Tim Jupp on TheBigChurchDayOut and life after Delirious?

|PIC1|Tim Jupp is keyboardist with the legendary worship band Delirious? and organiser of TheBigChurchDayOut, a daylong Christian festival combining worship and fun for the whole family at Wiston House in West Sussex on May 24.

Here Tim talks about the festival and his last year with Delirious? before they part ways.


CT: How did you actually get involved with TheBigChurchDayOut?

TJ: Years ago when we did the Cutting Edge events down in West Sussex we used to do an open air event once a year on the seafront in Little Hampton and around 10,000 used to come to that. I’ve always been excited about the church coming together and people still talk about those events even though they were some years ago.

I also had the really fortunate chance to meet a guy a few months ago who is one of the largest landowners in West Sussex. And we got chatting and it turns out he is a Christian with a huge vision for seeing the church come together and that really got me excited again about the possibility of having an event in the south of England cos we don’t really have anything like this where the whole church of all ages can come together for one day.

Then I got the news that the band would be winding down in the next year so I knew I would have a lot more time on my hands, I might as well throw myself into this and see where it goes and it’s turned out to be a very exciting project to work on!

CT: You stress that TheBigChurchDayOut is not just an event but it’s about bringing the whole church together. Why is that such a big emphasis for you?

TJ: Well in my DNA, in the church us guys have all been part of for many, many years we have a real family emphasis and we are all family guys ourselves – I’ve got four children – and on our Sunday meetings back at our home church all the family is together for the whole meeting every Sunday. So it’s in our blood, if you like.

But also I think there are lots of great events going on around the country but they are often aimed at young people. And they are such great events but we just thought wouldn’t it be great to open this up to people of all ages. So we really wanted to try and give something in terms of the artists we have there and it is such a beautiful location in the country on this estate and anyone can come along who just enjoys being in the countryside for the day.

CT: Were you part of the decision to wind down Delirious?

Well, that really came from Martin. He made the decision that it was time to hang up his boots and obviously we didn’t want to carry on without him because it has always been very much a team thing.

So 2009 will be the last year we do things together and TheBigChurchDayOut will be one of the last things that Delirious? ever does in the UK and probably the last kind of festival event where people of all ages can come and see the band. We’ve actually had families writing to us and saying they are really excited because they can bring their children to see Delirious? before they finish.

CT: Do you think it’s going to be quite emotional for you on the stage doing your last gig?

TJ: Well, I think it will be one of the last things that we do but we are still talking about doing some kind of farewell thing at the end of the year and that can still happen. We haven’t quite worked that out. But the whole year for us is emotional because pretty much every place we play from now on will be the last time we play there. So it’s a big year for us.





|PIC1|CT: You’ve got your post Delirious? period coming up. How do you see yourself transitioning when you must be so used to being part of a band? What are you going to go into now?

TJ: I think you should come back and ask me in a year’s time! I am very excited right now about TheBigChurchDayOut. I’ve always been much more involved in the business and organising side of what we’ve done as a band so with TheBigChurchDayOut we are even looking at whether this is an event that could go national and take place at different locations but with one name and one line-up. That’s one of the really exciting ideas we are looking at. We need to get one year under our belt first before we make too many large plans at this stage but it has a very exciting potential to it.

CT: Because it’s not just music on the day is it?

TJ: We’ve got a wide range of music from bands to an orchestra on the lawn. We’ve got a tent doing stuff for kids, a bouncy castle, a professional actress telling stories to the under-fives, games going on. It’s the kind of thing where you can do church in the morning and jump in the car and get down to West Sussex and spend the rest of the day hanging out with people, enjoying the worship, enjoying the countryside and just being together for the day.

We have a lot in common and it’s great to get together in celebration for the day. And whereas the world thinks the church is dead and buried and not around, I think to demonstrate that we are alive and well is a great thing to do. Even if it’s just for one day in the year where people can say: My word, I can’t believe there are so many people getting together and the church really is alive and doing something.

CT: So you are planning to promote this beyond Christian circles?

TJ: We expect that a lot Christians will want to bring their non-Christian friends to it. It will be such a relaxed informal setting and it will be a very comfortable environment for people to bring their friends to. There’s plenty of space to wander around, it’s a huge parkland and tremendous space where a lot of people will feel very relaxed and enjoy the day.

CT: What kind of response have you had from the church so far?

TJ: We’ve had an amazing response. We’re holding the event on a Sunday because a lot of churches said if you do something on a Sunday that’s the day of the week we can motivate everyone in the church to come and do something together.

There’s something great about going off together for the day and hanging out and fellowshipping together. To do that on a Sunday is probably a lot easier than any other day of the week so many churches are coming as whole churches en bloc.

We’re expecting 10,000 people to come and it would be an amazing achievement to get 10,000 in the first year to an event like this. I think with the line-up we’ve got with Delirious?, Michael W Smith and Israel Houghton, there is no reason why there shouldn’t be that kind of crowd.

CT: You must be quite excited on a personal level sharing the stage with the likes of Michael W Smith?

TJ: Yes, very excited. People like Michael W Smith very rarely come to the UK and we have tried to make the tickets as cheap and accessible as possible. And that’s the great advantage of doing a big outdoor event. We are not so limited in numbers. There’s room in the field for thousands and thousands of people.

|PIC1|CT: The band's just brought out a new DVD which you filmed in Bogota.

TJ: Yeah, we’ve been down to South America so many times and the crowd is so great in South America that we just thought it would be a great place to film it. And it has its technical challenges but it paid off cos it is just such an exciting project really because of all the people who were there.

CT: As a band, you’re quite involved in social outreach. In Kingdom of Comfort you talk a lot about doing more and helping people. How do you connect your music side and being music artists with this side of reaching out to others practically?

TJ: It has been a huge challenge for us because in the last few years we’ve visited a lot of developing countries and it has had a huge impact on us guys and the most public outworking of that is that a lot of the songs on Kingdom of Comfort are reflections of our experiences on some of those trips. Because you can’t go to some of those places and it not have an impact on you.

So my hope is that the change it makes in you and the difference you can make becomes a part of your whole life all day and every day and not just something we shout about from a platform.

But we’re like everyone else. We don’t have all the answers and we’re on a journey ourselves with it all.

CT: Did God help you realise anything through your experiences?

TJ: You realise that what you are doing and what God’s called you to do in the area you are doing is just one part of a very large jigsaw puzzle of what’s going on around the world. Cos as much as you see difficult things there are so many good things you see. Like a great sense of community and caring for people among the people living in the poor places. And I think we’ve lost a lot of those values.

So there are things you learn in as much as there are things you feel you can offer to take back and help people out with. Instances like that are life changing and you can never beat having first hand experience of those things.

CT: When you look back over your years in the band – it’s going to be hard to adjust to the music scene without you guys! – do you think you achieved everything you wanted to achieve?

TJ: In some ways yes and in some ways no. I think we feel there was a lot more we could do but we are at where we are at and Martin has decided to move on. But I think all we can say is that we look back and feel very, very grateful.

CT: What will you take away as your fondest memory?

TJ: Oh my goodness me, there are thousands of memories! I think some of my best memories have been when we’ve gone on trips and been able to take your family with you. Actually having your children with you is great.

CT: Are you rooting for another great band to rise up and fill the gap left by Delirious?

TJ: Yes, it’s an interesting one. Because even when you look at TheBigChurchDayOut, you think what’s going to happen in the following year? Because, from the UK bands, we would headline an event like that.

But there are people coming through all the time so I think it’s definitely a case of watching this space. I’m very excited to see what will happen over the next few years and maybe we will make a bit of space for someone else to come through now!