When you are as sad a geek as I am, there are few things in life that cannot be linked in some way to a quote from Babylon 5, and in the couple of weeks since I posted part 2 of this Mega-Update, the quote above has come into my mind over and over again.

As outlined in part 2, theREIGN is in transition at the moment, and the next couple of months see us juggling between lineups old and new, ensuring that we honour those events that were in the diary before some of the changes were required.

Before that though, we are pleased to report that the first rehearsal with the new lineup went very well indeed, and the two new members slotted in quite nicely. They are now set to make their debut with us on Easter Sunday evening at St Aidan’s church in Hull for the Easter Praise worship event.

A couple of weeks later, the previous lineup takes to the “stage” at Holy Trinity, Barrow Upon Humber for a Saturday evening concert (7 May) and Sunday morning service (8 May). The only reason for the switch is that there simply isn’t time for the new lineup to get to grips with our own songs and do them justice in concert form having only just got together for the first time.

There is then a brief pause until a mixture of old and new takes to the outdoor stage in Withernsea on 2 July for a (hopefully) sunny outdoor worship and outreach event. That event should then mark the final transition from old lineup to the new one which we hope will take us forward into the future. July also marks the start of preparation for RE5 to debut in the Autumn (for which ideas are already starting to fly) and, possibly a return trip to Church Stretton.

In amongst all of that, we are delighted to announce the imminent release of a live album, called 96. Recorded at Withernsea United Reformed Church in October 2010, it features 9 of our own songs (including one brand new, previously unrecorded song), some souped up worship songs and even a couple of secular covers, along with some cool bonus features. The release date and launch concert is still to be finalised, but look out for it … we have some exciting plans for the launch concert.

Looking further ahead, we are hoping to get our act together and take RE5 (or maybe even 6) to Greenbelt 2012, as well as building on our existing church relationships for these events.

Finally, the running joke within the band at the moment (well, with me anyway) is that the Lord seems to be gradually replacing us with younger versions of ourselves but that, for me, is pretty exciting as it allows us to use our individual gifts and theREIGN’s opportunities to help develop and mentor young musicians and crew.

Jemma joined us in 2005 as a talented, but inexperienced, 14 year old singer and, 6 years on, is a confident and accomplished performer and worship leader in her own right. I would never seek to claim that theREIGN is responsible for any of that, but I hope and pray that the time she has spent working with us has provided a good environment for her to develop and grow her gifts.

Bethany is now where Jemma was in 2005, and hopefully she will also find that singing (and playing trombone) with the band gives her the opportunity to “spread her wings” a little bit, develop her gifts and gain confidence in making music.

On the tech side, both Dave Cartwright and Jon Cole have done superbly in looking after us and have moved on to full time jobs in sound engineering. Again, we cannot claim the credit for that, but I am delighted that we could give them the opportunity to really get their teeth into something to assist in their development.

And so, to prayer requests …

The new lineup: Please pray that the new members will settle in quickly and be blessed as they get to grips with what we are doing. Leading worship should never be a chore.

96: A lot of hard work has gone into putting the album together (mostly by John Osbourne if truth be told). Please pray for the final stages to come together and a suitable launch date present itself sooner rather than later.

Technical Crew: With Jon Cole moving on, Tim and Joel will be under greater pressure on sound and light. Please pray for them to be blessed as they work with us.

Future Opportunities: Please pray that the Lord will continue to open doors for us to lead his people in worship, and continue to bless what we do in His name.

I think that pretty much brings everything bang up to date. Sorry for my tardiness in getting part 3 completed … real life and the day job have kind of got in the way over the last few weeks.

If you get the chance to catch us at an upcoming event, we look forward to seeing you. If not, 96 will soon be available via the website, at very reasonable rates!

Every blessing,
David

New Lead Guitarist
Having driven down several blind alleys in a search for a likely candidate, and even flirted with the idea of taking a crash course and doing it myself, we have found a willing victim … sorry, soul … to step in and take on the thankless task of following in Paul’s footsteps, who originally only joined us for one gig, but is still here some 6 years later at the time of writing.

The new axeman is a young guy keen to spread his musical wings and get involved in leading worship in new and exciting ways. However, until he gets the chance to do that, he is happy to play for us!

I will reveal his identity once we have completed transition, and he has had the chance to play with us and begin to settle into the new lineup.

New Drummer
We always had a replacement drummer in the back of our minds should the need arise and for a time it looked as though we would experience a fairly simple transition from Kev to a new skin-basher. However, for a variety of reasons it just didn’t work out, which left us in a bit of a hole.

Suffice to say that Hull’s Christian music scene is not massively endowed with players – the fact that we are the City’s only itinerant worship band probably says all that needs to be said about the talent pool. However, one name did come to the top of the list, a drummer that Kat and I had played with in the past (and who had played with a scratch version of theREIGN several years ago, and he was keen to get involved if he could.

Both the new members are set to make their debut on Easter Sunday evening when we lead worship for East Hull Easter Praise, and we would greatly value your prayers for this event and, particularly, for our preparations and the integration of the new musicians and all the exciting (and scary) changes to the dynamics of the band that are sure to come with them.

John Osbourne and I have had several conversations over the past year about how we can once again freshen up the sound and feel of what we play and continue to move forward rather than just playing the same old songs in the same old style all the time, and the quick-fire addition of new piano/keyboard player Richard Fuller, along with a new lead guitarist and new drummer means this is almost bound to happen quite naturally. God is good like that, sometimes!

Technical Crew
Since releasing part 1 of this mega-update, our long standing (suffering?) sound engineer, Jon Cole, has made the decision to move on, most notably as he is about to take up a job as a sound engineer at Butlins in Skegness. Given that he was in the final year of this university studies, this was a conversation that was almost bound to happen in Summer 2011 anyway, it is not unexpected, just a few months earlier than anticipated.

Jon moves on with our heartfelt and genuine thanks for the time, effort, energy, skill, dedication, patience and creativity he has brought to our ministry over the last several years. He will be missed, and we are extremely grateful to Tim Canty for being prepared to step up and take on more of Jon’s responsibilities in this area. It is also a valuable opportunity for Joel Cooper to really get his teeth into the job in a way he hasn’t been able to so far.

Personally, I am excited by the prospect of playing with new people. There is always an underlying joy in discovering how other musicians play, and hearing that taking shape around you is always a pleasure. However in seeking not to disappoint anyone who already has theREIGN booked into their diaries the next few months will surely feel a little disjointed as the lineup changes around a little before settling into its new form come the Summer.

Even before we play together for the first time, there are already three new songs for the new look lineup to call their own which I hope will help in giving the updated version of theREIGN its own identity and voice, whilst never letting go of everything we have achieved over the last 8 and a half years.

We will take a look at some of the stuff on the immediate horizon, as well as some of our aspirations further afield, in part 3.

Every blessing,
David Cooper
on behalf of theREIGN

July 2010
Kev Sargeson was also moved to London by his employer, initially commuting during the week but eventually (and inevitably) this will become a permanent move for him. Thus began the not quite so lengthy, but equally frustrating search for a new drummer (and again, more in part 2). David, Rachel and Andy began the process of pulling together the 4th incarnation of Communion On The Rocks, Taking The Step.

September 2010
The band enjoyed a reunion with Richard Hill (formerly of St Barnabas’, Swanland) as they led a youth concert and open air service for his new church in Church Stretton, Shropshire, the first of several minibus trips to out of area gigs in recent months. RE4 was finalised and rehearsed ready for the Autumn series.

October/November 2010
October opened with a very enjoyable concert in Withernsea (of which more in part 3), followed by the Autumn RE series which saw Rachel bow out (sort of) after events in Sutton and Greatfield, and Andy make his mark with an energetic outing at Holy Trinity in Barrow Upon Humber.

January 2011
The annual Gathering took place in late January with no lead guitarist, a new keyboard player in Richard Fuller and a potential new drummer (alongside Kev) that unfortunately did not pan out.

February/March 2011
The Spring RE season took in Swanland, London, Warrington and Anlaby with Andy leading the local events and Rachel the out of area ones: London, because it was her own church, and Warrington because they were looking specifically for a female minister to lead that one. Andy has settled in brilliantly and is gaining a particular reputation for his high energy style. I don’t think his glutes and hamstrings are going to forgive him any time soon, however.

Richard has also settled in well behind the keyboard, and will bring some new and interesting possibilities to the band’s sound and style.

All of which is a potted recent history of theREIGN. Making music together continues to be a joy and a privilege and while Paul, Rachel and Kev’s enforced departures bring with them a sense of sadness and loss, there is some exciting stuff afoot, and you can read all about it in part 2 and 3.

Every blessing,
theREIGN

These will be posted over the next several days and by the end of it there will be no excuse for anyone not knowing where theREIGN is at the moment.

As always, we are thankful for the support and prayers of all of our fans and interested bystanders, and would ask you to please hold all of the issues raised in the Mega-Update in your thoughts and prayers as there are some scary and exciting things happening at the moment.

And so … on with the updates.

Every blessing,
theREIGN

Rachel will lead her final Rock Eucharist on Friday 19 November 2010 at St Hilda’s Church in Greatfield, Hull, while Paul is expected to make his final appearance with the band two days later, in the RE event at Holy Trinity, Barrow upon Humber.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to share theREIGN’s ministry with Paul and Rachel over the last several years, particularly bearing in mind that Paul originally only joined us to play in one gig (that never actually happened) and 5 and half years later, he is still around. They leave with our heartfelt thanks for all they have brought to us, and our utmost good wishes and prayers for the future.

I feel certain that it won’t be long before Paul finds somewhere to play his guitar!

At this point, a replacement minister is alrady in place for the upcoming RE events (see the RE Blog for further details), but we are still seeking a replacement lead guitarist.

We would value your prayers for this vacancy to be filled as soon as possible, otherwise I will have to get my electric guitar out … and, trust me, no one wants that.

Every blessing,
David

Our Spring schedule has seen the debut of new skin-basher (sorry for the technical term) Kev Sargeson, and he has slotted in incredibly well, allowing us to fly into our RE3 events seamlessly from where we left off back in November. He seems to be enjoying life with us as well, so praise and thanks to the Lord for bringing us all together.

Having now completed four of the five RE events of this season, I think we have to proclaim ourselves satisfied with the way it has gone. The event at St John’s on 11 April promises to be a good one to lay the event to rest for the Summer, as we have a small surprise up our sleeves for anyone too familiar with RE3!

The reception we have received from the churches has been tremendous, they have all been extremely welcoming, hospitable and extremely supportive of what we are doing … they have also been willing to cart equipment around the place to help us out, which is a genuine blessing.

Finishing the RE season, though, gives us no rest for the time being. First up, on 4 April, we are privileged to have been invited to lead worship for East Hull Easter Praise. With the central City Hall event not taking place this year, St Aidan’s is one of the churches picking up the slack and running a celebration event and having rehearsed so much there this year it really does feel, to some extent, like coming home. The big advantage of that is that we know the way the church sounds and feels, and can just let ourselves go in worship. Personally, I am really looking forward to it.

Beyond that, a fun evening beckons at Victoria Dock on 15 May where we help them support Christian Aid week by providing music for their talent night … whether we are there as an example or a warning remains to be seen.

We then take theREIGN outside (for the first time) on 23 May as we lead worship in Valley Gardens in Withernsea for a worship and outreach event for the evangelical churches in the town. 2:00pm start if you fancy some open air worship by the seaside. Again, an event I am really looking forward to as it is always a joy to come together in worship.

And finally before the Summer recess, the band will be helping lead guitarist Paul Ganney celebrate 20 years as a Church of England reader at his home church in Victoria Dock on the morning of 20 June.

Phew.

Fortunately, we then get a couple of months respite before we pick up with a concert in Barrow and an Autumn RE season that already has three confirmed bookings for November. Should be enough time to get RE4 written at least.

Your prayers woudl be greatly valued for any and all of these events, the churches hosting them and the people taking part, Christian or otherwise, and as always if you would like to add to our “burden” you know where to find us.

Incidentally … looking back over the blog archive I notice that I have previously outlined the music used in both RE1 and RE2 but have not done so yet for RE3. I have now put that right, below.

Every blessing,
theREIGN

Songs (or part songs) used in RE3: Though We Are Many
Eye Of The Tiger (Sullivan/Peterick), Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (Piercy/Clifton), Pride (In The Name Of Love) (U2), Starlight (Muse), Happy Day (Hughes), I Believe (Thornton/Gay), Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble (Smith), We Are One (Cooper), Bohemian Like You (Taylor-Taylor), Jesus Be The Centre (Frye), Sanctified (Cooper), In Christ Alone (Townsend), Livin’ On A Prayer (Bon Jovi/Sambora/Child), Father God, I Wonder (Smale), Layla (Clapton/Gordon), Chasing Cars (Lightbody), Give Thanks To The Lord (Reeves/Tomlin), Praise Is Rising (Brown), Unchanging (Tomlin) + various riffs slotted around and about.

After a very successful Autumn 2009 season of Rock Eucharist events, which took us to the wilds of Scarborough, Tadcaster and Barrow Upon Humber, we have now fixed our programme of events for the Spring 2010 season, and these are confirmed as follows:

Thu 25 Feb 2010: St Peter’s Church, Hutton @ 6:30pm
Sun 28 Feb 2010: St Barnabas’ Church, Swanland @ 7:00pm
Sun 07 Mar 2010: St Mark’s Church, Scarborough @ 6:30pm
Sun 28 Mar 2010: Holy Trinity Church, Leven @ 6:30pm
Sun 11 Apr 2010: St John’s Church, Bransholme @ 6:30pm

In addition, the band is booked for a private birthday party on Saturday 20 March and, looking further afield, we have been asked to hold a concert at Holy Trinity Church, Barrow on Humber, but the original date has now become unavailable so a fresh date for that will be organised shortly. Holy Trinity have also booked a further Rock Eucharist on Sunday 21 November 2010 at 6pm.

Finally, Paul Ganney has invited the band to join him in leading worship at Victoria Dock Church on Sunday morning 20 June 2010 to help him celebrate 20 years as a reader in the Church of England.

All of which adds up to a particularly exciting and potentially very busy 2010.

Every blessing,
theREIGN

Rachel claims it was scary (it was her own church and congregation, after all), but you certainly couldn’t tell from the way she led things from the front.

If you can make it to one of this series of events (and they are well spread out) we would love to see you there. If not, you could always book us for your church in the Spring.

Every blessing,
theREIGN

Further afield, and following another successful and blessed weekend with our friends in Barrow Upon Humber over the weekend of 7 and 8 February 2009, we have been invited back for a further concert/Rock Eucharist combo (the not-yet-written v3) over the weekend of 14 and 15 November 2009. This is looking good at the moment, but we just need to tie down everyone’s availability in order to confirm.

Finally, and most importantly for us at this point, we have now set a date for a Communion on the Rocks showcase event, to be held at St Aidan’s church in East Hull on Thursday evening 7 May 2009, beginning at 7:30pm. This event is designed for us to showcase/lead the Rock Eucharist event for a congregation of invited local ministers and youth leaders with a view to expanding the event’s ministry within local churches. Please pray for the organisation, promotion and execution of this event.

As always, if you would like to investigate the possibility of holding an event in your own church (or group of churches) drop us a note or give David Cooper a call and let us know.

Every blessing,
theREIGN

Starting off at Holy Trinity Church, Barrow on Humber on Sunday evening 8 February 2009 with “Heaven In The Ordinary”, we then take “Rising Sun” to St Barnabas Church, Swanland on Sunday 22 February and St Martin’s/St John’s churches in Seamer, near Scarborough on Sunday 8 March.

And this is all before our big Rock Eucharist marketing push even gets underway!!

To that end, Rachel Ganney and I will be meeting with a very good friend of the band (and professional marketing guy) Peter Andrews to discuss some exciting ways in which we can promote the Communion on the Rocks event to the wider church over the next week or two, and your prayers would be valued.

As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like us to bring the event to your church/youth group/other Christian gathering.

Every blessing,
David