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Oh The Deep Deep Love
Sovereign Grace Music
Come Weary Saints
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  BRIAN Doerksen
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Brian Doerksen has always had a passion for intimate worship. Raised in a Christian home in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Brian was a member at a local Mennonite Brethren church, graduating from M.E.I. in 1983. In 1984, at 19 years old, he married his high school sweetheart Joyce and they began married life serving with Youth With A Mission in Southeast Asia. As a 22-year-old, he was asked to join the staff of the Langley Vineyard Christian Fellowship and spent several years there as the worship pastor in the late 80's and early 90's. Some of his first published songs from that time period were “Faithful One,” “Refiner’s Fire” and “I Lift My Eyes Up.”
Doerksen recnetly released a new album from Integrity Music entitled, Holy God. This project is his first studio album and includes a collection of powerful new worship songs focusing on the holiness of God. “I have wanted to do a studio worship CD for some time,” says Brian. “A studio recording lets us focus on some of the more subtle elements of the songs. I believed that the theme of this project and the songs themselves called for this approach... it’s just an intimate experience that allows the listener to be present in the middle of this encounter with God without distractions.”
Listen to audio and download FREE chord charts from Holy God featuring Brian Doerksen.
Brian lived in London, England from 1997-1999, where he trained worship leaders and songwriters in the UK and Ireland and produced Hungry (voted Best Worship Project during Worship Leader magazine’s “2001 Praise Awards”). After returning to Canada, Brian produced two worship albums for Vineyard Music - - Believe (2000) and All I Need (2001).
In 2002, Brian began writing and recording with Integrity Music. His first album, You Shine, was recorded in Dublin, Ireland for the company’s Hosanna! Music label and was later distributed to over 170 countries. Brian has since appeared on several other Integrity projects including Sing For Joy and the soon-to-be-released Hope Of The Nations.
Some of Brian’s best-loved songs include “Come, Now is the Time to Worship,” currently one of the fastest climbing songs on the CCLI charts, “Light the Fire Again,” “Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing)” - a co-write with Brenton Brown, “More,” “You Shine” and “Hope Of The Nations.”
In April of 2003, the Gospel Music Association honored Brian with the presentation of its “International Award,” citing the global impact of Brian’s worship songs. Later that month, he received five nominations for the Vibe Awards, a people’s choice awards ceremony celebrating Canadian Christian music.
Brian, Joyce and their six children (Rachel, Esther, Benjamin, Joy, Mercy and Isaiah) live in Abbotsford, British Columbia in the expanding old farmhouse where he was raised in since childhood.
Brian’s Testimony
I have always had a passion for intimacy with my Creator. I remember times as a child when I would stretch out on the hillside beside our house and stare into the stars and listen for God's whispers.
I was raised by wonderful Christian parents of Mennonite descent (Harry & Agnes Doerksen), plus I had the privilege of knowing all my grandparents (all of whom were born in Russia in the Ukraine; on my Dad's side they came to Canada via Paraguay after fleeing the Russian Revolution). It was my grandfather, Peter Doerksen, from whom I inherited my love of the stringed instruments, while my love to sing came from my father, who led the singing on most Sundays in the Mennonite Brethren church I was raised in.
The call to music ministry came in my teens. I was excelling in sports, following hard in my older brother's footsteps when one night I had a life changing experience alone in my bedroom. A presence of love and power came into the room and seemed to ask me this simple question, "Will you give me your life to serve me?" After saying yes, I found that the desire to be involved in sports was gone, and in it's place was a desire to play music for God. I formed a Christian band among my friends, and we began to learn to play as we went. (I am still amazed at all the noise and late night practices and "recordings" my parents put up with!!) One of the most memorable nights of my youth was when my Dad took me, along with some of my friends, to see a couple of Christian bands in concert in Seattle. That night gave me a glimpse of the church as a whole, and when they went into a time of worship near the end and people began to lift their hands (I had never seen this before), I was deeply moved by the presence of God and said, "This is what I was made for." I was also amazed that the quality of the music and sound were top-notch; that was formative in my passion for both excellence of heart and skill in worship music. It was around this time that the focus of my life was formed - to make and sing music with all my heart to God. Around this time, a small group of friends used to gather on weekends to hang out together and sing worship songs and pray. There would be a guitar or two in the middle of the room, and whoever had a song would pick it up and play it. It was very valuable for me to get my start as a worship leader in a place where there were no titles and no high-pressure expectations. There was no audience but God and a group of friends where we all felt safe to express our hearts. In this way, no one was embarrassed about really expressing our worship freely with our voices and our bodies, though this was not the norm at the church services we attended at that time. We also had lots of worship gatherings at our house that my parents graciously hosted, which at times would swell to more than 50 people gathering to worship and pray.
Shortly after graduating from high school (Mennonite Educational Institute or M.E.I. in Abbotsford B.C.), I had another life-changing opportunity. I was able to attend Youth with a Mission's (YWAM) Discipleship Training School (D.T.S.) in Tyler, Texas. It was a time of spiritual growth and interaction with people from all different backgrounds and nations and it was my first experience in the developing world, as our outreach took us to Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Shortly after returning from my D.T.S. I married my high school sweetheart, Joyce Doerksen (yes her maiden name was "Doerksen" and no, we were not related before we were married. Actually, "Doerksen," which is pronounced "Dirksen," is a very common Mennonite name where we grew up!). Two months after getting married, we moved to Singapore to take part in a Far East Evangelism Team for 5 months with YWAM. It was a great start for our marriage; serving together really formed a bond and a partnership between us that is only getting stronger all these years later. While we were serving in S.E Asia with YWAM, I first heard my Mom speak about a man named John Wimber and a new church movement called "The Vineyard." So when I returned to Canada in the summer of 1985, we went with my parents to visit the first Vineyard that had been planted in Canada: the Langley Vineyard. There were about 150 people at the time and I didn't know any of them, but when we walked in that summer day, I sensed the Lord say, "This is now your spiritual home."
Within a couple months of being there I was approached by the worship pastor, Andy Park, and asked whether I could "play along" for a home group worship time. I did that one time, and then Andy told me that the next week, I would lead the worship and he would play along. That happened and then Andy informed me that he had to move on to train other worship leaders and I was now the group's worship leader. I sometimes joke that that was the extent of my worship leading training. It is true that most of my training has come "on the job," though during my Langley Vineyard years, one of the many blessings was that Dr. Peter Davids joined the staff and took some of us through some part-time studies on theology and Church history. I hope do some more studying in the future.
The Langley Vineyard began to grow rapidly, and there was an amazing time of favour and expansion in many areas. Gary and Joy Best were our pastors and team leaders and we are still good friends now, as we are with other leaders from that time including Doug and Suzie Watts and Andy and Linda Park. In 1989 Andy announced his intended departure to plant a church, and so I became the full-time worship pastor at the ripe age of 23! Almost immediately we had an idea to do a simple worship recording so our growing congregation could have access to the songs in their homes and cars. On Oct 1,1989 we gathered the church for an evening of worship to record the songs that were coming out of the life of the church in that season. Songs like "Refiner's Fire," "Faithful One" and "I lift my eyes up" were written in this season. We had no idea that that recording would go to go to sell tens of thousands of copies and set many things in motion for many of our lives. Within a few months of the release of that recording, I was invited to make a recording in Anaheim with Vineyard Music called "Hear Our Cry - Touching the Father's Heart #6." Over the years I went on to make a number of recordings with Vineyard Music in the USA including "Light the Fire Again," "Faithful Father" and a title in their "Acoustic Worship" series called "Isn't He."
The late 80's and early 90's were also the time of life when God blessed Joyce and I with a growing family. Rachel, our first child and daughter, arrived on the 8th day of the 8th month of the 88th year, Esther arrived 18 months later and Benjamin 18 months after that. There is a sense that the early to mid 90's were some of the best of times, but also a time of exhaustion because of so much growth in both ministry and family life.
It was several weeks after my first son Benjamin was born that the vision came to me about writing a "musical of hope for the fatherless" called "Father's House." Of course, if I would have known the length and cost of the journey, I may have never embarked on it! Isn't that a lot like parenting or many of life's most rewarding endeavours? And so I began writing songs, and other people from my home church, the Langley Vineyard, began working on scripts for the musical. About two years later we were ready to begin to present it. The first thing I did was spend the early months of 94 at Paul Janz's recording studio in Mission, B.C. recording the songs from the musical. The CD came out at our first performances in May 94 in Abbotsford, and that CD went on to sell around 70,000 units before it went out of print, which is not bad considering it wasn't sold through a large distribution company, nor was it given any specific marketing attention. The musical itself sold out in Abbotsford in May of 94 and then in Burnaby later that same year. There were several Christian professional theatre and media people that came and asked for a meeting after seeing the production. They were very positive about the music and not that crazy about the script. Following their counsel led us down a road of massive script revision, making the piece more of a modern inner-city piece about the fatherless poor. We invested a large amount of money (a total of over one million dollars from several sources) to try and launch the musical professionally in late 96. To make a long story short, due to lower than expected ticket sales, and higher than expected overhead, Father's House closed in mid-December 96. The impact was felt by many people, the most by the Rademaker family (Darryl & Daphne Rademaker were our partners in the company that was formed to facilitate the musical) and us. We had decided a few months prior that while asking other people to invest in the project, we should also be willing to invest. We had already put in all the resources we had, so we decided to sell our house and put the equity into the musical. So when the musical closed and the company became insolvent, we had no place to live (other than the RV we had purchased via a loan to tour the musical in) and we were completely broke!!! Talk about learning some of life's lessons about risk and faith!!! Since we had no place to live and it was January, we piled our 5 kids into the RV and headed south for warmer weather (Southern California and Arizona) and for some space and time to pray and think about what we should do next. While we were in Anaheim visiting some friends, John and Carol Wimber invited us to meet them for breakfast. During that meeting, we shared stories about trying to follow God and what to do when things don't turn out the way we planned (John had just gone through the collapse of a radio ministry others had encouraged him to start which had cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars). At one point in the conversation, John mentioned that he had just been on the phone with John Mumford, who oversees the Vineyard churches in the UK and Ireland and that they were looking for a worship pastor who could also train the songwriters in the movement there. One thing led to another, and within a few months our family was moving to England. We arrived in Southwest London in late April 1997, beginning a wonderful new season of life and ministry there. We were heartbroken over the apparent failure of the musical, yet it was out of the "ashes" of those circumstances that the call to worship was being reawakened in me. I am still amazed to this day by the goodness of God in not "writing us off!!" His grace is so much deeper and higher and wider than our lives' failures and detours!
A few months into our time living in London, I was on my typical morning prayer and exercise walk. While I walked I began to "tune in" to a phrase that kept repeating over and over. "Come, now is the time to worship." I believe the call to worship is going out all the time, and it was like I heard "echoes" of it as I walked. I then came home and sat down at the piano and began to flesh out the first line into a song. I wrote it as a call to worship incorporating key things I believe about worship. I believe God wants us to come and worship just the way we are, though when true worship happens we don't stay the way we are. When we make that choice, we experience the pleasure of worship; the treasure of being with God. "Come, Now is the Time to Worship" has gone on to become, at this point, my most popular song.
During my little over two years living in London, I had the opportunity to make some wonderful friends and participate in some recording projects that were very special to all of us involved. The first one was called "Come, Now is the Time" and did quite well, as it introduced new British Vineyard worship music to the rest of the world. The 2nd recording we did was called "Hungry" and that one did exceptionally well, building on the reputation of the first one and exceeding it in sales (I believe the current numbers are somewhere between 300,000 - 350,000 units sold).
One other major life changing event happened during our time in England: our 6th child was born. This was a step of faith for us, because shortly after the birth of our twins, Joy and Mercy, in 95, we had found out about a condition that was affecting our son called "Fragile X Syndrome." Fragile X Syndrome is the 2nd leading cause of mental retardation behind Downs Syndrome, though it is less evident physically, and is passed genetically, usually from the mother. Knowing this information, we felt it was right and important to take this step, and of course we were praying for an unaffected male, as at this point we had 4 girls and 1 boy. Isaiah Robert was born on June 8 1999 in the Kingston upon Thames hospital in South West London and we were totally thrilled! About a year later we found out that Isaiah also had Fragile X Syndrome. That day was one of the toughest I can ever remember. I wanted to resign from all public ministry and just focus on being a parent to special needs children. Before the day was done, both Joyce and I felt a strong leading that I was not to resign, but continue with a "limp," sharing God's heart through music and the arts, and leading worship not just from a place of strength, but a place of weakness. I also realized that, due to having a large family including special needs children, I could not travel extensively. As a result, Joyce and I are very careful about keeping a good balance between family and ministry, and not committing to many events that would take me away from home; yet at the same time, we are determined to do our best to continue to be faithful to the specific things God has called me to do.
We returned to Canada in the summer of 1999 for two reasons. Even though we were asked to stay and continue the work there, I felt that the people we had been training needed the full opportunity to become the leaders they were called to be. My parents also wanted to move out of their home on the five acres I had been raised in, and I just couldn't bear the thought of having the old family home sold to someone we didn't know. There are days where I still miss England so much it's like a hole deep inside and I know that for the rest of my life, whenever I visit there, it will feel like visiting my second home. I even got totally used to driving on the left side of the road. It was funny to learn recently that until the 1920's, vehicles drove on the left side of the road in my home province of British Columbia.
The latter part of 1999 and 2000 was spent in readjusting to Canadian life (the kids sadly lost their British accents in a few weeks) and helping Vineyard Music Canada get rolling. I produced 2 major projects for them during that time,"Believe" in 2000 and "All I Need" in 2001. Returning to the town I grew up in was not easy at first! It took some time for it to become clear to me why we were back, but now there is no place I would rather be. It's been especially encouraging to see the church in Abbotsford come together in unity through citywide events like "Love Abbotsford" and "Together." I continue to be involved with ministry in our local church (Abbotsford Vineyard), which is a wonderful "not so large" church that is full of families and life.
In November 2000, I had an impression that I was to share my songs with the broader church and beyond, and to do so, I needed to partner with a distributor and publisher that had that type of access. After much prayer, deliberation and discussion I resigned from being the "Overseeing Producer" of Vineyard Music Canada and from the board of Vineyard Music International. Because everything was going so well in Vineyard Music at the time, several pastoral leaders in the Vineyard movement encouraged me that "this just may be God" because most people don't want to resign in good times! After resigning I didn't begin to "knock on doors," but I just waited for God's direction and His timing. Several months into this time I received a phone call from Chris Thomason from Integrity. To be honest, my initial reaction was to eliminate the possibility based on previous differences in style between Integrity and Vineyard. As I went to talk with Chris, and "dismiss" the possibility I sensed the Lord whisper to me, "Why don't you ask Me what I think?" After sharing our stories, vision and heart, we both sensed God's leading towards a partnership. I have found the leaders at Integrity to be people that live their name, and have a deep conviction and ability to get worship music out to the four corners of the earth. It's amazing to think that "You Shine" will be distributed to over 170 nations through their distribution network.
The recording of "You Shine" live in Dublin was a fulfillment of many dreams and desires. It's actually my first worship recording of my worship songs, plus I got to do it with some of my best friends and do it in one of my favourite cities in the world: Dublin. During the last couple of years, it seemed as if the songs I was writing were focused on the theme of "God's faithfulness in times of trouble," so the recording is very much centred on that lyrically, with both new and old songs. It was also an incredible blessing to have the CD mastered in New York at Sony Music Studios by Vlado Meller, one of the pioneers of modern mastering and one of the world's most sought after mastering engineers. This came about due to Integrity's partnership with Sony, which has also led to my CD being released into the secular market by Sony Epic. I do believe we live in a time when people's hunger for spiritual things is increasing, and there is a much greater openness to worship music; music that is written for an "Audience of One."
As I look forward, one of my primary focuses will be to continue to work on "Father's House the Musical." We are currently preparing to do another rewrite of the script, and once that is complete, we will begin to perform it with the eventual goal of encouraging other groups to put it on in their home cities. I anticipate doing more recordings plus possibly doing some producing for other worship leaders and recording artists I have relationship with.
Joyce and I and the six children are again living in the same house that I grew up as a child, and even though we have expanded and renovated the old house (it was originally built in the mid-1930's), we are trying to keep as much of the old character as possible. I still enjoy going to sit on the same hillside beside the house to "remember my Creator." Everyday I offer up prayers of gratitude for all of God's gifts, and to say thank-you for the amazing privilege of being a part of God's family and being able to serve His purposes on the earth through doing what I love to do.
Brian Doerksen
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