Be The Plan

                              -The story behind the title

After the mass shootings in Newtown, CT, in 2012 a lot of American celebrities came together to ”demand a plan” from the US government. As a citizen of a relatively small country in northern Europe I assumed that my support or criticism of that campaign would not have a significant impact on the situation. I could watch the ”demand a plan”-video on Youtube and then press ”thumbs up” or ”thumbs down”. But it is likely that my interaction would have very limited influence on the next person planning a mass shooting.

I am not the only one wishing that somebody would do something about the evil in this world. Maybe God is the one who should do something? Some people like to demand a plan from God. When God’s plan turns out to be something different than what we have in mind, it is tempting to label God’s failure evidence that there is no God.

But God’s plan for battling evil in this world is to use me. I am the plan. I can not fix it all by myself. That’s why Jesus gave us an eleventh commandment -”love one another”, and a promise -”I am with you always, until the end of time”.

What’s new?

A lot of things have changed in our lives since we started working on ”Be the plan” -the sequel to ”The Mission Field”.

The message of the songs on the album are about our calling to care for each other. Something which is relevant in a time when media is flooded with news about people blaming those who look different, or think different, when things don’t go their way.

To get the message through God opened a new door for us. Behind that door we saw all the friends we have met from different parts of the world over the past years. We are so happy to be blessed with friends like those who have shared their musical gifts on ”Be the plan”.

Here they are alphabetically:

Per Alexandersson, Stella Arenius, Thorine Arenius, Maria Avramova Hitova, Eva Betoret, Jeremiah Bonds, Felicia Brandström, Daniel Bäckrud, Wolf Codera, Sissy Dinkle, Shilan Douglas, Lotta Erdtman, Thomas Erdtman, Rebeca Farré, Staffan Findin, Hanjo Gaebler, Evelina Gard, JP García, Christos Gontevas, Albin Grahn, Andreas Grenholm, Tobias Grenholm, Jimi Guldstrand, Johannes Häger, Lina Häger, Maria Höglund, Jonas Kahnberg, Karruzza, Kristian Kraftling, Chris Lass, Johan Löfcrantz, Jonah Nilsson, Norwegian Gospel Voices, Amos Obasohan, Mark Samoylenkov, Pablo de los Santos, Kristoffer Sjöberg, Daniel Stenbaek, Filip Stenlund, Vlada Tajsic, Jonas Thander, Olivia Thörn, Total Praise, Jakob Wiborg, Juan Esteban Zapata & Joakim Arenius

The songs

It is almost 100% new material. Some of you will recognize ”My promise” and ”Now” from the Joakim Arenius ”Now and here” song collection and Gospel Kirchentag in Germany. In this case the songs come in Praise Unit style, of course.

BE THE PLAN is a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:8 in the old testament of the bible:

”Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will GO for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

A mighty fortress  -”WIth Him we are victorious”

GO with Him!

Be the plan -”You’re it”

GO, because you are meant to.

Second chance -”There’s always a second chance”

If you fail the first time, then GO again.

Want to want -”Help me understand”

You don’t need all answer before you GO.

Down to faith -”Since my mind is made up”

GO and believe.

Home -”Right by the quiet waters”

Wherever you GO you always have home.

Why I dance -”I’m filled with joy”

To GO is a wonderful thing.

New command -”Love one another”

GO and love.

No hating today -”We’re all branches growing on one tree”

GO together.

Shaking the dust -”I did my best now I move on”

GO, even if they try to stop you.

Enemies -”I will never turn my back on you

”The hardest part can be to GO as friends.

My promise -”Until the end of time”

You never GO alone.

Now -”When is a good time?”

GO! When? NOW!