- Musicians -
Paul Johnson and Bill Ireland

Paul and Bill are helping coordinate the musicians and give direction to that side of things. Below is a letter from Paul explaining our objectives.

I trust you are as intrigued as I am with this opportunity to reconvene after all these years, considering the many and varied experiences we’ve had since we last sang and played together unto the Lord. What will it be like to do so again? I’m eager to find out what God has in store for us!

Regardless of where our divergent paths may have taken us, I’m confident that if we return to worship together with the same spirit of genuine, unpretentious devotion that motivated us “back in the day,” God will surely be blessed and so will we. It is in this spirit that as coordinator of music and worship for the Festival, I invite and encourage you to come and share your gift on this delightful occasion! Musicians who were not part of “GO” are also welcome to join us in the same spirit; in any case, please prayerfully consider the thoughts I have to share with you here, and then respond to the simple questionnaire that follows to let us know how your gift may be put to optimum use.

Our objective:

Many of us share the common roots of the Eureka experience and the guileless simplicity of our approach to worship there in the ‘70s. As branches born of those roots, we have gone on to a wide variety of worship experiences since then. Speaking for myself, I have served on numerous worship teams of varying descriptions. I regard all of these as positive learning experiences whether this came about through the joy of discovering new depths of worship, or through the frustration of running up against the limitations of the formulas employed by some of these churches. Many of you probably have similar stories to tell of learning both “how to do it” and “how not to do it” in the course of your journey. (I’ll admit it — I still tend to view my present-day worship experiences in terms of the values that were engrained in me in Eureka; frankly, I may be a bit “spoiled” in this regard, as the kind of freedom and spontaneity we had back then has set the bar at a high notch!)

My hope for the Festival is that we will “pick up where we left off” (reaffirming the best qualities of our root experience as worshippers) while considering our subsequent experience (comparing notes on what we have learned as branches) as we look to the Lord to blend all of this into a fresh expression of our love for Him today, reflecting all that He has taught us over the years. As always, our purpose in worship is to glorify our God. I believe we can achieve this goal to His great delight if we come before Him at the Festival as a healthy “tree” exhibiting healthy roots and healthy branches — a creation of HIS making and the fulfillment of what He began in us all those years ago.

Be sensitive!

Many will be coming to the Festival from far and wide with stories to tell, insights to share, songs to sing, etc.  The more gregarious ones will be eager to share, while the quieter ones may tend to be a bit nervous about opening up in front of everyone. But our hope is that as many as possible will be heard, as God has hidden some of His most precious treasure in His humblest vessels.

If these humble ones are to open up, our more gregarious brethren will need to hang back a bit to allow space for this to happen. Hopefully, to achieve this goal, a simple policy of “keep it short” and “be mindful of encouraging the quieter ones to share” will suffice if those who are directing the flow of the meeting (that means YOU, musician!) will practice and model this attitude.

Accordingly, music and worship sessions during a meeting will not go on for more than a few minutes at a time without pausing to allow for a word, a teaching or a testimony, etc., to come forth. If you have your own songs to share (what we used to call “special numbers”), this too should be kept to one or two at a time (though if you feel led to share your music at greater length, we encourage you to do so as a special event apart from the general meeting). To sum up: please embrace the idea that “job one” for you as a musician/worshipper at the Festival is to foster and encourage the kind of attitude described here! If we all take this to heart we’ll have less need for more “legalistic” guidelines. 

Regarding format:

In these introductory notes I have purposely bypassed many of the pertinent questions you may have regarding the format for music and worship in the general meetings (i.e., What songs should we sing? How will the sessions be structured and guided? Will my drum kit or my electric guitar be welcomed? etc.). In keeping with the open spirit of this gathering, we want to refrain from prematurely defining these issues too strictly; we want to first gather information from you (via the questionnaire below) so that we can develop a format that fits what you collectively bring to the table. (Depending on the variety we have to work with, we’d love to arrange for each meeting to have its own format and flavor, featuring musicians with compatible gifts working together.)

Our role in planning the Festival is not to squeeze you into a preconceived program of our design — it’s to oversee the process of discovering (together with you) a plan that will allow for the particular gifts that God has been developing in you to come forth in all their glory! Accordingly, we will be in discussion with participating musicians between now and Festival-time (by e-mail, or perhaps in an online chat forum). We want you to be part of this process!

With this in mind, please be thinking of how you might offer your music in spontaneous ways in various settings outside the “official” meetings. Have an open jam session around a campfire... play your songs for any and all to hear on the lawn... be a wandering troubadour! While the general meetings will require a certain amount of structure, you are encouraged to express your creativity in any way you like at other times, especially if you can use this to spread that same spirit of encouragement to others in the process!   

Note also: please arrange to come early to the Festival so that we can meet prior to the first general meeting to finalize our plans.  If you need to contact Paul Johnson, you can email him here - paul@pjmoto.com

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