Chris Hayward was the first person I met who convinced me that it was possible to be an evangelical whilst being dedicated to music.
Chris oversaw the music at the Round Church in Cambridge when I first came across him. My immediate reaction to him was deep and selfish jealousy. This was because I heard him as a musician before I met him as a person. I was jealous that, though he was primarily an oboist, his keyboard skills far outshone mine, even though I was an organ scholar at the time. He used to use a spectacular ‘fill’ in the breaks between verses, which I sweated for hours to try and copy. God had given him a very natural musical ability.
Love for the Lord
More importantly, however, God also gave him a deeply committed love for his Lord, and it was this commitment that turned my jealousy into admiration. He was a Christian who was a musician, rather than simply a musician who worked for a church. This meant that all he did musically grew out of his love of the Lord Jesus and a longing for his Name to be known.
