The Gathering was involved in Summer Madness and the Street Reach project this Summer. Many opportunities were available for the drummers to be able to play and worship and perform for the delight of onlookers. Drumming is never a one-sided conversation so audience participation is always ‘compulsory’ when we play!

I was involved, as a Psalm Drummer with The Gathering, in the Christian Aid ‘night of non-power’ on the 30th of June at Summer Madness. We also had an evening the next week, Wednesday the 4th of July, where we led worship with a bunch of young people using our voices and drums - an awesome combination!

Drumming with lots of people interacting with you is a great experience. Worshipping God with the drums is even better!

Street drumming and a procession
On Saturday the 7th of July we spent the afternoon in Belfast City Centre (photos to come!) and performed some drum pieces for the public. The response was very good and people, like I always say, respond to rhythm! That was a lot of fun!

The week (or two) culminated in a procession from Belfast City Hall to the King’s Hall (a few miles away) with about 2000 people singing and drumming and making as much noise as possible, declaring God’s glory to all.

Not traditional!
What was really cool about the procession is that The Gathering drummers led the way. Simon, Jon Hatch, Shane and myself carried a lambeg drum attached to us via straps and I played the drum with a huge beater, keeping a pulse for the drummers to follow. It was quite symbolic in a way as we did not play the drum, or even hold the drum, the way in which it is traditionally played and held. The lambeg can be quite a controversial drum. The symbolic-ness of it all presented itself in the fact that we carried the drum flat and had people around it playing Bodhrans. We loosened the tension of the head, prophetically signifying the relaxing of tension amongst Protestant and Catholic communities (especially at this time of year) and used a mallet beater for a softer tone rather than the loud, harsh clapping sound one would be prone to hearing much of during July in Northern Ireland - click here to see Terl testing the lambeg out!

You can see more videos here on The Christian Drummer YouTube site>

I have no photos of the event myself as my camera card was corrupted. So, as soon as I do get some photos, I will post them on the site. I got a few video snaps of the day but battled to film as I had a lambeg tied to me and was playing the pulse for the procession. I am hoping the Summer Madness site will be updated to show the photos and video from the day.

Here are, however, some photos from the video camera I used:

We also had the pleasure of having Terl Bryant (founder of Psalm Drummers) come over for the day (Saturday the 7th of July) and it was great to spend time with Terl , not just catching up from the last time we met but also to allow him to impart further vision for drummers all over the world who serve Jesus. A really good guy with such a passion for God and drumming, it’s infectious and uncontainable. Thank you, Terl, for coming over!

Summer Madness is now over but I believe the seeds planted in the drummers hearts, from being able to worship with other believers using percussion, marching alongside each other through the streets of Belfast declaring the name of Jesus, will be brought into fruition in God’s perfect timing. I enjoyed it very much and saw how much more drummers can do and what a part we can play in the communities we live in. Well done to all The Gathering drummers who took part, you guys rocked!

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