it a little bit , but essentially it worked and sent it over to Brian . This is the song done . And since then , we ’ ve played it loads . I would play “ By the Grace of God ” whenever I ’ m leading worship out and about where I can , I love it because it ’ s got that kind hymn value .
[ WM ] That ’ s wonderful . That ’ s a great story ! Well , the song , “ Let Me Tell You ”, is an absolute anthem for the church . What say you ?
[ Nick ] Wow , thank you so much ! I enjoyed writing this song . I think just seeing as a worship leader , and I ’ ve been leading in a lot of different contexts this year , the need to continue to tell the story in our worship . And I think whatever else we do ; you can have moments where we have a very presence-based worship or we have an adoration kind of worship or lots of exuberant praise . But amongst all of that , I think it ’ s really important just to keep telling the gospel story . We see a lot of people who are coming to our church now who wouldn ’ t necessarily call themselves Christians are invited . And this is such a great opportunity as we sing the story . And I think that was my heart ’ s cry behind this song . And yeah , it was a really beautiful one to write . I love just an opportunity to kind of think of fresh ways of letting people know about that . And I guess that phrase came from that . But yeah , it ’ s really sweet . It started actually in Nashville and finished it here . And one of the nice features about this song is that I never felt the end of the chorus was quite right . And whenever I sang it as a writer , I sometimes have this sense , “ Why does this feel quite difficult ?” It was not quite right .
And then my daughter who ’ s grown up now , in fact , she ’ s just gone to Durham University , but she ’ s a brilliant musician and worship leader and singer songwriter . Anyway , I was sitting with her one day and I was playing the song to her and she just said , “ Oh , it needs to do this , that it needs to finish like this .” I just went , “ I just finished this chorus off with the way we sing Jesus and just rounded it off so well .” And it was one of those moments when you are so proud of your daughter . That fixed it , and what seems so simple to her was so complicated to me .
[ WM ] The Writing Room EP is so rich with content . I mean , “ Come and See The Father ’ s Love ”, is so beautiful and so accessible for congregations to sing and the song , “ Prepare The Way ”, is such a great , open , friendly invitation and call to worship . It ’ s reminiscent of “ Come Now Is The Time to Worship ”, not musically , but in intent . What can you tell us about it ?
[ Nick ] Wow , Alex , thank you so much . Honestly , that means so much hearing you say that . “ Prepare the Way ,” came from prayer meetings in London . There ’ s a huge movement right now , global movement called Send . And they came over to London and in the buildup to the events , I was involved in a couple of prayer groups . I just sensed this line , ‘ prepare the way , prepare the way for the Lord .’
I always think the congregation and the people you ’ re leading , they ’ re the true test of any song , whether it ’ s a great song or not . And I think that the thing for me was people latched onto it and then actually the rest of the melody came . I had some different words in the moment . I actually can ’ t remember what I wasn ’ t singing now , but for the chorus that we have now , I was singing something different in the moment . And then when I got home afterwards , I got my phone out and thought , “ I ’ ve got to get this down because I ’ m going to forget it ”. And I literally , almost verbatim , just sang through and thought , “ Wow , that ’ s fantastic ”, with a little bit of songwriting tweaking here and there , but it essentially worked . As Matt Redman said , “ Songs that start in worship , end in worship .”
And I think there ’ s a lot of truth in that . We have a beautiful writing room at home , and we ’ ve got this beautiful wood panel room . All these songs at some point have been worked on in that room . There ’ s been a connection there somewhere . The other element of this particular project has been born from me leading in different contexts and a lot of contexts this year , different events and different churches . There ’ s a need here actually for songs that are really accessible that do you have some great content and actually that people can generally pick up on a piano or a guitar . That ’ s the reality in our country where you don ’ t have all A grade musicians and actually you want to just be able to play the piano , sing something really simply and allow people to sing .
[ WM ] Well , I love this notion of the writing room , and it sounds like you ’ re writing songs for the church , not for radio , and I love that . This is a little bit lighter topic to ask you about . But what is your guitar of choice ?
[ Nick ] It ’ s funny you asked that . I ’ ve got quite a few guitars . I ’ ve got a USA Stratocaster , I ’ ve got a Martin and the Martin is my guitar that I ’ ve used all the way through many , many years . Interestingly , I was leading worship in London , and I left my guitars on stage after the morning gathering and I went out to get some lunch . But someone had hidden in the church , and they stole my guitars . And I came back after lunch , and I realized what had happened . Then the church raised some money and said , “ Treat yourself to new guitar ”. Which was such a gift , and I realized it as a sort of affirmation of me . So , I ’ ve literally just purchased a new guitar and I ’ m going to pick it up next week in Nashville when I ’ m over doing some co-writing . It ’ s a Fender Acoustasonic . I ’ m really excited . I just love quirky guitars like that , that are a bit different .
[ WM ] Oh , good for you . Thank you so much for this time . It ’ s been great visiting with you and God be with you and the impact of your EP , The Writing Room .
[ Nick ] I loved chatting with you , Alex , Thank you .
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