TIME TO CLOSE THE DOOR....a personal statement from Tim

"After eleven years of the band serving Churches and organisations at the
grassroots in both the UK and Europe, it is time for me to lay it down and
move on. In 1995, God gave me a clear vision about a 'faceless, nameless
generation that was not looking for position or power, but simply looking to
see the kingdom come as we worship'. This lead me in 1997 to start
NAMELESSMUSIC, which eventually evolved into YARDEN. Over the following
years, we had the incredible privilege of serving Churches both large and
small, emerging and well-established. We connected with some wonderful
people as we all sought to worship God together through music. The amount of
equipment grew and our van-packing skills were finely honed, but through the
years we had one desire: to play music and songs that pointed people to the
throne of God.

"In our time together, we recorded two live albums (UNDONE and FOR YOUR
GLORY), one studio album (TRUTH) and two EPs (THREE SONGS FOR THE KING and
CAPTURED), as well as releasing an iTunes only album (TWELVE STONES) and
various download-only tracks. Some of our songs made their way onto other
albums and some were also translated into other languages and made their way
into other parts of the world. We often received wonderful stories of how
God used the songs to touch people, whether that in their cars, Churches,
place of work or prisons.

"So what now? Well, we have a few gigs left in the diary which we are
honouring. Our last gig will be on Saturday 25th April at our 'home', KC21
in Aldershot, UK. This will signal the end of our time as a band and release
us all to go an do some different things. Bands dis-banding (no pun
intended) seems quite topical right now, but those who know me will know
that the band and I have always sought to be listen to God, walk with Him,
hear His voice and do His will; this is part of that ongoing journey. The
vision and service of NAMELESSMUSIC will continue, with PA and recording
facilities available. Each of us will continue to serve in various ways,
whether that in bands, worship teams or sound engineering. When one door
closes, another one opens and we will each pursue whatever God has for us.

"I would like to close by thanking and honouring the people that have served
with me over the years, including Mike (drums), Luke (keyboard), Jo, Sarah
and Abi (vocals), Matt (keyboard), Roger (guitar) and Grant, Pete and Daren
(sound). However, most of all I want to thank Si, Ben, Steve and Matt. These
four men have walked this journey with me the closest over the years. They
have served without question and blown me away with their musicianship,
friendship, jokes and general 'brothers-dwelling-together-in-unity'
behaviour. We may not be making music together from April next year, but my
love for them and our friendship together will remain.

// OTHER YARDEN NEWS //

Late last year and earlier this year, Tim spent some time writing with Noel
Richards. The results of this were two songs which have been used on his new
album, HEAVEN'S KING, which is now available on Kingsway Thank You Music.
The songs are FOR THE WORLD THAT GOD HAS MADE and YOUR WORDS ARE LIFE (LEAD
ME ON), both written in 'The Shed', part of the YARDEN/NAMELESSMUSIC
recording world.

Whilst we are on the subject of Noel, some of you may remember that we did a
gig with Noel, Tricia and Wayne Drain in February of this year. We had a
great time together and said it would be good to do it again.... well.... we
are. On Thursday 19th February, we will be joining up with them again in
Aldershot, UK, for another evening of acoustic worship. We will provide more
information at the beginning of next year.

// GIGS GIGS GIGS //

Our last remaining gigs are as follows:
30 November 2008 - Warham Church Meeting
06/07 December 2008 - Riverside Church, Burton-on-Trent
07 December 2008 - Farnham Vineyard (Evening)
15 February 2009 - Youth Event, Warham
19 February 2009 - KC21, Aldershot - with Noel & Tricia Richards and Wayne
Drain
22 March 2009 - Warham Weekend, Cirencester
25 April 2009 - KC21, Aldershot

// FINAL THOUGHTS //

Whatever journey we are on with the Father, we need to keep our ears and
eyes open to what He is doing. Sometimes that means Him asking us to lay
something down that we love.... the key is to be obedient.

Thank you to everyone, everywhere, who has supported us over the years in so
many ways.

Blessings from the YARDEN camp - Ben, Matt, Si, Steve and Tim
www.yardenonline.co.uk

Dear YARDEN Friends

Like time, no speak. We hope this email finds you well wherever you are in the world. It has been a while since we have been in touch to let you know what is going on so we thought it was about time for some news and updates.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN DOING?

We have spent most of the last few months serving a variety of Churches and organisations, but we have also been spending time asking God, "What are we doing?". Seems like a funny question to ask, but evaluating what you do and why you do it is an essential part to any journey.

We have been looking at our vision and the purpose behind why we pack a van full of PA, travel to a town, unpack it all, set it up, play, pack it all away, drive home and put it back in the store. Being honest, it had all become a bit routine. So what has God been saying? Quite simply, just carry on with what we are doing. Keep serving Churches. Keep ministering using songs and music. Just be yourselves. Just be. There is no grand plan and no grand design, except to see the Kingdom of God come wherever we go. It is as simple as that.

As a result of evaluating everything, we feel newly motivated and refreshed and are looking forward to everything that is in store for us. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us recently and continues to pray for us all over the world.

SOMEWHERE IN AN AMERICAN PRISON....

We recently received an email from a guy in America which completely blew our socks off. We have always talked about the fact that we may often spark a flame somewhere, but never get to see the fire that might be raging a few years later. Visit http://www.yardenonline.co.uk/news/american_prisons.htm to find out what he said in the email. We hope it blesses you as much as it did us.

WHAT'S NEXT?

So what is next for us? Over the weekend of 4/5/6 July, we are in Harrogate (England), leading worship at THE SECRET PLACE conference. Todd Bentley was due to be speaking and Roy Fields leading worship with us, but due to all that is happening in Lakeland, Florida, he and Roy have been released and some of his friends are going to be joining us. If you want to find out more, visit http://www.harrogatenewlife.com. At time of writing, the conference is fully booked and has had to move to a bigger room in the venue.

After Harrogate, there is nothing in the diary until September when it starts to pick up again. If you would like us to come and serve you, drop us an email. We ask for expenses only and come complete with PA and soundman. If you want to read previous event diaries and find out a bit more about what people think, visit http://www.yardenonline.co.uk/whatotherpeoplesay.htm and http://www.yardenonline.co.uk/dates/dates.htm.

FUTURE DATES

4/5/6 July 2008 - Harrogate
21 September 2008 - B:UNITED, Basingstoke
27 September 2008 - 'LIVE' Event, Farnham
28 September 2008 - TASTE, Tadley
15/16 November 2008 - Riverside, Burton-on-Trent
30 November 2008 - Youth Event, Warham

NEW FACEBOOK GROUP

As we feel momentum building again, we have set up a new Facebook group. Simply called YARDEN, we are using it to keep in touch with Facebook friends as well as post some diaries, pictures and useful links. If you are on Facebook, visit http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20493821049&ref=nf. >From here you will also be able to connect with individual members of the band if you fancy getting to know us a bit better.

CLOSING THANKS

Thanks to everyone who supports us in one way or another. We feel like we are moving into an exciting phase of the band's life. Keep an eye on the website as we report on all that is happening.

God bless - Ben, Matt, Si, Steve and Tim
http://www.yardenonline.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/yardenonline
intouch@yardenonline.co.uk

 

Dear Blogger

Just a quick note to let you know that ALL THAT CAPTURES ME, from our new mini-album, CAPTURED, is now on our myspace for your listening pleasure. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

God bless - The YARDEN Boys

We are now at the end of the recording process and have just received the first pass of mixes from our long-time musical partner, Bruce Pont. We are really, really pleased with the sounds, some of which we are sure we never recorded..... they are just new noises made up of different parts we recorded. It is amazing what happens in the mixing process.

First to come down the wire was I AM YOUR CHILD. We honestly don't remember it being quite **THAT** large, but we are loving it. Shortly after this came the rest of the EP (the wonders of being able to share MP3s and songs over the Internet). One of the results of giving a recording to someone to mix who has not been involved in the recording process is that they listen with different ears; they hear songs in a very different way. As a result, they may mix it in an unfamiliar way or even change the arrangements of songs. It's scary because it is so different sometimes, but exciting at the same time.

Once we have finished the listening process and carried out any tweaks we think might be required, we will be sending it off to Lowland Masters. We have never used Lowland, but they come to us highly recommended.

Watch this space as we bring you more updates, including song order, artwork and a likely release date.