Habitual or Unique?

Pulling up in our car, we head inside to meet our hosts, chat a little in introduction, then begin the equipment haul. Each music event differs yet has similarities that threaten habituality. A few weeks ago we had the distinct pleasure of revisiting Morwell Family Church. There's something resoundingly special about meeting up with the same lovely people again and having the opportunity to once again worship together.

Then last week we visited the Haddon Church of Christ for the first time and experienced one of the most spiritually and emotionally uplifting concerts. There are moments of encouragement that happen while we are on the road and we had those at both Morwell and Haddon. It's such a pleasure to see people actively worshipping God as we sing and speak. Our prayer is always that God will be exalted and uplifted above everything else. When we hear a testimony that this has happened, it fills us with joy. These are the moments that force a break from what could become habitual and make each experience unique instead.

To end off we wanted to share the testimony/recommendation that the Pastor from Haddon shared with us: 

"What a night. We hosted Eric & Monique, singer/songwriter “musicianaries” for an hour or so of the most beautiful, spiritually impactful gospel music I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Eric & Monique's music is based squarely on scripture and is so very glorifying to God. It was such a spiritually impactful evening of praise and worship, every song exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. Eric & Monique will bless your church and encourage God’s people with their transparent honesty and genuine praise of our beautiful Saviour. As a pastor of a conservative, evangelical church I unhesitatingly commend them to you."
- Neil Davies, Haddon Church of Christ

2015 In Review

A year can hold so many experiences. Joys, trials, life and growth. As we sit here reflecting on 2015, with Christmas music blaring in the background, we’ve realised it has been a year of both fly-bys and the slow-burn. We began early January prepping for the recording of Everlasting and wrapped up the year with the Everlasting album release tour. 2015 has been filled with memorable experiences that have blurred into a myriad of memories that come with meeting new people and places each day. 

Recording & Releasing Everlasting

Sharing new songs is always a personal process. As songwriters, our songs are our heart. They are our personal spiritual journey with God. We write them to express a moment of joy, a devotional lightbulb or to process a trial. Looking back we love seeing how God has weaved together Everlasting. From before we even thought of the album as a whole and were writing individual songs through to the release day and sharing the songs in concert, we can see God’s hand throughout. We are so excited that so many already have the new album all throughout the world! It’s been amazing to hear the stories of how God has used these songs in other’s lives as an encouragement through tough times and as a joy. To read more about our Everlasting album click here. 

2015 Music Ministry Tours

God opened the doors to several music ministry tours throughout 2015. We did 86 music-sermons and concerts in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK. We wanted to share some of the moments and testimonies that stood out to us throughout 2015:

• One lady came up to Monique with tears in her eyes expressing how our message and music touched her heart. She expressed how she had been worrying about the timing of a particular life changing decision and said that our message and music spoke directly into her experience to give her encouragement; that it was like God was speaking to her and telling her to trust in His time.
• A non-Christian husband came to church for the first time with his wife for our music-sermon.
• A guy heard Christian music for the first time at one of our concerts.
• A woman, who previously hadn't been coming to church was invited to our concert, she loved it so much that when invited to a Bible study small group later that week she said "yes".
• A lady having a particularly terrible day, was able to have a moment of rest during our concert.
• We listened to so many stories of how our music has been blessing their lives before we even came to their church.
• We survived 11 straight days of concerts with a smile on our faces and a voice left to sing
• A Bible study group's recent studies flowing perfectly into the concert's topic.
• The heart felt thanks for a concert that touched a their life that transcends language barriers after European concerts.
• Seeing tear filled eyes as Monique spoke the spoken word before 'He Knows’.
• Selling out of the Everlasting physical albums during the European leg of the Everlasting Album Release Tour.
• A lady, who randomly came to church after a series of bad circumstances, who was brought closer in her relationship to God as a result.
• Some attendees at the JAWE Conference in Switzerland shared with us that "During your concert I felt close to the divine, I could see Jesus through what you were singing and saying." and "A lot of musicians and singers out there sing to glorify themselves, it is clear that your main focus is singing for God and that came across in the presentation." This is one of our constant prayers and we are so thankful that God uses us in this way.
• Playing a concert filled mostly with refugees.
• A lady at another church told us that she felt like all the words we spoke and the song lyrics were written exactly just for her. She expressed that our concert touched on exactly what she had been feeling discouraged about recently and gave immense encouragement. She said it felt like God brought us to her town at just the right time just for her; to encourage her. She thanked us for being so open with our struggles in our songs, such as in Temporary, as it helped her to not feel alone in her personal struggle. 
• The last minute concerts organised at both Friedensau Adventist University, Germany and Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen, Austria.
• A young man, studying the Bible with the pastor, being emotionally moved to the point of conviction during one of our concerts.

In the middle of our Everlasting Release Tour and all the above testimonies we celebrated the 300th concert since we sang together for the first time in late 2009! We are continually amazed and thankful to God for His guidance, providence & continually giving us the faith we lack. Thank you to each and everyone of you who have supported us & our music over the years! We know that we couldn't do this without you! Thank you! 

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed 2016! 

Eric & Monique 

Support Our Ministry

There ain't no Kangaroos in Austria, or Germany for that matter...

Just like all tours that we've been on, we start out with good intentions of keeping a diary of all the things God has done and all the testimonies told. Unfortunately, just like all tours we've been on, our tiredness and busyness gets in the way. But we are going to endeavour to take ourselves back into the moments we've experienced with the amazing people we've met in Germany and Austria to give you a taste of God's goodness as we've experienced it in the past month.

After leaving Switzerland, we headed up to North Germany and began what was our busiest stretch of concerts to date. It was crazy hectic and held so many good memories. Often we wonder why God led us to do music ministry, especially full-time. We're both introverted to a degree, a character trait that doesn't automatically scream being at ease in different people's homes every concert night while on tour and meeting people new people each and every day, and yet we are. We value and love being able to meet the people who come out to our concerts and get to know each of hosts. And I think one of the reasons why we are able to enjoy such a busy tour schedule is that we also try to creat small spaces in each day when we can recharge our introverted self. Hearing of how God has used our music in people's lives or how the concert connected to the people who come is one of the most recharging things that we can experience during a tour. It might sound corny, but it's completely true! We love it when people come up and share their experience with us. For us, this is what makes a concert better then the average. 

These are the moments that stand out in our memories:

• The constant late nights and early mornings
• When people brought non-christian friends to concerts
• Driving at an average of 160km p/hr
• Selling out of the Everlasting physical albums
• The last minute concerts organised at both Friedensau Adventist University and Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen 
• The high level of hospitality
• Seeing tear filled eyes as I speak the spoken word before 'He Knows'
• Realising that people have travelled over an hour to come to our concert
• The heart felt thanks for a concert that touched their life that transcends language barriers
• A guy hearing Christian music for the first time
• The many moments of encouragement
• Playing three concerts with the Austrian-Swiss-German band tag7
• Singing 'There We Rise' with tag7
• Being giving gifts of two lighthouse containers
• Writing personal messages and signing a lot of albums
• Meeting people who know our music so well
• Meeting the people who did a cover of He Knows four years before we came to that church for a concert
• The really well attended mid-week concerts
• Surviving 11 straight days of concerts with a smile on our faces and a voice left to sing
• Listening to stories of how our music has been blessing their lives before we even came to their church
• Playing a concert filled mostly with refugees, and many many more that are currently blurring together as an information overload!!

Honestly, this has been one of the best tours ever, except for one concert which was the worst concert in our 6 years of music ministry. But even in the worst, God had a way of turning it around and using it as an example of the fact that we do what we do for Him, not ourselves. And strangely it ended up being one of the best 'in-concert' experiences for us. We are thankful for each and every church, pastor, and church member who organised a concert. We can't thanked each and every translator enough. Thank you for giving your time to break a language barrier and share the gospel through Word & song with us. Thank you to those who helped us with the sound and clicked through PowerPoint to provide translation for our song lyrics. Thank you to our hosts, who gave us food, a place to sleep and made us feel like we were at home for even just a night. Thank you to everyone who came out a concert or two. We loved meeting each and everyone of you! 

Now the last stretch of concerts for 2015 await us in the UK!

Until next time, many blessings to you!
- E & M