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10 Questions with ... Kathryn Scott
September 29, 2014
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Discography:
- 1998 Come Now Is The Time
- 1999 Hungry
- 2000 Surrender
- 2001 I Love Your Presence
- 2002 You And You Alone
- 2003 Lord Reign In Me
- 2004 Satisfy
- 2007 I Belong
- 2008 Live Worship At FocusFest
- 2010 We Still Believe
- 2014 Sing On The Battlefield
1. Brief History / Synopsis
I was born in Eastbourne in England back in 1974! My parents worked with an evangelist who travelled the U.K. each summer doing tent crusades. My mom was the soloist, and my dad was the recording engineer, so there was a lot of music in our home. We moved back to Northern Ireland (where they're from) when I was two years old, which is where I grew up. I went through school there and ended up studying Theology and Christian Ministry for my B.A. at the Elim Bible College. That is also where I met my incredible husband! We got married 18 years ago and moved to our current hometown of Portstewart two years later to plant the Causeway Coast Vineyard Church, which we still lead.
2. What does a normal day at home look like for you?
We have two beautiful daughters-Sophie is 13 and Emily is 10-so a typical day looks like dropping them off to school and then jumping into whatever is "next" on my plate. That could be working on new songs, writing blogs or teaching material for articles, planning for leading worship - either at home (where I lead twice a month), or on the road, or prepping for my online Worship Coaching Network that we are due to launch this fall.
3. What's the song that you just can't get out of your head right now?
I love the song "Oceans" - it's the melody that grabbed me at first, and the "trust" in the lyrics. I so love the opportunity to sing my trust out to Jesus; it makes so much sense of living in this world, whilst longing for the next.
4. How much do you travel? What are the challenges?
I deliberately don't travel a great deal - probably only seven trips a year, and most of those are a week or less. At the beginning of planting our church and becoming parents, we realized that we only get one shot at the stuff that counts - family first, ministry second - and so that was going to mean getting used to saying "no," even to things that we really wanted to do. What has been a joy to watch is how the Lord brings things back around again when it's the right time. This is not a "career path," this is a "life offered in surrender" and there is such freedom in that.
5. What's the biggest "God moment" that you've ever experienced, personal or professional?
There have been quite a few! One of the ones that has really inspired me recently happened during leading worship. My husband has a wonderful phrase: "The awesome is in the awkward." As we were in the middle of the set, I felt like the Lord was there to heal - so I just spoke out what I was sensing, and asked the congregation to put their hand on the part of their body that wasn't well. I prayed for a moment or two and asked if anyone had been healed or experienced improvement. There were almost 1,000 people in the room, but only one person responded saying their sore head was better. Talk about awkward! I thanked the Lord for it, and we moved on with the set (honestly, with me wondering if it had been worth taking the risk). About two weeks later I got to hear the story of a guy who had been in that service. He had suffered a terrible brain injury when he was just a baby. He'd put his hand on his head during that moment and felt nothing in particular. During the week he had gone to his therapist, the same as he did every week and had done every week since he was a child. She started the session, but noticed that something had changed. She asked him what on earth had happened to him, and he told her about the prayer. She finished the session early and asked to see him again the following week. When he showed up for his next appointment, his therapist went through the various tests and told him that he was completely healthy! She signed him off from any future treatment and asked him to tell her all about Jesus! I just love that!!!
6. How & when you became a believer. What caused you to want to serve God in full-time ministry?
I decided when I was only three years old that I wanted to belong to Jesus my whole life long. As I mentioned before, my parents were in full-time ministry so I had always known that Jesus loved me, and I longed to respond with my own "yes." It's a decision I've never regretted!
As for stepping into ministry, I always imagined marrying a pastor - which I got to do when I was 21, but I never thought I'd be involved in music like I am. The whole music thing has always felt like an overflow of my heart to the King, who has so totally won me. It's never been an ambition or end goal - only ever a vehicle to pour out my worship and lead others into His presence.
7. Take us thru a couple songs on your latest project, "Sing On The Battlefield".
This project is written to remind us of the goodness of God in the brokenness of the world in which we live, and help connect our hearts with His as we dare to risk all to see His Kingdom come around us. There are four new songs: "Father (Generous and Kind)," "Always Good," "I Will Stay" and the title track, "Sing on the Battlefield." I also recorded a brand new version of "We Still Believe" with the incredible Paul Baloche and covered Aaron Keyes' "Sovereign Over Us." The idea was that the EP would be more like a worship set than an album, and it definitely has that feel.
The title track has already been gaining real traction as I've led worship both in the U.K. and the U.S. Many of the songs I write start with an image or impression. I was actually talking with my husband one day about the heat of the battle as we serve Jesus and described how in my mind's eye I was standing in the middle of chaos on a battlefield. My sword was drawn and bloody, but it felt too heavy to lift any longer. I stood exhausted. All of a sudden I caught a glimpse of Jesus, right there in the middle of the fray with us, and He took my breath away! I couldn't help but sing in response. As I said, "He makes me sing on the battlefield," I knew it was the beginning of a song that would help other weary hearts connect with Jesus in the middle of whatever they were facing and encounter the grace they needed to believe again.
8. What organization/service group are you affiliated with?
As a family we sponsor two little girls through Compassion. It is more than a joy to watch these beautiful girls grow up with real tangible help, both educationally and physically, but also with hope for the future. To love Jesus is to love those He loves too - so the real blessing is for us to be able to share that love any way we can.
9. Person you'd most like to have a discussion with, living or dead...Deities are excused from this question.
I would love to have a cup of tea with C.S. Lewis. I love the way he wrote, especially his children's novels, weaving the most intricate stories with both vivid imagination and such a firm grasp of the wonder of the Gospel. I would love to learn as much as I could from him, for so much of my job as a worship writer is to tell the story again in a way that is fresh yet familiar; to re-hook hearts over and again.
10. Favorite Bible Verse...life verse. Why?
It's Psalm 84 - all about the beauty of the Lord's dwelling place and how our hearts long for that place more than anywhere else on earth. That's what the presence of Jesus is to me - the place of rest, of trust, of intimacy with God... Everything I need, now and always.
Bonus Questions
1. Funniest or most embarrassing moment on the road?
This happened when I was leading at home. I was running two songs together in a set and needed to change keys in between without a cue on keys (I was changing key in my head and then just launching into the second song). I'd done it loads of times before, and it worked great - but this time I got it wrong, and whatever that key was that I came in on, it was nothing like what the rest of the band started to play when they joined in!!! I sounded like a cat being strangled! I've never done that again!
2. What artist or pastor has had the greatest impact on you, and why?
Brian Doerksen saw something in me before I had a clue what I was doing in worship leading or writing and then mentored me for two years. That has had the most profound impact on me ever since.
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