Fortuitous Bouncing

The talk of the week around here is about how cold it has been. Sure temperatures in the 20s and 30s is cold for here, but comparatively it is nothing. The Packers/Giants game was played in a wind chill in the -20s. My grandparents in Minnesota said they barely got above zero everyday for the past week. So to all Oregonians: it ain't cold.

1. This guy says politics and religion don't mix.
2. I've been a big Myspace hater for a while. I have an account that I hardly ever use and I have been looking for a reason to delete it and then I read this. I am pretty sure I might go along with this...should I?
3. Barack did a Q/A session with Christianity Today and they did ask the tough questions.
4. The Dem debate this week was so much better than last week.
   
5. Donald Miller had a cool article featured on CNN.com.
6. The same church that likes to protest Iraq war veteran funerals is planning to protest Heath Ledger's funeral. Anyone else want to show up and punch some people in the face?
7. The new Passion cd is coming out soon. SWEET!
8. Some good thoughts on how often to introduce new music in church.
9. A good blog on what Huckabee would need to do to win nomination.
   
10. This was the American Idol highlight of the week for me. Hands down. "I'm going to be the next World Idol." Haha.
    

Tops for '07

Top Songs of '07

-All Because of Jesus (Fee)
-Before the Throne (Shane and Shane)
-Hey There Delilah (Plain White Ts)
-Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (John Mayer)
-It's Not Over (Daughtry)
-Glory of it All (David Crowder Band)
-Happy Day (Tim Hughes)

Top Movies of '07
I went to the movie theater 2 times all year, so I got nothin for this.

Top Games of '07

-Boise St. V. Oklahoma
-Appalachian St. V. Michigan
-Rockies V. Padres (one game playoff)
-Texas V. Oklahoma St. (triple OT)
-Indy V. New England (AFC Championship)

Check a guide to the best of 2007.

How it all Began .2 of 3

At the beginning of my sophomore year of high school I took guitar lessons for 4 weeks. My instructor had me do all this stuff (I can't remember any of it), but after the four weeks basketball season started. My priorities were not to learn how to play guitar, they were to play defense and make 3 pointers. So I quit guitar lessons.

The summer before junior year I met Ben. Ben started doing a youth worship night on Saturdays at my church and it was good. It was probably 1,000 times better than anything the youth team did on Sundays. Ben was a baseball player at what was then Western Baptist College, now Corban. He made worship relevant for me. It was music I could listen to outside of church and enjoy. Plus he was a cool guy who just had a gift. My junior year he took over the youth worship team and asked me if I wanted to lead it. I said yes and started leading as just a vocalist. After two months of that I decided I wanted to lead like Ben. Playing guitar and singing. So I bought a Chris Tomlin cd (before anyone knew who he was) and found the chords to it. Then I found my dad's old Ovation that he never played anymore. It sounded like a tin can and was really hard to play, but it worked. I still had all the chord charts from my lessons the year before but I forgot everything. So I taught myself to read chord charts again and slowly but surely learned "Enough". GCDC. Easy enough.

It was a slow go but then one Sunday I led one song with guitar. Agnus Dei by Michael W Smith and now Third Day too. Its pretty easy, a lot of A and E. A few months after that I chose the music for every Sunday and would make sure I could play all the songs.

Lesson #2 You don't have to have musical experience to learn how to play an instrument. I spent hours upon hours, even during basketball season downstairs in my room with the cd player on and me trying to emulate exactly what Chris was singing and playing. This allowed me to sing and play at the same time really easily. It just takes a lot of time and lots of discouragement. Build up the callouses, and then just strum and pick away until you get some easy songs. The only way to be able to play is to play.

How it all Began .1 of 3

I've been asked thousands of times...when did you start leading worship....how long have you been playing guitar...did you take lessons? This will be the story of how it all began. It will be a story of how an athlete can become a worship leader without taking choir in school or taking guitar lessons.

In 8th grade I took drum lessons for 3 weeks and then had to quit to focus on basketball season. I didn't really enjoy it too much either. Freshman year I joined the youth worship team as a vocalist. I sang, along with usually 2 other singers, almost every Sunday morning. I never really loved it but my small group leader played guitar and I liked the people on the team so I stuck with it. I wasn't much a harmony guy but we weren't very good so I would just sing. It was easy.

That same freshman year my mom begged me to join choir so I did. Because I never did choir in middle school I had to join the lowest choir (all the people who wanted to sing but couldn't). I HATED IT!!! So I quit after one semester of it even after my teacher begged me to come back. I hated the songs we did. I hated the way that the teacher wanted me to sing, it didn't feel natural. I hated that I knew no one in the choir because obviously none of my friends did choir, it wasn't cool. So for many reasons I quit and to this day I have not sang in a choir.

Lesson #1 You don't have to do choir to be able to sing. Singing is some sort of a natural gift. I've never taken singing lessons and I know people who have that did not improve much. Of course a vocal instructor can help but only if they are good. If you sing like William Hung...vocal help won't do much.

This Sunday

This Sunday I'm playing with the worship team at Sunset Pres. We're doing a new song called "In Your Freedom" off of the latest Hillsong album. It is pretty high so I'm hoping I don't blowout a lung in the process. But it should be a powerful ending to the services.

PS. You can disregard half of the video. The song is the first half. Of course if you would like to hear a message from Brian Houston, be my guest. He is the second half.

Fridays are for New Music .3

I got this song a while back and have neglected to share its awesomeness to all of you. So without further ado. Phil Wickham's "True Love" is an incredible song and this video is an acoustic version but his great guitar skills and unreal vocals show even more because of that. In heaven I might be able to sing like him......I said might.

My Top 10 of Christmas Music

Like I said yesterday, I'm not a big fan of Christmas music. Most of it I absolutely hate. However, there is some stuff that I do really enjoy listening to over the Christmas season.

1. Anything by Nat King Cole....he is my Christmas favorite especially "I Saw 3 Ships Come Sailing In," always brings a smile to my face.

2. James Taylor (At Christmas)...it is only a few years old, but it is already a Christmas classic for me.

3. Mannheim Steamroller...their rendition of "Oh Holy Night" is unreal.

4. Bing Crosby (White Christmas)...a classic

5. Vince Guaraldi Trio (Charlie Brown Christmas)

6. Dave Matthews Band “Christmas Song”

7. Home Alone soundtrack....this has to be everyone's favorite holiday movie.

8. Josh Groban (Noel).....just came out this year and I'm definitely not a huge fan of him, but if there was a genre of music that he fit perfectly it would have to be Christmas music.

9. Michael Buble (Let It Snow)...see above on Groban.

10. The Chipmunks "The Chipmunks Song"....I can handle it for about a minute, but if you hear it, you think of Christmas.

Here We Go a Caroling

For those of you who know me, know that I am not very fond of Christmas music. December is easily the worst month ever when it comes to music in church. Most of the songs are either cheesy, too high, too complicated, and/or not very contemporary. I, however, do not mind listening to some Christmas music at home.

This year I've gotten into using Pandora. Today I listened to Christmas music all day (while doing homework) on Pandora. Basically it is a music website that allows you to choose the music you like. There are no commercials and if there is ever a song that plays that you don't like, you just tell it that you don't like it and it won't play it. It is amazing. You can make a Christmas music play list and start choosing music you do or don't like. I know most of you have heard of it but everyone I have told about it, loves it. So for those of you who don't use or haven't heard of Pandora, you need to check it out. It is a great way to listen to music for free and a great way to find new music. I know a lot of people use a similar website Lastfm. I tried it out but it used a lot more bandwidth (internet power) and slowed my computer down so I decided to stick with Pandora because I have had no problems with it.

Things I've Learned about Leading Worship by Being a Janitor .2

2. It is important for me to check in with people who have areas that I clean. I don't do this on a regular basis but when I see them I try and make sure they are satisfied with the cleanliness of their area. I try and ask in a way that allows them to be honest. If they don't think its clean then I want them to tell me. No sense in cleaning the same way if they don't think its clean.

This is so huge for leading worship. People say its most important for the worship leader to first be worshiping God. Well yeah, but whats the point if the rest of the church is left behind and the leader is just doing their own thing. I think the best way to make sure this isn't happening to is talk with some random people in the congregation that the leader trusts can be honest. A worship leader is leading others to a place of intimacy with God, not just a place of intimacy for them and God.

Found

This last weekend I sang the song "Found" by Hillsong at Sunset Presbyterian Church. Randy (piano) and I did this during the opening of Communion. I don't have a whole lot to say about it other than its good and I like that its very un-Hillsongish. So if you haven't heard it then enjoy the video. We did it mostly the exact same way, or tried to at least.

Things I've Learned about Leading Worship by Being a Janitor .1

For those of you who don't know I work at Sunset Presbyterian as a glorified janitor. I say that because I set up for meetings and events, but really I vacuum, wipe down tables, take out trash, wash windows...etc. Now and then during my day I try and think of ways of how my job is preparing me to be a worship pastor or how it relates to leading worship. I've been leading worship for awhile now but I think a lot of my job relates to leading worship.

1. Washing windows. You don't just wipe down a window. You spray, wipe down to get finger prints off, then sqeegee (sp?), then wipe the edges with a towel. Its a process, you can't do a good job in one step. You can't have a great Sunday morning gathering with one great song either. The whole is a sum of its parts, not one part. I think a Sunday could be centered around a song or the message but its not going to be great because of one thing. It is how a set of music works together that makes it great, not the last song before the message.

Fusion Rundown .3

Ok here we go

Everlasting God: Capo 3 in G otherwise known as Bflat
Son of God: G
Lead me to the Cross: G
Grace Like Rain: E
From the Inside Out: E

I really liked this set. All songs we had done before with Fusion so I think the involvement by everyone was probably better than other times. Inside Out in E is a bit low for me singing wise but I think for the average person it probably works a little better. I just thought the set had good flow from song to song. Focusing on God to Jesus to his sacrifice to him transforming us. A good night of music.

In but Not Of .1

I think a big dilemma Christians face is the principle of being in the world but not of the world. Every Christian seems to deal with this differently. Although I'm sure none of us think about it all the time, it effects so many decisions we make on a daily basis. I won't be the one to draw the line because its obviously something I struggle with all the time. But I do like to think about reaching other people for Christ like this: Church is our element, it tends to be comfortable for us but it is not that way for a non Christian. All of us tend to just invite our non Christian friends to church and let the church do the job of sharing who Jesus is. It also allows us to stay out of this person's world. I'm not saying church isn't a valuable place for you to bring people, but just like you don't want to go to a bar on a weekend, they don't want to go to church. So how can we be IN the world of the non Christian yet stay away from being OF the world...

1. Many of us Christians only listen to Christian music. On the radio this is Klove or the Fish or Air1. No this isn't bad and I think the quality and quantity of Christian music has expanded greatly in the past 5 to 10 years. But what do we have in common with a non Christian by only listening to this.........NOTHING. Can Christian music be used to reach a non Christian? well of course, but it certainly won't work for everyone. Give secular music a try without overdoing it and listening to Britney's new album (how is that crap #1 on iTunes?). There are tons of a great artists out there, use them to create a relationship with someone.

The Solution, New Music .3

I remember when I was a sophomore in high school (kind of scary that its 7 years ago) I was given a demo cd by United. I had no idea who they were or anything but it sat in my cd player for at least a month. Now they are quite commonly known as Hillsong United and known they are. Within church music you would be hard pressed to find 5 bands or artists more used in churches. They are the more upbeat and electric guitar driven band from Hillsong, a ginormous church in Australia. Their most recent cd came out earlier this year and it continues to build on the incredible songs they continue to come up with at their church and in their Bible/music school. Next Sunday I'll be serving with the Sunset Pres worship team for the main services Sunday morning and we'll be doing the song "The Solution." It might not sound like it, but I do think it can be a corporate worship song. Probably not for every church though. I've done it several times acoustically (amazing eh?) at Fusion. Here is a live video.

Fridays are for New Music .2

I bought the new Casting Crown's cd a while back. It is pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of them, but I can't put my finger on why. Partly because I can't sing as high as Mark Hall. If I do try and sing as high as he does, it takes a couple days to recover from straining to do it. The last song on that new cd is called "All Because Of Jesus" and it sounded so familiar, like they didn't write it or something. Well I was looking at Steve Fee's music...he is a worship guy at North Point Community Church in Georgia and the worship leader specifically for their singles group 722. He wrote that song, which is awesome. Steve was a part of the original Passion worship movement back in 2000 and 2003. Back then they did free concerts at college campuses. I remember before I even liked music in church that I went to George Fox to see them and it was incredible. Anyway, he is on their first One Day cd playing Kindness and Give Us Clean Hands, but then he moved to Europe for awhile and is just now getting back into music production. This song is wonderful. Hope you enjoy.

Fridays are for New Music

I've watched both of these videos numerous times in the recent weeks. I would be all over them for Fusion if we had a full band. So for now they are just for my personal times with God in the living room. So check them out...they're both from Passion 07 from David Crowder and Chris Tomlin. I think playing worship at this event has to be any worship leaders dream. The song by Crowder is on his newest cd (which is solid) Remedy, and the one by Chris is actually a Hillsong United song but I just love this live version. Enjoy!

Fusion Rundown #2

I'll keep this short because I'm tired and ready to hit the hay. Of course I have to mention the Yankees getting the heave ho from the playoffs. It will be weird to watch the Yankees if Torre gets fired, because he has been there since I can remember caring about pro baseball. That said....I couldn't be happier to see the Yanks lose, they have the worst fans in the world. They've made the playoffs like 50 years in a row and still aren't satisfied.

Music tonight:

Here is Our King: key of A
I Lift My Eyes: key of F
Message on Matthew 18
Hungry: key of C (Rose led)
Give us Clean Hands: key of G
From the Inside Out: key of E
Thank You for Loving Me: key of E

Band: me on acoustic and vox and Rose on vox

I thought musically Rose and I were right on tonight. Probably because we've been doing so much music lately that it just kind of fell into place. That was great for us. The overall service was just average. The response has been harder for me to deal with every week. As much as worship is just about me and God and allowing others to come into a place of being with Him, it is also important to see how people are responding to it. I feel like every week I put in all this effort and energy but people just stare at a screen with words and sing empty songs to Jesus I guess. I don't want to be a pessimist but I also want to know that I'm creating an environment that is inviting for the Spirit and allowing others to experience God in a new and special way. So I struggle with this constantly...every time I lead worship but I guess I don't think about it when I get compliments and see people raise their hands and sing with their eyes closed, even though I know its something that is in the heart. So as important as response is, it is also from the heart which is hard to gauge from outward signs. I do know that I was drawn into praising God for all he has provided in my life, and tonight that is reason enough to lead worshipers to Him.

Sunday Rundown

Today Rose and I led worship at New Harvest Church, my dad's church in Salem, OR. It was my mom's birthday yesterday so we were able to have dinner with the family and celebrate with her last night. So today we got up at 5:30am and got to church at 6:45am to practice at 7, and then had 2 services at 9 and 11am. It was a great day.

Opener: Mighty to Save in A flat (had to teach it, hadn't been done there)
Main set-
Let it Rise: Key of E
Mighty to Save: Key of A flat again (hoped they had learned it....they might have...not sure)
Everlasting God: Key of B (Capo 4 in G)
Drama
Special song: Stained Glass Masquerade key of B (Capo 2 in A...its easier that way, less bar chords, we did it just acoustic and Rose and I singing)
Message on authenticity and Acts 5
Communion:
Heart of Worship: key of D
Hungry: key of C (Rose led out on this)
O Sacred King: Key of G
Instruments: Dave on drums, Steve on bass, me on acoustic, Rose and I sang

It was good to be back where I really honed my worship leading gifts and abilities for over 3 years consistently. Not a lot has changed but it is great to see lots of young faces to go with the usual adult crowd. It was awesome to play with a band because I hadn't since June. I especially enjoyed Everlasting God...it had some drive to it, just let it was meant to be played. I felt like the response was good and I felt like communion was a great time to sing songs everyone knows and a time to look at our lives in light of how God desires us to live life. My dad's message was convicting but also personal as he shared some of his own insecurities with being authentic. It has always been hard for me to go to other churches because although the music might be better or closer to my tastes I have never found a pastor that fit a mix of passion and content like he has. But of course, I'm biased.
On our way home we ran into the worst traffic in Keizer history on I-5. I think there was an accident between Brooks and Woodburn but I still don't know. I knew about it so I thought I would get on at Brooks but it was backed up between Keizer and there, so I got on 99E and that was slow as all get out so I thought I might have to go to Newberg and then take 99W to Beaverton. Luckily I risked getting on the 5er at Woodburn and it worked out, but when I got stuck at this train...
I about came unglued at this point because I had no idea how long I would sit there and I still didn't know if I was going to be able to get past the traffic jam on I-5...but it worked out praise the Lord. It helped that I knew all the backroads between Keizer and Newberg and Woodburn....cause I've driven them the last 5 years but still, I got lucky.

Fusion Rundown

I learned today that Tuesday's are long days. Staff meeting at 9:30, work from 11 till 6, set up for Fusion until it starts at 7, get home around 10. Fusion for those who do not know is the college and young adults group at Sunset Presbyterian Church. Rose and I do music weekly for this. So tonight went like this:

Mighty to Save: Key of A flat (Capo 4 in E)
Everlasting God: Key of B (Capo 4 in G) Here is Brenton Brown teaching this song.
How Great Thou Art: yes I did a hymn Key of B
Zack's message was on Matthew 17 and Stephanie had a cool testimony.
Come Ye Sinners: Key of E (I liken the Robbie Seay version more than the Todd Agnew version, maybe because I prefer Robbie over Todd....that could have something to do with it)
Here is Our King: Key of A (Capo 2, G) Here is a video of Crowder teaching Here is Our King.
A great way to end a night centered around the transfiguration.

We went a little long which seemed to keep the group from responding as well as I had hoped at the end. Even though I was sick, I still felt solid enough to let the songs go through well and Rose was awesome as usual. A solid night.

Sunday Night Thoughts

I think I'll start the Sunday Night Thoughts weekly blog tonight. I finished the dishes Rose, so I'm watching the Giants/Eagles game...and its ugly. I'm going against Ward and Plaxico in a league this week, otherwise I could care less. One thing to know is despite following sports a lot on the weekend, I still go to church and work on Saturday. Sports must be kept in perspective.

Ok, Saturday first. College football.
The first half of the Oregon/Cal game was ugly and boring. I caught the last part of the game, only to see Dixon revert back to his normal self. I don't know why everyone thought he was so much different this year. He has always been good the first few games of the year. I do think he is better this year, but his careless interceptions showed that he isn't a heisman candidate.
Oregon St....wow. Up 2 touchdowns early and get blown out at home against a team that just got blown out by an average Utah team the previous week. It will be a long year in Corvallis...course I don't see any light at the tunnel with Bernard and Stroughter leaving after this season.
I can't believe Texas and Oklahoma both lost. If there is one thing that college football has on the NFL, its upsets like Saturday. If college football continues to have more upsets, it will only help.
USC will lose at some point. They did not look good Saturday night and I would not be shocked if they lost at Oregon and Cal. I just remember USC being able to do anything they wanted against average teams like Washington and they did not move the ball well.

Ok NFL time.
I guess the headlines today are Brett Favre, the Bears and the Chargers.
It is weird to me how emotional Favre is with football. If he isn't emotionally ok he doesn't seem to play well, but clearly this year he is happy with his team and is playing great. I have nothing against him, but Peyton Manning doesn't seem to have these problems. Congrats to him on a record that I could careless about. Football isn't a numbers game like baseball is. I know he has a cult following but I'm a Vikings fan and I will come after our biggest rival anytime I can.

The Bears.....are bad. They won't make the playoffs. They can't run, they can't pass. No defense is good without an offense that can move the ball.
The Chargers....are....I don't know. They're weird. Norv Turner is a terrible coach. They aren't any different this year, but now they can't stop anyone and they can't move the ball effectively. I don't have any Chargers on any of my fantasy teams...so I don't care how bad they are.
My Vikings were...well the Vikings today. Average. Good defense and below average offense. They are one of the better 1-3 teams in my mind but I'm probably biased.
Quick thoughts: Good for Joey, he deserves to do well. It is cool to see Derek Anderson do well in Cleveland, but of course I'll only remember the time I took his money in golf (he is a big dude though). Dallas' offense is unreal. TO had 3 catches today and they still scored 35 points. I'm glad I have Jon Kitna in fantasy, because the Lions are legit. I think Trent Dilfer proved he should retire. Seattle is good, but I know Frisco isn't that bad. Nice wins for Zona and Buffalo. I think Indy proved today that Denver isn't at their level yet.

Baseball...
I can't believe the Mets really did that. I'm amazed. Good hitting, decent pitching and they fell a part.
Of course I don't care because the Phillies are fun to watch with Utley and Howard.
Good for the Rockies...they deserve it. I hope they win tomorrow against the Pads.
I can't believe postseason baseball is here already.
Wow, tomorrow is October, the best sports month on the calender. Into the football season, preseason basketball, postseason baseball, and Nascar. Wait...that is not a sport.

Golf....
If I wasn't married I would have skipped church to watch the Presidents Cup. Something intrigues me about team golf. Of course it helps to enjoy watching golf in the first place. It is good that the US finally blew someone out, Europe or International. Mike Weir beat Mr Woods in Canada. It was like watching a hockey game on a golf course. Pretty cool.

On a side note....the new David Crowder cd is worth the money...every penny. Great stuff. He is coming to Portland on the 18th.

Welcome to Monday....Patriots will win by more than 10 points tomorrow night, with or without cameras.