Praise vs. Production Part 2 (Gear)

Gear is a mystery to us all. You are criticized if you buy gear that is above your ability level. You are scorned if you love to talk about and collect gear while refusing to practice. You are vilified if you loathe gear and care just about playing. You really can’t win. So, with that, I don’t try to win you over to my thoughts on gear.

But I will say that in each of my bathrooms at home, I have various catalogs and magazines that go on and on about the different gear of today and yesteryear!

Music is funny in that way too. Old gear is as coveted as is the cutting-edge gear. Truth is, I bet most people honestly can’t tell the difference. People who talk about the difference between using original C wing EL34 SED tubes vs. a non-matched pair of Groove Tubes are probably very few and far in between. So here’s a rundown of some of the gear that sees use on Sundays. Some of it is my private gear. Others belong to the church. In any case, a lot of it has been filtered through years of trial-and-error, trusting the right sources, and good ol’ hearing tests.

Electric Guitar:

We have 4 amps (some personal, some church-owned). I believe that these amps cover any and all sounds we would ever need to make in a worship setting:

1. Bogner Shiva 2×12 EL34 – This British sounding (think Marshall) amp rocks. But the part I like best is the fact that it is open back (think Marshall with a little bit of Fender), taking away some of the ‘fatness’ from the sound. I play it at about 9 o’clock since people would leave our church if I cranked it any higher. Great sounding amp for playing anything!
2. Vox AC30 – A classic amp that everyone needs to at least consider playing through. Since a lot of what we do emulates U2, where would we be without a Vox. The classic chimey-ness comes through brilliantly on this one.
3. Bogner Alchemist (1×12) – This is Bogner’s version of a production amp (Shivas are considered boutique). The Bogner sound is there mostly. While I don’t think this amp is really great at any sound, it gets a passing grade on its tonal spectrum (which is hard to do). If you dial it just right, you can go from Fender to Marshall without ever really sounding as good and original as a Fender or Marshall. But it gets the job done and maintaining the amp is much easier since it is a production amp.
4. Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb (Reissue) – Just regular ol’ clean Fender sound. We don’t use the Vibrato and we don’t really use the reverb (FOH Engineers take care of that). Pretty standard stuff here.

Among all the electric guitarists at our church, we have a bunch of pedals and ancillary gear that helps us get the job done. My favorite two pedals are my Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive and Boss DD-20. The first one, the Landgraff, is a jewel. I have a Japanese made TS9 (1980′s I believe) that sounds great but the Landgraff sounds greater. It’s bigger and has a very dialable amount of sustain. I also like that it is smaller than something like a Klon (which I think is another great pedal that I had, then sold, then rebought, then sold, then rebought, then traded, etc.). Real estate on the pedalboard is hard to come by, so size matters! I use this on every song that calls for any amount of overdrive. For my DD20, people automatically see Boss and assume the worst. They think it colors the tone of guitar and amp. It is not true bypass after all. But I find that the minimal coloring is more a good thing since it seems to give my guitar-to-amp the signal it needs to sound good through the amp (as opposed to a powerless signal after running through a bunch of pedals and cables). I use this pedal on about every other song (in worship). (And, might I mentioned that I have made my rounds with umpteen different delay pedals in all sorts of price ranges – and I think the DD20 can hang with the best of them!)

I use others: Like I said, I have a Japanese TS9, a Fulltone Clyde Wah, Choraflange, Supatrem, Timmy, EB Volume, Verbzilla, etc. Those are on my board most of the time – powered by an older Voodoo PP2. I also have an ABY box (that I don’t use unless I’m using multiple guitars) and tap tempo pedals. I’m actually thinking about getting a smaller board and just having a volume, overdrive, and delay on there. Anyone do this? Thoughts? And, if anyone has the Timefactor, I would love to borrow it and get it some live reps before thinking of buying it.

I personally use a Gretsch 6119 (FT) and Anderson (strat body). Others use strats, teles, Les Pauls, Epiphones, Gretsch’s, etc.

Bass Rig

We currently use an Ampeg SVT3Pro Head into a SWR Goliath (410) cab. We use an assortment of rack gear to get the right sound – Sansamp RBI, Sonic Maximiziers, etc. But, to be honest, I’m not happy with the sound we get out of our bass amps. I’ve heard it through multiple guitars, racks/no racks, pedals/no pedals and I’m just not happy. I think what I’m not happy with is the inherent sound character of the Ampeg head. Anyone want to donate a couple thousand bucks to me so I can get a new head?

Our guys use Fender, Warwick, and Ernie Ball guitars.

Drums

Andrew, the guy who led for a long time before I led, got a killer deal on a drumset that we’ve been using ever since. It’s a Gretsch maple kit (6 or 7 piece, I believe). But as with all things, drums have trends too. And the trend these days is larger, boomier toms and fewer toms in general. I think this handicaps us a bit because the Gretsch set really needs to be hit hard for the tonal qualities to shine through (rather than sounding like cardboard). But in a room our size with some limitations as to volume/decibel levels, we can hardly ever achieve the sound I like on our drums. We use a Gibraltar rack, K, K Custom, A, A Custom, and Paiste Signature cymbals. We use a Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute 14×6 Snare – sounds warm, sounds defined, sounds great! We mic the set using a combination of Sennheiser drum mics, SM57s, and Beta 52s. We use the old C1000s for O/H mic’ing and I think we even use an older Octava mic for the hats. Of course we shield the drums with said limitations in room size and volume. Does anyone do more than shield? I’d love to hear your thoughts on your experience with that. It’s not that I doubt the sound-isolating qualities, but the aesthetic and feel might be overly compromised – let me know!

We also have an assortment of percussion gear – bongos, congas, djembes, shakers, chimes, cymbals, etc.  I’m a huge fan of hand percussion! We have a cajon too that sees a lot of use during more intimate gatherings (aka – smaller turnouts).

But my favorite tool in the drum department: metronomes! We use two different things for different purposes. We have a Tama Rhythm Watch as our resident, in-house metronome. We also use an iPad to control our more widely used metronome (app) as well as our occasionally used loops and samples. I know that we are playing in perfect time every time and musically, what more can you ask for?! (Except this last Sunday when I started a song on the 2nd beat instead of the 1st beat and it messed everyone up a bit; oh and when the drummer’s IEMs died – battery issues – that stuff happens…but for the most part we’re in time).

Keyboard

We go pretty differently in terms of keyboards. We use two controllers instead of workstations. That means that if some knucklehead decided to steal our keyboard one day, well, they’ll be in for a surprise when they get home. There is no onboard computer for the sounds. Our keyboards are literally just keys and buttons, knobs and levers! We use a Roland XV5080 rack module – this thing is a classic and sounds great. I would put this up against most of what I still hear today. We use a Roland Fantom to power our secondary midi controller and has some cool, modern sounds. We also have a DBX DI rack-mounted with four channels, perfect for two stereo keyboards (we go two mono keys – stereo is overrated unless using some of the more modern effects in the Fantom).

Acoustic Guitar

I use a Martin HD28. I love my guitar. I’ve thought about selling it and trading it many years ago. I’ve had it for about 15 years now. It’s starting to show its age. But the sound is full, balanced, and sweet. I think our AV guys do a great job of mixing the guitar as well. Recently, I built a pedalboard for 5 bucks (and I think it looks good – esp for five bucks!). On it, I have a junior volume pedal, Keeley Katana boost, TC electronics tuner (which I hate), and an LR Baggs ParaAcoustic DI (which I love). If anyone ever wants help building a cost-effective yet highly presentable (and customizable) pedalboard, let me know. I’ll be happy to help – all for the low price of a carne asada burrito and some carrots!

Monitoring

We have fully gone the IEM route. We don’t have wedges in our main sanctuary anymore. While the drawbacks and pros for both situations are fully realized and understood, the biggest gain from going full IEMs is that there is no monitor vs. FOH volume war. Zero. The mix is pure (that is an example of an oxymoron – pure mix!). I think this helps our engineers out and they don’t have to deal with all the volume requests.

We use a Sennheiser IEM system, which I think sound great. I’ve used various models of Shure in the past and I think the Sennheisers give a pretty accurate and clear reference sound. The lower and mid-level Shures didn’t do that for me.

As for headphones, we have a mixture of Shure E5s and Westone UM2s. They are all dual driver models. Personally, I found the dual driver model hard to use when trying to accomplish two things simultaneously: 1) Sing/Play and 2) Listen to everyone else as the lead, trying to figure out what everyone is doing, etc. The sound was harsh on some frequencies (mostly mid).

So I personally use 1964 V3 (custom) IEMs. First, I get a perfect fit (sound isolation). I get awesome bass response (again, perfect fit). I get a great balanced sound because we’re going three drivers instead of two. I think just listening to regular iPod music would sound great in these. Everything is smooth. Their customer service is great as well. You can even customize the look of your IEMs if you’re into that sort of thing (I just got clear with no designs – I know, boring!). If you want a reference, contact me and I will see if they can get you some special church pricing.

I admit it – I like gear. It’s fun! If you ever want to talk shop, let me know. I can talk gear for hours!

Just someone’s random pedalboard I found online – I want to try that Timefactor!

Praise vs. Production

I am the type of person who is very conscientious about keeping the ‘main thing’ the main thing. So I’ve been accused of stifling creativity, being too conservative in my approach, and on and on.

And I don’t apologize for it because I know myself. And I know that if I let myself go in all of the ancillary things that exist out there in the worship/music/arts world, then I might just show up to church one Sunday dressed like Michael Jackson (and the band would be the scary background dancers in “Thriller”). So in order to avoid such lunacy, I told myself that I’d rather err on the side of caution on this one.

Ok – now with that out of the way, I wanted to talk about some things in a three part series. This first part of the series will be related to the background (some of you read that as ‘boring’) stuff. The other two parts will be about the more practical things.

Part 1: Praise vs. Production: Finding the Right Balance

“Should we strive to suck?” It’s been a quick answer of mine whenever I’m asked the following question: don’t you think you’re focusing too much on trying to make the music/video/production excellent?

(Side note: I don’t think so. If you want to see production, go to a church that really values that and you’ll see the difference. I like it, certainly, but I do recognize that it is not really a value at our church. And, like I said, if you want me to go down that road, I can/will – and I will show up a la Michael Jackson).

I think the question (trying to make things too excellent) is an unfair one.

On one hand, we need to make sure that worship is the only thing that matters.

On the other hand, we can debate till you’re blue in the face on whether preparation is a form of worship, excellence is a form of worship, etc.

And I think we’ve gotten caught up way too much in this debate. It detracts from the ‘main thing.’ In my lifetime, I’ve played with many amazing musicians. And I’ve been incredibly blessed to pick their brains a bit. But I have to admit – some of the ones I’ve played with were an absolute chore to play with because of the attitudes, egos, and misplaced focus. Then, there were those equally amazing musicians who were absolutely delightful in their approach to worship. So that got me thinking – it must really be about the approach. And I think it is.

I just spent about 2 hours reading blogs, websites, and comments geared towards improving your music ministry at church. And while many people (and churches) strive to be rockstars-in-secret and Christian celebrities in public, the reality is that most of us attend small churches with limited resources and a limited pool of musicians (99% of which are amateurs and not professionals).

And I wouldn’t trade the group that I work with for anyone. We are certainly not the best group of musicians! We can certainly work harder in that regard. We aren’t the best people either. We’ve all got our issues. But the focus is there – wanting to bring worship to Him. And you just can’t find a more spot-on focus than that.

And so that brings us back to the top.

Our job is to be worshipers and lead the church into worship. Period. And if you think playing a wrong note or playing out of time for a sequence disqualifies you from being a worshiper, then you need to check your heart because I’m certain that it doesn’t. And while I’m on that point, I’m pretty certain that our band today is much better sounding than the band that King David had to work with. We are probably much more in tune and in time (with all of our wonderful technology). If we entered “Battle of the Bands,” I think we’d win (simply because we could rock louder!). The point is, even though he penned the words “skillfully” in the Bible to describe how we ought to play our instruments, his heart during that time in his life was not in question. He was singularly focused on worshiping and writing Psalms that would be the foundation for many modern worship songs.

But now here is the part that I hope serves as an encouragement to our band and church and anyone else who might read this: preparation reveals much about the significance of an event (or in this case a lifestyle). How we prepare our hearts and hands to worship on Sunday corporately says as much about our worship as do the actual 6 songs that we play.

Practicing your part, learning the instrumentals, finding your voicing, experimenting with the harmonies, and praying through the songs in preparation for Sunday service is a huge undertaking that requires much sacrifice throughout the week. And the experience of worshiping Him on Sunday with the rest of our spiritual community is such a richly textured time and is much more meaningful for us especially when we commit the blood, sweat, and tears Monday through Friday. That’s what I mean by ‘should we try to suck?’

Of course not! In fact – we ought to prepare with everything that we have. And if we fall short of that, we shortchange ourselves and our God. And since I know that we’re not perfect people, we will fall short of it. But we have each other to push us on and we have a God who looks upon us favorably.

Pretty amazing God, eh?

(Part 2 and Part 3 will be about gear).

A Glimpse Into the Process

Worship leading is a process. Obviously, you get better at doing it as you gain experience. That’s true for most things in life. Then there’s the whole deal about picking songs for the church to sing. That’s another process. It’s not a magical mix of random songs but rather one vetted in prayer and seeking. There’s the process of joining the team, too.

But the process I wanted to write about while it’s still fresh in my mind is the process of growing as a worshiper. Whether I come to church as a worship leader, band member, regular, or first-timer, I come as a worshiper because that is the way God created us. Now what we worship is a different story, but that we worship is constant. 

I probably spent more time in prayer, thought, and seeking for yesterday’s service than I have for any other service while I’ve been a part of Living Hope. There are quite a few reasons for this (which I won’t go into) but when you spend a great deal of energy on something, you expect returns! I prayed (in earnest) so I expected God to do some pretty amazing things. Like I deserved it! I put my thought and labor into it so I expected God to honor that. I mean, every time I put my thought and labor into anything I get something back.

I told some that we shouldn’t worry about results since this is about worship. I told others not to worry about transitions since we prayed together about having the right heart. I told the band not to worry about notes and time since we came with the right heart.

And I’m pretty sure that people came with the right heart.

However, I think it was me who got caught up in the sense of entitlement. I was frustrated going through the first set of the first service. Things weren’t going right. It wasn’t going the way we practiced. My mind was jumping all over the place. My focus was broken.

And I mentioned something of it to Pastor David – who replied with – “yeah, but we’re not worrying about that. We’re worrying about worship.” (Or something to that effect). And that reminded me of what I was reminding others about without reminding myself.

So I was very humbled. That realization stuck with me the rest of the day. In fact, I enjoyed sitting in God’s presence so much more the next time around because I wasn’t worried about the fifteen other things that were going on. Rather, I was focused on the center of the service: Jesus. And that made all the difference.

I can look back on my experiences and point to specific moments where I believe I grew. And I think I will be able to look back on this past Sunday as one of those growth-markers, a part of the process in becoming more like Him.

Punctuality and Musicians

Punctuality and musicians is like pizza and coffee – a repulsive combination. Or like rice and cheese – disgusting (although I know there are a few of you who claimed to like this rather savage combination).

But before any of you musician’s get offended, know this: I have spoken to many musicians who have been offended by my statements. “But I’m a professional! I never show up late!”

And I believe that is precisely the problem. For some odd reason (this being your actual job), the incentive is there for a person to actually show up on time.

Two things would happen if I showed up late to work. First of all, I would be reprimanded and even penalized like many of you. Second, my students would be subject to sitting outside in the cold, locked out by their heartless teacher (maybe intentionally!).

I am not perfect. In fact, I have been late to work before. And the excuses are pretty standard. Traffic. Got pulled over for speeding (go figure! in traffic?). Alarm didn’t go off. Kids are sick. Starbucks line was extra long. Starbucks barista was extra slow. But that doesn’t change the fact that I have disgruntled bosses and students.

Of course, one time I was late because of a vicious car accident that I was witness to; I wanted to pull over and help so I did. It didn’t even occur to me (adrenaline is pretty gnarly like that) that I would be late to work as a result of my decision to stay and help. But I knew one thing. As I wrapped up my assistance and got back in the car, I realized I would be late. But I was not ashamed. I knew that my bosses and students would understand. Heck, they might even applaud me because I did the right thing.

I’m not advocating that you institute a militaristic approach in your household to make sure that you and your family arrive at church in a timely fashion. In fact, I’m not asking you to look at the time at all. I think there’s only one result if you focus on the time – legalism. Rather, focus on the reason you’re going to church in the first place. I bet you’re there to meet with your community and meet with your Maker. And I bet that would get you excited enough to be on time. Or for those of you party-poopers, think of it this way (since excitement left your bones some time ago): you’re going to church to worship and serve Him. I bet that reverence would get you there on time and in the right mindset.

I’m not suggesting that life is really this easy or even this simple. What I am suggesting is this: I would never dare be late for my job. That communicates a lack of respect for what I do and who I work for. I would never be late to the airport to catch a flight for the vacation that I’ve been saving up for. I’m too excited to be late (heck, I’d probably be terribly early!).

Keeping the main thing the main thing (Covey) helps us to keep that which (rather He) is most important, most important. And I believe that should be the guiding principle of our worship to Him.

As someone who spends an awful lot of time on stage on Sunday mornings, I notice and observe things that most probably don’t get to see. I see many who are early but late. You’re there but not there. I have a policy in my classroom. In order to avoid being marked tardy, you have to be actively doing the first activity on the agenda when the bell rings. Sometimes, I’ll have a student who opens his book after the bell rings. Too bad – tardy!

We have a great opportunity for you at our church. Come early. Just about 5 minutes before the published service start time, there is a prelude that goes on. And that is the perfect time to come in and pray. It’s a great opportunity to focus on the reason you are there in the first place. It’s a great opportunity to pray for a brother or sister who might be sitting right next to you.

And back to my original point – punctuality and musicians. I guess it’s just an ongoing struggle. But our team tries to apply all of these principles mentioned above in coming in a timely and prepared manner.

John Wooden, one of my heroes, always told his players that “failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” And that could not ring more true for the focus of my heart on a Sunday morning when I come to church to commune with my God. I want to encourage everyone, band and church, to come early and set your heart’s tone. I believe God will really use that extra 5 minutes to minister to you and others.

Reflections on All Things LHCC and Christmas

I know I’ve written before that Christmas music is in serious need of redemption. The fact that I can walk into any store in the mall or coffee shop on the street and hear a ‘religious” tune puzzles me. People seem to be okay with Christmas music in those settings. And I’m okay with it too, for obvious reasons. But what I’m not okay with is the fact that secular institutions have claimed those songs as their own.

So Christmas Sunday (12/23), Christmas Sunday Evening (12/23) and Christmas Eve (12/24) Services at our church were all steps in the right direction. Christmas tunes being sung to the One who it’s all about.

“Fall on your knees…” was the posture of our heart during those services.

“Come let us adore him…” is what we did collectively.

“Born in the King of Israel…” was what we proclaimed as sort of a throwback happy birthday song to our Savior.

“Gloria in excelsis deo (Glory to God in the highest)…” was the shout of joy that the youngest member of our church all the way through to our oldest member was able to sing.

“Joy to the world the Lord is come…” was the song of unison sung with purpose!

And the great thing(s) is this: Christmas services are messy! Kids screaming and running around! Adults clamoring for the best seat (to tape their child), disregarding anyone else around them! The band stressed out because Christmas music is no walk in the park. Children’s ministry directors and staff discombobulated due to the 732 things on their mind!

And as Pastor Steve reminded our church, Christ did not mean for his world’s entrance as a dignified ball for adults over the age of 21. It was simply a messy, humble human birth. Animals. Smells. An actual birth. A crying baby, surely!

And so I really believe our church did it right. We made sure that in all of the different elements that constitute our Christmas services, our Lord was recognized, honored, and worshipped. And that is the true meaning of Christmas.

Kingdom Kids doing a preliminary run-through; staff leading from the front; more stuff up on the scaffolding

Christmas Eve Service led by a giant worship team that included over 25 people of all different ages and walks of life!

Grieve

I just wanted to grieve the loss of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims.

I wanted to allow time for us to process – there really aren’t any words or thoughts that make a whole lot of sense right now, even nearly a week after the tragedy.

A lot of people have been saying a lot of knee-jerk things in response to the tragedy, and I just think that does more harm than good.

As a teacher and father with young children, this tragedy really hits close to home. And so I’ll leave it at that.

I had a 800 word post that I wrote just now – deleted. I want to make sure we go through the grieving process fully before embarking on other blog posts.

RIP.

Thankful for our team…

Last Saturday, we were able to get together and thank all of those praise team and AV contributors for their work this year. Some highlights and reasons to be thankful…

• These guys have full-time jobs, full-time classes, full-time families, and more! Yet they still give their time and energy. A typical week might be about 7 hours (not including preparation time at home!). This is 2 hours of practice during the week and about 5 hours on Sunday. Over the course of the year, that could be up to 364 hours!
• Add to all of that the special services, camps, outside engagements, etc. and some people really give of themselves.
• Week in and week out, these people give this many hours but they enjoy it and it shows. The time flies by when we’re serving in this ministry together!
• Have you ever tried to lift an amp or pedalboard? What about a tub of cables? Back-breaking stuff! These guys not only give their time, but their physical labor as well! I always thought that once we moved, there would be no more physical labor. Boy, was I wrong!
• We shared this at our appreciation dinner – our AV team does a lot. However, the nature of their service is this: if they do a perfect job, then nobody notices. This means that they are hardly ever ‘thanked.’ If they do a job just one iota less than perfect, people give them the “stare.” C’mon – you know you’ve done it. You hear feedback (that high squealing sound) from a microphone because the person using the mic walked in front of a speaker (not the AV guy’s fault) and you stare at the AV guy to communicate your disapproval. Or maybe you’re trying to be nice and let him know that there is feedback because he, the one who is trained to use his ear, wasn’t able to hear it. I want to publicly thank them for what they do and what they put up with. And for everyone else, please stop glaring at them.

One thing that I learned about this ministry is that time-are-a-changin’. I remember when I was doing this back when I was in college (and everyone else on the team was in college). Things were much simpler. Lives were less complicated. There was no “travel-because-of-work” or “nobody-to-watch-the-kids” as viable excuses (which, seriously, are the two most common reasons cited for things – perfectly reasonable too). It was more of a jam session back then. But now, we have to do it with a great focus and purpose because of the limited number of minutes available to us in a week.

John Wooden famously used to say: “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.” I believe that our team (praise and AV) has worked very hard to be a group of worshipers who take this principle to heart.

If you are a person of musical proficiency and want to be a part of either group, let’s chat and figure out if this is the ministry for you. Find me (Robby) at church and I’ll be more than happy to do that.

And, if I haven’t made it clear enough, thank you praise and AV for the sacrifice and joy that you put into all you do. I believe worship is the most important thing a church can “do” and you serve a big part in helping make that happen. 

Ambiguous Terms

I’ve been sitting on this post since August 2012. Actually, truth be told, I’ve been sitting on some of these thoughts since February 2012.

While at Family Camp, I solidified a few things that I’ve been thinking about as it pertains to our church’s worship culture and what the right “thing” to do would be in light of those thoughts.

Ok – enough of the ambiguous terms.

I think people at our church are really hungry to come to God and worship Him. But sometimes, I think people (in general) have too much going on to eat at times. In real life, if you tried this…you would die. You might be able to go a few days but you will eventually die because you are starving yourself of much needed nutrition. The funny thing is, we constantly make choices in life that revolve around prioritizing our need for food and our need to get other “things” done. My wife is a great example of this. Sometimes, I will come home from work and find out that she hasn’t eaten anything all day because she was busy doing x, y, and z. And she’s not the only one I’ve heard this from. And while I know that she will eventually eat and not die out of self-starvation, I wonder if this is the case in our hunger for true fellowship with God and worship for God.

If you hunger for God…don’t let life be an excuse. After all, how silly that “life” given by God is an excuse to avoid God.

This is how all of the above plays out for our worship team on Sundays:

• “Oh man! I’m late! I have to be at church before 8am!”
• “My amp sounds funny! I need new strings! Who messed with my drum placement!”
• “Let’s go over that intro one more time!”
• “Let’s go over that intro again!”
• “Let’s go over that intro again for the five hundredth time because the previous 499 were not good enough!”
• “Oh man…it’s 8:55am. Time to start service.”
• During the song – “That is not how we practiced that part.”
• After the service - ”We nailed that interlude.” OR “We absolutely stunk on that turn.”
• Etc.

And as much as that all sounds like exaggeration and sensationalism … it’s not. And while I spent the whole week leading up to the two services in order to have the right heart and mindset leading up to our corporate times of worship, I sometimes throw it all out the window choosing tasks and checklists over satiating my hunger with the only One who can do that.

You get the point. I won’t belabor it. But when you come to church, try a few things and it will make all the difference:

• Spend time in the week praying and preparing your heart. Don’t just come on Sunday cold turkey and wonder why you weren’t engaged in worship. 
  
• Come early on Sunday. There’s no law against that. And, you might find that dropping your children off earlier rather than right at 11:00AM helps you to focus on the reason why you’re at church in the first place.
• Come in early and pray. There’s no rule against that either. We usually start playing about 5 minutes before the official start time. The whole reason is so that people can prepare their hearts.

I have a unique vantage point from where I stand. I can see people coming in hurried and anxious. I can see people come in flustered. And while that doesn’t disqualify anyone from engaging in worship, I often wonder if it hinders people more than loud music or bad solos. And I wonder if over time, these habits begin crystallizing into a culture – one that becomes very hard to break.

If you are hungry (and like I said earlier – many are), then you have to eat. The excuses that help you to avoid eating will only work so long until the day comes that you are faced with severe malnutrition and even death. I’m of the mindset that there are important things and then there is everything else.

I’ve made a few commitments for the upcoming new year. I used to get so fixed on intros and solos and transitions and playing in time and on and on and on. We’ll still practice those things. But those aren’t the most important. The most important thing that we will do as a team is spend a significant time in prayer for each other, for our church, and for you. We’ll spend some time in worship too. Heck, I’ll even let you know when we do this so you can come hang out with us when we do “practice.”

I’d like to see our church body build a worship culture that takes precedence over many other things. And by worship culture, I am talking about our heart posture to God (and not just music). I believe that as we work on this, our church will grow in ways that humans can’t predict or analyze. Call me idealistic (or an English teacher), but I’m ready for some “things”! (sorry – ambiguous term)

Don’t Try to Plug a Leak with Your Finger

When I think of God’s grace and blessings, sometimes I picture that cartoon scene where Bugs Bunny tries to stick his finger (paw) inside a leaking hole in the bottom of his boat. Then a new hole appears. Then another. And yet another. And in just a few short moments, the entire boat is flooded (sinking) with water and even overflowing over the edges.

I always think of this picture when I sing a song like “Your Grace Is Enough” or “Amazing Grace.” (Yes, even in a classic hymn I think of that powerful cartoon image – I know, very mature.)

This past Sunday was no different than any other Sunday in that we prepared our praise set beforehand, rehearsed it, was happy with the way it “sounded,” and looked forward to the usual 8am meeting time on Sunday morning. We started to play during our first service and things went according to plan. Just like we rehearsed. We were playing with the click, singing the notes, playing the parts. We were worshipping with our voices, hearts and music. Or so I thought.

Sometimes (as was the case this past Sunday), it seems that I am worshipping when in fact, I am not. Instead, I am in somewhat of a lull. Jaded, almost. I’ve been doing it for quite some time now. As a matter of fact, I would sometimes joke privately (well, not so privately anymore) that we would probably sound the same to the average listener whether we rehearsed or not.

(Aside: I know what some are thinking. Praise is not about the music or the sound. We can argue about this, even scripturally – and both ways, all we want. That is not the point of this post.)

I got to the point where I was actually a better worship leader than God. I didn’t need his advice or his prompting. So I shut his voice out of my heart. I listened to my voice and my experience. And I focused on all the nitty gritty things like setting up, patching, playing in tune and on time, etc. Nothing wrong with those things except when that’s ALL you focus on.

So I was reminded this past Sunday by a faint whisper. But I couldn’t ignore it. I was singing and playing “Sing Sing Sing” when that line popped up…”You are the love that frees us / You are the light that leads us…”

I listened to myself singing that line and was overwhelmed that the HS would repeat those lines to me over and over again throughout the song and the chorus. After the song, I stopped, listened, and made some changes just like He asked me to. Instead of going through and executing Robby’s Perfect Plan That Was Created By an Imperfect Being, we went through with God’s Perfect Plan. His plan was simple. He said (paraphrased):

“I will lead you. I will free you and your team to worship Me. The church will follow. Just ask them to humbly submit and remember that in the good times and the bad, I am God.”

Whoa -

“Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise.” In the high and lows, “blessed be the name of the Lord.”

“I’ll bow my head before Your glory / Worship at Your feet. / And I’ll declare that You are worthy / I’ll set my eyes on You alone…”

What a powerful proclamation. Praise God.

Here’s what I didn’t know…

Our brother Steve was sharing about the plans that God had for his life. And this song was so meaningful to him that it would have been a powerful and meaningful way to go out. Of course, I didn’t know that. But God did. And God made it happen. Pretty awesome. There really is no denying the power of God’s whisper.

You can try to plug that boat with your finger but He will overwhelm You.

Let us be a church that listens to Him, bows at His feet, breaks open the jar and adores Him fully.

Not Another Story, Mr. Jung!!!

I know, I know…

Enough about your personal life. I know!

I’m a teacher, remember. An English teacher! I’m supposed to talk a lot. And I do. I can tell stories in my classes all day. I sometimes wonder (actually, I secretly know) if my students are mentally rolling their eyes when I start a sentence: “When I was in high school…”

If you get me started, you might not make it to the end. I have stories, opinions, thoughts, beliefs, rationales, and convictions on nearly everything. And I say that to poke fun at myself. Nobody wants to hear someone espouse about anything and everything.

But I wanted to share a story because I feel that many in our church body have been experiencing the same thing. Now, by no means is this meant to garner pity. This isn’t really even that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. No, my family is not “suffering.” But in the moment, I have to admit, it sure does feel like suffering – long, slow suffering.

You see, I’ve been sick on and off since Festafall. I remember thinking that on Sunday, I wasn’t going to be able to sing because my throat was acting funny. I remember because some of our team members were guests at another church’s service that evening (the first Sunday in November). Then, I remember having the same thought in December (the first Sunday in December) where circumstances were the same: guest leading at another venue. Then, I remember in January thinking of how I have to be able to lead certain Sundays because I felt the same sore throat, runny nose, and congested head symptoms. By my count, that’s three full months. Both of my children have been sick on and off too. And me being sick is one thing. When they’re sick, at the same time, brace yourself! It’s pretty amazing that Grace has the immune system that she does. Otherwise, I don’t know who would take care of who in my house! (She never gets sick but she does get headaches…but I think that has more to do with me than a virus…sorry honey…speaking of which, a big thank you for all of your sacrifices these past few months – they haven’t gone unnoticed!)

So, like many of you, this season of flus and colds has not been fun. Like I said, it is far from “suffering.” I don’t want to devalue people in this world who are really suffering. But, in that three month span, it was really hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But there’s a song that I led repeatedly through those last few months. I usually take a look at the central idea and theme in the Sunday message and build my set list around that. But these two songs kept finding their way into the set, regardless of their relevance to the message that week. Looking back, I’m sure it had a lot to do with my conversations with God around that time.

The first is an old Vineyard song – “You Are In Control.” I think it was released in 1998. I think some of my high school students were born in that year! It’s a great song but there’s a free-worship line in that song at the end where the worship leader sings the following:

“You are in control…             Over my wife and my children…”

And I don’t like to imitate lines from CDs for fear or being disingenuous in my worship. But this time, it came out. I blurted it out. Almost in defeat. I was so tired of the times. I was tired of my kids being sick. I was tired of watching Grace do all the housework. I was tired of going to work feeling less than 100%. But as I sung (more like whimpered) that line in defeat, my attitude changed to relief. I was reminded that our God is in control of all things. He’s obviously in control of all the big stuff. Missions. Brea Property. Orphans. But, he’s most definitely in control of the small stuff too. The petty things. Like minor illnesses. Like fussy kids. Like your family and mine. Like EVERYTHING. It’s pretty awesome, really. I can’t even control my runny nose yet he is in control of everything! Next time we sing that song, try to remember that.

The other song we’ve done a couple of times is by Paul Baloche – “Just to Be With You.”

Physical illnesses, especially ones that last more than a couple of weeks, have a funny way of zapping your mental and emotional strength in addition to the physical. I absolutely love my job. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But during that particular season of my life, I didn’t feel that way. There’s a line that put all that into perspective.

“Lord my life is an empty cup…”                  “Leaving my will, my burdens behind.”

Whew! I needed that. I’ve really got to stop relying on my own energy. My finite, temporal (not to mention lazy) energy fails me every single time. I always get burned out trying to rely on myself. But I love the part of leaving my will AND my burdens behind. It’s hard, but it’s refreshing! And like someone flipped a switch, I went from lacking empathy to compassionate. I’ve been working on trying to see people with God’s eyes and not my own. It really makes a difference, especially in my line of work.

Then the kicker of this song… “All I want is just to be with you…” Is that true worship or what? It’s simple and honest.

Maybe you or your families have gone through something similar. I hope you see the light at the end of the tunnel. But if you’re still in that tunnel, remember: our God is in control of everything. And if you made it this far, congratulations! You just sat through one of Mr. Jung’s long and boring stories!

(Songs mentioned on this post…)                                                                                                     You Are In Control (Vineyard)       Just to Be With You (Paul Baloche)