Johor Bahru, 10 June, 2000
Johor Bahru, 10 June, 2000
It was great to be back in my second home, Malaysia, in June 2000 for the most exciting trip to date... the recording at a live Praise and Worship album at my church ?home away from home?, Full Gospel Church, Johor Bahru. The mission was to join Chinese, Indians and one Australian together in 5 short nights to record a live album, using church musicians and singers rather than professional musicians and singers. Impossible in the natural, but all things are possible with God!
I arrived the week before the big night, and ministered in two churches in Singapore. The first was at a large church, the Church of Singapore, for their English Service, where I had the pleasure of leading worship. I repeated this at a smaller but lively church called Agape later in the morning. I am enjoying worship leading more and more, and was blessed to see open hearts in Singapore crying out to the Lord.
Rehearsals started Monday, and had to be restricted basically to night times due to working and studying commitments. So, we started at 8pm, and finished usually around 2 am, night after night. I was transformed into a nocturnal animal, and had a few good suppers at 2-3am (which was 5 am my time). I have concluded that Malaysians never actually sleep, they just eat and enjoy each others company!
It was great to welcome Rocky and Jordan from Kuala Lumpur on the Wednesday night. So we had 3 nights rehearsal with them before the big night. They were the only professional musicians or singers involved, and they were great (as well as a lot of fun). The rehearsals went very well, despite our collective exhaustion, and real excitement reigned among musicians, singers, the choir and dancers. This was going to be a big night.
The Big Night
The big night was just that... BIG!! We had everything from video recording to 24 channel audio recording. We had smoke machines and lights, a huge PA, dancers in national dress and even makeup. My face was probably enhanced by the first makeup I have worn for quite a while (I don?t know how you girls do it!).
After much prayer, and a great preliminary Praise and Worship time, we prepared to go on. Martin, my manager, needed all his faith when looking out at 7.30 across only 100 people. But by 8pm, when the concert proper began, there was a full house, over 1800 they tell me, and a super atmosphere in the Lord.
A dear friend had told me before I came over, ?Don?t concentrate on the technical, just worship and see what God does.? So I left the technical in the hands of guys like the brilliant Jit Teck (or should that be High Tech?), and I just let loose in God. We had a ball, as the recording shows.
Most supposed live recordings are actually prerecorded, then post recorded, so that the only real live recording is the audience. Not so this time, and what you hear on the CD is a pretty good representation of what went on that night, sometimes warts and all! The end result is a marvellously free Spirit of worship. The concert ended with many people forward, crying out to God saying , ?Here I Am?, and a huge worship time which went on long after the recording had finished!
The Next Week
Then it was off to KL for the mixdown, and a few overdubs of things that we had trouble with. We had to add a bit in the bass, backing vocals and some lead vocals, but the huge task of mixdown was underway by the Wednesday. I basically worked around the clock, 22 hours a day, to get the job done. Full marks and a perseverance award goes to Cheneniah Studios, with James and Jones taking shifts to keep up with this crazy Aussie.
All in all, despite the extreme exhaustion of these few weeks, God was, I believe, honoured by our efforts. The result is some beautiful and powerful songs, recorded in an insanely quick time by a bunch of church musicians who opened their hearts to the Lord. There are heaps of people to thank, but right at the top of the list is Martin and Faye Chian, who had the vision to see it all happen. That night will live forever, both on recording, in our hearts and in Heaven.
Why not click here and have a listen...
