songwriter sessions

Ireland has always been a bit like its weather... unpredictable. We had summer-like moments of warmth from a dazzling sun, followed minutes later by lashing rain or enough corn kernel size hail to cover the streets with an inch of white quickly followed by more sun. If you weather, Ireland's your place. There's lots of it.

Our 10 days in Ireland was like that in more ways than the weather. We felt intense moments of satisfaction sharing the Gospel with people in coffee houses, pubs, restaurants, cultural centers and church halls. There were also times of real disappointment as concerts we'd counted on were either cancelled or never truly confirmed. We went for 4 days with only three engagements to share, followed by 24 hours where we played in four different venues.

But through it all, we saw God working through us and the church partners that organized our events. Our team was made up of three songwriters (myself, George Vinson and Jason Howell) and the team manager (my daughter Laura.) We decided to do one joint program where George (an incredible session guitarist as well as song writer) would act as a sort of live DJ playing along with a couple of Jason's songs, then having us all do one together, followed by a few of my songs and so forth.

For Ireland, it was exactly what the people needed. For our secular audiences, it was relaxed and informal, but interesting and entertaining. For our church partners, it was their first real experience in doing outreach concerts in secular venues. Our goals for the concerts were to befriend the crowds while challenging them with music that described our physical and spiritual journeys and the hope of the Gospel. We wanted to give Christians and their seeker friends something significant to discuss around the tables. Each concert ended with Amazing Grace. We would explain that it was more than a famous folk song to us. It was our story. And as we'd sing, the crowd would join in. Only in Ireland...

We were able to accomplish some other significant things during our stay as well. We led two songwriter clinics, one in Newbridge and the other at the Irish Cultural Center in Dublin. And we were able to do some ministry training with musicians from the Open Arms Community Church, and with the Operation Mobilization Ireland team in Buncrana. We have invitations to partner with the Evangelical Association of Ireland, Open Arms CC, OM, the Irish Bible Institute and a new fellowship in Dublin called The Journey.

We will also be working with the city of Buncrana to help develop a festival next year celebrating the 200th anniversary of John Newton. This slave trader barely made it to shore there after a fierce storm at sea before a second storm came, convincing him that there is a God who answers prayer. His conversion there and the beginning of his penning of Amazing Grace will be the focus of new initiatives there.

I want to thank George Vinson for his partnership with me in the Gospel. His guitar playing is awesome, but his heart for ministry is what I cherish even more.

I also want to thank Jason Howell. Jason remained ever flexible, ever teachable, and amazed people by his maturity in the Lord as much as in his God-given ability to write songs from the heart and perform them like no 17 year old I've ever met.

I want to thank Laura as well, for her ceaseless service to us and to the Lord. The details were what we asked her to take care of. But her steadiness and dependence on the Lord kept us on track more time than she knows. I'll not forget the evening at the pub in Buncrana when we took the stage, you stuck yourself into the midst of a booth with a bunch of people you'd never met, introduced yourself and eventually us to people who with God's help will look back at that night as their first step toward heaven.

Finally, I want to personally thank all who prayed for our trip. There were times when the sun shown, and times where had to run for cover. But God provided out of his amazing grace.

Happy Easter. He is risen.

Durand