MISSION STATEMENT:
"No matter what season of life
we find ourselves in, whether good or bad, spiritual or physical,
we need to place our hope in the One who will never leave or forsake
us. We can place our hope in many things: money, people, prestige,
etc.
"However, people disappoint
us and fall from the high places we place them, money comes and
goes, we can be on top of the world one day and at the bottom the
next. Things like that simply don’t last, but if we place our hope
in Christ, we will never be disappointed. Seasons change and that
is a promise that is powerful!"
Rev. Connie Scott
"Touching lives through Worship & the Word!"
Romans 5:1-5 - "Therefore,
since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access
by faith into his grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in
the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in
our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope doesn't disappoint
us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he have given us."
Psalm 27:(4, 8) - Verse 4: "One
thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the
beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
Verse 8: "My heart
says to you, 'Seek His face!' Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not
hide your face from me, do not turn you servant away in anger, O
God my Savior."
Connie Scott and Wendy Jepsen
leading worship in music.
A Closer Look ......
Interview with Rev. Connie Scott
Rev. Connie Scott graciously answered our
interview questions, sharing fully how the Lord has grown her faith,
developed her trust in Him, maturing her spiritually so she can
serve Him through her service and her music, encouraging others
on their own spiritual walk with the Lord. In this interview, Rev.
Connie freely gives her testimony how her experiences in her life
were used by the Lord to mold her and draw her to Himself, giving
her a heart for the Lord, so fully expressed in her music and vocals.
Any life-molding experiences you would
like to share with us, which were pleasant or were difficult, but
molded your thinking, music, Christian walk, outlook on life etc.
"Situations in my life has
so molded and shaped my life, my walk with the Lord and my desire
to know Him intimately."
Through a childhood kid accident.......
Connie shares, "In looking
back from my childhood until now, I can see how the Lord has used
events to mold my life in many ways. When I was about 10 years
old, I dove into my grandparent’s pond like I had done a thousand
times before. But, this time, I dove too deep and hit my head
on a rock on the pond floor. The impact caused my body to be paralyzed
for about 10 minutes. I remember floating up to the top of the
water not being able to speak or move and breathing was even hard.
I can still see my father jumping into the water to help me. I
did gain movement again, but it was an event that impacted my
life in a powerful way. I could have been paralyzed or even worse
– death."
Realization of the power of prayer
during her college days, through a scary car accident.
Connie shares, "While I was
commuting back and forth to Weber State University in Ogden, Utah
from Evanston, Wyoming (80 miles), I was hit by a semi-truck one
morning. My car flew off the interstate and landed in a barbed
wired fence about 2 feet from hitting a large power pole. I was
able to walk away from the accident with little injury. I found
out later on that there was a car of Christians who watched the
accident and began praying that the little car and the person
in it would survive the accident – Yes, it was that bad."
As a young adult, coming face
to face with a hardened bank robber with a gun; Feeling God's protection
and realizing that her life belonged to God.
Connie shares, "A few years
later, I was now working at a bank. It was my first bank job and
I had only been on the job 6 months. That snowy February day would
literally change my life. I remember it like it was yesterday.
About 1:50 PM a masked man came into the bank and proceeded to
rob us. There were only 2 of us there that day (thank God), as
the other 2 employees were both sick. The robber came in pointing
his hand gun at me, telling both me and the other girl to not
move! He made us go into the vault and he emptied it. He then
took us back to our teller drawers and he cleaned them out too!
Before he left, he made us go back into vault. He had us face
the wall, placing our hands on the safe. Our backs were turned
to him and he simply froze there. Both of us knew that he was
going to shoot us, as we felt pain in the exact position we knew
he would shoot. I felt pain in the lower part of my head and the
other girl in her lower back."
Connie continues, "He did
nothing though. I believe that God showed Himself strong that
day. That bank robber might have even seen a big angel. I am not
sure, but he didn’t shoot us! It was a moment in my life that
changed everything. I was a believer already, but at that moment,
I knew that my life was not my own. It was in the hands of that
bank robber and ultimately God’s hands. I submitted my life to
the Lord that day in a way I’ve never done. Life is precious and
we don’t know how much time anyone has on this earth. I want to
live in such a way that it makes people jealous for the Lord.
That event certainly changed my thinking."
There's nothing like scary health conditions
to grow one's faith in the Lord. Connie shared two such experiences
with ChristianMusic.com:
"Just about a year later,
I began having some real issues with my jaw. Here I am, a worship
leader and music minister and it hurt to sing. I was confused
and angry for sure. I couldn’t see God’s hand in this situation
and I cried out to Him for understanding. I doubted the reasoning
for any of it and the more I stressed out, the worse it got! It
was a vicious cycle for sure! A friend told me that I needed to
cast my cares on the Lord. I looked at her and said, 'You know,
I am an ordained minister. I’ve been a born-again Christian for
many years, but I honestly don’t know how to do that. If you can
show me that would be great!'"
"That was a pivotal moment
too, as the Lord had me write about that incident. The song, QUESTIONS,
comes from this time in my life. It was in a time of worship that
He gave me the answer; 'If you will quiet yourself and worship
Me, I will lift you up and out of this and place your feet on
a sure path' What a promise. It doesn’t mean that things changed
overnight, but He did tell me to press through, keep singing and
He would heal me. My jaw still pops, but there is no pain. Praise
God!!"
"The most recent event that
has happened was a few years ago. I was having some physical issues
and went to the doctor. She told me that the symptoms indicated
that it could be one of 3 things: insulin resistance syndrome,
cancer, or a brain tumor. Well, I had never heard of IRS, but
I was pretty sure I didn’t want cancer or brain tumors. I told
her I would take what was behind door number 1! I really didn’t want any of those things, but…"
"I then went to a rehearsal
where my best friend asked me how things went at the doctor. I
told her what was said and she asked how that made me feel. I
told her I was disheartened. Well, it didn’t hit me until I was
halfway home (driving about 80 miles). I just lost it in my car.
I was quickly overcome by fear, but found myself crying out to
the Lord out loud in my car. I told the Lord that it didn’t matter
what the doctor said or what the test results were, because I
was going to worship Him no matter what!"
"This was a big change from
my doubts over my jaw pain experience. It was the next day while
at church that the Lord spoke to me. He showed me a passage of
scripture in Matthew and said to me, 'Connie if I spoke all the
world into existence and then took the time to fashion man into
my very image and breathe the breath of life into him, don’t you
think I can handle this situation in your body? Don’t worry!'
Wow – what an amazing word of encouragement from the Lord. From
that situation, I wrote WORK OF YOUR HAND."
"The more I come to know
the heart of the Father, the more I realize that He truly does have
my life in His hands."
Rev. Connie singing The song,
SATURATE
About her Music.....
How do you compose? Do you compose
on the piano or guitar or both?
"I sit at my piano and will
work on ideas that have already been floating around in my head
and heart."
Do the lyrics come first or the melody?
"Most of the time,
both music and lyrics come together. I think the Lord does it
that way for me, because He knows that it is just hard for me.
I am a singer and so I think that melodies come a bit easier for
me than other people I know."
Are responsibilities divided?…
"I typically write
all my own music, as well as the compositions. However, when we
get into the studio, I love to give the other musicians freedom
to try things. If they work – awesome, if they don’t – we try
again. I have done some co-writing, but really that is hard, because
my ideas usually don’t fit with what others want to do."
How were you led by the Lord to use your
musical gifts to write songs? What inspires you to compose? What is your creative process?
"Worship time is huge. A
lot of my songs stem from times of worship. Sometimes the Lord
will drop a phrase or word into my heart and I will meditate on
it for a while and then the songs will come. Life situations are
also huge influences on composing. Sometimes it is therapy to
write."
"For me, song writing is
something that I certainly have to work at. It, for the most part,
does not come easily. I have written a couple of songs that it
seems like God downloaded the song into me they came that easy,
but most of the time it is work. As a lead worshiper and music
minister, I can’t not write songs."
"The Lord is awakening my
heart to His beauty, His love, and His amazing glory every day
and I don’t think that it would be good stewardship to simply
sit on the gifts/talents that the Lord has given to me. He has
called me to minister His love and goodness to the world. I use
songwriting and the musical gifts to minister to those people
who He puts in my path."
"The best song writing comes
as an overflow of my worship time. That is how I wrote I WILL
SEEK YOUR FACE, and UNQUENCHABLE. The
first, I WILL SEEK YOUR FACE, came from a time when I was worshiping
in my worship room. I woke up really early one Sunday morning
(those terrible time changes) and couldn’t get back to sleep.
I decided to go to my worship room and just sit at my piano and
play and sing to the Lord. Psalm 27:8 came to mind as I was singing
to the Lord… 'When You said, seek My face, My heart said to You,
Your face, Lord, I will seek.'"
"The second, UNQUENCHABLE,
was also written in part from Psalm 27:4; 'One thing I have desired
of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
Lord, and to inquire in His temple.' It is awesome to write songs
based off of scripture. How can you go wrong with the Word of
God?! A lot of my songs stem from scripture and times of worship
(as I said before)."
"Other songs are written
from life experiences. That is another way the Lord prepares us
to write music. We go through things and write about them! Some
of those experiences are amazing and some are amazingly hard.
However, as His Word promises us – all things work together for
good. I believe that!"
Rev. Connie Scott and Wendy
Jepsen singing together in a worship service.
More About the gifts of Rev. Connie Scott
- "Touching lives through Worship & the Word!"
On her personal
web-site, Connie shares, "Keeping Hope Alive!... that is
my vision and my goal. I pray that your hearts will be stirred by
my music and books. They simply come from a heart that wants to
worship and be intimate with the Creator of all things!"
* Connie is "a seasoned
worship leader, ordained minister, author, recording artist and
engineer."
* For over 20 years, Connie
has been involved in Christian music and a preaching and teaching
ministry.
* In 2001, she founded Voice
of Hope Ministries; a Christian teaching and music ministry devoted
to "Touching lives through Worship & the Word!"
* In 2002, Connie released
her first CD with the vocal group, Pearl.
* In 2004, she published her
first book, "I Will Seek Your Face: 31 Days of Worship & Praise"
By Julie Carr for ChristianMusic.com
Visit
Connie Scott's Web-Site * Connie Scott's Video* Connie Scott's Review
Sources include: ChristianMusic.com
Interview, SEASONS CHANGE CD, I
WILL SEEK YOUR FACE:
31 Days of Worship & Praise Book, Material
sent by Rev. Connie Scott.