Instrumental Reflection #13- In the Bleak Midwinter
Dec 21, 2009 Instrumental Reflections
I have always loved this Christmas song. The chord changes are beautiful and the melody just flows. I hope you enjoy it too.
To listen click play!
Click here for the feed for the podcast or here to subscribe in itunes
Tags: Christmas, Free, Instrumental, piano
Words of Encouragement
Dec 1, 2009 Devotions and Thoughts
When I was in college I was part of a ministry leadership team for a student ministry group. Each week we had a memory verse that we had to memorize and recite at our weekly meeting. These scriptures, ingrained in my head, have been helpful in different situations to offer comfort and encouragement.
Here is one I recited often over the past two weeks through our move to a new house.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
~ Philippians 4:6-7
Tags: Christmas, College, encouragement, help, house, Music, Nothing But Nets, peace, Prayer, Request, scripture, Team
Help Me Save a Life
Nov 15, 2009 Communication, Devotions and Thoughts, Me
For the past two years I have been supporting the “Nothing But Nets” campaign. The campaign raises money to provide mosquito nets that protect from Malaria with the goal of wiping out the disease on the continent of Africa.
Between now and Christmas I want to raise enough money to buy 1000 nets. At $10 each that makes a total of $10,000
Wow, you might say that’s a lot of money but think of it this way.
Between now and Christmas is around 45 days. That means if you saved 22 cents per day between now and then you would have $10 for a net.
I figure that I have about 2000 people I am connected to between facebook personal page, fan page and twitter. If only half participated we would reach the goal.
How you can help:
1. Donate: I have created a netraiser team called Fork In the Road. You can help support me by making a secure online donation. Click here to donate.
2. Forward, Retweet, Repost: Send this on to your friends in your social networks. Get them to help.. who knows we could pass 1000 nets easily.
3. Start Your Own Team: Why not start your own effort with your church, youth group, or among your social media friends. It doesn’t matter who raises the money, just that they get raised.
For more information on how YOU can participate in Nothing But Nets, please visit www.NothingButNets.net
Thanks for your support!
Tags: application, camp, CD, Christmas, Church, Click, facebook, fork In the Road, help, Malaria, Methodist Church, Mosquitos, Music, Net Raiser Team, Nothing But Nets, people, Team, twitter, Wave, work, youth
Instrumental Reflection #12- O Come O Come Emmanuel
Nov 13, 2009 Free Stuff, Instrumental Reflections, podcast
This week I am starting with the first of my Christmas instrumental reflections. My original plan was to have 8-10 of these done by Thanksgiving. With moving and other things, that has been pushed back a little bit. I do plan to get them out as soon as possible though, so keep listening. If you have a suggestion for a Christmas instrumental reflection send it in to me. I will choose one name, from those who leave suggestions, to send a CD with all the holiday instrumental reflections to when I am done.
To listen click play!
Click here for the feed for the podcast or here to subscribe in itunes
Tags: Christmas, Instrumental, Music, piano, reflection
Instrumental Reflections #10- Bridal Entrance and Podcast Test
Oct 28, 2009 Free Stuff, Instrumental Reflections, podcast
This past weekend I had the privilege of providing music for the wedding of one of my former youth. The really cool part is that I was given the challenge of providing original music for the ceremony. This is the original recording of what was chosen for the Bride’s Entrance.
Also, I am using this post to test out the podcasting of Instrumental Reflections. The podcast will include not only these instrumental reflections but also other items, thoughts, videos, interviews etc that I can capture and put up here. What do you think?
Oh.. and I haven’t forgotten about the Christmas Instrumental Reflections.. I promise they are coming soon.
To listen click play!
Click here for the feed for the podcast or here to subscribe in itunes
Tags: bride, capture, Christmas, Click, Instrumental, mp3, Music, piano, podcast, Recording, reflections, sing, song, Songs, subscribe, Thoughts, video, wedding entrance, youth
Christmas Reflections Week 1
Oct 20, 2009 Free Stuff, Instrumental Reflections
Last week I said I would be taking suggestions for Christmas hymns you would like to hear as instrumental reflections. So here is your chance. Leave the name of your song in the comments below. Also be sure to check back on Friday to hear the versions of the requested songs.
Tags: Carols, choose, Christmas, Free CD, help, Hymn, Instrumental, Music, reflections, Request, song, Songs
Help Me Choose Christmas Instrumental Reflection
Oct 15, 2009 Free Stuff, Instrumental Reflections
I have very much enjoyed composing and posting the first 9 instrumental reflections I have shared with you. If you have been listening you know that some of the songs are original compositions, and some are original takes on old hymns. Most were chosen because they are my favorites, or say something to me, as I hope they have to you.
I thought it might be a good change though, to give you a chance to choose the instrumental reflections for Christmas. Over the next 6 weeks I plan to record 8-10 Christmas Hymn variations. I plan on writing them on Friday, so each week, from Monday-Thursday I’ll be taking suggestions. I will write a post on Monday asking for your ideas. Leave a comment on that post as to which hymn you think should be that weeks reflection and why. On Friday I’ll choose two and record them. If your’s is not chosen the first week be sure and suggest it the second week and so forth.
Each week I will also draw one name at random from those who entered. At the end of the recordings I will make a CD with the recordings and send them out to those winners.
Rule: Only one suggestion per person, per week. That way one person doesn’t just list all the Christmas songs ever written.
Ok.. sound good?
Tags: asking, Carols, CD, choose, Christmas, Free CD, help, Hymn, Instrumental, listen, Recording, reflections, Share, sing, song, Songs, Win
Why We Don’t Rehearse Every Week
Feb 21, 2009 Uncategorized
How It Was
We used to reserve every Wednesday night for an hour and a half rehearsal. We showed up at 6:30 and rehearsed until 8:00. Then we would show up again at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings for an hour to rehearse and soundcheck before Sunday School and our service at 10:30 am. That all changed last summer.
When it Changed
Last summer I had a few weeks where I was leading worship for some church camps and I was going to be out two weeks in a row on our regular Wednesday rehearsal. So I decided that for one month we would take a break from our Wednesday rehearsals and just show up a little early on Sunday morning. We made sure that our songlists did not include any new music, just songs that we needed to review. The band loved it. We have decided to continue the process.
How it Works Now
We meet on one Wednesday per month to work on new music that is coming up. That means I have to be prepared atleast 4 weeks ahead of time with the probable songlists. We use that rehearsal to go over new music. We listen to the songs, double check the songsheet and then try to run it atleast once through so we understand it. I also record these rehearsals and email them the recording we made, or make it available on planning center.
Then Sunday mornings we meet from 8:00 till 9:30 to rehearse for that Sunday morning. We go over each song atleast twice, and then take the rest of the time to work on the new song for the next week, just to refresh. Then we are ready to go for Sunday morning services.
The Challenges
Doing our rehearsals and lists this way has had its own set of challenges. The first would be that I have to have our songlists done in advance. (How we do that). The second challenge is having enough time to go over songs. This has meant we have had to be more disciplined with our time and not waste time during rehearsals.
The Benefits
The first benefit I have noticed is that we have been forced to limit our amount of new songs. This means we have, as a band, learned the ones we use better. It has also meant our congregation has had time to learn the songs. It seemed like before we would learn a song, use it, and then not use it again for a while.
Secondly I have noticed we are not going over things twice. It seemed like no matter what we worked on for Wednesday we were repeating it on Sunday morning anyway.
Thirdly I work with volunteers who have families. We all do. I think it has been great to give my already busy dedicated volunteers an extra night most weeks that they can spend at home.
The fourth reason was more of a factor this summer when gas prices were topping $3.50. The less times that we were driving back and forth to tthe church, the less gas was spent.
Our band has agreed to keep Wednesdays free and I agreed to give one weeks notice of an extra rehearsal. We did this as we prepared for Christmas and probably will for Easter.
What is your rehearsal schedule?
Tags: band, busy, camp, Christmas, Church, Free, Recording, rehearsal, songlists, Songs, summer, Sunday, Team, work, Worship
Sunday Setlist 1-18-09
Jan 18, 2009 Worship Planning
bread and wine from Creativemyk.com
This was another good week at Williams Memorial UMC and the Xperience service. It was Communion Sunday for us and we also had a baptism during the service. So the church celebrated it’s newest member and the Lord’s supper all on the same morning.
Oh.. the sound problems were greatly reduced… actually had no problems at all this week. The guy who installs our stuff came by and set the squelch.. turns out that was the biggest problem. We also bought some padded room dividers and put them along the back of our room. We meet in a cafetorium style meeting room with flat walls and a concrete floor. So the dividers helped alot.
We were missing our keyboard player, and a few vocalists.. so the mix was different but it worked well.
Here are the songs with itunes links
My Savior Lives- This was the first time for us to try this song. We introduced it at the beginning of the service and will start working it into our set in future Sundays.
Meet With Me- This is just one of those songs for our congregation that I can start and they will sing and I can back away and listen to the congregation. I introduced it to them only 2 years ago.
I Stand Amazed- Two things about this song. Somehow it ended up during the offering (when everyone is sitting down) so It felt kinda weird singing I STAND Amazed while seated.. the other thing is we were confused as to whether we were ending on the 4 chord or the 1 chord… Oh well… it worked
Breathe- We did this with nothing but piano and vocal. Kerri sang great and I added a little harmony. We used this as our song during communion.
Our Great God- At my last church someone handed me a CD of some random tunes and this one was on there. From that point on I have LOVED this song. I introduced it to my current congregation during Christmas and used the words to the hymn Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night for the lyrics and then used the normal chorus. Worked awesome.
Oh.. since our liturgical reading included Psalm 139 we used this video from igniter media group.
And that’s just what we did this Sunday. Be sure and check out what others did on Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlist Worship Carnival #26
Tags: CD, Christmas, Church, Fred McKinnon, Setlist, Songs, Sunday, Sunday Setlist, video, work, Worship
Using Video-Christmas Dinner in Fast Forward
Dec 29, 2008 How To, Media and Technology
This was my first attempt to do one of those cool fast forward time lapse videos you see around. I took a camera and set it on top of our china hutch before we ate our Christmas Dinner. Then I took the video and used Windows Movie Maker to speed up the footage. Cut it in a few places and downloaded the music from free-loops.com. What do you think? How would you use something like this technique in worship?
