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The Newsprint Connection and Remarkable Predecessors

Here is my Worship Text-fessional for March 30, 2008

Set list for Chase Valley Church

• God of Wonders – Mark Byrd and Steve Hindalong
• Beautiful One – Tim Hughes
• Light the Fire Again – Brian Doerksen
• Hungry -Kathryn Scott
• Evermore – Joel Houston

Highlights/Lowlights

One of our singers brought in a Newspaper today dated 8 years ago. She had forgotten about this news clip and just found it today by happenstance. It was from the first day Chase Valley Church worshiped in this building when it was newly constructed. There was an article about CVC and large picture taken during the worship service. The lyrics on the screen in the photo were

Clothe me in white so I won’t be ashamed. Lord light the Fire again.

Also by random chance I chose Light the Fire Again as a song for today. It was awesome to do that song and feel that deep connection to the past.

Practice was amazing this week. I had high hopes for today. I was a bit disappointed. Our execution was decent but not exceptional.

I have a deep longing to worship God in a way that is remarkable. Read: I want things to be done in a way that they are worth remarking on. I want people talk about worshiping God to their friends. I’m not sure that right now people are so excited about our worship service that they are compelled to talk about it. I’m wrestling with the notion that God could be calling me to simply be faithful and not worry about being remarkable.

Evermore. Great song. I love my predecessor. She was in love with Hillsong and as a result the congregation knows TONS of Hillsong songs. I’ve never done Evermore before this week, but chose to learn it based on the church’s familiarity. I love this song. All week long I was singing these lyrics into my heart:

Even if my world falls I will say, ‘Above all I live for Your glory.’

For that matter I love both my predecessors. I’m Worship Pastor #3 for Chase. It’s a big honor to follow in their footsteps.

What do you think?

“Being remarkable” should or should not be a goal within the worship ministry?

Palm Sunday Recap

Set List for Chase Valley Church for Sunday, March 16

• The Happy Song – Martin Smith
• Hosanna – Paul Baloche
• Everlasting God – Brenton Brown
• We Humble Ourselves – Paul Baloche
• Hosanna – Brooke Fraser
• Holy is the Lord – Chris Tomlin

Highlights/Lowlights

Singing with the children – for the last 3 weeks I’ve skipped out on the sermon to hang with the kiddos and teach them Hosanna by Paul Baloche. All the kids from k – 5th grade came walked in with palms and then came up front to lead this song. We had them piled on each side of the stage and they did sign language for the chorus. It rocked.

Simple Band – We scaled down to one vocalist (besides me), and only one guitar, bass and drums. It worked AWESOME.  The music was tight and we reached a new level today musically.

My voice didn’t quite “wake up.” It was tough to sing the whole set. We did Holy is the Lord as a response song after the sermon. Then as people are leaving we sing the chorus again. My voice finally felt ready to start as we were singing that final chorus.

2 Hosannas – Yeah it’s Palm Sunday, of course we’re gonna sing multiple versions of “Hosanna in the Highest.” They both went great.

Electric – I played my electric on the Fraser Hosanna. (I played acoustic on everything else.) I wanted to get the delay and cool riffs into the song. The bass carried a lot with out the acoustic so it still sounded pretty good with only one guitar.

Something Wrong About This

I did a CCLI Song Select Search for “fasting.”

The Result:

No one’s ever written a song about Christian fasting? Ever? Really?

Josh Wilson – Awesome Acoustic

Josh Wilson has got impressive chops on the acoustic guitar. Armed with a Boss RC-20XL loop station, DD-20 Giga Delay and a Taylor he brought and assault of rhythmic harmony and catchy vocal hooks to Shea’s Express in Huntsville tonight. The groove between Josh’s flying fingers layered against his tap-dancing feet on the pedal board was a sight to behold. Imagine Dave Matthews meets Sammy Davis Jr. and you know what I’m talking about.

(btw – If Renown keeps bringing in the stellar Nashville musicians I might have to make this a weekly post.)

The crowd was into it – clapping their hands and whistling along to the likes of Stevie Wonder covers and Josh’s original material. Seriously, check out Breakthrough on Josh’s myspace page. And buy his CD.

For you tech/guitar geeks out there Josh’s board was tight. Along with loop/delay he ran a 2 Boss EQs and an Electro-Harmonix Micro POG (For shifting down an octave adding bass gutiar to the loop.) His pedals were actually stacked on top of a 2 channel rack compressor running into an a/b box and his own in-ear monitor before running out to FOH. Essentially this allows him to self-mix guitar and vocal with the a/b allowing him to send either signal to the looper.

After the show Josh told me he often plays with a band but simplifies to just himself and the pedal board for more intimate shows. I say leave the band at home – the one man show rocks.

Worship Confessional | 12.23.07

Worship Set List for Christian Fellowship Church – December 23rd 2007

• The First Noel – Arrangement by Jeff Lippencott
• Joy to the World -Issac Watts
• Child of Bethlehem – Wayne Watson
• It Came Upon a Midnight Clear – Arrangement by David S. Hampton
• Glory in the Highest – Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Matt Redman, Jesse Reeves and Daniel Carson
• 2000 Decembers Ago – Joy Williams (Written by Joel Lindsey and Regie Hamm)
• In Christ Alone – Arrangement by Mark Cole
• Jesus, Name Above All Names – From My Savior Lives DVD (Ross Parsley, New Life Church)

Worship Confessional | 11.04.07

Find out just what happens when you memorize your worship songs…

Set List for Christian Fellowship Church for November 4, 2007:

• Praise to the Lord, The Almighty – Arr. Nathan and Christy Nockels
• My Redeemer Lives – Reuben Morgan
• How Great is Our God – Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash
• Everlasting God – Brenton Brown
• Shine – Matt Redman

How was your Sunday?

Pre – Worship Confessional | 10.29.07

Set List for Christian Fellowship Church this weekend:

• Praise to the Lord, The Almighty – Arr. Nathan and Christy Nockels
• My Redeemer Lives – Reuben Morgan
• How Great is Our God – Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash
• Everlasting God – Brenton Brown
• Shine – Matt Redman

Hillsong United Lyrics: True or False?

I’ll only ever give my all.

I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around this lyric and it just doesn’t work. I’ve been listening to Hillsong United’s Take It All non-stop for the last week. Musically I love this song, but I’ve been having trouble trying to reconcile the lyrics with what I know to be true about God. Until today, I was reading some blogs and I think I’m a little closer.

Warning: Thinking out loud post ahead. I may be wrong and I reserve the right to change my mind.

Sarah, first pointed it out to me by asking,

Are we really never ashamed of Jesus?

The Hillsong United lyrics “We’ll never be ashamed of You” and “I’ll only ever give my all” don’t seem congruent with non-perfect people. If we were prefect it seems we could sing these lines, but I’ve yet to met a Christian who never made mistake and only ever gave Jesus his all. It seems like at some point even the most authentic Christians give Jesus less than their all.

Bob from In the Clearing writes in Whitmanesque Worship

The reason I need a savior is that I have not loved God with my whole heart. If I say that now I do love him with my whole heart, I needn’t any longer speak of Jesus or long for Him, because in fact I no longer need him.

(ht: Shannon Lewis)

Bob’s argument is that we can’t with a good conscience sing, “I love you Jesus with all my heart” (or possibly even “I’ll only ever give my all.”) because it is a lie.

I disagree with this argument. I think we can sing it truthfully. (Just like the 10 verses of scripture that use “all my heart.”)

God calls us to love him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. Essentially to love God will all that we are, not simply our minds, but also our emotions and our actions as well. Worship works the same way. It’s multidimensional. So I worship God not only with my mind, but at times I worship God emotionally, even if it doesn’t make sense to my brain.

For example:

I love my wife. I mean I really love my wife more that I ever imagined I could ever love any other person. She is 15,000 times cooler than I even ever imagined a woman could ever be and I’m desperately, passionately, head-over-heals, crazy in love with her. This emotion is so powerful I don’t have words to describe it but I would definitely tell Sarah,

I love you with all my heart.

Do I mean it? 110% If we’re speaking emotionally. Now, in my actions do I love her with all my heart? Not even, close. I’m a pretty second-rate husband sometimes and I am way fortunate that my wife is so gracious. The the statement is true or false based on your perspective. Emotionally, it’s more than true, in action it is not.

How much more do I love God?

So can I logically worship God with my mind and sing “I’ll only ever give my all” ?

No, I don’t think so. That would be a flat out lie.

But emotionally would that line be a decent attempt to describe the indescribable way I feel about God?

Yeah.

Would it start to express what I want to say to God from the inner depths of my soul?

Yeah.

I believe in a huge God that wants to be worshiped with all of me. He’s big enough to be worshiped by my mind and my emotions. He’s even big enough to accept that worship even if I’m not using my mind and my emotions at the same time. If you’re like me when it comes to matters of emotion you start to use hyperbole. You exaggerate more and more trying to express what you feel. It’s not a lie. You fully mean every word of it and God knows that.

I’ll only ever give my all.

Jesus we’re living for your name and we’ll never be ashamed of you.

In our praise. In all we are today.

Take it all.

I mean those words. At least as much as David meant Psalm 26.

Don’t you?

The Beginings of a Rockstar

I promised Eve-Marie, my 7-year-old, that I’d start to teach her guitar when she finished her level 1 piano books. The other day she finished one of her books and Sarah bought the next level of piano books for her. So as a reward for learning to ride a bike I busted out my SG and taught Evie how to play Holy is the Lord. It was a glorious moment for me. I’ve given guitar lessons to more kids than I can count and always dreamed of the day I’d teach my own children.

Well it turned out I goofed. Apparently Evie didn’t finish her level 1 piano books, the book she finished is a pre-level book. So the level 1 books are really called “primers” and the level 2 books are called “level 1.” Sound confusing? Alright, it’s not just me then.

Sarah and I both want Evie to stay serious about piano so yesterday I told her that I would give her a guitar lesson only after she’d practiced the piano that day. Most days piano practicing is met with groans and whining but today Evie volunteered to practice with out coaxing. She then reminded me, “As you know, I practiced my piano today and you said you’d give me a guitar lesson when I did.”

At my house getting to practice guitar is a reward for practicing the piano. How do ya like that?

Find New Popular Worship Songs

PW Archive’s Top Songs is a web 2.0 style worship resource that can help worship leaders find out which new songs are popular in other churches. Learning which songs are used in heavy rotation in other churches in the US and around the world has several benefits:

• Quality: Often songs are popular because they are of high quality both musically and lyrically. This is not always the case and there’s room for personal taste. (I’m not always a fan of what’s most popluar.) However, odds are that if you listen to songs that have popularity you will find several that you believe are also high quality.
• Community: Singing well-known songs breeds community and connectedness with other Christians around the world. How cool is it to go to a Promise Keepers convention or to visit a church overseas and sing the same songs you do on Sunday morning? You feel instantly connected with those other people becuase you sing the same songs. (Note: Community is not only a reason to sing the newest popular songs, but also to sing the oldest popular hymns. The older the better as you become connected with other Christians not simply across the world but across time as well. )
• Less Risk: Often times introducing a new song the congregation can be a nerve-wracking experience. There’s doubt involved in whether they will like the new song or connect with it. Knowing that a song has been used effectively in other congregations helps lessen the risk involved in introducing new songs.

Many worship leaders are familiar with CCLI’s Top 25. This resource can be inaccurate towards the end of learning which worship songs are popular. It is based on which songs get reported the most to CCLI, not necessarily which songs are sung the most in churches. (For example Lord I Lift Your Name on High by Rick Founds is Ranked #10 for August 2007 in the United States.) The CCLI Top 25 is probably a better representation an “All Time Greatest Worship Hits.” These are songs that have stood the test of time, but you won’t find a lot of newly popular songs.

PW Archive (Praise/Worship Archive) likewise does not track which songs actually get sung the most. But it does track which chord charts are requested the most often. By design this system has a propensity to highlight songs that are both new and popular. People most likely already have the chord charts for older tunes, but search online to find the chords for new songs.

Top 5 songs for October 2007

1. Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) – Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, John Newton, Edwin O. Excell, John P. Rees – Copyright 2006
2. From The Inside Out – Joel Houston – Copyright 2005
3. Hosanna – Brooke Fraser – Copyright 2006
4. Your Grace Is Enough – Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher – Copyright 2003
5. Everlasting God – Brenton Brown, Ken Riley – Copyright 2005

As you can see from the copyright date, all of these songs were recently published.

Most of us use PW Archive as a place to get chords charts. It has some nice features, such as the ability to make an instant overhead or format your lead sheet in a variety of ways. However, I find that the chord charts are often wrong. (I personally use these charts more as a starting point to then figure songs our by ear.)

The real power of PW Archive is that it tracks how many times a chord chart get clicked on and then organizes that data. Each month you will find a list of the 50 most popular chord charts.

Take a look at the top 50 for this month. You may find a song on there you weren’t aware of which would be worth looking into. This is a great resource for finding newly popular worship songs.

Free Monk and Neagle Music

Monk & Neagle were featured today on myfreemusicfridays.com.

Beautiful You one of my favorite songs off the new album, is available for free.

Conner clued me into this site a while back.

I have to say that each week they seem to have at least one good song. I’ve subscribed for a few weeks now and I haven’t gotten any spam from them.

Also available for free this week are True Love by Phil Wickham and Red Five, Standing by by A Denver Mile.

You can go snag your free music.

and

Check out my interview with Monk and Neagle.

Evansville College Music Fridays

This afternoon Sarah and I stopped into the Briar & Bean. After buying a small Decaf French Vanilla and a medium Daily Dark Roast we parked ourselves on the couch. We were pretty engrossed in conversation when two girls walked in carrying a Telecaster and some sound gear. We asked them, “Are you doing some live music tonight?”

Ellen, the one with the guitar, informed us that she was playing at 6pm with her friend Kara.

We drove back later in the evening to find a small crowd of college kids enjoying Ellen signing a simple, heartfelt rendition of Ani Difranco’s “32 Flavors.” We manned the couch again and listened to the girls go on to play some of their own original music. They fumbled through the songs a bit and didn’t have a predetermined set list, but I always think coffeehouse shows are a little more laid back. Both girls had beautiful voices that made the trip back to the Briar & Bean worth it.

Recently Sarah has been hinting that she’d like to play some shows with me. I’ve kinda put this on the back burner, but watching this duo ignited something that made me want to play live again.

During intermission we introduced ourselves to the girls. I told them that we enjoyed the show and that I’d be writing this blog post about them. Ellen jotted down Kara’s myspace address on some notebook paper so I could check out more of her music. She also told me they play every Friday night at the Briar & Bean.

If you live in town and find yourself in the mood for some bluesy folk rock, go check these girls out.

The show was free so on the way out Sarah dropped a couple dollars in an over-sized coffee cup marked “tips.” When we got home we started to figure out the harmonies for So Long Sweet Summer.

Thanks for the inspiration, girls.

Maybe you’ll find us playing a gig soon as well.

Review: Shane and Shane in Concert

Last night Sarah and I caught Shane & Shane, Bebo Norman and Monk & Neagle on the Pages Tour at Camp Kramers in Evansville. Here’s a rundown of the night:

Shane and Shane –

Prior to last night I’d only heard two songs by these guys: “The Answer” and “It is well.” I love both of these tunes, but unfortunately they didn’t play either of them, opting instead to pull the majority of their set from the new album. I was not a fan of the new stuff. It was all really cliche and lyrically simplistic. There was also something strangely androgynous about a guy singing lyrics like:

“I beg for you to move.”
“All my cute little words about how I am saved.”
“I want to yearn for You”
“deep blue china”
“oh, I miss You so”

What kinda guy sings about china? They just seemed really girly to me. I probably could’ve appreciated the words more if they were coming from a woman speaking about how much she loves her husband. I can usually take one or two “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs, but when every song in the set is like this it’s a bit much for me.

On the positive side, Shane & Shane’s drummer is a groove master and adept at capturing loops with his Abelton-type software. If rated on drumming alone I’d give Shane & Shane 10 stars.

Monk and Neagle –

Check out my Interview with Monk and Neagle.

These guys rocked it out! Sarah and I have been fans for a while and it was very awesome to see that they’d joined the tour in place of Shawn McDonald. This is the type of group you see live and say, “The CD doesn’t do them justice.”

I am greatly impressed by these guys becuase they are “Christian” musicians but they don’t cave into the pressure to make every song about Jesus. “Stars Would Fall (I’m Crazy)” is a song they wrote to their wives. It was one of my favorites of the night and now I have to learn to play it for Sarah.

Bebo Norman –

Bebo Norman was phenomenal; definitely the highlight of night. Bebo brings an authenticity and lyrical depth that doesn’t disappoint. I was having such a bad day yesterday that we almost didn’t go to the show. I needed to hear and sing along with some words like,

“I will life my eyes to maker of the mountains I can’t climb”
“Let the ocean rise to meet me, I need you to bring me to life.”
“I’m half a man here, so come make me whole”
“Take these hands and lift them up, for I have not the strength to praise you near enough.”

Bebo calls himself a “Clumsy Christian,” who stubbles often. I can relate.

At the end of his set he put his lyrics up on the screen and invited everyone to worship with him. The song “Nothing Without You” is stellar and you need to be doing this one in your church.

Final Rundown

Overall it was great night. I’m a huge fan of bass thumping in my chest and the fact that the show was outdoors at a camp gave the entire night a familiar down-homey vibe. We were even able to meet up with several friends including Lee, Kara and Nicole. If the Pages Tours comes to your town I highly recommend checking it out.

Love Song for Sarah

When I first met Sarah I wrote this chord progression on the piano for her. I used to play it everyday and pray for her. After a while I put lyrics to the song.

Sarah was the first in our relationship to actually say the words, “I love you.” In fact she didn’t really mean to, they just slipped out one day when we were gazing deeply into each other’s eyes.

I didn’t say, “I love you” back.

Instead, I took her hand, pulled her over to the piano, and played this song.

(my voice cracks a bit but that’s what it use to sound like when I’d sing it and pray for her. I wrote the lyrics to the bridge after we got married.)

Wedding as Worship Part 7

When Sarah and I were planning our wedding we decided we wanted the event to be first and foremost a service of corporate worship to God and only a wedding on secondary level.

This is the 7th of 7 sections of video from our wedding on March 11th, 2006 to show what that looked like.

Part 7 – The Kiss:

Exit Tune: Beautiful Day – U2

Eve-Marie was so cute. Her job was to drop rose pedals on the way in so she thought she’d pick them up on the way out.

Wedding as Worship Part 5

When Sarah and I were planning our wedding we decided we wanted the event to be first and foremost a service of corporate worship to God and only a wedding on secondary level.

This is the 5th of 7 sections of video from our wedding on March 11th, 2006 to show what that looked like.

Part 5 – The Bride’s Entrance – Vows:

• Sarah’s Entrance: Still Burning – Sixpence None the Richer
• Eph 5:22 – 33 read by Katie Moore
• Sermon by Tracy Gorman
• Vows written by Sarah and Billy Chia

Billy’s Vows:

SARAH!! I take you to be my wife, confident in my soul that you will be my lifesaving helpmate, true friend and loving companion

Today, in the presence of God, our family, and our friends, I give to you my sacred vow that as your husband and Eve-Marie’s Daddy,

I will always protect you, cherish you, and sacrifice myself to love you as Christ loved the Church

Not only in health but also in sickness,

Throughout our laughter and our tears,

Whether we are blessed with abundance or struggling with want.

I promise to

Love you completely

Giving you my heart, my body and my commitment

And to lead you in the adventure that God ordained for us

As long as we both live.

Sarah’s Vows:

Billy, I take you to be my husband and Eve-Marie’s Daddy, confident in my soul that you will be my faithful protector, true friend and loving companion.

Today, in the presence of God, our family, and our friends, I give to you my sacred vow that as your wife,

I will always help you, respect you, and submit to you as to the Lord–

Not only in health but also in sickness,

Throughout our laughter and our tears,

Whether we are blessed with abundance or struggling with want.

I promise to

Love you completely

Giving you my heart, my body and my commitment

And to join you in the adventure that God ordained for us

As long as we both live.

Wedding as Worship Part 4

When Sarah and I were planning our wedding we decided we wanted the event to be first and foremost a service of corporate worship to God and only a wedding on secondary level.

This is the 4th of 7 sections of video from our wedding on March 11th, 2006 to show what that looked like.

Part 4 – Processional:

Not to Us – Chris Tomlin

We had our bridesmaids/groomsmen/parents walk in during Not to Us. At around 1:30 on the video you see my brother, Al, walk in my mom-in-law and then see my best man, Kevin, raising his hands. Al’s not much of a church kid so not really knowing what Kevin was doing he gives Kev a high-five.

The band:

• BJ Barnes – Lead Guitar, Harmonies
• Cassie Hodges – Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals
• Tyler Neff – Drums
• Daniel Roach – Bass

Wedding as Worship Part 3

When Sarah and I were planning our wedding we decided we wanted the event to be first and foremost a service of corporate worship to God and only a wedding on secondary level.

This is the 3rd of 7 sections of video from our wedding on March 11th, 2006 to show what that looked like.

Part 3 – Worshiping God through Song 3:

Better is One Day – Matt Redman

One of my favorite moments from that day is at the end of this video when I let the people at my wedding lead me in worship.

The band:

• Billy Chia – Synth/Piano, Lead Vocals
• BJ Barnes – Lead Guitar, Harmonies
• Cassie Hodges – Acoustic Guitar, Harmonies
• Tyler Neff – Drums
• Daniel Roach – Bass

Wedding as Worship Part 2

When Sarah and I were planning our wedding we decided we wanted the event to be first and foremost a service of corporate worship to God and only a wedding on secondary level.

This is the 2nd of 7 sections of video from our wedding on March 11th, 2006 to show what that looked like.

Part 2 – Worshiping God through Song 2:

In Christ Alone – Stuart Townend

BJ laid down a nice little solo. Scope it:

The band:

• Billy Chia – Synth/Piano, Harmonies
• BJ Barnes – Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals
• Cassie Hodges – Acoustic Guitar, Harmonies
• Tyler Neff – Drums
• Daniel Roach – Bass

Wedding as Worship Part 1

When Sarah and I were planning our wedding we decided we wanted the event to be first and foremost a service of corporate worship to God and only a wedding on secondary level.

Over the next 7 days I’ll be posting 7 sections of video from our wedding on March 11th, 2006 to show what that looked like.

Part 1 – Worshiping God through Song 1:

• No One Like You – David Crowder
• Indescribable – Chris Tomlin

The band:

• Billy Chia – Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals (Indescribable), Harmonies (No One Like You)
• BJ Barnes – Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals (No One Like You), Harmonies (Indescribable)
• Cassie Hodges – Acoustic Guitar, Harmonies
• Tyler Neff – Drums
• Daniel Roach – Bass
  

New Song Psalm 103

A worship song that Sarah and I wrote together.

Psalm 103

Praise the Lord oh my soul
Praise His holy name
Praise the Lord oh my soul
For the good He brings
Praise the Lord oh my soul
He forgives my sin
Praise the Lord oh my soul
The healer of my wounds

He redeems my life from the grave

Compassionate and gracious Lord
Slow to anger and abounding in love
As far as East to West He has removed
My indebtedness from me

Paperback Writer

My favorite Evansville radio station recently placed the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” in their song rotation. I heard it today right after the Cold War Kids’ “Hang Me Out to Dry,” and the thought that struck me was how much these two songs written almost 30 years apart fit together so well musically or really how well Paperback Writer fits with most of the stuff on 96.9.

To me this is either an indicator that…

• the Beatles were way ahead of their time
• the Beatles are still extremely influential in modern rock especially pop indie/emo
• the Beatles are were a super rockin’ band whose music is still extremely powerful decades later

or

• all of the above

Yeah I know this is nothing new. O well.

So Geeked

Samurai Vain = awesomity

I’m about halfway thru the editing process.

Look for more info to come on a premiere date.

Thanx to Special Delivery, One Day Less, 88 mph, and The Rising Tide for being so cool and letting us use their music.

You gotta hit this show

I’m way excited for Battle of the Bands at
Saginaw Valley Church of the Nazarene.
Friday, June 10 6pm

Featuring:

Purevolume: ———- Website:

One Day Less ———http://www.onedayless.com
88 MPH ————–http://www.88rock.com
Lost for Words ——-http://www.lostforwordsband.com
Special Delivery —–http://www.specialdeliveryrocks.com

With special guest speaker:

Me 🙂 – http://billychia.com

directions from Google:

Your Address

See ya there.

The Fun Part About Tomorrow

Tunes: 88 Miles Per Hour
Worship was pretty excellent this morning. I saw some many kewl people I wish I would’ve had more time to talk, the downside of leading worship. Although we played with a guest drummer today who goes to a presbyterian church in midland. He was very talented and when you’re playing bass with a good drummer it just opens up room for the Spirit to come. I swear more people were raising their hands today than normal. I know worship’s not all about people raising their hands but there is a difference between just worshiping God personally and corporate worship where there’s a communal sense that the Spirit is present.

So this band really rocks, you should check them out:
www.purevolume.com/88milesperhour

Seminars4Worship Confrence

Tunes: Ross Parsly

wow. I have been looking for a long time for what God wanted me to do next. I felt a tension in being too busy and knowing that I needed to stop doing some things and really step up on others and over the last two days God answered in a big way. I spent the last two days and a seminars4worship conference where I heard amazing, compelling, encouraging, convicting talks from the country’s leading worship leaders on everything from Postmodern culture to multi-generational worship. God melted my heart like an ice cream carton left out overnight. Right now the kitchen floor’s a sticky mess but I’m totally in a place for God to reshape me into something cool and I’m way excited.
I have a lot to pray about and consider over the next few weeks. God is moving. It’s awesome.

The Best Day EVER

Tunes: ACDC, Back in Black
Yeah yesterday rocked it out hardcore. My older brother and his super cool friend Mike (who’s like my other older brother) hooked me up with a chance to record in a real studio. It was amazing. I think it’s a process I need to highly recommend to everyone. I’ll have a 4 or 5 song EP coming out soon so I’m way excited. Be on the look out for a new website featuring yours truly in the role of the rock star.
Also how cool was Star Wars? Pretty darn cool. Although I think I liked the massive amounts of light saber battles in the parking lot and chilling with friends before the movie than the actual movie.
Favorite Star Wars movies in order of favortiness:
Episode II Attack of the Clones
Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
Episode VI Return of the Jedi
Episode IV A New Hope
Episode III Revenge of the Sith
Episode I The Phantom Menace

oh a great many things

Tunes: Mae, The Everglow
Hanging out for Shakespeare was excellent. I laughed so hard it was outta control. All the kids were great, but I was totally blown away by Beth’s mad acting skillz. I’m like 10,752 times more excited for the kung fu movie now that I’ve seen Beth do some acting and Alaine do some writing. (We’re not scraping the script)

Star Wars is coming up and that should be sweet. We geeked up for it today by watching some clone wars cartoons. It was way fun on the big screen. I’m all about bringing my lightsaber to the show, but I’m not so down with the cause play. (is that how you spell it?)

I was thinking about how powerful memories are. Like when I was in high school I had a good friend named Jacqui who introduced me to emo and indie music. I always had fun hanging out with her and consequently I expereienced all these happy memories listenting to emo. I think that’s why I like it so much now. I hate country, but I love this song, “If you’re gonna play in Texas you gotta have a fiddle in the band.” I just remeber always having fun in Texas when ever we listened to that song so I luv it. Recently I haven’t been able to stop singing, “Pink Tux (I love the 80’s)” Everyone got all goofy and into it at the concert when I busted out my cellphone so I think that made this positive memory and now I like that song more than if I would have not heard it at the concert and had that positive memory attached to it.

My theory is that most things in life are like this. If you like acting, tennis, basket weaving, or appraising 3rd century indonesian art odds are that at some point in you life you had a positive memory attached to this activity.

Worst Auidoblog ever

so yeah, check out the audioblog from the Relient K concert, but my cellphone kept cutting out. You’ll get to hear a lot of our bad singing, but not so much of the Relient K. They still rocked it. Good Charolette was pretty much a let down bathed in triteness. But, their guitar player did have a cool jacket.

“and I’m only gonna peirce my left ear
and I’ve been working on the mustache all summer long
and my favorite band will always be Tears for Fears
and I’m gonna wear a pink tux to the prom”

Excellent

Tunes: Relient K, Sadie Hawakins Dance

Oh yes fun times abound. Getting more excited moment by moment for the Source the concert and Beth’s play. It’s been absolutely beautiful outside lately. Also the yogurt that comes with McDonald’s fruit and walnut salad is so good it’s like that good crack rock.

teary eyes and a sore gut

Tunes: Simple Plan, Untitled

Ya know when you laugh so hard your somache hurts? It’s good.
1 cup of coffee, 1/2 a frappachino, 2 subs full of bean sprouts, and 8 hours of engaging conversation later it was a pretty excellent day.

Also, May 13th Relient K is opening up for Good Charlotte wOOt! (although I don’t think Simple Plan is playing on that date) I think I might have to hit Beth’s play on Saturday nite (although if Friday is the only nite I can make it I would totally skip Relient K to see you do some Shakespeare anyday Beth)

Well I’m certainly surprised

Yes, I did actually enjoy the Michael W. Smith concert last night. Who knew?

Who Ordered the Snow?

Tunes: Relient K, Charles in Charge
Yeah I know I’m from Texas and all and God thinks it’s funny now that I’m back in Michigan to hook up a little extra snow, but I mean c’mon it’s April! Blasted April you hear me!

That’s ok, I don’t think too much could put down my mood right now. Praise and worship night was phenomenal. God totally made his presence known. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people in my church just being free and worshiping God.

Friday was pretty cool too. I was sick most of the day and that made it not so fun, but I did get to tromp around in the woods for a bit and we saw dead animals. And we saw this one skeleton and someone was like, “Is that a dear?” and I thought to myself, “Ah, now is the time, it’s finally arrived, all those years of teaching boring outdoor ed classes when I worked at various camps is going to pay off because I know how to tell what a dear skull looks like.” But alas, the crew was none to impressed with my outdoor trivia.

Other awesome highlights were the cool bands that played at my church’s coffee house. The Rising Tide (who will hopefully make it into the kungfu movie.) They had a moog, it made me happy. And Dawn Xiana Moon who had this amazing powerful voice. It was kewl to talk to Dawn and her keyboard player Alex after the show. They are from Ann Arbor the kewlest place on earth, so I’m a fan.