Point of Grace's Heather Payne to debut solo album, Sweet Exchange

After being on top of the Christian music scene for nearly 18 years as a founding member of the award-winning group Point of Grace, Heather Payne is gearing up to release her debut solo album Sweet Exchange on September 14.

With a fresh take on the timeless hymns of the church, Sweet Exchange presents modern arrangements, new choruses, and sometimes-complete re-imaginations of these familiar classics. Payne’s first single “Rock of Ages” released on September 7. If modern listeners ever thought the lyrics of hymns were stale, these presentations will draw them in and open both their hearts and minds.

“Emotions go just so far in worship. With the rich doctrine in hymns, truth sinks in," Payne says. "I remember when I was very young, and my mum used to let me stand on the pew beside her in church. She let me hold the hymnal, even though I couldn’t even read! I felt so big. I learned the hymns that way, just singing along. I want that for my kids now.”

The album’s theme came from a sermon by Payne’s husband on imputed righteousness. In explaining this big theological term, he used a quote from a first century Greek writer’s Letter to Diognetus. The fact that this old letter could explain a difficult concept in an embraceable way, and then overflow in worship, embodied exactly what Payne hoped to accomplish with this album.

This desire to serve future generations with the theology and worship of hymns stems from the same Scripture that played a role in Payne’s decision to leave Point of Grace. It was the Shema from Deuteronomy 6, the compelling call to impress the commands of the Lord on your children all day long, that struck Payne.

“I memorised that passage because we were starting to have kids and I wanted that in my mind and heart,” Payne said. “As more kids were born, the Lord kept bringing it back up. ‘Are you teaching them diligently?’ When you’re traveling the way I was, there was no diligence or consistency or excellence.”

Since leaving Point of Grace in 2008, Payne has enjoyed her life as a pastor's wife, educator and mother of four adorable kids. Today, Payne is happy to be able to focus on her family and is thrilled that Point of Grace has thrived and continues to impact country radio. (Fellow Point of Grace alumnae Terry Jones even sings background vocals on a few of the tracks on Sweet Exchange). The same passage in Deuteronomy also drives Payne’s desire to pass on God’s truth through the timeless hymns that are so richly conveyed in Sweet Exchange, and why the time has come for Payne to sing again.