"You Don't Need Me"
Perry Lahaie
music and lyrics by: Perry LaHaie

Mom named me Moses, told me I was special
Gave me the best from the day of my birth
As I grew older, I came to believe it
Came to think that I was your gift to the earth...

Didn't realize..

You don't need me to do what you do in all the earth
You don't need me to give the world life, to give the dead birth
But you want me!
You want me!

Then came the moment, I was rejected
Turned away by the ones I tried to save
So I ran from a calling to the back of a desert
Came to see that I really wasn't so brave

Didn't realize…

You don't need me to do what you do in all the earth
You don't need me to give the world life, to give the dead birth
You don't need me to cancel out sin, to make the blind see
To break evil chains, to speak out your name, you don't need me
But you want me, you want me!

You have changed me in this desert;
crushed me through the years
Now you're saying I will pour my power through your tears

Finally realize...

You don't need me…

Cover Letter

With the release of his national recording debut, ENDLESS FIELDS, coming late this summer, singer-songwriter Perry LaHaie embarks on the greatest challenge of his life. He seeks to inspire a new generation of Christians to build the kingdom of God by reaching the lost locally and globally. He has a special passion for reaching the Muslim peoples and has teamed with the organization Frontiers to, with love and respect, invite them to follow Jesus. Please take a moment to check out Perry's attached biography. He has a strong ministry background that includes several years with Family Life Radio's WUGN in Midland, Michigan. I was first introduced to Perry and his music ministry nearly a decade ago and have been impressed with his commitment to sharing an uncompromised message of God's grace and truth. Endless Fields is Perry's sixth full studio release.

I love the debut single from Endless Fields entitled "YOU DON'T NEED ME." It starts off with the line, "Mom named me Moses, told me I was special." With that, you know you're in for a treat as the story of Moses begins to unfold from his perspective.

"I can really identify with Moses," comments Perry. "Not with all the powerful miracles, but with his humanity. Early in his life he was self-sufficient because of all the good things in his life: He was gifted, educated, raised by royalty and had a sense of calling and destiny for his life. But he tried to make things happen in his own strength. He killed an Egyptian who was abusing one of his ethnic brothers thinking perhaps that it was time to defend his people. But it wasn't God's time and it wasn't God's way. Instead he ended up running in fear for his life and spent 40 years of humility in a desert. In those years God chipped away at his self-sufficiency, even crushed him. He was being prepared to lead God's people out of Egypt. When the Lord finally came to him, calling him to lead, he didn't want to; the self sufficiency was gone. Now he was ready."

Perry continues, "Like Moses I've come to realize my self-sufficiency and pride. I see now that Jesus doesn't need my advice on how he might use me. I see clearly that he can do this saving thing pretty well all by himself. I mean, he's been doing really well without me for countless millennia. One of the things that Jesus has used in my life to break me is my struggle with anxiety and depression. On many occasions it's brought me to the end of myself and to the beginning of him. There have been breaking and crushing experiences to show me that the power comes from God and not from me."

"The great joy of these lessons is seeing now that though he doesn't need me, he invites me join his healing work on this planet in my generation. He wants me, he loves me, and he wants me to feel the joy that he feels in bringing his love to others."

The message of "You Don't Need Me" is fresh. I've never heard a song communicate this truth before and that's one thing that makes it a great song for radio. When I was a programmer, I was always looking for songs that communicated God's truth in a fresh, new way. "You Don't Need Me" does just that. And Perry's passionate vocal brings this story to life and through it, we are reminded how much God WANTS us! With your listeners losing jobs, struggling in relationships, and feeling like just another number in a database, this is a truth your listeners need to hear!

Give "You Don't Need Me" from Perry LaHaie a listen today. We're going for your add THIS FRIDAY, June 13!

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Biography

Born and raised in northern Michigan, Perry LaHaie grew up near the Mackinac Bridge, the five-mile suspension bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of The Great Lakes State. That region, rich in native and early American history instilled in Perry a great respect for the culture and history of Native Americans and the pioneering spirit of the explorers who first settled there. Perry says, “I guess part of my appreciation for other cultures and the adventurous spirit that God has placed in me comes from growing up in northern Michigan, and it has helped shape who I am today."

Perry came to Christ at an early age. Though his walk with Christ began early, he was not immune to the temptation life brings. "As a teenager, I really didn't know how to follow Jesus everyday and I didn't know how to put him first in my life,” says Perry. Having spent much of his youth feeling defeated by guilt, Perry carried with him a deep sense of shame. But his healing was about to come through a most unlikely series of events. “At the age of 18, I had severely injured my ankle playing basketball. My friends carried me home,” remembers Perry, “I asked my mom to pray for me and it was as if Jesus had walked into the room. He took away the pain in my ankle, more importantly he touched the pain in my heart. In that moment, I truly knew that Jesus loved me unconditionally and from that day on, I decided to follow him with everything in me.”

As an adult, Perry developed a close walk with Christ, but his struggles continued as he wrestled with the guilt and shame of his youth. This sense of shame led to an on-again off-again struggle with depression. In this place of brokenness came a defining moment in his life. “On Christmas day 1996, I was in a clinical depression and felt completely cut off from God. I felt I was no longer his child,” says Perry, “but at my lowest point, God proved to me that I am his child and he’s proved it to me countless times since. God’s grace has become the very pulse of my life and his unconditional love has been my very life and breath, my hope when I felt hopeless. This grace that I’ve experienced is the grace I want to see shared with those who’ve never had a chance to experience it. There’s grace for the world, not only for the few.”

This has become Perry’s purpose in life and with that in mind; he embarked on a journey that has forever changed his life. “In 2007 my family packed up all we owned and moved across the country to join Frontiers, an international community of ordinary people inviting Muslims all over the world to follow Jesus,” says Perry. “I made this move because of the astounding grace of Jesus Christ in my life. He delivered me from the deep shame that I carried for years and he’s helped me let it go, accept his forgiveness and forgive myself. There are people who’ve never had the opportunity to experience the freedom of God’s forgiveness. I have a passion for reaching those people.”

"I’ve always loved the story in the Bible about the boy with five loaves of bread and two fish," says Perry. "The boy gives Jesus the bread and fish and Jesus feeds over 5,000 people with it. Two things strike me about this story; first, the miracle Jesus performed and second, the fact that the boy gave everything he had. I think the two go together. I believe that if we give what little we have to Jesus, he will somehow make much of it." For Perry, his five loaves and two fish are radio and music and he's using them to make Jesus known close to home and to the farthest reaches of the planet. “I have a hunger to share this love not only with the people around me, but also with people far away and very different from me,” says Perry.

Perry’s music and ministry have taken him all over the United States, Mexico, Thailand, Turkey, Russia, and Belgium. With the release of his national recording debut, Endless Fields, Perry hopes to extend his impact by compelling others to reach out to the least reached throughout the world. “It is my hope and prayer that this project will inspire the American church to get involved in what God is doing in the Muslim world. I want to use whatever platform God gives with this record to share that message,” says Perry.

With an undergrad degree in communications, a graduate degree in cross-cultural communications and several years of broadcast experience, singer-songwriter Perry LaHaie is working to bring the unconditional love of Christ to those who have never had a chance to experience it. "I’m using my radio and music skills to inspire followers of Jesus to join in what God is doing among our Muslim friends. With radio, I create daily features that talk about what God is doing in the Muslim world,” says Perry. “My mission is to know Christ and offer my life for God's glory so that believers, those yet to believe, and especially those who have never heard will come to love Jesus passionately, obey him unswervingly and join him in working to redeem the nations.”

“There are about 6,500 ethnic/language groups of people without the gospel; around 247 of those groups are Muslim peoples with absolutely NO Christian witness. And there are currently only two workers for every one million Muslims throughout the world,” explains Perry. “I know that the Lord longs for these precious people to know him and for his glory to shine among them. My prayer is that this message will challenge the American church to join with God in inviting Muslims to follow Jesus.

“God’s grace is not only for the few, it is for the entire world. My message really revolves around that simple truth,” says Perry. “I want to inspire a generation to step out of their comfort zone and do something outside the box for the kingdom of God. I want to put people in touch with the beauty of Jesus. I want them to experience the freedom of his forgiveness. And in revealing the grace of God and the passion that he has for us, I want people to understand that he has the exact same passion for our Muslim friends throughout the world and that we are called to join his loving pursuit of them. It all comes down to this: Here is where God is working and here is how you can be a part of that. The time is now.”

Perry makes his home in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife and family. With the release of his national recording debut, Endless Fields, coming in August/September 2008, Perry LaHaie embarks on the greatest challenge of his life. He seeks to inspire a new generation of Christians to build the kingdom of God by reaching the lost locally and globally. He has a special passion for reaching the Muslim peoples and has teamed with the organization Frontiers to, with love and respect, invite them to follow Jesus.

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Extras

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