In our ongoing series well known artists run through their albums and books. This time one of the fathers of British worship music DAVE BILBROUGH

As a psalmist, I felt I was on a journey and the act of opening up one's heart in worship by definition required renewing and change from previous comfort zones. There are some songs on this which still remain very special to me: "Wings Of An Eagle" speaks about going deeper with God, as does the title track. "Not One Moment Too Soon" talks about waiting for God's promises to appear. This album also saw the emergence of a song "Holy Ground" that was to have great significance for me. It seemed all around me there was a kind of power surge in the Holy Spirit. Some people were calling this the Toronto Blessing. Rather than being located or centred in one particular place I prefer to think of it as a worldwide phenomenon. The very first time I played "Holy Ground" was in a meeting where Gerald Coates, team leader of Pioneer Network of churches that I am involved with, shared the news of a series of meetings that was to be held at Marsham Street. I was amazed at the reaction to the song, but it was later to have great significance as the Marsham Street meetings developed.

Andy Piercy, who produced the album, encouraged me to travel down some new routes when developing and writing these songs. The album closed with "This Is My Prayer" which was my first step in that direction as I proceeded towards the album. I remember Andy waking me up late in the night as he had just listened to the initial demo recording that I'd sent him and in his phone call he conveyed that he felt we'd found the direction we were looking for. It was therefore a very moving moment when recording this track in my home studio; voice and guitar live together, and a blackbird joined in at the end which, if you turn up the volume, you can hear. It was almost like God's way of saying, "I can hear the song; I can hear the cry.

Live From Marsham Street, Westminster, Kingsway Music, CD & Cassette, 1999
Having developed themes which were more to do with the inward heart in 'Secret Places', the 'Live From Marsham Street' album presented the other edge of the sword - a more outward, exuberant live style. Gerald Coates has successfully convened Sowing The Seeds Of Revival meetings in London's Marsham Street. They ran for many nights during the week and over a period of many months. Along with my fellow members of the Pioneer team (Noel Richards, Sue Rinaldi, etc) I was regularly invited to lead worship. These were significant times, not only for the congregation but for me personally. So when it came time to record an album it felt right and appropriate to do the album at that venue. Acoustically, I knew all along it was going to be a bad choice, but spiritually I felt it was important to base this audio statement at the place where so much vision had been birthed. The songs have a very strong "world music" style - lots of percussion and improvisation linked in with fiddle from Nick Haigh as well as Irish whistle. Pat, my wife, began to develop new sounds on percussion in our live context, adding to the tremendous contribution which Martin Neil brought.

It was important for me not just to sing about God's heart for the nations, but to portray it in the music. The song "Holy Ground", which had appeared on 'Secret Places', was re-recorded. In many ways the CD reflected a breakout call for us all to take the gospel into new places.

Personal Worship 2, Kingsway Music, CD & cassette, 2000
As a songwriter my songs always derive their first expressions on my trusted acoustic guitar. Many of them start out as simple prayers to God or carry a message of what he is speaking into my life. It seemed natural, therefore, to return to that stream for this album which was part of the Personal Worship series produced by Kingsway. Unashamedly acoustic, Nick Haigh on fiddle joined me again alongside Steve Criddle (keyboards and accordion). Pat Bilbrough developed much of her percussion sounds on this album.

Running parallel with the experiences of that time was a new project that I'd begun to develop which was my attempt to crossover to an audience beyond the church with the Good News. Based in a small, intimate London theatre I began to put together an evening of songs, stories and testimony reflecting my spiritual journey, but also being an opportunity for some fun and entertainment. I was really trying to re-present the message of some of my songs to an audience that would not be comfortable in a Christian worship gathering, but to do so in such a way that did not compromise the spirit of worship which I believe should be accessible to all human beings. One or two of the songs on 'Personal Worship 2' were born out of that context. This album was also an opportunity to work for the first time with my close friend Matt Hay who has gone on to produce many albums for me and remains a close friend.

New Heart/All Hail The Lamb, Kingsway Music, CD, 2002
This was a double CD re-release of the two albums from 1995 and 1997.

Everybody Sing, Kingsway Music, CD & cassette, 2002
Following the pattern created in the 'Secret Places'/'Marsham Street' combination, if you like inhaling and exhaling; internal and outward expressions, 'Everybody Sing' contained a series of songs which in the main were for congregational use and developed various musical expressions from around the world. Recorded live at Easter People it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to share these songs in the context of a diverse gathering of people. This was the first album I ever had with decks on it, supplied by my hip-hop influenced son, Dan, which made things different! The content of the songs, in many ways, reflected my own travels where I, along with others in my band, had the privilege of visiting and sharing our music in various parts of the world.

Revival Worship, Kingsway Music, CD, 2004
This package was a triple set of albums produced to commemorate and celebrate the distinct expressions of musical style and location growing out of the Holy Spirit encounters that many were experiencing in the Church. The package contained my 1999 album 'Live From Marsham Street' plus an album 'Rivers Of Fire' recorded at the Revival Now Conference with worship leader Isabel Simpson, and an album by the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship with worship leader Robert Critchley.

This Is My Worship: Live & Acoustic, Independent, CD & DVD, 2005
I recorded this in the East End of London. Songs for this project were in a more performance, singer/songwriter style and contain a strong emphasis on the need to combine our worship expressions with acts of social compassion towards the poorer regions of the world. Not primarily a traditional congregational album of the kind that Kingsway service so well, it became instead a springboard to initiate this project myself. As I began to take these steps the news of the 2004 Tsunami broke on our TV screens and, with the permission of my band, we decided to put together a fundraising event for the churches that we knew of that were hit by the tragedy. God TV heard news of this and asked if they could broadcast the event worldwide, synchronising with their own campaign. From small beginnings the concert/recording began to take on a life of its own, as we filmed and recorded not only an album, but a TV concert. Subsequently a considerable amount of additional background and unplugged footage was added by our own team and a DVD was born to accompany the CD. God's heart beats for the nations and requires more than just a song to make our response authentic in worship. The event and proceeds from the recording helped in a small way to alleviate some of the suffering of our brothers and sisters, but also as the album was released enabled us as a team to travel to and serve through our music some of the parts of the world where worship events are not commonplace.

Studio, Live & Personal, Kingsway Music, triple CD pack, 2006
A triple CD pack to revive interest in three back catalogue albums: 'Secret Places' (1997), 'Personal Worship 2' (2000) and 'Everybody Sing' (2002).

Worship And Grace, Worship And Mission, Worship And The Presence Of God, New Wine Press, books, 2006/7
Somehow word got around of the teaching that I often give to worship leaders and pastors concerning what I consider to be key foundational areas of the life of a worshipper. Highly connected together, these aspects, namely an appreciation of God's grace, a welcoming of our call to mission and a seeking after a deeper awareness of God's presence in our lives, are I believe three fundamental truths that we need to address in our worship communities. Writing them was fun and I hope that many have been provoked into seeking God afresh as they have read through the pages.

People Of Promise, Independent, CD, 2008
25 years on from writing 'An Army Of Ordinary People' with its twin themes of grace and community I felt the time was right to revisit and to develop some new songs appropriate to today's Church. Recorded in a live studio setting and produced by Matt Hay the album was fun to make as I would literally teach the song to the band and we would press record while all playing together, including a live vocal. It was really important to me to maintain an organic feel rather than the heavily processed sound. Upright acoustic bass, banjo and piano were very much to the fore as this collection of songs moved towards a country influenced sound. As God's people we are called to be 'People of Promise', moving together in the expectation of God's ongoing fulfilment of his word in our lives. The desire to discover the inheritance and freedom of our lives in Christ still burns strong within me. That discovery will lead us to fresh expressions of an age old truth. It's not a time to settle down into what we've known in the past, but press on and be all that God has called us to be.