from so many people who it changed their lives . Not because I ' m really cool , by any means , because I ' m completely not , but that there was something in that song that stirred something in them to live for something beyond themselves . There ' s that generosity that serving- humanity thing has then provoked questions in them .
I feel like it ' s no stretch for me , if anything , it ' s a stretch for me not to ... It ' s a stretch for me to try and take God out of that because he is so completely in the middle of all that . We ' ll have worship in heaven forever , and worship is essential here because that ' s how , obviously , we are stepping into the fullness of our identity of who we are in Christ . But when it comes to art that could potentially be redemptive for people outside of the church , I think of that as why there has been so much divisiveness and false narratives around artists who are Christians who are making art outside of the four walls of the church .
Because people think that it ' s self-motivated or that it ' s driven by some other motive rather than championing those artists who are following Jesus and writing the songs that can be that provocateur in people that might help them ask a question , where the Holy Spirit can come in and meet them right where they ' re at . As you can tell , I ' m passionate .
[ WM ] Awesome ! We ’ ve talked about this before , but I ’ d love it if you could recap the story of how your first Martin guitar came into your life ?
[ Brooke ] Yes . I was sixteen years old or so and had been a Christian maybe a year or two . God had brought this incredible group of older girls into my life , they were in their early 20s , mid 20s , and for whatever reason , they let me hang out with them . One of them was an incredible young woman called Leah . I think she was a social worker at that time , but she was a songwriter and would sing her songs at cafes or open mic nights , all that kind of thing . Leah had been saving up to buy a Martin guitar , because everyone knows Martin guitars are the best guitars , in my opinion .
Anyway , she had been saving up to buy a base model Martin , probably one of the cheapest available , but still for a social worker ' s wage , a lot . She ' d been saving up for this guitar and she bought this guitar . We met up one day and she had the guitar with her , and she had tears in her eyes and she said , " Brooke , I got the guitar , but God told me that I ' d actually brought it for you ," and gave me this guitar that she ' d been saving up for . That was my first guitar , a Martin
000-XM . That was the guitar that I wrote my whole first record on , that I still have in my office to this day .
I am in the process of tracking her down , she has no idea , obviously about this . I am going to send her this and it will be over twenty years since she planted a seed in the ground when she gave me that guitar , and now I ' m going to get to hand her a Brooke Ligertwood Martin guitar and say , " Thank you for believing in me . Thank you for being obedient ."