Thursday 31 May 2012

Your performances

We like to keep tabs on how you are all doing and when your performances are.  Check out our list at the bottom right of this blog to see if anything is going on in your area.  We've had a poster by email from Jane inWorthing advertising their own performance:

New Mailing


Here is the latest email mailing from Roger:


Dear Friends
This is our major 2013 Mailing, and it comes in various downloadable links. There is so much we want to share with you:

SUMMER NEWSLETTER, including my sabbatical review, ideas for the future, diary, and much more:
http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/newsletters/05-12-cmmnews.pdf

New 2012-13 CATALOGUE, showing new products, all my works, other writers, books, sheet music, backing tracks, etc:http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/cmmcat.pdf


CHORAL HOUSEPARTY TO ISRAEL, inc. date, prices, further details, application form:
http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/israel2013.pdf



CMM EVENTS, Michael Card, Holy Spirit Day, Renewal Evening, Orchestral Day, CMM Choir, Music Weeks, etc:
http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/courses-events.pdf



RUNNING THE RACE - various ways in which you can support and be part of our ministry:http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/cmmsupport.pdf

If you also receive this by post please tell us. We are keen to cut down on "snail mail" if possible.
Thank you for your ongoing support,
Roger Jones

Renewal Evening

On Sunday last weekend we had another renewal evening.  It was good to have Roger and Mary back on the team after they missed the last one.  This time the speaker was Nigel di Castiglione from St. John's Harborne - a very lively church which can number Tim Hughes among its former members.

The music team for the day was Katie and Jonathan on vocals, Tim on drums, Helen on bass, Dave on guitar and soprano sax, Annie on viola, Liz on flute and Roger on piano.  Roger had chosen some newer songs to try out on the congregation - two from Matt Redman - Bless the Lord, O my soul (10000 Reasons) and When I stand before your throne (Endless Hallelujah).  The two songs went down really well - we're definitely adding them to the repertoire for the future.

Nigel spoke on healing and moving in the power of the Spirit.  He reflected on how much more there is available to us of God's power than we use.  He also said something interesting and controversial - he claimed that Jesus never prayed for healing.  Jesus had done all of his praying in advance - when he met people who were sick, he knew Father's will and spoke healing instead.


These renewal evenings have been a real blessing.  It has been great for us to lead worship, and wonderful to share in prayer ministry with Christ Church and their team.

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Another worship weekend

While Roger and the work of CMM is mostly known for the musicals, it is always a delight when we are invited for a different reason - to lead workshops on worship or life in the Spirit.  This time a team from CMM were invited by Bob Deakin to travel down to Appledore in North Devon for a music in worship day at the Baptist Church.  Bob has long been known to CMM as a soloist - he played the role of Joseph of Arimathea in the musical Pharisee in 1996.

Roger took with him Annie and Marilyn, and also had Bob on the team for the day.  Appledore Baptist has several worship teams, and many of those involved came to a day of workshops on the Saturday including teaching such as 'Being a worshipper', 'Ways to praise' and 'Planning and leading praise'.  Roger says the day was wonderful, and God was clearly moving among the people.  We pray that particularly the worship leaders have been encouraged to move people forward in intimacy as they praise and worship together.

The following morning the team were involved in the morning service at the church.  Bob led worship and Roger preached, and the service was very lively with a good music group and some prophetic words/pictures.


It was so good to minister at Bob's church - we look forward to going again someday!

Friday 25 May 2012

Worship Workshop at Pype Hayes

St Mary's Pype Hayes is a church just to the north of the M6 in Birmingham, not too far from Christ Church, Burney Lane.  CMM has had a bit of contact with the church over the years via various church members, and quite a number of their ministry team came to 'The Spirit Who Heals' day a few years ago.

A few months ago CMM was contacted by Mike from the church who had gradually been gathering together a small worship team, and they found that they were growing but wanted a bit of input to help them develop.

As a result, Roger, Annie, Katie, Liz, Brian and Emma travelled to the church to lead a day of teaching on music in worship.  Emma hadn't been involved in a CMM gig for quite some time, but she enjoyed it and played her violin really well.

Roger was utterly delighted with the day - a huge proportion of the church members attended and the vicar Nigel was very supportive indeed.  As a result of the day the worship group are planning to meet together and discuss how to take things forward, and several of the church came to the renewal meeting at Christ Church a couple of weeks later.

It is such a privilege to be able to minister in situations like this - churches with a heart for worship but maybe without lots of resources.  It was great to be able to encourage them and we pray that they will be really blessed as they move forwards.

Thursday 24 May 2012

Wildfire in South Wales

Immediately after the visit to Rhos, Helen and a team travelled to South Wales for a Wildfire in a day.  Helen's other sister Miriam picked her up, and together they drove to their parents house in Neath, ready for the day on the outskirts of Port Talbot.  On the Saturday they were joined at Sandfields Methodist Church by the rest of the team - Bill, Phil, Caroline and Wendy.

Wildfire is a very difficult musical to learn in a day, and there was mild panic amongst the team when most of the singers asked to use the words copies rather than the music.  But it is utterly amazing what the mind can achieve in terms of memory work - particularly when it comes to learning songs.  None of the choir had sung the musical before apart from Helen's mum, so this was a big challenge.  The choir sang mostly in unison, but those that read music were able to put in some harmonies as things went on.  There were a few dicey moments where the sopranos made up the tune, but the overall result was absolutely amazing.

Phil (Stephen), Bill (Paul), Caroline (Rhoda), Wendy (Lydia) and Miriam (Anna) did an amazing job.  The three ladies blended beautifully well, and did a great job in the widows song.  They also worked on some drama with one of the local girls' brigade girls - they added some wonderful drama into the 'Signs and wonders' song, and also into the stoning scene - aided by some of the men including Helen's dad.

The performance was very powerful, and there was a large audience.  A man called Chris narrated with a wonderfully clear voice.  Helen shared the Gospel at the end of the musical, and it finished up with some wonderful drinks and cakes.  There were some lovely comments after the musical, including one that it was 'the best thing ever!'  Hopefully CMM can return to the area one day, and do a different musical that is easier!

The following morning Helen preached in the church, assisted by her mum and sister, who were brilliant in leading some music ministry time.  The congregation even coped with Helen's latest children's song - 'Super Saviour'.  She preached on Stephen and about being both a practical and a Spiritual person, and spent quite a while asking the Spirit to come.  We pray that God will continue to work and really bless the area.

Thursday 17 May 2012

A Week in North Wales

Helen, Deb and Bethan (Deb'sdaughter)
A couple of weeks ago we had our first music week of the year.  This one was at St. Winifred's hotel in Rhos on Sea in North Wales.  The team for the week were Roger, Mary and Helen, with Helen's sister Deb taking part for the first couple of days and then the performance.  We always love travelling to Rhos, and are looked after so well by the hotel staff.  This year is sadly going to be the last as the hotel closes this summer.


Helen sent this email update half way through the week:


Hi EBRG and my family!
Just a quick update on how things are going here at Rhos.  We're doing the musical Wildfire, which is a very tricky thing to learn in a short space of time - it'd be fine if it was just choir, but the soloists are needing work too.  Please pray for my concentration levels during the rehearsals - they seem to be endless!  I had one before lunch, and then since lunch I've been working with all the soloists and then the basses (well, Barrie who is normally a tenor and a lovely chap called Alan who doesn't usually sing in choirs).
Roger's teaching has been well received so far too - they seem to be enjoying the worship times, and are very open.  In our team meetings we've been listening to God for words, and so far they have pretty much all been claimed.  This morning Mary had a picture of a woman in a blue scarf, and that it would be something to do with her husband. I had a picture of a trig point.  It turned out that the lady in the blue scarf this morning - her husband used to work for OS mapping!
Tonight we have yet another rehearsal, and I hope to go through the whole musical.  Tomorrow we have the last teaching session, and then a free time after coffee break before rehearsing at the URC just round the corner for the afternoon.  The performance is in the evening.
--


Akshay, Karen and Paul


One of the joys of this week at Rhos was that we were joined by some local soloists - Karen, Akshay and Paul.  The three of them had taken part in the Two Sisters performance back in the autumn, and it was great to see them again.  They had put so much work into learning their parts.


The final performance went really well at the United Reformed Church.  Keith, one of their former ministers, played drums for us as always, Roger played piano and Deb played her viola.  For the song 'Knowing Him', which is entirely solo, Helen was able to step down from conducting and play the flute.
The Hotel Staff


We had a larger number of guests than usual, and together they formed a fantastic choir.  Barrie, Clyde, Alistair, Mark, Cheryl, Mavis, Margaret and Mary all sang solos, and Jackie and Alan narrated.


We are so sad not to be returning to St. Winifred's, but we hope this will not be our last visit to North Wales - some ideas are in the pipeline for next spring, so watch this space!

Wednesday 16 May 2012

More of your reports


So good to be kept up to date with what you are all up to!

A couple of weeks ago Sharon led a day in Cumbria which used the new Seasons and Reasons resource from CMM.  She sent an email to say how it had gone:

Between 30 & 40 took part, I haven't asked Julia (my new admin lady) the exact number yet. We used 10 songs and Barbara Brown linked the numbers with some readings & poems. I received a lovely email from a Kendal lady who loved the music and some nice comments from others at the end of the day.Several are planning to come to the next day on Saturday 7th July in Heversham. Will be looking at 6 different songs and recapping 4 songs from last weekend to use at the informal presentation at the end of the day. Slightly shorter day in July and ending at approx 3:30pm instead of 5pm.Really pleased that we decided to do the two days using S&R. We are hoping to do Jarius's Daughter in April 2013 as a full performance in Barrow & Kendal and The Inn Crowd in a day in Kendal on Saturday November 17th 2012.

Sharon is a choir trainer based in Barrow-in-Furness, and every year she leads the choir for our music week at Abbot Hall near Grange-over-Sands.  There's still some places on the week, so go ahead and book!

Another choir based in Derby recently took part in a couple of flashmob events:

Dear Roger,Thank you for your email; It’s good to hear from you. It certainly sounds like you’re already busy again, but I trust that the sabbatical was good and refreshing for you.Our notable event in Derby, recently, was taking part in an Easter Flash Mob at the local Westfield Shopping Centre. Videos of that event can be found at http://www.derbychoir.com/flashmob.html and http://www.derbychoir.com/flashmob2.html. It was great to be able to challenge people to think again about Easter with the music that we sang. (Altogether there were around 250 people taking part, with about 30 from our choir.)Our next focus will be Two Sisters and we begin rehearsing for that on 24th May. We haven’t booked any firm dates yet, although we are anticipating some time later this year, but we have had interest from one or two local Churches already. We are still looking to add to our numbers as part of that, so if you hear of anyone looking to join in in the Derby area, (or further afield who wants to commute!), then please let us know.Ian

And then we had this from Anthony:

Hello Helen, just to record we had a wonderful Easter weekend at a residential family event in Herefordshire. We successfully performed Jerusalem Joy with adults & children covering the songs & dialogue plus a piano accompaniment & two clarinets. The children are still singing the songs !!I may do a complete performance of Jerusalem Joy at St Margaret's Church, Olton on an appropriate date near Easter next year.With best wishesTony




Monday 14 May 2012

In at the deep end

Roger came back from his sabbatical and was thrown straight in the deep end with a very full weekend in Salisbury.  He began on the Saturday with a special Two Sisters and a Funeral day.  The choir had been working really hard under the care of Andy Larkham and Grahame Chubb, and so Roger was able to include plenty of Bible teaching in the day.

He was joined on team by Sarah (Martha), Phil (Jesus), Paul (Lazarus) and Wendy (Mary).  Wendy had to step into the Mary role at the last minute because Caroline was ill, but she did a fantastic job.  Roger was also joined by Gill and Brian who travelled to Salisbury to be the prayer team.  Gill and Brian hadn't been on a CMM event for a while, and they were really blessed to see all that God was doing.

The performance itself was brilliant - the choir sang amazingly well and there was a full church at St. Paul's to listen to them.  The following morning the team were at St. Mark's Church - Roger speaking and Sarah, Brian and Gill taking part.  St. Mark's was a bit smaller, but full of life with a prayer team ready to pray with people when Roger had finished.

It was great for CMM to go to Salisbury again - we look forward to next time!

Thursday 3 May 2012

May Emailing

Roger's been sending out his latest Email Newsletter with all kinds of things on it!

Hi Folks

My sabbatical is now well and truly over, and already I've led a TWO SISTERS in Salisbury, and a WILDFIRE week in Rhos -on-Sea.

This month we have a Worship Day at Pype Hayes, Birmingham (05), a Worship Weekend at Appledore (12-13), a Renewal Evening at Christ Church Ward End (20), then TWO SISTERS productions in Hull (22) and Crediton (26). The CMM Choir rehearsals also re-start - Mondays at Harborne and Tuesdays at Ward End (both at 1945hrs). For details contact CMM: 01527 576440 or events@cmm.org.uk

We have four more MUSIC WEEKS in 2012: (Come and learn a Musical then perform it on the last night!)
02-09 Jun - SNAKES AND LADDERS Music Week, Abbot Hall, Grange-over-Sands
http://www.christianguild.co.uk/abbothall/index.php
28 Jul - 04 Aug - SNAKES AND LADDERS Music Week, Lee Abbey, North Devon  http://www.leeabbey.org.uk/devon/
18-25 Aug - DAVID Music and Worship Week, Willersley Castle, Derbyshire http://www.christianguild.co.uk/willersley/index.php
01-08 Sep - WILDFIRE Music Week, St Rhadagund's Hotel, Isle of Wight http://www.christianholidays.co.uk/st-rhadagunds.php

- and then a Special Interest Week:
17-21 Sep - GEOCACHING WEEK - Abbot Hall, Grange-over-Sands http://www.christianguild.co.uk/abbothall/index.php
- to find out more about geocaching go to:
http://www.geocaching.com/guide/default.aspx

My sabbatical was a varied experience, with many notable features:
(1) Settling in at our new church - Holy Trinity, LICKEY
(2) A visit to ISRAEL - resulting in next year's Choral Houseparty - to request details: http://www.cmm.org.uk/events/israel2013.php
(3) A week in CYPRUS - we have been invited back in 2013 to lead a Mission across the Island using a Musical
(4) Great FAMILY times, resting at Weston, enjoying our new grandaughter Molly
(5) Reading, prayer and reflection - I managed over four books!

This year Mary and I celebrate our RUBY WEDDING, 40 wonderful years! On 22 July we are having a special CMM CHOIR production at LICKEY, preceded by coffee and cake at 1600. You are all invited! (Please tell us if you are coming to give us some idea of numbers.)

Helen works hard at keeping the CMM BLOG up to date. Do keep checking it out: http://christianmusicministries.blogspot.co.uk/

Finally, I'd like to give you a free Ascension Hymn from our "Seasons and Reasons" collection, "Heaven's throne ascending":
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37965878/Heavens%20Throne.mp3
The Music Book, CD and Backing Tracks are available from our website:
http://www.cmm.org.uk

Bless you all and keep in touch,

Roger

Tuesday 1 May 2012

CMM Choir Simeon again!

CMM choir at Lickey back in January
Due to the snow a few months ago, the CMM choir had to cancel one of their performances of Simeon at Holy Trinity church, West Bromwich.  This church is the home church of one of the soloists, Edgar, so it was really important for the choir to rearrange and hold a replacement performance.  Edgar played the part of Simeon, and Alan spoke at the end of the performance and was really excellent.

The choir seems to be really developing a lovely feeling of fellowship and support, which is great.  It is lovely when people who might otherwise be alone can meet up and share together, not just in singing but spiritually too.  The choir always have a little Bible study and prayer time as part of their rehearsals, and pray together before every performance.

Saints Alive in Harborne

Last weekend Annie went just the short drive down the road to St Faith and St Lawrence Church in Harborne, Birmingham, for a special churches together event.  Annie had been asked to lead Saints Alive in a day, and this followed on from her Apostle in a day last year.

Annie had a great team with her - Richard, Catherine, Jenny, Eddie and Amy.  Amy and Catherine both sang and played instruments - Catherine on cello and Amy on clarinet and other various bits.  Richard brought some of his family to watch the performance, but leaving his young twins at home.

There were about 30 in the choir, who were very good, and included a lot of music readers and members of the CMM choir, which was great.  Annie was very pleased with the quality of the final performance, and she gave a talk as part of it.  Her talk was about being a witness, which linked in with one of the songs 'Power to be witnesses'.  She talked about how our whole lives will be a witness, and when we're asked about our faith and the reason for our hope, don't mince words and only talk about the nice bits!