This blog catalogues the life and times of Christian Music Ministries. Ever wondered what life is like in the CMM Office? What is Roger working on at the moment? What are our hopes, dreams and prayer requests? Read on!
Thursday 20 December 2007
Rock cast announced
Tuesday 18 December 2007
Rock gathering pace...
Roger has finished most of the songs now, and sent them off to various people - Chris King, the recording producer, Tim - Roger's son, and Annie, who will sequence them and design backing tracks. There is a date fixed in early January where Roger will play and sing to EBRG, his support group, so that they have more of an idea of what they will be focusing on for the next two years. So Roger has his first deadline...
Also, auditions for the solo parts in Rock took place a week ago. It was a very successful evening, if scary, for the quality of all the auditionees was very high indeed. The cast have now been chosen, and they will be formally announced soon. Please pray for them, particularly bearing in mind the understudies who have very much a servant role. Also pray for those who were not chosen, as the news will have been very painful.
The tour of Rock itself is also coming along well, with many venues confirmed and booked ready for choirs to begin rehearsing ahead of their performance. There are many nervous administrators out there who have paid deposits on halls before Roger has even finished writing. Please pray and thank God for them.
Finally, still to come is the dance auditions in April, a hunt for instrumentalists, and Alison Fuggle will soon begin work on the drama. There are so many loose ends, but gradually things are falling into place.
Monday 10 December 2007
An evening at home
Roger led an evening based on the canticles at the start of Luke's gospel, accompanied by carols and songs from the CMM repertoire.
The CMM team for the evening was Roger, Mary, Annie, Helen and Pat - Pat's cold meaning that Helen had to sing the high notes in 'For to us a child is born'. She didn't attempt the top C, unsuprisingly.
The sisters were delighted with the evening, and put on a wonderful spread of home-made mince pies - delicious!
All together for once...
The cast were ably supported by the Kidderminster New Life Together Choir, who also provided three wonderful shepherd soloists. They looked fantastic in their bright red sweatshirts.
Kidderminster Baptist Church in Franche is now under the care of Simon Gudger, who played Joseph on the recording. Simon, veteran of four touring musicals and numerous CMM recordings (Simeon, The Christmas Collection, A Grain of Mustard Seed to name just three) is currently training for the Baptist ministry, supported by his wife Louise.
Friday 7 December 2007
Showtime!
Tuesday 27 November 2007
Come and join the Inn Crowd...
Monday 26 November 2007
Scratch Inn Crowd in Ipswich
Helen spent the morning and some of the afternoon working with the choir, who made a beautiful sound - there were a lot of talented people among them.
Annie led the orchestra and then the full rehearsal and performance. She had to stand on a box in a pew so that all of the singers could see her properly. As there were so many in the choir they were arranged not only across the stage but down both sides as well, and at one point in the rehearsal, in the pulpit, the choir stalls and on the steps up to the pulpit!
Simon, Catherine and Laura also earnt their keep. Simon sang the part of the Inn Keeper, and Catherine the part of Mary. They also helped to train the soloists, and the wonderful group of children who played the shepherds. Laura, as ever, was the ultimate bookstall keeper.
The day was very tiring but an immense success, and hopefully we will be able to return to Ipswich for a performance of Rock in 2009.
Thursday 22 November 2007
A busy mid-week
The informal setting of the working men's club was perfect for a proper welcoming Inn atmosphere, and a fantastic time was had by all.
Annie yesterday spoke at the Arise Group from St. Germain's Church, Edgbaston on her work with Christian Music Ministries. This is the church Annie has been part of for 24 years - don't worry - it is not the first time she has been asked to speak!
Monday 19 November 2007
Chilly...
On the Saturday we led a Ways to Praise day, beginning with 'Being a Worshipper' - some teaching using King David as the model, then Annie, Katie and I led a new songs session, introducing some of the music for the later part of the day. After lunch, Roger led a creative and prophetic session, forcing poor old Katie to sing out a prophecy (sometimes it's great to be intently playing your instrument so there's less chance of being picked on) and we concluded with a the 'Ways to Praise' session, with it's focus on psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
On Sunday morning we took part in the sung eucharist at the Abbey, including Man of Sorrows and My God, how wonderful thou art during the communion.
Friday 16 November 2007
Sing to the Lord
Tuesday 13 November 2007
Sad News
Off the mainland...
Thursday 8 November 2007
Time to catch up...
Last week we spent Wednesday in a beautiful small village in Worcestershire, Charlton. In the afternoon, Roger led a rehearsal workshop for their forthcoming production of While Shepherds Watched. They are a small choir, but they make an excellent sound, and some of their plans for including the children sound excellent. They are also from several different churches in the parish, and seem to enjoy uniting to sing.
Following the rehearsal we were provided with a lovely meal, and then we led a Ways to Praise evening. The session went very well, and Roger, Annie and I were ably assisted by Martin, whose parents were watching! It is a big challenge for rural churches to find musicians to assist their worship, but we hope the Ways to Praise evening may have encouraged people in their 'worshipping from the pew'.
Tuesday 30 October 2007
An old classic...
Also, on Saturday, Phil Parkin, now retired but formerly part of the CMM office staff, led A Grain of Mustard Seed in a day at Elmdon Methodist Church. The 30 strong choir did a fantastic job, and an audience of 40-50 enjoyed the final performance. Phil has not conducted anything since his retirement from the CMM choir, and he says he was a little rusty, but soon remembered how to conduct. He loved having the baton back in his hands - watch out world!
Friday 26 October 2007
The smallest event...
On Tuesday I spoke at a small meeting at Ellen Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. There were about 20 there, and I tried out my sermon for Sunday, interspersing it with a few songs.
At the beginning, a young Muslim lady came in, and sat down and listened. She didn't join in with the songs at all of course, but she seemed content to sit and wait.
At the end she was asked if she'd found the meeting different to her expectations. Surprisingly, she said, "No. I came in expecting to find peace, and I found peace."
Praise God.
Thursday 25 October 2007
Treloyhan Manor
The CMM team for the occasion was Roger, Annie, Helen, Ann Steer and Bill Carpenter, and we were joined by the Christian Guild hosts for the week, Ivor and Anne Cresswell.
After a wonderful full cooked breakfast, the usual pattern of events involved some bible teaching led by Roger based upon themes from the musical, followed by a choir rehearsal led by Helen and Annie. The afternoons were free, and then the evening meal left us all a bit full for the evening's entertainments - a games evening, a praise party, and an informal agape.
The scratch choir worked really hard, and it paid off with a superb performance on the Friday evening to an audience of over 30 (all the hall could hold!). The evening was led well by Bill and Ann as Sam and Debbie, the Innkeeper and his wife. The other soloists - Mike, Mike, Ray, Ann, Gill and Pauline also were wonderful, and were beautifully accompanied by a string section of Ali (violin) and Annie (viola).
It is always a real priviledge to be part of the leadership team for a CMM music week, spending time sharing with and ministering to the different guests. We have 8 music weeks lined up for 2008:
Whitby 10-15 Feb, Rhos on Sea 7-11 Apr, Grange-over-Sands 24-31 May, Harnhill 14-18 July, Bognor Regis 21-25 July, Lee Abbey 2-9 August, Scargill 16-23 August, St. Ives 6-13 September.
If you are interested in coming to any of these, please email Helen for further details: helen@cmm.org.uk
Photos: Treloyhan Manor, St. Ives; some of the delegates at the final rehearsal; the CMM team; Annie and Ali - the string section.
Thursday 11 October 2007
Multi-tasking...
Photos - Roger, Annie and Helen in action!
Tuesday 9 October 2007
An unexpected trip to the seaside...
Friday 5 October 2007
India Report
Here's some excerpts from Roger's report on his trip to India:
"Accompanied by DEVON BROWN and ANN STEER, two of our regular Soloists, we set out on a long arduous journey lasting about 20 hours. Missing a nights sleep, and 4 ½ hours in time, we arrived at Kerala and immediately were joined by MIKE & BARBARA ROWARTH, who came out from UK a week earlier. Very soon we were rehearsing THE INN CROWD.
"It was a joy to meet up again with the “Family Harmony” Choir. They are a wonderful group of very friendly and welcoming folk, who made us feel very much at home. The “World Premiere” of THE INN CROWD was presented at CMS College Hall and approximately 500 people came to watch."
And then in Vellore...
"The Chapel meetings were a challenge for me, having to wait each sentence for the translation. But the translator was a wonderful Christian man, and we all knew he was capturing the true impact of what I was trying to say. After the second meeting a small Hindu lady came and knelt before me, asking for prayer. This as just the start! As the days went on more and more came in this way, even Patients were brought down from the Wards by Nurses. Never before have I felt quite so reliant on God turning up in power!
"The final Production was tremendous, with over 1000 people crowded into the auditorium. The Choir were magnificent, and the Dancers, about 20 of them, thrilled us with their “Indian style” movements. The local soloists, who complemented the UK Team of Devon and Ann did extremely well, and the “Indian World Premiere” of JAIL BREAK crowned an amazing two weeks of ministry."
Read the full report at http://groups.msn.com/RogerJones/india07fullreport.msnw
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Earn CMM some money!!!
1. Go to the cmm homepage: www.cmm.org.uk
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page
3. Click on the easyfundraising banner
4. Register as a user
Whenever you do any online shopping, first go to the easyfundraising site, log on, and then follow the links to get to your desired shop, whether it's Amazon, Ebay, HMV, etc etc. Apparently they'll donate a small percentage of the money you spend to CMM.
5. Click on easysearch on the left hand side of the easyfundraising page
6. Follow the instructions
7. Make it your homepage or your default search engine, or both!
Whenever you search online for anything, easysearch will make a small donation to CMM from those who have sponsored links. The search engine is Yahoo, which is just as good as any other search engines.
Happy shopping and surfing!
Monday 1 October 2007
A triple header...
Photo: Some of The Inn Crowd Soloists at the recording day: Simon, Helen, Katie and Devon
Friday 28 September 2007
Cometh the hour...
Hopefully the printer will deliver some vocal scores in time...
On a different note, Roger has returned from India full of stories about God's work out there. It seems they have had a brilliant time. I'll have to get him to write something on here about it one day. But his photos can be seen at:
Friday 21 September 2007
Travels afar
On Monday they travelled to the teaching hospital in Vellore to begin a week of mission, which will culminate in a performance of Jail Break on Sunday evening. This will be a very challenging week, as Roger has to lead two teaching sessions a day, as well as a choir rehearsal.
Friday 7 September 2007
Musical Launch
It's always interesting on these occasions to see who turns up - nearly two years ago, we had over 200 people come and learn 'While Shepherds Watched' in a day, which was quite incredible. It was also the big retirement party for Phil though, so a lot of people came. Last year we held 'A Grain of Mustard Seed' in a day. That musical doesn't seem to hold the same appeal as the bible based musicals, despite some really good pieces and its strong message. We have already had considerably more bookings than for Mustard Seed, so I'm beginning to get excited.
It looks like it is going to be an interesting orchestra - so far we have:
2 drummers
2 guitarists
1 cello
1 violin
1 oboe
1 trumpet
1 trombone
and 4 flutes!
Not sure what instrument I'll play yet...
The choir is also going to be interesting:
5 altos
9 tenors
7 basses
and 42 sopranos!
God has a strange way of working sometime.
Photo: Trumpeters at 'A Grain of Mustard Seed in a Day' last November
Tuesday 4 September 2007
In the beginning...
I write this first post from a very quiet CMM office. Roger, Mary and Sally are away on holiday, Annie is working from home, and Lindsay and Katie aren't working today.