UK-born, USA-based worship leader VICKY BEECHING spoke about her music and ministry to Mike Rimmer

Vicky Beeching

Vicky Beeching is on the phone in America telling me about her new album 'Painting The Invisible'. The last time I saw the blonde worship leader, she had just moved from Oxford out to America and had planted herself in Nashville. "I've been here for three and a half years now," she confesses, "and it's been a very enjoyable three and a half years and the time has gone by almost in the blink of an eye."

These days she ministers as an itinerant worship leader travelling to different churches and conferences to lead worship. So has she become what the Americans call a worship 'artist'?! She laughs and admits, "I have a great suspicion about that title! I like the word 'artistry' because I think it conveys some sense of creativity. I know all things come from the Lord so I don't have a problem with 'artist' as such, but I think the way it's become known and used has definitely tainted it over here. So I would steer clear of that. I just think 'worship leader' is just a much clearer phrase, or 'lead worshipper'. Even though I think there's nothing wrong with putting artistry in that, I think once you call yourself an artist you're probably setting yourself up for big issues."

So what's the difference between a worship artist and a worship leader? "I think now, here in the States, it would be exactly the same thing. I think people are more recognising that as you lead worship you are using artistry and there's nothing wrong with arrangements and bands and video and all the different things people are using these days in worship. So I don't think there's meant to be a difference but I think often, here, people would apply that title to someone like Chris Tomlin, whereas they wouldn't apply it to their local church worship pastor. That, for me, is unacceptable. I don't think that you can graduate to a different type of worship leader just because you have a record deal. So I think if everyone is just a worship leader and some people are signed to labels and some people aren't then it keeps the calling the same, you know?"

Now that she lives in America, are there things that she misses from home? "Mostly my family," she says simply. "I very much miss them. My sister has two kids; they're three years old and one year old, so they're changing so much at the moment and I miss that. I miss good old fish and chips and a good Indian curry! I miss the English seaside so a lot of different things that I miss but likewise, it's quite an adventure over here."

I tease her that looking at the album cover for 'Painting The Invisible' Vicky has definitely undergone some sort of makeover. She laughs, "I think there's a different emphasis on image and the way you look over here. I just think it's more celebrated than it is at home. Putting time into getting your hair done, it just seems to be a lot more people's hobby here, hair and nails and makeup. I think after three years you just fall into a little bit more of that rhythm, you know? Dressing up a bit more I guess. Everybody here is saying that I look extremely British! I think to the average American, anybody with very pale skin and blonde hair stands out a mile. I'm sort of a hybrid between the two at the moment."

One very special song on the new album is "Join The Song" which was inspired by Christian music pioneer Keith Green. Vicky explains, "His wife, Melody Green, has become one of my dear friends and one of my main mentors here in America. I actually wrote part of the song on Keith's piano at her house. She has his old piano and I just sat down and started writing. I was thinking about Keith kind of being sucked up into joining that bigger song when he stepped into Eternity. I was just thinking of all of us one day joining in that song around the throne."

So how did she meet up with Melody Green? "She is very tied into my record label, Sparrow Records, because Keith was one of their first ever artists. I think she definitely has it on her radar when any single young women are signed because she likes to just keep an eye on them and make sure that they're on track. So we had one little meeting at a coffee shop. She shared a few thoughts but it was one of those times when God really knits your hearts together. Since then I've been hanging out with her a lot. She's very wise and very precious in my life."

So playing Keith Green's piano, were there any vibes coming off the keyboard? She laughs, "It was really powerful. I've actually spoken about it a lot in interviews because it was quite a bit of a moment for me really. It was just one of those times where you're touching something, like those piano keys, and you realise that the man who touched them actually now is literally standing before Jesus. It's kind of an intersection of realities crashing together - the eternal and the natural. It was quite a powerful worship experience for me to realise that. I think even at the moment they're going through everything he's ever done; scraps of paper from concerts and old tapes of what he would say between songs. I think there's going to be some more stuff coming out soon. The Keith Green archives being plumbed and released to the world."

When it comes to writing songs, all worship writers have a different approach. She describes her own ways, "I think I'm just one of those people that's wired to write songs. There's definitely other kinds of people in Nashville that write more when they have to or they kind of sit down and make themselves write. But for me I'm definitely someone who just has to let things out in music. During the day that consciousness is always operating. I'm looking for lyrics. I'm listening to what people say in conversations and generally if something's kind of burning in my heart, sooner rather than later it'll come out onto the songwriting notebook. And before you know it, it'll be finding its way into a song!"

I have to confess that I've always been the kind of guy to read the small print on album covers and these days with CD sleeves, the print is even smaller. On this album, Vicky thanks the class of 2000 from Oxford University. Does she still get nostalgic about her student days? "I think sometimes I do." She says, "Every now and then I see a book or you meet someone at a worship event with a backpack who's a student and who's in the thick of studying, and I do miss that to a degree. I think that university is always preparation for life. I know it's not something that I can go back to forever because I believe that it was right that God moved me into what I'm doing now. So for me studying was always preparation for worship ministry; studying theology, going deep, and then coming out and sharing it on the microphone. But I think I could be tempted to do some kind of part-time study again! I always keep an eye on the old Oxford and Wycliffe Hall website just to see what courses they've got on for a couple of hours a week online. So I wouldn't be surprised if I become a student again!"

Does Vicky keep up with current theological debate? "As much as I can," she admits. "I mean, there's a lot of different things going on in America. I feel like there's still so much more Christianity in this country that their debates seem to be different to the ones at home. I'm trying to keep abreast of both but it's been quite a striking reality to me to see what both countries are talking about. Just to see almost how much further down the road into atheism England is, which is terribly sad. But I didn't really see it until I stepped into a more Christian nation. Just some of the expectations here are different. Like there'll be lots of Christian books in a lot of hospital waiting rooms and things that you would never see in a classic London scenario."

I observe that it seems that the very nature of religious belief is under attack in the UK. Vicky comments, "Whereas here people are still defending Christian beliefs and holding onto them in schools. It's kind of like England I don't know how many years back. But even a lot of people in America are saying that they feel like they are headed towards the way England is religiously, slowly but surely. It's just funny to be in a country where you're living as a foreigner and looking at your own nation and hearing people say that it's declined into Godlessness. It gives you more of a perspective on how it must have felt years ago in England because there's still so much Christianity, most of all in the Bible Belt here where God genuinely is a big part of most things."

Whilst at Oxford Vicky Beeching developed a love for C S Lewis. Does she ever wonder what C S Lewis would make of the modern worship music that's being produced now? Does she think he'd like it? "That's a good question!" she exclaims. "I think CS Lewis was many things. I think he was a scholar, I think he was definitely a prophetic voice and I think he had a very perceptive way of looking into things. And then his passion for worship; he probably would have been excited at how much the focus has turned to worship music in the Christian music world at the moment."

She continues, "And I think I look at it in a similar way. It's kind of like what the Apostle Paul said, he said that many preach Christ for different reasons but still he rejoiced because Christ was preached. I don't know everybody's motivation for making worship music in the States or England, but at the end of the day there's great worship songs being produced for the Church and the Church is blessed by that, so I rejoice!"

Lewis was quite a traditionalist so I wonder whether he would have been able to cope with drums and guitars in church? "I wonder.?!" She pauses to ponder, "I suppose his heart for younger people, just in the way that he was presenting the Gospel in some ways through the childhood stories, I think his heart for the next generation might have softened into tapping his foot along to a guitar solo!" Vicky laughs.

The album's title, 'Painting The Invisible' can be taken two ways. I explain, how can you paint the invisible, because you can't see it? Or alternatively, if you're a painter and decorator, you paint the invisible then you can then see it because you've covered it up with paint! "You always make me laugh!" she chuckles. "I think I wanted to really lean on the fact with the whole record that when we try and describe something that's eternal it's always somewhat with a smile on our face. Knowing our own complete inability. I wrote a little letter that's in the sleeve of the CD. If anyone gets it you can read the letter. But it just talks about something in my journal that I wrote when I was trying to title the record.

"It talks about how when we try and describe God we're kind of like a child trying to paint a Monet picture, but with wax crayons! We're trying to capture something incredible with very little - our earthly words and phrases and thoughts. It's kind of like trying to dress something incredible up in these tiny rags. I think I just wanted to emphasise that even though we, as a worship movement, are currently writing all these songs and really it's just like we're trying to paint something blind because you can't begin to ask or imagine the greatness of God. We see through a glass darkly and one day we'll see in full. I just wanted to emphasise that these things are just mere reflections and whispers and hints and echoes of what God is truly like. We can never think that we can put out records that actually describe him."