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Oh The Deep Deep Love
Sovereign Grace Music
Come Weary Saints
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  EOGHAN Heaslip
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For the past five years, Eoghan Heaslip (pronounced “Owen Heeslip”) has served as the worship leader and music director for the CORE Church in Dublin, Ireland. The CORE, (“City Outreach Through Renewal and Evangelism”) was established in 1993 as an Anglican church, but has since grown to include members from various denominations. In addition to overseeing and developing the area of worship, Eoghan, 28, pastors the church’s 70 or so young adults. His heart and passion is to be a catalyst, influence and resource in the areas of worship and leadership to this generation, reaching out to his peers in the city of Dublin through new expressions of worship that include the arts, multimedia and ministry to the poor. One of the chief ways that he has done this, and the one that he has come to be most acclaimed for, is his music.
Eoghan’s musical sound reflects the mélange of styles that modern Dublin has become famous for, and he is the first one to give credit for inspiration where it is due. He recognizes U2 and Peter Gabriel, along with worship leaders Kevin Prosch, Brian Doerksen, Martin Smith, Brenton Brown and David Ruis as major influences in his musicianship and songwriting.
Eoghan’s formal training took place at the Vineyard School of Worship in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it was there that he met his wife Becky. It’s also where he began to hone his songwriting abilities with mentor David Ruis. Songwriting, he says, is a “living process,” one he can’t imagine living without.
“My heart is to write songs that will bless, serve and encourage the local church…” says Eoghan. “I read a brilliant Charles Wesley quote that kind of sums it all up for me as a songwriter. His goal or vision as a hymn writer was to ‘convey sublime truths in simple language.’
Wesley’s mandate is obviously an effective one in Eoghan’s ministry. In 2003, Eoghan’s first major label debut, Mercy, met with much critical acclaim and was named Worship Leader Magazine’s “Worship Album of the Year.”
Says Heaslip, “Over the past five years I have learned, through making many, many mistakes, that there is a recurring pattern to be found in songs that last the test of time and that really minister and serve a congregation in worship.” While he admits the vital importance of a song being well crafted, he believes that, in the end, content and theology are what make a song last and matter. “I’m lucky enough to have a group of friends who have studied theology quite extensively, and when I’ve written any new material I play the songs for them first and take very seriously their comments and questions, about the motives and needs of the songs content,” he says. “I would recommend that any worship leader who is writing songs with a view of people using them in other churches apart from their own have a way of having this kind of accountability.”
Most of all, he says, “I want to create music born out of the response to a call of God to a lifestyle and relationship rather than simply reflecting a musical taste or preference – songs that create an environment of intimacy.”
— J. Gary Walker
This article appears courtesy of Songs4Worship.com
Eoghan resides in Dublin with his wife Becky and their daughters, Rachel and Abigail.
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