“Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38
10th Anniversary Year of “State of the Heart Ministries” in Full Swing!
Almost half way through our 10th year of “State of the Heart,” we continue to be humbled and grateful to our wonderful God for allowing us to serve in a small way in the Body of Christ. A few weeks ago, I had another opportunity to accompany Dr. Jack Hayford as he led worship for a gathering here in Southern California. The occasion was a fund-raiser dinner for King’s Seminary and the waiters for the dinner, complete with towel over the arm, included Pastor Jack, and three rather well-known members of the Church on the Way congregation – Pat Boone, Dean Jones and Gavin McLeod! All four of these gentlemen love to sing and from time to time, joined me at the piano, and sang heartily along with host Martha Williamson. It was a truly memorable occasion, filled with joy and music and worship!
New Recordings Completed!
In celebration of our 10th anniversary year, we have now completed two new worship CDs! “The Heart of Worship” contains piano arrangements of 25 of the world’s best-loved songs for praise and worship. The other, a new vocal album of praise songs, is entitled “The Heart of Praise.” In addition to 8 new original songs, we are delighted to welcome our dear friend Martha Williamson as the special guest soloist on this praise album. Tammy and I have been privileged to know Martha for almost 30 years – she helped celebrate our wedding in 1978 and we were thrilled to help produce and direct the music for the occasion of her marriage to Jon Andersen in 1998. Martha is best-known as one of the most influential television producers, with her best-known and long-running series “Touched by An Angel” and also as creator of the series “Promised Land,” as a distinguished public speaker, author, and yes, as a terrific singer!
Having accompanied Martha on many occasions over several decades, both with sacred and secular music, it was truly an honor to have her serve as a soloist at our daughter Heidi’s wedding to Ryan McAnnally-Linz a few months ago. Martha’s beautiful rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer” led to her graciously agreeing to come to the studio so we could include this moving selection on “The Heart of Praise.” Martha also contributes a wonderful Praise Medley that includes, appropriately, two songs I first led at her wedding – “Surely the Presence of the Lord” and “No Higher Calling,” along with a beautiful worship song entitled “Father God” penned by Pastor Jack Hayford, who served as celebrating pastor at Martha and Jon’s wedding. Martha and Jon’s precious daughters, Isabel and Abigail were flower girls at Heidi and Ryan’s ceremony in July, and so it is especially fitting that the design of the album incorporates wedding pictures, and the CD includes Tammy’s solo of a special song I composed for the occasion “Two Hearts – As One.”
First Pasadena Concert in Many Years
Thanks to our new son-in-law’s parents, Paul and Linda McAnnally-Linz, who live just a couple of miles from us, we have been privileged to get to know Joan Reeve-Owens, Minister of Music at Pasadena Covenant Church. Joan kindly extended an invitation for me to present a Concert of Praise at her church this summer. The church’s pastor, Charles Barker, officiated at Heidi and Ryan’s wedding, and it has been a delight to become better acquainted with Pastor Charlie and his family. I was also privileged to join the worship team to lead worship the Sunday after our family wedding, and to give a Children’s message and share a song on the morning before the Concert, July 30th. In addition, the venue afforded us the opportunity for a three-camera digital video shoot of the Concert, ably assisted by Ryan’s dad, Paul, who did an outstanding job with the audio-visual technical support. This footage will be an important part of the DVD project on the ministry currently in production.
August-September 2006 Ministry Visits
August began with the opportunity to serve as a guest worship leader/speaker at West Valley WCG congregation here in Southern California. The support of Pastor Rand and Beth Holm, and Pastor Jack and Gail Kessler and their wonderful group has been so much appreciated. Tammy joined me for a long flight to Milan, Italy where I was privileged to lead worship and give a Concert of Praise at a summer festival organized by Dan Boesch for our brothers and sisters from various WCG congregations in Italy and Switzerland. I took the opportunity to show Tammy a little of the beautiful Italian countryside and a few popular tourist spots. Then it was back to the U.S. to honor a commitment to serve in West Texas for the fifth consecutive year at the WCG congregation in Amarillo, pastored by Sammy and Julia O’Dell, and for the third consecutive year at First Baptist Church in Slaton, TX, pastored by Cleve Kerby. Another blessing, thanks to choir director Grace Ladehoff, was the opportunity to give a Monday morning Chapel service at Ascension Academy, a wonderful inter-denominational high school in Amarillo. The last week of September took me to Bonn, Germany where I served as guest worship leader and gave a Celebration of Praise at the four-day worship festival, hosted by dear friends Santiago and Elke Lange and Alois and Sylvia Mair. I will be sharing stories of this amazing experience in upcoming worship services.
October 2006 Ministry Visits
This year certainly included more international travel than most. I have recently returned from a two-week trip to lead worship, give concerts and serve as a guest speaker at worship festivals in Mallorca, Spain, in Paginton, England and in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It was a truly memorable trip – rather hectic and somewhat exhausting – but again, it was filled with many wonderful experiences I will be relating in person in coming months. Hosted by Pastor Pedro Rufian and family in Spain, by Pastor Harry and Tina Sullivan in the U.K. and by Suzanna O’Coineen and her family in Ireland, I am so grateful for their terrific hospitality. A few days after my return, it was off to Kansas City and a 200-mile drive down to the incredibly beautiful Lake of the Ozarks to lead worship and give a concert at the Windemere Convention Center in Camdenton MO for the WCG regional conference. The awesome fall colors provided a wonderfully inspiring setting for three memorable days of praise and worship and fellowship.
Ordering CDs
Please call us at (626) 836-4686 or visit our web site to order worship CDs -- www.stateoftheheart.org
Donations to the Ministry
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to help in the work of our ministry, our address is State of the Heart Ministries, P.O. Box 56, Sierra Madre, CA 91025-0056 or call us at (626) 836-4686.
