Sunday, April 27, 2008
U-Pick the Music Weekend
That's right. We're trying something different in June 2008. The worship arts family at TBC select the music for an upcoming worship service. They are casting their vote online. Top songs will be featured at a service of worship on Sunday, June 1, 2008 at Topeka Bible Church. If it goes OK, I'll open it up to the entire church in the future for one weekend.
For those of you who think you can "slip one in" if you aren't a part of the worship arts family, I'll know if your name matches my database or not. Sorry, you'll have to wait until this pilot run is over - or join the worship family.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Kerry Livgren in the Movie "The Imposter"
The trailer is now available. See how God is using Kerry, rock legend, now moviestar, and a common man who teaches a Bible class each week at church.
According to the film’s co-producer Troy Baker, “So often we have idolized Christian Artists almost to the point of deifying them. Their humanity is lost in the limelight we so easily thrust them into. This film not only deals with the lifestyle and subsequent breakdown of ‘Johnny’, it also pulls back the curtain on the Christian Music Industry. At its very core, though, The Imposter is a story of redemption and self-discovery, and what it truly means to believe.”
In his role, Mr. Livgren’s ‘Proff’ mentors the fallen Christian rock star in an attempt to help ‘Johnny C’ salvage and rebuild a life that was once perceived by others as picture perfect. After reading Millican’s moving script, Livgren decided that the time had come to take the plunge into acting. “I am a musician and composer. I never envisioned playing a role in a motion picture, yet I am very pleased to be a part of The Imposter, with its message of hope and salvation.”
How to Virtually Attend Any Conference Free
You can attend almost any conference today for FREE. That's right. And you can fit it into your schedule. How? Simply find the blogs of those who are attending a conference. I'm virtually attending a conference called the Exponential Conference: The DNA of Reproducing Churches by reading other blogs. Sometimes attenders will takes notes from a session and upload them right after the session or that evening.
Here are some examples you can click on and go right to their blog that has content from this great conference.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Tony Blair Tries to Find a Church to Worship At
Friday, April 18, 2008
Worship Leader Tip: Use The Best Tools To Help You
Personal Assistant and GTD (Get Things Done) Helps
- Smartphone: Treo 680 (it's smarter than I am, not free)
- Remember the Milk (online task management, free)
- Jott (call it in, it send people your transcribed emails, and it's free)
Online Tools
- Worship Planning Center Online (great planning interface for worship, songs, PDF uploads, timing)
- CCLI and Song Select (subscription, able to cover all the legal copyright so my musician friends can eat)
- iMacro (Firefox browser interface that can automate online actions)
- Google Reader (RSS feeds to catch up on the websites I follow)
- Blogger (hosts this blog)
- Firefox Browser (faster, secure, and more customizable Explorer or Safari)
Spiritual Growth Tools
- The Message Remix MP3 Audio Bible (listen in my car on the way to the office)
- crosswalk.com Bible resource (online word study with NASB and NIV)
- You Version Bible (helps with journaling)
Music Gear
- Line 6 Variax Electric Guitar (models 20+ guitars)
- Line 6 PODxt Live Floor Board (connected with CAT5 to guitar)
Computer Stuff
- MacBook Laptop Computer
- Quicksilver (great interface on the Mac, keyboard based instead of mouse, once you get used to it, it's much faster, I'm a keyboard shortcut FREAK)
- Garageband (record scratch tracks, drum loops, and vocal rehearsal tracks)
- Western Digital External Harddrive (use with Mac's Time Machine backup for all computer files)
- Dreamweaver (helps me code HTML/CSS for weekly email I send to 200+ worship family)
- Photoshop (for graphic design stuff, now on online version)
- Cyberduck (upload files to web via this free FTP software)
- Toshiba copier (scans music to PDF...fast)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Worship Leader Tip: Convert Rehearsal Tracks to the Correct Key
Listen folks - get your recordings in the right key. It's worth the effort for your instrumentalists and vocalists.
There's great free software called Audacity that my good friend Todd Bochenko (Clair Brothers Audio) pointed me to several years ago. It works for PC and Mac and allows you to edit audio easily. You can change the pitch without changing the speed of playback. You can change speed of playback without pitch. You can even strip off the vocals and make a kareoke track on some recordings. It's a great tool.
Sure it might sound a little chipmunky or marshmellowish - but it's the right key for goodness sakes. And it won't cost a penny - unlike Pro Tools, Sonar Cakewalk, or the like.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Simple Church
Your kids might enjoy this too. Thanks to Kem Meyer for pointing me to this video.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Giving Up My Private Life
On the first nice day here in Topeka, KS this year - I walked over to talk with a neighbor who I don't know very well. In our first casual conversation he says, "Hey, I saw you on YouTube." Yikes!
My neighbor had seen the Christmas light show video from 4 months ago. When we seek to influence the world around us - we will eventually have to lead public lives. There's no way Jesus could have lived a private life if He was going to influence the world around Him.
PS - If my neighbor is reading this, talk to you when the weather gets nicer.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Worship Leading Tip: Last Lyric
1. Helps the congregation know it's the end of the song.
2. Helps your musicians know to prepare for a transition to the next song.
3. Helps your musicians know it's the final time, if they are lost.
4. Helps you as the worship leader prepare for a transition.
Worship Leader Tip: Song Planning Tip
Easter worship ideas
Christmas worship ideas
Patriotic worship ideas
Acoustic worship ideas
Country music worship ideas
etc...
Then when it comes time to select songs, you have a playlist ready to roll. Sounds so simple. Why didn't I think of this 10 years ago?