I haven't written anything here in a while. I hadn't planned to be so absent, but life has just been crazy lately! Now that the dust is settling a little bit, I figured I should check in here and fill everybody in!
I spent two weeks from June 13-27 as a camp counselor at Kirkmont Center. I can honestly say that this is the thing I look forward to most each year. This was my 12th consecutive summer there as a camper, counselor, or both. This summer I spent my first week with a group of 6th grade guys, and had 7th graders the next week. I was also the music director for both camps. As always, my time at Kirkmont was definitely the highlight of the last year.
As soon as I got back to Columbus, it was time for another adventure: moving. I've lived in the same apartment for 3 years now, and my roommate's been there for 4, but we decided it was time for a change. We moved to a new apartment last weekend. Pretty crazy coming straight off of two weeks of camp and then moving. We did get it done, though! Things are slowly starting to settle in here in the new place. Life is starting to feel back to normal. That's a good thing!
In other news, we finally got the vocals tracked for my new CD! That means that all the tracks are down now, so it's just mixing left to do! I'll be looking forward to hearing the final mixes and sharing them with all of you as soon as possible!
That's it for now... lots more coming soon, including my return to Sunday Setlists this weekend.
The American church has been getting a lot of press lately. It seems that every day I read another study about the everyday American's disenchantment with the church. I really don't think that this reporting is intended to be malicious towards the church in any way, but it's still bad news for us. For example:
A new study from the Barna Group says that 88% of American adults list their religious faith as being "very important" in their lives. That's a big number, but check out some of the other big numbers from that study:
-45% say they'd be willing to try a new church
-75% say that they believe God is connecting with people in different ways than he used to, and 64% are "completely open to carrying out and pursuing [their] faith in an environment or structure that differs from that of a typical church."
-71% say they are more likely to develop their beliefs and faith on their own, rather than accepting the beliefs of any particular church on the face.
That's a staggering number of people who are unhappy, distrustful, or at the very least, apathetic in regards to the current face of the church in America. Keep in mind that a lot of these people are already in our churches - we're not just talking about non-churchgoers here! It's obvious that a major change is necessary in the church if we are to remain relevant to the culture that we are a part of. (PS - doing nothing is not anoption! The Bible clearly calls believers to live in community with each other!) To tell the truth, I think that need for change has been obvious for many years now, as these trends are decades old. So the question then becomes: "what do we do about it?" A lot of churches in recent years have adopted the idea that if people aren't attending their church, it's because the quality and diversity of their programming is sub par. For that reason, they've chased bigger and better spaces to worship in, a wide variety of weekday offerings, and greater name recognition. Now, I'll be honest - there's nothing wrong with any of those things. I believe that it is important for our churches to pursue excellence in our worship and other offerings, and the church is in a unique position to offer a lot of opportunities to our communities that can not be found in other places. Having said that...
Check out this quote from a recent U.S. News and World Report article on rebranding campaigns in mainstream denominations:
"Study after study has shown that religions that grow are the ones that are hard-core in some way. They have something that differs sharply from the culture in which they operate," says Boston University's [Steven] Prothero. "That's the problem with mainline Protestantism: It's not different enough from mainstream America."
There it is folks. Now obviously, this is a quote from one person, but it's an idea that resonates very strongly with me and has been on my heart for a while now - the "bigger and better" mentality is not going to reach the folks we're trying to reach, because it too closely mirrors the rest of our culture. As Christians, we are called to be in the world, but not of the world, which means we need to set ourselves apart as different. I think that this idea applies to not only our actual beliefs, but also the way we approach business, family, finances, and church! Our churches need to be striving to create a place that is counter-intuitive to the current culture, a place where people can take refuge from the world, in a way, and focus solely on God.
Now for my own confession: I'm guilty. I often find myself in this mentality, and to be honest, I don't know what the solution to this issue is. I do know that this is a problem that needs to move to the forefront of discussion in our churches, because the people we're trying to reach are not finding the kind of community that Jesus called us to. Let's start a discussion, and let's find out what it will take to move church from where it is now to a place where we can be more relevant to the world we exist in.
One of my lesser known hobbies/passions is minimalistic living & travel. I'm the guy who goes on vacation for a week with nothing but a small duffel bag and still comes home with stuff I didn't use. I've been interested in the small house movement for some time now, and Jay Shafer of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company has been at the center of that movement since the beginning. Having spent a significant amount of time on the Tumbleweed site checking out the plans and pictures over the years, I was more than a little excited to find out that Jay was personally bringing a brand new Tumbleweed Fencl on tour across the country. I was even more excited when I realized that one of the stops was 15 minutes from my house! I was lucky enough to go down tonight and see the Fencl, and I have a few pictures and thoughts to share with all of you:
The Fencl is about 125 square feet (which by Tumbleweed standards would be a "mid sized" home). There were about 15 tiny house enthusiasts there tonight to see the house. Jay hung out inside and answered just about any question you could think of about his houses and company. It was a real pleasure to meet him and some of the other folks from the Columbus area interested in these homes.
The Fencl has a sleeping loft at one end of the house. A lot of the Tumbleweed houses have full length lofts, but I think I like this design better, as it makes the great room (where we're all standing) feel really roomy. There's a double ladder to get up to the loft, which holds a full size mattress comfortably.
Here's a shot of the kitchen. It features a small fridge and a double burner stove. There's also a sink off to the right. The bathroom is to the left. There's a small heater in the great room which easily heats the entire house (Jay has reported in the past that he can heat his house for an entire year for less than $200) Another thing that this picture illustrates (if only a little bit) is the abundant storage space. For being such a small house, the Fencl has a ton of closet and shelf space.
To wrap this one up for anybody who's still with me... call me crazy (many people have), but I've always thought I could live in this type of house, and tonight definitely confirmed that. When you go small, the quality can be really excellent, and to be honest, I think all of my stuff would fit in here (except for the large instruments, of course... some other kind of storage would need to be arranged for that gear) I'm not sure if I'd want one quite this small, but I could definitely do less than 500 square feet. The simplicity would be freeing, I think.
Maybe someday... for now, I'm just glad to say I finally got to see one in person! So what do you think?
This post is part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set List project. Check out more set lists here!
Centerpoint Church 6/7/09
Opening Set:
-Forever - G to A - (Chris Tomlin)
-Mighty To Save - A - (Reuben Morgan, Ben Fielding)
-He Knows My Name - E - (Tommy Walker)
Closing Song:
-God Of Wonders - G - (Marc Byrd, Steve Hindalong)
Yesterday got off to an interesting start. We found out late Saturday night that the pastor of one of our sister churches had been admitted to the hospital. Since we had a guest preacher yesterday, Dave ended up going down to Gahanna to fill their pulpit. Not a huge deal, just a change we weren't expecting. We also had a whole variety of technical issues in rehearsal... nothing we couldn't fix/overcome, just a lot of little things we couldn't have planned for.
In any case, once we got to service-time, everything ran very smoothly and we had a great morning!
Musically, we kept it pretty simple this week. We're headed into a lot of different and challenging services for the summer, so I decided to go with standards today. The band played very well this morning.
We had Jon Fulton preaching this morning on "Functional Design" - the "why" of Genesis and creation, rather than the "how". Jon is a member of our congregation who is studying for ministry right now and needed to preach to fulfill a class requirement. I thought he did a great job and put a different spin on some of these topics. Great job, Jon!
As I've mentioned in my recent set lists, we just finished a series on 1 Peter. The whole series was great, but there's one particular passage from a couple of weeks ago that has really been working on me:
"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."
-1 Peter 3:15-16
This is such a great picture of evangelism, but how often do we miss it in the evangelism culture of our churches? As I read it, Peter has two instructions for us here:
1.) ALWAYS be ready to talk about our faith
and
2.) Do it in a respectful, non offensive way.
It seems to me that most Christians are fully engaged in one or the other of these two points. Many folks are ready to talk about their faith any time, day or night, with anybody. The problem is that they don't approach it in a respectful way. In their eagerness to share the "reason for their hope", they offend the very people they are sharing with! On the flip side are folks who are utterly concerned with the "gentleness and respect" that Peter speaks of, but find themselves unable or unwilling to share their faith because of it.
In truth, Peter calls us to do BOTH. We are to be constantly ready to answer for the hope that we have in Christ, and we are to give that answer in a sensible, informed, respectful way. In my opinion, what Peter is telling us here is that we should be dialoguing with the world around us about our faith. What a different culture of evangelism we could create within the church if Christians and churches everywhere started taking this approach! An evangelism culture that seeks to dialogue with others about our faith, a culture that desires openness and honesty and sharing of beliefs... I strongly believe that such a shift would not only improve Christianity's relationship with the rest of the world, but in the process expand our mission field in a way we can only imagine right now.
God, please help us to be Christians that are always ready with an answer, and respectful in the way we give it.
50 different worship leaders have already posted their set lists on Fred Mckinnon's blog. Check it out!
Centerpoint Church 5/2/09
Opening Set
-Everlasting God - A - (Lincoln Brewster Arrangement)
-Strong Tower - C - (Kutless)
-Amazed - D - (Jared Anderson)
Closing Song
-How Great Is Our God - A - (Chris Tomlin)
I'm a little late posting my recap, and, as this week is going to be rather insane, I'll keep it short.
We wrapped up our "Dare I Hope" study of First Peter yesterday. Dave's message was great... talking about "Dare I Hope to Stand Strong in This World?". It was a full service (in more ways than one!), as we had two baby dedications and one baptism this week. These are always very special days for our church, and yesterday was quite a celebration!
Musically, we had some ups and downs this week. We had planned to play "My Hope" (an old David Crowder Band song) as a pre-service this week, but ended up having to scrap it in rehearsal. It just wasn't hitting with the band. That's only the second time I've ever had to "pull the plug" on a tune in rehearsal, so our track record is still pretty darn good, but it's still not something I like to have to do. In the end it ended up being okay, as the service ran long even without it. We also had a little bit of trouble with "Strong Tower" (it's been a LONG time since we did it), but it went fine during the service.
Overall, it was a very joyous, fairly smooth morning at Centerpoint. We're gearing up for what promises to be a pretty wild summer, too!
This is the 100th post here on The Musician's Mind! It took me just a little longer than 6 months to get here. I hope you all enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it. I've had other blogs in the past, but none have really "hooked me" like this one. The opportunity to jot some of my thoughts down, for others to read (or not - though I certainly appreciate it when you do!) has been truly valuable to me. Unfortunately, I don't have much more time than this today, but check back in the next couple of days for a lot of great new stuff! Thanks for helping me get to 100... here's to the next hundred!
As most of you know (at least if you're here in the good 'ol U.S. of A.), today is Memorial Day. I was thinking about this yesterday at my gig... a lot of folks seem to look at Memorial Day as a really good day to not go to work, have a party, have a few beers, and, in my case, make some money playing at said parties. But how often do we lose sight of what this day is really all about? In the end, we would not be assured of our right to do any of the things I mentioned above if it were not for the sacrifice of the countless men and women who have been fighting for this great country for over 200 years. They
were willing to give of themselves for the benefit of you, me, and every other American out there, and they certainly deserve our honor and respect, today and every other day.
Enjoy the holiday, and remember those who made it possible!
If you enjoy this post, check out more set lists at Fred's blog.
Centerpoint Church 5/24/09
Opening Set
-I Am Free - C - (Jon Egan)
-Holy Is The Lord - G - (Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio)
-Unashamed Love - G - (Lamont Hiebert)
Closing Song
-You Said - G to A - (Reuben Morgan)
What a powerful time of worship we had yesterday! We're one week away from the end of our 1 Peter series, and yesterday's theme was "Dare I Hope to Make a Difference?" Really great stuff from Dave, and all of our other service elements tied in very well. We opened the message with a clip from "Pay It Forward" (the classroom scene where Kevin Spacey's character first gives the class their assignment), it was a great set up.
From a music perspective, things were pretty different yesterday. I'm all about new technologies and the benefits they bring to worship. In-Ear monitors and loops are great, and modern guitar processing has gotten really good. I think the sounds that we're able to produce on Sunday's are really great. Having said that, I also think that those technologies can pretty easily become a distraction and/or barrier to our worship sometimes. For that reason, I like to get away from them once in a while, and that's what we did yesterday morning. We used an acoustic setup (2 guitars, 3 vocals, and I switched around between harmonica, ukulele & percussion). No Avioms, just two old-fashioned stage wedges out front. First off, I need to say that this wouldn't work nearly as well as it did if I didn't have the team of musicians that I have. They were right on top of it and everything sounded great. Our congregation really gets into it when we do these acoustic weeks from time to time, and yesterday was no exception. Folks were worshipping passionately and openly, very refreshing to see and hear from the stage. Great stuff.
Technically, we had a very smooth morning. We did have to reset our projector during rehearsal, but now that we have a lift at the church all the time, that has gotten to be a fairly routine task. The only irritating thing about it is having to line the projection back up when it's done! The mix was great & the monitors were solid (no small task in that room to accomplish both of those things!) I do think that we can still do a little better with the flow of our video elements. As soon as the offering song fades, the video can start... we don't want to leave the congregation sitting awkwardly in the dark.
All in all, a really great morning... couldn't be happier!
So I'm in this band. And if you don't see me around here much the next few days... well, you can blame them. Memorial Day weekend is a good time for a cover/party band like us, so we've got a lot going on. And by the end of the weekend, we will all be very tired. And we could really use a few hundred screaming fans at these shows to help us keep our energy up:-P Ok, I admit it, I was joking a little bit with that last sentence. Even so, if anybody is looking for something to do this weekend in the Columbus area, and the idea of hearing some great music tickles your fancy, you should come out and say hello! Here's where we'll be:
Tonight (Friday): Screamin' Willies in Columbus. We are the second of three bands and will play from approximately 10-11:30PM.
Tomorrow (Saturday): The Barn in Columbus. We'll play our full set from approximately 10-2.
(take a breath and go to church... no sleep, though)
Sunday: Captain Woody's in Buckeye Lake. We'll be opening their Memorial Day party and playing from 3-7 PM. This is an all ages, family show, so bring the whole gang!
So there you have it! I'll be back Sunday evening to catch up with setlists and then go to bed!
