I'm in Yunnan at the moment on a photo shoot with Zhang Zi Yi (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, etc), but that's a story for another blog.





This is about 'Sunday Night Live' - a name coined by Robert Glover for an evening of live worship in Beijing (usually one every two months or so). Last Sunday 'The Vine Band' and Dean Sherman joined forces for an exciting encounter with God.

Dean's talk was simple: how we pray, meditate, worship, and how often, means nothing unless we achieve their purposes - to engage and encounter God. He likened our faith to 'being content with only reading a book about marriage or actually jumping into bed with someone'! If nothing else during his talk, I'm sure this point alone helped get his message across: God is real and we should expect nothing else but a real relationship with Him.

In itself this was great teaching, but the evening really took off with some of the most amazing worship I've been in, led by 'The Vine Band', for the 'The Vine' church in HK.

Tom Read, a fellow Brit (but resident in HK for 21 years), his wife Jacinta, and the rest of the band (6 in total for this tour) behold a sincerity and clarity that drew all 400/500 of us into a very real encounter with God.

Tom Read is evidently gifted with that poetic touch of putting into words and song that which we you feel but perhaps can't express. A modern day bard. But he's also backed by a remarkably talented and committed band. They are great live, and you can't help but get sucked into their enthusiasm, let go of your inhibitions, and jump for God!

The band have a real passion for worksing alongside musicians and churches in China and Asia, which is an incredibly exciting ministry.

Their album 'Who May Ascend - Live Worship from HK' is available on CD, and check out their myspace: www.myspace.com/thevinehk. They'll be in London in 2 weeks, so get in touch with them if you want to meet up.

All of us in Beijing are looking forward to their next visit...