By Jim Coggins

“I FEEL like the proud parent of twins,” Brian Doerksen told BCCN.

The well known Canadian song writer and worship leader released his Level Ground worship CD/DVD September 14 and a double CD of his Prodigal God project October 12.

The essence of Level Ground, Doerksen said was “to do a live worship experience, but . . . take the band off the stage and put it among the people.”

This was in keeping with Doerksen’s philosophy that worship music should be corporate, flowing out of the community.

The album was recorded last spring in ‘The Barn’ on a farm owned by The Bridge, the church in Abbotsford where Doerksen serves on the leadership team.

While Doerksen took the lead on most of the songs, the album also showcased singers and musicians from the church, most of them, including Doerksen, working for free.

The vision for the album, was “worship songs themed on grace,” Doerksen said. Between the songs, Doerksen invited several people to come onto the empty stage “to tell their grace stories.”

Those questioned included an Indo-Canadian couple from a Sikh background and a murderer just released from prison – “ordinary people with extraordinary stories.”

The interplay of the songs and the stories was deliberate, Doerksen said. “The music is not sung for its own sake but to spur us on to love God and those around us.”

The album includes ten new worship songs penned by Doerksen, but also three pieces by other writers. “I can’t do an album with just my own songs. It’s not a good example,” Doerksen said. “I see in part and know in part, and I need others.”

Understanding the interplay between story and song, the distributor, Integrity, chose to price the DVD, which includes the testimonies and other features, lower than the CD, which contains only the songs – $12.99 compared to $17.99.

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Doerksen has been working on Prodigal God, based on Luke 15, for more than eight years. He had prepared a theatrical musical, with original songs and dialogue, which he had hoped to launch in February 2010 as part of the Christian arts outreach at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

However, after wrestling to get the show ready in time, Doerksen and his team decided to pull out.

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Looking back, it was a good decision. “People weren’t there (at the Olympics) to go deeper into the arts,” Doerksen said. “We could have spent $500,000 in a few weeks and only had happy memories to show for it.”

Instead, Doerksen decided to go into the studio and “make the absolute best audio version we could.”

Doerksen was “thrilled” with the cast. Renowned worship musician Ron Kenoly (“a singing version of James Earl Jones”) sang the part of the father; Doerksen sang the part of the older son; local musician Colin Janz sang the part of the younger son; and Marika sang the part of a young woman.

Unlike Level Ground, the Prodigal God CD will only be available at first through the website prodigal-god.com.

Those who buy the CD will pay different prices depending on which character in the story they identify with – from $50-$200 if they identify with the father to nothing if they identify with the younger son.

Since the CD includes all the songs but not the dialogue, it is not intended to tell the full story, Doerksen said, but to “build hunger and interest” for the full thing.

The plan now is not to launch a theatrical production but a movie. The funding is in place, and the script is almost finished, but filming won’t begin until at least the summer of 2011.

The movie will be a “creative hybrid” between a movie and a theatre production, Doerksen said – “like a long form music video.”

Turning the project into a movie will mean that Doerksen will relinquish full control. He will be part of a team that will include co-writer Christopher Greco, director Morris Ertman and a couple of producers.

Although Doerksen sang the part of the older brother on the CD, he said it is “extremely unlikely” that he will play the part in the movie.

Prodigal God is based on the parable Christians know as “the Prodigal Son,” but told in a way that may be disturbing.

The intended audience, Doerksen said, is the kind of people whom Jesus originally told the story to – “religious people who struggled with how Jesus was reaching out to broken people.”

In Doerksen’s understanding, the younger son is “not just out there doing bad stuff,” but is like his father, “a chip off the old block, being generous to people who don’t deserve it.” Doerksen added that it is the brashness of the younger son that leads to the transformation of the older son.

Doerksen can identify with people who struggle with that understanding of the story because it is something he has struggled with himself.

“I’ve walked that road. I feel the bitterness of the older son. I get ticked off by the wasteful ways God gives grace to people who do irresponsible things.”

November 2010