5 Questions with Martin Smith

Welcome to 5 Questions With.....

Today's guest is Martin Smith. Martin is the front man for the wildly successful Christian rock and worship band Delirious? and is not only an excellent vocalist but a talented songwriter and guitarist as well. His songwriting hits include "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever","Shout to the North","The Happy Song","Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble" and "Deeper". Before Delirious? Martin was a producer. Working mainly with UK artists. One of the original three founders of "Cutting Edge" (the previous incarnation of Delirious?).

And now without further delay, on to the questions:

Hi Martin,

Question 1: What one word would describe your current relationship with God?

Father.

Question 2: Why CompassionArt? What drew you to the project?

Delirious were invited to visit India, and Cambodia with Joyce Meyer Ministries and the trip has changed me forever. I wrestled with the 5* lifestyle of hotels and nice food against knowing just outside the hotel complex there were people living in slums and literally dying of hunger. JMM arranged for us as a band to visit a local slum in Bombay. There I met a girl called FARIN in a mafia controlled brothel who was 10 years old. I witnessed the terrible life she was exposed to as her mother earned a few pennies relentlessly as a prostitute to help her and her brothers and sisters eat and survive. Sadly Farin would sleep on the floor under the bed of her mothers workplace. I was sickened by the conditions in which they lived and wanted to adopt Farin. I took steps to try and bring her back to England, but over a period of about a month God revealed to myself and my wife Anna that we should try instead to assist her and her family in their own land. So, as time went on and with the help of some finance from Delirious and JMM we built a safe house and were able to transfer 70 Prostitutes and their children from a life of slavery to a life of HOPE.

This is what inspired Anna and myself to start CompassionArt and so are first idea was to gather 12 songwriters from the Christian music scene. We wrote 20 special songs during a period of 5 days together in a house in Scotland, ended up recording 14 of them and also wrote a book together.

Publishers and the Christian copyright licensing people are supporting these songs by way of waiving their percentages and so what this really means is the more these songs get sung in church the more chance there is of CompassionArt benefiting from an income stream from royalties with proceeds going directly into projects. Our long term vision for CompassionArt is to see people from all areas of the ART world become HISTORY MAKERS, including musicians, painters, sculptors, actors and athletes. Our prayer is that they get inspired and collaborate using their own area of skill and creating something themselves that will ultimately make a huge difference in our World.

Question 3: How has being involved in this project affected you?

I am looking for more energy. Do you know where you can buy any? The songwriting and recording process was very exciting and exhilarating but drained me of resources and energy. I hope and pray that God will use these brand new songs over the next 30+ years to raise money for good causes.

Question 4: What charity did you pick for this project?

Links International.

Question 5: What is next for you?

Delirious ends November 2009, CompassionArt has been birthed. Helping the poor is very much in our DNA and our focus as a couple and family with six children. We just need an Angel or two to come along and help us financially to take this thing to the next level. We have lots of creative ideas for the next stage. Anyone interested?

Thanks so much Martin.

There you have it. I would again encourage you to pick up the CompassionArt book and CD. You won't be disappointed. You WILL be helping to meet the needs of those in abject poverty. For more info on CompassionArt check out their website: CompassionArt
For more info on the charity Martin picked, Links International, click here.

To see past 5 Question guests, check out the rotating interview links on the sidebar.