This article was not written by Nick Harding, but we thought it may be of interest, written by Jo Brazier.

Resting in His Presence - Rex Allchurch

In 2004, Rex Allchurch was an up-and-coming worship leader with a debut album, ‘To Love The Lost’, under his belt.  Playing at churches and Christian festivals across the UK, Rex was already working passionately for the Kingdom when God stopped him in his tracks and changed his focus forever.

“I was at a conference in Toronto,” Rex remembers, “People around me were worshipping, but I was analysing everything - from the guitars to the chord sequences to the lyrical content.  God really struck me and I realised I’d put all this weight on the quality of the music, judging whether it was ‘good enough’ to lead me into the presence of God!  I didn’t know what it was to just enjoy my Father’s love.”  Later in the conference, Rex was introduced to the concept of ‘soaking’, a practice that has become central to his life and ministry.  “Soaking is just waiting on the Lord, being in His presence and giving yourself to Him.  It changes your perspective – earthly things slow down and your way of thinking is transformed as you say, ‘Father, what’s on your heart today?’”

Power and Purpose

Today, Rex’s ministry is based on his biggest goal: to love God.  He sees himself not as a ‘worship leader’ but as a son who simply wants to be intimate with his Father.  “I don’t feel like I need to lead people,” Rex says.  “That’s the Holy Spirit’s responsibility, not mine. I’m just going to jump straight in and invite people to jump straight in with me!  I think if you focus on being in God’s presence, then whatever wells up and comes out of you is going to draw others into His presence too.  I want to meet with the Lord, and people seem to gravitate to that.”

No stranger to the spiritual needs around him, Rex has witnessed the power of God at work from the prisons to the streets through his Sussex-based ministry.  Working with band members Nick Harding and Mikey Randon, who have shared his passion from the beginning, Rex’s desire is to see salvation and renewal in the lives of those he meets.  “We’re seeing lives transformed,” Rex says.  “People are searching for something they haven’t got, and what they’re searching for is absolutely natural: it’s the creator, whom we were born to love.”

God in Reality

Rex’s new album, ‘Jesus Instead’, is a refreshing blend of contemporary influences, with songs ranging from joyful abandon to the face-on-floor intimacy of its title track, an exquisitely simple ballad of God’s grace.  A powerful testament to real-life encounters with miraculous grace, healings and conversions, the album is also honest about the sorrow and suffering we all have to face.  “The songs are weighted in a reality that we want to see God’s kingdom come, but also that we’re praying for things and not seeing them happen.  There are frustrations in life, and in some cases devastation - but that doesn’t change my faith in God.”  He shares about friends who received the record on the day they lost their unborn child, and were comforted by God through the music.  For Rex, this is enough to make the album worthwhile.  “Whatever it does now, it’s already done what I wanted it to do,” he says.  “Maybe it’ll touch other lives - I really hope it does.  I really pray it’s a CD that is soaked in the Father’s love.”

After a six year hiatus, returning to his platform as a recording artist was not Rex’s plan, but God’s.  “I had no intention of signing with another record label,” he says.  “I wasn’t interested in getting involved with the industry again, but it was like God had been preparing stuff for me.  I just spent my time seeking and worshipping Him, and everything fell into place around me.”  Rex’s future is still to be written, but if there is one lesson he’s learned so far, it is to be ready for anything.  “Give up all your ambitions.  Make your ambition to seek after Christ, see what the Father is doing and just join in!  It’s uncomfortable at times ‘cause you just don’t know what’s going to happen, but you keep trusting God, and you realise that it’s all taken care of.”

(11/9/10)

9 years ago today, we were horrified by the surreal images of planes being flown into the twin towers. It didn't seem real, surely someone would step in and save the day like in the movies. No-one did. With people now threatening to burn copies of the Qur'an it would seem that religion is once again being blamed for  selfishness, arrogance, insanity, war-mongering etc. Religion doesn't do any of these things, humans do. Anyway, 'thought it might be good to at least mention this today.

And, as we didn't do an update about last weekend... worship was great last weekend; the time of soaking was glorious, God spoke about his 100% love with 'no gaps'. If Heineken invented love, it would not be this good! Anyway, even though we were all tired we went to the pub for some grub before heading home.

We're going back to the detention centre next month, so please pray that God inspires us to speak truth, love and passion into their hearts. Mikey's coming to do some crazy drumming too!

(2/08/10)

Sunday was a busy one. After getting up at 7.30am, Rex (and family) arrived at Nick's for a quick "Hello!" before they both headed off to a secret location to minister to prisoners. After turning up late (it was very secret), we had an excellent time and about half of them responded to a call for prayer. We prayed against addiction, for bail issues, for families and asked God to speak prophetically through us.

We then headed back to the Harding house for a 'Mrs Harding special' triple-decker sandwich (Rex had tuna, Nick had beef – why you would want/need to know this I have no idea) and 10 minutes later we were all, including the ladies, back on the road heading for Leatherhead. We spent a couple of hours soaking in the presence of God before leading Engage (the name of the church) in worship. It was such a blessing to have Carl Wills with us; his prophetic insight literally changed lives for the better in front of our eyes. A seriously blessed weekend.

 (30/06/2010)

We started off going to Seb's (a good friend and ex-drummer for the band) stag do which was immense. After a day of sun, beach shenanigans and a rather large Chinese meal we retired to Rex’s house, happy and tired.

8am the next morning and Mikey’s arrived… yep… we’re off to Farnham Vineyard. We were really welcomed and had a good time worshipping together. We then met some new people – Mike and Nicky – who were lovely and very generously bought us lunch! Thanks guys.

We then drove to Leatherhead where we helped lead worship at Engage where Jay Lowder shared his passion for the lost and invited people to have security in their faith and get out of their comfort zones. A really good day, only slightly marred by England’s pathetic performance against Germany. Poor Lampard!

Rex and his wife Emma have just had a baby girl at 2mins past midnight (15/06/2010)