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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.

I think I have found the amp. Not the amp, THE AMP. I am playing the Orange Rockerverb 50 Head and PPC212 cabinet. This thing sounds amazing at all volumes. Very expressive. I can get from Deluxe Reverb to Modern British in a footswitch click. It’s all good.

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.