was rising up inside me that I don’t know what I would have done without. She showed us back to the waiting room, where Simon and I sat in complete silence, trying to let what had just been said sink in. Around us were women walking in and out of appointments, some smiling, some not.

I saw one woman coming out of a room with her partner, who had his arm around her - she looked devastated. I remember just thinking, how could anyone go through this without God?

My name was called again, and Simon and I went into a doctor’s room. He started to explain what they had found. There was a problem with our baby’s heart - a healthy unborn baby’s heart should beat at 125 beats a minute but ours was at only 65. I had no idea what this would mean, but they had already booked us an appointment in Manchester three days

later. It seemed an unbearably long time to wait, but there was nothing else we could do.

The excitement from earlier in the day had completely gone, the unexpected had slammed straight into our lives. We had also learnt the sex of our baby that day - we were going to have a baby girl - but after everything that we had been told, that fact just faded into insignificance.

As we drove home from the hospital, I was speechless. I couldn’t quite grasp what had happened and what we had been told. I still couldn’t believe it, it felt like I was at the start of a nightmare and I just needed to wake up. I remember thinking you hear about this sort of stuff happening to other people and you never think it will happen to you.

The very next day Simon went back to work; I was at home. I felt

like I had to do something to take my mind off everything. All I wanted to do was to stop thinking,

stop wondering why, stop going over all the negative things we had been told. I decided to decorate the upstairs of our house. So I began to peel off all the wallpaper off the walls. To be honest it did start to look like a bomb had exploded in the upstairs of my house and that’s how it felt inside of me. To Simon’s horror when he got home he couldn’t believe what he was seeing but luckily for me he is quite handy at DIY and began to make the upstairs more presentable again.

Questions played themselves over and over in my mind as if on repeat: why me? Is there anything I could have done better? Did I not eat enough vegetables, did I drink too much tea? It’s amazing what you think of in times of crisis in your life. Why me? I didn’t smoke or drink alcohol. There are plenty of women who do that sort of thing and their babies are all perfectly healthy. God why me!

In my mind I was asking myself

the same question over and over again. Until a verse from the Bible came to me in Proverbs 3 v 5, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own

understanding.’ After reading that verse, something clicked inside of me and a peace that only comes

from heaven washed over me. Even though I didn’t fully understand why this was happening, I was able to stand back and say, “God I don’t understand what is happening to us right now but what I do know is that you love me and my unborn baby and I will trust in you”.

Over the weekend it was just a matter of waiting while we got our appointment to see a heart specialist. We tried to make the most of our weekend and tried not to let the negative emotions and fears dominate, which at the time was pretty hard. Both Simon and I are pretty positive people, which helped.

A few days later after I’d had time to digest the news about our unborn baby, we had our appointment to see a heart specialist at St Mary’s hospital in Manchester, where we were living at the time. As we walked into the waiting room, I thought to myself, ‘this place is busy! I hope they are not here for the same reason as us’. As it happened it was just a general scanning ward. Eventually my name was called so we walked through into the room where I was going to be scanned. I lay down once again on the bed as the specialist began to scan my daughters heart.

THEY TOLD US THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH OUR BABY’S HEART

IT SEEMED AN UNBEARABLY LONG TIME TO WAIT

Continued from previous page

An extract from Rachael’s first book, ‘I Believe in Miracles’.

IT’S TIME FOR ALL OF THE SACRED COWS TO BE REVEALED AND REJECTED, AND FOR THE REAL CHURCH OF POWER TO ARISE.If you’ve been around church life long enough, somewhere beyond six months or so, you’ll have experienced a few bumps and bruises from people not treating you as lovingly as they should! Usually, the pain subsides and we rise to live another day. That’s unless we get swallowed by the myth that such injustices should never happen, and somewhere out there is a church where people are so lovely no one ever gets hurt. If you find such a church, make sure you stay clear – it isn’t real! Even if it was, it would be so obsessed by not offending people that the whole place would be full of spoilt toddlers. . . miles away from the champion warriors needed to change our dying world.

Just as Fairy dish-washing liquid has become anti-bacterial, it would appear that we have created a doctrine that has produced a sanitized form of Christianity that involves avoiding being hurt, nurturing hurts, talking about hurts, and the ‘group hug’ style protection of hurt people.

The word ‘hurt’ is an unusual word in that it is generally only found at the scene and time of injury. If a football player is hurt, it’s whilst being on or near the field of play where the injury took place.

When in hospital, the language changes to ‘injured’ or ‘recovering’, but never continues as ‘hurt’. It is only in the church that we continue to use the word ‘hurt’ well after the injury takes place. And The Myth of Mr and Mrs Perfect that is why you cannot heal ‘hurts’. Hurt is an emotive word that has a sting attached. That sting is directed to the one or the place that did the hurting. If ever there was a place where the word ‘hurt’ should be used sparingly – it’s in the church.

It is used liberally, however, not because people simply don’t want to forgive, but often because of a Nirvana type of Christianity that some people feel is their right to live out – it’s a myth of perfectionism: no bruises, no hard knocks, no immense difficulties, no rebukes, no corrections, no mistakes and no tension. On top of that, there’s a subtle pressure that one should be both financially dripping and brimming with 100 per cent health, creating the holy grail of the perfectionist movement. Now, before you brand me as a grumbling cynic who has a chip on his shoulder because everyone else is blessed except for him, I do drive a very nice car (thank you,Jesus!), have been blessed with an Adonis body (as well as a good dose of healthy male deception), and love the life I’m living. I’m not bitter – honestly I’m not. I just know that there are too many sacred cows in the field and they’re choking the view!

When the Bible says ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news’ (Rom. 10:15) it is putting a lot of effort into being poetic.

The quote in Romans was taken from Isaiah 52:7 which states, ‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those . . .’ It doesn’t matter where you stick those feet, however – put them on a cushion of black velvet or on a crush of diamonds, they’re still not ‘beautiful’. It’s talking about feet that have walked across rugged mountains, dry valleys and craggy outcrops in order to give someone some life-changing ‘good news’. It’s talking about bleeding feet, bruised feet, battered feet and bloated feet – they aren’t beautiful in any shape or form. But just as a new born baby is pronounced beautiful (when most newborns look a little bit like an alien), so are the bloodied feet of a carrier of good news. It’s poetic, not descriptive. It’s what the baby represents that’s beautiful – a future life, a life of possibilities . . . It’s what the feet represent that’s beautiful – feet that have been prepared to walk on broken glass in order to touch a generation with the good news of Christ.

There is a famous hymn called ‘The Old Rugged Cross’. Even though the words of the hymn are powerful

and contain the antidote for the curse of sin, it’s easy for songs and stories from old to become a tad quaint and sentimental. ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ can shift from the darkened hill of Golgotha to the romantic breeziness of Mills & Boon simply through the sanitizing of our twenty-first-century culture. The cross was anything but romantic and sentimental. If Jesus had died by lethal injection, there would be a syringe on top of just about every church in the world. If he’d died by electric chair, people would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks. The cross was an implement of torture, yet, because of what it represents, it’s also very beautiful.

Jesus’ blood is gruesome, but every drop shed upon the cross is beautiful.

‘Sacred Cows’ is available from www.davegilpin.com today

davegilpin

“ IT’S DEFINITELY TIME FOR THE WET FISH APPROACH TO OUR FAITH TO BE REPLACED BY A PURPOSE DRIVEN ATTITUDE”


ome behind the scenes of Hope City’s latest worship album with two of thesongwriters who made it happen - Hope City worship leaders Ryan Gilpin

and Satish Solanki let us into their songwriting secrets. Whether it was a beat, a riff, a lyric or a piano that inspired them, they take you through how the song developed to the final edit - even if, for Ryan, it was cutting out the cheese...

C

THE BEST IS YET TO COMEWritten by Ryan Gilpin

It was a surprise to me that not only had I written a fast song, but it was actually fairly good! The phrase ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ can be a bit cliche, and the cheesy melody in the chorus doesn’t help, but at the end of the day it’s a bit of fun, and everyone likes fun. Originally the song was a lot cheesier, as the verses had all major chords - I wouldn’t have changed it, but I was convinced by someone in the band that it was a little bit ‘Jazz hands’, so we changed the chords and added the electric guitar riff.

WITH ALL MY HEARTWritten by Ryan Gilpin

This has to be one of the simplest songs I have ever written. The chorus is just a response to the verse, in that our words and clever rhymes are not enough to show our worship to God but that He deserves all of our heart, soul mind and strength. I was concerned at the start that the repetition of ‘I love You Lord’ in the chorus was too dull and minimal, but after seeing how the congregation took to it I decided that less is more.

“IT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST FULFILLING THINGS I HAVE DONE. I’M OVER THE MOON.”

- ELIOT KENNEDY

- Eliot Kennedy - Producer and Grammy Award Winner


- ELIOT KENNEDY

HOW AMAZING Written by Ryan Gilpin

This song came about in an unconventional way for me. I had been listening to a song by a band called Magnet where they use a rolling snare beat throughout. I loved how this gave the song motion, and I decided to write a worship song to it. I sat at the piano and began to play, and ‘How Amazing’ was born.

COME TO THE WATER Written by Ryan Gilpin

I wrote this song two years ago, it wasone of the first songs I wrote after releasing our first album at Fabulous 2008. It began in the same way as ‘How Amazing,’ I worked the melody around a really cool sound I had found on my keyboard and from this sound stemmed the hallelujahs in the chorus. When writing the lyrics for the verses, I chose to repeat the letter ‘s’ in ‘stillness’, ‘secret’, ‘silencing’ and ‘stormy’ to help the lyrics flow nicely together.

TURN THE PAGE Written by Ryan Gilpin

This was going to be the title of the album, but we changed it to ‘We Are Ready’ as it was a bit bolder. I was in two minds about what to name this song. Everything I had come up with based on the lyrics, like ‘I’m Chosen, I’m Called’, ‘It’s a New Day’, just seemed cliché, and I needed a title that reflected the originality of the melody. We eventually decided to call it ‘Turn the Page’ as it sounded fresh and caught the Essence of what the song is about – moving forward and forgetting what is behind.

WORSHIP HIM ALONE Written by Ryan Gilpin

This is really a collection of three songs. The tag; ‘I put my hope in You oh Lord,’ was taken from a song we sang three years ago in church. I took the tag out of this song, as frankly, it was the only good bit of it, and put it with another chorus we have been singing in Church recently called ‘Worship Him Alone’. The verse melody I found on an old recording on my phone which I had completely

forgotten about.

FIRST NAME TERMS Written by Sats Solanki

I wanted to write a song about how close God is to us. It’s so

easy to view God as some sort of far away distant uncle and even when we’re spending time with Him to talk to Him like that’s the case. Actually he’s right there with you! It amazes me how God still wants to use us time and time again even though we’re completely rubbish. We mess up and we miss the mark like ALL the time… (maybe it’s just me) but every time I come back to what God is saying, I’m reminded how much He believes in me and how much He loves to do stuff through me.

IGNITE MY VISION Written by Sats Solanki

I remember thinking of words to do with cars for some reason – ignition, kickstart, into gear etc. Thankfully we didn’t end up using all of those words in the end! I had to rewrite the lyrics to this song a couple of times, especially in the chorus, as musically it sounded great but lyrically it didn’t quite flow right!

TRUST. REST. WAIT. Written by Ryan Gilpin

I wrote this song when I went away to see some family friends in Aberdeen. I often write my best songs there as they have a beautiful grand piano in their sitting room. I was having a quiet time on the Saturday night before church on the Sunday where I had to perform a song, and as I was praying, I said a line that caught my attention; ‘God, I am just learning to trust in You’. Instantly I thought this would be a great basis for a song with vocals and a solo piano, so I continued on this theme of learning to trust in God, and developed it by writing reasons from my own life, why we sometimes don’t trust in God.

I only decided to put the song on the album on the very last night of recording, two weeks before the release - It was about eight o’clock at night and we had two more songs to finish and only the rest of the night to do it. We were recoding the start of ‘Worship Him Alone’ on the grand piano, so as it was all set up to record vocal and piano anyway. Eliot agreed it was a good idea, so we recorded the song, added some reverb and warmth to the vocal, and that was it

“ I SAT AT THE PIANO AND BEGAN TO PLAY, AND ‘HOW AMAZING’

WAS BORN.”

behind the songs

TOP 10 THINGS MEN CAN’T HELP

1.ALL MEN HAVE REFRIDGERATION BLINDNESS. IT BEGINS TO DEVELOP DURING PUBERTY. WHAT THEY’RE LOOKING FOR INSIDE THE FRIDGE IS THE LAST THING THEY ACTUALLY SEE.

LONG AFTER THE MOVIE HAS FINISHED AND EVERYONE HAS GONE TO BED, MEN ARE STILL UP WATCHING THE ENTIRE MOVIE AGAIN WITH THE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY, DELETED SCENES AND ALTERNATIVE ENDINGS.

IF THEIR PARTNER WENT OUT AND GOT A BEEHIVE HAIRDO, 90% OF MEN WOULD NOT NOTICE UNLESS IT WAS POINTED OUT TO THEM.

MEN ARE INCAPABLE OF LETTING A WOMAN DRIVE THE CAR WHILE THEY’RE IN IT. IT’S NOT THAT HE DOESN’T TRUST HER BUT HER CORNERING, ACCELERATION AND BREAKING COULD DO WITH A LITTLE EXTRA WORK.

IF A MAN HAS AN ITCH HE HAS TO SCRATCH IT WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THAT ITCH MAY OCCUR. WOMEN DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW ITCHY A MAN CAN GET!

MOST WOMEN BELIEVE THAT A FRIEND WILL BE IMPRESSED BY HER NEW OUTFIT, NEW HOUSE, NEWS FROM HER SISTER IN SPAIN AND THE HEIGHT OF HER GROWING CHILDREN. MOST MEN BELIEVE THAT A FRIEND WILL BE IMPRESSED BY HIS NEW FREE BROADBAND DEAL.

IN THEIR LIFETIME MEN GO FROM OWNING A SLINKY, A 3D VIEWFINDER AND A NINTENDO WATCH TO OWNING A COMPLETE SERIES OF TOP GEAR ON DVD AND A SET OF SIMPSONS CLOTHING ACCESSORIES.

IF A WOMAN NEEDS TO CARRY SOME EXTRA PERSONAL EFFECTS ON HOLIDAYS, SHE’LL BUY HERSELF A SHOULDER BAG. IF A MAN NEEDS TO CARRY SOME EXTRA STUFF, HE’LL BUY A BUM BAG.

2.3.

4.5.6.7.8.

MOST WOMEN SUFFER FROM DISLIKING THE WAY THEY LOOK, WHILE MOST MEN SUFFER FROM THE OPPOSITE – THEY THINK THEY LOOK BRILLIANT – ESPECIALLY WHEN NAKED!

WHILE MOST WOMEN TALK BY TELLING A STORY, MEN TALK BY SAYING ‘I’VE GOT THREE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THAT’. THEY LOVE LISTS.

9.

10.

TOP 10 THINGS MEN CAN’T HELP

MENAREFROMMARSTHE MEN’S MINISTRY OF HOPE CITY CHURCH HAS RETURNED WITH A ‘GRRRRR...’

IF A MAN EXPRESSES AN OPINION IN A FORREST

WITH NO WOMEN PRESENT FOR MILES

IS HE STILL WRONG?

MMhopecitychurch.tv 37

For ALL Congregations


hope city magazine (2011 edition)

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