As an international professional singer, I never felt I was doing the right thing
with my gift of music -
It began quite by chance when my Dad recorded on video an episode of Heaven and Earth one Sunday afternoon on BBC1, which in itself was unusual as we very rarely watched TV on a Sunday morning! He watched it and gave it to me knowing I had an interest in Gospel music. I loved the sound that was created by ‘Gospel Music!’
It was a documentary about a traditional church choir who volunteered to be taught how to become a contemporary gospel choir. They were going to be shown how to do this by a professional gospel choir leader whose name I only knew as Daniel. I later found out he was a choir leader for the London Community Gospel Choir.
The outcome of the documentary was that the church choir managed to achieve becoming
a Gospel Choir and the result was awe-
.
However not long after this, my whole world fell apart. I lost my Father very suddenly
to cancer. I always had been so close to my Dad because we were so much alike. Indeed,
my Mum and Dad had always been there for me throughout life. They had helped me through
a particularly horrendous event in my life which was a turbulent marriage breakdown.
It resulted in my becoming a single mother of three children -
Dad and I had sung in harmony together for as long as I could remember in a way that came so naturally. A gift that only God could give! God always knew I would be able to form a gospel choir just as my earthly Dad had known this. As the scripture says, “God knew me even before I was born!” (Psalm 139 v 16) He knew my purpose! This conviction became very powerful! The ember became a raging furnace! Indeed, the emotions that I experienced were so hard to explain, yet the inner peace I felt was astounding. For the first time in my life I knew God was so real. A Living God who loved me and He had a JOB for me to do.
I knew that my whole life had led me to this pathway. I began to recall events from
the past that I knew I could draw on to help me in my mission. These included my
ability to listen to songs and sing and play them by ear; my musical career in performance;
all the bad times and even my marriage break-
Before becoming a Christian, the song ‘Amazing Grace’ had been very prominent in
my life. I had been asked to sing this song at many events in my career but it had
always been just another song. All at once the words became so very clear in my head
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Still grieving for my dad, I found comfort in The Lord. I felt as though someone had switched a light on after being in the dark for so very long. I needed to take a leap of faith so I put my trust in God, never having done anything like this before, not knowing if I really did have the knowledge or experience, but I knew more importantly God, would help. God was with me every step of the way, reminding me of situations in my past that could be used for my role of choir rounder and director. With the support of Family my four wonderful children and Paul the man who is now my most cherished husband the ministry began.
I gained confidence from nowhere! I could not sleep with excitement and ideas for
songs racing through my head! I would get up in the middle of the night and sit at
my home computer studio, recording and working out parts for the songs. Song after
song-
In the Hot Gospel Community Choir we have seen people come and go but have always had the most amazing talented Christian singers as the foundations of the Choir. Some have been there right from the earliest beginnings whilst others have joined along the way, but all feel very strongly about the purpose of Hot Gospel. The Choir is not about any ‘one’ individual, but of the common purpose we all share in glorifying, praising and worshipping Jesus!
I have recently begun to write Gospel songs, which we are currently working on so that the Choir may be able to demonstrate another important skill that God has given me very recently. This is so exciting! Not just because of the new songs but the way that the songs have come to me. I have jumped out of bed in the middle of the night when song words and melodies arrive in my head, for fear of them being lost by the morning. It happens in the car and even in the shower!
All the Gospel songs we sing are created in three-
We have a four-
Our latest addition to the choir is a set of African handmade drums so we can sing in a very African ‘a capella’ style and be totally acoustic for outdoor events thus enabling us to reach more people in a greater variety of places. So now what lies ahead for Hot Gospel? Well the story is not over yet, since God has work ahead for us with many exciting projects in the future but through all this our aim is to continue to grow in Christ not only as a Choir in numbers but also spiritually. Our mission is to minister to people’s hearts wherever and whenever we are asked, and through thought and prayer wherever God takes us. Our mission statement: “ To praise worship and glorify God and through doing so to spread The Gospel and share our love for God and His son Jesus Christ through a totality of body and soul for as long as we can.” Amen
To get in touch with Helen to book or join the choir or for more
Information, go to the book/contact page
Helen Garnett's Testimony
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Helen -