When there’s as many of you coming here searching for Gremlins and Spam as there are coming for iPod info, I seriously need to re-evaluate my blog topics! What an incredible blog this could be if All we discussed were Gremlins, Spam, and a little bit of Apple! HAHAHA!
Just in case you missed: Sound Gremlins
and some great SPAM images 
It’s our 2nd service, the one at 10:45.
I’m watching my team being led by another worship leader.
I’m watching our congregation being inspired and challenged by God’s Word by another pastor.
I’m feeling incredibly small and insignificant.
I’m feeling incredibly special and part of one of the most significant things that happens during the week!!
You see, we had a worship leader candidate in this weekend as well as an Associate Pastor from our parent church downtown. I knew I had driven to 36367 Perkins Rd in Prairieville, but it was the wildest sensation with these strangers up front! I wanted to hate our candidate because he was more skilled on the guitar as me, incredibly comfortable up front, led with conviction and passion, interacted with the congregation with a corporate prayer, led my team with ease, has a great voice, and is 6 years younger the me!! AHH THE SHAME OF IT ALL! Then all during the message I kept thinking the pastor was familiar and it wasn’t until the end when someone leaned over and whispered, “Hey doesn’t he remind you of Andy Stanley?!?!” HOLY CRAP HE DOES!
It was the immensely heavy feeling that morning in the back of the room as I saw different people filling the roles we…let me clarify and speak for myself here…I can cling on to so tightly because it’s what I do. And I’m supposed to be finding someone to replace me A time that was an incredibly shrinking moment that also was the greatest, deepest, fullest breath of air knowing, knowing that God is in control with or without me!
So what do you do? Any other people leading worship feel the same tension? (See I’ve already gotten better! I’m not calling you by your job!) It’s like, I know this doesn’t shirk the responsibility of coming in with our hearts prepared as well as skillfully prepared for worship. But yet I also know that I am just a piece in God’s plan. This may sound ludicrous but it’s really incredibly satisfying. It also kind of makes my head hurt. I think my perception of God has gotten a bit bigger which be default makes me a little dizzy HAHA!
Well my lil Pregnant Energizer Bunny keeps going and going and going… I never imagined we’d be looking at March 30th and not having this kiddo already. Rae has been miserable and “ready” is now an enormous understatement. We have a Doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and the rest of the family is under Red Alert! This lil guy is coming soon!
M 17-
T 18-
W 19-
TH 20-
F 21-
SAT 22- Billy Chia AM
SUN 23-
M 24- Ali PM
T 25- Kimmy PM
W 26- Jimbo PM
TH 27- Ginger PM
F 28- Shane AM – Shawn M PM
SAT 29- Phillip AM – Scoots PM
SUN 30- Jonathan AM – Chad PM
M 31- Dwpoyner AM – Chris PM
The people with a sick sense of humor: T April 1- Mudpuppy AM – inWorship PM
W 2- JM AM – Portorikan PM
TH 3-Michael E AM – Klampert PM
F 4- Aaron AM – Stephen Barry PM
Due Date SAT 5- Jonathan AM
SUN 6-
M 7- David Guion PM
I found some inspiration from a post by Lifehacker about creative ways to cycle through you iTunes library. I didn’t tag it but it’s been festering in the back of my mind as I continue to hear the same bands/albums/songs popping up even when I hit “Shuffle.” So, I thought I’d try daily soundtracks for a week with artists/albums/songs that start with the letter of the corresponding day of the week.Today is all artists with the letter “S:”
And since my home computer (like today) has different artists than my work computer this should be interesting.
We finally wrapped up our reading and discussion of Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. Actually it was 2 weeks ago! This week we met and just had a party! It was a great time and probably some of the most fun I’ve had in a while. When people ask me what sharing life is all about, I’m able to point to moments of celebration like that as an example of the highs of doing life together! People asked off work, brought the kids, brought food, brought beers, brought Rock Band, and we just had a blast! It was also the last time Rae and I will meet with our group until quite some time with the impending baby that will get here sooner or later!
I am continuing to meet with my Guy’s Group and we just picked up Deadly Viper Character Assassins! It is blowing my mind! It’s incredibly fun and I highly recommend it for ANYONE who is looked at as a leader by at least 3 other people. You may lead in a volunteer capacity. You may lead professionally. You may be a Father! This book is great. So far, nothing has been mindblowingly new, but it’s timeless truths told through the lens that I’ve never heard it before.
So regardless of if you’ve “heard it all before,” NO you haven’t! Not like this!
I’m up to chapter 3…no 4…no 2…um…I’ve read Chapter 0, 1, 2 . See what I mean. Who starts with Chapter 0!
Are there any other Kung Foo masters of character out there studying the disciplines of Master Po?
Yeah I know we’ve all finally decompressed from Easter but I just enjoyed the mess out of Easter and I’d like to get back into the swing of my Worship Confessionals. With our worship leader candidates coming in, I don’t have the opportunity much to enjoy these. The most important thing that God showed me again because for some reason I need to be reminded over and over again, is that even in the best laid plans and the ones that fall to pieces, He is in control! It’s a pretty special thing to truly feel that and definitely a wonderful thing to remember and know it! My intentions for Sunday were as planned:
So when that week went down like this:
I was feeling a bit downtrodden! A bit unsure of myself and what was going to happen on High Holy Sunday! I even spewed forth my uneasiness here on the blog!
But Easter came and it was amazing what God does. So our band wasn’t huge, it was full though. We nixed Creed but I’ve heard great things about our opener and about the arrangements of the songs we chose. Love, love, love for Amena Brown and her ministry! And worship happened! I tried to honor God through preparation and attempting to maximize our resources at our church and it didn’t happen. I’ve been encouraged and inspired and motivated by what some of you did for Easter. It wasn’t us this year. But it didn’t matter. God was glorified and celebrated and it was His name that we sung about that morning. We played skillfully and joyfully. I lost myself in worship quite a number of times that morning. I saw people responding. I felt like we did the most with what we were given and to those who know nothing else, they would never have known the struggles we had during the week. As far as they could tell, it was exactly as we intended.
To God be the glory!
After some feedback, I made this. I like the background music on this one as well, it’s from Bee Movie.
We’re about to begin a Church Recruiting Campaign and we have this Tool Time/Tim the Toolman Taylor kind of theme that we’re having fun with. This portion of the video I didn’t shoot, it was done by my good friend Jonathan but I put in more time than I thought I would to get the flow right and edit down the 30+ minutes of footage they took on Sunday morning into 3 and 1/2 minutes.
Purpose: to have fun watching “Tim” walk through the different areas of ministry in our church where we need volunteers and laugh at him botch things up Intro and set up will be done by “Tim and Al” live on the Tool Time set as well as a wrap up.
FYI the soundtrack is not what we’ll play. It was just a 3 minute song I had in iTunes that fit. I think we’ll use Flight of the Bumblebee or something like that.
What do you video pros think? Be gentle but honest! Just remember I don’t own a Mac nor do I do Video editing on a regular basis at all!!
I just can’t get enough of Phil Wickham. (Go now and immediately purchase Cannons in case you’ve lived under a rock and don’t have it yet!)
So, imagine me bouncing like a giddy school boy finding these 2 incredible gems in my Google Reader today!
True Love – live in Studio. Kudos Dustin!
True Love – Music Video. Kudos Phil Wickham! and apparently the creative people at Shining Beacon.
The talent behind Phil Wickham that blows me away is that this song sounds complete and fine all by itself with just him and his acoustic. This is what I experienced live in concert sandwiched between the energy of The Myriad and Crowder on the Remedy tour and he held his own! I thought I’d get he and his acoustics on CD as well but what I got were beautiful full band arrangements of the songs I fell in love with…and I love! Then I found out he blogs as well!! Come on! What’s not to love
Thumbs Up/Down has been a fun addition here to WorshipCity that I enjoy doing every Tuesday with new music. For those who are regulars, you know I can become quite the talker So from now on, Thumbs Up/Down will be a quick overview of some new material I’ve gotten my hands on and in-depth reviews will take their own post. That way for a quick look see you can check these out and simply see either a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down and then I’ll link to the full review when I get it up. Those will entertain my full long-windedness
Starfield – I Will Go – It’s not that I try not to like certain bands but I was pretty skeptical that I’d like this CD when I got my hands on it. I know everyone loved Beauty in the Broken but I just never got into it and therefore never picked it up. My impression from I Will Go though has me thinking I made a BIG mistake! This CD in a word = THICK. U2y guitars, big vocals, a nice mix of the popular quirky chord progressions United likes to do with some very singable melodies. Parts of this CD slow down and just feel real comfortable as well!
To Grab Your Attention: Hosanna -it takes some stones to grab an already immensely popular tune and shake it up to your own style. Holy is Out God – a very worshipful singable song. The ending just soars! I love it!
Daniel Doss Band – Greater Than Us All – With a sample on Fresh Tunes – Winter 2008, I was really interested in this band. I think mostly the lyrical content of this CD is really what grabs me. With the opener of Great God:
-Great God, greater than us all – Forgive us we have made You small – God open our eyes to see – Just a great chorus that puts things in perspective for us! They don’t let up with God in Me, or Blessed is the One, or Love Like Rain. There’s this kind of raw, authentic sound in the vocals that I love. Plus, things with Ed Cash have been grabbing my attention lately
To Grab Your Attention: Great God – why not, it’s just a great song that gives a good glimpse of the band. Blessed is the One – just goodness all over it. Creatively Lord Reign into Light is Shining I love!
