ON THE ROAD!!! (Click this icon to Subscribe)

Today is the day of departure... hitting the road for the next month. I believe it's something like 18-20 show in the next 3 1/2 weeks. It will be pretty intense, but I am really excited about the new Cd, the songs and stories, getting to meet folks along the way and see what the Lord has up his sleeve. Tis going to be a great month of music and ministry.

All the tour updates will be on my homepage at: www.matthewclark.net

Please bookmark that and check it out as we go... say a prayer for good travels, relationships, and ministry time.

Thanks!
matthew

ps. There's also a sweet dance video that my friend Brian and I made to kickoff the tour on my site you don't want to miss.

posted by Matthew Clark on 10/06/2009

Soooonnnn....and very soon. (Click this icon to Subscribe)

Well, I am really excited! I have been working on this new CD since last March. That's right. Everything's been coming together nicely. And yesterday I mailed off the final mixes to Nashville for Mastering. I feel really excited about the new songs. Twelve songs and this may be my favorite album so far to actually just sit and listen to. These are certainly my favorite songs to perform.

Here are the track names:

1. Bottom of the World
2. Fire of Love
3. Don't you hear it?
4. All that I Know now to say
5. You can keep your clothes on
6. Where there's Truth
7. The End is Near!
8. Waiting for You
9. I will not walk this world alone
10. Little Things
11. Under the Disarray
12. Until

The name of the Album is "Waiting for my Love". I saw this scrawled on the ceiling of a pizza joint while I was visiting a missionary friend in China. How interesting? In China someone writes in english that they are waiting for their love. How true... the Love they await without even realizing it is Jesus. So this is an album about waiting for Jesus in and out of Faith. I can't wait for you to hear it! Should be ready by October 1st.

And October is touring month. I'll be all over the Mid and Eastern US for the whole month with the new CD.
Maybe I'll see you on the road this year! I'll post tour dates soon.

Peace, matthew

posted by Matthew Clark on 09/05/2009

New CD, Mailing List, Tour (Click this icon to Subscribe)

Hey ya'll,

I just wanted to invite you to visit www.matthewclark.net where I've set up a new mailing list
sign-up form. Go sign up. I'm sending out a monthly-ish music/ministry newsletter. I'd love to
be able to get news and prayer requests out that way. And just to make contact to keep in touch!

I'm also working on a new CD that will be out at the beginning of September. I'm really excited
about it! It's coming along nicely. Stay tuned for news on that.

And, I'm booking for an October Tour. I'll be starting in Memphis Tn and heading east on I-40
to Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, the Carolinas, then back around to Missiouri, Oklahoma,
and Texas. Please contact me if you'd like to arrange a house concert, church concert, etc.

Hope you are all well. We have been invited to join the life and work of God. That's good.

Thanks!
matthew

www.matthewclark.net

posted by Matthew Clark on 07/14/2009

New Website (Click this icon to Subscribe)

The last few days I've been working on a new website and I finally finished!
I hope that some of you would go visit it and give me some feedback on the sight
after browsing around in it for a while. I'll be regularly updating the Journal section
and posting news from time to time.

I'm getting ready to begin a new recording project when the new year begins as well.
So updates, and progress reports, and stories from that process will be posted there as well.

Under the Mercy,
matthew

posted by Matthew Clark on 11/20/2008

House Concert FREE Download (Click this icon to Subscribe)

Last week, two of my Memphis, TN family members and musical cohorts, Abbye and Jeff Pates and I packed up the SUV till we couldn't see anything out the back window and drove down the middle of the state to play a coffee shop and sing the next day in my brother's living room.

This was the second time we'd done a house concert and it was so much fun! Richly flowed the tiny cheese cubes, orange sherbert punch, and veggie snack plates. Also, the music and good time with a few friends was rich.

My brother Sam was a great host and we had so much fun in the laid back living room environment. It was easy to sing and share stories, easy to visit and relax, and easy to eat cheese in dangerously excessive proportions. There really is something particularly beautiful about the house concert. Something about it. Makes you feel like "this is how is ought to be" somehow.

We tried out a new sound setup that allowed us to record that night. So I'm posting the house concert online in mp3 so you can experience a little bit of it after the fact, if you like. And if you DO like, shoot me an email, febreeze your living room, and go buy plenty of cheese cubes. We'd love to come sing...

here's the link:
www.matthewclark.net/hiddenfiles/AbbsJeffMatt

Thanks,
Matthew

posted by Matthew Clark on 09/15/2008

Vacation Bible School Galore! (Click this icon to Subscribe)

I work a regular job at a church plant here in Oxford, MS as a worship leader. One of the great things about that is I get to hop around during the week if anyone else needs music. So the past two weeks I've been really enjoying Vacation Bible School with my church and another church here in town.

Revisiting my old summer camp days was a blast as I was digging up all the old camp songs. It was so much fun to play and sing those great old songs with all those kids! My pastor has said more than once that we should have VBS every week.

I also discovered that I enjoy writing goofy kids songs! I had several song ideas handed over to me from a Bible School Curriculum, but I just felt like trying my hand at my own arrangements. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Maybe sometime in the future I'll work out some sort of Kid's album.

On another note, I have been amazed at the kids. Last week as we were walking through the Gospel, you should have been there when we arrived at the problem of sin. The teacher asked the kids if they had any personal examples or knowledge of the problem. Suddenly, hand after hand shot up and story after story of brokenness and pain came from these 7-10 year old kids. They are so frighteningly aware of the devastation of sin in our world. In addition to that, I was disturbed to find out how carelessly they had been exposed to really disturbing information from television news programs and 'entertainment'. I really wish that we just read papers and safegaurded our kids from "newsertainment' and all the other dangerous material that's on all day. Anyway, that's another post...

I'm also thinking lately about the need to communicate the Scriptures to our children... "raising them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord." We end up selling them short when two things happen: firstly, we underestimate their ability to understand the Word of God, and, secondly, we have such little confidence in the adequacy of Scripture that we "supplement" it with endless cutesy fluff instead of creatively communicating the actual substance of the Christian Faith.

Kids are able to understand the Word of God, mainly because the Spirit of God is at work when we teach them the Bible. We can also get better at communicating the Truths of our Faith. C.S. Lewis stated that you don't really know what you're talking about until you can communicate it in everyman's terms. I'd add to that that you may not really know what you believe until you know it well enough to be able to teach it to a child.

So in summary, it is some kind of great fun to sing the old songs with kids! They are in desperate need of Jesus' answer to the devastation of sin that they are painfully aware of, the Scriptures are adequate for teaching our children, and we can trust the Holy Spirit and work at communicating in confidence the faith that we must pass on to our little ones... "raising them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord".

posted by Matthew Clark on 06/25/2008

Compassion International Child Advocacy (Click this icon to Subscribe)

Nearly a year ago I had a great opportunity to visit Peru and meet Franklin Bendezu. He's the little boy I've been sponsoring for the last 4 or so years (he's gotten bigger since then). It was an amazing trip that really opened my eyes to the incredible ministry that Compassion is doing around the world for families and children in extreme poverty. I returned to the States with a new confidence and conviction about the Child Sponsorship program. It is an amazing and unique chance to invest in a real life and to raise up a child in the name of Jesus.

So when I got back I joined the Advocate program. My job with this program is to travel and speak on behalf of the children in hopes that more folks will join this Kingdom work and sponsor more children. Music and speaking are my gifts and I love to use them for this purpose- to see Jesus reclaim his children and raise them up for his glory. I'd love to see that cycle begin for kids who thus far have only known the hopeless cycle of poverty.

Please contact me if you would be willing to host a house concert, church concert, or special sharing opportunity. And visit www.compassion.com if you'd like to do a little more research on the ministry.

thanks, matthew

email: matthew@matthewclark.net

posted by Matthew Clark on 05/27/2008