Thoughts on Musicianship

Here are a few of my thoughts on musicianship.

1. Prepare.  You have to be prepared for the musical situation you are going into. Are you familiar with the style, song selection etc.? The less experience you have, the more you need to prepare.
2. Gear.  Do you have the right gear for the job?  I just had a phone conversation with a guitar player considering joining the Epic band.  He had looked over the song list I sent him, and he said he would need to get another guitar to make sure he would have the right sound for us.  I about fell over.  That is what a musician considers when taking a gig.  "Do I have the right gear?", not "do I have gear?".  I have mixed sound for many a band with a Marshall Stack in the backline for a small club, and destroyed the mix.  Marshall Stacks are my among my favorite amp rigs along with some killer boutique amps.  But they don't fit every situation.
3. Know your place.  If you are not the MD, don't try to become one.  Be ready to give input if asked, but don't try to run the show.  I have had many a professional give me suggestions that made the song rock.  I love that.  I have also worked with people that totally wanted to rearrange the entire arrangement or tell everyone else how to play their parts and not even know their own.  Ouch, I have even done that once or twice.  It's a hard lesson, but one that needs learning.
4. Attitude.  Don't bring your emotional junk to the gig or rehearsals.  Be positive about what is going on.  Remember, you are making music! If you are doing a church gig, talk with the worship pastor long before rehearsal or the Sunday you are scheduled.  He/She will be able to focus on you and help.  Encourage others in the band too.  Everyone loves a little encouragement.

This list could be, and should be expanded on by greater minds than mine.  If any of you readers, have a comment or suggestion, please respond.

Peace

Do You Get It?

Most leaders agree, that you need so surround yourself with people who "get" the vision.  Knowing the vision and "getting" it are two entirely different things.  Here are some practical ways to identify people who get it.

1. They talk about it as much as you do.  Maybe more.
   
2. Ownership.  They give you unsolicited feedback.  This means they are thinking about it and owning it.
   
3. Time and treasures are invested.
4. They may not be Christ followers yet!
5. Multiplication. They get people involved that you didn't even know existed.
6. They encourage, not criticize.  Solutions are presented with problems.
7. They are not spiritual Vampires that suck the life and love of ministry out of you.

Who do you have on your team that is like this?  Don't spend time babysitting people who will never get it.  Invest in those who do, and ask God to give you discernment.

Peace and Love.

Big God

Wow, I thought I posted this on Friday!  Maybe I was so upset, I forgot to hit send?  Here it is from Friday morning at Starbucks.

I am reading "Starting HD Chuches" by Ron Sylvia, and God just decided to speak to me.  I am really toast right now.  Tears are flowing from my eyes.  I had to stop to write down what I am feeling.  I was reading Chapter 4 and on pages 46-47, Ron is telling a story of needing finances to keep the church going.  Needed $18000.00 for the year to keep going.  So he has a special offering and explained the situation to the people.  Took the offering and brought in $50000.00!!  When I read that God sort of whispered to me "Why don't you believe I can do miracles like that?"  And so here I am weeping because He is right.  Somewhere along the way, I stopped believing He can do anything!  IV just walked in and I'm sitting here in a mess of tears...he is puzzled for sure.  We are shooting a video today, so I'll give him the 411 in a minute.  I just want to get back to the way I used to believe in God.  Powerful, able and wanting to do miracles for His children.  Now time to ask Daddy for forgiveness for my lack of faith.

Leadership stuff...

After dropping Jean off at work this morning, I made my way to my Starbucks office again for some meetings.  On the way I was thinking about all the technology at my fingertips.  Literally at my fingertips.  That thought morphed in to the information available at those same end of digits.  Then I thought, "I have no excuse not to be a great leader, because I have access to some of the greatest leaders of our day, right on my phone!"  So just saying that if we are leading people, we have no excuse to suck at it.  I may blow it from time to time, but it is not because the skill or technique or truth is not out there for me to grab a hold of.  Just a thought, so get out there on Twitter, the blog-o-sphere, Facebook, Podcasts and the whole other host of resources, and lead!!

Starbucks Observation

Okay, I am sitting at the Starbucks store in Decatur, AL.  I am studying Jesus, trends in technology, blogging, reading and enjoy the people.  As I watched people come in and place orders, I had this thought; People come to Starbucks because they want a great coffee beverage, not to be convinced that coffee beverages are great.  The customer comes in and is asked what they would like and the customer orders.  Now a fist time customer will look at the menu, and maybe inquire about a certain beverage, but they know why Starbucks is there.  They don't expect a pizza from Starbucks.

So then I thought about churches.  And I could totally be off here, but if someone comes to your church, don't they expect to here about God, and maybe even Jesus?  Did someone already invite them?  Did someone already tell them about Jesus?  Did they hear the audible voice of God say "get to church"?
When someone comes to Starbucks, the Barista doesn't explain the way the coffee beans are grown and processed to become the awesome beverage you are enjoying.  No, they make it and you enjoy.  In church we need to present Christ and let people enjoy him.  How to present Christ?

• Be yourself and reflect his love to everyone who walks through the door.  Everyone!!  If by being yourself you are judgemental and unhappy about life, you may need to do some self evaluation.  Ask someone that will tell you the truth, not someone who surgarcoats it. 
  
• If  you are a teaching Pastor, teach a practical life lesson, something anyone can start applying to their everyday journey.
• You must believe in the product, or in the case of the church, the message of Christ.  If you really don't think Christ can change lives, well, you might want to talk to him about that.  
• Celebrate change.  When Starbucks announced the new instant coffee, I didn't hear one employee at my, yes my, store complain about it.  In fact they were giving out free samples.
• I call the Starbucks I go to "my store", because it is where I spend my money and time.  Let people know that you support "your church".  I don't bash other Starbucks stores, there is only one other in Decatur at Target, but I celebrate the whole Starbucks experience. We should celebrate the Kingdom of God the same way.  You may have your favorite place to worship, but don't bash the church down the street.

So I hope I was able to translate what was going on in my mind to "paper".  I started blogging to do just that.  If you have any comments or additions please share.  

Are we too focused??

At Epicchurch.tv, we have our creative meetings on Mondays.  We begin my debriefing Sunday service.  We "walk through" the service beginning with the parking lot and end with the dismissal of the last service.  With three services, it is a lot to download and digest.  The funny thing about it is, we all have a different perspective on the service.  And what I've found out is that the closer the area of ministry is to your heart, the more you notice what went wrong.  I'll try to explain better. 

I really thought we struggled with a few songs on Sunday.  We don't do 3 chord 4/4 songs to just get by.  I throw challenging stuff at our band.  But, learning a new popular song each week is a daunting task for any band.  But I knew where we missed vocal cues, missed a transition to a chorus, played the wrong chord, etc.  The rest of the creative team and staff thought it was off the chain.  I was perplexed to say the least.  But again I know what was missing and they were enjoying the energy and vibe that was coming from the stage.  And they were worshiping Jesus. 

Now, when we discussed the greeters, I thought they were awesome and friendly.  The kind of people who make you feel welcome when you go to a know place.  But, there were missteps and cancellations, and some challenges had to be overcome.  Same thing in the parking lot and kids. 
I didn't notice because, it's not my area of passion.  I am focused on the worship band and tech crew.  I spend my waking, and sometimes sleeping, hours fixed on what Sunday will look and sound like. 

So in light of this new although simple revelation, I am gonna really enjoy Sunday morning and not get too, focused on things that don't happen the way I think it should.  I'm gonna step back a little and see the forest.

I love our team!!
Peace

Peace.

Ministry...

My daily devotion has had me reading in 2 Chronicles this past week or so.  I really get a kick out of chapter 7.  My charismatic discipleship early on gets real excited about the first 3 verses.  God's glory filling the temple, fire from heaven, people falling on their faces in awe.  I love that stuff.  But it is in verse 4 that the really good stuff happens.  Ya know the stuff that you go "wow, that would have been awesome!".  I'm kidding of course.  Let me share verses 4 and 5 with you.

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord.
5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep.  So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

That is a lot of animals going to the slaughter!  If PETA was around there would have been problems for sure.  Anyway, this passage has some real significance for anyone who is in ministry or feels called to the ministry.  Can you imagine having to slaughter all those animals?  The blood, guts and goo?  Your nice white robes and tassels all soaked on blood and entrails.  I think I might be sick by ox number 10,000 or so.

The point is, we love to see God pour out His glory in ways that remind us of how awesome and magnificent He is, but we forget the sacrifices and day to day offerings we are to be to Him.  Romans 12 anyone?  But serving Him becomes gooey, bloody, messing and sometimes just plain boring.  Come on be real, doesn't is get old sometimes?  I mean you are on sheep number 200, and you have 119,800 to go!  Any all you hear is more bleating of these 119,800.

Now of course, I am not talking about a very important part here.  Teamwork.  I know it wasn't only one priest doing all the work.  I bet is was every priest and every Levite in the the kingdom!  And if you read on to to verse 6, there was a band playing!  Yes, music to serve the Lord by.  In addition, the priest were excited about serving God.  Also, they did just see the God of all creation, rain fire and smoke down on the temple.  And it wasn't cause someone left the smoke machine running back stage!

Anyway, I love the encouragement I get from know that serving God is not all clean and neat.  It gets messy.  It gets loud, and dirty.  But you get to see God too.  I hope everyone gets to see God today...
happy serving my fellow Levites!