for over a decade I have served in the music ministries of various churches. and for a decade I have battled with finding a way to “worship” as we go through the motions of singing songs and playing music. I have come to the realization that for me, the best way to do so is rock out and let go.

i’ll be honest. i wasn’t feeling it tonight. i didn’t know I wasn’t feeling it until it was all said and done. i thought to myself, “did i just lead tonight? well that was thoroughly unimpressive.” turns out having a 100 people singing back at you doesn’t do all that much for encouragement. the incredible thing is that there is the slight possibility that while you weren’t feeling it in the least bit, someone else totally could have been.

i am searching for some way to feel as if what i do on Sundays is actually honoring to God and not just going through the motions. i’m searching for a way to know if the words that people are supposedly confessing with their lips are more than words on a screen and cookie cutter chord progressions.

i want to know that church is more than just a social gathering of people that are largely cut from the same cloth. whether it be the color of skin and hair or socioeconomically, why do birds of a feather always seem to flock together? i want to know that we’re bringing something more to the table than just some Joel Osteen-esque health and wealth mentality. we might think that guy sounds like a looney when he preaches, but how many of us live our lives the way he talks about, believing we should get anything we want and never have to suffer a day in our lives, without even thinking about it or without someone telling us?

i am on a search for something deeper.

intro:
isaac watts arr. tomlin – the wonderful cross
chris tomlin – famous one
chris tomlin – unchanging
the above version of unchanging is awesome… live from austin… you might be surprised given song selection, but i don’t even like chris tomlin that much. just his songwriting… so that means i really like it.

offering:
jars of clay – this road

communion:
hillsong united – lead me to the cross

closing:
third day – you are so good to me
hillsong united – take it all

i <3 marietta, georgia’s own third day. can you guess where i went to elementary school? so i used new strings on hello kitty… and they would NOT stretch out. they would probably be perfect for use next week but i will be off the next two weeks so hello kitty will be going under the knife and thus will have ANOTHER set of strings on. she will no longer be pink and the only signs that my guitar started as a hello kitty stratocaster will be the pickguard screws.

sorry congregation for the speed on “take it all”… and sometimes i feel we rock out too much for you guys. we took it a little fast and media couldn’t even keep up. haha… oh boy. but it was fun.

closing:
louis herold arr. chris tomlin – take my life
phil wickham – jesus, lord of heaven outro: jon foreman – your love is strong
vicky beeching – yesterday, today and forever

another lyrics debacle.  now… normally i don’t know about these things.  jj got the idea of wiring a lookback monitor for us this week so that i can see what’s up on the screen behind me.  when i saw the screen go blank i thought disaster.  i’m trying to introduce a “new” song to the congregation and there’s NO LYRICS.  it seems like people took pretty well to it even without knowing all the words so i made an executive decision to throw out salvation is here (sucks!) and bring back the new song to close.  we’ll do this song again either this week or the week after.

i thought hello kitty was done… on thursday night i wired in a seymour duncan sh-8 invader (blink182’s tom delonge’s pickup of choice) and it pretty much proved why i have an engineering degree but am in finance.  i ASSUMED the output connection was soldered from before when i was messing around.  OOPS.  got to church… no electric sounds.  had to scrap it.  this project that i started 9 months ago is STILL not done.  also, i switched to ernie ball super slinky’s this week and it made it sound tinier.  my preamp also needs to be retuned. if you’re running graphtech ghost piezo’s i recommend using slinky’s or a gauge above 10.

did anyone notice the “Killers” intro?

opening:
tim hughes – here i am to worship
hillsong – always
david crowder – there is no one like you

closing:
st. francis of assisi  arr. by d. crowder – all creatures of our God and King
hillsong – the stand
charlie hall – marvelous light

i worked hard sunday morning trying to get hello kitty running again.  when i plugged her in at church… NOTHING.  well… i had forgotten i had wired it to a certain part of the input and when the cable was only half plugged in it worked.  stupid stereo 1/4″ jack.  the frankenkitty is THE best guitar i’ve ever played in a live setting.  zero feedback… great feel… the reduced sustain characteristics means it doesn’t muddy the mix… and it cuts through all the electric instruments so you can hear yourself.

last night i stayed up until 2am working on hk.  at some people’s request, i spent an hour and a half cutting 3″ of 1/8″ acrylic with a utility knife just to put hello kitty’s head back on.  she’ll have a new look this weekend and hopefully it will hold me over until i have time to completely respray her (10 hour job).  will have a post dedicated to frankenkitty soon after she gets some new magnetic pickups.

lyrics for everyone this week!  big ups to MP for laying down the “there is no one like you” solo.  i’ve never led the song before and man it is even more fun than being a congregationer.  i was tempted to do the licks for “all creatures” during the set but decided to keep it simple.  congregation responded well to marvelous light.  you all have great voices.  see you next sunday!

closing:
matt redman & chris tomlin – wonderful maker
delirious – majesty
chris tomlin – forever

i’m going to start posting sunday sets since people ask for them from me. so we botched the beginning of “my glorious” and to top it off they didn’t have the lyrics.  this was my fault.  i sent two emails to media and didn’t check that they used the correct email.  oh well… we’ll give it another go at another time.

something about practicing wonderful maker was spot on.  somehow our monitor settings shifted when we got back on stage.  we could really use an in-ear monitoring system, but an IEM would require an overhaul of what we’ve got and be a $5k+ investment.  hello kitty should be returning next weekend, sans the kitty.  and lookout for an m-audio midi controller with ableton live in use very soon.