bloglinks

it’s no secret that i have a blogging crush on los. he’s destined for the blog hall of fame, assuming it’s ever created. he’ll probably create it, actually.

anyway, los has a great no-holds-barred discussion about worship going on over at his blog. check it out.

I hate it when my worship leader….

for just about every song i’ve written, the process has been the same.
i usually write the entire song on either my acoustic guitar or piano.
by entire song, i mean: lyrics, melody, key, chord progression(s), tempo.
then i give some thought to the full band arrangement and record a demo - programmed drums, live bass, keys, etc…

for this song, i decided to change the process up a bit.
i took it to the band much earlier in the process.

my thinking was that the input of other musicians would naturally produce a different outcome for each individual part and therefore the whole arrangement of the song.
then, as a result, the melody and lyrics would end up different as well.

so, here’s what i had going in….

**one line of the lyric: “we’ve caught a glimpse of your kingdom and we want more”
**a tempo: 144 bpm
**the rhythm for that one line: where each syllable falls in time with the music.

that’s it.

here’s what i didn’t have:
**key
**melody for the one line
**chord progression

joe, dan and chris did a great job of just jamming for awhile until we came up with a “riff” that seemed to work for a musical hook at that tempo.
we chose the key of E just for starters.
we played with that riff for awhile.
to me it started sounding like a verse.
so, we then decided to try to come up with a chorus progression and feel that would drive a little harder.

at that point, i decided to try to come up with a melody for the one line of lyric.
turns out we were in a bad key.
we couldn’t pitch the melody in the right range to match the intensity of the lyric and the music.
so we found a new key - key of B.
found a workable melody for that line and just sang blah blah blah for the rest of the chorus.

we worked on transitions between the verse and chorus.
decided that we needed a two-line ramp up to the chorus.
chose a chord progression that felt like it set up the chorus well.

transition back from chorus to verse, we decided to use the riff again.

we all agreed that it was coming together. felt good.
but we needed a bridge.
dan and joe threw out the idea of holding on each chord longer for the bridge - to help the dynamics change.
great idea.
they batted a few ideas back and forth.
meanwhile, i stumbled on a counter melody line that changed twice for each chord underneath (if that makes sense).
chris picked up on it on electric guitar.
we ended up with a nice bridge that starts out “down” and builds nicely over three repeats, leading back to a big final chorus.

now, i just have to write the parts that actually make it a corporate worship song - the lyrics and the melody.
but i have much more of a direction for that now, having experienced how the song feels with a full band already.

the other day my daughter used the word “actually” correctly in a sentence.
just over a year ago she had never heard the english language.
amazing.

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.

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!!

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)

los at ragamuffin soul, one of my favorite creative/worship/programming/etc. blogs, is doing a weekly creativity-share-type-thingy that he calls creative chaos.

here’s my first submission……my favorite of the “Great Moments in Cinematic Wisdom” videos that we did for our last series at crosspointe.

the series was about wisdom, called “you know. you want her.” each week, we took a popular movie (t.v. show in this case) and replaced the dialogue to introduce whatever particular aspect of wisdom that jonathan or steve have been speaking about.

this particular message was about the command to seek out wisdom. steve challenged us to remember that God completely saturates his world with his wisdom. some people think that the church has the corner on the wisdom market….

enjoy!

great moments in cinematic wisdom, part 4:

enjoy!

i give you great moments in cinematic wisdom, part 3 - for kids!

enjoy!

today in staff meeting, i had just finished asking for prayer for an upcoming road trip to see family. i was actually complaining about gas money, what to do with the dog, our cramped car, etc.

got interrupted by an iChat message from danny, the house dad at haitian children’s home. danny was asking for our staff to pray for the kids who were in the process of being rushed home from school in the midst of the growing rioting in haiti because of lack of food. they’ll likely be in lock-down status for the next few days.

i promptly withdrew my prayer request.

it’s amazing how wrapped up i can get in the little things, and forget to be mindful of how much i have and how little so many others have.

humbling.

my lovely wife came out with a great one yesterday, speaking about our daughter….

“i adore this person for no reason and for every little detail of who she is all at the same time.”
–c.c. claybrook

read the full post and see more pictures.

well, i don’t think i’ve made it public yet, via the blog anyway….

we’re well underway with the process of adopting our second child from china.

today was our first of three home study visits. it was really a piece of cake. i think the fact that we’ve adopted before helped. our social worker observed us with darby, checked out our house, helped us go through some necessary paperwork, asked some questions about our parenting style, views on discipline, plan for communicating with darby and child #2 about adoption, etc. she’ll use all this information to write up a 15-or-so-page report about us that the CCAA will use to match us with a waiting child.

i promise i’m not bitter about it because i understand the need. but it’s odd to me that potential adoptive parents have to go through a fairly rigorous process to be deemed fit to be parents, whereas any two drunk idiots can jump in the sack and become parents with no scrutiny whatsoever. (did that sound bitter?)

anyway, with the wait times for chinese adoption referrals continuing to get longer and longer, we’re fully expecting it to be 2010 or 2011 before we bring child number 2 home. that’s a crazy long gestation period!

but, all i have to do is look into these beautiful eyes to remember again how well worth-it the wait is.

these kinds of stories are why i’m excited to be a father of a girl!

here’s a video…

here’s the website…

a lot of the thoughts at this site have inspired our recent “the approach” and our “a different way in a manger” christmas series.

…my friends, nick and gwenn are in haiti right now, right in the midst of the continuing rains from hurricane noel that went through there earlier this week. they’re safe, but please pray for the people of haiti. this is devastating to these already oppressed people in the western hemisphere’s poorest country. i’m so thankful for the people who lead the efforts at the haitian children’s home in jacmel. they’re truly bringing hope to some very special kids.

….my friend, don, is spending the next couple of days with his sister, kim, who will be finding out today if she is about to enter a battle with the same cancer that took the lives of her mother and grandmother.

…my friends, mario and vanessa, are dealing with being new parents, leading a brand new church plant, and recovering from (and paying for) a recent kitchen fire all at the same time!

no comment.

well……it’s just that…..

nope.

let me introduce to you: Pull Your Pants Up Mission (TM)

(ht: doxologist)

i’m excited about playing a coffeehouse gig in november with several of my friends from crosspointe. kristi daugherty is the mastermind. the gig will benefit the haitian children’s home in jacmel.

we’re doing about 25 songs - all covers. very eclectic mix of songs, from alisson krauss to led zeppelin and a bit of everything in between…

“gimme one reason” - tracy chapman
“shame on you” - indigo girls
“come to jesus” - mindy smith
“piece of my heart” - faith hill
“don’t dream it’s over” - sixpence none the richer
“dare you to move” - switchfoot
“dreams” - cranberries
“a little more you” - little big town
“immigrant song” - led zeppelin
“killing me softly” - fugees
“lucky one” - alisson krauss
“kind and generous” - natalie merchant
“leave the pieces” - the wreckers
“the ocean” - led zeppelin
“say won’t you say” - jennifer knapp
“put your records on” - corrine bailey rae
“solace” - plumb
“summertime” - the sundays
“unwritten” - natasha bedingfield
“where the streets have no name” - u2
“waiting on the world to change” - john mayer
“if i ain’t got you” - alicia keys
“breathe (2am)” - anna nalick
“clocks” - coldplay
“black horse and a cherry tree” - k.t. tunstall

the show is scheduled for 7:00 to 10:00pm, november 10th, at pheasant creek coffee & tea in apex.

come on out for good music for a great cause!

it’s here! it arrived yesterday. shopfreepay.com is legit.

5 weeks ago i began the process to get a “free” macbook for my lovely wife.

total time = 41 days
total $$ = $243.54

eventually, i’ll get back to some more serious postings….

i’ve had a brookstone gift certificate for more than two years now. at the two year mark i started losing $2.00 per month off of the card. finally, two weeks ago, c.c. convinced me to go in and spend it before i lost any more credit.

i bought an electronic sudoku game, which i used quite a bit on our vacation last week.

after that purchase, i still had a few dollars credit. i couldn’t get it back in cash (i asked). so i picked up the brookstone “silent snooz”. it’s this rubber nose-ring-looking contraption that is supposed to open up your airways and keep you from snoring.

the idea is simple. silent snooz will pinch your nose causing no small amount of discomfort. the discomfort will keep you awake. staying awake will prevent you from snoring.

why didn’t i think of this?

i’m trying out virb.com.

look me up.

have you been simpsonized?

it was good to be back today after missing last sunday because of vacation.

series: above ground
message: love

worship set:
“all because of jesus” by steve fee (cd “burn for you”)
“bless his name” by vineyard music (cd “more than ever”)
“o worship the king” trad. arr. by chris tomlin (cd “passion: hymns ancient and modern”)
“majestic” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)

we used a clip from comedian, brian regan, to set up the message. love that guy.

a bit late with this one….

chris and the band led last sunday while my family and i were on vacation.

new series: above ground

jonathan gave the intro message. the kingdom of god is like a mustard seed. starts small but eventually takes over the garden. it’s said to be recognized by its fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

worship set:
“rooftops” by desperation band (cd “from the rooftops”)
“all to you” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you….live”)
“bless his name” by vineyard music (cd “more than ever”)
“endlessly” by desperation band (cd “who you are”)
“you are the one” by lincoln brewster (cd “all to you…live”)

my family is enjoying some downtime with my folks in scott, ar. scott is just outside of little rock. my father is semi-retired, and is pastor of this church.

while i have plenty of downtime, i’m following in the footsteps of my friends, dale and george, and working towards getting one of these for “free” as a gift for my wife, using this site.

i’ll let you know if and when i’m successful and exactly how “free” it ends up being when it’s all said and done.

Message: a Conversation with Bono

Worship set:
“Love the Lord” by Lincoln Brewster (All To You….Live)
“Our Love Is Loud” by David Crowder Band (Can You Hear Us?)
“Friend of God” by Michael Gungor and Israel Houghton (various arrangements)

today was awesome. we showed the video interview that bill hybels did with bono for the leadership summit ‘06. i was so glad that our people got to hear the simple, pure, christian faith of bono and the motivation behind all of his tireless work for justice around the world.

i have to admit, i too, in the past, have been guilty of chalking bono’s faith up to some pseudo-christian, hodge-podge spirituality. if that’s your impression, you’ve got to check out this DVD. but he’s the real deal. he came across as very genuine. very challenging interview.

makes me proud of what our church is doing through our DRIVE journey. bringing the tangible good news of the resurrection of jesus to people at home and around the world, and helping to usher in the kingdom of god in a big way in small places. things like this.

one more thing about the service today…..the turningpointe students (high schoolers) were freshly back from a week of camp at CIY. They were en masse taking up a good portion of the center section seats. obviously pumped up and ready to worship. they lead worship today as much as me and the band did, no doubt! their enthusiasm was contagious!

crosspointe church is in our first year of a 3 year financial and spiritual journey called DRIVE. among other initiatives, we are partnering with the haitian children’s home in jacmel. we are providing monthly support for the 20 kids that live there.

this week, our lead pastor, jonathan, and associate pastor, steve and his wife kristi, are visiting the home. they are building relationships, and dreaming about more specific ways for crosspointe to partner with them.

a very cool story….the guys ended up having to stay at a nearby hotel instead of at the home as they had originally planned. they worked it out with the staff at the hotel to close down the pool for a morning and allow the 20 kids from the orphanage to experience their first EVER pool party. such a small thing that we take for granted here, but an amazing gift and joy for the kids. you can see some pictures here.

again, i love our church.

“when you have tomsitis, every time you see a child you want to give them a pair of shoes.” –Blake Mycoskie, founder of Tom’s Shoes

what a ridiculously simple idea….for every pair of shoes bought, a pair is given to a child in need.

check out the 2 minute promo video.

awesome. my wife, c.c., has already picked out a pair for her and a pair for darby. i’m wondering if i can pull off the striped ones.

we need more creativity and initiative like this in the kingdom. bravo, blake!

(ht: jon mcclarnon)

wow…this is one of the saddest and most beautiful things i’ve seen in awhile…..

this is the young@heart chorus. the soloist is Fred Knittle, who suffers from congestive heart failure. this song was intended to be a duet between Fred and another chorus member, Bob Salvini. sadly, Bob died of a heart attack and it was left to Fred to carry the song on his own.

first of all, the song itself touched something emotionally in me the very first time i heard it. even though i don’t know coldplay’s intended specific meaning of the song, it expresses pain, regret, longing and hope in a powerful and beautiful way.

but then adding in the story of fred and bob and watching this chorus of elderly people putting their heart into the song just caps it off.

enjoy…..

Watch the video here.

Generous Artist

…according to the personal dna test. i have to say it was a very interesting test. some of the questions are similar to other personality tests i’ve taken in the past. but the format was cool - sliders, plotting a point on two axis-es (axi?), etc.

read more about my profile here

take the test!

(HT: anne jackson)

i’m just recently becoming aware of writer, blogger, anne jackson. she’s got guts to write so openly about her life and experiences. in addition to writing articles for relevant magazine, church marketing sucks and several other online publications, she blogs at www.flowerdust.net, where you can get a good view into her brain. i’ve found several thought-provoking posts there recently.

anne’s currently writing a book, “mad church disease”. besides being a brilliant title, it looks as though it will be one of those books that opens the door on an often ignored topic in christian leadership circles - the effects of ministry burnout on leaders and families. the effects are subtle at first, but if left unchecked can become devastating.

the coolest part is how she’s going about writing the book. before ever going to a publisher, she’s hoping to demonstrate to them how important this topic is - not just to herself, but to other church and ministry leaders.

so here’s where we come in. whether you are involved in vocational church ministry, or you are a spouse or family member of someone in vocational ministry, you can fill out an anonymous online survey. the results will be used to help shape the content of the book, but also to sell the idea to potential publishers.

if you’re interested in checking it all out and possibly participating, you can read more by clicking on the banner above.

i had the opportunity yesterday to take a worship band from crosspointe to a sister church across town to lead worship. true north church was planted in march by a good friend of mine and former associate here at crosspointe, jon mcclarnon. i love keeping up with true north and with jon’s thoughts as he rides out this adventure by regularly checking in at his blog.

it was a great morning. we started at 8am unloading sound, video and lighting equipment from the truck. we set up the stage, which the theater has graciously allowed them to store under the movie screen. jason, mike, john, and stuart were there to lead the tech side of things. it took me back to my two years of church-in-a-box before crosspointe moved into our current facility (although there were 6 years of it all together). ahhhhh….the good ol’ days!

anyway, even though it’s a new church and i was a guest worship leader, leading with jon was comfortably familiar. we worked together for five years.

the band did great. i was glad to be able to bring a crew from crosspointe with me.

setlist:
Opener - “Theme from ‘The Greatest American Hero’”
“Not To Us” Chris Tomlin (Not To Us)
“All Because Of Jesus” Steve Fee (Burn For You)
“Jesus Paid It All” Kristian Stanfill (Passion ‘06 - Everything Glorious)
“You Never Let Go” Matt Redman (Passion ‘06 - Everything Glorious)

jon was wrapping up a series called “heroes,” in which they’ve been taking a look at the life of joseph from genesis. yesterday’s message was “real heroes refuse to get even.” good stuff.

happy Father’s Day!

today, in honor of dads, we grilled hotdogs for everyone. nothing like a bit of man food early on a sunday morning!

chris led worship. he always does such a great job! so glad to have him on the team…

setlist:
“You Are Good” Lincoln Brewster (All To You…Live)
“Love The Lord” Lincoln Brewster (All To You…Live)
“Not To Us” Chris Tomlin (Not To Us)
“Mighty To Save” Hillsong (Mighty To Save)
“Enough” Chris Tomlin (Not To Us)

i took a band from crosspointe to lead at a sister church plant across town called True North Church. the lead pastor, jon mcclarnon, is a good friend of mine and former associate at crosspointe. more on that a little later….

just got back tonight from a week of helping to lead worship for a youth conference on the campus of liberty university in lynchburg, virginia.

i played keys in the house band supporting several gifted worship leaders - nathan, chris and kevin.

the band was formed last summer for the same event. a great group of guys. dale baker on drums, jamie mcfarlane on bass, george bonner on electric guitar, and new this year, david dollar on electric guitar.

it was a fun week with lots of music, lots of laughter, lots of bad camp food and late night hangs at ruby tuesdays or buffalo wild wings.

musical highlight: “jesus paid it all” led by nathan at one of the late night ministry times. incredibly high energy and heartfelt passion being poured out. it’s incredible when everything comes together, on stage and off, the whole room pouring hearts out to god.

best fictitional metal band name: “ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage…….TestosterTone!” (coined by dale on the ride home)

best inside joke: falwell university!

c.c. and i had a long overdue date night last night. i would write more about it here, but she does such a good job on her blog, i thought i’d just link to her post.

got a rehearsal today for a gig coming up in a few weeks. once again this year supporting nathan fancher, leading worship for WarCry, the annual GCI youth conference. pretty much the same band as last year plus another guitar player. i’m excited to play music and hang out with nate, dale, jamie, george and david again.

another exciting thing, i bought a new keyboard for crosspointe which i’ll be able to take on the gig with me. it’s a nord electro2. great for just about any vintage keyboard you could want. hammond b-3, wurlitzer, fender rhodes, yamaha cp80, suitcase piano, clavinet. sweet.

i’ve been intrigued lately by The Fermi Project, “… a broad collective of innovators, social entrepreneurs, entertainers, artists, futurists, scientists, historians, environmentalists and church leaders experimenting with ways to positively contribute to culture.” (from website)

In April, they organized a gathering called Q, where 31 presenters had 18 minutes each (now that’s good for us A.D.D. guys) to share their big ideas about culture, the future, the church and the gospel.

Among the notable presenters: Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, Jon Foreman (Switchfoot), Donald Miller, Rick Warren. Here’s the full list of Q presenters.

For $59.00/yr you can subscribe to a monthly online “newsletter” called Fermi Words. Each issue includes two video talks from Q and a short essay. The first issue is called “The Good”. “Christians in our culture are sometimes known by what they are against instead of what they are for. What if this could change? What if we were known as connoisseurs of the good, finding it and celebrating it throughout culture. If we could see everything through this lens, the perceptions of Christians throughout society could be reversed. ”

Very thought provoking stuff so far….

Maybe it’s early onset midlife crisis, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about making sure that I make my one life count for something beyond myself. And I’m passionately pursuing specifically what that means for me. I’m trying to find the balance between pushing God to lay out the plan for me, and just stepping forward day by day, embracing whatever interruptions and opportunities are placed in my path, trusting that God is moving me purposefully. I’m learning to trust my desires as I delight in Him.

And I’m not alone either. I have a friend, Jon, who is stepping out from the security of a good job at a good church and stepping into a risky dream of starting a new church community. He describes it as something he must do. To Jon, the pain of looking back 10, 20, 30 years from now and wondering “What if I had pursued that dream?” is worse than the pain of potential failure.

Along those same lines, fellow voxer Lon Wong writes a very insightful and inspiring blog post about his own risky dream. Here’s a great quote from that post:

“I know plenty of people who have things they want to do in life, but the reality is, they’re just wish lists. Real dreams must be attempted.”

So true.

Fellow voxer, GaryM, passes on a great quote…..

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather the wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.�

�Antoine de Saint Exupery

I think it applies to all levels of leadership, but definitely to large group leadership. Not that you don’t need organization and structure, but they will never replace clear communication of a compelling vision.

 It reminds me of something I heard Erwin McManus say one time - that it’s more important to change what people care about than what they believe.

 Anyone care to share some favorite leadership-type quotes?

Today in the midst of my surfing (is that still a valid term?) I saw “a good life” defined very simply by Linford of OtR. I agree very much. You can add all kinds of qualifiers to it depending on what it is that you “believe”, but it holds true….

A good life: Believe in what you do, and do it.

What do you think?

wouldn’t you believe i forgot to take a camera with me. i’m hoping to get some pictures from the other guys. meanwhile, here’s a picture of me on stage with nate and the guys at war cry at liberty university in lynchburg, va.  this is from a series of great shots taken by kendrick.  here you can see the whole set.

I had a great time. The trip was extremely fulfilling for me as a musician. Nathan, Dale, Jamie and George are all very talented guys. It was an honor to play music with them. I hope that we get more opportunities to play together soon. Besides the music we had lots of laughs, some great conversations, and some good down time as well. Plenty of time spent at St. Arbucks as I heard it called.

People are good. Music is good. God is good.

“The Lord is all that, I need for nothing. He allows me to chill. He keeps me from being heated and allows me to breathe easy. He guides my life so that I can represent and give shouts out in His Name.

And even though I walk through the ‘hood of death, I don’t back down for you have my back. The fact that He has me covered allows me to chill. He provides me with back-up in front of my player-haters and I know that I am a baller and life will be phat.

I fall back in the Lord’s crib for the rest of my life.”

—————————-

This is a rephrasing of the 23rd Psalm from the “HipHopEMass”. Trinity Episcopal Church in Bronx, NY has translated the liturgy into hip-hop vernacular for weekly HipHopEMass Celebrations.

Very interesting…..

See my friend Dale’s blog for his comments after attending a local event sponsored by his church.

I’ve always been a proponent of “translating” the truth into language that speaks to the culture here and now, but I have to admit, I laughed out loud when I read this because my first thought was “this is ridiculous!” That made me start wondering what was behind my contempt. Am I becoming the person who cries foul when the drum set slides its way onto the platform? The one who is okay with guitar in worship as long as it’s an acoustic guitar and not - God forbid - an ELECTRIC guitar. I wondered where you draw the line. Then I wondered, should there be a line? When does a translation no longer say what was intended? How would we know when that happened?

I’m going to stop or else my head’s going to explode. Okay, your turn. What do you think?

I’ve been more in reading mode than writing mode lately. here’s a very interesting and thought-provoking piece by Brian McLaren. It’s called “An Open Letter to Worship Songwriters”.

What do you think?

Thanks to an insightful post on Tales By The Fire, I decided to rename my vox “mostly music”. I definitely want to connect with other musicians, so maybe this will draw more of the right people.

Any fellow musician voxers, please leave a comment. I’d love to check out your blogs and music as well. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post some of my new music here soon…..

For you smart technical people…what’s the best way for us to make music available through Vox? As of now, we can only send people away from voxtropolis to myspace or whatever. thoughts?

I had a great time last night at our second monthly songwriter’s community. Thanks for organizing and hosting, Nate. Again, a small group. But, I have to say that selfishly they both have been smashing successes as far as I’m concerned.

I decided that I’m going to use the open mic as a deadline to have something new every month. This is going to be my plan of discipline to keep writing and being creative. So I sang my latest song “Chasing the Daylight” this time. I received some fairly good feedback on the song. Now I need to get it recorded…

….oh, and I heard a rough mix of “Waiting” that Nate Fancher is producing for me. He’s done some really great stuff to fill out the arrangement of the song. It has some cool Nate Fancher-ness to it. Can’t wait to be able to post it and give it to the world (or at least my mom).

that’s it for now….

We have a new tradition which my wife and I really look forward to. Every Tuesday several of our neighbor friends come over to watch American Idol. We’re addicted. Too far gone. We Tivo it and then start it late to miss the commercial breaks…

Anyway, Reality TV Magazine has reported possible evidence that American Idol is staged. Has the order that the contestants will be “voted” off already been decided? Read the scoop…..right…..HERE.

What do you think?

This post is especially for my friend Bill, but also anyone interested in cafes, coffeehouses, restaurants, etc. as a new location and strategy for advancing the Kingdom. An alternative to church that bypasses the barriers and stigmas attached to churches. (Although not all of them, we’ve earned those stigmas for the most part. That’s another discussion, though…)

Anyway, I realized yesterday that I’d forgotten really how I’d made it voxtropolis in the first place except that it was through at some point signing up on an email list maintainted by Alex McManus. I decided to spend some time reviewing Alex’s blog, called “Into the Mystic”, in order to remind myself what I’m now a part of. The “Search for the Mystic” thread is facinating and extremely exciting to me. I have a feeling I’m starting on a journey that will have large implications for my future as well as for my family’s future. Highly recommended reading there…

Now, back to Bill….one post in particular I think will be intriguing to you as a cafe owner, Bill. You can follow the link here. It’s called “Voxtropolis Cafe”, and it sort of bullet-points Alex’s strategy of establishing connection points for a face-to-face component of the voxtropolis community.

Keep me in the loop on what you think about it….

I met with Bill this morning at Jump ‘N Java Cafe, which he owns with his wife, Shelly. We enjoyed great conversation about what God is up to in each of our lives. Not to mention a fantastic sandwich. (Thanks, Shelly.)

It was another reminder of how I really need to get out of the office and spend more time with people. Roughly 1,200 people attend a service at Crosspointe each Sunday. A large part of my interaction is brief exchanges at the front of the auditorium after a service. How many times to I proactively find out what the Spirit is up to in the individual lives of any of those people?

Anyway, I’m going to try to get Bill to sign up for a Voxtropolis blog because I think he would enjoy the community here. If you get a chance, visit his typepad blog and encourage him to join the Vox revolution.

I’m just starting to become aware of the current trend of the combination coffeehouse / church. It seems that maybe this I’m pretty late on this one.

Anway, I’m set up to meet tomorrow with an acquaintance that I recently met at my church. His name is Bill and he recently moved from the west coast where he pastored various churches for 20 plus years. Now he’s decided to do ministry on the front lines by opening up a cafe - conveniently located close to the large number of people working in the Research Triangle Park.

The coffeehouse is called Jump-n-Java Cafe, and you can get into Bill’s mind by visiting his blog, Segue.