Upcoming House Recording

     There are many moments over these last thirteen years at
"A Place for the Heart," where God's blessings have been so
incredible that it almost feels too good to be true.  One of those
is that my Dad is not only my physical father, but my spiritual
father too.  Over the years he has instilled many core values
into my life.  One in particular that has always pierced my heart
is this: “Home is where we live out what we like to preach about.” 
More than just words, my dad has dared to live it out.

     For the last 5 years Melissa and I have had the privilege of leading
schools and internships.  Out of the many students that have come
here, the Lord has chosen a handful to stay and partner with us.  More
than becoming staff, they have become family.  Four of them make up
our full time band.  They have literally traveled around the globe
with us making music.  This year we decided to take a few weeks in the
winter and record an album with this amazing community.  The unique
approach to this album is we are going to record all the music in our
home.  Our desire is to create more than just another album, in an
over saturated market of music.  We want to capture the beautiful
sound of a community worshiping together.  Richard Foster said "All
good books are written in community."  I think the same is true with
music.  We invited each member of the band to contribute a song.  The
songs that we have chosen are the melodies that have carried us into
the Lord's presence as a community.  For the last few years our staff
has been meeting in the mornings to begin the day with worship.  We
also meet every Tuesday evening in our home to worship and commune
with His presence.  I can honestly say that we have worshiped more in
the secret place than we have on the stages we played on around the
world.  The sounds and songs of this album are truly going to be an
overflow of the rhythms of worship we have cultivated as a community.
We also felt led to capture these songs in the beauty of video.
Youtube has become the radio of this culture, and we want a generation
to taste and see the love of God in these songs.  We want to open a
window and let the world see the remarkable presence of Lord that is
resting here at "A Place for the Heart."

     The core value of my parent’s journey has become the beautiful
foundation of all of us here, whom we affectionately call, “The Farm
Family.”  This place that the Father has carved out for us is where we
are getting to sing the songs of our lives.  I believe that our
ministry is really successful when it looks like family.  Remember the
words of Jesus. "I only do what I see my Father do."  Everything the
Son of God did in his ministry was an overflow of his relationship
with Father.  Please watch our website in 2013 for the release of this
new project.   ––– Jonathan David Helser

New Podcast Series- Abba's Furious Love

     In the next three weeks we are really excited to release a three part podcast called "Abba's Furious Love." We have had so many people ask us "what happens at the 18 inch Journey" This message is a great window into what happens during some of our teaching sessions on the journey. I shared this message on the first week of our school. On the first podcast I am reading a passage from Brennan Manning's book "The Furious Longing of God. " At the close of the first and last podcast you can hear and feel the sound of a generation calling out to the Father in worship. We hope you enjoy these podcasts and encounter more of His furious affections for you.

To Download Podcast from itunes go to this link
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/abbas-furious-love-intro-pt./id370241266?i=122589288

New Chord Charts Online

     Thanks to the talented Joel Case (drummer and musician extraordinaire) we have updated all of our chord charts online for your musical pleasure! We have also updated all of our lyrics with powerpoint and word files.  You can download them all for free at this link

http://jonathanhelser.com/jonathanhelser/media.html


Enjoy!

"On the shores" review

     I found this review on itunes about "On the shores." Hope you enjoy it

"I’m aware that commenting on this CD can be construed as oddly self serving. But I don’t care. I adore this record. Which can be considered somewhat narcissitic. But hear me out. I loved where this project was going from the beginning. Only Johnny and Mel could make what this specific album would become. A blend of art and spiritual depth that can only come through steeping in something that cannot be bypassed or faked. Kinda like the passage of time. It’s almost as if all they did was document who they are and what they go through everyday, with the colors of the relationships they had already cultivated. And let me say this, a record like this is not an easy onion to peel. It required tears. And like all albums I work on and love, at some point I hated it. You would too if you listened to the same album for about a year straight. In fact, that is considered a form of torture in some places. But after I’m done with a record, I don’t listen to it for a long while. Call it postpartum depression if you like, but I need time to forget the details of making it to come back a while later and see if I really like what was birthed. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I still hate it, and sometimes it’s a wash.

This is one of the few I adore.

The emotion and genuineness behind “Explode My Soul” and “Redemption Rain” can make me slip out of my musical-jadedness before I realized it happened. The joy behind “On the Shores” and “Wreckingball” is self evident for all the right reasons. “Love Song” is an amazing song, much less ridiculously amazing worship song. {Springsteen fasns will get it} The truth behind “Abba” can prop up the song itself. But even more that that, the overall feeling of the record is one of hope. Which for a worship album is next to impossible to do whilst singing “Empty My Soul,” but yet there is. A real cry of desperation that leaves you more filled than you were before you heard it and somehow you know that a CCLI check had nothing to do with the motivation for writing it! And maybe that’s part of it, I just can not imagine a worship leader in a mega church singing “…let heaven fall, like a wrecking ball, and crush every plan of my enemy” and me not doubling over from nausea-o-pretense.

But with Johnny… I actually believe him. And if that doesn’t spring hope in you, then what will? A couple of fun facts; the opera singer on “Faith is Rising” is a chopped up diddy from the good ole Library of Congress that took six hours to dig up and I still ended up using the melody half backwards to match a melody I heard in my head while playing the song live with Johnny in Dubai. {geez I hope she’s not singing something unbecoming in Italian}

Before you go knocking what sounds like a drum machine loop on “Earth like Heaven” you should know that the loop is actually the mic bleed from the Ooooouuuu background vocalist mc (performed by the lovely Molly Skaggs) who was singing in the same room as the drums during the tracking and ran through a tape delay whilst performing the Rhodes part in real time. Molly, “You’re a monster!” {spoken with the Gingerbread Man’s voice from Shrek}

One tambourine did in fact die in the making of the song “On the Shores” (in terms of longevity, wood tambourines make bad high hat replacements)

The choir for “Just One Drop” was recorded 5 years ago for a benefit album called “Zao Water” You should look it up.

“Threshingfloor” and “Abba” almost didn’t make the album. Heh funny.

There is what some people call “a new sound” coming to worship music. And I will tell you that the “new sound” is defined more by the hearts of the people playing it than the sound itself, but it will indeed create a new sound! And this album is on the shores of it."

The producer

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.