For our family, the Eighties were turbulent years. Work-wise, we made the exciting move to London in 1981 where I served as Christian Reformed chaplain at the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College. But there were many challenges in our immediate family, including a devastating adoption breakdown.
When the dust finally settled in 1988, we found ourselves back in parish ministry at a new church called Jubilee Fellowship, settling in St. Catharines, Ontario with our two daughters, Christy and Rachel. Musically, this was a very productive decade that yielded almost thirty “keepers” and two studio albums (Malice Gives Way in 1984 and Nothing Short of Grace in 1987).
Campus ministry and the support of caring students, faculty and staff, not to mention the talents, expertise and studio musicians of Paul Steenhuis, record producer and owner of SRS Studios, gave me the opportunity to record and perform with a professional band. Here are that decade’s songs, unplugged.