June 2008

just got home at midnight after jamming and songwriting with a few of my musician buddies from church.

i’m so excited to be writing songs again. especially to be writing songs that hopefully give voice to what God is doing in and through our particular community.

here’s a heads up for you crosspointers…we got a great start on a new song that we’re writing for our next series coming up in august. i have one line of the lyric written and just a couple of other phrases.

the idea (and the series) is about the kingdom of God - or the kingdom of heaven depending on which gospel writer you’re reading….

jesus gave several incredibly rich metaphors to describe the kingdom, but my current favorite metaphor is the treasure buried in a field. i’ve decided to keep it simple and use this one metaphor for the verses.

we knocked out all the music for the song - verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge. there will likely be some tweaks depending on how the lyrics and melody flesh out, but it already feels like a song….

here are the lyrics for the chorus that i have:

“we’ve caught a glimpse of your kingdom
and we want more
blah blah blah blah…..
blah blah blah blah for the whole world”

catchy, huh?

more to come in terms of the songwriting process…..

“our love is loud” by david crowder band (cd “can you hear us?)
“the solid rock” by charlie hall (cd “passion: hymns ancient and modern”)
—-connect—-
“let me sing” by todd fields (cd “north point live: louder than creation”)
“you never let go” by matt redman (cd “passion: everything glorious”)
“faithful” by kristian stanfill (cd “north point live: louder than creation”)
—-message—-Andy Stanley (via video)

not much to say today. the theme of god’s faithfulness sort of threaded through the worship set. “the solid rock” was new to us today.

at crosspointe:

“sing, sing, sing” by chris tomlin (cd “passion: god of this city”)
“majestic” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
—connect—-
—baby dedications (2nd service)—
“here is our king” by david crowder band (cd “passion: how great is our god”)
“the highest and the greatest” by tim hughes (cd “holding nothing back”)
“mighty to save” by hillsong church (cd “mighty to save”)
—interview w/ parents—

i missed being at crosspointe sunday. my buddy, chris, led worship capably as always. i wish i could’ve been there to hear the collective parenting wisdom from the stoners and the smiths. i’ll get the cliff notes from c.c…..

i was glad to fill in for my friend, nathan fancher, at his church in chapel hill this past sunday. nate and katie are fairly newly-wedded. she just finished up nursing school and her boards, so they are taking a much needed vacation.

here’s the music we did at grace….

“sing to the king” by billy foote (unrecorded version)
“all because of jesus” by steve fee (cd “burn for you”)
“how great thou art” by charlie hall (cd “passion: hymns ancient and modern”)
“mighty to save” by hillsong church (cd “mighty to save”)
“jesus paid it all” by kristian stanfill (cd “passion: everything glorious”)
“let me sing” by todd fields (cd “northpoint live: louder than creation”)

it’s amazing what can happen in a week.

i can’t speak publicly yet about one of the most major happenings, but i have been in the clouds and back down to earth several times in the previous 7 days.

sunday, we experienced this.

and then two days later, this happened.

sadness. compassion. grief. moments of anger. confusion. my hope has taken a hit.

but, hope will win the day.

death is not the end.

in the end, we celebrate and feast with our Father.

“made to worship” by chris tomlin (cd “see the morning”)
“i am free” by desperation band (cd “from the rooftops”)
—-connect—-
steve’s dad via iChat
father’s day slideshow “just the two of us” by will smith
—-message—-
—-haiti offering announcement—-
“all because of jesus” by steve fee (cd “burn for you”)
“all over the world” by matt redman (cd “passion 05: how great is our god”)

WOW!!! today will be remembered for a long time in our church community. the celebration at the end of the services was crazy, because we found out that we came together in just over a week to raise over $400,000 to buy 17 acres of land for orphans and abandoned kids in Haiti.

here’s jonathan’s response…

man, it’s hard to put into words. but one thing i know is that as a worship leader, i can absolutely sense the difference between “worship as usual” and this kind of celebration. truly, the kingdom of God, when actually experienced and participated in like this is the rocket fuel for worship. i don’t think our church will be the same.

i had an extremely intense emotional week….more on that later….but this morning after first service, i broke down backstage. just so grateful that God has chosen to invite us to be a part of His redemption project on this earth.

don’t read any further if you want to be surprised about the special father’s day song for this sunday at crosspointe……

….for the 5 of you that read this, here’s a sneak peak….

13 years…

a year longer than my pre-college school years.
a year longer than today’s average 6th grader has been alive.

i feel old.
although, i was only 20 when we got married.
c.c. definitely robbed the cradle.
i had an illegal glass of champagne on our honeymoon night at this hotel.

our anniversary fell on memorial day this year, so i decided to make the previous friday an all day anniversary date. i got the idea from my friend, rick. he definitely out did me on his anniversary date last month, but i gave it a good college try.

first we got up and had a leisurely pancake breakfast. this has become a tradition in our house. darby already associates fridays with daddy’s pancakes.

then, we took darby to our good friend, ava’s house. darby loves playing with ms. ava and baby hayden. thanks ava!

i surprised c.c. with a couple’s massage. she had had a massage before, but this was my first ever. it was the fastest hour i remember in a long time. most definitely the best time i’ve ever had with another grown man rubbing on my body.

after the massage, we had a late lunch at cheesecake factory, one of c.c.’s favorite places to eat. we love the avocado egg rolls. c.c. got her usual, the madeira chicken. i decided to forego my usual, the spicy cashew chicken, and branched out to try the jambalaya pasta. it was good, but can’t touch the cashew chicken….

at lunch, i sprung the big surprise gift on c.c. i gave her a choice. we could either go to a movie……..OR…….pick out a new kitten!

c.c. had been waging a powerful and relentless kitty campaign for several weeks. i wasn’t budging. at least she didn’t think so. she even played dirty by bringing darby into the action. “darby, don’t you want a baby kitty?” shameless. i had decided pretty quickly that we were going to get the kitty, but i wanted to drag it out a little. i figured it would be a good anniversary gift.

after lunch, we picked darby up from ava’s and took her with us to go pick out a kitty.

it was a great day. i love spending time with my wife. she’s my best friend. we’ve definitely had some really rough spots, and i’d be lying if i said i wouldn’t do some things differently if i had the chance. but i can also say that my love for c.c. is deeper and richer than it ever has been. it’s like fine wine - better with age. i’m having a blast!!

this is the stuff that life is made of…

lots of happenings to report on during my forced blogging hiatus.
help me prioritize by telling me which you want more detail on….

::darby reads to daddy
::13th wedding anniversary recap (subtitle: feeling old)
::new kitten who pooped in my pants
::latest song/band challenging my brain
::surprising song coming up this sunday in honor of father’s day
::back on the bike
::recent challenging reads
::mentoring fellow and upcoming worship leaders
::thoughts on the creative process (alternate title: win some, lose some)

“love the lord” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“indescribable” by chris tomlin (cd “arriving”)
“knowing you” by stephen claybrook (as yet unrecorded)
“faithful” by kristian stanfill (cd “north point live: louder than creation”)
special music - with offering for haiti - “god of justice” by tim hughes (cd “holding nothing back”)

today was the beginning of a new series on parenting, called “hand me down.” i look forward to my first parenting series since becoming a parent…

we took up the haiti offering today. i’m praying that our community came in big!! we’re still collecting through this friday, so we won’t know a total until then….

my friend and production ministry pastor, don smith, sang the lead on “god of justice” and did a great job. don’s a great singer, but not too many people know it because he’s normally behind the scenes running the technical production. in fact, so far, he only ever agrees to sing when it’s on a song where there’s an engaging video that draws attention away from the singer. hmmmmmm…..now that i think about it, this is a great way to ensure that he creates an engaging video (did i also mention that he’s our main video producer/editor??). talented fella, that don!!

if i haven’t said it in awhile, i love my job!

“o worship the king” by chris tomlin (cd “passion: hymns ancient and modern”)
“all because of jesus” by steve fee (cd “burn for you”)
“knowing you” by stephen claybrook (as yet unrecorded)
“made to worship” by chris tomlin (cd “see the morning”)

this was the wrap-up to our “live in concert” series. the most memorable thing from the day will be the challenge that jonathan brought to our community - to pool together and pitch in to come up with $385,000 to buy 17 acres for Haitian Children’s Home.

i also wrote a song for our community to sing together. it was good for me to get back into the discipline of songwriting. it had been too long. i shouldn’t let that part of me atrophy like i have been. thanks to the band for helping me to flesh out the arrangement. i look forward to writing more. through the process of writing this song, i realized that i have lots more in me. it just takes dedication and discipline to get it out.

here’s to catching up….

04.27.08 playlist
“you are good” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“everlasting god” by chris tomlin (cd “see the morning”)
“here is our king” by david crowder band (cd “illuminate”)
“satisfy” by desperation band (cd “from the rooftops”)
“all because of jesus” by steve fee (cd “burn for you”)

05.04.08
“let the praises ring” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“our love is loud” by david crowder band (cd “can you hear us?”)
“majestic” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“faithful” by kristian stanfill (cd “north point live: louder than creation”)
“you never let go” by matt redman (cd “passion 06: everything glorious”)

05.11.08
“all over the world” by matt redman (cd “passion 05: how great is our god”)
“not to us” by chris tomlin (cd “not to us”)
“hallelujah” by hillsong united (cd “united we stand”)

05.18.08
“faithful” by kristian stanfill (cd “north point live: louder than creation”)
“salvation is here” by hillsong united (cd “look to you”)
“mighty to save” by hillsong (cd “mighty to save”)
“hallelujah” by hillsong united (cd “united we stand”)
“let me sing” by todd fields (cd “north point live: louder than creation”)

05.25.08
“majestic” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)
“beautiful one” by tim hughes (cd “when silence falls”)
“made to worship” by chris tomlin (cd “see the morning”)
“how great is our god” by chris tomlin (cd “passion 05: how great is our god”)
“breathing the breath” by matt redman (cd “facedown”)

well, technical difficulties appear to be worked out.
let me try this again….
hello? anyone still in here? hello?
i’ll be back with some exciting posts (okay, some marginally interesting posts) straight away….