March 2008

“all to you” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“faithful” by alex nifong (recorded by kristian stanfill on cd “northpoint live: louder than creation”)
“you never let go” by matt redman (cd “passion 06: everything glorious”)
“how great thou art” trad. arr by charlie hall (cd “passion hymns: ancient and modern”)
—-connect—-
performance song - “meant to live” by switchfoot (cd “beautiful letdown”)
video: great moments in cinematic wisdom: empire strikes back
—-message—- steve daugherty

today we started a new series, “you know. you want her.” steve gave the intro talk today - basically laying out that God is up to more than just trying to get us to behave according to a particular morality, but that he’s inviting us into wisdom. it will be fun to see how this series plays out.

shared the worship leading duties with chris mills today. that was fun. we don’t get to lead together very often.

“faithful” was new. simple song. simple message. we’ll see how well people grab it in the coming weeks.

i’m sure i’ll get into the rhythm and adjust to the 3 service schedule soon enough, but i gotta say, i definitely felt pretty wiped this afternoon. my awesome wife was fully supportive of me lounging on the couch and watching basketball. i’m a blessed man.

performance song - “what i want” by daughtry (cd “daughtry”)
—welcome—
“sing sing sing” by chris tomlin (cd “passion 08: god of this city”)
“let me sing” by todd fields (cd “north point live: louder than creation”)
“jesus paid it all” by kristian stanfill (cd “passion 06: everything glorious”)
—connect—
video: emily’s story
—message— jBow
performance song/video - “better days” by the goo goo dolls (cd “let love in”)
—wrap up / prayer— jBow
“marvelous light” by charlie hall (cd “flying into daybreak”)
“all because of jesus” by steve fee (cd “burn for you”)

great celebration on sunday!

steve pushed through the throat pain and rocked out on the daughtry song. thanks, shaun, for letting me borrow the les paul. it made all the difference.

it was packed out! we launched our third service. second hour we had 75+ people watching on video from the high school room.

jBow brought a very different message than we’ve come to expect on easter.
:::for resurrection to happen, something has to die
:::god breathed life (spirit) into adam; after resurrection, jesus breathed life (spirit) into his disciples
:::the resurrection means eternal life now, not just heaven when we die
:::the new life is not just for us, it’s new life for the whole world, all of creation
:::the best way for western christians to celebrate our jewish rabbi savior is to go out after easter service and eat a honey baked ham.

while i’m on the subject of how great jBow is…..let me just say that i’m more and more impressed with how artfully he crafts his messages to ramp to whatever comes after. he truly sees the whole service as one message. it’s not just me setting him up. he sets me up. i love that.

don smith, greg stoner and jed anderson worked hard and long this week to make upgrades to the auditorium, including two more screens to make one giant widescreen, and a fresh coat of black paint on the stage floor.

oh yeah, and then don had to make sure that we had video for all three screens! don will be sleeping for the next couple of days i hope.

at the end of the day, what is most satisfying is knowing that the creator of everything has - at great cost to himself - rescued me and has invited me to be part of his mission to redeem, rescue, refresh, renew, restore, reclaim his creation…..

sorry if you’ve been having trouble accessing the blog. i know many of you check it incessantly throughout the day. *smile* i have had the issues too. voxtropolis is working on it….

easter was good. good celebration at church. refreshing and different easter message by jBow. then the annual easter brunch at our friends’, the edmonds. we look forward to that every year.

but, i have to admit…

one of the most important things about easter for c.c. and i, now that we’re parents, is the easter dress. check out this cuteness!

when we were waiting to bring darby home, i remember dreaming about her and thinking how glad i was that c.c. would have a girl to shop for and dress up. like it would just be her thing. a couple of weeks ago while we were easter dress shopping, i was taken off guard by how into it i was. i had opinions about every dress. i had a blast holding dresses up to darby and standing behind her looking in the mirror.

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

our friends sent this video to us today. their daughter thought that this was our little girl when she saw it. super cute!

britney spears is an anagram for presbyterians.

(ht: dcb)

gravity…
…is working against me
…wants to bring me down
…has taken better men than me 

i’ll never know what makes a man
with all the love that his heart can stand
dream of ways to throw it all away

keep me where the light is
keep me where the light is

–john mayer, “gravity”

i suspect that these days God chooses whoever he wants to be his modern day prophet. and i suspect that a lot of times the prophet is unaware, and would probably be unwilling if he/she knew….

here are some of darby’s favorite things to say lately….

“butt pessst” (butt paste)

“jah meh” (john mayer}

“ah pow” (iPod)

“hootah fooo” (utah’s food)

dressing herself

the girl can EAT!

mimi

papa

my 2 sweethearts

“majestic” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“beautiful one” by tim hughes (cd “when silence falls”)
“let me sing” by todd fields (cd “northpoint live: louder than creation”)
—prayer—-
message - steve d
special: “at the foot of the cross” by kathryn scott (cd “satisfy”)
—-communion—-
“surrender” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you….live”)

today was week 3 of 4 in the trouble with jesus series. steve talked about surrender. the trouble with jesus is that he asks us to surrender control of our own kingdoms and our inner world, and to trust in his way.

went without a keyboard player today. i played rhythm electric instead of my standard acoustic. it was fun to change it up a little. went pretty well, except for capo snafu that ended up knocking my guitar horribly out of tune! that was a fun moment…

mara sang great on the special. a great song to set up communion. don brought the tight harmonies. it was very satisfying for me from a pure musical standpoint…

looking forward to easter next sunday. 7 songs!

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education

———————————————-

well, this is the final installment in this series. i hope that something has been helpful to you. i know that thinking through all this stuff again has helped me - good reminders of things i need to sharpen up personally and in my leadership.

this final one about continuing your education might be a little redundant. we’ve covered this idea in other commandments, such as #4, #7 and #9. but i think it’s worth mentioning again.

our mission as worship bands are so important. what an unbelievable privilege and responsibility we have each week to provide an environment for and a method for people to pursue God in worship! this is not something we should take lightly. going through the motions will not do.

we should take great care to ensure that we’re giving our best each and every sunday. and beyond that, we should be working on our craft on an ongoing basis. there’s no way i can make the personal applications for this point. that has to be done individually. but here are some ideas…

*get lessons
*go to a rock concert
*enroll in music theory class at a local community college
*take your worship pastor out to lunch to ask for feedback
*pay for said lunch
*find a nearby worship leader/band that you can develop a mentor-type relationship with

whatever the next step is for you, let me encourage you to take it. and if your life is too busy, then let me encourage you to ask some hard questions about your priorities. could be that serving in the worship band is not for you right now. could be that there are other less important things that are crowding out the time/energy that you should be investing in the worship band, and you need to drop something else.

here’s to giving our best to God and for being determined to keep growing!

we took darby to the NC Zoo on thursday. mimi and papa were in town. we had a great time. here’s a little video of darby and papa dancing like the elephant.

“love the lord” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“our love is loud” by david crowder (cd “can you hear us?”)
“sing, sing, sing” by chris tomlin (cd “passion 08: god of this city”)
—-connect—-
“endlessly” by desperation band (cd “from the rooftops”)
“here i am to worship” by tim hughes (cd — lots of them)
—-message—-jBow
—-prayer—-

chris mills led worship today. i always enjoy when chris leads for several reasons. one: he’s extremely gifted as a musician and a worship leader! two: i love to see other people serve with their gifts, and to give them these opportunities as i can. three: i get to experience crosspointe from a somewhat objective perspective, which is valuable for me as a leader. four: i get to sit with my lovely wife. (although that didn’t happen today….keep reading). five: gives me the freedom occasionally to visit other churches or to take a worship band and serve another church by giving their worship leader(s) a break, etc…

today, before coming to crosspointe for our second service, i visited lifepointe church in north raleigh. crosspointe helped to plant this church several years ago. recently they launched a second location in the wakefield area. i think it’s cool that this church is expanding to two locations, using rented facilities (movie theaters) in both spots. the creativity in churches today is encouraging to me. as recently as 5 years ago, the idea of a church staying “mobile” and using rented facilities instead of investing in land and a building was virtually unheard of.

i wanted to check out the second location for one, and i also got to be led in worship by a worship leader acquaintance of mine. ryan is leading a couple times a month to help lifepointe with the transition to two locations. even though ryan and i have known each other for more than two years, this was the first time i’ve seen him lead worship. it was a good morning. if you had told me that this location had been running for a year, i would’ve believed you. but i was impressed to find out it was only the 3rd week!

back to crosspointe, i’m always encouraged whenever i experience our church from the other side of the stage. although it’s difficult to be objective, i’m so glad that our services are relatively easy to walk into and to participate at whatever level you feel comfortable. the music and “production” are presented well and are engaging. the messages are intellectually challenging and spiritually compelling. the “vibe” is real, comfortable, etc….

our church is not without room for improvement by any means, but let me just say that i’m honored to serve by being part of the leadership of this community!

it’s been too long.
i’m letting a part of me atrophy.
it’s not good.
i’ll even settle for a bad song.
i just NEED to write a song.

this past sunday morning was a rough time on the job for me. have you ever felt like you’re not up for the task? in general i feel as though my job lines up pretty dead on with my passions, gifts, and experience. but sunday morning, i was tempted to fake a heart attack rather than step out under the lights. i might be overstating this a little.

here’s the deal. i’m a fairly low key individual. several people at different times in my life, independent of each other, have given me the nickname “even stephen”.

the truth is that i’m a melancholy personality.

the upside is that i can provide balance in tense interpersonal situations. i can keep a calm exterior even if the interior is experiencing turbulence.

the downside is that i am prone to too much introspection. sometimes i speak hope, but stuff doubt. i’ve seen a therapist to explore whether i suffer from depression.

as it relates to my job - sometimes i want to be stephen the almost invisible anonymous worshipper, rather than stephen the public big church worship leader.

this past sunday i was feeling as though the particular worship set that i had planned - one song in particular - required a type of leadership and an energy level from me that doesn’t come naturally to me. i’m growing, but i have always felt more comfortable in a low key style of worship leading. this is not a debate about which style - chill or hype - is a better worship leading style. i think both have their place at different times.

the question for me was the tension between rising to the occasion, risking as a leader for the sake of serving people……versus……trying to be someone i’m not, or trying to fake something that i’m not feeling in the moment.

fortunately, i followed my gut (or was it God’s spirit) and fessed up to the worship band before the service. we prayed together for peace, confidence, and a resolve to serve faithfully.

it’s not the size or the amount of the gift that you bring, but that you are willing to give it all. holding nothing back.

i didn’t hold back. it was good. i didn’t feel fake. i felt faithful.

1. thou shalt play in tune
2. thou shalt learn the song, not just the arrangement
3. thou shalt practice with a metronome or drum machine
4. thou shalt seek out a mentor or coach on your instrument
5. thou shalt know thy gear
6. thou shalt play less for more
7. thou shalt seek out feedback
8. thou shalt be on time
9. thou shalt learn basic practical music theory and ear training
10. thou shalt continue thy education

———————————————-

for the rare individual, music theory is fun. but for a lot of people, it serves as the nail in the coffin in their formal music training. the standard story is that the theory stuff gets boring….”i just wanna play music!”….so you give up on it, and just learn songs by ear from the radio. which is not a bad thing - very valuable actually - just incomplete.

i’m very much a proponent of learning and using practical music theory, regardless of the style of music you play. it gives you freedom to improvise and make smart choices, musically speaking.

this won’t be complete by any means, but here are the most important tidbits (according to me)….

theory:
*major scales - chords are made from scales, everything relates to the scales
*scale degrees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. the notes of the major scale.
*diatonic chords - there is a triad (three notes) built on every scale degree. 1 (Major), 2 (minor), 3 (minor), 4 (Major), 5 (Major), 6 (minor), 7 (diminished - in modern music this is more often 5 major, inverted….don’t worry about it)
*circle of fifths - fascinating, both in “theory” and in practical use…

ear-training:
*learn to hear where “one” is. this is home base. it’s the C in the key of C. it always comes back to the one.
*from there, learn what “four” and “five” sound like. and how they tend to function.
*when you start to hear the numbers, it makes transposing to different keys much easier.
*as a singer, especially in writing/singing background parts, it’s much easier to remember your part if you think of it in numbers (or scale degrees). you can see the shape and intervals in your mind. doesn’t matter what key you’re in. (i tend to “see” music in the key of C regardless of what key i’m actually playing/singing in.)

there’s so much here that i can’t possibly even touch it in this post. for some, this info is very basic. for others, you have no idea where to start. my challenge is just to take a step forward from wherever you are now.

i’m suddenly aware that i really just geeked out on everyone. if so, i’m sorry. but, if anyone wants to know more, i love talking about this stuff. leave a comment or email me for more info.

the geek is signing off…

p.s. at least i’m not as geeky as the music majors in college who would team up in the cafeteria and play classical music by rubbing the rims of drinking glasses filled with various amounts of water.

“let the praises ring” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“sing, sing, sing” by chris tomlin (cd “passion 07: god of this city”)
“the highest and the greatest” by tim hughes (cd “holding nothing back”)
“let me sing” by todd fields (cd “northpoint live: louder than creation”)
—-series intro / fun with rubik’s cube—-
—-connect—-
video: improveverywhere.com
—-message—-
video: “breathing air again” robbie seay band

“sing, sing, sing” was new today. i’m hoping that it will take quick and be a good celebration song for easter this year. tomlin definitely has the knack for writing singable hooks….

turns out my recent obsession with the rubik’s cube paid off. i gave it my best shot during the service today…..1:09 in the first service, 1:28 in the second …..not bad considering i had 450 people watching me.

doc kicked off a new series, “the trouble with jesus,” with a message on sabbath. i need this reminder regularly.

kind of funny that we had one of the most frantic preparation mornings i can remember in a long time…. and preparing for a service about rest.