3ABN Today

John Stoddart - Personal Music Ministry

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C. A. Murray (Host), John Stoddart

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Series Code: TDY

Program Code: TDY016057A


00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people
00:12 I want to spend my life
00:18 Removing pain
00:23 Lord, let my words
00:29 Heal a heart that hurts
00:34 I want to spend my life
00:40 Mending broken people
00:45 I want to spend my life
00:51 Mending broken people
01:06 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Today.
01:08 My name is CA Murray and allow me to thank you
01:10 once again for sharing just a little of your day with us.
01:13 To thank you for your love, your prayers,
01:15 your support of this ministry,
01:17 and to thank you for all you do to help us
01:20 do what we are called to do
01:21 and that's to lift up the mighty
01:23 and matchless name of Jesus.
01:24 I'm excited today because of our subject matter
01:25 and because of the guest
01:27 that I have with me in the studio.
01:28 This is John Stoddart, a producer, singer, artist,
01:35 player of the piano, the great individual,
01:37 and a really neat guy.
01:38 John, first of all good to have you here, man.
01:40 So great to be here by the CA.
01:42 Man, I've been looking forward to this.
01:43 We've been sitting kind of just kicking back
01:45 and talking about stuff
01:47 because John came out last year and for some of us
01:50 it was a first time for us to meet him
01:53 because he was working with some Christmas stuff.
01:56 And then we kind of liked him
01:57 so Danny asked him to stay a couple of days
01:59 and he stayed a couple of days more.
02:01 And we squeezed some more out of him.
02:03 So we brought him back
02:05 but a nicer guy you would ever want to meet.
02:07 And, John, let me jump right into this
02:08 and throw you a little compliment right now.
02:10 Oh, wow.
02:12 Because not too long ago
02:14 Jaime Jorge who you know you worked with...
02:16 Dear friend of mine. Dear friend. Dear friend.
02:17 Paid you a very, very high compliment.
02:19 In fact, when your name came up in conversation,
02:21 he actually waxed eloquent...
02:22 Oh, boy. On your name.
02:24 He just put all of our jazz stars, he did.
02:26 He can do that. He is an eloquent guy.
02:28 He did but obviously you had impressed him.
02:30 Now, one of the words that stuck in my ear was he said,
02:34 you are a professional.
02:37 Now here is the translation for me.
02:39 Okay. Low diva coach.
02:43 You know, what I mean. Listen.
02:44 When I tour with guys
02:45 and every once in a while I try to throw tantrums,
02:48 you know, they just laugh at me, man.
02:50 I try to be diva, diva, whatever the word is...
02:53 Yeah.
02:54 I just... that's not in my personality...
02:55 Yeah. Even though I try.
02:57 Having worked with you last year
02:58 and seen you over a number a days
03:00 and seeing the professionalism, the...
03:04 I'm gonna use a coolness that you bring to.
03:06 Is that something that you rehearse,
03:08 that you practice that is important to you,
03:11 or just part of the way you go about your life?
03:13 You know, I think some of it is maybe a personality thing.
03:16 But another big part of that is the people
03:19 who've influenced me.
03:20 You know, I look at the people
03:21 who I've had a chance to work with who I consider,
03:25 you know, legends
03:26 and they're just low maintenance, sort of low
03:29 and here we've been talking
03:30 before we got on air about the time
03:32 I spent working with Richard Smallwood,
03:35 who is a legendary gospel artist.
03:38 And he is a guy who, you know,
03:40 who doesn't have to have his separate dressing room,
03:42 you know, he travels with everyone else,
03:44 he is just, you know, very approachable,
03:46 you know, he is not walking around with bodyguards
03:48 and all that sort of things.
03:49 So when you meet someone
03:51 who is like that legendary that stature,
03:54 he kind of keeps it real.
03:55 You know, I worked a lot with a really renounced song writer,
03:58 producer, and artist by the name of George Duke.
04:01 And George was a same way, man, just regular guy,
04:04 amazing, just legendary.
04:07 I mean, I couldn't name a person
04:08 that he hadn't worked with
04:09 and just the easiest guy to get along with.
04:11 So when you see guys like that,
04:13 you say, "Well, if he can be..."
04:14 Right.
04:16 "You know, who am I to try to be..."
04:17 Yeah, let me keep my feet on the ground.
04:19 That's like me to have the water at 72 degrees
04:22 and make sure you pick out the orange M&M's
04:24 I only want the green ones.
04:25 Yeah.
04:27 So that ability with humility thing impresses you.
04:29 It does make, yeah. It really does.
04:31 It's made a big impact on me
04:33 and another mentor of mine the guy named Wintley Phipps.
04:36 He told, he said, "Man, I have this recurring dream
04:40 that I woke up one day
04:42 and my friends came up to me and says,
04:43 'You know, you really weren't that good.'"
04:47 We just wanted to encourage you.
04:49 Yeah. Yes.
04:50 Some kind of voice in the back of my head that says,
04:52 "Man, maybe they're just encouraging me,
04:54 just to make me feel good,
04:55 you know, so keep you grounded, keep you humble."
04:57 Yeah, you do.
04:59 You bring a spirit with you
05:00 that is refreshing and inviting.
05:02 It really is. Oh, thank you.
05:03 Thank you so much. And you prosecute your work.
05:05 You go by what you do with professionalism...
05:07 Thank you.
05:08 And you get at it and you're talented man.
05:09 You know, I'm just,
05:11 I'm full on treating on your life.
05:12 Praise God. Praise God.
05:14 Where you're from originally?
05:16 I'm originally from Philadelphia.
05:17 I grew up in Philadelphia, a great music city.
05:19 Oh, yeah.
05:21 I really enjoyed growing in musical family,
05:23 musical household.
05:24 Grandmother was a Bible worker and a musician.
05:27 And you know, both mom and dad played,
05:29 you know, brother and sister taking piano lessons,
05:31 so grew up in a musical family...
05:33 Okay. There in Philadelphia.
05:34 Kind of in the DNA. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man.
05:36 I couldn't get away from it if I try.
05:37 So Adventist home? Adventist home.
05:39 Yeah.
05:40 People when they see, at least to me it occurs to me
05:43 that you're a spiritual person.
05:45 When did your relationship with Jesus become a reality?
05:48 I mean, there's one thing to grow up in an Adventist home,
05:49 we're surrounded
05:51 by the accoutrement of Adventism...
05:52 Then you got to do it for you and Jesus.
05:53 Right. When did that happen?
05:55 Well, man, you know, I am a personality
05:58 who is very project oriented.
06:02 So as a music producer you work on a project,
06:04 the project's done,
06:06 it's out to the public, you're done.
06:08 I tell you, I had to confess,
06:10 man, that where I'm in my walk right now is a place
06:13 where I'm getting more comfortable with the fact
06:15 that this thing that we call a relationship
06:18 with Christ is a process.
06:21 And so for me growing up as in an Adventist home,
06:25 you know, it was always around
06:26 and I got baptized, I say about 13 or 14.
06:29 So that's when I think I really kind of locked in
06:31 but the beautiful thing about
06:33 where I'm now in my walk is
06:36 God is kind of freeing me from some of the...
06:41 I guess expectations or what I imagined
06:46 or thought it should be
06:48 and saying, "Hey, man, no this is really what this thing is."
06:52 And so He is bringing me to a place
06:53 where I kind of exhale a little bit and feel like,
06:56 "Okay, man, God is in this with me for the long haul."
07:00 You know, and it's really,
07:02 it's a tough change to make for me
07:05 just because of my personality, man.
07:06 But I'm really beginning
07:07 to get more comfortable with this idea
07:09 that I'm in this relationship with God
07:12 and He's gonna be here for the long haul.
07:13 And, you know, I know I'm not where I should be yet
07:17 but He knew that when we linked up
07:20 and He say, "Hey, I'm gonna walk with you
07:22 for the whole thing."`
07:23 So I feel like where I am now
07:26 is even a better place than I was...
07:28 Praise the Lord. Early on. Yes.
07:30 I'm really grateful for that.
07:31 That's a perspective, John, that comes usually with age.
07:34 Okay, it makes sense.
07:35 And with the skin in your knees a couple of times.
07:37 Right. You know.
07:38 It's like, oh.
07:40 Bandages on. Yeah.
07:42 You pick up that you were once and you know that
07:44 He's not gonna leave you, He's not gonna forsake you.
07:45 Thank you, Lord.
07:47 And you got to put the meat on that thing.
07:48 Thank you, Lord. Yeah. Yeah.
07:49 I'm grateful.
07:51 You are a fabulous singer, you are.
07:54 You're a good, good, good singer, and you play.
07:58 When did it occur to you that you have musical talent?
08:00 I mean, it's in your family. Right.
08:02 So obviously, fairly early on this kind of jumped out at you.
08:05 Right. Right, right. Yeah.
08:07 My dad actually always tells me the story,
08:08 he says he remembers one day...
08:10 Remember, I told you I had a...
08:12 Well, maybe I didn't say,
08:13 I have an older brother and sister.
08:15 They're 9 and 10 years older than I am respectively.
08:18 And they were taking piano lessons
08:20 so of course I'm very, very young.
08:22 Right.
08:23 And my dad says I was two, three years old
08:25 and I would sit and watch their piano lessons.
08:29 And he said at about three,
08:31 he remembers me crawling up on the piano bench
08:34 after one of their lessons
08:36 and just kind of banging on the piano.
08:38 And he stopped and listened he said,
08:40 "He is trying to poke out."
08:43 He realized I was trying to poke out
08:44 what I heard during the lesson.
08:46 So probably about three or four years old
08:48 when I started trying to figure out this piano thing.
08:52 And then as for singing, you know,
08:55 when I grew up in the Adventist church,
08:57 you know, now I have two young daughters
08:59 12 and 14
09:00 and I probably give them
09:02 more choice than I had growing up, you know.
09:04 When I was growing up, your parents said,
09:06 "Do this, you're gonna be in the choir,
09:07 you're gonna be in this."
09:09 And there was a lady in our church,
09:10 her name was Sister Rue.
09:12 Yes. She lives in Florida now.
09:13 I still see her every once in a while
09:15 and she ask me to sing this song.
09:17 It seemed like it was every week
09:19 that's why I love Him so,
09:21 "Jesus has promised my shepherd to be."
09:24 Man, I hated that song.
09:25 I did not...
09:28 Pastor, she every week, seem like every week,
09:31 she would ask me to sing that song.
09:32 When I figured out I can play the piano,
09:34 man, I don't think I sang in church
09:36 for about 10 years.
09:37 I was so glad I can sit in that corner and playing.
09:40 And it wasn't until I got to high school,
09:42 that I started really singing again
09:44 and writing and so on,
09:45 so now I probably do about the half and half of each.
09:49 Now you write a lot, don't you? I do.
09:52 Work as a song writer and you know,
09:54 obviously a singer and musician, music producer,
09:56 and arranger.
09:57 So it kind of depends on the day of the week,
09:59 you know, what I'm working on.
10:00 And today I could be working on, you know,
10:04 project with the National Symphony
10:06 and tomorrow I could be working with,
10:08 you know, a mainstream jazz artist,
10:10 you know, as an arranger.
10:11 So it's just kind of the gamut in terms of...
10:14 And it's such a blessing for me
10:15 because there's so much diversity
10:17 and I never get bored.
10:19 Because, everyday it's something else
10:20 I get to work with great artists like Jamie
10:22 or my first record as a producer
10:24 was Wintley Phipps, "The Power of a Dream".
10:26 He's been a real blessing to my life.
10:30 So just, you know,
10:32 here and there everyday it's something different.
10:34 Just out of curiosity, I'm gonna...
10:36 A question is popping in my mind
10:37 to lay on you just a minute.
10:39 But what is the role, the job of a music producer?
10:43 I think probably the best way...
10:45 I get that question every once in a while.
10:47 I think the best way to explain it is
10:51 if you have a song,
10:55 in other words you can sit down at the piano,
10:57 where you can just sing a song in a voice recorder,
10:59 you can come up to me and sing a song.
11:01 The producer is the person who takes it from that thing
11:05 and makes it to what you hear when you buy the CD
11:08 or when you hear it on the radio.
11:09 So whatever...
11:10 So you actually got a lot of creative control over that.
11:12 Yeah, whatever that process is,
11:13 you know, sometimes you have producers who play a lot.
11:15 So they, you know, they'll sit down and play
11:18 and actually do the arrangements.
11:19 You have other producers
11:21 who don't play an instrument at all.
11:22 They just have a vision of what it should be.
11:25 I worked with the legendary R&B producer
11:29 by the name of David Porter.
11:30 He worked in the stacks area.
11:34 He was one of the original stacks producers
11:36 but he doesn't play anything.
11:37 He is a guy who will sit, he always come to me John,
11:40 just go and play this or kind of do this,
11:43 kind of do that.
11:45 And he just had this, he could hear it all in his head,
11:47 he couldn't play a thing.
11:49 So you get different types of producers,
11:52 who have their different approach
11:54 to getting it from that seed, that idea...
11:56 Right. To what you hear in the end.
11:58 And sometimes they're more involved and even creating it.
12:01 Sometimes the song becomes part of the whole,
12:04 sort of all evolves together the song, the production,
12:07 you know, are you gonna put drums in it,
12:08 you're gonna have violins, or you're gonna have
12:11 a choir on it or you're gonna have guitar,
12:13 or you're gonna have, you know, whatever instrument.
12:15 Does a producer have the platform,
12:16 the power to tell the artists, sing it this way?
12:20 They do, you know, it depends on the artist
12:22 that you have to tread softly...
12:25 Yeah.
12:27 Depending on the artist but, you know, a big part of it
12:29 because it's a very vulnerable thing.
12:30 You're standing there in front of that microphone
12:32 and you're bearing your soul.
12:33 So big role of the producer is to really try to pull the best,
12:37 be out of that artist...
12:38 Yeah.
12:40 You know, you want to make sure they feel comfortable.
12:41 You got to know just how much to push,
12:43 just how much to kind of caress and make sure
12:47 that they are feeling good, you know.
12:48 And it's nice being an artist because I get to be
12:50 on both sides of that, so I can be sensitive to a person.
12:53 You know, it's a vulnerable place to be as an artist
12:56 behind that microphone and people can listen
12:58 to your every crack and every mistake
13:01 at that one fight on pitch, you know it, man.
13:06 You are surprisingly vulnerable
13:07 to what's being said on the other side of that glass
13:10 and they could build you up
13:11 or they can tear you down, man, that's rough.
13:13 They hit the button and say, "Just a second."
13:14 Then you just hear a silence just staring at the room,
13:17 you're like and what are they saying about me?
13:19 Yeah.
13:20 They are talking about me and is that good.
13:22 So they can really work with your head. Yeah.
13:26 Let me ask you this, John, and I tend to ask
13:28 this kind of one of those
13:29 high concept ontological questions
13:31 we ask every now and again.
13:32 Okay.
13:34 Talk to me about the intersection of performance
13:39 and ministry.
13:41 If that is in your mind, and I ask a lot of artists this
13:44 because in other words, God has given you a gift.
13:47 It's your job to improve that gift.
13:49 Right. So that you perform well.
13:51 Right.
13:52 But where is the intersection of your ability and ministry
13:55 or performance?
13:56 What is a performance and ministry?
13:58 Right.
14:00 I'm going to answer that question
14:03 in maybe a way that it's a bit unusual,
14:06 particularly in this context.
14:08 I do a fair amount of working
14:12 what we call the mainstream music industry.
14:13 In other words, I am not always performing in churches.
14:15 I perform in concert venues and other types of arenas
14:18 all around the world.
14:19 And I'm not always intravenous
14:22 where I am labeled a gospel artist.
14:26 All right.
14:29 So part of my calling is to take the message of Christ
14:34 into those arenas.
14:37 And a big part of what gives you credibility
14:42 and let say, a jazz festival,
14:46 is if you are good at playing the piano let's say.
14:50 So no one wants to hear anything about
14:54 what you have to say or believe in that context
14:57 if you aren't good at what you do.
15:00 You understand what I'm saying? Yeah.
15:01 So for me the intersection between performance
15:06 and I'll even expand that
15:07 to say proficiency or ability...
15:10 I like that.
15:11 Or virtuosity, let's call it that.
15:13 Yeah.
15:14 I think they're very closely related
15:16 because that's what opens the door in that context,
15:20 especially for someone for you to be able to say,
15:24 "Hey, man, you know,
15:25 the reason I practice this way or the reason
15:28 where I have the work ethic I do is because of my faith."
15:32 My faith. Yeah. Right.
15:33 So but if you're not good, no one cares.
15:35 Precisely. Yeah.
15:37 If you're sloppy then no one is listening to you.
15:38 Yeah. Yeah. No one cares.
15:40 And I think it's also interesting
15:41 that we probably have
15:47 more entertainment
15:49 in our worship experiences
15:52 and some of these other experiences
15:54 then probably we realize.
15:55 Yeah.
15:56 You're much more likely to connect and enjoy
16:00 and takeaway from a preacher who is entertaining,
16:04 who is interesting to listen to you.
16:06 Yeah. You know what I mean?
16:08 And in some places that's a dirty word...
16:09 Right.
16:10 But you are competing for the ear of your public
16:15 who is getting a lot of messages during the week.
16:17 So if you don't culture your message in...
16:20 I mean, we had a great preacher...
16:22 No, he wasn't a great preacher, he was great theologian,
16:25 Uriah Smith
16:26 and even a General Conference president said,
16:28 you know, we got spirit, we got truth.
16:30 He is good on truth.
16:32 Yeah, you need to work on the spirit part.
16:34 Yeah, you need to work on that spirit part little bit.
16:36 So, yeah, the fact is that you have to hold your audience.
16:40 So that you have to put your wine in a bottle
16:43 that is attractive...
16:45 Right. To your audience.
16:46 So and music especially
16:47 because your audience is getting all kinds of messages.
16:50 So you can give them truth but if they're asleep
16:51 then I couldn't get it.
16:53 Here is another analogy,
16:57 if you gonna have cake with icing,
16:59 there's nothing wrong with the little bit of icing.
17:01 Just make sure there is some cake there too.
17:03 I like that. Yeah. You don't want all icing.
17:04 You don't want all icing. Yeah.
17:07 You want some cake. You know what I mean?
17:11 So that's kind of the way I think about it, man.
17:13 And again the context that I work in most of the time,
17:17 we'll get a moment to share our faith.
17:20 You know, as oppose to say a church service
17:22 where the whole thing is geared,
17:23 so we have our moment.
17:24 So everything is sort of crafted
17:26 particularly with a lot of the guys that I worked with
17:28 who are also people of faith
17:29 working in this sort of mainstream paradigm.
17:33 We know that, hey, the reason we're here is
17:35 for that moment where we share our faith.
17:37 Yeah. So we're crafting everything...
17:39 Okay.
17:40 To bring people's attention and to tear down walls
17:43 and to just, "Oh, man, I'm having
17:44 such a great time and, oh, man,
17:46 I'm really connecting with the people upfront
17:48 and I'm enjoying this music."
17:50 And then you take them to this moment
17:51 where you get to share...
17:53 Yeah.
17:54 That faith and then you go back.
17:55 Yeah. Yeah. What you're doing.
17:57 And I think that...
17:59 again our experience has been that you're in position
18:04 to be able to have that degree of influence with them
18:07 because they have so much respect for me
18:10 and those hours that because you realize
18:12 this is a gift that God has given you
18:14 that you're off when no nobody is looking practicing,
18:16 you know, working on your craft and so and so forth.
18:18 Yeah. I appreciate that answer.
18:20 And it does give a whole new ministry aspiring
18:24 to what you do?
18:25 It's part of the ministry. Yeah.
18:27 It is not another thing over here.
18:28 It's all part, it's all one thing.
18:30 Predicated on your ability that you put in the time
18:32 to do the work to be legitimate.
18:34 Yeah. Yeah.
18:36 Your first worship is in the practice room.
18:39 All right. Yeah. Well said.
18:42 Your first worship is in the practice room.
18:43 Speaking of worship in practice.
18:45 Let's go to some songs, man, because...
18:46 We're talking...
18:48 We can talk this whole thing out.
18:49 Yeah.
18:50 Have you ever been lonely? Is that an original song?
18:53 That is an original song that I wrote
18:55 with a good buddy of mine by the name of Joey Kibble.
18:59 He sings with this up and coming group.
19:01 Yeah. Yeah.
19:02 If they stay at, they're gonna really do well.
19:04 I think it's a little group called Take 6.
19:06 Take 6. Yes.
19:07 I always encourage them and say,
19:09 "Guys, if you stick at it,
19:10 you're gonna be something someday."
19:13 I'm joking.
19:14 But, you know, I have such
19:15 profound respect for those guys.
19:17 Joey is a good buddy of mine
19:18 and he was so gracious to help me on this song
19:19 and it was inspired by the text
19:23 in Hebrews 4 where God talks about...
19:26 where they talk about "We don't have a high priest
19:28 who's not touched
19:29 with the feeling of our infirmities."
19:31 So I always tell people when they're listening to this song
19:34 because it's written sort of in the first person
19:36 to imagine Jesus himself singing these words to you.
19:41 There is so much loneliness in our world,
19:44 even with all the social media and Twitter and Facebook...
19:46 Yeah. Yeah. And all these.
19:48 But sometimes it feels like, man,
19:50 people are even more disconnected than ever.
19:53 And so well, we wrote the song called
19:55 "Have you ever been lonely?"
19:56 And it's just an encouragement where Jesus is saying,
20:00 "Hey, you know what?
20:01 I know how you're feeling."
20:02 Not that you are out there somewhere and I'm with you,
20:06 and I've been through what you've been through.
20:08 So I feel from a very personal place,
20:09 "Have you ever been lonely?"
20:11 You know, like you said Joey Kibble, and I said,
20:12 I'll stick and send thereof,
20:13 those guys are from Buffalo, New York,
20:15 that's my home church we grew up with those guys,
20:16 the Willis's, and of course I'm little closer to Mark,
20:18 and Avon, Karen and all those Willis's, yeah.
20:22 Good people, man. All are from Buffalo, New York.
20:23 Great people, great friends, amazing artists.
20:25 Very much so. "Have you ever been lonely?"
20:28 Let's hear it.
20:45 I can feel your pain in my side
20:48 I can see the tears you can't cry
20:58 I know sometimes you feel all alone
21:02 I could pray into the sky of stone
21:11 But you never know how much you mean to me
21:17 And how forever my love can be
21:24 Have you ever been lonely
21:28 Then I know how you feel.
21:31 When the nearest hugs a million miles away
21:37 When you're looking for sunshine
21:41 In the middle of the day
21:45 Then I know how you feel
21:49 But it's gonna be okay
21:55 Oh, thank you, Jesus
21:59 I know all about your heartache
22:03 And all the love you try to think
22:08 Without breaking
22:10 Just breaking down
22:13 I felt gonna to with those days
22:16 With no matter what you do or say
22:20 Nothing's gonna stop the pain
22:25 But you never know how much you mean to me
22:32 Until you see me at Calvary
22:37 Have you ever been lonely
22:41 To being alone, how you feel
22:45 When the nearest hugs a million miles away
22:52 When you're looking for sunshine
22:55 In the middle of the day
22:59 Then I know how you feel
23:04 But it's gonna be okay
23:07 'Cause I'll never leave you alone
23:14 I know the sun is gonna shine again
23:20 And I can tell you
23:23 How the story is gonna end
23:25 You're gonna make it
23:33 Have you ever been lonely
23:37 Jesus knows how it feels
23:40 When the nearest hugs a million miles away
23:46 When you're looking for sunshine
23:50 In the middle of the day
23:53 Then I know how it feels
23:58 Have you ever been lonely
24:03 Then I know how you feel
24:06 When the nearest hugs
24:08 A million miles away
24:13 When you're looking for sunshine
24:17 In the middle of the day
24:20 Then I know
24:22 I know how it feels
24:27 But it's gonna be
24:30 It's gonna be okay
24:34 It's gonna be
24:36 It's gonna be okay
24:48 Well done.
24:50 Good song, good message. Oh, Praise God.
24:51 Yeah. Well done.
24:53 We're sitting here and kind of talking
24:54 and you know, once you get in the Adventist loop...
24:57 You're right. Exactly.
24:58 Everybody knows, everybody know you.
25:00 You start pulling out names, yeah, I know him.
25:02 I know him. Oh, you know him. Oh, wow.
25:04 That kind of thing.
25:05 What impresses you when you're writing?
25:08 Where you're trying to go? Where you're trying to take?
25:10 Because in preaching you've seen something,
25:12 you've been some places,
25:13 you're trying to bring your audience to that place.
25:16 Is it the same when you're doing music?
25:17 I think so, you know,
25:19 I write a lot from personal experience,
25:21 you know, so obviously that's a big part of...
25:24 I think for a lot of writers
25:25 you're writing from some sort of
25:27 either something you've witnessed,
25:29 or something you've experienced.
25:31 So a lot of my writing is inspired by that...
25:35 I did a project called
25:37 "Faith Hope Love" a few years ago.
25:39 And it was essentially a chronicle
25:42 of maybe the first 10 years of my marriage.
25:44 Oh, wow.
25:45 And it was really, really turbulent, you know,
25:48 I use that word because we're on television
25:51 I probably can't use a different word
25:54 to really describe what it was like.
25:56 But it was just really, really tough
25:59 and after my wife and I came through that
26:01 and we began realizing that,
26:03 man, we're not the only ones who've gone through this.
26:07 And we wanted to share the story
26:08 especially for younger couples
26:09 who were going through what we went through to say,
26:11 "Hey, okay.
26:13 This is a tough time
26:14 but happens to all of us, hold on."
26:16 You know, latch on to an older couple
26:18 that can kind of help shepherd you through it.
26:20 Yeah.
26:21 And you go and make it just hang in there.
26:23 And we had some people do that for us,
26:25 so we're just trying to share that...
26:26 So that was an example of writing
26:28 from your own personal experience
26:29 and how it can help the music.
26:31 I want you to talk about a song.
26:32 It's not on the list, we're not gonna hear today.
26:34 Okay.
26:35 But you did it last year that knocked us out,
26:37 "Only on Christmas Day".
26:38 "Only on Christmas day". Yeah.
26:40 When you play that we're like, wow.
26:42 That was a fun song, man. Yeah.
26:44 I wrote that again, co-write with another amazing writer
26:47 by the name of Hallerin Hilton.
26:49 You know Hallerin?
26:50 Went to school with this brothers,
26:51 Holly and Bryon.
26:53 Oh, what an amazing song writer.
26:54 I'm such a huge fan of his.
26:56 And he just did a really great job
26:58 of helping me craft this image...
27:00 Yeah.
27:02 Of sitting in that kitchen, watching my grandmother make
27:04 you know, the rolls.
27:06 My grandmother used to make these cinnamon rolls, man.
27:09 And she was such a woman of incredible not only faith
27:13 but what I call practical...
27:16 Yes. Christianity.
27:18 You know, my grandmother was a type
27:20 who was and what we call the herd,
27:23 and everyone knew her.
27:24 Okay. Yeah. She wasn't just a visitor.
27:26 That's where she hung out because that was where
27:29 she was caught in ministry, she was feeding people.
27:31 So I have these images in my head,
27:33 you know, I remember, growing up with my grandmother
27:35 and so helping to write that song...
27:36 Yeah. "Only on Christmas Day."
27:38 That's a big part of what helped me
27:39 develop my faith watching it
27:41 in action with someone like my grandmother.
27:43 The song is, it's in a sweet place.
27:44 Yeah, man. Just feel good. It's a nice song.
27:48 Okay. Back to business. Okay. Back to business.
27:51 "My tree", is actually what we gonna here.
27:53 Yes, my tree is a song that was written by an artist
27:57 by the name of Chris Rice.
27:58 And I remember hearing it for the first time
28:01 back in college
28:03 and it really just knocked me out.
28:06 And I don't even wanna say too much about
28:09 specifically what it is because the imagery is
28:12 so powerful when you just let the story develop.
28:17 And it's an example of a song that tells a story
28:20 and, I mean, a real life story.
28:22 Yes.
28:23 And makes the connection, we're talking a little bit
28:26 earlier about the intersection of performance and ministry.
28:31 And a big part of what we do when we're in a mainstream
28:34 especially is to disarm people, we use things
28:39 that they can relate to like working with the kids
28:44 or marriage or everyone has a job
28:45 or everyone has a difficult,
28:47 whatever difficulty with their parents.
28:49 And those types of things that they're parables,
28:52 that's what Jesus did.
28:53 Precisely. Right. He told the stories to...
28:55 And so this to me is that kind of a song
28:57 and I always said that, you know what?
28:59 One day I'm gonna record that song.
29:00 And I've gotten a chance to sing it all over the world
29:03 and it always just hits the spot
29:06 just because of how it takes a story
29:09 something we can all relate to
29:11 and uses it to be able to frame the story of the gospel.
29:16 So "My tree." My tree.
29:36 On a hill far away
29:40 Stood a tall mighty tree
29:44 Where a boy and girl used to take turns
29:48 Pushing the tire swing
29:51 I remember the pocketknife in hand
29:56 Her name in my heart
29:59 Thinkin' there ain't no way for a boy to explain
30:04 The love that he feels inside
30:10 So I carved her name into my tree
30:16 Then I carved a heart around her name
30:23 Then I carved an arrow
30:25 Through the heart
30:31 Just to say "I love you"
30:41 On a hill far away
30:45 Stood an old rugged cross
30:50 The emblem of suffering
30:54 And shame
30:57 I remember the nails
31:00 Through my hands
31:03 And your name in my heart
31:07 And how in their wordless way
31:10 The nails explain the love that I feel inside
31:16 As they carved your name into my tree
31:22 Where I wrapped my heart around your name
31:28 Then I took your arrow
31:31 Through my heart
31:36 Just to say "I love you"
31:41 I really love you
31:45 Now I can never forget
31:49 How much you mean to me
31:53 'Cause I will always remember
31:57 Whenever I see
32:02 where they carved your name
32:05 Into my tree
32:09 Where I wrapped my heart
32:12 Around your name
32:17 Then I took your arrow
32:20 Through my heart
32:27 Just to say "I love you"
32:37 How much I love you, yes I do
32:46 Oh, Jesus loves you, yes He does
34:03 Powerful, very powerful.
34:05 John, I wanna ask you a question and I don't know
34:07 if it's even an intelligent question.
34:09 Oh, boy.
34:10 It encourages me in watching you
34:13 do that particular song.
34:18 The Bible says that
34:19 God didn't have suppresses of his people.
34:21 There are certain artists
34:23 and the only way that I can articulate this is
34:27 who inhabit the music that they sing.
34:30 You appear to do that,
34:33 how invested are you in your craft
34:37 as far as watching you sing that song,
34:40 one comes with impression, number one,
34:42 you believe what you're saying
34:44 and that the song is doing something for you.
34:46 And of course, it was doing something for you,
34:48 it will do something for me.
34:49 Right.
34:50 So how invested are you in the music that you produce,
34:53 the music that you sing, the things that you choose?
34:55 Yeah.
34:56 I think that...
35:01 that's the artist's thing.
35:03 Here we talk about being an artist.
35:07 You know, as a songwriter and producer,
35:11 you're approaching it
35:15 from a bit of a different place perspective.
35:18 But if you're gonna sing or play a song
35:22 and really communicate the essence of what it is,
35:27 I don't know that you can unless you are invested in it.
35:31 I don't know how else you can do it.
35:34 And, you know, so yes, so I always did,
35:38 there're certain songs that I
35:39 gravitated toward like that song
35:40 I mentioned was the song that
35:42 I just from the very beginning.
35:44 It's like, man, that song, I just connect with the story.
35:47 How it's presented, you know, how it was put together.
35:51 So, yeah, very invested in what I do
35:56 and the music that I write
35:58 and the music that God gives me.
36:00 You know, there are times when it feels like
36:02 I'm almost more taking dictation than really creating.
36:05 Yeah, and I've heard other artists say that.
36:07 Yeah, I write stuff it's not me.
36:09 Yeah.
36:10 It's just kind of flowing through me.
36:11 Yeah, yeah.
36:13 And I understand that in and as a producer
36:15 you got to be little more clinical, little more surgical.
36:17 Little more.
36:18 Yeah, that's probably good way of thinking about it.
36:19 Yeah, but this one you can kind of just surrender
36:21 to what's going on.
36:22 Right, right. Yeah.
36:24 You're facilitating as a producer.
36:25 You know, what I mean, you're sort of helping an artist
36:27 get to that place with them, you know so.
36:30 Yeah. Well done. Man, it's good talking you.
36:32 Yeah. This is great.
36:33 Whenever we got a chance, we have to just schedule
36:35 one of these about once a month as we catch up, we connect.
36:39 Man, it's just good stuff.
36:40 When you were here last year, it was work.
36:44 It is we're working, we were working with producer thing.
36:45 Good to hangout this time. Yeah.
36:47 We have a good time little bit.
36:48 "I Turn to You", set that up for me.
36:49 "I Turn to You," I wrote with a really dear friend of mine,
36:52 an artist that God connected me with...
36:55 who lives in Stockholm.
36:56 And just I can't...
36:58 I have to think about how we even met,
36:59 it feels like we've known each other forever.
37:01 But again like with Hallerin, you know,
37:03 I had this skeleton of an idea that she helped me flush out.
37:06 And I've been thinking a lot more recently, CA,
37:11 about what is the difference between
37:15 a believer and a nonbeliever?
37:17 And a big part of that, man, is
37:21 where do you turn when things are great,
37:26 when you're like, "Oh, man, I had the best day."
37:28 Right.
37:29 Where do you turn? Yeah.
37:31 When everything's fallen apart and it's just chaotic,
37:35 where do you turn, you know?
37:36 And so this song, "I Turn to You",
37:39 kind of came out of that idea of just celebrating
37:43 that we have a place where we can turn, man.
37:45 Amen.
37:47 It's just, you know, no matter if it's,
37:48 things are up or things are down,
37:50 you have a place you can turn.
37:52 All right. I Turn to You.
37:53 I Turn to You.
38:21 What can I say
38:24 Tell me where to begin
38:31 How to explain it
38:34 How I've been changed within
38:40 Amazing grace caught me in time
38:45 Gave me new life
38:48 Now it's to you that I run to Jesus
38:52 I turn to you and in all
38:55 I go through give You praise
39:02 I turn to you, Lord, the things
39:05 That You do I'm amazed
39:12 You are the joy
39:15 I'll never comprehend
39:23 What a life
39:26 I'll never face again
39:32 So when my life presses me down
39:37 I'll just hold on
39:39 And it's to you that I run to Jesus
39:43 I turn to you and in all
39:46 I go through give You praise
39:53 I turn to you
39:55 Lord, the things that you do
39:58 I am amazed, I am amazed
40:04 I turn to you and in all
40:07 I go through give You praise
40:14 I turn to you
40:16 Lord, the things that you do, I am amazed
40:21 You're worthy
40:23 Of all the glory
40:29 You're reigning majesty
40:34 Dominion empower
40:39 You're more than the world to me
40:44 To me
40:47 I turn to you and in all
40:50 I go through give You praise
40:56 I turn to you, Lord, the things that you do
41:02 I am amazed, I am amazed, Lord
41:07 I turn to you and in all
41:09 I go through give You praise, give You praise
41:13 Lord, You're worthy, worth alone
41:16 I turn to you, Lord, the things that You do
41:21 I am amazed, I am amazed
41:26 Lord, I turn to You, turn to You, turn to You
41:32 For the questions of life, for the questions of life
41:36 Lord, I turn to You, turn to You, turn to You
41:43 When I don't have any place else to go
41:46 Lord, that's when I turn to You
41:49 Turn to You, turn to You
41:53 Oh, Lord, I turn
41:57 Lord, I turn to You, turn to You, turn to You
42:09 I turn to you and in all
42:12 I go through give You praise
42:19 I turn to you, Lord, the things that You do
42:23 I am amazed
42:27 Oh, Lord, I turn to you
42:43 Amen. I like that, "I Turn to You".
42:46 That's your question and we're kind of trading a line here
42:48 because when you're writing a sermon,
42:52 there are times hopefully or preferably
42:56 that you are under the spirit of God every time you do that,
42:59 but the truth is there are times when you,
43:01 as you put the pen down or you finish typing,
43:03 you know, you got some hot.
43:05 You know, it's just like you've gotten this,
43:07 you've gone to some place, you know,
43:08 and you can't wait till Sabbath.
43:10 So during the service you have the choir singing
43:13 and they're doing announcements and you kind of rocking,
43:15 it's like get rid of this because I got something to say,
43:17 you know, kind of thing.
43:19 Does that happen in music too?
43:20 I think so. Yeah.
43:22 There for sure, there are things
43:23 that you get excited about
43:24 because you like it, you like, man.
43:26 Yeah. Doing something for you. I got to share this thing.
43:27 Right. Right. Right. Yeah.
43:29 I totally agree. Yeah.
43:30 I think so to there are things that you just,
43:32 that you just connect with.
43:34 I think that's an important part of
43:36 what helps the audience connect to
43:38 and we talked about that a while ago where
43:40 if you like it and you connect with it...
43:42 Right.
43:43 I think it makes a difference with the way,
43:45 in the way you present it and the way you share it.
43:47 You know, while we're talking little bit ago,
43:48 we got to get and plug for your wife
43:50 because you mentioned your children.
43:51 Right. But she is a doctor.
43:52 Right. Dr. Helen Powell-Stoddart.
43:55 Indeed.
43:56 And, man, she is really an amazing woman
43:59 and she is an interventional pain specialist.
44:03 But both of her parents passed away prematurely
44:06 from diet exacerbated illnesses.
44:08 Wow.
44:09 Heart disease, blood pressure, cancer.
44:12 And so she just through that develops
44:16 this real passion for wellness, diet, nutrition.
44:19 So she spends a lot of time working on great recipes
44:25 to help people to transition
44:26 toward a more plant-based diet.
44:28 And, man, she is researching everything
44:31 from weight transformation to slowing aging,
44:38 I mean, anti-aging it's all so really
44:40 and she is a pretty good cook too.
44:42 Yeah. We're praising that.
44:43 I tell you, man, I'm slow going out the door
44:45 when I got to go the airport.
44:47 I'm just like I got to eat at these restaurants,
44:48 I can't wait to get back home.
44:50 But, yeah, really a powerful thing that she is doing
44:52 and she recently opened her own practice and DRHelenPs.com.
44:57 D-R-Helenps.com. All right.
44:59 Just really great resources for people looking to again
45:03 transition to plant-based diet, deal with weight issues or
45:08 specific disease processes, she's helping people develop...
45:12 Praise the Lord.
45:14 Diets that will help them manage those things.
45:16 And she's keeping you trim so all is well.
45:17 Yes. She is keeping, man.
45:18 I have to chuckle because she looks so young.
45:22 I'm aging and she is looking younger and younger.
45:25 I said, man, I got to do something.
45:27 All right.
45:29 I'm gonna have to get on her anti-aging program.
45:30 Indeed.
45:32 I can say people won't look at me and say,
45:33 what are you doing with that young woman?
45:34 Yeah, we got to get her here, man,
45:36 'cause it seems like she has a lot to share.
45:37 She has a lot of great things to say.
45:39 Yeah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
45:40 We got one more song "Anything,"
45:41 set that up for us, John.
45:43 I recorded a record back in 2003 called
45:45 "Wings to Walk this Road".
45:47 All right.
45:48 We had to talk about that another time.
45:49 The very last song that I wrote for that record
45:52 was this song called, "Anything".
45:53 And it was one of those songs that was like taking dictation.
45:59 But it was an interesting experience
46:03 because the song sort of proclaim
46:08 something about me
46:11 that I really wouldn't at that point yet.
46:14 Oh, okay.
46:15 Or maybe still I'm not quite there,
46:16 I'm striving to get there.
46:18 So it was one of those songs that God gave me and says,
46:21 "This is the place I'm taking you."
46:22 Okay.
46:24 So I've got to sing this song "Anything",
46:25 Lord, I'll do anything for you knowing that, man,
46:29 I'm not sure if I'm quite there yet in my walk.
46:32 And so it's humbling and encouraging
46:36 all at the same time
46:37 because you sing it with the passion knowing that
46:39 God has proclaimed this over me.
46:40 So I'm gonna get there eventually.
46:42 Alrighty.
46:43 But there is a humility in singing it as well because,
46:45 you know, man, I know I'm not quite there yet.
46:48 So anything, I do anything for you.
46:51 All right. "Anything".
47:10 How do I get close to you
47:14 When you seem so far away?
47:19 What I wouldn't give to talk to you
47:23 Face to face
47:26 I have to keep believing
47:32 That it won't be very long
47:36 Till the day I can look up
47:39 And it won't be a dream
47:44 Chains breaking all around me, I can finally be free
47:50 So if you're wondering what you mean to me
47:55 You've changed my whole reality
48:00 And nothing in this world can take my heart
48:07 Because I'll do anything
48:14 Anything for you
48:17 I'll do anything
48:22 If you only ask me to
48:25 I'll do anything
48:30 Anything just to be with you
48:38 How do I keep getting up
48:41 Every time I fall down?
48:46 Such a strange kind of walking
48:50 with my feet up off the ground
48:53 But I'm not giving up
49:00 Till I make it back home
49:04 Where I know you'll be waiting
49:07 With your arms open wide
49:12 What a day for reunions
49:15 When we meet up in the sky
49:19 Somehow I know it will be worth it all
49:24 These tears I cry, the times I fall
49:28 Because you've made yourself so very real to me
49:36 I do anything
49:42 Anything for you
49:45 I do anything
49:49 If you only ask me to
49:53 I do anything
50:00 Just to be with you
50:04 And I'll go anywhere
50:10 Just to be right by your side
50:14 Give up everything
50:18 Just to look into your eyes
50:22 I do anything
50:27 Anything just to be with you.
50:32 I'm waiting for the day,
50:36 when we can fly away
50:39 Promise me you'll live inside my heart
50:47 My heart
50:52 I do anything
50:57 Anything for you
51:00 I do anything
51:04 If you only ask me to
51:08 I do anything
51:12 Anything just to be with you
51:18 And I would go I go anywhere
51:23 If I could be right by your side
51:27 I give up everything
51:31 If I can look into your eyes
51:35 I would do anything, anything
51:42 I would do anything to be
51:47 If I could just be with you
51:50 I would do anything, anything
51:58 I would do anything
52:02 Anything just to be with you
52:08 And I would go I go anywhere
52:13 If I could be right by your side
52:17 Give up everything
52:21 If I can look into your eyes
52:25 I would do anything
52:37 Anything
52:41 Anything for you
52:44 I do anything
52:49 If you only ask me to
52:52 I do anything
52:58 Anything just to be with you
53:04 And I'll go anywhere
53:10 If I could be right by your side
53:14 Give up everything
53:19 Just to look into your eyes
53:23 I'll do anything
53:46 If you would like to support John Stoddart's music ministry
53:49 or purchase his CDs,
53:51 you can do so in a variety of ways.
53:53 You can write to him at PO Box 231,
53:57 Canoga Park, California 91305.
54:00 That's PO Box 231, Canoga Park, California 91305.
54:07 You can call him at 818-222-3790.
54:11 That's 818-222-3790.
54:15 You can also email him at info@JohnStoddart.com.
54:20 That's info@JohnS-T-O-D-D-A-R-T.com.


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Revised 2021-06-01