Welcome
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Welcome to my worship music songbook.
What you have here is the unexpected fruit of 18 years in ministry. A bit to my own surprise I’ve combined my faith, my ministry in the church, my love of music, and my love of the guitar, and found that new songs for the church are often the result. Since August 2019 I have been a Co-Pastor at Home Street Mennonite Church, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Prior to this I served at Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg for 10 years, and Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, Manitoba for 11 years. Thanks goes to all three of these congregations for giving me the space to combine my calling with other passions, and allowing me to contribute my music to our worship. In many ways this songbook is a gift from these congregations to the wider church. While other influences show up, the songs I write are very much a reflection of the Anabaptist / Mennonite church they come from. The lyrics emphasize God's love and desire for peace and justice, while the melodies and song structures have more in common with traditional hymns than contemporary worship music. As you’ll see on the song page, this resource has been brought together with gifts that are far beyond me. Thanks to Darryl Neustaedter Barg for technical advice with recording audio, and for feedback to new songs and new guitars. Thanks to Bill Derksen for his generous encouragement and all his work in transcribing the music, making the music accessible to many more congregations, and even writing some arrangements! And thanks to my wife Heather for all the work and tasteful decisions she shared in building this site! I’m also grateful to Heather and our girls, Ava and Lia, for allowing me to drive them nuts, playing and humming the same melodies in circles for weeks and even months while I search for the lyrics.
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We are a part of Mennonite Church Manitoba and Mennonite Church Canada.