Beginnings
It was the summer of 1996 and there was very little going on in terms of worship as the various church and Bible school programs had shut down until the fall. These included CBC Vespers which took place on Tuesday nights and Northview Church's Roaring Twenties. Two good friends and I thought something needed to be done, and were discussing the options. Through our conversations, Jen Dawes, Sondra Reimer, and I decided that we needed to start "Summer Vespers" and hold it on Sunday nights at South Abbotsford Church, our home church.
(Jennifer Dawes and Sondra Reimer, 1998)
Our youth pastor at the time, Randy Thompson, agreed that it was a good idea and gave us the official go-ahead. Randy and I had worked together for a few years with the high school youth group at South Abbotsford Church. Randy had been a player for Athletes in Action's semi-professional basketball team for a number of years. He was also my coach when I attended an AIA Camp in the summer leading into my grade 9 year. It would be safe to say that he had been an early 'hero' for me and that's why I jumped at the opportunity to work with him as a youth leader.
With Randy's blessing we began to set up a team to lead Summer Vespers. The early band included Ron Janzen on drums, Paul and/or Kelly Hiebert on bass, Sondra Reimer on synth, Marillee Erickson on piano, and Dan Kim on electric guitar. I played acoustic guitar and assumed the position of band and ministry leader. Many of us had already led youth-group events together in the past called Ewe Club and Zoe. This experience made Summer Vespers an easy fit for us as a band.
The first night of worship drew about 30 people, mostly our youth group and a few of their friends. Through the weeks of summer, however, the event grew to about 120 people. We were very surprised by this growth because we hadn't formally promoted the event to anyone. It is important to remember that all this took place before the internet became the mainstream machine it is today with emails, blogs, podcasts, and websites. Digital music players and digital cameras were yet to be invented and cell phones were quite rare. The cell phones that did exist were simply phones; they weren't the total-entertainment-experience devices they are today with mp3 players, cameras, and video built right in.
As fall approached, we decided to end the nights of worship since we felt that "Summer Vespers" had met its purpose. It was early that fall that many people contacted me and encouraged me to start the worship thing we had done in the summer again. Their comments were encouraging because they spoke of lives changed and encouragement through the various nights of worship instead of good musicians or nice songs.
(Prayer Time at
Doxa)
We decided to pilot a Sunday night worship event that fall,
but we needed a name. After a meeting with my father, David
Manuel, we settled on two greek words as possibilities
which both meant glory or praise: Shikina and Doxa.
Following much discussion and some prayer, we settled on
Doxa and I decided to use the name Shikina for my
publishing company for any future songs I may write for the
event.
Jen and Sondra had been important friends during my college
years. We shared a lot of good times together but also
shared an honest pursuit of God. Through the next few
years, both young ladies would come to be a listening ear,
honest feedback following Doxa services and events, and a
source of great strength and encouragement. Every effective
leader needs a few loyal and trusted people nearby, and Jen
and Sondra filled that role for me both personally and in
ministry.
(Pastor David Manuel performs on the song 54 for
the album Flying Free, 2001)
The
worship night was to consist of 4 main parts: prayer,
worship, the Word of God, and sharing times. There wouldn't
be any announcements promoting anything other than the
Gospel and the focus of the event would be mobilizing
people to share the good news of Jesus Christ with their
friends and families. Someone who came to this 'new' thing
called Doxa would experience one of three types of
services: music-message-music, music-sharing-music, or
music-prayer-music. It was amazing to see the number
continue to grow over the 6 services held in the fall of
1996 to over 200 people.
The
richness of the worship experience coupled with the hunger
of those coming and the amazing fulfillment for all of us
involved confirmed that we needed to continue with Doxa in
the new year and on a weekly basis. Randy Thompson again
gave his blessing and let us do our little worship night
weekly. The leadership of South Abbotsford Church wasn't
aware of what was happening on Sunday nights until we
started to run into parking issues later that year and the
police and fire marshal made appearances threatening to
close us down.
Weekly, I would create the set list, spend hours in
preparation and prayer, and would often find myself with a
new song that fit with the message for the coming week. One
of the first songs written for Doxa was entitled:
LTCOBY
(Love That Can Only Be You). The
message for the week was to be on I John 3:
How
can we claim to have the love of God in us when we don't do
a thing to help those in need around us?
From
that thought came the chorus: I am
Your Servant Lord, Fully committed to You, Now take my
willing heart and fill it up with Love that can only be
You. Following
the brief challenge that week, a new song was introduced
which allowed people to sing the message throughout their
week.
(Doxa in the fall of 1998 Left to Right: Marrilee Erickson,
Dan Kim, Vijay Manuel, Jared Falk, Sondra Reimer, &
Rick Enns)
During this time, the band was trimmed down to six people
with a new identity: "The Doxa Band". I was playing
acoustic and rhythm electric guitars, Dan Kim on lead
electric guitar, Sondra Reimer on the synth, Marrilee
Erickson on piano & vocals, Ron Janzen on drums, and
the newly added Rick Enns on bass. Jen Dawes filled the
important role of being our over-head technician and even
more importantly our Prayer Team leader with Teresa Reimer.
Rick Janzen took care of our sound needs and Graham Ward
was a huge help with setup and teardown.
Dan Kim had been a member of the youth group that I led
with Randy Thompson. He was a gifted musician and solid
young man who loved his family, his God, and his friends.
He and I had recorded a bunch of demos together and I was
thrilled to be playing with him. Marrilee came to us
through a mutual friend. From the minute she stepped on the
stage and played piano and sang, I knew she was the right
fit. We would go on to share most of the singing
responsibilities in the band and she became a trusted
friend as well. To be honest, I'm not sure how Ron became a
part of the team, but being the oldest and wisest among us,
he was a great addition and worked hard to keep us
musically together. I met Rick at a worship event in
Abbotsford and asked him if he was available to play bass.
He agreed adding the final piece to the Doxa
Band puzzle.
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The Doxa Story //
Beginnings /
Growth /
Major Moves /
Events /
A New Direction
/
Take It To The
Streets /
A Year Off /
Doxa Begins Again
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More Changes
(c)
Shikina Publishing 2008