Tony Cummings spoke to a seminal figure in the development of modern worship music, WAYNE DRAIN

The Hudson Taylors, 2000

In 1998 Kingsway released Wayne's 'Come Away'. The prophet/songwriter spoke about the project. "I wrote that song during a kind of a stressful period and the Lord spoke into my heart and said, 'You need to come apart before you come apart'. Then I looked in the Scripture where he called his disciples away from time to time. So I went on a spiritual retreat and just tried to reassess things as I do occasionally. I wrote that song 'Come Away', and some other songs came. The idea for 'Sweet Rain' came when I was laying on my face on a carpet in a church and there was a spirit of repentance there. So I'd written 'Come Away' and 'Sweet Rain' and some of those songs and went to Les and said, 'I think I've got enough songs for half an album, maybe'. That's how 'Come Away' came into being. One of the nicest things I heard about that album was that a school teacher in England played 'Sweet Rain' every year to her students and every year some kids got saved when they heard it. She played the song to tell them about salvation and she did it for like 10 years and wrote me a letter about it."

In 2001 The Hudson Taylors were formed. Wayne spoke about how the renowned acoustic trio of singer/songwriters first emerged. "We were at a conference and Noel Richards and I were singing there and we'd lost our guitarist - had some conflict - and Noel had invited Brian Houston to come over. But we all got there late and didn't have time to rehearse. We were going to have a full band and he was going to play electric. We said, 'We don't have time to rehearse, it's five minutes and we've got to go lead worship here. So let's do everything in E and let's do songs we know.' So we just grabbed three acoustic guitars and went out and started playing. God really moved and a girl named Amanda Collins prophesied over us that 'there's something here, you guys need to record'.

"So The Hudson Taylors were born. I said, 'Let's go road test this a little bit' so we went to America to a bunch of churches that I knew. We were writing as we went, writing songs together and bringing songs that we had. We all had little batches of songs. We wrote some songs together and others we just brought in and sang together. For the 'Hurricane' album Les Moir put together a great team. We recorded the rhythm tracks with Derri Daugherty in Nashville, some great musicians there, and then I think we did the vocals down in Eastbourne. I hope this doesn't sound arrogant but I was really proud of that album. It was like the integrity of the songs and the sound and there was something special about it for me. So when someone says, 'Have you got one album you want people to hear', I say, 'This one'. I'd been waiting all my life to have one which I could say without reserve, 'You can listen to this one'."

It was to be nine years before The Hudson Taylors followed up 'Hurricane' with a second album, 'The Lord Bless You And Keep You'. Speaking about the album Wayne commented, "It's more of a collaboration than the first one. The first one we were still like two crawdads in a pipe trying to figure out a way round each other. So it was like Brian with Wayne and Noel and Noel with Wayne and Brian and it wasn't as much of a collaboration, although the live concerts were. 'The Lord Bless You. . .' album is more of a collaboration. We co-wrote a lot of the songs and we sing each other's songs. It feels more like a band to me. Some of these songs folks are really starting to pick up and sing in other churches, which is always satisfying to me."

So is there another Wayne Drain solo album coming along soon? "I've thought about that. I'm writing some songs and my attitude is the same: when I feel like I've got the right songs for the right time, God will open up the right door. I'm not methodical in that I've got to write three songs every month. For me, I write a song when I feel like I have something to say, or more specifically when the Lord has said something to me. I'm a lyricist. I write with Noel Richards a lot since he's got a real gift of melody. So he'll come in with this truckload of melodies and I'll go through, 'No, not that one', and then, 'That's it'. I'll have lyrics for that melody and that's sort of how we do it. It's really easy to write with Noel and I can concentrate on the lyrics and he brings in a great melody. I don't know if I'll do another one or not. I've never known between albums if I would do another one. I just wait and see."

Anyone who has been privileged to see Wayne live will know that this minister of the Gospel takes every opportunity to prophesy to people in the audience. I asked him whether at each gig he expected to get prophetic words every time? He responded, "I open myself up to that, I don't try to make that happen, but what I'm hearing prophetically and what I'm seeing more and more is that music and miracles and the prophetic flow together. I think what I'm hearing prophetically is that it is a season to start sharing the Gospel. So at some recent Hudson Taylors concerts I've given an opportunity for people to be saved. We've had 10 saved in the first three concerts. Sometimes the Lord shows me who they are and gives me a name or whatever. Last night we had four get saved and this little eight year old girl went home and led her 10 year old brother to the Lord. The Mum Facebooked me today to tell me.

"To me, life was getting very complicated and I read that book Simplify.' I said, 'Lord, how do I simplify?' and he said, 'Well if you keep it about the Gospel, everything else will be in balance'. So then these words started coming, like 'There's someone here named Jane, and you need to get right with God tonight'. I wouldn't say it that abruptly but there would be a Jane and she would get saved. Prophetic in the early days was more exploration and pioneering: it seems to be more purposeful now. It's more about whatever time we have, let's use it. Let's let it be about the Gospel of grace. There are so many hurting, broken and isolated people right now that I think the encouragement that 1 Corinthians 14 talks about coming through the prophetic and the comfort and the edifying, it's what I tend to move in more now than ever. The fiery Keith Green thing, just pointing at everybody and, you know, 'get right or get left', 'turn or burn', was kind of prophetic back in the early days. But today it's about a real loving God, a real God of grace inspiring the prophetic in me."