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Worship is the only gift we can bring to God that He Himself has not first given to us. -Isobel Ralston

Born and reared in southern California, Cheri Keaggy began studying classical piano at age seven. She continued honing her musical skills throughout her high school years, often accompanying the school or church choirs. After marrying her high school sweetheart, Cheri began a job as a novice worship coordinator for her local church. She often found herself flipping through endless music books, looking for songs that would best express the pastor's sermon. One week, when she couldn't find one to match a message on Psalm 91, her husband suggested she write something of her own. Skeptical of her songwriting abilities, Cheri gave it her best, and within one afternoon "You, Oh Lord, Are My Refuge" was born. She taught it to the worship band that evening, and on Sunday the song became a part of the worship at her church. 

But that was just the beginning.

Cheri created a custom tape of her songs, which the church used as a fundraiser for its weekly food drive program. The homemade recording made its way to Nashville and before she knew it, Cheri found herself working on her debut album, Child Of The Father (1994), with multiple Dove Award winning Producer of the Year, Charlie Peaock. The album produced three #1 radio singles, earned her a Dove Award nomination for New Artist of the Year, and led to a tour with Point of Grace.

Cheri went on to record two more albums, My Faith Will Stay (1995) and What Matters Most (1997) and is now recognized as a mainstay in the adult contemporary and inspirational genres. She has written every song on each of her albums with the exception of two, which she co-wrote, one with Randy Stonehill and the other with Charlie Peacock. Her music expresses the reality of her walk with God. Honest songs with timeless truths.

Her latest album, There Is Joy in the Lord: The Worship Songs of Cheri Keaggy (1999), finds Cheri taking a short break from her normal adult contemporary albums to reflect on and reintroduce the songs first born in her heart, songs of praise penned specifically for worshipers. Many of which are sung every week in church services across the country.

"This is not a departure or a change of direction," says Cheri. "It's something we've wanted to do from the beginning, to have all my worship material on one recording." There Is Joy in the Lord is a collection of upbeat, passion-filled songs for worship, presented in a "praise band friendly" format. Easy to sing, easy to play, and easy to teach, the record progresses much like a contemporary worship service would, from the call to worship in "We Have Come to Worship Him" to the praise and adoration of "Glory Be" to the consecration of "I Want to Follow You" and meaningful communion in "In Remembrance of Me." 

There Is Joy In The Lord is also a CD ROM which features the new "Solero" technology, letting the user pull up select song charts from the album-a tool that is proving helpful for worship leaders across the country.

"Because of the role I had, being in charge of the worship at my church, a lot of my early songs were worship songs, easy to learn and full of specific scriptural truths," Cheri says. "On this album, we wanted to highlight those songs in a new way and in the way they were originally intended, as a tool for the worship leader." But beyond that purpose, Cheri's latest album is intended as a soundtrack for worship, regardless of setting. "One of the things I've learned is that my idea of worship was so small," she says. "As a child I equated worship with singing in church, but He has shown me that worship is so much broader. I worship Him when I look at Him in wonder, and I may not be singing a note. Worship is so much more about the heart condition than anything else."

"My writing comes out of a personal relationship with the Lord. That's my whole worldview--Christ in me. So my songs come from that place of humility, that place of looking not at myself but at Him and all He's done."

To write from an honest place--whether out of worship experience or other life experiences--requires the vision to see what God is teaching, where God is at work in the day-to-day. "When we began thinking about this record, the first thing that came to mind was this notion of taking time out to worship," she says. "We miss so much of what God has for us because we're consumed with the stuff of life, the busyness."

Cheri certainly knows first hand of the busyness life brings. Cheri, who now resides in Nashville with her husband Eddie, often finds herself reading books during 'story hour' at her eight-year-old daughter Sarah's elementary school, or cheering on her ten-year-old son, Cameron, at his baseball game, before heading to the airport to catch a plane for a weekend of concerts. But to Cheri, remaining focused on her role as a mother is more important than a career. She readily acknowledges that the most important thing she will ever do is teach her children about God and who He is. 

Cheri recalls a specific instance when that truth was made plain. Working around the house, doing laundry and dishes and going through her "to do" list, she had barely noticed the first snow flurries of winter, an event she'd anxiously awaited for days. As she stood in the kitchen, she felt the Lord prompting her, "Cheri, you've waited for this. If you will stop, you will see. I've got all these things to show you, but you need to be looking for where I'm working." "That snowfall," she says in retrospect, "was a worship experience."

"I hope the songs I write will give voice to all of life's moments like that," she says, "a pause from life's hectic pace. These songs aren't just for singing at church, but for all of us, for busy people who really want to make time for God in the everyday, at home, in the car, wherever we choose to worship Him."

Time to discover the gift of worship and to discover anew that there is, indeed, joy in the Lord.