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Interviews
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  • Writing
    • Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
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    • eBook: Good News People
    • eBook: Filtered Grace
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That Happy Certainty - Gospel | Culture | Planting
Culture, Music & Film, Ministry, Interview

All Together Now – Awesome Cutlery on their new album

Back in April 2017, I interviewed Dan Adams & Gareth Loh, aka Awesome Cutlery, about their new album ‘This is Awesome Cutlery’. Awesome Cutlery aim to produce fun music that helps families worship Jesus together. The chaps kindly took the time to give us the lowdown on life since then and shared the vision behind their new record, ‘All Together Now’, due out in December.

– Congratulations on the second album guys! It’s now been three years since the release of ‘This is Awesome Cutlery’. My impression is that the first album was really well received! What have been some of your reflections on the past three years?

Dan: When we recorded the first album, we just had some songs for our families and churches. We didn’t know what to expect, but thought the songs might be useful to others, so we asked God to use it to encourage families to talk about Jesus and worship him. It’s been overwhelming to hear from parents about conversations they’ve had on the back of a particular song or sketch. Others have said they really started doing family devotional times because of the booklet we brought out. What a joy!

Gareth: Looking back, we had a bit of soul-searching before starting the album in earnest – were we qualified? Were we allowed to do it? Would people think we were arrogant for trying? I’m glad God helped us find the right entrepreneurial approach of seeing the need and trying to meet it, but doing so with constant feedback along the way. We would have stopped if Christians we trusted told us, ‘Nice try, but music ministry isn’t for you’!

Dan” It’s still slightly strange to arrive at a Christian event and be approached by an enthusiastic parent who wants to share something of how the album has blessed their family. Each of those conversations is an opportunity to thank God for his faithfulness in answering prayer and his grace in using failures like us!

– Good stuff! Now, second albums are notoriously tricky! Was making All Together Now difficult?

Gareth: The thing that made it hardest was a sense of expectation. The first time, we didn’t know if anyone would listen – in fact, we only had 100 CDs printed the first run because we were worried about having garages full of unwanted copies! Knowing that this time quite a lot of people were likely to pick it up meant that we worked even harder on the songs, trying to fine-tune lyrics and melodies. As part of that, we were able to have a bigger budget, which means the album sounds a lot bigger than the first.

Dan: On the first album, G and I hardly spent any time in the same room writing together. All the songs were written by one of us then emailed across for feedback or suggestions. This time round we spent much more time together, and most of the songs are co-written. Sometimes we would meet for a day to write songs and come away with nothing useful. Other times, it really clicked and songs came very quickly. We’ve learnt much more about each other’s strengths and how we work together. I can come up with a lyric and melody idea and know that G will be much better at figuring out what chords should go with it.

Gareth: And likewise, Dan is great on coming up with a singable, catchy melody. I’ve very thankful to God for a team-mate on the project who is hugely gifted, and for the way that makes Awesome Cutlery better than the sum of its parts.

– Beautiful! Glad to hear it! So tell us, what are the super heroes up to this time?

Gareth: Still being pretty underwhelming! The hardest thing Captain Awesomeness tries to tackle is laying the table.

Dan: Just like the first album, the hero sketches fit around the songs. The album doesn’t really have a story-arc. It was more a matter of writing as many songs as we could, choosing the best ones, and then working out which ones would benefit from being introduced by a sketch.

Gareth: We’ve heard lots of parents say the sketches have helped children listen to the album, and also talk about discipleship issues together. It’s been fun aiming to continue that with these characters, whose relationship has definitely developed over time. Cutlery Boy especially really understands the Captain now, and that was nice to bring out in one or two of the sketches.

– What would you say have been your aims with this second album?

Dan: Our big prayer is that it might play a small part in God’s hands of raising up a generation who have a biblical worldview. A child’s worldview is being built all the time, based on what they see and hear. We hope that these songs and sketches will help children (and parents!) see themselves and the world the way God does. This is a tool that parents can add to their toolkits as they seek to teach their children how to see the world.

Gareth: Beyond that goal, and generally wanting to encourage singing together, there isn’t an overall theme for the album. We chose songs by things we got excited about ourselves. A few things I studied at Bible college – Union with Christ, and God’s plan & timing – ended up as tracks on the album. It was great to share those things with my own children as I was writing, and we hope that others will benefit in a similar way.

– Is there anything in particular we can be looking out for?

Dan: One song we’re really excited about is ‘Who I am’, which is a response to the pressure children are under to work out their own identity. I remember being at a school assembly and watching a group of children passionately singing a song from ‘The Greatest Showman’ – it contained glimmers of truth but ultimately gave them a self-centred way of understanding themselves. We wanted to write something that put God’s design for us in its true, positive light, and that helps us to celebrate the joy of being made in God’s image.

Gareth: There’s also a song called ‘We Are The Church’ which people have already enjoyed at some of our live shows. It’s got an anthemic feel, all about how huge church is – part of God’s masterplan of bringing all things under Christ. We hope churches might pick it up if they don’t have much like that in their repertoire.

– How might families and churches use the album?

Dan: One thing we want to do for ourselves is fill family times together with thinking about God, working at getting to know him better together. Sometimes it’s as simple as listening to music on a car journey. One reason we invested so much in the production quality is so that it’s not painful to parents to listen multiple times over!

Gareth: Repetition is really powerful with children, it’s the way we learn when we are younger, so stick with it. It doesn’t take long for them to absorb the words better than you know them. You can also have fun with it – for example, one song says that God does AND doesn’t have a birthday, so a parent could easily say ‘What I’ve learned from that song is that God definitely doesn’t have a birthday.’ Children love correcting mistakes (don’t we all!?), and the conversation can go from there.

Dan: As for churches, we worked hard to make some of the songs really suited to singing congregationally. Along with that, we’ve been able to get sheet music and singalong videos done professionally, which we’re making available for free at www.awesomecutlery.com. Please visit and help yourselves!

–

You can pre-order All Together Now from 10ofthose here, ahead of it’s 4th December scheduled release!

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November 27, 2019by Robin Ham
Book Reviews, Interview

Growing an Excitement about God’s Purposes for Intimacy: An Interview with Pastor & Author Jason Roach

Jason Roach is a pastor and former medical doctor from South London, and his new book, Swipe Up: A Better Way to do Love, Sex and Relationships has just released. He kindly took the time to answer some questions about the vision behind the book…

– Jason, in Swipe Up, you describe how in many ways we’re all on a search for the “exhilarating, terrifying waves of intimacy”. Can you give us a snapshot of what led you to write this book?

A couple of years ago now, I picked up a copy of a book called A Better Story: God, Sex and Human Flourishing, written by Professor Glynn Harrison, a Professor of Psychiatry in Bristol. I was blown away by it. It was really honest about how powerful the stories our culture tells about sex are. Rather than merely writing them off, he dug into how they tapped into something God given. I wanted to unpack this in a way that I would have appreciated when I was discovering Christ but also trying to navigate relationships too. So something shorter, that was strong on showing that it understood the kind of emotional rollercoaster the struggle for intimacy can put us on.

– You mentioned how you were inspired by Glynn Harrison’s book, and Glynn has obviously enjoyed reading Swipe Up, writing the foreword. In it he says this is a ‘big book’ because it’s ‘real’. Who is this book aimed at, and what are you hoping for from it?

I really do hope people in all kind of different situations would read it and be refreshed by it. If there was one group I would pray in particular would read it, it would be Christians who want to follow the bible’s teachings about sex but struggle to either understand it or to be excited by it. I hope that this book starts to show that God’s way is actually good news.

– It can be easy for Christians to feel on the back-foot when it comes to explaining what the Bible teaches about relationships. How can we change that?

Three things. First take time to listen. Truth is, if in today’s culture we’re anywhere near someone being willing to engage with us on our views about sex, we are in a privileged place. We should cherish and respect that. I’ve found that taking time to understand where people are coming from dispels a lot of misunderstandings about how they might expect me to react. Secondly, be passionate about God. God is love, He invented sex and He did it to point us to the being in the universe who can give us the most pleasure. This isn’t necessarily where people want to start, but I’d prefer someone left a conversation frustrated that I was so excited about God than frustrated that I didn’t seem to care what they thought! Thirdly, agreeing that we want to be who we are. It’s just that our most basic reality is being made in the image of God, so to reflect what he is like. I go into this more in the book.

– In what ways do you think the church has misrepresented God’s vision for sex and relationships?

One of the big weaknesses has sometimes been a neglect of single people. By neglect I mean that their singleness is not celebrated or supported. Some women came into our church the other day and spontaneously offered to pray for some of us. They quickly started praying for our wives or the wives that God had in store for us! Jesus and Paul were single, and yet the culture of our churches at so many levels often makes it seem like being single is stage to pass through as quickly as possible. We also need to highlight and nurture friendship so that celebrate again the range of relationships God gives us to enjoy as we travel on the journey of life.

– How might the message of Swipe Up help us as we think evangelistically about engaging our neighbours and the culture around us with the gospel?

A few weeks ago I gave the book to someone in the office that I happened to be working in and asked them if they would read it and tell me what they thought. I actually had assumed that they were a practising Christian but after they had read it, they told me they weren’t. But they loved reading the book! So give copies away! I hope that it helps us both have language that makes it easier to explain what we believe about sex but also a way of approaching conversations that is both humble and more focused on the bigger Christian story that makes sex makes sense.

– You’re involved in leading and pastoring a church. How would you recommend churches engage with these issues? Any wisdom for those in pastoral ministry on helping people in this area?

Over the years it’s become increasingly clear to me that to not teach on something is effectively to say “it’s best if my congregation simply agree with what the world says this issue.” Not only do they not hear what the bible says, but get all kinds of distorted views of what Christians think too. When your bread and butter is working through books of the bible in preaching series this takes a lot of intentionality. So teach more on it. I’ve found midweek groups are a great setting because it allows for qualifications and questions that are so important. It’s also a real opportunity to interact with popular culture to show just how common the influences of the sexual revolution are.

If you have parents who read with their children, encourage them to start doing that around these issues sooner than they think. Again, when we don’t do this we are essentially saying “I’ll let the playground and the playstation be their teachers.”


You can pick up a copy of Swipe Up from the publisher here.

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October 8, 2019by Robin Ham
Music, Interview

Discipling Kids through Song in the Nitty-Gritty of Life: An Interview with Songwriter Michael Tinker

I’ve been aware of Michael Tinker’s music for a while now, so it was great to catch up with him ahead of the release of his new kids’ album to hear more about his vision for Christian kids’ music.

Michael, you’ve just released your fourth kids’ album, intriguing titled Mission To Dendros.  That strikes me as an unusual title for a Christian kids’ album! What gives you the inspiration, and why would a parent buy that rather than your typical ’60 worship songs for kids’ album?

People are already trying to work out the theological significance of ‘Dendros’! The album and accompanying 7-part audio adventure is set in space, so we needed a name for the planet where most of the action happens. James Cary came up with ‘Dendros’ and it seemed to work…

I’ve always loved radio and drama, so I try and work that into all of my albums because I figure other kids do too. We’ve gone one step further with the latest album by adding a 7-part adventure which has given us the opportunity to really develop the characters with some biblical themes interwoven throughout the story.

Why buy this rather than the latest ‘The Only Kids Worship Album You’ll Need EVER (volume 105)’? Well, if you’ve got the cash, buy both, but if you’re having to choose, ‘Mission to Dendros’ offers not only kids worship songs, but also songs that deal with subjects that perhaps traditional kids songs don’t. I’m a big believer in using songs to disciple children and to do that effectively we’ve not only got to sing about the big bible themes, but also how the gospel impacts the nitty gritty of life. So there are songs dealing with worry, sadness and loss, as well as those big bopping bouncy bible theme songs that underpin it all. And there’s Mr Grumpy. And lots of jokes.

You’ve worked on some significant albums and tours that are for ‘grown-up’s. How did you get into writing and performing for children and families – and what’s kept you going?

I’ve always loved working with children and in fact ‘Inspector Smart’ (who’s on the first couple of family albums) was a creation of my 17 year old self. It really got going though in 2013 when I ran a Bible holiday club and wrote a few songs, as well as developing the Inspector Smart character. From there we wrote a whole album, and then another… and another… and now another! Over the years I’ve grown the team involved so I now co-write with Tim Chester. James Cary (BBC comedy writer) has come on board to write the drama side of things and we’ve even got a 14x Grammy Award winner playing banjo! (Ron Block, if you’re wondering)

The songs keep on coming because my kids still need discipling! (I have 3 children) Many of my songs come from discipleship moments with my kids, or my own heart. Songs stick, so I write songs to help embed the truths we need to learn in those moments. I love sharing those songs with others as they seem to help other families in their discipleship.

How as parents can we use song in our family’s discipleship?

Get to know the songs your kids are listening to and get to know your kids! (I’m guessing the second part is already well under way) Before I started writing family songs our kids listened to a lot of Colin Buchanan and there were many moments where we were talking through issues and we’d say ‘remember that song by Colin? That’s about this…’ Now I write songs to make sure we can have many more of those moments.

One of my favourite moments didn’t actually involve me in the discipling. My eldest was worrying (again) but this time about her own sin. My wife was sitting with her, listening, talking, praying. Then my 5 year old toddled in and whispered to his mum ‘tell her – as far as the east is from the west…’ (a line from one of my new songs as well as Psalm 103:12!)

And that’s how it’s done. Help kids make a connection between the truths that have been embedded in their hearts through song and their everyday lives and struggles.

You’ve said you have a ‘passion for dealing with the difficult things of life for kids’. Can you unpack that and show what that looks like in your music?

It looks like (or sounds like) finding out what are the particular struggles of kids, seeing how the Bible speaks to those struggles and then singing about it! The thing is, when you start to do this, you realise the things kids struggle with are the things that adults struggle with. The difference is that kids often don’t have the words to articulate and therefore understand their struggles, whereas adults are better at hiding their struggles.

Songs are helpful here because they help expose what’s really going on underneath (and so they keep adults honest) and they give us the words needed to help understand and deal with those struggles. I think that’s what the Psalms do. David lets us into some really personal issues in his life. In doing so he invites us on the journey he has travelled – one that starts with honest examination of the heart, through to repentance and finding the only place of safety, in the hands of the true King.

That’s what I want to do with my songs. I want to be honest and real about the struggles of life that kids go through too (using language and ideas that they can relate to). I want to invite them to see their own issues and take them to the foot of the Saviour where they can find life and rest.

Tell us about your Family Show. What does it involve, who is it aimed at and how would a church go about exploring bringing it to their area?

The Family Shows are about 1 hour and full of songs, fun and Jesus. We go on an adventure discovering more about the wonderful gospel. Along the way we meet some crazy characters like the absent minded Archibald the Explorer and the ever-grouchy Mr Grumpy. People often ask what age-group it’s for and I say 0-99 – as long as you’re willing to have fun there’s something for everyone. In fact there was a lady in her 90’s at a recent show and she came over to say how pleased she was that she came! One thing I’m keen to do is make it engaging for the adults who bring the kids too. So there are jokes and musical genres that they’ll appreciate too. And everyone gets to hear about Jesus – so win-win!

If people would like to book a show they can get in touch via my website michaeljtinker.com/contact and I’d love to chat about making it happen!

If people want to order they can go to michaeljtinker.com/shop. It’ll be available on iTunes etc, but obviously through the website is best!!

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October 1, 2019by Robin Ham
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Hello, my name is Robin. Welcome to That Happy Certainty, where I write and collate on Christianity, culture, and church-planting. I’m based in Barrow in South Cumbria, England, where my family & I are part of Grace Church Barrow.

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“If we could be fully persuaded that we are in the good grace of God, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are the beloved children of God, we would be ever so happy and grateful to God. But because we often fear and doubt we cannot come to that happy certainty.”
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