Just to let you know that I have just put up 3 new music videos on my Ishmaels Music YouTube channel. Have you subscribed yet?

1) ‘You need power to be a Glorie’, one of my favourite Glorie songs.

2) ‘For the Lamb at the centre of the throne’. I love the words ‘and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’ Rev 7 v 17

3) ‘The welcome song’. The best way to begin a service where all ages can relax, interact and welcome each other…after the Covid restrictions have been lifted of course!

Just to let you know that I have just put up a new music/video on my Ishmaels Music YouTube channel of me singing ‘Almighty God is here’.

I still love this old song as it contains both worship and reflection.

This song can be enjoyed with full band arrangement on two Ishmael albums ‘Training up the troops’ and a wonderful version with my buddy Andy Piercy singing it on ‘Songs & Hymns’. Both song and albums can be downloaded from Ish’s shop on his website www.ishmael.org.uk.

Dear friends,

Over the past few weeks I have been praying about something and I want to put out a few feelers to you to see if I should go ahead with an idea.Although I’ve written dozens of simple songs to help people to learn and memorise Bible verses, apart from the 52 track Scripture Song compilation, I’ve only released 2 albums specifically with that in mind. Scripture Praise Party in 1987 and Bible Belters in 1996.

I am now wondering, 24 years later, if it’s now time to do another Scripture Song album…. or maybe there is no longer the need for these short simple songs.I am planning that the album should have 25 tracks…. I’ve already written 25 but I’m going to continue to write a load more and just record the 25 that I feel are the best.

The trouble is, no company is going to want to pay for an album like this, especially after the past few very difficult months. They know it is not going to make them any money, in fact it’s unlikely to even cover its cost. One Christian organisation has said though that if I finance the recording they will sort out the cover, distribution etc. which is very kind of them.

I really don’t want to release an album that is just me strumming an acoustic guitar. I really do want make album 35 match up to my other albums especially Scripture Praise Party and Bible Belters with the songs professionally arranged and with professional musicians involved.I want people to enjoy listening to it as well as enjoy using it as a resource in their homes and churches.

So here’s the feelers.2 things.

1) Do you think I should go ahead and do this or is my idea now too dated after all these years? I really do not want to pursue something that is no longer going to help and bless people.

2) Maybe, just maybe there are one or two of you out there who have been blessed by God financially and feel that this is a project that you feel you would like to financially help support and sponsor.The basic budget I am looking for will roughly be £4,000 which of course is very low for a 25 track album but I think I could make it work for that sum.So, If the funding does comes in, and you tell me that there is still a need for Scripture learning songs I will believe that it right that I should go ahead with this new album. Actually, I feel rather excited about it!

Thank you so much for reading this and I would seriously value your prayers at this time.If you would like to know more about the funding, please could you e mail me at ishmael@ishmael.org.uk

I apologise but due to the ever rising postal charges as from now postal deliveries will be limited just to the UK.

However, where ever you live in the world you can still enjoy all Ishmael’s CDs, songbooks, and most of the DVDs by downloading them.

Also please checkout and subscribe to the new Ishmaels Songs YouTube channel. Loads of Ish songs being added regularly and sung acoustically by Ish on video, great fun for all the family.

On ‘Training up the troops 2’ I included an instrumental used at brother Timbo’s wedding and on ‘Praise & Glories’ I included another instrumental ‘Here comes (Timmy’s) bride’ which Tim Jupp ( who travelled with me for many years and now is the brains behind Big Church Day Out) wrote as the entrance music for his wedding to my niece Becca. I was also now well into writing books and in my ‘Children of the Voice’ novels I wrote out some words for the ‘Littlekids marching song’. I decided to give the words a tune and included it on this album.Again, many songs on this album became very popular including ‘Glorie train’. For those who didn’t know, around this time I nearly became a TV star presenting my very own children’s series called ‘The Glorie train’ for ITV but sadly the ITV station went bust so it didn’t get any further than the pilot. Oh well!

I may have written a few reasonable songs but I owe a lot of gratitude to other hymn / song writers before me who wrote far better songs and were songs that I as a child really loved singing. With this in mind I wanted the children that I was ministering to, to enjoy some of the old songs and not just the new ones that I and others were writing.Hence this album. I’ll let you into a secret, I never liked singing well known songs and hymns written by other people because (you might have noticed) God gave me a voice that was far more suited to shouting rather than singing. Sadly for me most hymns were not written with shouting in mind. When recording such songs during the mix I raised the level of the children’s voices as high as I possibly could to try and drown out my shouts a bit.You see, I really do sound best singing my own songs, why? Well because I write them with my voice in mind!

Album 20

Praise & Glories 1991

1) Little lamb 2) Set a guard / I am not ashamed 3) Zacchaeus 4) Littlekids marching song 5) But God demonstrates 6) Here comes (Timmy’s) bride (instrumental) 7) Give honour to Jesus 8) Holy fire 9) Little soldier 10) Glorie train 11) Pour down over me 12) You see just at the right time 13) O holy Child 14) Le Pioneer (instrumental)15) Parents please16) Higher higher 17) Be still and know 18) When the battle is over

Album 21

Children’s Hymn Celebration 1992

1) All things bright and beautiful 2) I am so glad that our Father in heaven 3) Tell me the stories of Jesus 4) Praise Him praise Him all ye little children 5) The Lord’s my Shepherd 6) He who would valiant be7) Jesus bids us shine 8) Tell me the old old story 9) Sound the battle cry 10) Jesus wants me for a sunbeam11) What a friend we have in Jesus 12) Onward Christian soldiers