Welsh-born singer Kevin Gould urges Christians to ‘Shatter the Silence’ this Sunday

He has made a special music video to played in churches during Sunday’s International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church


By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

NAPLES, FL (ANS) -- It was in October 1997, when Welsh-born pastor and singer, Kevin Gould, received a package through the mail announcing that the second Sunday in November would be the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).

Kevin Gould performing

The date happened to coincide with a concert that was scheduled to take place at his church featuring Kevin and his longtime friend, fellow recording artist, Barry Bynum.

After reading through the “IDOP” literature, Kevin was moved by the horror stories about the persecution of believers in different parts of the world and immediately began to write a song.

“We had this concert arranged for the Sunday night of the day of prayer and I felt that one of the best ways to draw attention to the persecuted church and the way in which believers all over the world are suffering, was to write a song.”

The theme and title for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church that year was “Shatter the Silence” and Kevin used that as the inspiration for the song.

“I felt that it was not only a great title for a song but was perhaps the most succinct and effective way to describe the intention and motivation to pray and make others aware of what Christians are going through in many countries.”

Kevin finished the song in time for the concert and performed it that night in November 1997 to a very responsive audience. However when the concert was over the song was put away and did not see the light of day for many years.

A clip from the Shatter the Silence video

He explained to the ASSIST News Service, “It was as if the song was written for that special occasion and because I wasn’t touring any more, the opportunities to sing it were pretty limited. To be honest, after a while, I almost completely forgot that I’d written the song. Both the melody and the lyrics faded from my memory.”

That was the case until 2009 when Kevin needed songs for a new album that he was doing with guitar great Phil Keaggy.

“Through a mutual friend I got connected with Phil Keaggy who expressed an interest in producing a new album for me. Obviously I was delighted," he said. "Phil and I go back to the same ‘Jesus Music’ era of the seventies but I had never met him until our friend brought us together.”

Gould, who is now the pastor of Naples Alliance Church in Florida, went on to say, “His idea was that I should write six new songs for the album and that we should take six of my old songs and do completely new versions of them. I liked that idea and so I submitted a whole bunch of songs for Phil to take a listen to and, based on his assessment, we chose the ones that he wanted to use.”

Phil Keaggy and Kevin Gould

The album was getting close to completion but Kevin was still one song short of having a finished product.

“We had chosen five old songs we were going to use and I had written six new ones. I was having a hard time deciding on what to use as the final song. I started going over all the songs that I’d written a long time ago but that had never been recorded to see if there was something that would fit. Suddenly, I remembered ‘Shatter the Silence’.

"Although, by now, I had pretty much forgotten how it went I remembered that I was really pleased with the lyrics and that the persecuted church was certainly a worthwhile subject to record a song about. I had to get out the VHS tape of the concert in 1997 to re-learn the song. After that I played it for Phil Keaggy.”

The song, he said, passed the “Keaggy Test” and it was decided that they would record it as the twelfth and final song on the album.

“Although I hadn’t planned it this way, I found when reviewing the material on the album, that most of the songs were about Christian love,” said Gould, who for many years was the pastor of Clover Pass Community Church in Ketchikan, Alaska, before moving to Naples, Florida.

“There were songs about Love for the Lord, the love of the Lord and the believers love for one another. I decided on the title ‘Roots of Love’ for that reason. ‘Shatter the Silence’ spoke of our love for those who are suffering for being Christians and so it fitted the album perfectly. Actually, the song became a duet between myself and Phil Keaggy who sings a couple of the verses and harmonizes on the choruses. That was a blessing too.”

Yousef Nadarkhani

In October 2011, Kevin heard the news that Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani had been sentenced to death for his refusal to turn from his faith in Christ and back to Islam. His immediate response was to ask his wife Sheila to take the song “Shatter the Silence” and build a video around it.

“I wanted to combine the lyrics of the song with visual images in order to draw attention to this urgent need for prayer and support for the persecuted church,” he added.

The song “Shatter the Silence” is powerful. The lyrics are a commentary on the great need as well as a call for Christians to pray for our brothers and sisters living under persecution. It is a reminder that we are the body of Christ. We cannot turn deaf ears to the cries for help from our persecuted brothers and sisters, neither can we remain silent in their time of need.

Phil and Kevin mixing the music

This Sunday night, on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, Kevin will be singing the song in concert again. Amazingly, although it was never planned this way, he and Barry Bynum will be doing a concert together, just as they did in 1997 when the song was performed for the first time on this corresponding day back then.

Says Kevin, “It makes you think even more so that the song was written for a reason and that the Lord has a plan for it to be heard. My prayer is that many people will hear it, see the video and pray for the persecuted church.”

I will also be featuring the song during my presentation about the persecuted church at the two morning services (8:30 AM and 10:30 AM) this Sunday at Hosanna Christian Fellowship in Bellflower, California. (For directions, go to:www.hosannachapel.org.)

There is still time for any churches to view and download this wonderful video by going to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHhL2GIkIzw

To find out more about this important day of prayer, please go to: www.idop.org

Here are the lyrics:

Shatter the Silence

With love in our hearts let’s lift up our voices and shatter the silence we hear
All over the world our brothers and sisters are suffering for the name we hold dear
Just people like us that are part of His body living where God’s word is hated and scorned
For loving the Lord and being His children they are beaten imprisoned disowned

But the light still shines on ever bright
Though the darkness has tried to put out His Light
The Light of the World shines on through the night
By His truth He will guide and with love win the fight

With love in our hearts let’s lift up our voices and shatter the silence with prayer
The battles we fight on our knees end in victory as the burdens of others we share
We may never know what it’s like to be living in places where our witness may cost us our lives
But we cannot be deaf to the needs of our family as in prayer we continue to strive

But the light still shines on ever bright
Though the darkness has tried to put our it’s light
The light of the world shines on through the night
By His truth he will guide and with love win the fight

Remember the words of our Master when He said they hated Me and they will hate you
The Holy Son of God was despised and rejected His disciples suffered those same things too
He said “Go into the world and tell them the Good news” the task is before us whatever the cost. So let’s lift up or voices and shatter the silence for the Lord for the gospel for the lost

And the light still shines on ever bright
Though the darkness has tried to put out the light
The light of the world shines on through the night
By His truth He will guide and with love win the fight

Note: To read a story written by Rebecca English about Kevin Gould’s extraordinary story, please to to: www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07020087.htm

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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