From the very start of [ WM ] Worship Musician magazine some two decades ago Matt Redman has been a friend to this publication . He has led worship at our Christian Musician Summit conferences and has always been so kind and encouraging to me as a person . Even once calling me a “ Renaissance man ” because of the various things I have the privilege of producing and publishing . Matt is currently on staff at Mariner ’ s Church in Irvine , CA . It is great to have him on the West Coast with us . Here is our conversation …
[ WM ] Matt , so good to connect with you again . You ’ ve been here in the U . S . A . for the last six years or so now ?
[ Matt Redman ] Good to see you again too . Actually , it ’ s been nearly eight years .
[ WM ] You ’ ve got a wife and five kids living in Southern California . How has it been for you to move as a family and a ministry from England to here in the States ?
[ Matt ] Well , it ’ s actually the third time we ’ ve lived in America . We came for nearly a year towards the beginning of the 2000 ’ s , and then we were back for two years to help plant Passion City Church around 2008 . And then this time we arrived again thinking perhaps it was only going to be a sabbatical , but too many things fell into place , and we ended up staying .
I think I have so many lovely friends here and ministries we get to partner with and there ’ s no end of wholesome ministry stuff to do . But the key thing for us is that we don ’ t lose connection with England . That ’ s important to us to get back and to do a bit of life there and connect with the church there .
[ WM ] Good . I like it . I also liked your worship videos that you filmed at the San Juan Capistrano mission in Southern California . They are just gorgeous and that ’ s part of you living in that area . I ’ m sure we talked about it , but you ’ re one of the first magazine covers that we did in [ WM ] Worship Musician 21 years ago .
I want to talk about your song “ Heart of Worship ”. We talked about it back then when it first released . The profound line from it is , “ I ’ m sorry Lord , for the things I have made it …” My question to you is , do you see what you were singing about back then , how it could be a greater trap for worship folks even today … 20 some years later ?
[ Matt ] Yeah , it ’ s a great question . I mean , firstly , just looking at it personally , I feel like I sung that line , I don ’ t know , 25 years ago or something . And I ’ d like to say it ’ s the last time I ever had to sing it and learn something . But of course , it ’ s not . Years on personally , you ’ re still
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