12.30.07

Set List:

Let it Rise
That's Why We Praise Him
To the Ends of the Earth
Grace Flows Down
Go Light Your World
Hero (Ken Medema)
My Time on Earth (Billy Gillman)

Today was one of those red letter days for me. I got to preach today while Jon did a great job leading worship. I love it when Jon leads because he always comes up with just the right song for the message. Today he had 2. He put together a sequence for Hero and led me in. It was really well done. After I was done, Karen Manley did an amazing job on the song "My Time on Earth". It cemented the message. While I enjoyed preaching, and am grateful for the opportunity, I am ready to get back to what I do best.

Peace

Christmas Eve

Set list:
Oh Holy Night (Diane really did this one right)
What Child is This?
O Come All Ye Faithful
Away in a Manger
Angels We Have Heard On High
The Greatest Gift (a beautiful song by Michael Gleason)
Silent Night

This was one of the better Christmas Eve services I have been a part of. We used live drama elements, video and music. Joe did a great job with the children's teaching time (it was great for the adults too). I enjoyed getting to sing with Diane, and it was really cool to have Adam on piano.

Now I turn my attention to next week, where instead of singing, I will be preaching. I would covet your prayers as I prepare.

Peace

I'm Back

Merry Christmas. I am going to try this again. I have been extremely busy this Christmas season, but now I want to try and start blogging again. I will start by posting our set lists from the past Sunday. A worship leader that I respect does this and it is helpful. Plus it gives me something to plan for. I will also try to post about the Sunday as well. Wish me luck and give me grief if I fall behind.

5.13.07

What a cool day today was. I started out by waking up at 3 this morning (not the cool part) and couldn't go back to sleep (again, not the cool part). By the time I got to the church I was feeling much better. We got through sound check and it was one of those mornings where I knew that even though we didn't have a great sound check, things would be alright. And it was. We had a really great morning, and people were singing. When the service was over, I had to get to the sanctuary and sing the special. When I got to the sanctuary, I was blown away by the men of the choir, as they sang one of my favorite hymns, "Great is Thy Faithfulness". It was really cool.

The rest of this day has been a day of rest while keeping my wife outside playing in the dirt. Now I know this sounds crazy for mother's day, but you see my wife is happiest when she is out working in her flower beds. It was great for her.

I will try to write tomorrow.

See you in His presence...

5.12.07

You will never guess what I am doing. I am waiting for church to start on the internet. For the last few weeks I have been tuning in to LifeChurch.tv on Saturday night and listening and watching their internet campus. If you want to see what multi site ministry is for the connected generation, you should go there. They have rockin worship, and the message is always well done. The effort that goes into putting every weekend together is tremendous. The video quality is very good and the audio is mixed well. As a worship leader/designer, I enjoy being able to worship and only worship.

It is starting, I will see you in His presence...

5.11.07

Now, don't fall out. But this is my second post in 2 days. I sat through the "Maximum Impact" conference today. It was an enjoyable time for the first 1/3 and the last 1/3. The highlight was a talk by Malcolm Gladwell. He has written a book called "Blink", about the relying on your initial gut reaction in leadership. It was very liberating for me. I tend to rely on my first thought.

I am heading down to Fountain Square tonight to sing at the chili cookoff. I am not sure what to expect when I get there. I am not a big fan of singing outside, but...

Anyway. I will try to be back later.

See you in His presence...

5.10.07

Good morning,

I feel like I need to re-introduce myself after being silent for so long. I have been really busy lately and it is good to breathe for a minute. I just wanted to say that I am having an echo cardiogram to look at my aortic valve. I have a bi-cuspid valve, which is not a big deal except that it means that I am a little more likely to need a valve replacement in the future. I am not real sure how I feel about this today. I had a birthday since we last talked, (I turned 41) that kind of bothered me a little. I don't know why it did, but it did. Anyway...

I am going to try and be better about posting. I will let you know what happens with the echo.

See you in His presence...

3.14.07

Good morning,

I am here at work preparing to go preach at a local nursing home. I chose to talk about the Garden of Gethsemane. There were 2 reasons for this. 1st, it is a very disturbing passage for me because it truly shows the humanity of Jesus. It is not a Faith Shaker, but a Faith Strengthener for me. His dealing with human emotions and yet still focused on doing the will of the Father is a lesson that I needed this week, and I am hopeful the men and women of the nursing home can use as well.

The 2nd reason I chose the Garden was because I miss my own personal "Garden". I know this will sound strange, but my garden is sitting in a dark theatre (dramatic, not movie) and being alone with God. I have missed the stark-ness of the empty theatre, it is very soothing for me. Maybe next week. We will see.

I better go read my sermon one more time.

See you in His presence...

3.02.07

Today I had what I can only describe as a Nerd moment. I was on my way to Louisville to teach at a creative ministries festival at Southern Seminary, when I passed the Louisville airport I saw something that made me completely lose focus. There, parked on the the tarmac was Air Force One. Now I know, you say, what is the big deal about an airplane? I haven't ever seen it, and I was struck by how big it was. I'm sorry.

Anyway, I am here at the seminary, and it has brought back memories both good and bad. I ran into the one professor that I had here that I respect the most. Dr. Chuck Lawless. I had him for 2 classes and he just struck me as a man of great integrity and knowledge. It was good to see him and he seemed genuinely glad to see me. That was great.

I better go to sleep. I have more classes to teach in the morning.

See you in His Presence...

3.01.07 @ 3:30am

Good morning,

It's 3:30am and I am wide awake, with a fretful feeling in my heart. This is the third time in the last couple of weeks that this has happened. I don't remember my dreams so I can't tell if this is the after shock of a nightmare or something else. I just know that I can't sleep. This is all part of the feeling scattered that I have been feeling lately, and maybe that is the reason I feel like I do. I don't know, I just know that I want to go back to sleep.

Anyway, I am looking forward to being with a group of creatives this weekend as I go to Louisville for the Kentucky Baptist Convention's Creative Ministry Festival at Southern Seminary. It will be interesting being back on that campus again. It has been several years. For those of you that have not been there, it is a beautiful campus settled on Lexington Rd in Louisville, which is a great looking neighborhood. I will be teaching improv techniques, which is always fun because it will be mostly youth and they are always ready to do something crazy.

I just yawned, and maybe that means that I get to go back to sleep. This has been somewhat therapeutic for me. We will see.

See you in His presence...

2.28.07

Good evening,

This has been a weird night, because I am not usually home on Wednesday nights. I am usually in rehearsals for Sunday morning. This is my time with some of my closest friends. I have found myself really missing them tonight. I think sometimes we have to be forced away from something in order to know how much we really appreciate it.

This week we are inundated with PINK, for the semi annual Little Angels Attic consignment sale. This sale nets a lot of money for charity. It is a lot of work for the men and women that put it together each time.

My ADD just kicked in, with an Olive Garden commercial. I love that restaurant. Sorry, I have to go and eat something now.

See you in His presence...

2.27.07

Good morning from beautiful downtown Bowling Green. I am sitting in one of my favorite places this morning, Spencer's Coffee Shop on the square. I really should move my office down here. I get so much more done here. I think it is because I love to be around people in a downtown setting. I am the type of person who could work on a street corner in New York City, because the hustle and bustle has a calming effect on me.

My children are starting what is a long day of 3 performances of "Huck Finn" today at the Public Theatre of Kentucky (www.ptkbg.org/). The theatre is a passion for my middle son, who wants to be an actor when he graduates. If you are in BG and are looking for something to do, go see the show this weekend.

I better get back to work.

See you in His presence...

2.26.07

I have been going back and forth about not having put a post up for a while, but here goes. I have for the last 3 weeks or so, been just completely skattered. I can't concentrate, and it seems like I am constantly trying to catch up. I am not usually this scattered. It is driving me nuts.

I guess I should get back to work.

See you in His presence...

1.24.07

Good morning,

I am finally back to work after being at home sick for 3 days. I just need to say that I hate being sick. I am a big baby. I don't do sick well. Anyway...

My oldest son left today to go through the enlistment process in Nashville. What a wierd feeling this is, to have him gone and know that he is making a career choice that is very grown up. I am very proud of him. Not many 17 year olds know what they want to do this weekend, let alone for the rest of their lives. He will make a great soldier.

I will let you know how it goes later.

See you in His presence...

Good morning,

As I sit here typing, I am wondering why I got so up set over the last 3 working days because we didn't have access to the Internet. I didn't realize how dependent on my connection to the internet I really am. I just about lost my mind when I couldn't check my email, or go looking for just the right video ( what I found, didn't work. we will work that out in therapy later).

Completely unrelated to the above sadness, I haven't slept well since Friday. I am not sure what is the problem. This morning I awoke from a very restless night of pseudo-sleep with my shoulder really hurting and a brain fog befitting me of my former life. I don't know... just pray that tonight, I will sleep hard. Tomorrow is my longest day of the month, due to Kid's Zone Live and rehearsal afterward. Once I get through that, I should be good, though.

I will write more later.

See you in His presence...

1.8.07

This morning I experienced my first Methodist funeral. Celia Lovell was a lovely lady that just so happened to be one of the first people that I visited in the hospital after coming on staff here at Broadway. While I don't know that family that well, I got a sense of great love and family from the conversation that I heard and was a part of. This funeral was very honoring and peaceful. I was blessed to be a part of it. As I look to the inevitable coming funeral of my sweet mother (she is still alive, but with Alzheimer's disease), I hope that hers is as honoring and peaceful.

Rest in peace Miss Celia, and enjoy being in His presence.

1.05.07

Good morning,

As I sit here in a little coffee shop close to my house, I have found myself looking forward to some of the worship things that are coming in the future. My friend Jon Baldwin will be leading worship on February 4th, because I will be preaching that morning in all 3 services. I am both nervous and excited about that. This will be my first time in the pulpit at the Melrose campus. I am also looking forward to March 7th, because we will be doing a night of worship that will include letting our congregation pick some of their favorite worship songs. We will be polling the congregation and hopefully they will give us some examples of why the songs they choose speak to them. We will integrate some of those stories into the night as well.

I better get to work. I am doing the sound design for the state Jr. Miss pageant next weekend and I need to tweak some of the cuts and such. Have a great day.

See you in His presence...