A little catch up

I’m so sorry I haven’t written for a while. Seems like life has been very, very full since we got home from America!

Just to let you in behind the scenes, we have been busy with church, gearing up for conferences, listening to mixes for the album, normal family life, and everything else that manages to squeeze itself into our days.

I’m so thrilled with the album! The mixes are sounding wonderful!!! In fact we decided to do a bonus track of the live version of Hungry I led on the Friday night in Bethel, so I was in the studio re-singing that yesterday.

I’m delighted that we get to do the live album like this - where we had the opportunity to lead worship on four separate occasions in Bethel (really let us choose the best take without having to focus too much on the actual recording at the time - felt much more like just leading worship), whilst at the same time having the time to re-sing everything afterwards. The thing I love the most about this is that you don’t lose any of the passion of the worship moment, and yet you get to smooth out some of the pitchy singing. I don’t know about you, but I get pretty excited when I’m leading worship, and I don’t intend to change that, but it can sound a little edgy at times - not always something you want to press repeat on afterwards :) In the words of Miley Cyrus - it’s the best of both worlds.... (you can tell how old our kids are eh?)

Church is wonderful too. It’s brimming over. Easter was stunning! More than 1000 people turned up at our two Coleraine services, and another almost 100 in Ballymena. The reason that excites us quite so much isn’t the numbers, but the fact that lives are changing in our town!!!! That is the reason we came to plant a church. We long to see the kingdom come, with people finding who they were made to be, falling in love with an incredible God, and ultimately changing the communities in which we live - regardless of which church they decide to go to. I LOVE it!!!!!

On the family front, the girls are doing so well! They loved their time in America - they even went to school for a couple of days while we were away. They have decided that American school is about a million times better than home because they didn’t have to do any work while they were there! I have tried hard to explain that it’s not quite the same when you are a visitor, that in real life American kids have to work really hard too (not sure they believe me yet). Despite this, they have settled really well back into school and life at home.

And, we started puppy school last week too! Our dog Charlie is coming up on 7 months and he is FULL of personality! He’s a sock stealing, laundry lifting bundle of fun, and we are loving having him in our family!!! I won’t mind when he has spent a little time learning the rules of engagement just a little more thoroughly though ;) Will keep you posted on how we get on with our lessons.

SO, that is a round up of what has been going on with us.

God bless you in your own circumstances, with the unique things that fill your days, that stretch your thinking and expand your heart....

K

RECORDING IN BETHEL

What a month this is turning out to be!!! I am going to record the album live in Bethel Church Redding, CA. We are going to do two nights of worship. The first is the end of the Prophetic conference that is being held next week - and as far as I know it's already booked out.

The second night will be Bethel's Sunday night church service 6pm.

I can hardly believe the way the Lord has put all of the pieces together. It honestly feels like a dream come true, and I am very much expecting the Lord to do what He does so beautifully: heal people, set them free, turn lives inside out, and restore over and again what was lost. I am SO excited to be even a tiny part of that!!!

If you are able to come for the Sunday, I would be absolutely overjoyed to have you there!!!

If not though, it won't be too long until you'll be able to 'be there' through the album too - I'll keep you posted both on how it goes, and on when the album will be released.

God bless!!!

K

WORKING ON SONGS...

I’m working away at the moment on finishing the songs for the new album. I’m so tantalizingly close now!!

It looks like we’ll be recording next month, and we are planning to do a live event this time around. It will unlike any live recording I’ve done before - with the exception of the Focusfest album. Every time I’ve done a live recording before the focus has been on capturing the songs, over the flow of worship. That’s what I love about the Focusfest album though - on that recording, I wasn’t thinking about the album at all, I was simply there to lead worship - and I love what happened!!

Somehow, on this recording I really feel like we need to capture the sense of the presence of God and what He does when He shows up in room, whilst at the same time be able to fix up mistakes and so on afterwards so that we have something excellent as well.

When I’m teaching about worship it’s those two things that I keep coming back to - intimacy with God and excellence in music. I’m longing for both. That’s the offering I want to bring: not one where the Lord shows up, but I’ve not done my part to make it sound amazing - OR one where I’ve done my bit but there’s no room for the King.

As we get the exact dates sorted out and the exact venue (should know in a couple of days) I will let you know. If you live nearby I would be honored if you would come and be a part of it!!!

Love,

K

happy new year

I hope your Christmas was absolutely wonderful!!! Ours was fun and family filled - it was a real treat!!

We are starting to gear up again for the new year, and the schedule ‘kick in’ that comes next week. I’m a funny creature - as much as I LOVE holiday time, I truly love the rhythm of getting back into the swing of things. I love waking up in the morning and planning the time that I have to get things done while the kids are at school. I love sneaking for coffee with my husband all by ourselves. I love writing songs. I love thinking through worship sets and arrangements. I love imagining how people will respond to the Lord as we sing those songs together as a church. I love the ebb and flow of season - the work, and the rest. I’m so grateful for both!!

I hope and pray that 2010 is filled with the majesty of the Creator calling you into the dance again. I pray that it would be full of hope. I pray it would be marked by favor. I pray it would be a year to remember...

Love,

K

life since the tour

I’m so sorry for the long silence since I got home from the US. I’ve actually been home for three weeks today, and have no idea where all that time went to!

I do need to tell you a wonderful story from one of the nights on tour. If you’ve been reading my blog you’ll know that I’m really trying to hear and sense what the Lord is doing in the room when I’m leading worship - and when I catch even the faintest glimpse of what I think it is, I either sing it out or say what I think God is doing. To be honest, I’ve been doing this in faith, not always sure if it’s hitting the mark or not. Since I’ve started doing this (it’s just over two years now consistently), sometimes people have come and told me what God has done, whether it’s been healing, or emotional release, and I’ve been deeply encouraged - and sometimes I haven’t known whether or not I heard right. As I’ve said before though, I would rather mess it up than miss it!!

Well, while we were on tour this last time I went for a few healing things. In one concert 6 or 7 people raised their hands to say that God had healed them right there in the middle of the set! I was thrilled!! In that same meeting I gave a word that God was healing people with foot conditions. Usually, I’ll just give the word and then move on to the next song.... I figure that if it’s the Lord, He’ll just do it, and if I got it wrong then there’s no need to linger on it :) Well, I got an email from a lady this past weekend to say that it’s been four weeks since we were in her city and I gave that word. She had arthritis in her foot, and a lump on one of the bones that was going to require surgery (she was due to have that this month). On that night the pain left her foot! Then, over the next few weeks she waited to see if it was properly healed. I love that by the way, it’s a great thing to make sure!! After a couple of weeks she realized that not only was the pain not coming back, but the lump had disappeared!! She was able to go to her doctor who gave her the all clear and told her she no longer needed surgery! HOW GREAT IS THE LORD?!!!!!

So, I’m feeling really encouraged by that! I’m also really enjoying being home again without any imminent travel for a couple of months. It’s been wonderful to get into the rhythm of the winter (even though it’s a little dreary at times), and just breathe in again!! We also got to pick up our new puppy this week - and actually, the season is just right to give the time and attention to him that he needs!! He’s a little black lab - as you can see from his picture here - he’s 8 weeks old, and we’ve called him Charlie! He already is VERY much a part of our family!!! I had no idea I would love a dog so much! I’m feeling grown up :)

I so hope you are doing well too, and that life in this new season is starting to feel like a good fit. I always find the transition into winter a slightly bumpy ride - just because I love the sunlight so much, and it gets dark here in Northern Ireland over these few months. It’s when I learn to listen to the rhythm of the new season - the ‘deep rest’ of winter - and allow my rhythm to join in time, that I start to settle again and love the ‘time that I’m in’.

God bless!!! I’ll write a little sooner the next time ;)

K

back in the USA

I LOVE coming to America!!! It’s such a wonderful place. I love the hunger of people everywhere I go to meet with God and spend time in His presence - and I love the opportunity that we all have after that, to take His presence into the streets, into our work places, to our friends, to people just ‘out there’ who haven’t met Him yet. Being a disciple is the most exhilarating life I can imagine!!!

We (Paul Baloche, Brian Doerksen, the band and I) are on the road again for our second ‘Deeper’ tour. I so loved the last tour in October - and am excited to see what will happen this time around too.

At the moment we are in Cleveland OH at Cuyahoga Valley Church. We’re doing a two day conference here with a worship concert tomorrow night - it’s already sold out, but you might be able to squeeze in if you come along :)

On Thursday we’re making our way to Pittsburgh for another worship concert. If you live near there and you’d like to come, we would so love to see you there. It’ll be at South Hills Bible Chapel in McMurray PA.

Friday night we’ll be in Eastern Hills Wesleyan church in Buffalo, NY. Saturday in Boston, MA at Grace Chapel. And then Monday and Tuesday next week we’ll be doing the conference again at Wave Church Virginia Beach, VA.

If you are hungry for God, ready to spend some time just soaking again in His presence, then these concerts are something you would really enjoy!! If you are part of a worship team and would love to get your guys along to something that will help encourage them along the way - both with practical teaching and really wonderful times of worship, then you would love the conferences.

There is still time :) You can check it out at integritylive.com

Would love to see you there!!

K

church has left the building!!

We had an amazing night last night at church! We’re currently running a ‘Church has left the building’ conference in our place. It’s something we’ve done a couple of times now, letting people come and learn how to do the ‘healing on the streets’ model of praying for people in their town centers, or wherever the Lord has opened up for them to go. At the moment there are over 600 churches in 21 nations who have been trained by Mark Marx (on staff with us here), or at our conferences - and everywhere the Lord is doing the most incredible healings!!!! More than ever we are sure that there is no ‘harder place’ than anywhere else. God is at work in the world!!!

This conference is especially wonderful because Chad and Julia Dedmon are with us from CA. These guys just have a fire in their bellies. They are convinced that God is as powerful as He says He is, and that He is Lord of the whole world. They will pray for anyone with any condition in any situation, and because of that they have seen such incredible outpourings of the Holy Spirit - both in encounters with God, and in healing for people who are just out and about doing their ordinary thing with no real thought for God at that moment. I LOVE that!!! It absolutely stirs you up again to hang out with people like this - you come away encouraged and excited to be salt and light - naturally supernatural.

I so love that we don’t have to get weird, we just have to be available. It’s the willingness to ask the Lord to come and do what only He can do - and then get a front row seat as He does ‘heaven numbers’ on people :) I’m up for that!!! In fact, I’m desperately hungry for that.... Let your Kingdom come Lord!!!!!!

p.s. If you are interested in hearing more about ‘Healing on the Streets’, or if you’d like to read some of the stories of what God is doing in Northern Ireland and in other parts of the UK, you can check out out-there.org