Kerry, Michael (Mike)

Author & Composer

b Szechwan, W China, of CIM parents. After education to A-level with a maths/science bias, he worked for 45 years as a computer programmer and consultant; he is now semi-retired and looks after private clients’ home PCs. He began composing in 1975 after a move to Sussex and a church led by Terry Virgo ‘brought me into a personal experience of the Holy Spirit’. He now belongs to Seaford Baptist Ch, E Sussex, where he sings and plays harmonica as a member of the worship group, and is also the Sound Co-ordinator. He enjoys other forms of sound recording, especially birdsong and nature in general, and is a major contributor to and moderator of the ‘Freesound’ project run by the Univ of Barcelona. Several of his songs (words and music) were published for the Downs Bible Weeks and appeared subsequently in the Songs of Fellowship, Spring Harvest series and MP (1970s-80s). His most popular composition from that period is included here. The death of a child led to ‘a long period of creative inactivity’ (MK), but he resumed writing around 1999. This has been mainly for local and inter-church ‘Harp and Bowl’ use, the latter representing ‘a union of prayer and worship‘. His most frequently-explored themes arise from the Song of Songs, such as I heard the voice of my Beloved and What this fragrance. No.787.