About Grace Street Music

About the musician

 At the office. My name is Richard Blauvelt and I am a songwriter who experienced God's love in Christ way back in 1985. Now, born again, I indeed live on Grace Street and most Sundays can be found leading praise and worship at Goodwill Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, NY.



Goodwill EPC. My family and I came to Goodwill EPC in 1998. There we found a small, friendly, rural church and felt right at home. At that time Goodwill was a congregation of about 125, pastored by John Torres who had recently been ordained and installed. John had a vision for Goodwill to be a fun, safe, comfortable place where God's people could come together to meet with God and with each other. John's vision caught on. Sunday attendance now runs close to 1000, which is quite a challenge for a building that only holds 230. But we are a resourceful lot and with a little ingenuity, a few extra services and a lot of patience Goodwill has managed this growth just fine. Construction on a new sanctuary/community center is underway with plans to hold our first services in it on Easter of 2009.

Worship at Goodwill. I lead and coordinate praise and worship at Goodwill, currently overseeing several teams consisting of approximately 60 singers, musicians and technicians, all at various stages in their lives both spiritually and musically, but all are unified by a common desire to praise and glorify God and to use their unique gifts and talents to serve God and Goodwill alike, to usher God's people into His presence and prepare the way for Him to speak and impact our lives. Each team has it's own way of leading worship, a uniqueness that reflects the beauty and diversity that is found in the Body of Christ. Having multiple teams can be a challenge but it gives an opportunity to minister to a larger number of people and also contributes to keeping praise and worship fresh and vibrant each week. My family and I are blessed to be members of Goodwill and to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of those who call Goodwill home.

About the music

 Taken at Tannery Pond in 2007 As a songwriter I have been blessed to bring many of the songs I've written to the Sat. night and Sun. morning services at Goodwill. Some of these songs were written specifically for or as the result of sermons preached by pastor John while others came as the result of a specific event or insight found in scripture. No matter what the inspiration all of my songs are rooted in my experiences and relationship with the Lord these past 20+ years and as the Lord continues to mold and shape me new music continues as a result. In many ways these songs are a musical diary of my life as well as a record of what God has been doing at Goodwill these past few years. This site is my attempt to musically share what has been happening, to take the music that blesses so many in our congregation beyond the 4 walls of our church. I pray that as you listen to these songs that you experience God's presence through them. If you hear something that blesses you please share it with others.

The Grace Street Songbook.
The music of Grace Street can be found in The Grace Street Songbook . Here you will find songs written not only by myself but by other "residents" of Grace Street as well. I try to update this songbook regularly, every month or two, and notify friends or anyone interested of these updates. If you would lke to be notified of future additions to this site simply send an email to gracestreetmusic@yahoo.com with "Notify Me" as the reference. I will send you a brief email when I update this page with a new song, no newsletters, no requests for money or spam just a short email about what song(s) have been added to this page.

All musical content on this site is copyrighted either by myself or by one of the other contributing songwriters to this songbook. I am grateful to each and every one of them for their contributions. Even though these songs are copyrighted they are freely available to be copied, downloaded and performed for non-commercial purposes. If you are a worship leader consider bringing some of these songs back to your congregation. No subscription, no licensing and no strings attached. You don't even need to let me know your a user (though it would be nice, I do enjoy receiving emails and testimonials about how a song was used in a service or received by a congregation) I ask only that you not personally or corporately profit from the songs use. A fellow songwriter called it the "ministry of songwriting". I like that. Consider this page my ministry to you and a resource for your minstry to others. Whether downloading to learn or just streaming to listen I pray that this site is a blessing to you and that on it you will find something that will deepen your relationship with Christ and your walk with God.