Coffer says , when Zoe leads worship , it ’ s just like there ’ s complete freedom . So she ’ s just one of those girls that can just go and then the room opens up .
So I ’ m like , “ Just bring that . So , bring that to the song !” And so that ’ s kind of where we started . And then the project kind of grew from there . Songs that have really meant something significant to myself , to the church , to my family . And we ended up with 30 . And it was hard to whittle down to 30 songs . Can I say that ? Because your songs , you would know this , that I ’ m not that good a writer , that I can ’ t just scribble out 10 songs a day . That ’ s not me . It takes me time and thought and prayer . And once they come and other people input into them , they mean something . So yeah , that ’ s Testament . And I really pray , my biggest prayer is that some of them will help people remember . And that ’ s not always a good thing in worship . We ’ re not trying to take people back , we ’ re trying to take them up . But sometimes it ’ s good to remember the faithfulness of God in your life . That ’ s right . I ’ m really praying that that ’ s what this project does .
[ WM ] Okay . Well , I was actually going to get into that a little bit . Were you a little bit apprehensive in recording so many of your classic songs ?
[ Darlene ] Yes , I was , but I ’ ve got just a lovely , lovely team who just encouraged and helped me decide which songs and all of that . And so in the end it took all of that away .
[ WM ] Please tell us about the new songs written for this project . I ’ ve only heard “ You Are Great ” with Martin Smith and “ Cry of the Broken .” What can you tell us about these songs ?
[ Darlene ] Yeah , so I probably wouldn ’ t include them in the newest songs that have never been heard . “ Cry of the Broken ,” I wrote quite a while ago .
[ WM ] Oh , I ’ m sorry . Testament
You Are Great
Cry of the Broken
[ Darlene ] No , no need , that ’ s fine . But to be honest , the state of the world , and I just one day went , “ How do I respond ?” We work in mission , we do all those things , but I ’ m like , “ God , I feel like I need to bring this song back .” And just rather than people tend to beat up on God around the things they don ’ t understand . And I ’ m like , no , I want to talk about that . He actually does hear the cry and there is justice outworked in and through all of this horror … and yeah , so that ’ s kind of why we pulled this right back into the mix . And for me there was a bit of an urgency on that then . “ You Are Great ,” I actually wrote when I was having chemo , and so that ’ s nearly 10 years ago for me now , which is amazing .
And I wrote it with Martin ( Smith ) because Martin jumped on a plane . I think I was at my last treatment , so I was very sick . I looked like a pinned rabbit . And my husband , he ’ s just amazing , and Martin and him are very close .
And so Martin literally just hopped on a plane and came for no other reason than to sit with us and sing songs over me and sit with my children . Sorry . It makes me emotional to encourage my husband . And then one day I was just lying on the lounge and he said , “ Darlene when it comes to worship , what do you want to say ? Let ’ s say it today .” I ’ m like , “ Mark , my heart is there , but my body …” He ’ s like , “ That ’ s all right . You just say it and we ’ ll just do it together .” I said ,” I just want to say God is great .” And that ’ s where we started and we stand in awe , Jesus . It ’ s simple . It ’ s a powerful declaration . But again , for me it is more than personal , because testament to great friends … that we need community and that we need the glory of God in our suffering . ( tears ).
[ WM ] No , that ’ s okay . It ’ s amazing how simple things actually become when we go through this kind of trauma . In the scripture where Jesus is talking about the Samaritan who came back to say “ thank you ,” there was only one out of the ten healed that came back to give thanks . That scripture was haunting me . Now I ’ ve seen my surgical oncologist , I ’ ve seen my overall oncologist , but I had not seen my radiation oncologist , I went back to him last week to say thank you and because the last thing he said to me 16 months ago was , “ I hope you make it .” And so , I went back and the offices let me in and I went into the bowels of the place where I got so sick . And he came out and he hugged me , and I thanked him and he said , “ Thank you for coming back . Very few people ever come back . We don ’ t know what happens to them .” And I said , “ Well , I was compelled to , I had to come back and thank you .” And I told him the scripture . And so , I was so blessed to be able to go back and thank him .
[ Darlene ] I know .
[ WM ] So there ’ s something to be said for new songs that spontaneously connect within the church and that become significant and lasting . These are sometimes songs that rise to popularity irrespective of any label promotional efforts . It ’ s a beautiful thing when local worship
20 September 2024 Subscribe for Free ...