Sorry for the delay in posts…. Things have been super busy down here in ole Griffin.
Our fearless leader, Wade Joye, came down today to join us in re-writing an older song. We got it wrapped up, and it’s sounding great. Jason is bringing the heat on these songs, for real.
We’re close to halfway through tracking guitars. Hoping to be wrapped up by the start of next week… then it’s on to vocals.
We will keep you posted on what’s to come, but know that we are so excited for you guys to hear what we’ve been working on. It’s the best thing we’ve done yet.
Yesterday, we took a group of our musicians and vocalists to Unleash, a conference held at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. The guys over at NewSpring are great friends of ours, and we were so happy to be there taking part in an incredible day of worship and learning.
The Worship Pastor, Lee McDerment, taught one of the sessions called Top 3 Priorities for Worship Leaders. As a first timer to the conference, it was great to hear some words of wisdom and perspective from Lee. So, i’d love to pass a few take aways on to you guys. Not only did it apply to me as a worship leader, but I felt that it spoke to our musicians and background vocalists as well. Even though their title isn’t “worship leader” specifically, we believe they are still leading people into worship and into the presence of God with every note played and word sung.
Top 3 Priorities:
1. to be a Child of God
2. to be a Minister to People
3. to be a Worship Leader
… and in that order. Worship leading starts with a worship lifestyle. So, we are children of God first and foremost. We need to be in His Word daily and living as sold out followers of Jesus. Our talents and abilities may come and go, but we will always be His children, and that is our ultimate calling. Second, we are ministers to people. God’s two greatest commands to us are: to love Him and to love people. And finally, we are worship leaders. God has given us all talents in many shapes and forms. If your talent is music, singing, playing an instrument, whatever it may be… use it to glorify Him. Use it to make the name of Jesus famous and above all other names.
So that’s it in a nutshell folks. Have a great weekend!
London.
This past weekend, Pastor Steven told the story behind Ps 51. David wrote that Psalm after he had an affair with Bathsheba. This little mashup came as a response to the sermon.
Well, I go through gear like I go through underwear… But currently I’ve been using:
A Yamaha Motif XS (Bottom Keyboard) for Piano/Rhodes/Organ sounds. I run the Motif via midi into a Korg Triton Rack for soft pads and more airy spacey pads… I run both the Motif and the Triton into a Rane 6 channel rack mixer. From the Rane mixer I run two stereo channels to the front house. This setup is pretty nice for smooth transitions, because I can mix out a piano then bring in the pad or vice versa… Or I could play two sounds at once. Then I use an Alesis Micron (Top Keyboard) for synth sounds and arpeggiated digital noises… The Micron has a tap tempo feature that is awesome so you can match up arpeggiated sounds on the spot. Recently Aaron Robertson (one of the other keyboard players) and I bought an Akai MPK 61 midi controller… We both agree that it’s probably the best midi controller for the price on the market…
Our worship team recently read “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan. Although it’s not specifically aimed at worship leaders, it’s probably the best book on worship leading I’ve ever read. The essence of the book is, in large part, the North American Church talks about and focuses on “God the Father” and “Jesus the Son,” but we rarely approach (we forget) the third, and equally as important part of the Trinity, the “Holy Spirit.” God’s Spirit distinguishes us from every other religion in the world. How different would our lives look if we tapped into the power that lives within us? The book is a call to all believers, but it’s got some tough questions for the leaders of God’s Church.
Worship leaders, one of the biggest dangers I took from the book is that we could walk through this life without relying on the Spirit, or following his leading in every arena of our lives. Going through life not listening to the Spirit will eventually turn out to produce a fruitless life for me. If people aren’t seeing the fruits of the Spirit in my life, then that’s a big problem. I could use my God-given gift of music and leading, and continue to lead worship at Elevation, and probably get by relying on my ability, but if I don’t demonstrate LOVE then no amount of leading worship will matter. If I’m not patient with people, leading worship doesn’t “make up” for my impatience. If I’m jealous, or greedy, or unkind, but I get out there on the stage and pretend it’s ok and just trust in my gift, then it’s worthless. (1 Cor 13). Love, joy, peace, patience…..must accompany my gift.
“1 Cor 13 is so powerful b/c Paul redirects the focus from supernatural gifts to love. He specifically says that without love, speaking ‘in the tongues of men and angels’ and ‘prophetic powers’ and understanding ‘all mysteries and all knowledge’ mean nothing.”
There’s more to the believers’ life than just “getting by.” And there’s more to worship leading than making good music on a stage. Allow yourself to be characterized by the Spirit’s activity in your life on and off stage.
Your Cross Has Saved Us – Elevation Worship You Are Enough – Elevation Worship It Is Well (Hymn with story behind song) – Horatio Spafford Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen Lift High (tag) – Fee/Kirkland Freedom Is Here – Hillsong
We’re finishing our first week in the studio today. This week we tracked all our drums and bass parts for the record, and boy-oh-boy do they sound good. We’re back in Charlotte tracking keys next week. Guitars in Griffin the following two weeks. Then come the vocals for a week or so. Then after many passes through mixes and mastering, these songs will be all yours sometime early this fall. PTL, PTL!!
Here’s a few clips to leave you with from this week.
