Think about the power of music and its ability to find its way into people
and places that we might think are beyond the reach of Yahweh. Sometimes the greatest sermons seem to be Teflon-coated and
just slip through the minds of those who hear, but a song--a song with the right melody--has a hook. That song with its message,
with the power to probe the deepest recesses of the human spirit, gets snagged in the subconscious, and when the person thinks
it safe to come out again, all of a sudden, there it is–melody and message, asking the hard questions.
Most sermons have an expiration date, but songs–they live on and on
to speak to generations not born.
We believe that the music we produce in this house is the result of our hearing
and obeying Yahweh’s voice, and the dominant theme of our music and our preaching is the Kingdom. The challenge that
we continually deal with is how do we model the Kingdom in the midst of a Babylon world.
Whether it be hymns, gospel songs, or southern gospel, it seems that the only
issues church music has been able to address are the two terminals of the Believer’s life—the beginning and the
ending. The message of almost all church sanctioned music says: "It was wonderful when I got saved and it will be wonderful
when I get to heaven," but it is strangely silent about life in between those two points.
Years ago, believing that Yahshua was serious when He instructed that prayer
be made that Yahweh’s Kingdom come and His will be done on earth, Apostle Ball began lobbying for change— a change
that would focus on the importance of living out Kingdom life, by the power of Yahweh’s indwelling presence, in between
the terminals of birth and death.
In order for this change to be experienced, a radical change had to be made
in both our music and our preaching. For this change to become a reality, we recognized that we must look to new leadership
in these, the two most influential factors in the living of church people. No one has yet found a way to put new wine into
old wine skins successfully. Having a strong desire to be one whose preaching would bring a change, and having no desire to
leave here, we asked Yahweh to make us into a new wine skin and a dispenser of new wine, and this He has done.
Apostle Ball further asked Holy Spirit to give us writers, musicians, and
singers who would create music that would adequately address the issue of Kingdom living—here and now. He has done this.
These words from a song by Christopher Woods, a songwriter in this house, are an example of this:
The Kingdom is here, the Kingdom is now,He has
established us by the word of His power; We won’t be shaken, and we will not fear, We won’t fly away, for the
Kingdom is here.
