Hey everyone. I just realized that we've written several new songs that we forgot to post to our scribd.com page. I'm posting chord charts tonight for the following songs:

Send Us

Kingdom Of God

Just To Worship You

We Are Forgiven

Feel free to use these songs! (If your church is in its reporting period for your CCLI License, it's helpful if you report any copies you make! And I can make tens and tens of dollars!!) Ha!

The Rest Of The Story

While any story like this begins in the heart of God, it became real to me in 2003. My wife and I had vacationed in Spokane since our honeymoon in the mid-90’s and had felt a growing love for its people and culture ever since. After an enjoying afternoon in Riverfront Park we were headed home to Missoula, Montana when I asked the question: “What if we started a church here?” We began to talk and dream and eventually asked the leader of our church in Missoula, Steve Valentine, what he thought about it. He asked if we would be willing to stay in Missoula so I could help train church planting teams. After more prayer I agreed and thought that maybe I would get to train a team to be sent to Spokane in the future.

I dived headlong into training leaders and specifically worship leaders at our church – Clark Fork City Church – where I have served on staff since 1998 leading worship and then serving on the leadership team as a pastor/elder since 2004. As we were preparing to launch our leadership training school Steve was diagnosed with leukemia and battled for sixteen months before God received him into heaven in November of 2006. Though we experienced much turmoil God was more than faithful to our church, and we came through the fire full of great faith, more convinced than ever of the sovereign purposes of God even in the midst of great struggle.

Fast forward to 2009 at the Newfrontiers USA national leaders conference in St. Louis, Missouri: A bold pastor from South Africa named PJ Smyth had been preaching about the exciting vision of planting churches into the one hundred most influential cities in the United States. He led us in prayer as we focused on specific cities like Chicago and New York. As we began to pray, Spokane came to my mind and I began to weep over the city. The enormous knot in my throat made it difficult to pray at all and I actually felt a little twinge of guilt because I wasn’t praying for the cities we had been asked to pray for! It was only after the prayer meeting was over that I discovered that Spokane was actually on that list of one hundred cities! God had caused an old dream to resurface with a brand new vision.

Later in 2009 I had the opportunity to talk with Terry Virgo about the possibility of planting a church into Spokane. He remembered back to his first trip to the US when he flew into the city of Spokane. He had felt then that God said we would have a church there one day and was very encouraging to me about a potential plant into the city.

We continued to pray and the next year at another Newfrontiers USA event, Celebration Northwest, we were again gathered to pray. John Lanferman, the leader of the apostolic team overseeing our churches in the US, dared us to ask God for big things and to call them right out loud in the meeting. The atmosphere of faith was high! I wanted to declare my desire for a reproducing church in Spokane but felt I should not go “public” with that until we did that intentionally as a team. I talked to Josh Yakos, the lead pastor of Clark Fork City Church, after the meeting and he said, “I wanted to ask for a church in Spokane too but thought I should talk to you first.” More confirmation.

After the meeting at Celebration NW I told Ted Hoit, a Newfrontiers leader in Idaho, that we needed to start talking about “when” rather than “if” we would plant into Spokane. He grinned and told me that he and his wife had already been praying about Spokane and us and that they were excited to see us plant into that city. I talked with John Lanferman immediately and in late August we started the preliminary work to discuss making a plant into Spokane real.

Eight months and several leadership evaluations later we’ve finally gone public and the response has already been overwhelming. Twitter and the blogosphere have seen to that. While I’m used to taking big faith steps I’m not used to taking them quite so publicly! But hey, let’s go for it!

Send Us

So I finally finished the song this week that I blogged about in January. The title stayed the same: "Send Us." The bridge is completely new and I'm glad we waited until we got it right! I had the great privilege of debuting it with Becca and my good friends Dennis & Tammy Reschke and Caleb Burk at the Missoula 3:16 Rescue Mission's banquet/fundraiser Friday night. It's appropriate that the song was finished this week and here's why. Drum roll please...

We announced today that Clark Fork City Church is partnering with other Newfrontiers churches in the U.S. to plant a new church into Spokane, Washington in summer 2012 and... that I will be leading the team to do this! It would be an understatement to say that I'm excited, but I'm not walking with my head in the clouds either. This is going to be the biggest challenge I've undertaken to date. It's one thing to be on a team planting a church with someone else leading it. It's another thing entirely to lead that team.

This is where some good theology is really helpful! God is in control, which means my family and I and the whole team are in the best hands imaginable. While we will make our plans, God is the one who is actually directing our steps. This same God who began a good work in us (even in the dream stage) is the one who is committed to being faithful to complete it. If He is for us... who can be against us? This is the foundation we build on, not how awesome of a leader I can be, and that really takes the pressure off!

I'm going to post again about the amazing story leading up to this crazy announcement today, but first I'll leave off this post with the words to the new song:

Father God, we Your sons and daughters sing
Let Your kingdom come here
Father God, we Your children long to see
Your will be done here

You are sovereign, You have chosen
To work Your will through us
You are able, more than able
To glorify Your Son

Let Your kingdom come in us
Let Your will be done through us
In mercy and in love, send us
To the rich and to the poor
To the leper and the lame
In the power of Jesus' name, send us

Let Your goodness flow to the high and low
To the broken heart, to the captive soul
Let Your Father's song from Your Father heart
Be our anthem as we go

New Song In The Works

So I started writing this song a little over a year ago... and then I wrote another song called Kingdom of God in about 20 minutes, but inadvertently used a couple of the ideas from the other song to do it. Song #1 got shelved and Kingdom of God has become one of our most sung songs over the last year. But I still really like Song #1!

In seemingly unrelated news, we just started a six month worship leader training program at the church so I get to teach classes on Monday nights and Thursday mornings for that. There are about nine worship leaders and leaders-in-training taking these classes, which is really encouraging for the future!

There is something about training worship leaders that sparks my creative juices. It's probably the fact that I once again am teaching worship fundamentals, how to flow in the prophetic, and preparing to teach on how to write songs from the heart that we can use to worship Jesus together! Thinking about teaching others to write and lead stirs me up to actually model the things I teach and to see what God will stir in my own heart in this season. My heart is stirring ... and the song ideas are starting to flow.

Back to the song I mentioned a minute ago: It's based on the opening lines of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father in heaven ... let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done." Several years ago I heard Brian Doerksen, a great Canadian worship leader, call the Lord's Prayer "The Sons and Daughters Prayer" because we get to call God our Father. I've latched onto it myself (which you can hear about in "Prayer That Works - Our Father In Heaven" at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/clark-fork-city-church/id390001111).

For now, I'm tying in three concepts in this song's development:
1. God is our Father, so we get to talk to Him as His sons and daughters.
2. He is a sovereign God who has chosen to work through us.
3. He has chosen to send us to minister to the world in Jesus' name.

The working title of the song is "Send Us" but it might change as it moves along! We'll see... I thought I'd post this so you can all see how I process through a song! Notice all the scribbles and ideas in the picture. Stay tuned!

A little update from the other half...

Happy Tuesday everyone!
Jon and I had the opportunity to sit down last evening with Terry Koepke and Jeremy and Connie Sinnott at the Break.  We had coffee (and pie, yum!) and some really encouraging conversation.  I think that's one of my favorite things about Jeremy and Connie...how encouraging they are.  The Father's heart just shines through them. 
Jon has also been working hard on getting some of the newest songs recorded.  If all goes well, he may be finishing up vocal tracks on "What Amazing Love" and "We Are Forgiven" this week.  That's exciting news for all of you who have been asking for these songs for a long time!  He's also been working on getting some demos down for "Just to Worship You" and "Kingdom of God," which I know many of you have asked for as well.  So be encouraged, there are actually plans in the works to get these songs out to you!
Have a great week!!
Mrs. Meek

Remembering Wendell Smith

I received a text message this morning asking if I had heard that Wendell Smith, a pastor and great leader from Seattle, Washington, went to heaven last night. It immediately brought back memories of the times he ministered in our church, encouraging us with His contagious faith in God! I remember Wendell challenging me to step out prophetically in worship as he stood beside me coaching that night. (The inspiration for the song “Gonna Build His Church” came from that night with Wendell Smith as he sang the words, “God’s gonna build His church,” over and over with passion and conviction.) Remembering his graciousness in those moments puts a grin on my face today, since my first phrase of prophetic song to follow was something like, “I smell the smell of the sweet smell of harvest.” How lyrically embarrassing – and how funny!

One night in particular stands out to me when Wendell was preaching at the Montana Shepherds Conference on March 30, 2001. His topic was “Peter the Preacher” and he said there were those present that night who were under thirty years of age that were called to preach. He said that, like Elizabeth feeling John the Baptist leap in her womb, we were feeling a fire or a churning on our insides. That’s exactly what I was feeling – a combination of adrenaline and the Holy Spirit’s stirring. When he asked for those who knew they were called to preach to come to the front I responded quickly along with several others. I remember Wendell anointing us with oil, and my journal contains the prophetic words he declared over me that night along with his encouragement to preach boldly and with great faith.

The last time I saw Wendell was four years ago in November of 2006. He was speaking at the funeral of his good friend, Steve Valentine, who had battled leukemia. Wendell was in the midst of his own battle with cancer as he stood and boldly declared that we would all continue forward with faith in God. He is now receiving the reward of his great faith!

While Wendell Smith has finished his mission on this earth, the mission of God that he loved to declare as he preached continues. God used him to encourage many thousands of people, many of whom lead in churches today around the world. Today, I remember Wendell and am grateful as I freshly realize that God spoke through him to shape my own life and ministry. I know similar stories from many others will be anything but rare! I close out today with the most memorable (to me) of Wendell’s declarations: “God’s gonna build His church!”

The Velveteen Guitar Incident

So, I had a horrible thing happen this past week. I picked up my backpack-style guitar case that I thought was zipped shut... and it wasn't. I slung it onto my back not realizing anything was wrong until I heard the clashing wood and resonating sound of my guitar smashing onto the floor. Can you say, "Groanings that can't be uttered?!" The timing was impeccable too; it happened just a few minutes before I was supposed to lead worship and speak on the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives! Nothing gets a preacher's heart rate going like a good distraction right before he speaks. Nothing gets a guitarist's heart rate going like seeing his broken guitar lying on the floor right before he's supposed to lead worship with it!

Since I didn't have any backup guitars handy (I was just supposed to do an acoustic guitar-only set for 20 minutes - not the kind of set during which one usually breaks strings! Stop chuckling, honey.) I did the only thing I could think of: I tuned up the broken guitar to see if it would still work, plugged it in and gave it a whirl. Amazingly, the guitar, with two splits in the top, a piece of it protruding at an ungainly angle and a brace piece completely broken off sounded... wonderful. I actually received compliments on how great it sounded that night!

Anyone who has seen my old Seagull S6 guitar knows that it's anything but pretty. It has "been through the war" so to speak which is why its affectionate nickname for years has been Velveteen Rabbit. The scratches, nicks and worn places are ugly to say the least. In spite of its worn looks and its new challenges I couldn't imagine getting rid of this guitar. No way!! I hand picked it years ago even though it had a mar in the finish, because of the amazing tone I could produce through the instrument. That sound and tone have only improved with age. (Sorry, to all of you who were hoping to get your grubby mitts on my Rabbit!) My intent is to make the investment to make sure I can keep playing and worshiping with my Velveteen Rabbit for years to come.

Does that just sound like an eccentric musician? (Okay, of course it sounds like an eccentric musician!) But can you hear a familiar ring to this story? I do. It's also the story of our amazing God who hand picks us in spite of our flaws and imperfections because of the "sound" He has chosen to create through us. He brings us through the scratches, the dents, and even the devastation of life's struggles, and He loves us every moment of the way. He has already payed the highest possible price to redeem us from destruction!

Oh, by the way... The Velveteen Guitar Incident has produced another new and exciting opportunity for me. I purchased a brand new Taylor 314ce guitar that is entirely different than my Seagull. The tone is different, the fret board feels different... it's just different, in the best kind of way. I'm loving every minute of it (except maybe the bill!) and look forward to new songs being written on each of these great guitars and new worship experiences yet to be discovered with each of them. And I love how God can use a silly guitar accident to reveal Himself and His ways to me.

Now, to make sure I don't drop this one...