2003

[ 08.05.2003 ] The Roots Festival 2003
[ 08.05.2003 ] Spring Harvest 2003
[ 31.03.2003 ] The Cathedral Tour 2003
[ 10.03.2003 ] Chinese Embassy
[ 06.02.2003 ] Congress 2003 in Boston, USA
[ 17.01.2003 ] Missionary Enrichment Conference in Budapest
[ 17.01.2003 ] 24 hour worship service in Budapest

2002

[ 18.11.2002 ] International Christian Human Rights Conference
[ 21.10.2002 ] Keynsham 'Unplugged'
[ 23.09.2002 ] Magnify 2002 concert in Stroud
[ 09.09.2002 ] Tonbridge Celebration
[ 02.09.2002 ] Gorsley Flower Festival

[ 08.05.2003 ] Report from The Roots Festival 2003

The Roots Festival is an annual event organised by the Salvation Army. 4 days in Southport on the northwest coast of England over the May bank holiday weekend. Roots has been running now for 9 years and is increasing in size every year. Infact this year the demand was so great that the adult venue was a Big Top pitched just off of the beach.

Graham was invited to lead worship at the adult celebration's and also lead a 'praise party' on the final evening. He used a wide range of songs to encourage Christ-centred worship, from the traditional hymns (And can it be, How great thou art, Be thou my vision) to today's newest song's (A love so undeserved, Blessed be your name, Give thanks to the Lord) and used many of his own compositions (There is a hope so sure, To you O Lord, The servant King).

The addition of a three piece brass section (Raul D'Oliveira and Nick and Trish Parran-Smith) to the band was inspirational given the musical history of the Salvation Army.

The praise party on the Sunday night was an amazing time of joyous celebration as Graham and the band (directed by Steve Thompson) led a near capacity crowd in praise with songs like Mary Mary's Shackles, a Latino version of Lord I lift your name on high and his own Do something beautiful.

To see images from The Roots Festival 2003 click here

[ 08.05.2003 ] Report from Spring Harvest 2003

Spring Harvest 2003 was the 25th anniversary of this unique event and Graham was invited to lead worship in the Big Top venue at the second week of Minehead programme. To make this week even more special the BBC filmed their Easter edition of Songs of Praise (watched by over 2 million viewers) to celebrate the occasion.

The worship in the Big Top has always been a tremendous and important feature of Spring Harvest and this was especially true this year. With times of powerful praise and exuberant celebration to awe filled worship, the presence of God was continually evident.

Once again Graham used a wide range of songs to encourage worship. Spring Harvest had also commissioned Graham to write a song to celebrate their 25 years of equipping individuals and churches to fulfill the mission of God and ‘Do something beautiful’ (a call to get out there and be Jesus to the world) was used to great effect throughout the week

[ 31.03.2003 ] The Cathedral Tour final report

Graham and the band played to packed out venues at the weekend on the last leg of the Cathedral Tour. Liverpool Anglican Cathedral was the first of the three dates, which truly was an 'inspiring and hugely uplifting' night. Europe's 5th largest cathedral was full of worshippers joining Graham in a selection of songs old and new. One of the most poignant songs on the tour has been 'O Lord the clouds are gathering'. Graham has been leading the congregations in using this song as a lament for the current situation in Iraq. The band spent a few minutes playing a deeply moving prelude to the song before the congregation joined him in singing this prayer to God.

The following night at Wakefield Cathedral was also a very special evening. The difference is size to the previous night didn't affect the volume of praise lifted to God in the beautiful town centre venue. One member of the congregation described the evening as 'an awesome concert'.

Southwell was the final night of the tour. This wonderful Norman cathedral was full of people who queued back into the town centre to get in!! Singer Paula Thomas joined the band at Wakefield and Southwell. Paula has sung on 'What Grace' and the new album 'Do Something Beautiful' and has had a lot of experience singing for Graham. She sang 'No scenes of stately majesty' as a solo on both nights which was a very special treat. It was a fantastic end to a memorable tour.

24.03.2003 ] Latest report from the sold out Cathedral Tour

Lichfield: Lichfield Cathedral was packed out. This was a wonderful evening of worship, praise and a number of songs from Graham’s early performance repertoire.

Coventry: This amazing building was host to our 8th date on tour. The sound was great considering the size of the building, and the lighting was excellent, illuminating the Cathedral’s fine modern architecture as the band played and a really enthusiastic crowd of worshippers sung with Graham. Graham really appreciated the crowd at Coventry as he had lost his voice after the Lichfield date the previous night!

[ 10.03.2003 ] Report from the Cathedral Tour so far

Graham has just finished the first three nights of an eleven date tour of some of England’s finest cathedrals. Nine out of the eleven venues have already sold out, and last weekend, Graham and the band played to a packed out Ely, Gloucester and Bristol cathedral.

The set list ranged from those taken from Graham’s early singer/songwriter days right up to some of the songs from the new album ‘Do Something Beautiful’. Along the way the congregation were treated to classics like The Servant King, Amazing Love and Shine Jesus Shine, songs from the recent ‘What Grace’ album and even some improvised singing from scripture, where Graham would sing from a biblical passage and lead the crowd in offering their own extempore sung praise.

This week sees Graham and the band in Rochester, Chelmsford and Guildford cathedral for what promises to be another memorable time of seeing cathedrals full to the brim with worshippers.

[ 10.03.2003 ] Graham sings outside the Chinese Embassy

Organised by Release International & Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Graham Kendrick took part in a rally outside the Chinese Embassy in London, to protest against China’s repatriation of North Korean refugees.

Outside the embassy in the pouring rain Graham and a crowd of protesters sang the song ‘How Long?’ taken from his forthcoming album, ‘Do Something Beautiful’. This song has become synonymous with Release International & Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s efforts to bring to the attention of the western church many of the struggles faced by today’s persecuted church.
'How Long' is based around the cry of the martyrs in the book of Revelation chapter 12.

Click here to watch video footage of Graham singing the song. (5.9mb)
Click here for more images of Graham at the rally

[ 06.02.2003 ] Report and video from 'Vision New England - Congress 2003' in Boston, USA

One week after returning from Budapest, Graham and the band flew out to the USA to help lead worship at the annual 'Vision New England' congress at the Hynes Convention Centre in Boston.

Over 5,000 christians came together for three days of bible teaching, worship and encouragement under the title of 'Overflowing Grace'. As in Budapest Graham introduced some new songs including 'There is a hope so sure', 'In You we live' and 'Do something beautiful' which will be the title track of the new album set for release in the UK this spring.

On the second night Graham led the first hour of a 'worship concert' which enabled the delegates to focus on worshipping God for the whole evening. American worship leader Paul Baloche then took over for the rest of the evening which concluded with Graham and Paul leading everyone together with Baloche's song 'God of Wonder'.

It was a privilege to be a part of the whole event and as one preacherman said '200 years ago we sent the Brits packing from Boston. It's great to welcome them back'.

Click on the thumbnail images below for some pics of the trip (with thanks to Bob Hanson). Visit the gallery for more images. Click here for a short video of the band playing Do something beautiful.

[ 17.01.2003 ] Report from 'Missionary Enrichment Conference' in Budapest

Last week Graham and the band led worship at the first 'Missionary Enrichment Conference' organised by the Moody Bible Institute. Over 500 missionaries working in Europe (plus their families) gathered by the Danube in snowy Budapest where they were encouraged to 'relax, recharge and rejuvenate'!

As well as using more well known songs such as 'Knowing you', 'Shine Jesus shine' and 'The Servant King', Graham introduced several newer songs including 'Lord you've been good to me', 'To you O Lord' and the brand new 'Do something beautiful'.

There was much 'appreciation for meaningful times of corporate worship to God' and as one delegate commented 'The Lord surely used Graham and the band to encourage many'. Other speakers included Dr. Joseph Stowell, Dr. Kathy Koch, Dr. Ravi Zacharias, Dr. Gary Chapman, Dr. Alistair Begg and singer/songwriter Michael Card.

Click here for short video of Graham playing 'Lord you've been good to me'

[ 17.01.2003 ] Report from '24 hour worship service' in Budapest

After the 'Enrichment Conference' Graham and the band were whisked off to a cold warehouse on the other side of Budapest where the local churches were at the end of their 6th '24 hour worship service'. The last 2 hours were given over to Graham to lead and teach on worship.

All the songs were translated into Hungarian and the band were accompanied by three local singers who took the songs on once Graham had started them. The potential for chaos was high yet the worship was powerful as those in the packed venue listened, sang, danced and 'did the conga' for nearly 2 1/2 hours.

Click here for short video of Graham speaking at the worship service in Budapest

[ 18.11.2002 ] International Christian Human Rights Conference report

Graham led worship at two events last weekend organised by Release International and Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

Friday evening was a prayer concert held at St Michael’s Church, Chester Sqaure focussing on nations such as Nigeria, North Korea and Pakistan and Saturday’s conference featured representatives of the persecuted church from Burma, China, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Nigeria and Turkmenistan who shared their experiences and testimonies first-hand.

He introduced 2 new songs, ‘How long‘ and ‘You hear O Lord‘, which were both written on the theme of the persecuted church. In a recent interview Graham commented ‘Those of us who enjoy freedom of religion do not do very well at remembering those who don’t, and I wrote these songs in the hope that they will help us recognise and remember: to recognise that we all belong to Christ’s suffering body on earth, and to remember their inspiring example and pray with them and for them.’

[ 21.10.2002 ] Report from Keynsham 'Unplugged'

On Friday 18th, Graham played an unplugged gig at St John’s church, Keynsham. Over 400 people attended and gathered in the historic building to hear Graham play a selection of songs from his earliest to his latest worship songs. The evening commenced with Graham playing 4 performance songs from his earlier recordings of Footsteps On The Sea, Paid On The Nail and Breaking Of the Dawn. These were well received and helped set the tone for the worship songs which followed.

The next day, amongst other teachers, Graham led a series of seminars as part of a Diocesan Music Day held at St John’s. Again, these were well attended and reflect the hunger there is in the UK for practical and theological teaching on praise and worship.

[ 23.09.2002 ] Report from Magnify 2002 concert in Stroud

Graham took part in the Magnify 2002 Festival in Gloucestershire last Saturday (21st Sept). The evening was part of a weekend of outreach and festivities organised by local churches in Stroud. Graham led the packed venue in worship with songs taken from the 'What Grace' album and older songs including The Servant King, Knowing You and Rejoice, Rejoice with a prayerful finale of "Shine Jesus Shine'. This event brought to close 18 months of touring 'What Grace' in the UK. Graham starts recording his next album today.

[ 09.09.2002 ] Report from Tonbridge Celebration

On Friday 6th September, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Tonbridge Christian Bookshop, Graham and his band led the worship. This was a very special occasion of thanksgiving to God for the way in which he has enabled the bookshop to serve the local area for a quarter of a century. Many bookshop staff, volunteers, customers, local church members , pastors, leaders and community members packed out The Angel Leisure Centre to be led in an evening of Worship & Word as Graham was joined by Selwyn Hughes, author of the Every Day With Jesus bible study notes. Selwyn spoke on the need to be Biblically literate in an age where many are biblically illiterate. This was a powerful address, followed by Graham leading everyone in the song To You, O Lord, a song based on Psalm 25 about following in God’s path of righteousness…

[ 02.09.2002 ] Gorsley Flower Festival

Over the August bank holiday weekend Graham played an acoustic gig at Gorsley, in Gloucestershire. This co-incided with the renowned Gorsley Flower Festival held in the grounds of the local Baptist Church. Graham played a selection of songs spanning his musical career, including a handful of performance songs from the 'Paid On the Nail' era. There were over a 1000 people in attendance and the event again proves to be a popular evangelistic tool and an opportunity for many people from near and far to come together and worship God.