So 2020 really hasn’t been going how we thought it would has it? Could it have gone any less like we thought it would? Perhaps. Perhaps not. When all of this COVID-19 stuff is over and done with, whenever that might be, and we look back on this period, what will we see?

Of course, we could look back as a nation or even as a region. We could look back as engineers, musicians, teachers or civil servants. We could look back as the church national or the church local. BUT I WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU TO LOOK BACK AS AN INDIVIDUAL.

When you look back at what for most of us has been the strangest time of our lives, what will you see. Did you use the time well? Did you learn new skills? Did you deepen your relationship with God?

Maybe I could share with you, what I’ve learnt in my own life, and HOW IT HAS COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED THIS MINISTRY.

Before COVID-19, the way I shared things online with this ministry was very limited. Yes I had a Website, YouTube channel and Facebook page, but what I was sharing on those platforms was as I say, limited.

Regularly I’d share photo’s of my visits to different churches and my outings to different events. I was always posting intricately arranged piano solo’s too, but that was where it stopped. Photograph and a piano solo. Next photograph and another piano solo. WHY? BECAUSE I WAS SCARED.

Scared of what? I hear you asking. The answer is, I’m not really sure. I’d never shared a video of myself speaking or even singing before, but I would regularly stand up at the front of a church full of people and do it. We’re all different. Each of us find different things difficult. THIS WAS MY THING.

When I think about it now, it was all to do with the permanence of it. As soon as you put a video online it’s there forever. And as soon as you say something, including through lyrics, you are saying a whole lot more than you would in a piano solo.

The chances of backlash and opposition are increased tenfold when you start sharing songs with bible filled lyrics or start speaking about the truths of Jesus down the lens of a camera. Now do you see what I was scared of?

When COVID-19 really took a hold of our nation, and the government placed us in a state of lockdown, all our lives were impacted. For me it meant that all my bookings were cancelled pretty much for the entire year. WHEN YOU HAVE A TRAVELLING MINISTRY AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TRAVEL, IT KIND OF PUTS YOU IN A TRICKY SPOT.

How was I supposed to respond? Surely God wouldn’t want me just to sit around, waiting for it all to be over. I BELIEVED THAT TO BE TRUE. I also still believed in 1 Peter 4:17 which asks “what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”. Of course the answer to that question is that they face an eternity in hell away from God.

So I was left with this internal struggle. I needed to do something. I needed to say something. I NEEDED TO POINT PEOPLE TO JESUS. The way to do that was online, but the fear inside me was still there. Do you ever feel like that? You know what you should do, but there’s this fear inside you holding you back.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “if you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat” right? At this point, that had such relevance in my life like never before. I knew what I had to do. I just had to get on with it.

As I write this today, my mind is drawn to Genesis 18 where Abraham is interceding for Sodom. God is going to destroy Sodom entirely, but Abraham pleads with Him not to destroy the righteous with the wicked. Abraham begins begging God to spare the city if there were but fifty righteous. This continues until Abraham says if there were only ten would God spare the city.

The point I am making here is that God knows what each of us needs in order that we can have peace in our hearts, and what each of us needs to have confidence and certitude in Him. GOD KNEW THAT ABRAHAM JUST NEEDED A LITTLE SOMETHING TO GIVE HIM SOME PEACE. Did God’s plans come to fruition anyway? Yes, they did, but God’s grace was extended to Abraham all the same, and their relationship thrived because of it.

In a similar way, God’s grace was extended to me. I wanted so badly to jump right in to recording really clear presentations of the gospel, but God knew that I needed a little something to build up confidence and give me peace about the whole thing. What did that look like?

Well first I dipped my toe in the water by making a video which announced the release of my second EP entitled “Be Joined To Jesus”. THIS WAS SOMETHING REALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD, NOT VERY ‘OFFENSIVE AND NOT ALL THAT DIRECT.  The next step was sharing a video of outtakes from the first video.

You see something that I was super nervous about, was simply being on camera and speaking. It’s such a strange thing to do and sharing that outtakes video let me see the funny side. It let me see that getting out of the boat was the right choice.

From that point, momentum just started to build. The next few videos were all based around the new EP. I was really pleased with the way the EP had turned out, so I wasn’t self-conscious about the music being out there at all.

There were also a few videos I made sharing the stories behind the songs I’d written, clearly pointing people to Jesus. I couldn’t believe it. A few weeks beforehand I was so nervous about saying anything on camera, and yet here I was telling people that Jesus is the Lamb of God.

If I hadn’t just launched my EP, then there would have been nothing to use to build my confidence. ISN’T IT GOOD TO KNOW WE SERVE A GOD OF PERFECT TIMING? When the announcement came about lock down, a part of me was so disappointed, particularly because people wouldn’t be hearing my new music.

I had it backwards. This was the very thing God wanted me to use to enhance what I had been sharing online.

Since that first half dozen videos, I’ve done a mini series on the Psalms inspired by the traditional Scottish Psalm singing entitled “The Psalms // Word & Song”. I’ve continued sharing my own original songs and some of them include explanations of where the songs came from and the bible passages that the songs are built upon.

The biggest development, however, has been the online sessions I’ve been recording for certain churches who have asked for them. Varying in length, they are most like what I would do out on the road. The bible is opened from the start and each session has those clear gospel presentations I mentioned earlier. Before COVID-19 the thought of something like this being online terrified me, but it’s become something of great value for this ministry. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT IT BROUGHT FORTH FRUIT.

Since I started these online sessions, I have been contacted by people who have watched them and want to know more about Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. AMAZING! From day one that’s what this ministry has been about, and now it’s finally happening.

God really does use the bad situations for good. NO COVID-19, NO ONLINE VIDEOS. Those that have responded might never have heard the gospel otherwise. If I had just ignored God when I knew in my heart what He wanted me to, just because I didn’t have the courage, then I might have taken away their chance to respond to the offer of salvation that Jesus makes.  

Let’s all have some more courage. Let’s all point more people to Jesus.