Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
God is in Control - Twila Paris Video
Original video from StarSong Records. Twila was one of the first (and best) of the contemporary christian artist pioneers- it is still an AWESOME and INSPIRING song! If you need a quick reminder of the big picture, hit this, and keep your head up!
Christian Music News Source
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Sanctuaries of Twila Paris
Tucked away in the midst of the Ozark Mountains, in the northeast part of Arkansas, sits a little town by the name of Fayetteville. Trying to describe this town is as easy as trying to describe a quiet pond on an early spring morning. It’s peaceful. It’s inviting. A drive through this small town proves to be very restful for a weary soul. On this Sunday afternoon in mid-September there’s not much activity in the streets and not much traffic on the two-lane roads that run throughout the city.
Perhaps the only residents who bring this quaint town to life are University of Arkansas students, with their football games at Razorback Stadium, and parties on and off campus. For them, and maybe only them, Fayetteville is a town to live it up before stepping out into the real world.
For other residents, Fayetteveille is a refuge, a haven from the rest of the world’s fast pace, a breath of fresh air…a sanctuary. To at least one of its residents, Twila Paris, that’s exactly what Fayetteville is. A place that gently welcomes her home when she comes off the road after many concert dates and many more sleepless hours.
"The beauty, the country, the creation embraces me when I come home," says Twila. "I love it here, and there’s no place else I’d rather be. There’s something about it where you literally feel less threatened."
During a recent visit to Fayetteville, I ask Twila for a tour of the town. In her rented, garnet-colored LeMans (her ’77 Honda Civic is broken and Jack Wright, her husband, is using their other car), we make it out of her hilly, curvy neighborhood onto a main street.
Twila points to the women’s clinic on College Avenue where Christians and pro-lifers occasionally protest abortions. She turns onto Dixon Street and drives by Central United Methodist Church, a stately-looking brick building with huge, white columns. She was married there six years ago. A little further down is the soon-to-open Walton Arts Center funded by Sam Walton, owner of the Wal-Mart chain.
The streets are decorated with oak and maple trees full of green leaves. Some are beginning to show glimpses of their annual fall change of colors into shades of brown, yellow and orange. With few exceptions, most of the eateries are mom and pop restaurants. The chains have yet to land in this town.
As we drive past the University of Arkansas and Razorback Stadium, Twila says, "I love going to college and high school football games. When my brother was in high school, I used to go see him play, but he’s 23 now, so it hasn’t been for awhile."
After driving through several small towns like Springdale, where she grew up, and Tontitown, Twila heads down a narrow, bumpy dirt road. "This is why I wish I had a 4X4," she remarks.
Despite the frequent jolts, Twila finds this out-of-the-way country road therapeutic. On one side of the road is a steep slope of thick forest, home to a small, honey-colored rabbit that hops across our path. On the other side are acres and acres of farmland with cows and horses.
We stop to look at a calf munching on grass just a few feet away from us. He looks up at us, his only movement is his chewing mouth. We notice two other cows about 15 feet behind our little friend. They are also chewing and staring at us. "It’s like a Far Side cartoon," says Twila. We laugh, and I suggest we come up with a Far Side line. Without much thought, Twila says, "Hey Herbert, don’t you think it’s just so therapeutic to watch humans in their natural environments?"
Oren’s World
This quaint country road leads us to the Youth With a Mission base in Elm Springs, an extension of Twila’s Fayetteville sanctuary. In a way, the YWAM base itself is a sanctuary for the contemporary hymn-writer, whose spiritual support over the years has come from her dad Oren Paris (the base’s director), and the people who staff and train here.
Twila and Jack moved to Nashville about two years ago, away from the proximity of the YWAM fellowship. It took them only a couple of months to realize their move was a mistake.
"I had made the decision to move without praying enough," says Jack. "Really, I was already determined to make that move. Moving away from our fellowship was probably the biggest part of the blunder. We have known the crew out there for years and we can speak openly to them. They are a group of real committed prayer warriors."
Two campuses make up the 83-acre base. Formerly a chicken farm (poultry is big business in these parts), the land today houses several mobile homes for office and living space, a barn converted into a dorm and classroom, a dining hall, and several other structures including a three-story geodesic dome. Still under construction, the dome will serve as a multi-purpose building.
Oren’s tour leads us to his office where he spends much time discussing the future of YWAM, his vision for getting the Bible out to all the inhabitants of the world by the year 2,000, and the mission’s 12 ministries which includes Twila Paris Productions.
He’s a witty man, full of determination balanced with a generous dose of gentleness. Twila is a lot like her dad, but hopes to become like her mom, Inez, a woman of wisdom.
On this particular Sunday afternoon, Oren Jr., 23, and Angela, 20 two of Twila’s three siblings, are in Indianapolis working with some churches and evangelizing on the streets. They leave soon for a two-month mission trip to Romania.
Sibling Support System
Starla, 24, is in town and plans to spend Monday afternoon shopping with Twila for some new stage clothes. The sisters must mix and match their wardrobe selections, since Starla is now touring as a backup vocalist for her sister. She is also Twila’s traveling companion, a role Starla assumes with pleasure.
"I feel like the Lord has chosen us for different things," says Starla. "Theoretically I could still be doing this in 50 years. I consider it my job and my mission until God says I’m not going to do this anymore. I consider it a privilege to be on the road with her." And she quickly adds, "I consider it a privilege to be her sister."
Before going on the road with Twila, Starla worked with her dad at the YWAM base. Her present job is considered her special assignment from YWAM.
"I went on the road when Jack came off the road. The need was seen for someone to travel with Twila, preferably family," says Starla. "Probably my main job is to be an ear to hear her say what she has to say to someone who’s known her for a long time. And I help Twila with whatever I can to take away any stress so she can think of the concert."
Out of the Comfort Zone
Starla’s job found her working alongside Twila on her latest Star Song project and first complete worship album, Sanctuary. As with her previous release, Cry for the Desert, Twila breaks new musical ground, in the often-tired genre of inspirational music.
"She has stepped out of her comfort zones," says Star Song’s president Darrell Harris. "My hat is off to Twila. She’s been so successful. But she’s acted courageously again and reached a new plateau. She is confident enough in the Lord and the gifts he has given her to be willing to step out."
For many years, Twila worked with producer Jonathan David Brown to create a successful sound that became familiar to her fans. Last year, she realized it was time to stretch beyond the familiar and worked with Brown Bannister on Cry for the Desert. This year, Twila has once again taken an artistic risk and worked with yet another producer, one of adult alternative’s best instrumentalist-composers, Richard Souther.
Using his expertise with synthesizers and samplers, Souther has taken sounds uncommon to Twila’s music, delicately combined them with her worship choruses, and produced a simple yet sophisticated praise offering to God. On his latest solo effort, Twelve Tribes, Souther experiments with Irish and Gaelic music. He brings some of this world music to Sanctuary and uses quality musicians like Alasdair Fraser on fiddle, Abraham Laboriel on classical guitar and Justo Almario on sax and flute. Adding to the talented troupe is the legendary Phil Keaggy on acoustic guitar.
"Richard brought to the project his own vision which did not conflict with mine, but added to it," says Twila. "Part of that vision was that we would make music of such caliber that people who weren’t even Christians would be drawn by the music and then they would hear the message."
"I just wanted something that was going to be fresh and different in worship music, but at the same time, the freshness and difference would not detract from what it’s all about—worship," says Souther, who refers to his own recordings on the Narada label as expressions of thanks to the Lord.
He adds, "I wouldn’t call this a grandstanding performance type of record. I look at it more as Twila teaching the listener her praise and worship choruses. I wanted it to be very personal."
A few of the songs are instrumental re-recordings of some of Twila’s classic hymns like "Lamb of God" and "We Will Glorify." "He is Exalted" joins the musical textures of Brazil with Twila singing Portuguese lyrics.
Perhaps the song that hits closest to home for Twila is "The Joy of the lord," a little number she came up with while washing dishes: "The joy of the Lord will be my strength/ I will not falter, I will not faint/ He is my shepherd, I am not afraid/ The joy of the Lord is my strength."
New Sources of Joy
It’s the joy of the Lord that has helped her get through the past year’s separation from her husband. Jack remains a victim of chronic fatigue, and spends much time in a small town in southeast Arkansas under the care of a doctor. Until a year ago, he traveled with Twila on all her tours and acted as manager. Today he has forfeited most of his responsibilities in exchange for "aggressive rest," as Twila calls it.
"Actually, in a lot of ways, the whole process has been very good," says Jack. "This has forced me to delegate some things and the people I have delegated to are doing a better job than me. As far as my relationship with the Lord, I was caught up with the day-to-day problems that come up. This has forced me to re-evaluate, with a lot more quiet time to spend with the Lord. I see the overall thing as a blessing. I have no doubt I’ll be back out there."
"There’s one person in particular, but I know of several people who have prayed specifically for me for joy," says Twila. "Once I made the choice not to say, ‘Lord, my joy has to come from this source in this way at this time,’ he has brought joy in the most unexpected ways from the most unexpected places. And I have to tell you honestly, I have been, for the most part, a happy person for the past year."
Both Twila and Jack are optimistic of the future. Jack says his doctor is zeroing in on a diagnosis. And Twila says, "We really feel like we have a word from the Lord that things will be more back to ‘normal,’ whatever that is." Some of that ‘normal’ for Twila would include coming home to her husband, rather than an empty house, from concert dates. But Twila’s two-story French provincial house is another source of comfort, she admits. A tour of the house shows Twila has a knack for interior design and a heart for American patriotism.
"This country was really founded on Christian principles," says Twila. "That is the reason God has blessed this country for so long. Nowadays people would have us forget that. There’s a tie between the spiritual and the political, the freedom and the price paid for that. There is a correlation between the people who died for this country in wars and Christ dying for freedom. So much of that is tied in with why I like colonial things."
She has decorated her home in such a way that she feels welcomed after many nights of hotel rooms and fast food restaurants. The house is filled with colonial furnishings, mostly inherited from family members. Twila takes the time to explain where she got each of the pieces.
Sitting comfortably in the music room are Twila’s Yamaha grand piano of four years and Jack’s sophisticated audio system, which Twila finds quite unattractive amidst her carefully arranged colonial setting. "Guys do this thing," says Twila. "They think the uglier it is, the better it sounds."
Upstairs are two bedrooms, the ‘junk’ room filled with odds and ends accumulated over the years, the recreation room with Twila’s exercise bike and Jack’s ski machine, and Jack’s office with a pool table.
The Wright Stuff
Back in the living room downstairs, Twila shows me a copy of The Eighteenth Century Houses of Williamsburg. Issues of Colonial Homes magazines are on the coffee table. We make our way to a bookshelf, the one and only spot downstairs that is not perfectly organized. It’s here we discover a little more about Twila.
Amidst several new, hardcover books is an old, faded Reach Out, the new testament of The Living Bible published by Youth for Christ International.
"I remember I got that Bible when I was in junior high, the seventh grade," says Twila, now 32. "My dad was big on the idea of me taking my Reach Out to school to find opportunities to share. I didn’t want to share. I was very shy, so I’d take my Reach Out to school and cover it with all my other books. Then I’d put it n my locker in the morning and not take it back out till the end of the day. I wanted to be like everybody else. Of course now, that’s changed."
Also scattered among the shelves are Bill Cosby’s Fatherhood, The Analytical Greek Lexicon, a potpourri of Bibles, her Franklin 1991 daytimer, Frank E. Gaebelein’s The Christian, The Arts, and Truth and a paperback on dogs. She wants two golden retrievers.
She pulls out a small photo album filled with wedding pictures snapped by a friend. IN it are also several photos of the Wrights’ honeymoon in Denver. Looking at the pictures reminds her of her husband and their struggles together.
"Adversity tears you apart or pulls you together," says Twila. "For us, it’s pulled us together." We close the photo album and end the tour of her home—another one of the important sanctuaries in the life of Twila Paris.
Christian Music News Source
Perhaps the only residents who bring this quaint town to life are University of Arkansas students, with their football games at Razorback Stadium, and parties on and off campus. For them, and maybe only them, Fayetteville is a town to live it up before stepping out into the real world.
For other residents, Fayetteveille is a refuge, a haven from the rest of the world’s fast pace, a breath of fresh air…a sanctuary. To at least one of its residents, Twila Paris, that’s exactly what Fayetteville is. A place that gently welcomes her home when she comes off the road after many concert dates and many more sleepless hours.
"The beauty, the country, the creation embraces me when I come home," says Twila. "I love it here, and there’s no place else I’d rather be. There’s something about it where you literally feel less threatened."
During a recent visit to Fayetteville, I ask Twila for a tour of the town. In her rented, garnet-colored LeMans (her ’77 Honda Civic is broken and Jack Wright, her husband, is using their other car), we make it out of her hilly, curvy neighborhood onto a main street.
Twila points to the women’s clinic on College Avenue where Christians and pro-lifers occasionally protest abortions. She turns onto Dixon Street and drives by Central United Methodist Church, a stately-looking brick building with huge, white columns. She was married there six years ago. A little further down is the soon-to-open Walton Arts Center funded by Sam Walton, owner of the Wal-Mart chain.
The streets are decorated with oak and maple trees full of green leaves. Some are beginning to show glimpses of their annual fall change of colors into shades of brown, yellow and orange. With few exceptions, most of the eateries are mom and pop restaurants. The chains have yet to land in this town.
As we drive past the University of Arkansas and Razorback Stadium, Twila says, "I love going to college and high school football games. When my brother was in high school, I used to go see him play, but he’s 23 now, so it hasn’t been for awhile."
After driving through several small towns like Springdale, where she grew up, and Tontitown, Twila heads down a narrow, bumpy dirt road. "This is why I wish I had a 4X4," she remarks.
Despite the frequent jolts, Twila finds this out-of-the-way country road therapeutic. On one side of the road is a steep slope of thick forest, home to a small, honey-colored rabbit that hops across our path. On the other side are acres and acres of farmland with cows and horses.
We stop to look at a calf munching on grass just a few feet away from us. He looks up at us, his only movement is his chewing mouth. We notice two other cows about 15 feet behind our little friend. They are also chewing and staring at us. "It’s like a Far Side cartoon," says Twila. We laugh, and I suggest we come up with a Far Side line. Without much thought, Twila says, "Hey Herbert, don’t you think it’s just so therapeutic to watch humans in their natural environments?"
Oren’s World
This quaint country road leads us to the Youth With a Mission base in Elm Springs, an extension of Twila’s Fayetteville sanctuary. In a way, the YWAM base itself is a sanctuary for the contemporary hymn-writer, whose spiritual support over the years has come from her dad Oren Paris (the base’s director), and the people who staff and train here.
Twila and Jack moved to Nashville about two years ago, away from the proximity of the YWAM fellowship. It took them only a couple of months to realize their move was a mistake.
"I had made the decision to move without praying enough," says Jack. "Really, I was already determined to make that move. Moving away from our fellowship was probably the biggest part of the blunder. We have known the crew out there for years and we can speak openly to them. They are a group of real committed prayer warriors."
Two campuses make up the 83-acre base. Formerly a chicken farm (poultry is big business in these parts), the land today houses several mobile homes for office and living space, a barn converted into a dorm and classroom, a dining hall, and several other structures including a three-story geodesic dome. Still under construction, the dome will serve as a multi-purpose building.
Oren’s tour leads us to his office where he spends much time discussing the future of YWAM, his vision for getting the Bible out to all the inhabitants of the world by the year 2,000, and the mission’s 12 ministries which includes Twila Paris Productions.
He’s a witty man, full of determination balanced with a generous dose of gentleness. Twila is a lot like her dad, but hopes to become like her mom, Inez, a woman of wisdom.
On this particular Sunday afternoon, Oren Jr., 23, and Angela, 20 two of Twila’s three siblings, are in Indianapolis working with some churches and evangelizing on the streets. They leave soon for a two-month mission trip to Romania.
Sibling Support System
Starla, 24, is in town and plans to spend Monday afternoon shopping with Twila for some new stage clothes. The sisters must mix and match their wardrobe selections, since Starla is now touring as a backup vocalist for her sister. She is also Twila’s traveling companion, a role Starla assumes with pleasure.
"I feel like the Lord has chosen us for different things," says Starla. "Theoretically I could still be doing this in 50 years. I consider it my job and my mission until God says I’m not going to do this anymore. I consider it a privilege to be on the road with her." And she quickly adds, "I consider it a privilege to be her sister."
Before going on the road with Twila, Starla worked with her dad at the YWAM base. Her present job is considered her special assignment from YWAM.
"I went on the road when Jack came off the road. The need was seen for someone to travel with Twila, preferably family," says Starla. "Probably my main job is to be an ear to hear her say what she has to say to someone who’s known her for a long time. And I help Twila with whatever I can to take away any stress so she can think of the concert."
Out of the Comfort Zone
Starla’s job found her working alongside Twila on her latest Star Song project and first complete worship album, Sanctuary. As with her previous release, Cry for the Desert, Twila breaks new musical ground, in the often-tired genre of inspirational music.
"She has stepped out of her comfort zones," says Star Song’s president Darrell Harris. "My hat is off to Twila. She’s been so successful. But she’s acted courageously again and reached a new plateau. She is confident enough in the Lord and the gifts he has given her to be willing to step out."
For many years, Twila worked with producer Jonathan David Brown to create a successful sound that became familiar to her fans. Last year, she realized it was time to stretch beyond the familiar and worked with Brown Bannister on Cry for the Desert. This year, Twila has once again taken an artistic risk and worked with yet another producer, one of adult alternative’s best instrumentalist-composers, Richard Souther.
Using his expertise with synthesizers and samplers, Souther has taken sounds uncommon to Twila’s music, delicately combined them with her worship choruses, and produced a simple yet sophisticated praise offering to God. On his latest solo effort, Twelve Tribes, Souther experiments with Irish and Gaelic music. He brings some of this world music to Sanctuary and uses quality musicians like Alasdair Fraser on fiddle, Abraham Laboriel on classical guitar and Justo Almario on sax and flute. Adding to the talented troupe is the legendary Phil Keaggy on acoustic guitar.
"Richard brought to the project his own vision which did not conflict with mine, but added to it," says Twila. "Part of that vision was that we would make music of such caliber that people who weren’t even Christians would be drawn by the music and then they would hear the message."
"I just wanted something that was going to be fresh and different in worship music, but at the same time, the freshness and difference would not detract from what it’s all about—worship," says Souther, who refers to his own recordings on the Narada label as expressions of thanks to the Lord.
He adds, "I wouldn’t call this a grandstanding performance type of record. I look at it more as Twila teaching the listener her praise and worship choruses. I wanted it to be very personal."
A few of the songs are instrumental re-recordings of some of Twila’s classic hymns like "Lamb of God" and "We Will Glorify." "He is Exalted" joins the musical textures of Brazil with Twila singing Portuguese lyrics.
Perhaps the song that hits closest to home for Twila is "The Joy of the lord," a little number she came up with while washing dishes: "The joy of the Lord will be my strength/ I will not falter, I will not faint/ He is my shepherd, I am not afraid/ The joy of the Lord is my strength."
New Sources of Joy
It’s the joy of the Lord that has helped her get through the past year’s separation from her husband. Jack remains a victim of chronic fatigue, and spends much time in a small town in southeast Arkansas under the care of a doctor. Until a year ago, he traveled with Twila on all her tours and acted as manager. Today he has forfeited most of his responsibilities in exchange for "aggressive rest," as Twila calls it.
"Actually, in a lot of ways, the whole process has been very good," says Jack. "This has forced me to delegate some things and the people I have delegated to are doing a better job than me. As far as my relationship with the Lord, I was caught up with the day-to-day problems that come up. This has forced me to re-evaluate, with a lot more quiet time to spend with the Lord. I see the overall thing as a blessing. I have no doubt I’ll be back out there."
"There’s one person in particular, but I know of several people who have prayed specifically for me for joy," says Twila. "Once I made the choice not to say, ‘Lord, my joy has to come from this source in this way at this time,’ he has brought joy in the most unexpected ways from the most unexpected places. And I have to tell you honestly, I have been, for the most part, a happy person for the past year."
Both Twila and Jack are optimistic of the future. Jack says his doctor is zeroing in on a diagnosis. And Twila says, "We really feel like we have a word from the Lord that things will be more back to ‘normal,’ whatever that is." Some of that ‘normal’ for Twila would include coming home to her husband, rather than an empty house, from concert dates. But Twila’s two-story French provincial house is another source of comfort, she admits. A tour of the house shows Twila has a knack for interior design and a heart for American patriotism.
"This country was really founded on Christian principles," says Twila. "That is the reason God has blessed this country for so long. Nowadays people would have us forget that. There’s a tie between the spiritual and the political, the freedom and the price paid for that. There is a correlation between the people who died for this country in wars and Christ dying for freedom. So much of that is tied in with why I like colonial things."
She has decorated her home in such a way that she feels welcomed after many nights of hotel rooms and fast food restaurants. The house is filled with colonial furnishings, mostly inherited from family members. Twila takes the time to explain where she got each of the pieces.
Sitting comfortably in the music room are Twila’s Yamaha grand piano of four years and Jack’s sophisticated audio system, which Twila finds quite unattractive amidst her carefully arranged colonial setting. "Guys do this thing," says Twila. "They think the uglier it is, the better it sounds."
Upstairs are two bedrooms, the ‘junk’ room filled with odds and ends accumulated over the years, the recreation room with Twila’s exercise bike and Jack’s ski machine, and Jack’s office with a pool table.
The Wright Stuff
Back in the living room downstairs, Twila shows me a copy of The Eighteenth Century Houses of Williamsburg. Issues of Colonial Homes magazines are on the coffee table. We make our way to a bookshelf, the one and only spot downstairs that is not perfectly organized. It’s here we discover a little more about Twila.
Amidst several new, hardcover books is an old, faded Reach Out, the new testament of The Living Bible published by Youth for Christ International.
"I remember I got that Bible when I was in junior high, the seventh grade," says Twila, now 32. "My dad was big on the idea of me taking my Reach Out to school to find opportunities to share. I didn’t want to share. I was very shy, so I’d take my Reach Out to school and cover it with all my other books. Then I’d put it n my locker in the morning and not take it back out till the end of the day. I wanted to be like everybody else. Of course now, that’s changed."
Also scattered among the shelves are Bill Cosby’s Fatherhood, The Analytical Greek Lexicon, a potpourri of Bibles, her Franklin 1991 daytimer, Frank E. Gaebelein’s The Christian, The Arts, and Truth and a paperback on dogs. She wants two golden retrievers.
She pulls out a small photo album filled with wedding pictures snapped by a friend. IN it are also several photos of the Wrights’ honeymoon in Denver. Looking at the pictures reminds her of her husband and their struggles together.
"Adversity tears you apart or pulls you together," says Twila. "For us, it’s pulled us together." We close the photo album and end the tour of her home—another one of the important sanctuaries in the life of Twila Paris.
Christian Music News Source
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