.tom

Here is a round of recent pics of our new church. Dan Thornton took all of them. He is an awesome photographer. I did the collage.

if you owned the maxworship.com (currently points back here) domain name? Should it be a blog, a resource site, or use it as one of the many domain names for your church? Shoot some ideas my way.

One of the sessions (Ross Parsley) mentioned to not implement any changes immediately upon returning from a conference. So….what stuck around 90 days later?

• Excellence is important. Never at the expense of the message. All things for the Glory of God.
• I gained a huge respect for Mark Roach’s writing and have started doing a few of his songs. Can’t wait to report them out to CCLI
• Still need to spend some time making loops and try playing along with the band if for nothing other than improving timing
• The most powerful moments were generated be people who were very in tune with what God wanted them to do. They knew what we needed and led us in a way that they were created to do.

One of our vocalists had been waiting for the congregation to respond before showing what she was feeling on stage. The conference helped her realize that she should act on what she is feeling and that really, we help give “permission” to the congregation. We are to model the worship experience.

Thanks to Marcos Witt, I have been using the word “worship pusher” lots. Thanks for that Marcos!

Can we strive for excellence in service without going too far?  How much is required of us as Worship Leaders?  Do we simply accept the group of volunteers we have been given and not try to improve our skills or do we challenge them to give all they have?

An article Tony Guerrero wrote on the subject (and then a subsequent book from him) really has kept me thinking for a couple years now.  I tend to look at spiritual gifts and the use of them in His service no different than financial gifts.  I am required to bring my first (or best) fruits forward.  It’s funny how an old song lyric will take on new meaning after you have been doing lots of reading.  In “Little Drummer Boy”, the lyric “I played my best for him” “and he smiled at me” really hit me.  It does not say I played THE best, only that I played MY best and that pleased the Lord.  It has challenged me to not compete against other players but to always be pushing the envelope of who I am as a player.  If I can always show up and bring my personal best…I will be satisfied.

Powered by ScribeFire.

This month at Faith Fellowship, we are doing a message series based on “The Doors”.  Should be interesting.  The website quote is:

“Life is filled with many doors. Some are open, some are not. Some are locked and can’t be opened and some are merely shut. We spend a lot of time determining which doors we should unlock, and we are often frustrated by those that we cannot open. In this message series entitled “The Doors,” Dr. Daymond Talkington teaches us what God has to say about how to Break on Through…”

Powered by ScribeFire.

Worship Leader Magazine,National Worship Leader Conference

All I can say is…WOW. This conference was astounding. It was absolutely exhausting and invigorating all at the same time.

Standout sessions for me:

• Paul Baloche and Matt Maher’s Songwriting Sessions
• Straight Talk with Ross Parsley and Phil Wickham

Getting to see how different worship leaders work was really an eye opener. I had no idea Phillips, Craig and Dean were as solid as they are. Jeremy Riddle and Jeff Deyo get my vote for most intense (in a good way).  Fernando Ortega with a string quartet was really cool.

Do yourself a favor and get this trip into your budget for next year!

John Hartford was a genius. I spent a phase in my musical career thinking that he was the end-all, be-all. I think I may have been right on.

One of my favorites tunes of his outlines a seemingly unrelated series of events that brought us to a certain point in time. Isn’t that how it always is? We can’t see the big picture laying out in front of us. We can really only see the here and now.

Enjoy….

Well, I would not be here if I hadn’t been there
And I wouldn’t’ve been there if I hadn’t just turned
On Wednesday the third in the late afternoon
Got to talking with George who works out the back
And only because he was getting off early

To go see a man at a Baker Street bookstore
With a rare first edition of Steamboats and Cotton
A book that he would never have sought in the first place
Had he not been inspired by a fifth-grade replacement
School teacher in Kirkwood who was picked just at random

By some man on a school board that couldn’t care less
And she wouldn’t’ve been working if not for her husband
Who’d moved two months prior to work in the office
Of man he had met while he served in the Army
And only because they were in the same barracks

An accident caused by a poorly made roster
Mixed up on the desk of a sergeant from Denver
Who wouldn’t’ve been in but for being in back
Of a car he was riding before he enlisted
That hit a cement truck and killed both his buddies

But a backseat flew up there, spared him from dying
And only because of the fault of a workman
Who forgot to turn screws on a line up in Detroit
Because he hollered at Sam who was hateful that morning
Hung over from drinking alone at a tavern

Because of a woman he wished he’d not married
He’d met long ago at a Jewish bar mitzvah
For the son of a man who had moved there from Jersey
Who managed the drugstore that sold the prescription
That cleared up the sunburn he’d caught way last summer.

From where I sit today, I can see Providence’s hand in the series of events that leads me to here. Thanks John for reminding me that, in many ways, I would not be HERE if not for a banjo playing, storytelling, steamboat pilot from St. Louis.

Frankly, I can’t wait to get there. Jamie (my wife) and I are going with:

• Daymond (our Senior Pastor)
• Ann (Drama/Tech Director)
• Joe (one of our Sound Engineers)
• Anne (our Volunteer Coordinator)
• Gina (one of our Worship Vocalists)

I think the main reason I am excited about this one is that I can see lots of sessions that seem tailor-made for our group. I hope to get a meeting with everyone prior to take-off.I will be doing some serious plotting and scheming in the next few weeks getting ready. I hope to post my plans here.