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The Christian women blogging community has grown in leaps and bounds over the past year; I attribute that largely to Christian Women Online Magazine. It is through this online resource for Christian women, that I met fellow blogger and friend, Crystal Siemens. I had the opportunity to chat with Crystal about her upcoming CD release entitled “My Treasure”… Crystal, I am very excited that you have your first CD project completed. I hardly can wait to hold the entire CD in my hands. This is your first project; I hope to see more of you in the music world. Yes Iris, it is my first project! In fact I only began writing songs about 1 year ago...I don’t know if I am planning to do another project right now I guess I will have to see how popular this one is and go from there I do remember reading that you were traveling to conferences all over Canada to lead worship. You also lead worship at your congregation, correct? Well I haven’t lead at conferences all over Canada (YET ~ wink, wink) but I have lead worship at a small church just outside of Saskatoon Sk, for just over 5 years. 2 years ago I took an internship as a Music Director at a larger church in Saskatoon, the internship finished and didn’t really produce the results I was hoping for (God has a funny way of changing our plans, doesn’t He?) so the last two years I have not really lead worship on Sunday morning services that much but have focused more of my attention on the ministry in our church geared toward Women, called "Woman’s Encounter." This ministry has blessed me more than I could even imagine, but I didn’t have a band, it would just be my piano and me. As I have been putting this project together I realized how much I enjoyed working and playing with a band; so I guess we will wait and see what God has in store after the CD release party! Yes, God has ways of changing our plans; I can attest to that! You mentioned that you were used to playing the piano before this project. How did you get the rest of these talented musicians together for this CD? Well it’s a bit of a long story! I am blessed to know a whole bunch of talented musicians. The drummer and the acoustic guitar player played in the band I had in the church I led worship in a couple of years ago; they have blessed me so much by jumping on board with this project. Both of them are in other bands so I am extremely grateful that they helped me out. The electric guitar player is a friend of ours; we met him and his wife through our church and before this project he played mostly country music--I just knew he would be perfect for this project and he was! The bass guitar player is someone I met through the worship teams at the church I attend now; he is a really talented guy! I just walked up to him one day and said, “Would you play in my band for my CD project? Oh, and by the way, I can’t pay you!” He said he would think about it and a couple days later he said, "Yes!" That just blew me away because I had never met him before that day! To be honest with you I really seriously considered getting a more trained piano player to play for the CD but when I started to pray about it, God seemed to ask me to step out in faith and play the piano even though I am not the best piano player by any stretch of the imagination. God did something with my small offering on the piano, and it actually turned out allot better than I expected it to. The guy I have singing on the CD should be making serious money from his voice in my opinion, and I am really blessed that he is helping me on this project. His wife took all my pictures, and both of them did it for free. The young lady I have singing on the CD is one of my blogging friends--I literally met her through blogging. The funny thing is that when I asked her to sing on my CD I had never heard her sing, the minute she opened her mouth to sing at our practices though, I knew that God had pulled this together. On your “My Space Blog,” you also call this CD “The God project.” How did that come about? God gathered a group of musicians to give us a band. Something that usually takes years to develop happened in literally 6 weeks. What takes most recording artists 6 months to a year to put together came together in 3 months. This is why we call it “The God Project.” To top things off, I did not pay one person to do this project other than the studio--they all just wanted to help out. I really am so blessed; I still get goose bumps when I think about it! Wow--what a wonderful story! I never knew how long it would take to get a project like this off the ground. I totally understand why you are calling this CD “The God Project”--a perfect name for it. You must have spent every free minute in the studio for those three months. How did you handle all your other responsibilities during that time? I am sure it was not easy. Well it actually was a lot easier than I expected it to be. When I set out to do this project I wanted to make sure that no matter what I would not let my perfectionism get in the way of us having fun doing this project, and even though we were in the studio allot for awhile, it didn’t seem like it was work. I think we had a lot of fun with it! My husband and kids are very supportive so I am very lucky that way. I work at the church three days a week so on my off days, I would go to the studio. It didn't effect too much of our family time, although there were quite a few evenings we had grilled cheese sandwiches for supper. :) I was blessed to listen to four of your tracks. My favorite one is “Refuge”, which the readers of CWO can hear at your “My Space Blog.” What or who inspired this particular song? Refuge was literally inspired by a really bad week where I felt like everyone had turned their back on me except God. I remember crying out to God “What am I suppose to do with this? I have been so hurt!” His answer came to me in the middle of the night, “Just worship Me”. I got up and started reading the Psalms and the verses of the song just fell onto the page. I remember putting the music to the song and really not liking the sound of it, but I couldn’t get the melody out of my head. A few weeks later I was asked to perform the song at a Sunday morning service and while I was preparing for it the words to the chorus of “The Solid Rock” just seemed to fit so well and the response to the song was incredible. During the writing of this song I really began to understand what it felt like to really worship. I discovered true worship doesn’t only happen when everything is going great, in fact, the best worship times happen when I praise him in the storms of my life. My Hope can only be in Him! The entire CD is a testament to God’s faithfulness in my life, each song tells the story of my life so far. Each song is significant to the entire story; "Refuge" is just a piece of that puzzle. I am hoping and praying that in this project there will be just that one song for each person that will help listeners see God and experience Him in a new way. If I can be a part of that then I will feel so blessed! You are so right, Crystal. Sometimes true worship comes when we are with Him alone—nowhere else to turn, but Him. Thank you so much for sharing the history on this song. I even treasure it more knowing it…I know you have a big release party planned. Tell us a little more about the party. Can interested people purchase tickets for this event? Well I did consider charging a cover charge for people coming, to help cover the cost of renting the church and the other expenses. I decided against it because I want people to buy the CD. I know that a lot of people would not come if there were a cover charge; sometimes money can be an obstacle that Satan can use to keep people away. I want this evening to be obstacle free--that the Holy Spirit can move in people’s lives. I am not doing this project to make money. If I just pay my bill at the studio & the rental of the church I will be happy. This is a God project after all; He will look after the bills! If you're in Saskatchewan, Just come out to Circle Drive Alliance Church on September 21, 2007 @ 7:30 p.m. What can people expect when they come to the CD release party? Besides a lot of great music? I hope that people can come and just check it out because I am planning a few surprises--you will just have to come and see what they are. My Mom is making donuts for the event and we are putting on a big pot of coffee--it’s going to be a great night out! I know a lot of people won’t be able to come so I hope that they still will want to order the CD. I have already sent the CD to Bolivia where my uncle and aunt live. They have a radio station outside of Santa Cruz that is mostly Spanish & Low German programming. My aunt has a 1-hour English program every week where she has been playing my CD. It’s kind of fun to think that people in Bolivia are hearing us sing! If God can use it there he can use it anywhere! I am truly excited for you and your band that this has come together like this. I hope and pray that your CD will change someone’s life. I know that the CD is a huge encouragement to me—especially the song “Refuge.” Crystal, thank you so much for taking the time to answer all my questions. May our Lord continue to bless this project. Thank you Iris, and also CWO for helping me promote this project! You ladies have been a huge source of encouragement for me in the making of this CD. I feel blessed to know you! _________________________________
Hey, ladies! If you would like a chance to win a copy of Crystal's CD, please send us your name and address. _________________________________ To listen to songs from Crystal's new CD, "The God Project" you can find them at: Visit Crystal at her blog: __________________________________ Interviewed by Iris Nelson..
Iris is the founder and moderator of the inspiring group blog, Laced with Grace, with a hope that God's word will transform the lives of those who read. She can also be found blogging daily at Sting My Heart. Iris plays an important role at CWO with her devotional posts as well as the countless hours that she has spent lending help where help was needed. We are grateful for the ministry that she is offering through her services at CWO, and for the care she extends to the online community.
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CWO Cover
Bonnie 
Originally born and raised in Germany, Iris lives in Arizona with her husband of 23 years. Their son, now 21, received his Associates from DeVry University in June of 2006. 
