Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> It\u2019s funny to me, really. I wrote it when I was about, I think, 17, and I wrote it really quickly. And ever since then I\u2019ve been trying to better my skills, hone my skills, you know, be diligent in my skills, become a better song writer, and the one that I wrote really quickly when I was very young is the one that\u2019s gone further and people know the best. So you just put that down to God\u2019s sovereignty, really. Others I\u2019ve written are one called Awake Awake O Zion<\/em><\/a>, which has got around a bit, and Come Let Us Worship<\/em><\/a> is one. And there\u2019s probably about a hundred songs called that . . .<\/p>\n Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
The Brighton Newfrontiers church is an amazing resource, if you think about all of you as a group, not just Phatfish, but all the other guys you just mentioned. I mean, you guys write a lot of songs that are used in a lot of places, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n![\"Stuart](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/06\/Stuart-Townend-2-730741.jpg\")
<\/a>Yeah . . . yes, for sure. Of course, Stuart Townend <\/a>is probably the key guy in those terms. His songs have obviously gone around the world and are sung as much as anybody\u2019s at the moment. Songs like In Christ Alone<\/a><\/em> and The Power of the Cross<\/a><\/em> seem to be right up there among the most-sung songs in the Christian world at the moment. I\u2019ve had the privilege of being able to write a few that people have taken hold of as well, and Paul Oakley<\/a> has written some really big songs which have gone \u2018round the world. It\u2019s a great privilege. We\u2019re just grateful that we get the chance to do it, really.<\/p>\n
I know some people don\u2019t pay that much attention to who writes songs, so could you just say (I know you\u2019re probably too embarrassed) which songs that you\u2019ve written are the ones that are most widely known? The one that comes to my mind (I think it\u2019s one of yours) is There Is A Day That All Creation Is Waiting For<\/em><\/a>. I just love that song\u2014it goes on, doesn\u2019t it . . . \u201cA day of freedom and liberation for the world . . .when hurt and pain will cease,\u201d and it talks about our light and momentary troubles achieving a glory for us. I just kept thinking of that song this week; I mean, you did sing it in your gig, but when John Piper was speaking about suffering\u2014that\u2019s the one that I immediately thought of. I must confess, I\u2019m not one of these people who always pays much attention\u2014so what other songs have you written that people sing more?<\/p>\n![\"Nathan](\"https:\/\/adrianwarnock.com\/uploaded_images\/_DSC1118-730302.JPG\")
<\/a>Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
There is a Day<\/em><\/a> is probably the second biggest song I\u2019ve ever written in terms of how far and wide it\u2019s gone. Holy Holy<\/em><\/a> is the song that has actually gone the furthest. The chorus is \u201cLift up his name with the sound of singing . . .<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n
Tell us a few more words of that one . . .<\/p>\n
The chorus is \u201cYou are God, and you\u2019re worthy to be praised, and you\u2019re good . . .\u201d I mean, Stoneleigh was\u2014that was kind of the era where songs probably got most profile. I usually write about one a year for Stoneleigh. To You King Jesus<\/em><\/a> is another one. Jesus Christ the Holy One<\/em><\/a> is another one. So, yeah, I\u2019ve written quite a few<\/a>. Some of them get better notice than others, but, yeah . . .<\/p>\n
What about the one, O God of Love, I Come To You<\/em><\/a>. Is that yours?<\/p>\n
Yes, that is actually. It was predominantly my wife, Lou\u2019s, but we wrote that together. But that one really was her kind of main theme, and I was just around to help shape it and form it a little bit. So, yeah, again, that one has gone out quite a long way.<\/p>\n
I heard of a bit of an interesting back story on that one, but I may not have heard it right, so what is the back story on that, if you don\u2019t mind me asking.<\/p>\n![\"Lou](\"https:\/\/adrianwarnock.com\/uploaded_images\/_DSC1078-772711.JPG\")
<\/a>I\u2019d quite like to hear yours, actually! (Laughter) I think it kind of came out at a time there was a young girl in our church who was diagnosed with cancer, and she did actually end up dying. It was obviously quite an intense season in our church\u2014just going through that sort of thing as a body of people is a pretty intense thing. Everybody who was close to her talked about her love for God, and her peace, and how her face shone. It was incredibly moving, even though I didn\u2019t really know her\u2014you can\u2019t help but be moved by it. I know Lou was moved by it. I think a lot of the words of that song came out of that\u2014not just the frailty of our bodies, but the fact that God is always before us and behind us, and he knows our frame, and he knows how we\u2019re made. So there was all that stuff. But the chorus actually just came out when Lou and I were leaders of a small group (or whatever they were called then\u2014cell groups probably, I don\u2019t know\u2014like a youth one). We were just worshipping round one day, and Lou just started singing the chorus\u2014which is quite a simple chorus\u2014but started singing that out, and that song was kind of born there and then, really.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the one \u2014 How Good It Is To Be Loved by God<\/em> \u2014 that one?<\/p>\n
Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n
Oh, no \u2014 How Good It Is To Be Loved by You . . .<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s right. Yeah.<\/p>\n
See, I almost know the words . . .<\/p>\n
Yeah! I\u2019m impressed! That\u2019s good! (Laughter)<\/p>\n
Are there any other of those songs where there\u2019s a back story that\u2019s worth telling about? I mean, not just that it sprung into your head in the shower, but anything else that\u2019s worth saying?<\/p>\n
Well, I think There is a Day<\/a> is probably one I\u2019d go back to. I was reading a book called the Discipline of Grace<\/em> by Jerry Bridges. It\u2019s not really a book about the second coming and our future in heaven, or anything like that, but there was obviously something that he put in there, a page that I read\u2014that chorus literally just descended on me like\u2014instantly. I can\u2019t put it in any other way. It was like I got so excited by reading what I was reading (I can\u2019t even remember what it was!) but I guess it was something related. But the chorus, \u201cWe will meet him in the air and we will be like him, and we will see him as he is . . .\u201d and then that \u201cOh yeah!\u201d\u2014it was just genuinely what was in my heart. I remember I was in my bedroom. I slammed my fist down on the bed. ![\"Phatfish\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/06\/65546-782166.jpg\")
<\/a>That was genuinely what it was\u2014it was like, \u201cOh YEAH!!\u201d It so gripped me\u2014so just from there I kind of started looking up some simple passages and, you know, I did the whole kind of following Scripture links to this one, and I\u2019d follow it through my Bible and just came up with various lines, and really felt God\u2019s grace in putting it together. A lot of people said to me, \u201cIt\u2019s a great theological song.\u201d You have some guys who really do know their stuff theologically, and it\u2019s like, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s just God\u2019s grace!\u201d I mean, in a sense, it\u2019s just the Bible put to music. But just the flow of it seemed to land really well, and it seems to catch people. It actually gets used at funerals quite a lot as well. I have one story where loads of people got saved\u2014I mean, not 100 percent to do with that song obviously\u2014but that song playing a part in it, playing a part in somebody\u2019s life who recently became a Christian and then actually died suddenly. The song was sung at his funeral, and the family and friends heard the gospel preached, and loads of people were saved. It\u2019s just mind-blowing when you hear things like that and think a song that I\u2019ve written\u2014well, to just be able to play a small part in that is just awesome. It\u2019s wonderful.<\/p>\n