Beating Time
THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
Songs from the young people of Chertsey Street Baptist Church, Guildford
Double CD
Back in the late 1980s, a young man left his employment with a call from God to get involved in Christian radio and recording work. He invested his money in recording kit, pretty high-tech for the time, which he installed in his house.
He was part of a church young people's group which included some quite talented musicians and singers. They produced two very fine cassette recordings of songs. The first was called 'I will never leave you' and the second 'Must be love'. These cassettes have sold well ever since.
The young man is currently deeply involved in Christian radio at the Grace Baptist Mission centre, and now that technology has moved on, the original recordings have been digitally re-mastered and put on to two CDs to form 'The Complete Collection'.
Among others, there are songs written by Bill Bygroves of Garston Bridge Chapel, Liverpool, John Benton (the editor of EN) and the young man himself, Mike Parsons. Some of the offerings are rather folksy, and probably will sound rather cheesy to today's hip generation. Others reflect the synthesiser genre and drum-rhythms of the 1980s. But the music and words still make for a very professional and well good earful. Some of the songs are almost straight Scripture, like 'My Jesus' which sets the NIV of Philippians 2.5-11 to music, and 'Love never fails', which does the same with 1 Corinthians 13. The particular strength of the collection is in the number of songs which speak to people going through tough times, and seem to be able to impart strength and encouragement almost effortlessly to any listener. Foremost among these are 'I need your hand' and 'They that wait'. There are some excellent evangelistic songs, too, like 'For God so loved the world'.
Many of the young people who sang on these original recordings are youth leaders themselves now and in different churches, but hey! The double CD set costs £11 (including post and packing) and is available from 11 Abbey Close, Abingdon OX14 3JD. Please make cheques payable to Mr. M. Parsons.
