Matt Redman
"10,000 Reasons"

   After a long day of song writing in a small chapel near his home in Brighton, England, renowned worship leader and songwriter Matt Redman had too many melodies running through his head to listen to one more. He along with friends and co-writers Jonas Myrin (song history includes “Our God” and “You Alone Can Rescue”) and Jason Ingram (“Forever Reign” and “Always”) had spent hours working on songs that would be a part of Redman’s new album.
   “Jonas had kept saying to me ‘Hey, I have this melody,’” recalls Redman. He jokingly admits his initial reaction to Myrin was “I don’t want to hear it.” But a couple of days later, Redman turned back to Myrin in the chapel and asked him about that melody; thus, the title track of Matt Redman’s live album 10,000 Reasons was born.

   As soon as Myrin began playing the chords, Redman thought of Psalm 103: “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” which became the chorus for Myrin’s melody. Redman describes the song as simple. With piano as the only opening accompaniment, “10,000 Reasons” beckons the type of church music the original congregants of that Brighton chapel would have sung years ago. And its verse encourages the church to continue singing:

For all Your goodness I will keep on singing/10,000 reasons for my heart to find.

   10,000 Reasons and the title track are now at #2 on Billboard's contemporary Christian charts on  Redman’s longtime label home sixstepsrecords. Its been two years now since the Redmans’ return to the UK from a two-year stint here in Atlanta. The Atlanta move allowed for Redman and his family to be a part of planting Passion City Church along with industry pals like Chris Tomlin and Louie and Shelley Giglio, who founded the church as well as the sixstepsrecords label.

   Though Matt moved back to the UK in August 2010, he returned to Atlanta in February 2011 to record 10,000 Reasons during LIFT: A Worship Leader Collective, put on by Passion City Church. The event was a sold-out gathering of 1,000 worship leaders where they could learn more about the art of worship as well as lift their voices together.
   That live recording makes this album what it is: “There’s something [that] happens in the worshipping, singing church that you don’t find anywhere else on the face of the earth … I hope people end up hearing that on the album; it hopefully gives some life to the songs.”

    Matt Redman’s music has been giving life to worship songs for over fifteen years. From “Heart of Worship” and “Blessed Be Your Name” to the more recent “You Alone Can Rescue” and “How Great Is Your Faithfulness,” Redman has established himself and his talent. Beyond songwriting, he tours with well-known worship movement Passion when they hit the road, has written four worship-themed books, is husband to Beth and father to Maisey (11), Noah (9), Rocco (4), Jackson (2) and Levi (1).

   The family’s new home in Brighton presents a stark contrast to Christian life in the southern U.S. Brighton is the most un-churched city in the UK—a nation that already boasts a majority secular population. But the Redmans are part of a group making strides to change that. They have joined St. Peter’s Brighton, which is a church planted by Holy Trinity Brompton of London, not to be on staff but simply to be active parts of the body reaching out to the city.

    Matt’s crossover experience with the American and British church has affected his songwriting, particularly now that he attends this church plant: “With a new church, you’re very mindful of the un-churched coming in,” says Redman. “So you have to find ways to not water down your faith but to be lyrically as accessible as possible. That’s an endless challenge. It makes me always want to keep the cross front and center.”