Annie in Ipswich

While the CMM team were on the Isle of Wight, Annie travelled to Ipswich with Eddie Smith and Catherine Muggleton to lead 'Apostle in a day'.

Annie says it was an 'ambitious but very successful project with large choir, orchestra and full drama, re-written for the event by organiser Peter Miller. Very moving performance to an appreciative audience.'

Annie received a lovely email from Peter Miller after the event:

Thank you for your efforts with us doing Apostle. Those who participated really enjoyed the experience and we have had a number of emails thanking us all for the efforts put in and the great sense of fellowship that existed.

The Bethesda element of the Choir sang at both services on the following Sunday, we did Thank you, Thank you in the morning with the men singing the Paul solo parts and then the sixteen of us split into four groups of four for the round. In the evening we did Jesus has changed my life as written with Peter taking the Paul solos.

Overall a great weekend!

We hope you were not too tired after the long day!

Once again thanks for coming among us, you will always be welcome.

Rock on the Isle of Wight

For the last few years, CMM has made a regular visit to the Isle of Wight, inspired by Wight churches together, and several important connections over the years such as June, Trish and the Harley family. Brian Harley is a URC minister in Shanklin and is heavily involved with GEAR - the Group for Evangelism And Renewal in the United Reformed Church.

This time CMM travelled over to perform Rock on the island, and the team for the week consisted of the 6 principal soloists from the Rock CD - Devon Brown, Bill Carpenter, Simon Cooper, Ann Steer, Aly Ottaway and Helen, as well as native-moved-to-the-mainland Sarah Harley on violin. Sarah has only been part of a couple of CMM gigs, but she is already showing herself to be a wonderful asset to the team - amazing on violin, and with a lovely singing voice.

The team (accompanied by Barrie) arrived on the Island for a meal and a rehearsal on the Friday evening. The rehearsal was at St. John's Newport, which was to be the venue for a performance on Sunday afternoon. The choir were fantastically trained by June, and we had some amazing techies - Simon and Dave - who looked after us amazingly well.

After a night with our wonderful hosts we had a free morning and then a wonderful lunch at Trish's. As well as Barrie from the mainland, the choir were also supplemented by Mark, Cheryl and Shirley, all of whom are regulars on CMM's travels.

In the afternoon we set up and rehearsed at St. John's Sandown, and then our performance was in the evening. The church was very cold, but we warmed to our task - the choir were amazing, particularly in the lovely acoustic, and there was a big appreciative audience. People chatted for ages afterwards - it was difficult to get away!

On Sunday the team split in two - Helen took Bill, Simon and Aly to St. John's Newport for the morning service, and Roger had Devon, Ann and Sarah at Shanklin URC. The service in Newport was an early start, but it went well. Helen preached while Aly read a monologue and Bill and Simon sang 'Simon Peter, do you love me?' One of the highlights of the service came just after the lay reader Anne had spoken to the children about God's word being sweeter than honey and richer than money. Two small children came wandering slowly to the front after Anne's talk while Helen was getting up to speak. They were holding hands and looking pleadingly at Anne - in the hope that she would give them some of the chocolate money she had been holding up! Roger and team had a great time in Shanklin - there are a lot of good musicians at the church, including Verity, an adopted member of the Harley family. She is also turning into an amazing violinist, and perhaps we will be able to use her too in future.

After lunch it was time for our afternoon performance at St. John's Newport. As it was their second go, the choir were even better, and the audience this time seemed less reserved - it was a fabulous performance, and people were really blessed.

In the evening we had a lovely meal at the Harley household, before a day off on the Monday.

Huge thanks go to all those involved in inviting us and putting us up. We understand that someone became a Christian at one of the performances, which is wonderful news - praise God!

We received an email from Mary Jackson, who was inspired by the weekend:

I'm still singing along to Rock in my head all day long after last weekend on the Isle of Wight! It was wonderful - as always. I was inspired to write this poem after seeing 'just an ordinary man' take the part of Jesus.

Just an ordinary man

I saw Him standing there –

He was just an ordinary man,

Nothing to set Him apart from his friends –

Until He looked at me.

There was something different about him,

Was it the look in His eyes,

Full of love and compassion

As He looked and called me ‘My Child’.

But there was something else,

A sadness in His eyes

As if to say to me, ‘My Child,

I’m longing for you. Please come.’

And then it was that I realized

That this very ordinary man

Was no other than my Saviour –

Jesus – God’s son – come to earth as Man.

Looking forward to our next Roger Jones event on the Island in Holy Week.

Mary Jackson

Men's Supper Club

Roger is sometimes asked to speak at local events by the churches nearby, and on the evening of Wednesday 20th October he travelled the 10 minute trip to South Yardley Methodist to speak at their men's supper evening.

Roger really enjoyed his visit to them - although the men were considerably outnumbered by ladies! While he was there he found out that his old piano teacher (in her 80s) is still playing the organ at Saltley Methodist Church. He has since been in touch.

Instrumental recordings

After the soloists and backing vocals had done their stuff, Annie went into the studio to record some live instrumental bits and pieces. These live instrumentals really add to the sound and quality of the album.

The main things recorded were some strings with Heather Bradshaw (violin), Libby Golding (violin), Annie (viola) and Roger Barnett (cello) and also some guitar from Ian Price. The string sound is absolutely beautiful - particularly in Abide with me, and the guitars are always brilliant as Ian is a Christian session guitarist. His guitars particularly light up Tim's backing tracks for the 'baddie' songs. Helen also added a tiny bit of flute and trumpet - most of the flute had been added back in May when the 'Look of Love' album was being put together.

Annie and Chris have done a great job with the instrumentals - the CD has now been sent off to ICC for duplication, and we can't wait to have it back!

Another quiet day

While Roger and Annie were working hard in Bramhall, Helen was in Birmingham also working hard. She had been asked to lead a quiet day for Solihull Churches Together at St. John's House in Alum Rock, where she lived before getting married. It was great to see the sisters again and to spend time in the wonderful setting in the house and grounds.

For the last few years Solihull Churches Together had held their quiet day at a venue in Rugby, but this time they decided to stay a little closer to home, and they had a few more in attendance due to that - there were 18 at the day, which was wonderful.

Helen decided to lead the day looking at the end of the world, and focusing on what the Bible actually says. Tom Wright has written some excellent material which gathers the biblical material about the return of Jesus together, emphasising that the Christian hope finds its real basis on that, rather than only on the idea that when we die we leave our bodies behind and go to heaven. Instead, emphasising the bodily resurrection and the new heavens and new earth helps us to focus on Jesus' complete victory over sin, death and pain.

The day went down really well - there was some worship, some teaching, and loads of opportunity for people to be quiet and spend time with God.

Weekend in Bramhall

On the weekend of 15-17 October, Roger travelled to St. Michael's church in Bramhall, Stockport for a music in worship weekend called 'Psalms and Praise'. He took with him Annie, Andrew Lockwood, Amy Carter, Jaime Dawson, Val Dawson and Brenda Earnshaw. It was wonderful to be invited to Bramhall - CMM have several really good friends who live in the area, some of whom attend St. Michael's. Louise Richardson at the church has regularly trained choirs for our tour performances, and we regularly see people like Bob and Tricia Munn and Angie Wilson at our music weeks.

On the Saturday the team began by leading a plenary session called 'Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord' based on Psalm 95 - looking at using music in worship, incorporating thanksgiving, praise and more intimate worship.

Then Roger and Annie led two workshop streams, including creative worship, learning new songs, ministering in the Spirit and receiving the power of the Spirit.

The final session on the Saturday was called 'Search me O God and know my heart' based on Psalm 139.

On the Sunday Roger had to preach at two out of the three morning services - one more traditional than the other, and Annie and Amy helped in the Sunday school, teaching the kids 'Our God is a great big God' which went down like a storm with the kids and the congregation.

In the afternoon Roger and the team led one final celebration and then travelled home after a very busy weekend.

Thanks so much to Bob, Louise and all at Bramhall for inviting the CMM team.

Quiet day with Barbara Rowarth

Roger and Helen, along with a team of Deborah Wilde, Kaye Cooke and Richard Harvey were at Christ Church in Birmingham for a quiet day which was led by Barbara Rowarth ably assisted by her husband Mike. Mike and Barbara have been friends of CMM's ministry for years and years, and Barbara has led several of her quiet days for us before. One of her particular gifts is in gently leading people into God's presence through some bible teaching, and then giving people plenty of quiet time to enjoy God through visual prayer stations.

The theme of the day was the book of Ruth, and in the morning Barbara focused on the first two chapters, looking particularly at why Elimelech left the promised land with his wife and two sons, and why Naomi returned, accompanied by Ruth. She also spoke about Ruth's meeting with Boaz, and the incredible kindness he showed to her in the field.

The afternoon particularly looked at Ruth and Boaz' meeting on the threshing floor, and also Boaz's immense generosity in marrying Ruth and taking on Elimelech's property - Ruth was able to bear a son to continue Elimelech's line. This line of course continued to King David, and on to Jesus.

Barbara also offered some prayer ministry during the day, and almost all of the attendees received prayer and had a wonderful day.

It was also wonderful to work with Richard, Kaye and Debs in leading the worship for the day.

Musical in a day, Horley

On Saturday 9th October CMM found itself in two places at once. The first venue was Horley, near Gatwick, and Annie led a team there to lead Saints Alive in a day.

Annie had been invited to lead the day in celebration of St. Wilfred's Parish Church's 40th anniversary celebrations. She took with her Bill Carpenter, Ann Steer and Amy Carter.

There weren't huge numbers in the choir, but they sang really well and all enjoyed themselves. The performance was great, and it was lovely for Annie to see so many familiar faces.

Annie also took part in the morning service at the church the following day, helping to lead some of the music.

Congregational Recording Day

On Saturday 2nd November, a large choir descended on Christ Church in Birmingham for our congregational recording day. This choir was made up of over 150 singers from across the country - as far as Poole in Dorset, Middlesbrough, Taunton, Hull, Altrincham and Macclesfield.

The choir were able to hear some of the songs from the new musical for the first time, and to meet some of the soloists. Chris King came, and set up a powerful mic in the centre of the church at the front, and we managed to record some excellent singing which has been widely used across the album.

Often this recording is one of the trickiest things we do - it is impossible to have headphones for so many people, so we have to record unaccompanied, and keeping that many people in tune and in time is a difficult task.

So we were thrilled when we heard some of Chris' earliest mixes and he'd been able to use so much of what we had done on the day. The congregational sound adds a wonderful extra dimension to the recording - a fullness and richness of sound that the backing vocal group would struggle to manage alone.

Thanks to everyone who came. It was a very worthwhile day (and a lot of fun too!).

Two Sisters Soloists Recording

For two days in the middle ofSeptember, Roger went in to Chris King's recording studio to lay down the main vocals for the new album. It was a really couple of days, and we are delighted with the results.

Emily played the part of Mary, Aly the part of Martha, Martin the part of Jesus and Devon the part of Lazarus. It is fantastic to have such a young (on the whole!) cast. Some of the highlights of the recording include Emily and Martin's duet in 'Sitting at your feet', Aly singing in 'Abide with me' and Devon's work in 'Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus'.

The four main parts weren't the only soloists to record. There were also two ladies - Amy and Caroline, who came to record some extra bits and pieces. They recorded a verse each in 'Jesus comes riding in to town' as well as some parts of the opening song.

Amy and Caroline were joined by a group of men - Jonathan, Bill, Pete and Richard to record the male 'baddie' parts. There are two songs which require some priests who are upset about what Jesus is up to which have been written by Tim specially for the musical. The guys sound like a fantastic rabble - and they sang really well too!

Renewal Evening - Jonathan Conrathe

On Sunday 19th September, we held another of our Renewal Evenings - evenings where we collaborate with Christ Church, Ward End, in order to bring people into God's presence where they can learn about his love, and how his Spirit can impact our lives.

Roger led the worship with Annie, Martin Fisher, Alan Smith, Amy Carter and Katie Leaver as the music group for the event. Peter Smith led the ministry team, and also took over proceedings once Jonathan had finished speaking.

Jonathan is an excellent speaker from Mission 24 based in Wellington, Shropshire. His organisation run missions across the world and training for mission weekends in the UK.

We are really excited about the way these renewal evenings are growing, as they seem to be meeting a real hunger in East Birmingham, bringing CMM right back to its roots in terms of inviting the Spirit to come in local churches. The ministry time was particularly wonderful, with so many members of the congregation blessed by God's Holy Spirit.

Two Sisters - the recording begins!

Chris King, Annie and Tim have been working really hard on backing tracks for the new musical all year, and in September we finally got to the stage where we were able to add some live recording to the tracks.

The first thing to go down was the backing vocals. For every recording Annie hand-picks and trains a close harmony group for the CD. CMM is honoured to have some wonderful singers to work with, and it is always hard for Annie to decide who would be best for the group. This time we had Katie Leaver and Helen on soprano, Annie and Catherine Muggleton on alto, with Amy Walters recording a mixture of both parts. On bass we had Simon Gudger and Paul Edwards, and Dave Tandy and Dave Morris on tenor, with Dave Roberton recording both parts.

On the finished CD the group will provide most of the choir sound, forming the basis for any solo work to go on top, and the congregational sound to be added later. It can be incredibly hard to get the congregational sound to be in tune and in time, so the work of the backing vocals group is essential.

It was a fun couple of evenings, and the group did a wonderful job - completing all they had been asked to sing and a little bit more, providing a great basis for Roger to go into the studio the next week and record the soloists.

Rock of Ages

The day following Pharisee, Roger had a special speaking engagement. It was the 10th anniversary of the Gloucester and District Christian Choir, led by Pamela Dewick, and they held a special service at which Roger spoke.

Pamela (known affectionately as the Duchess) formed the choir in 2000 specially for the Gloucester performance of Snakes and Ladders, and they have been involved in every tour since then.

To celebrate, the choir had a weekend away together in Somerset, and it was great for Roger to meet with them at this special time.

Pharisee in Weston

Early in September Annie had been invited to Weston to help with a Pharisee in a day at Locking Castle Church. Pharisee is quite a long musical to learn in a day, but Annie managed it! She was greatly aided by some fantastic local soloists including CMM regular Kaye Cooke, and the lack of men meant that she just had to teach the soprano and alto parts.

Annie conducted the performance brilliantly, and Roger and Mary came and were part of the audience, which was lovely for the choir.

Jairus' Daughter in Sidmouth

At the start of September a CMM team consisting of Roger, Mary, Bill & Barbara, Helen and Amy travelled down to Sidholme, a Christian Guild hotel in Sidmouth, Devon. The host couple for the week were Peter and Joy Mills from Leamington, and it was great to work with them again following previous weeks at St. Ives. The hotel was totally full, and about two thirds of the guests took part in the CMM week.

The musical for the week was Jairus' Daughter. We had expected just to have a choir at this week trained by Helen, but we also had several musicians, so Amy took a small orchestra with Roger on piano, and a flute, a clarinet, a trombone and a saxophone. Jairus' Daughter is a fairly simple musical, so the guests learnt it very quickly - the choir were beautifully balanced and made a fantastic sound. They were a real pleasure to conduct as they all looked at the conductor and responded brilliantly to dynamics and expression.

As well as learning the musical, we had several other sessions during the week. Bill spoke at the Sunday morning service, Helen led the introductory evening and did the main Bible teach

ing on Monday morning. On one evening we had a Ways to Praise session looking at Psalms, Hymns and Songs, and we also gave a special preview of Two Sisters and a Funeral. All the rest of the team chipped in leading worship and epilogues. Peter and Joy lead morning prayers every day, and it seemed to grow and grow until there was nearly no space in the lounge.

The performance went fantastically well with some lovely solos from the guests. There was also quite a large audience - we had to bring in extra chairs.

By the end of the week it was clear that God was blessing and working with most of the guests, and it was a real privilege to be there to minister.

Two Sisters

Throughout the summer we have been working really hard on Roger's new musical, Two Sisters and a Funeral. The soloists for the CD have been meeting together, and the backing vocals group have also rehearsed.

Main soloists:

Jesus - Martin Fisher

Lazarus - Devon Brown

Martha - Alyson Ottaway

Mary - Emily Bray

Then there are a few other soloists:

Some women of Bethany:

Caroline Finney

Amy Carter

The 'baddies' in Jerusalem:

Bill Carpenter

Richard Harvey

Jonathan Chappell

Pete Hazelwood

Andrew and Gemma's Wedding

Friday 27th August was the second Jones family wedding of the year. This time it was Andrew's turn to tie the knot with Gemma. The bride and groom looked apicture, the groom did a great job with his funny speech, and the families had a wonderful day together - first at the church in Wolverhampton and later at the beautiful reception venue.

There was a gifted cartoonist at the reception who amused the guests throughout the day. Every now and again there would be a huge peal of laughter whenever he finished his

latest creation.

Willersley 2010

In mid August we held a music week at Willersley Castle near Matlock in Derbyshire. This was our second summer music week at Willersley, and it is a fantastic venue - brilliantly accessible in a beautiful part of the country.The Christian Guild hotel was a complete sellout, and it was wonderful to have so many taking part in the week.

The host for the week was Marion, who has hosted with us several times - usually at Abbot Hall near Grange-over-Sands. It was wonderful to have Marion with us, and she did a fantastic job - even more so when we heard that her husband John had died (aged 98) only a couple of weeks before. John was a wonderful character, and will be sadly missed.

The musical for the week was From Pharaoh to Freedom, and this time Helen was training the choir, with Annie sorting out the orchestra. We also had Phil Parkin on team who did a wonderful job accompanying. As well as Phil, Helen and Annie, the CMM team comprised of Roger and Mary, Paul Edwards and Alan Walker. It was great to have Paul over from France, and we look forward to when he comes back to the UK and we can see him more often.

The choir and the orchestra were absolutely excellent, and they produced a wonderful performance on the Friday night, and quite a number came to watch, including some friends from Sheffield. But beyond the performing, the highlights of the week came in ministry, as quite a number of people were touched by the Spirit and received prayer.

Another lovely evening occurred when a team came from a church in Nottingham to lead us in worship and share their testimonies. It was great to be encouraged by them and then for us to encourage them in turn with their future ministry.

We also held some Holy Spirit ministry workshops during the week, as well as a whole evening looking at the new musical - Two Sisters and a Funeral. Martin Fisher was working in the area, so he came to join us for that session.

A wonderful week, and we look forward to next year when we will be working on Two Sisters and a Funeral.

Wydale Hall

On the weekend immediately before our Willersley music week, Annie travelled up to Wydale Hall in East Yorkshire. The purpose of her journey was to lead worship for the parish weekend away for Heversham and Milnthorpe. The speaker for the weekend was Martin Cavendar from ReSource, an Anglican organisation who have a wonderful evangelical charismatic ethos.

Annie had a bit of a difficult journey up and then problems with the projector, but eventually everything settled down and went incredibly smoothly. Annie was greatly blessed by the weekend, and I'm sure everyone was blessed by Annie's playing and worship leading!

Lee Abbey 2010

The annual CMM music week at Lee Abbey in North Devon was a great success once again. This year's musical was From Pharaoh to Freedom, and the full house at Lee Abbey took to it with relish. The choir
and the orchestra were smaller than usual, but the audience was therefore quite a bit bigger.

The choir was led by Paul Herrington, who has been involved with CMM music weeks at Lee Abbey for several years. Paul did a fantastic job with the choir and the soloists,

who all picked up the music very

quickly.

Annie once again was in charge of the orchestra, and she had a lovely group to work with, including an excellent string section. They were also brilliantly supported by a drummer from the Lee Abbey Community, which really added to the performance.

Although the choir and the orchestra were perhaps a little smaller than in the past, there was no let-up for the team. One of the features of the week was the amount of prayer ministry which occurred - God was clearly using Roger's teaching and all of the worship sessions to bless people with more of His Holy Spirit.

We had a lovely email from Sue in Derbyshire after the week:

Hi Roger/Mary

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say how much we enjoyed last week at Lee Abbey. I thought the musical was fantastic and despite not having sung in a choir since I was 18, I thoroughly enjoyed testing my sight reading skills again. We listened to the CD all the way home to Derbyshire and reminded ourselves of the great time we had.

Roger, you’re obviously in the perfect job given your amazing musical talent and gifts in the way that you communicate with people. It was delight to spend the week with you.

God bless.

Sue