Prayers Needed!

We're pretty excited. On Thursday morning at 10am, Lisa (pictured above before a hot date a couple years ago :) ) has her first interview with the South Bend schools for a position opening next year! We've really been praying over what kind of job, which school system, all of this. Lisa has taught 5 years in the Coldwater schools, up in Michigan (where we're from). I'm not lying here when I say SHE IS SO TALENTED as a teacher! Our prayers are that God uses her to bring His light wherever she lands.

A few areas of specific prayer:

• feeling comfortable in the interview setting
  
• having composure to think 
  
• being able to be herself and not say words that aren't hers
  
• that the interviewer(s) would be relaxed and encouraging 

Thanks everyone, in advance, for praying!

Volunteers: The Musical

This was so much for to do. After the 5th service, we were saying, "Aw, it's over! Rats!" Great job everyone on this!

Why I LOVE our Volunteers

Why I LOVE our volunteers:
- they often work 2x as hard as people who could get paid
- they serve with JOY!
- they are the first to encourage one another and our leadership
- they get/breathe/recast the vision of our church
- they understand that they are a PART of the bigger picture of what God is doing
- they know that it's really not about them, but about others
- they go the extra mile to make something good, GREAT!
- they give around 15-20 hours of volunteer time every weekend that they serve
- they challenge me to take my leadership to new levels in order to serve them well
- they simply are the BEST around

Here are some pics from our weekend celebrating volunteers, including smooth stone award winners Leroy King (vocal team, Heir Force Band team leader, MC3 teams), Dalene Stuteville (drama team, drama writing team), and Brian Warrell (weekend band team, Heir Force Band, First Impressions Team).

:




A friend of ours overheard a comment from a person behind them coming for the first time. They said to their friend, "I'm glad your brought me here." Love that!

Another friend of ours brought her husband for the first time who was burned by church in the past. Sunday afternoon he asked her, "Honey, what are we doing this coming Saturday?" "I dunno? I was thinking of going out with the girls," she replied. "Oh, 'cause I was hoping that we'd go to GCC as a family this Saturday." God doing a thing. I love it!

I'm an Addict

I've tried to keep it a secret. I've struggled long and hard with this. A confessional moment here. I must admit, I am an addict. A Mac addict, that is. Yes, I know, if you know me, there have been signs of it all over.

It started when I was young. In sixth grade I was chosen by my school to be the first of 2 students who got a chance to work on an ORIGINAL Apple II Computer. Yes, that was the black one with a monochromatic screen. Oregon Trail where people looked like boxes was pretty sweet.


I wasn't satisfied. I had to have one at home.

So I talked my parents into an Apple IIe. Now, DOUBLE FLOPPY DISK DRIVES and a GREEN monochromatic monitor. Does anyone remember tying "\" symbols to underline words in a document. Oh yeah.


Still not satisfied. College began. I needed some firepower.

Mac Classic. 8mHz processor with 1 MB of RAM. Oh yes. Many a Sim City game was played on this. Of course, some sweet Print Shop posters were made as well.


THEN. I strayed... In a moment of weakness, I bought a Gateway. I realize now that it was the cowprint boxes that sold me. All 667mhz of processing glory and Windows 98. We still have this machine, it is in the toy room with a barbie kitchen next to it.


Definitely not satisfied.

Two years ago, I got a Power Mac G5 Tower which I still use everyday almost. It's a Duo Core (not Intel - I bought just before they released them) and a 1.67 gHz processor with 2G of RAM. Now, audio, video, photos - it's all good. After I finish a project or two, I'll be switching this over to Leopard.


Love it, but I wasn't satisfied when I needed to carry all 50 lbs of this tower into Barnes & Noble to surf the web. I needed something more...

So, this year I finally got a Macbook (which I'm typing this on). I really enjoy Leopard on it and the fact that free Wi-Fi through AT&T is becoming more readily available everywhere (Barnes & Noble).


I say I'm an addict because I'm still not satisfied. When I want to surf the web and don't have Wi-Fi or my Macbook, what is a man to do? I've added a new thing to "the list". Yes, it's an iPhone, but not just any one. The one with 3G technology that will allow much faster downloads.


Article on it's announced release on June 9th HERE. Anybody buying?

But, will I be satisfied??? Hmm...

Anyone Else Experience This?

I've heard of "Standing on the Promises of God", but "Laying" on them?

Our cat - Flankie. :)

A Good Old-Fashioned... Shed Moving??

We had the need for a shed. We looked at prices at Lowe's/Home Depot/Menard's, etc and found that the cheapest stable ones were about $1200! "Yikes!" said our budget. So we looked at other options. Some GCC members from across the street told us about a guy selling his shed a few doors down. We agreed on a really good price for us and it was a go. Now, HOW THE HECK DO YOU MOVE THIS THING? So after much research we decided to use the old Egyptian technique of rolling this thing on timbers. And what do you know? It worked!

The best thing was we had great friends to help us out. This is so important for us guys who tend to like to be do-it-yourself-ers. I'm often reminded of Pastor Mark's mantra: "The team outperforms the individual in the long run EVERY TIME." Or as I read in a fortune cookie once, "Many hands make light work." Brains + Brawn = Shed Moved! (notice the plural on brainS)

DC, Jeff and Cody - You guys literally rocked the house! ... or shed (more specifically)... :)



Photos by Anna and Sophie.

When Criticism Comes

We've received some "collateral heat" from Tim Steven's interview a few weeks back. The "Summer Nights" sketch that we were a part of has been getting a lot more hits (now over 20,000) since the interview. The comments are in line with what Tim has received. We, honestly Lisa, was feeling a little beaten up. A teammate and friend of mine Brian Warrell, encouraged us with this from Chuck Swindoll's book Hand Me Another Brick:

Every leader must develop the ability to measure the value or worth of criticism. He has to determine the source and the motive, and has to listen with discernment. Sometimes the best course of action is to graciously accept the criticism and learn form it. Other times, it must be strongly resisted.

Nehemiah's critics were constantly in agreement with one another, and their reaction was not a quiet, mildly disinterested one. No, they were angry! They became sarcastic. Look at the sarcasm in verse 3 "Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him [Sanballat] and he said "Even what they are building-if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!'"

Can you imagine a comment like that? But Tobiah made a crucial mistake. He claimed that a mere fox "would break their stone wall down." But what they built was not "their" stone wall. The Lord wanted the wall built. He happened to use Nehemiah as the construction superintendent, but God commissioned the work and owned the final product. Carping critics typically look at the situations from a human point of view-their walls, their plans, their comfort, their procedure, their arrangement-usually wrapping their derision in carefully crafted logic or, even worse, cleverly contorted Scripture. They don't stop to think that they may be criticizing God's project.

People who look at life from the human point of view have problems with projects that require steps of faith. We as leaders who are Christian need to ask ourselves, "Am I really looking to God for vision, for growth, and for direction, or am I taking the easy way out, allowing the status quo to earn approval from my peers and to keep my position secure?" If we earnestly and genuinely seek God's best for our lives, we must keep our eyes open and our attitudes positive-not lacking discernment, but remaining focused and positive. And we must never forget that those who are, by nature, negative and critical will always, always be around to create opposition. Nevertheless, the work , must go on. Progress should not stop because a loud minority to disparage us or hinder the plan.

Good stuff and a great reminder to keep focused on the work, not on the critics.

Birthday Crashers??!!!

Mark Beeson inspired this post as one of those weird "doo-doo-doo-doo" (cue Twilight Zone music) moments.

Okay, so I've heard of wedding crashers. I've heard of party crashers, but BIRTHDAY CRASHERS!!!?



Our family was celebrating Sophie's 7th birthday at the mall. Five of Sophie's 1st grade friends and her sister all were there. We went to Build-a-Bear and had a great time. We then proceded to the food court in the mall to have pizza and then cake. So we finished our pizza from the pizza place there ($18 for one large pizza - I wouldn't recommend it-BTW), and got out the High School Musical cake. Just as we're doing this, a nice older lady (pictured above) stopped by. Here is the run down of the conversation from that point on:

Lady: "Oh! Somebody's having a birthday!"

My wife, Lisa: "You bet! Sophie's turning 7!"

Lady: "Congratulations! That looks like a nice cake."

Lisa: "Thank you."

(awkward moment of pause)

Lady: Do you think I could have a piece of that cake?

(my wife's wheels spinning in her head)

Lisa: Sure! You can have a piece of cake! What's your name?

Lady: Mary's my name.

Lisa: Here's your cake.

Mary: Do you think I can have a cup of that Sprite too?

Lisa: Um... Of course.

So our friend Mary sat with us for about 15 minutes (between 2 seven year olds) and ate her cake and had some Sprite. One of the funniest things was watching the kids on either side of Mary. They were just eating their cake and stealing glances at Mary. I could see their brains ticking "does not compute... does not compute..." (check out the smirk in the girl sitting next to Mary!)

It was one of those weird moments when you say something like Mark said, "ZOW!"

Oh What a Night!

Wow! It finally happened! Dustin and Brinn are married!!! Dustin is our Programming Director at GCC and is loved by all. Brinn is an amazing lady who oozes kindness and compassion. Dustin has chosen wisely.

It was a great evening. Two wonderfully beautiful people (inside and out) getting married. The lady next to me said, "This was a match made in heaven!" I tend to agree.

Highlights for us:
- Dustin's amazing media throughout - the one played at the start (which I'm sure will be posted somewhere was a tear jerker)
- A fun, intergrated service - yes, he planned it like a service planner! (As we sat in rehearsal on Thursday and Dustin passed out service orders, Brendan Sweeney commented "Is Dustin going to run his family by service orders?")
- Amazing dress for Brinn - simple and elegant
- Chuck Taylor's for the guys in the wedding party - very Dustin
- Pastor Paul sounded curiously similar to Job from Arrested Development - lots of energy :) and a great message about Love and Respect
- Trace singing Keith Urban's "Somebody Like You" - perfect energy for the end
- Brinn's cousin, Brennan playing some pretty sweet piano chops at the beginning, especially for a 14 year old.
- a replay of Dustin's proposal media that he played on his iPhone for Brinn back in December
- Dancing to a mix at the end with my wife and 2 girls - Sophie commented "I could have danced ALL NIGHT!"
- Bubbles at the end to send them off
- Seeing the love in their eyes and being reminded of how much I love my wife - 13 years on June 10th!

Congratulations you guys! I can't wait to see what God will do in and through you.

Okay - I got a little late in taking photos. But here are a few, not like anyone there was taking any photos!!!!

I Just Love This Ad

Something that is communal. Something that is summer. Something that is spontaneous. I love it.

Dancing with Our (Little) Stars

We are so proud of our girls. Anna and Sophie have made amazing progress this year. Neither one have had any tap training until this year. THEY LOVE IT! (pictured below with their teacher, Miss Karin) Also, they are getting the ballet training that continues to give them a firm foundation.


We have been so pleased with Conservatory of Dance as our kids' dance school this year. Our girls have learned SO MUCH. Highly recommend for parents looking for dance studios. A few observations:

- kids are challenged appropriately, yet to the point of stretching them.
- kids are adequately PREPARED, which gives them CONFIDENCE in performance
- kids participate with students who are more advanced which helps them see role models to emulate

This is great. We will continue to trust the teachers/instructors at Conservatory of Dance.

Kid's Book on Autism - VERY COOL

We have some really cool people that are on our teams at GCC. One of those people is Meagan Church. She is part of our drama writing team and is pretty amazing. She just recently published a book for kids on Autism called "Unique as Pete". This is a really cool concept and helpful to so many families that are affected by Autism. Check out the summary from Meagan below:

The first in its series, Unique as Pete: How Autism Doesn’t Mean Different, has been created to entertain and educate people of all ages on autism. A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to support the Autism Society of North Central Indiana, South Bend Chapter (ASNCISB) and their efforts to open an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy center in the South Bend area. We are very excited about the book and we hope our work will help many local families in their dealings with autism through the ABA therapy center. We also hope it will educate countless others – from children to adults – on what it means and doesn’t mean to be autistic.

My wife, Lisa, has been working in an classroom for autistic pre-schoolers this year. It has been a great journey for her. She loves her kids and is continually amazed by the progress that these children make. A good book to support. Way to go Meagan!

Step Up and TRAIN

Been reading Dallas Willard's "The Great Omission" - God's perfect timing in my life right now. Amazing stuff. I've often struggled with the idea of "training vs trying". John Ortberg's book, "The Life You've Always Wanted" covers this quite a bit. We can't only TRY in the moment. We need disciplined TRAINING over months and years to handle whatever comes our way. Dallas has a great quote that I think is the challenge to anyone who leads (especially church leaders):

"But only constant students of Jesus will be given adequate power to fulfill their calling to be God's person for their time and their place in this world. They are the only ones who develop the character which makes it safe to have such power."

CONSISTENT DISCIPLESHIP = CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT = FAITHFUL LEADERSHIP

Let's do it - TOGETHER. Be watching as our church takes steps toward this in the coming weeks and months.

Where I'm At Right Now

I've been on a journey using a Bible study technique by Wayne Cordeiro from New Hope in Honolulu, Hawaii. He wrote a book a few months back called The Divine Mentor which really helped me get a new perspective on study/journaling and then application. I'm finding it helpful. I blogged about this HERE. The technique, again, uses the SOAP acronym.

S - Scripture
O - Observation
A - Application
P - Prayer

Here's yesterday's entry. Maybe it might be helpful.

S - Rescue those beingn led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done? (Prov. 24:11-12)

O - Our job & our responsibility - RESCUE. People around us are literally "staggering toward slaughter." We are held accountable according to what we DO for these people. As ministers for Christ (all followers are), every moment is a choice - do we live for the Kingdom or squander our time?

A - This responsibility is certainly making me look a lot closer at my use of time. As an artist, I kind of like "going with the flow"; letting my days go by without a lot more planning than that particular day. My friend, Rob, plans life a lot further out - 3 to 4 weeks! I have trouble with tomorrow! This is a challenge to me. Not that I should miss out on the Holy Spirit's leading in the moment, but like we often tell people about planning in the arts - "the Holy Spirit can move 4 weeks out as well as 1 day out". This a great reminder for me to give my daily, weekly, and monthly schedules to God. Literally, praying over my use of time. Doing this will allow me to better focus my life around the prime task of Christians - RESCUING people who are "staggering toward slaughter."

P - God help me today as I seek to make every moment count for You. May my time be fully given to building Your kingdom on this earth. Protect me from distractions that would pull me away from your purposes. I give my time and the fullness of my life to You. For Your glory. In Jesus' name.

Prayers for Our Leaders

The other day I read Acts 12:5 "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." The end of that story is that angels show up and release Peter from his chains and he gets out. Peter, as a key leader in the early church was in trouble and the church earnestly prayed for him. This reminded me of our job as followers of great leaders like our Senior Management Team (SMT) - we MUST be praying for these people constantly. So much rides on their decisions, wisdom, care, and connection with God. Not just when they are "in trouble" like Peter was, but in relatively smooth times as well.

Our SMT is meeting for the next two days with 24 pastors from around the nation at Leadership Live to pour into them and give them a behind-the-scenes view of GCC. The person I have been praying for is Tim Riddle from St. Mark's Church. My hope is that he is encouraged, enlightened, refreshed, and refocused on God's plans for St. Mark's.

So. Go ahead. Pray for our leaders. Consistently.

Mark Beeson
Tim Stevens
Mark Waltz
Rob Wegner
Butch Whitmire

Maximizing the Arts

We're excited today to present Maximizing the Arts - a workshop for anyone interested in leading/doing/creating art for the church. Our fearless leader, Butch Whitmire, will start the day. He lays out the basic philosophy for using the arts at GCC. Later, we get into programming, worship, and finish the day with a session on things we're learning.

I like this final session a lot, because I think it lets everybody know that WE'RE STILL IN PROCESS! Sometimes, the bigger or more influential a church gets, the perception is that they've arrived. This is so NOT TRUE! We're trying to figure out solutions to problems every day. We may have a few more people around and maybe a few more resources, but we still have tons of issues to solve. We're still dealing with people - and that is always beautifully messy! Our hope is to help other leaders by highlighting some of the issues that we're dealing with. Looking forward to a great day!

The Truth is Out

Two sides. Often heated debate. This result:

Mac vs PC

Hard facts here, kids. I'm not gloating though... :)

Bald Men are TAKING OVER!

Okay,

We've decided to worship the way God fully intended - completely uncovered heads! Yes, we're working on the all bald guy team at GCC. Apparently there is talk out there about us!

What a Team!!!

We finally MOVED! And what a great team we had over the two day process! We had a Special Ops (smaller) team come in on Friday and knocked out a great deal. Gene, Rob, Dustin, Ben, Sherry, Kim, Kelsey - you guys were AMAZING!!! Food from Nancy R.!

Then on Saturday (with perfect weather) we had the big team come and finish the job. We got done so fast (thanks to my wife's great packing) that we ended up setting up the entertainment center, the bedrooms, and kitchen.

As we experienced the love from people over these two days, we were overwhelmed by God's goodness. So many people with great hearts - willing to serve. I captured those moments as what the church really looks like. Like in Acts where the believers shared what they had and made sure those in need were helped. We were in need and WE WERE HELPED! Praise God!

Thanks to: Ted, J, Angie, Sarah, Brian W., Brian G., Buster, Michelle, Nancy, Dan, Harold, Don, Bill, Cody, Randy, John N. and John L. Not to mention great food from Nancy L. and Marge!



We are so blessed. Thanks everyone for your love and kindness.

New Delirious

Check out a free preview of the FULL SONGS



This is going to be a good album. Check out Kingdom of Comfort and get ready to be whacked in the head! These guys are world changers with their music. I still remember seeing their North American debut at Creation '98. Incidentally, it was at this festival that I officially felt the call into full-time ministry. "Deeper" is still one of my favorite songs.

Thanks for the heads up Corey.

A Glimpse of the People We Serve

Each week we are emailed a list of the prayer requests from the weekend services that people put on our comment/prayer cards. Reading these can really help us as leaders catch a glimpse of what our people are going through and thus what they need to hear from us. I am humbled that God has chosen us to serve these people. Here are just a few examples:

My husband was recently killed. I have lost my best friend and the children have lost a wonderful father. If you could please say a prayer for our family I would appreciate it.

I have so many people who are close to me who I love dearly but they don't know they matter. It breaks my heart. I want so desperately to show them they're loved and that they matter. Please pray with me about how God may use me to reach them; how my influence can become viral.

I lost my job this week so I need you to pray that I find a new job ASAP.

Ever since we started giving tithes our lives have been easier and more complete. Thank you for teaching us about giving.

Pray for my daughters and family. Tuesday is the one year anniversary of my youngest daughter's boyfriend's death in a car accident at 18 years old. Now my oldest daughter's boyfriend has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Please pray for my mother who has pancreatic cancer; may her journey from this world to the next be a peaceful, pain-free journey.

Our people are experiencing REAL LIFE. They need REAL FAITH to match up with it. Not, pat answers like "all things work for good", but to help them know that God meets them in their trials and struggles. This is our calling as a church to hold up a banner of HOPE. It is this kind of hope that becomes VIRAL. My friend, Rob Wegner spoke of us being salt this weekend. Lives poured out for others. People with prayer requests like the ones above are all around us. May God give us eyes to see and the margin in our lives to PAY ATTENTION.

One of My Mentors

Two days ago, the world lost a really great man - one of my mentors, Mr. Mel Larimer. Mel was the director of the Albion College Choirs for 20 years. He was my music education teacher, as well as conducting instructor. Beyond that he was a friend who loved Jesus. At the time I knew him, that didn't mean too much to me. But now, in retrospect, I realize how much his relationship with Christ permeated everything he did. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Larimer had his moments where patience was lacking and things weren't getting done. But, now I can see how his humility always came out and if apologies were needed, they came.

One the biggest things that Mel did for me was getting me my first job out of college. Which led to me meeting my future wife, which led to me meeting Jesus, which led to me getting into ministry, and so on. So I have a lot of gratitude for the life of Mel Larimer. He was well loved and he loved well. My hope is that this phrase can be said of me some day. He will be missed.

More of his story here

We Need Help!!!

We're moving on Saturday, April 5th from 9am-? We're in kind of a pinch here for muscle since it's the beginning of Spring Break weekend. If you could help out, any part of the day, just send us a comment. I'll get back with you. Thanks.

Simon Video from Easter

So fun to see this come together. Literally a LABOR OF LOVE!

This is from our site and has better resolution than the Youtube version. Check it out

HERE

Easter 2008

This was an Easter to remember. We had SNOW on Saturday, techno music, glow sticks, fantastic media - all pointing to our Savior, Jesus. Mark Beeson, challenged us to go VIRAL with our faith. Where the expectation goes beyond "each person telling one" to "each person telling EVERYONE." This is the heart of our church especially as we move into becoming "one church where you are."

I'm amazed at how our teams delivered excellence with servant hearts. For this I am proud and thankful.
Here was the set list:
Prelude: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
Worship: Song of Hope - Robbie Seay Band
Worship: Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
Special: Hope for the Hopeless - A Fine Frenzy
Light Medley: Coming Out of the Dark(Gloria Estefan), This Little Light of Mine, Shine (Collective Soul), In the Light (DC Talk), I Saw the Light (David Crowder), King with a Crown (Matisyahu), Go Light Your World (Kathy Troccoli)


You can view the service HERE.

I have to give major props to our men of media who delivered BIG TIME!

First, Ben Sanders:


Ben was able to take critique from 30 people, make 20 revisions, and still keep his head and show Christ. Nice work. Ben made the Simon video in the middle of the service and edited the video for our prelude.

Next, Albert Martin:


He made the video that followed our worship time. Beautifully artistic. Many comments about how it brought people to tears. This had my daughter Anna in it. I am so proud of her work, it makes me crazy! It was a rare and beautiful moment to have my daughter singing behind me in a media and then switch to have my wife singing in front of me live. An experience I won't soon forget. The song, "Hope for the Hopeless", by A Fine Frezy is a must listen if you haven't already heard it.

This was a fun photo from our Daft Punk prelude:


More photos from our great music team!

Ben Ngoma, Kim Stewart, Kathy Sellers, Courtney Helman, Brian Warrell, Adam Tarwacki, Leah Hudson, and Mark Pitcher. Great job team!

My Friend - Lee McDerment

So, Facebook is cool. And Facebook with God working behind the scenes is even cooler. On a whim, possibly a Spirit-thing, I requested Lee McDerment to be my Facebook friend. Since then, God seems to be putting together a really cool network-friendship-build-each-other-up thing.

Lee is a worship leader at NewSpring Church in South Carolina. (yeah, they stole Tony Morgan away from us, but we're way over it...) I'm looking forward to seeing what God will do through this friendship. It's my belief that artists NEED to be in community. I think the reason that satan can bring down so many of us is that the artistic temperment leans toward a degree of solitude in order to create. Solitude is good, but isolation is not. We as artists need other artists to refine us, recalibrate us, and often rebuke us. I'm hoping that friendships like mine and Lee's can keep me seeking God all the more.

BREAKING NEWS!


Lee has just released a CD entitled, "A Matchlight in the Dark". If you like the sound of Steve Fee, you'll love this. Jason Hoard, Fee's producer, also helped Lee make this recording.

Check out the sound clips on his website or you can buy the CD here.

Medi-uh?

I saw this, and thought about target audience. Hmm... I wonder if this would be a hit in Granger, Indiana?



Wow.

Worship Leader Forum

On Friday, we had a great chance to hang out with worship leaders from seven other churches and talk shop. We covered a wide variety of topics. Here were a few:

- Off-Platform care for volunteers
- Dealing with discipline issues - tough talks with team members
- Rehearsal Structure
- Auditions process
- Creative Programming

One thing, that I thought after our workshop that I would like to understand more is about the role of the worship leader. What makes a person a worship leader vs simply a song leader? I think that just about any decent musician could lead a song. There is something different about helping people engage with God in this thing called corporate worship. I found this article that talked a little about the difference.

A few of my thoughts:
- a worship leader is a facilitator or guide for God's people to experience Him - comments like: "Wow, I really sensed God's presence tonight! Thanks."
- a song leader can become the focus - comments like "man, you are amazing!"
- a worship leader keeps the focus on God while allowing the music to enhance the words
- a song leader looks for ways to make the musical experience "the main thing"
- a worship leader has an idea where he/she is taking people since he/she has prayed through the worship set and can sense the Spirit's guiding ahead of time and in the moment.
- a song leader really has no idea where the "song time" may go. They just have to make sure the right chords are played and the powerpoint is completely accurate.
- a worship leader strives for excellence since they know that it honors God and inspires people.
- a song leader can either fly by the seat of their pants or become so perfectionistic that it can stifle any spirit.

Any more that I need to add?

Three New Faces

We've got some new faces coming to the GCC Vocal Team in the next month or so.

First, Don Reynolds comes to us from Wakarusa. He's a great guy with a great heart for Christ. A grad of Taylor U, he majored in Church Music. Don comes with a lot of experience in performing and leading worship. Very excited to have him join us.


Next, we have Kelli Myers who is from the magical land of Nappannee. A sophomore at Bethel College, she helps lead worship at Lifeline, Oasis, and Merge. Kelli is a very talented pianist as well as a singer. I can't wait to see what God does through her.



Finally, we have Randy Wotring, who lives in Mishawaka. His heart for Christ is very transparent. His singing experience ranges from rock bands and church singing to karaoke. Getting to know Randy has been great, especially his sense of humor.


All three of our new singers bring a passion for Christ and a passion for singing. This is base criteria for us. I'm thrilled to welcome them to our team. Look for them in the coming weeks.

Vocal Masterclasses - FREE!

I've recently been viewing a set of free vocal masterclasses which have been helpful to me. Now, this set of classes is not your traditional way of studying. Nor is it coaching in the traditional form. It is more about song choices and presentation.

As you view these singers, you see high energy (WOW) and lack of energy (aw...).

There are three coaches.

I would listen to this one to a good degree.

I wouldn't listen to this one really at all.

I would take to heart everything this one says.

I think it is a must view for contemporary vocalists. I am encouraging my team to check this out every week in order to make our performances and worship that much more excellent. As we consider the fact that excellence honors God and inspires others, we must do our part to bring excellence to the stage. This includes WATCHING and LEARNING from others.

One of my favorites from last night HERE.

Connoisseur of Children's Movies

I have two girls, ages 9 & 6. We recently saw "Enchanted" for the second time. I love quality, fun, and SURPRISE! This scene carries all of those for me:


Since, I go to movies that are targeted for kids about their age, I have become a connoisseur of this genre. Often, these movies will take really lame scripts and use visual effects to try to make a movie. UGH!!! "The Wild" was this for me, borrowing the characters from Madagascar and the plot of Toy Story 2.

Overall, I feel like in the past 15 years, Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks and others have done a great job improving the quality of these films not only for kids but also for adults. This dual strategy (adult references that are over the kids heads) keeps me engaged and brings me back. Here are my top five kid's movies:

1. The Incredibles
2. The Emperor's New Groove
3. Enchanted
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp)
5. Shrek 2

If you had to pick 5, which would they be?

System of Prayer

So I had this feeling that I wasn't giving my people the proper prayer support that I think they're due. Let's face it, as people involved in leading worship, we're on the front lines of attacking the devil's strongholds. So I thought about praying more for my people. This led to some inconsistent prayer as I was running, or just thinking about them. More frustration.

As an artist, I really need systems to keep me going. I'm thankful for deadlines (though I sometime loathe them!). So, I decided to create a prayer system for myself. I've written in my journal a column of people from our music team (and their spouses) and then another column of our arts team staff members (and their spouses). I take two people from music and two arts team people and pray for them on a given day. The next day two more from each team, etc. This gets me through my whole music team in about a month and 2x through my arts team. I realize this is not earth shattering, but maybe helpful to some of you who lead arts teams.

PRAY FOR YOUR PEOPLE.

Jesus did it in John 17. He prayed for his disciples and then all believers. "That they may be one..." A good reminder for us. Especially if we have any concerns about unity on our teams. Pray like Jesus did. From experience in a couple situations recently, PRAYER WORKS!

iBand

This has some programming potential somewhere.

Why? I Don't Know...

Thanks Lisa D.

Techno Worship

For our midweek, "believers" service called New Community, we normally give our band a break by having on week per month where we back things off in terms of instrumentation. This usually manifests itself in an "unplugged" night with acoustic/piano and maybe a small drum kit. This is great. I love the flexibility of this ensemble for leading.

Last Thursday we went on a new adventure for this service where we did "normal" worship songs that we do, in quite a fresh way for us. Everything was TECHNO. All keyboards and track. Here was our set:

O Sacred King - Matt Redman - pretty much did this one as a special - allowing our people to soak in the sovereign nature of our God as creator and friend simlutaneously.
Majesty (Here I Am) - Delirious - I used the main bass and strings riffs from the CD but added quite a bit in the drum track. I found that bringing a huge pad sound to the chorus on this really helped fill things out. I heard that Adam Callender mixed everything really FAT in order to bring out the emotion.
No One Like You - David Crowder Band - I used Crowder's arrangement from Sushi and Sunsets to make this one with a few adjustments to make it more singable. I also had the idea to sample in portions of audio from "That's My King" by SM Lockridge. This seemed effective but it would have been good to have it on a separate mix to bring it out more.

Jason Miller, my good friend and fellow worship leader delivered an incredible message about "Thou Shall Not Murder" which took us down the road of dealing with our anger and eventually redeeming it for the right purposes. So easy to lead people in worship out of great preaching! Way to go Jason!

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus/Center - Newsboys/Charlie Hall - used a shuffle beat to keep a medley of these two songs in the same key. Turn Your Eyes was an arrangement that I heard almost 13 years ago at a Newsboys concert when they opened for Steven Curtis Chapman - yeah, I admit it. I was an SCC fan. Still am as songwriting goes. Sometimes hard to know what people know in terms of the melody of this song. Hoping it was helpful. Used a fun riff with choir and an opera singer sample to intro each verse. Center was pretty much the Charlie version with a techno shuffle beat. This was the one song I wish I could have spent more time on.
Awesome God - Rich Mullins - This was pretty much a big build and then pull back. My mind through this was racing and in another planet - missing chords on a simple chord progression. But I think it was meaningful.
Sing to the King - Billy Foote - This was probably my most creative arrangement of the night. I loved the siren like sound that played a riff that marked the intro and verse. Heidi Leets did a great job leading us on this one.

Learnings:
1. Don't try to do too much new at one time! I literally KILLED myself trying to put all these songs together.
2. Creative arrangements without practice can prove to be less effective than simpler arrangements with more practice time. I had confidence issues because I put my eggs in the arrangement basket and not in the practice time. So important to be able to lead in humble confidence.
3. We stepped into a new realm this week. As Jason told me, we may be able to take elements of this night and incorporate it into what we do "normally" to help create variety. Taking risks is important. This week was certainly that.

Thanks for everyone's kind words and support. You are awesome. What a great church to be part of.

What Selling a House Has Taught Me

I (we've) learned a lot this time as we have sold our house. Here a few of the many lessons we've learned:

1. Talk is cheap. We heard a lot of "we LOVE your house" and "we're getting an offer together", but we've learned until you "show us the money", we're not packing boxes.

2. Trusting people at face value is not wise. We got burned a bit by some people who told us one thing and did another. Wacky, detailed filled lies. Yuck!

3. It is difficult to compare houses "apples to apples". There are often factors that are difficult to evaluate and compare. Location, size, school, distance from work, features all play out differently.

4. God is SOVEREIGN(of course). I think of Daniel 4:17: "the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he chooses." Yeah, you've heard "a man's house is his kingdom" so I think this applies. I (we) don't have to worry, because God is working this all out. A reminder.

5. The song Everlasting God has hit us a lot lately: "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord." I think God is making us stronger through this.

I'm sure there are more, but my brain is tired. I go chill out now. :)

SOLD!!!

After having our house for-sale-by-owner for a couple months, Leah Hudson, our realtor, told us that she could get our house sold in 14 days. And SHE DELIVERED - TO THE DAY! Very exciting news. Now to see if the house we have an offer on will go through. Rumor has it that the seller doesn't budge a whole lot, so we'll see. Thanks for everyone's prayers! Keep 'em coming!

Top 10 Vocal Health Tips

My friend, Tim Carson, of Vocal Artistry sent out a post to help singers manage the winter season. It covers things like hydration, rest, and avoiding abuse. It you are a singer in a church setting, or even someone who speaks a lot, it is a good post to read. Speaking pastors in multiple service settings really need to take heed of these tips.

Check it out HERE.

iWorship

Okay, so I have a brilliant friend. Let me be clear here. BRILLIANT! Not just a smart guy, but brilliant. And he's barely 20 years old! He has recently designed some software that we use at Granger Community Church to project our words. It's called iWorship. We looked at other presentation software programs and were not satisfied. So Albert decided to write his own. Below is a screen shot:


If you work at a church, and need some cool software that LOOKS GREAT and is intuitive for your volunteers, then check it out HERE.
This is available via download from Apple. Or contact him directly at amartin@gccwired.com. Check it out!

Punxsutawney Phil

Happy Groundhog Day everyone!

Yep, 6 more weeks of winter. Sad.

Details from Punxsutawney, PA HERE.


One of my favorite movies of all time. And MY VERY FIRST DATE WITH MY WIFE, LISA! Yeah, I was very cool... I got 2 NOSEBLEEDS during the movie and had to go to the restroom! Great first impression. But she stuck with me.

Have a great one!

House Hunters

Hey everyone,

We're looking for some help. We need to find a home. Here are some of the things we're looking for:

- PHM Schools
- 3 bed/2 bath minimally
- $180K max
- close to GCC - obviously

We're on realtor.com everyday. If you know of anyone with any leads, let us know. Thanks so much.

Jack (Black) Attack!

I am proud to confess that Lisa and I are HUGE Jack Black fans! We are obnoxious quoters from "School of Rock". You might catch us saying "It's gonna test your brain, your head and your mind," or "Let's rock, let's rock today!" or possibly "I'll catch you guys on the flip flop..." - all School of Rock.

We're looking forward to a couple new flicks from the Man in Black this year. Coming Feb. 22, I'm looking to check out Be Kind Rewind. The website is here. Worth the click. Trust me.

Here's the trailer for those less adventurous:



Also, coming this summer (I saw this trailer on the Shrek the Third DVD) - Kung Fu Panda! I love the feel of this animation. It looks amazing. Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, and more.



I'm thankful that it seems like they're letting Jack be himself. Big mistake in Shark Tale to make him play someone else. A huge waste of his comedic talent. Anyway. Looking forward to what Jack will bring us!

OUT OF ORDER

Can anyone relate? 1-2 months ago, I was in an unhealthy rhythm in my life. Priorities were wacked out. This made life literally feel OUT OF ORDER. Here was my priority list, (based on time/energy spent) for that period:

1. Job
2. Family
3. God

This order had me in a constant feeling of dis-ease. Feelings of anxiety/uncertainty were rampant. I never felt like I had enough time to get done all the things that I needed to. It's amazing when your "job" is working for the Lord, how many excuses you can make to ignore a Sabbath, cheat my family by looking at another email about a work project, or take a "crucial" telephone call. What I have realized that most of my crises, were my own creation by lack of planning. I decided to change.

Not that everything's perfect now, but I have consciously made some decisions to re-arrange my life priorities. Not only have I set activities that will point me toward my life's priorities, I have actually scheduled them on the calendar. New list (yeah, it's turned upside down):

1. God
2. Family
3. Job

Things like daily time in God's word, journaling, praying - PRIORITY. Bi-weekly date night. Dates with both of my girls. Weekly financial assessment. Weekly activities to encourage health, development of my gifts, etc. All helping me feel at the end of the week like I've accomplished something. I know this is not revolutionary and Stephen Covey could have told me this 15 years ago, but I think I'm finally ready to engage this kind of structure for an artist. We'll see where it goes. I'm hopeful.

Discovering God's Will

I've been listening to some podcasts from North Point Church in Atlanta about discovering God's will. Andy Stanley is one of my favorite teachers. A few memorable quotes:

- "God does not give us direction for consideration. He gives us direction for participation." - when we're surrendered and say "YES" even before we ask, He's going to make His will crystal clear.

- "I do not get to know God and then do His will. I get to know Him more deeply by doing His will." - Phillip Yancy - God's more concerned about us knowing Him than knowing His will. It all point back to relationship.

- "We receive enlightenment only in proportion as we give ourselves more and more completely to God by humble submission and love." - Thomas Merton - the enlightenment follows the surrender. The person who waits to see clearly before they start, never begins the journey.

Here is the link for the first in this series. It's free of course.

U2 3D - I am there!!!

This is going to be amazing!!!



Thanks, Heredes!

MacBook After 2 Weeks

Okay, so I'm a little late in letting people know that I'm a MacbBook owner now. I have been a "Mac man" for more than 2 years with a PowerMac that has been great. It was a little hard to carry around though. So I recently purchased a new MacBook (not the Pro or the Air) just a MacBook.

Two words, so far:

GOOD PURCHASE

We have found it has helped out so much in my traveling back and forth from work. It helps with dad monopolizing the computer when he's home (there's another option). It helps that during the winter our basement is a bit colder, so it's nice to do email at our kitchen counter.

Several impressions about MacBook (and Apple in general):

1. Great design - even as I opened the package (see below), form met function right away. I love that!



2. Integration - every program on Mac integrates wonderfully with the others. When I'm sound editing in Logic Studio, and I want to import a file from iTunes - drag and drop. Nice. My other audio programs go through a long import process.

3. Feel - I simply LOVE the new keyboards. I'm looking to upgrade my old PowerMac keyboard to one of the new ones. It feels great and is very accurate. No more sticky keys.

4. Maintenance - I'm the kinda guy that likes to have things take care of themselves. This is why we are cat people and not dog people. We like to have the cats "do their business" and not have to monitor that every time. I love that Macs take care of security/virus stuff within system updates. I don't have to make sure my Macafee is updated and my pop-up blocker is good to go. I realize that Vista has made considerable strides in this way, but I still think Mac is ahead in lower maintenance.

So, with that said, I'll get back to my MacBook...

Pop Goes the Church... so far

1st impressions of "Pop Goes the Church" by Tim Stevens (his first solo book):

1. Tim has a very conversational writing style - I like this.

2. Tim doesn't shy away from tough truths - this even stings me every so often (in a good way)

3. Tim uses many examples and draws from other's experiences. He does a great job of this in his workshops as well. Keeps me turning pages, waiting for the next thing.

4. Tim writes with conviction and passion. He believes what he is writing will make a difference. He's not just trying to sell a book.

5. Tim has a great hair/beard combo going. This gives him credibility as wise and all-knowing (in a pop culture sort of way). :)

6. So far, I would buy this book in a heartbeat. A good read with great content. Thanks Tim for your hard work. I think the Church (capital "C") will really benefit.

Check out other reviews here.

Looking forward to Tuesday

My favorite "worst" of Idol '08...

Cloverfield: Review

Alright, I'll have to admit that when my friend Rob asked me to go to see Cloverfield last night, I was sort of, "yeah, maybe". My first choice on movies wouldn't be in the "thriller" genre. But it was Rob, so we went to the Carmike Encore Park 14 in Elkhart - this was my first visit to this theater. THE BEST THING - they play the movies in FULL DIGITAL which is AMAZING!!! Not IMAX, but amazing for local. The clairty was so great. I did not miss the specs flying through each scene that I'm used to at the Cinemark Theaters.

This movie is definitely not for those who would have any degree of motion sickness. The clever scenario of everything being from the perspective of someone's camcorder caused about 10-15 to leave our theater. Very effective use of this technique throughout.

Highlights for me -
- I loved the character development at the beginning of this film
- I was disappointed in how soon they actually "let the cat out of the bag" with
revealing how "the monster" looked. A lot scarier when you don't know what
you're scared of.
- A few good laughs throughout from the character "Hud"
- The mini-monsters that were spawned from the big mama were wicked awesome. Very
effective.
- Great ending - a little unexpected - I won't give it away if you haven't seen it
- I was kind of shocked that it was so short. Only about 1:10 in my estimation.
Bottom Line:
A good movie. Once you get past the crazy cameras, the story keeps you engaged. Good story telling with believable characters in an unbelievable setting. I jumped/was scared quite a bit more for "I Am Legend" but definitely worth seeing if you like this genre (or even if it's not your first choice!).
-

The Sagarsee's New Baby! (Alive)

Yep,

It's true. I have pictures. Kyle and Jeanette Sagarsee were at our house with baby... Baby Alive that is!

Yeah, she talks, she eats, she pees, she poops. It's all there.

Seriously, we had a great time hanging out with the Sags this past week. I think Kyle and Jeanette are going to be great parents.

My Friend Jill and International Justice Mission

Hey all,

I've been blessed to be witness of the journey of a strong woman of faith, Jill Ulrich. She was part of the vocal team here at GCC for several years. She also is a lawyer who has a passion for helping the disenfranchised. Through a long process, Jill has accepted a position with IJM (International Justice Mission) in Southeast Asia.

She is currently in training in Washington D.C. but will leave for India on the 23rd. I'm thrilled for what God is going to do through this lady and the work of IJM. Countless people have come out of slavery/prostituion becaue of their work.

The cool thing about what God has done here is that we have groups from GCC who visit Southeast Asia every few months to help our church planters in the region. It will be great since our people go to the same region where Jill is being sent. I'm sure this will help with homesickness. I imagine it will be a little hard to adjust to living in a completely new culture. Way to go Jill! We're praying!

Impact 2818 Camp Video

If any of you have gone to Camp Adventure (for middle schoolers) or Camp Lakewood (for the younger kids), they (Impact 2818) have a new website HERE and a new promo video with original music that I had the opportunity to compose and produce. Here's the video. See what you think.

One-Oh-Oh-Oh!

Well, I made a commitment a year ago to run 1000 miles in 2007 and yesterday at 4:34pm, I completed my task!

By the numbers:

- 1000 miles
- about 9000 minutes of running
- 150 hours or 6.25 straight days of running
- I lost 3-4 pant sizes, going from a 33 to a 29 or 30 (depending on the store)
- If you would travel this all in one stretch, you would run from my house in South Bend, IN to Ocala, Florida (about an hour outside of Orlando)


View Larger Map

What Not to Do When You Want a Job

So I'm in Bed, Bath, and Beyond doing some Christmas shopping yesterday. I'm looking at a set of DVDs that have the relaxation images (fireplace) and stuff on them (we're using this in an upcoming media Christmas Eve; watch for it!).


Right in front of them are those relaxation/massage chairs that everyone loves. Two people, boyfriend/girlfriend are in them enjoying a massage. I'm trying to get past them to look at the DVDs since I couldn't find the one I wanted. I sort of gave them the "I need to get past you" look a few times. They don't move. A sales rep. from the store comes to help me. We both start to look. Again, they don't move.

Frustrated, I look around the other side. Another glance from Dan, "are you guys gonna let me/us in?!" Still, they're not moving. It's then that I realize that the guy is reading a Bed, Bath, and Beyond employment application. Conversation between me and the sales rep at a computer terminal later:

Dan: "You gonna hire that guy?"
Rep: "You wouldn't believe the types we get in here that apply."

My takeaway: Care and concern for others is not something that is part of a job. It is part of the person you hire. Any amount of training, mentoring, etc would probably not have done a lot in that guy's attitude toward others. If he wouldn't go out of his way before he was hired, he certainly isn't going to do that after. It all goes back to character. So important in hiring. Skills are important, but work ethic/integrity/servant attitude - this stuff is what makes a great hire.

Shalom Auslander

Here is a promo for a recent book, a Foreskin's Lament, from a New York Jewish author, Shalom Auslander.

A great portrait of how our perception of the core attributes of God affects our theology.



I am interested in reading this book. I think it will help as we try to offer a picture of a God who is GRACE personified.

I'm Doing One of These with My Kids

Check out: Let's Give Thanks

This website takes cards made by kids around the country and sends on notes of thanks to our troops in Iraq and around the world. They actually send them on printed paper, not just email.

I'm going to take a minute with my kids to send one of these this week. These men and women deserve our gratitude.

Thanks, Michelle B., for the link.

This Makes Me Laugh

Gibson Robot Guitar

If you haven't seen this yet, you must check it out!


My bro, Jeff Myers passed this on.