Tony Cummings quizzes Kensington Temple worship leaders IVO AND MALIN.

Ivo: I'm glad you asked. In my early childhood I was classically trained as a pianist, but as I became a teenager I somewhat rebelled against classical music and began listening to Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and a mixture of the blues and jazz. Later on in music college I remember sneaking away in the afternoons to spend time learning what we called the "evergreen" standards such as "Misty", "Summertime" and other jazz standards. I guess all this ultimately had a profound effect on me as a musician and later on as songwriter. It was after I got saved that I was also introduced to music from Ron Kenoly/Integrity, Michael W Smith and BeBe and CeCe Winans which quickly became my favorite worship music in my first steps as a Christian. Later on I came to KT and the last six to seven years have been spent listening to and digesting the music of the likes of Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, Israel Houghton, Matt Redman, Delirious? and the Hillsong teams. To be honest, you never stop learning and I am constantly looking to take the odd refresher lesson here and there or observe someone else's style and technique in order to 'sneakily-borrow' ideas and get inspired. I think it's healthy to have all these influences, it becomes like a melting pot and so what comes out can be influenced by more than just one person or style. I think worship could be far more reflective of the Creator rather than the created and our God is so wonderful, colourful and awesome that I don't think one style can do him justice!

Tony: Of the songs on your CD, which one most completely expresses where your heart is at the moment?

Ivo: If you asked me that question a year ago I would have said "Holy One", but today it has to be "Search Me Oh God". It's very personal for me and it really sums up my desire to be filled with the things of God and be honest in my worship times. I learned a lot when that song ended up being on the recording and I would love to share the story with you: It was the first day of the recording when we found out that the drum cymbal stands were missing from the studio and we could not begin working on the three tracks we initially planned to record. People were on the phone calling favours to borrow stands... rushing to shops trying to buy them, it was hectic. And just in that moment as some of us were beginning to panic and think that it's all going wrong from the very start... God had a plan. He said: "Do the song you've been worshiping with in your quiet place. just one voice and the piano, no drums, no bass, no guitars.no choir" and so track four "Search Me, Oh God" came to be. It was a fresh reminder to me and us as worshipers and musicians that it's not about the instruments, great singing, clever arrangements or sleek guitar lines, but about simply coming before God, pouring out our hearts in worship.

Malin: For me it would have to be "Your Endless Love". God has shown me, through an amazing answer to prayer, that he loves me and cares for me more than I can imagine. The way he came through for us has proved to me that his ways are higher than ours, much higher.

Tony: What plans do you have for the future?

Ivo and Mallin: We're looking forward to the future with a sense of excitement, because there seems to be a lot happening in the worship life of our church and UK as a whole and we're so happy to be part of what God's doing through worship in this day and age. Here at KT we're looking to train and equip people who are passionate about worship and music. It is vital to pass on our experience to others and help them grow both spiritually and musically. We're running weekly musicians and singers training/rehearsal nights which have been very popular and we're already seeing the fruits of that. We plan to continue serving as worship leaders at KT and contribute to the recently launched KT Sounds label which will aim to produce a variety of music from praise and worship to rock to classical and hip-hop to name but a few styles. We hope to release another two or three EP CDs in the coming year which will culminate with the release of a full album compilation.

On the larger scale of things, our church is focused on tackling and influencing the giants of our day, ie, media, education, law, politics, etc and Malin and I together with the KT worship teams would certainly like to do our bit in the area of music and media in order to have a positive Christian influence in this world. We plan to get involved in worship events in the wider Christian body in London and across the country because God has laid on our hearts a desire to see worship leaders, songwriters, musicians and creative people from different churches and denominations come and work closer together to further the Gospel in this nation and the world by means of worship, music and the media.