2012 "18 Inch Journey" Video

We have people all over the world ask "What is the 18 inch Journey?" We constantly find our selves stumbling over our words, trying to squeeze into a few sentences, what this amazing journey is. So, we have been working really hard around here to put out some videos that can give you a taste of this beautiful school. This new video about our 2012 school was filmed, edited and created by the amazing John David Gravitt.  John David was a 2010 student and is now running with us on full time staff.  The music for by this video was created by Joel Case and Jake Stevens in our little studio here.  They are both 2009 students and have been on full time staff these last few years and play full time in our band (Joel rocks the drums and Jake rocks his Gretsch Guitar). For more info about the "18 inch Journey" go to www.18inchjourney.com

Click here to see the new video on Youtube

I Love Ministry

     There are moments traveling, when you meet people that speak your heart language. You come into a place, and immediately feel at home. When you leave that place you feel full in your heart, and you think about how lovely the people were. 

It is true that a city will leave an impression of beauty on your soul, amazing restaurants, incredible coffee shops, the beach, the atmosphere, the smells, the sounds... but really it is the eyes and smiles of the people you sat face to face with that leave the lasting impression. These moments don't always come, but when they do, they remind you that the kingdom of God is alive and growing. You smile internally as you leave that place, in your van full of musicians and interns. You are full. You remember why you love traveling, you breathe deep and thank God for the privilege of ministry. 

This weekend we were at Big House Church in Norfolk, Virginia. It was one of those treasured weekends full of everything I described. I don't always travel with Jonathan, but I wasn't going to miss being with this amazing family. From the first moment we arrived we felt the overwhelming joy and expectancy in the spirit. It kept flowing thru set up, to the pre-service prayer, to the first note we played. And the worship...amazing. 350 people crammed into a room, our band set up in the center. Deep heart felt worship. The beautiful presence of heaven. And then...I found out we were having a double date with Adam (the pastor) and his wife. No kids, a beautiful restaurant, deep conversation. Sweet Jesus I am in heaven! Every mom and dad knows exactly what I am talking about. Three hours of uninterrupted glory! I savored every moment. This morning we walked on the beach with there 4 children drinking in the beauty, laughing, enjoying the gift of growing friendship. I love being in a home where you feel the tangible love of heaven every where. A home that is so well loved, every corner and mantle is delicately placed with things that you know mean something. A home that feels lived in, enjoyed, full. A home where family is celebrated. 

I am thankful for beautiful families doing beautiful life. I am thankful for pastors truly loving people and teaching them the kingdom. I am thankful for building friendship in the midst of ministry. I am refreshed, I am full, I am alive with expectancy of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Thank you Big House for making space for the presence of the Father not just in your meetings but in your lives, it has left a beautiful impact on our farm family. We will change the earth with love. 

                                                                                    -Melissa Helser

           For More about Big House church you can find them online at www.bighousechurch.com

One take video from Herrnhut, Germany

A few weeks ago I was able to visit Herrnhut, Germany.  I have been dreaming about visiting this place for a long time.  In this little village 24/7 prayer rose for over 100 years and a mission movement was launched that changed history.  I wrote the song "The Reward" after hearing the story of the two first missionaries sent from this town.  They left their homes and families ready to sell there lives into slavery to reach an island of slaves.  As their ship left the shores they cried out "May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering."  You can still feel their cry resounding in the land. 

On the last day of my visit I was able to get the keys to the prayer tower that over looks the village.  From the top of this tower you can see the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany.  Heaven has touched earth in some amazing ways in this place.  I had a last minute idea, to shoot a one take video of "The Reward" song from the tower.  Click here to see the video we captured from Herrnhut.

The Three Pillars of the "18 inch Journey"

This summer we dive into our fifth year of the "18 inch Journey."  The "18 inch Journey" is a 60 school for collage age students to make a journey from their head to their hearts.  The three core pillars of the school are worship, creativity and community.  We have just released a new video to share more about the 3 pillars of the school. 

You can see the video on Vimeo and Youtube

You can learn and see more at www.18inchjourney.com

Hands with Holes

In Exodus 33, during the days of an old covenant,  Moses asked to see the face of God.  God told Moses that no man could see His face and live.  Then God placed His hand over the face of Moses and passed by in all His glory.  Let's fast forward now to the new covenant.  What do the hands of God look like now?  His hands bear the scars and the holes of His sacrifice for us.  What if we dared to ask what Moses asked, to see the face of God.  Could it be that He places His hands over our face and through those holes in His hands we can see the face of God.  Hebrews 10:19-20 says "We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,  by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body."  The nails were driven through the hands of Jesus and that One Man died,  so that all men could see the face of God. 

The Journey.....The Vision.....The Dream

We are more than just songwriters and musicians, our hearts have been consumed with a dream to see a generation get wrecked by the Love of God.  For the last twelve years we have been co-leading a ministry called "A Place for the Heart" with Ken and Linda Helser (Jonathan's Mom and Dad).


"A Place for the Heart" is a multi generational ministry located in Sophia, NC on 52 acres of land where we host schools and internships centered on creativity, discipleship, and worship.  It is also home to a thriving community who are giving their lives to see a generation liberated by the love go God.  Five years ago we launched a creative worship school called the "18 Inch Journey".  It is an incredible 60 day school where college age kids take the journey from their heads to their hearts and discover who they are by discovering the one who loves them.  We also host year-round internships for students to live in community with us and dive even deeper in the the heart of God.


Everything we have been able to do has come through the incredible provision of God and the support of those who have partnered with us.  Every album we have sold and every gift that has been given has sown into this place where God's heart is colliding with a generation.  We are thankful of where we have been, but we hear the whisper that there is more.  Once I heard the Lord say to me,


"If your dream is not bigger than you, then it is not from me.  What I have called you to do is impossible on your own."


We are looking for those who would like to partner with us to see these dreams become reality.  This spring we are launching a building project to expand our kitchen, dining room, and worship space for the "18 Inch Journey".  Our goal is to raise $140,000.  Thank you for your support of what the Lord is doing here at A Place for the Heart.

For more info or to donate online click here

Article from the Go Traid

"This Article was taken from the "Go Traid"

 written by Rebecca Warren

This is a story of love and faith, of seasons of sorrow and rejoicing.

It’s the story of Triad couple Jonathan and Melissa Helser’s passionate pursuit of a life lived fully from the heart and the songs that have been born along the way. 

And, mostly, it’s an invitation to join them on the journey.

Seasons of change

“The wealth and value of our life could be easily measured not in what we produce but in the relationships we have built.”

Those are the words penned by Jonathan, 33, and Melissa, 32, that are featured inside the CD jacket of their new album, “On the Shores.”

This is the couple’s first collaborative project, with Melissa writing four of the songs, sharing lead vocals and playing acoustic guitar.

“I really believe her songs are some of the best on the album,” Jonathan said, “and I’m so honored to share this with her.

They spent the past year writing and recording the album, capturing the rhythms and changing seasons of their life. The songs are what have risen from the ashes of tested faith and their trust in God, “giving honor to the desert seasons” though which Melissa said they have walked.

More than a song

Jonathan met Melissa at ministry school in Charlotte in 1998. They married in the spring of 2000. She was 20, and he was 21.

“We met and fell in love really fast,” Jonathan said. “When we met, if you would have told me we would record an album together, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

Jonathan picked up a guitar and started writing songs in his late teens. Melissa also played guitar and sang a little, but a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis at the age of 17 made playing the guitar difficult, if not impossible.

“When I was diagnosed, the doctor said I would never play the guitar,” she said. “Fast-forwarding to now, it’s a miracle I even play and write music and that I can even hold the strings down.”

In 2008, nearly a year after starting on a breakthrough medication that Melissa said has transformed her life, she began gradually to regain strength in her hands. To mark the occasion, Jonathan bought her a 1979 Guild guitar as a gift for their ninth wedding anniversary in 2009.

The first night that she had the guitar, Melissa wrote “Explode My Soul,” one of the songs featured on “On the Shores.”

“It would be hard to separate our journey with my sickness,” she said. “It’s been the most beautiful and most terrible part. A lot of my songs have been written as I’ve walked out of a desert.

“I wrote them to be able to process seven years of a lot of intensity and really wrote these songs to say to the Lord what maybe I couldn’t say and to communicate something that maybe I couldn’t just talk about. Those songs have been my anthem — they’ve become part of me waking up.”

Jonathan said that through those difficult seasons, he and Melissa were often singing themselves into believing.

“Without tension, there is no music,” he said. “Without guitar strings having tension, they can’t sing. There’s tension in circumstances. But in it, he (God) is good, and he will be better than we can imagine.”

Full of rich layers, including piano, hammer dulcimer and multipart vocal harmonies, the songs of “On the Shores” often stray from predictable chord progressions, taking on melodies and moment that feel like an anthem and a prayer.

“I love the artistic side of writing and crafting a song,” Jonathan said, “but I also love the experiential side of stepping into a moment and experiencing the moment in the music.”

Their band, which Jonathan said is not just a band but some of their “best friends in the world,” includes musicians who are living life with the Helsers in Sophia and on the road.

The result is an album that carries the sound of what Jonathan and Melissa call “a family traveling and living together.”

Living from the heart

The threads of family and friends are woven throughout the Helsers’ story, creating a tapestry that reflects years invested in strengthening existing relationships and forming new ones.

Some of those relationships come through traveling around the world to lead worship at camps, church events and ministry schools, but most of them have been built here in the Triad.

On 52 acres set among rolling hills and farmland in Sophia, is A Place for the Heart. Property that was once woods is now dotted with 10 buildings, including a darkroom and art studio. It has been called a farm, a retreat center and a school. But to the Helser family and a handful of full-time staff and interns, it’s home.

It’s where Jonathan grew up, where he and Melissa were married 12 years ago and where they’re raising their 9-year old son, Cadence, and 6-year-old daughter, Haven. Oak from the property is incorporated throughout the house they built five years ago next to Jonathan’s parents’ house.

Each summer, it’s where 24 college students from around the world come to participate in the 18 Inch Journey, a creative worship school founded and led by Jonathan and Melissa. Named for the 18-inch span between the head and the heart, the school is a place where the difference of a life lived from the heart rather than the head is experienced rather than taught and where the difference between knowing facts about God and truly knowing him is explored.

Melissa said that many people ask what exactly it is — if it’s an art or music school. Although it offers classes in music, art and photography, the school is described by Melissa as “a school of the heart.” Classes taught by the Helsers and guest lecturers provide students with opportunities to learn more about who they are and, in the process, awaken their creativity.

“More than anything, we invite them into community” she said. “We really want them to have a heart transformation. We’re inviting them into a safe place to let all the walls of insecurity come down so they can discover who they are without the craziness and chaos.

“Our dream is that a generation will find out who they are.”

Where creativity and hearts intersect

In the course of living life at A Place for the Heart, creativity and hearts often intersect. It’s in those moments, Jonathan said, that the greatest works have been created by poets and artists — creating things beyond what they could ever imagine.

Sharing those moments with students and staff is a gift that the Helsers don’t take for granted. Jonathan describes it as the roots of what they do, with their music being the branches.

“I don’t think we could do what we do in music if we weren’t pouring into the students who come here,” Melissa said.

All of the proceeds from their music go to A Place for the Heart, and they hope eventually to build some new spaces while continuing to use every existing space to the fullest.

In the midst of the ministry and music, family is always first for the Helsers, who are living and loving without reservation.

“Our kids have been a significant part of everything we’ve done,” Melissa said. “Our children are the center of our world. I want my kids to live an extraordinary life. If I can teach them to love people, we’ve done it all.

“It wouldn’t be enough to just stand on a stage. We’re sustained in community and in our family rhythms. To be able to be married and raise kids in the middle of it is awesome. To travel with our kids and for them be able to take part in changing lives is a beautiful gift from the Lord.”

Written by Rebecca Warren at becca.l.warren@gmail.com