"Take My Life and Let it Be, Consecrated Lord to Thee"

I love that we are already "a chosen people, a royal priesthood (and) a holy nation" and yet we are usually far from being clean and pure at times. A passage that has gone through my mind over the past number of weeks is Ephesians 4:

"...to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold....
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you".

It is important that we don't become so fixated on personal purity that we are never content with who we are and how we interact with people but it is also important that every ounce of our lives is an acceptable sacrifice of worship. We want to live clean lives in a way that means we don't become self-centred. We want to live in the power and the freedom of the Holy Spirit and so Paul gives us some advice on how to do that with particular reference to how we can treat others, how we speak to others and what grieves the Spirit.

I think the Holy Spirit acts as a seal not only to identify us as His but to protect us, therefore, if this seal is broken we become vulnerable to all sorts of things. I guess maybe the term grieving could imply that the Holy Spirit grieves for us because He knows the cost and pain that sin can cause us and how we lose out on perfect communion with God.

So, the way we live matters.

"Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering". Romans 12:1-2

Any thoughts??????????

Thoughts from the Studio

t's Monday 27th August - a bank holiday for most of you but back to teaching for me. So after a few hours in school, I am back in the studio listening to Johnny putting down vocals for another song. This is the penutimate day of recording with Shane here and the last day for lead vocals. Tomorrow has been set aside for other musicians to come in and add a little more tastiness to the songs. The BV's will be done over the next couple of weeks which means we (I) don't get to relax just yet.

It has been a great learning curve for all of us in terms of the actual recording process but also learning about each other. It has been so fantastic to get to know people better over the last few weeks and to see how we all respond to different situations. I love getting to know people in this way because then you get to know how you can best support each other.

This has been an important experience for me and no doubt for all of us in the band. I am really excited about the future and I already have the sense that this time and what we have done is much more significant than we can imagine. Let's hope so!

Day 16 in the Studio

So we are on day 16 of the recording and still have 4 days to go and then some! We are currently putting down the lead vocals and by the end of the day we should have 7 songs done (half way there!). I have to say that JP is doing a fantastic job and his voice is sounding really fantastic. I got the chance to put down 2 lead vocals today which I am happy with but more than that - I just love the songs. I feel a real sense of God's spirit on what we are doing and I feel very expectant about the songs that have been written. It can be quite scary to get excited but I am hoping that this is a God inspired excitement and that people really pick up the songs and find them helpful in communicating something special and unique to God.

Shane Wilson has been fantastic! He is patient and encouraging and just a great guy to be around. He has become a friend to us and we will be very sad to see him leave on Wednesday (we will always have a soft spot for Crispy Beef from the Chinese). We have tried to convince him to move to Ireland but I guess Nashville probably suits best for his line of work!!!!!!

This has been a fantastic experience and opportunity for us all and we genuiney feel humbled to be doing such a wonderful thing. It is a privilege to feel like you know what you were made for and we are thankful.

Tour Bookings

We wanted to let you know the exciting news that Johnny and the band are going to be touring the new album in the new year. (The album is going REALLY well - the band have most of the tracking done and are digging into the vocals at the moment)

Johnny and the band are planning to tour around Ireland and the UK from January - June and have a number of dates confirmed already. Over the next wee while we will be pulling together all the bits and pieces to get everything organised and will inform you of the dates once everything has been finalised...it's gonna be fun!

If you are interested in booking Johnny and the band for a night of the tour to play in your church or at a venue near you, then please get in touch! All you have to do is send a nice wee email and we'll get back to you really soon with a friendly response. Email us at info@johnnyparks.com

Check the blog or website for updates: www.johnnyparks.blogspot.com or www.johnnyparks.com

Peace

The JP team

The Expanse of My Heart

The love of God is incredible. Living out love is the most amazing thing but it means being true to yourself and being honest with others. I used to think I was an honest person but having spent 2 weeks recording I realised that I am an incredibly emotional person and that it is important that I see this as a part of who I am. Since realising this I have felt like some chains have been broken in my life and that I have a renewed passion to worship God. Being known by others seems to make it easier for me to feel like I am known by God.

For a long time I have tried to play down my emotions in order to appear as though I am in control but a friend very wisely pointed out to me that this emotion is a gift; not only from God but this is a gift to the people around me. God has made me the way I am because this will bless Him and others. This is basic, bog standard stuff and yet the realisation of this stuff over the last week has shifted something in my spirit. I feel like I've once again sensed something of the freedom I am supposed to be living in.

I've felt challenged about the notion of living in freedom over the last 6/7 months. I keep wishing I could bring a freer expression of worship to God as I live out my life but I have found that this is only partly achieved by choice. Sometimes life throws us into situations where our approach to people or situations is challenged. Living out our lives in community with others is a healthy way to learn this stuff. This gives us the opportunity to grow in love which then increases our level of trust with people which in turn increases our freedom to be ourselves.

Thank you to the people around me who have made my heart grow.

The Tomlin Tour

We have just returned home after a busy few days supporting Chris Tomlin & Band in Belfast and Stoke-on-Trent. It has been an absolutely fantastic few days (except for the ridiculously early flights). Playing in the Odyssey is always difficult (in my humble opinion) as you feel quite disconnected from the crowd and therefore it is difficult to sense whether or not people are engaging in worship. Nevertheless, it seemed to go quite well and we had lots of positive feedback about the set and particularly a few of our new songs i.e. Rescuer, Troubles and Great Church. The best part of the night had to be going out for a drink after with some of the guys including our drummer for the event (Tim Cooke) and Shane Wilson (our producer). The boys sampled some Millenium Bushmills Whiskey and Shane pointed out that this experience was 2nd to the birth of his son!



We flew to Manchester on Thursday morning for our gig in Stoke. This was a smaller theatre (approx. 1000) but the atmosphere was great and despite tiredness we really gave ourselves in worship and played a really energetic set which people really engaged in. We got good feedback and encouragement about Rescuer and Great Church (2 new songs which will be on the album).



The last few weeks have been very significant for me in a number of ways; I love building relationship with people and so this has been a great chance to get to know the band better and meet other musicians. I have really felt God's presence over relationships and can see how he is growing us in love for one another. It has been great to hook up with the Tomlin Band and be able to participate in worship. Chris has quite a few great songs and so it was just soo refreshing for me to spend time worshipping God and be overwhelmed with gratitude for what He has done, what He is doing in me and what he is doing with our band. Time to worship is so vital for me as it is one of the primary ways that I feel connected to God and so I need to prioritise this more. The Tomlin band did a great job at both UK dates and it was fantastic to support them and air some of the new songs.

So, it's back into the studio today to put down keys and guitars for the next few days. Please continue to pray for us all as we seek to bring the best that we have to this project.

More Pics

Rhythm Section




Shane Wilson - Our Producer




On The Way to The Studio


Worship Pose



This Morning at Our Guest House

Pics @ The Studio

Studio Days 2 & 3

We're almost at the end of day 3 with just one more track to go before we leave the studio for the day. We will have 8 tracks down by the end of today so we are a very happy bunch. It has been going soo well for us and the songs are sounding really great. Mikey has contributed so much to the songs already and is fitting in fantastically well. Shane has been doing a great job and is a patient and encouraging producer to work with.

I managed to put down 4 piano tracks this morning on a freshly tuned Steinway grand piano. I am really happy with the parts and feel confident in what has been done so far. I'm not sure if I could do 13/14 hour days all the time but it is proving to be alot of fun so far. It's not all hard work - we do get to play a little too!



Today has been a good day; I sense God's faithfulness in my own personal experience and feel a much more gentle spirit about everything that has happened today. Gentleness is a beautiful thing - here's to growing in it!!!!!!!!

Studio - Day 1

Day 1 has been really great and very productive. We spent all morning setting up and after a bite of lunch we started with 'Rescuer'. Mikey Randon is drumming for us and so far he has done an absolutely fantastic job. It is inspiring to watch his enthusiasm and determination to put down a flawless drum track. He is a great guy and has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the project. After getting the drums and bass down for 'Rescuer' we moved on to 'Our God is Mighty'. This song sounds really great already with a really solid drum grove and pretty fantastic piano riff which we've put down using a Whirlitzer but we are still undecided about whether it works better than a nice piano sound.

Our producer is Shane Wilson and he is doing a great job with us, he's pretty chilled which makes for a great working environment and so far he has been positive about he songs and parts. Adrian Thompson (Survivor A&R Manager) is over with us and so it is great to have his input and encouragement. More importantly he took us out to a yummy pizzeria last night for a meal. The pizza's were amazing so visit Miller's Pizza Kitchen at the bottom of Waterloo Road if you're ever in Dublin.

All in all, a successful 1st day - thank you for your thoughts, prayers and encouragement.

Here goes!

We are heading down to Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin this evening where we'll get a quick stop at the studio to drop off gear and hopefully a very comfortable night's sleep in our B&B before getting stuck in tomorrow morning. It has been helpful receiving texts and e-mails over the last couple of days and so please keep that up as it really is an encouragment. It is a fantastic opportunity for us all and a little nerve-racking so keep praying for us.

We really want to fit perfectly into the plan that God has for us and we feel very thankful that he has prepared us and ushered us into this so gently. It is good to be reminded that this is His plan for us and that He has asked us to do this. We hope that our response brings glory to Him and that in turn people will be blessed, strengthened and encouraged by the songs that make it onto the album.

Thanks for your help and support so far and please keep in touch over the next few weeks. Hope to see you at the Tomlin gig!