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Worship Leader Song Stories Interview,
July 2001
1. Tell our readers a
little bit about yourself, i.e. your geography, your
history, your family.
I am 35 years old, married to Joyce for 16 years, with
6 children (4 girls, 2 boys) ranging in age from 13
- 2. I am presently living in the same home that I was
raised in (my parents bought an old farm house on 5
acres when I was 5 years old), near a small city called
Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley, about 1 hour east of
Vancouver, 2 hours north of Seattle. I was incredibly
blessed to have the stability of a father who loved
me, provided for me, a mother who nurtured me and prayed
for me, and I knew they loved each other. They have
now been married for almost 40 years! I have 1 older
brother; he used to torment me incessantly when we were
kids, and now we're great friends and he is preparing
to become a priest in the Anglican (Episcopal) church.
2. When did faith become
real to you? Was it a defined moment or a process?
I was raised in a Christian home in the Mennonite Brethren
denomination. My journey into faith began as a boy,
primarily because whenever I was out in nature, God
would speak to me in whispers, and I knew there must
be a loving Creator behind the amazing world that surrounded
me. I always believed in God, but it was when I was
16 that God called me to serve Him with my whole life.
3. What influences, both spiritual
and musical, have you had in your life? Any turning
points?
One of the most memorable nights of my youth was when
my Dad took me and some of my friends to see a couple
of Christian bands in concert ('Petra' & 'Servant'
near Seattle in 81). That night gave me a glimpse of
the church as a whole, and when they went into a time
of worship near the end, and people began to lift their
hands (I had never seen this before) I was deeply moved
by the presence of God and said 'This is what I was
made for.' I was also deeply touched that the quality
of the music and sound was great. It was around this
time that the focus of my life was formed - to make
and sing music with all my heart to God.
4. How and why did you become
a songwriter?
I became a songwriter for 2 simple reasons that I can
think of. The first is I love music, and songs have
always communicated so deeply to me. As a teenager,
every night before I would go to sleep, I would listen
to Phil Keaggy "Let everything else go" and
it sowed worshipful music into me. Of course, being
the son of my father Harry was a huge part of it. He
sang every weekend in a quartet and led the singing
at our church. I also got my love for stringed instruments
from my grandfather, Peter Doerksen, who played the
mandolin and led bands.
But the main reason I began to write songs is this.
When I was leading worship, I would pick the songs that
said what I wanted to say to God. Several years into
leading worship I began to reach for songs that weren't
there. When I wanted to say "Father, I want you
to hold me" I couldn't find any song written that
said that so I wrote one (thinking no one else would
ever hear it, let alone record it). It was my private
song to God for a long time before anyone else heard
it. I wrote Faithful One out of a time of great struggle
and darkness in my life, when I needed God to be my
anchor in the storm. I never set out to be a songwriter.
I set out to be a worshipper, and that has led me to
write songs to express what was happening in my heart,
and in the life of the churches I have been functioning
as a worship leader in.
5. Can you describe how
you became inspired to write "Come, Now is the
Time to Worship" and "Refiner's Fire?"
What are your sources for inspiration in general? What
do you do when you suffer "songwriter's block"?
"Come, Now is the Time to Worship":
The song started as I was walking and praying on the
streets of SW London. I believe the call to worship
is going out all the time, and it was like I heard 'echoes'
of it as I walked. I then came home and sat down at
the piano and began to flesh out the first line into
a song. I wrote it as a call to worship incorporating
key things I believe about worship. I believe God wants
us to come and worship just the way we are, though when
true worship happens we don't stay the way we are. When
we make that choice, we experience the pleasure of worship;
the treasure of being with God
That's why our choice to worship is so important. If
we worship because we have to, where is the love? God
and us get no pleasure out of that kind of worship.
Many of us have experienced the pleasure or worship
done in love and it's a priceless treasure. That's the
background behind the words in the second section of
the song. A couple of people have tried to make it out
to be a theological song about heaven and hell. That's
not why I wrote it (though there is some theology in
the song).
'One day every tongue will confess You are God
One day every knee will bow
Still the greatest treasure remains for those
who gladly choose You now'
One day the choice will be gone. Everyone will be overpowered
and fall to their knees and 'worship' with their bodies,
but not with their hearts of love. The greatest treasure
I am referring to is not heaven in some theological
sense. It's the gift of knowing and loving God . . .
choosing to worship God out of love . . . and experiencing
the pleasure of being with God and His presence. Of
course all those things will be experienced in heaven,
but the goal isn't to get into heaven in that sense
. . . the goal is to be with God or to get heaven [the
pleasure of worship] into us.
"Refiner's Fire":
The inspiration behind this song was a unique experience
for me. I was living and working in Langley at the time.
One day in the summer of 89, driving back to office
after going home for lunch, I stopped at a traffic light.
Suddenly to my left and outside the window I sensed
the strong presence of something or someone 'holy'.
Something like an electrical current began flowing through
my body and tears began to flow. It could be that the
song started simply as a response to this 'holy presence'
beside my car. Over and over again I 'heard' and began
to sing "purify my heart, let me be as gold";
the first line of the song. When I got back to the office
(I had to move the car because I was in the middle of
traffic), I told my secretary to hold all calls and
found myself a quiet corner and opened my Bible to I
Peter 1 and asked myself the question "What is
it that makes us pure?" I spent the rest of the
day finishing draft one of the song and within a few
days the song was ready to begin to use. It caught on
with our church almost immediately and was the final
addition to my first ever worship recording "Changed
by your glory" which was recorded in October 89
at the Langley Vineyard.
Generally, every time I write the inspiration is different.
Sometimes it's something I have been thinking and/or
praying about for a long time. Other times it comes
in a 'small' moment and the seed for a new song is born.
Recently I have also begun to write a few other types
of songs to serve. I have had 3 close relatives killed
in accidents in the past few years, and in each case
I wrote a tribute song about their life, which I sang
at each of the funerals.
Writer's block is a common thing to all writers, including
me. However, I have found that the 2 things that help
me are patience and schedule. First of all, I am learning
the patience that some songs just take time, maybe even
months or a year from when the seed comes to when they
are completed. I have even had a few take a few years.
But the main thing is that I don't wait for inspiration
to 'take over', I actually schedule a writing time in
each week. Often I will sit down at my appointed time
feeling NOTHING, and within a few minutes a new song
will be started. If no fresh idea comes, I use that
time to study, and re-write ideas that are still in
process. I do this because I know now that writing songs
is one of the ways I serve God's purposes and I want
to be faithful in that.
6. What are the history of the
songs, that is how did they become recognised and popular
in worship?
"Come, Now is the Time to Worship":
Shortly after I wrote the song while living in London
I taught it to my home church (SW London Vineyard).
Before I knew it, people who were visiting (or heard
it somehow) were teaching it at their churches. By the
time we recording the song 4 months later (Winds of
Worship 12 "Live from London") in February
1998 it was already a 'well-known' song throughout southern
England. The recording was released in different parts
of the world by summer of 98, and we soon got reports
of people singing it in quite a few locations. I believe
it's now in the top 100 songs reported by CCLI.
"Refiner's Fire":
The response to this song has been quite amazing and
surprising to me. It's been translated into many languages
and been recorded many times. I think the reason this
one connected is because the yearning to be pure is
such a universal one.
7. Is there any particular Scripture
that influenced these two songs?
Isaiah 45:22,23 ("Come, Now is the Time to Worship")
I Peter chapter1 ("Refiner's Fire")
8. What stylistic musical influences
affected the writing of this song, if any?
"Come, Now is theTime to Worship":
A producer friend of mine commented, after hearing
the recording of this song, "Abba meets U2".
I could name some of the musical influences of my life
(Phil Keaggy, James Taylor, U2, Phil Collins, etc.)
but I think comparison is really hard to nail down.
I guess in a way, my songs sound like me. The melodies
and the way I phrase my words are to me, very simple.
I guess that is part of what surprises me when they
connect with people.
"Refiner's Fire":
I can't think of any specific influences for Refiner's
Fire other than possibly the early worship music of
Bob Fitts or John Michael Talbot.
9. In your view, what impact
have these songs had on worshipers? How have they impacted
you?
I think these songs have given voice to some people's
longings for purity and to see worship released. For
me, I still can't sing "Refiner's Fire" without
being filled with the healthy kind of fear knowing that
I am not holy, yet I yearn so much to be holy. "Come,
Now is the Time" reminds me that the call to come
and worship is going on all the time, and it encourages
my faith as a worship leader that a day is coming when
worship in it's fullest and final sense will be released.
10. Share your view on faith
& worship and the church. Anything you would like
to see happen, change, a vision for the future, etc.
This may sound surprising to some who associate me
with modern charismatic worship, but I long to see us
incorporate both the ancient (liturgy, symbol, Jewish
roots) with the new expressions of worship. We have
to have both functioning to have a healthy church. So
my vision for the future of the church is not one of
endless new things, but to rediscover the ancient things
as we continue to walk forward. I also hope and pray
that we will embrace again the visual and theatrical
arts. How can we fully tell God's story and our story
through a set of songs and a sermon? We need the visual
arts, the symbols, and the storytelling and theatrical
arts to do that - not primarily to attract the seekers,
but to be a living community of worship (which will
be very attractive to anyone who is seeking God!!).
11. What are your goals as a
songwriter in the immediate and distant future?
I am preparing to do my first "Brian Doerksen"
record as a worship leader and songwriter next year
so I am continuing to write the worship songs that come
from my heart. My long-range goals as a writer are to
finish a musical called "Father's House,"
which is about God's heart as a Father for a fatherless
generation, plus I have another musical in my heart
about the Bride of Christ. I also feel there will be
a new liturgy coming that will be more God-centered,
incorporating ancient and new elements and will require
updated songwriting. Lastly, I feel we also need to
write some modern laments, to give voice in response
to suffering like David did in the Psalms. I guess there's
enough there to keep me writing for the next decade
or three !!
12. If there is anything
you could tell aspiring Christian songwriters, what
would it be?
There is only one you. No one else with your view of
the world and what God is doing on the earth. Write
honestly what is on your heart to God, and sing it to
him in secret. Let that be your biggest reward. You
are having a private audience with the King, the Father
who loves you without measure!!! If that song is meant
to have a wider audience, He is fully capable of arranging
things without a huge amount of help from you. The best
songs find their way out without a lot of effort by
the songwriter. When I began to lead worship I never
used any of my own songs. That came several years later,
and began one song at a time. Be patient, but be willing
to work hard. Never sing a song in public that you don't
'own' in private first, and make sure that the theology
of what you are singing is based the Scriptures and
on orthodox theology, not just your own experience,
though if you are not 'living the song', you won't have
much passion or authority to sing it.
More Interviews:
>> Remaining Faithful
>> Songs 4 Worship
>> Western Pentecostal, March 2002
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