Topeka Bible Church June 2009 Baptism Video

LA worship location packed today

LA was packed today. And the main auditorium was pretty full as well.
Leading *people* to life in Christ requires seats for one of the most
important components of the mission - people.

Create nice blown up musician floor worship outlines using Planning Center Online

As a musician, maybe you need bigger font/keys if you aren't using music, music stand, or you place it on the floor. If you use www.planningcenteronline.com and you've wanted an outline that you can put on the floor to see the songs and keys in bold...here's what you've been looking for. Thanks to the awesome people at www.planningcenteronline.com for the great tool they've created for us.

The coding file can be found here.

And a PDF example can be found here.

Email me with questions on implementation.

Results of "Have It Your Way" worship

Last Sunday at Topeka Bible Church, we took requests from worshipers, then voted with the applause-o-meter. Want to know the results?







8:00am

• Blessed Be Your Name (beat out A Mighty Fortress Is Our God)
• I'll Fly Away (beat our Amazing Grace)
• Days of Elijah (beat out Victory In Jesus)
• How Great Thou Art (beat out Wonderful Grace of Jesus)

9:30am

• I Can Only Imagine (beat out Days of Elijah)
• Made Me Glad (beat out Give Me Your Eyes)
• Jesus Messiah (beat out Shine, Jesus Shine)
• Amazing Grace [My Chains Are Gone] (beat out In the Garden)
• In Christ Alone (beat out The Power of the Cross)

11:00am

• Days of Elijah (beat out Majesty)
• In Christ Alone (beat out Above All)
• Hosanna (beat out Say So)
• Your Grace Is Enough (beat out Lord, I Lift Your Name on High)
• *Untitled Hymn [Come to Jesus] (beat out Give Me Your Eyes)

* We will sing this song this upcoming Sunday, June 28th at Topeka Bible Church because Jim Congdon requested it to be sung as a part of his message.

You might be wondering how we worked this with our synchronized location " Lower Auditorium (LA) ". We took two requests from Lower Auditorium (LA) to generate the list. Then we asked Lower Auditorium (LA) to be the tie breakers if the applause from Main Auditorium (MA) was too close to call. Thanks to Lower Auditorium (LA) - we needed two tie breakers.

So which ones where you glad that got beat out? Which ones were upsets for you?

How to get feedback from your worship arts family

What's the best way to get feedback from your ministry? Ask them. So that's what happened with our Spring 2009 Worship Arts Survey. If you've never used surveymonkey.com for online surveys - give it a look. Very helpful in collection and analyzing the results. So easy - even a monkey can use it.

Want to know the results from the 81 people who took it? See the results (without names) here.

Other good ways to find feedback - take someone to lunch, watch the worshippers (are they sleeping or have their arms folded), or create an approachable open door culture (like, is your office door open or shut most of the time?).

Somebody stuffed the ballot box 3rd hour

Someone wasn't playing fair at "You Pick the Music Sunday." Check out
all the signs for one song. New rule - people with signs have to come
up to sing a solo.

Low tech - siphoning water out of our pool

Got to listen at 11am in the house

Observations:
- volume level good
- mix was good
- loops help drive
- balcony levels were weaker than floor
- that hollow piano sound is about to be upgraded (more to come)
- ad lib vocals are nice (good, Jill)
- instrumentalists are singing (thanks, Joel and Randee)
- it's nice to be in the house
- transitions are spot on

Son's first T-ball experience

Think he's excited.

The rest of Topeka is at the Sunflower Music Festival

Geesh. Lots of people. But we brought the median age down.

at the Topeka Sunflower Music Festival listening to Debussy's Petite Suite

That's a little suite. High caliber music.

A musician's geek desktop on a #Mac

Yes, I have a streak of geek in me. People want to know "what's that stuff on your desktop." So you can quit asking, here's what it is. Click on the image to view the full screen version.

New song at Topeka Bible Church: Oh the Deep, Deep Love

Many times, I don't know if a song will be a keeper until we actually try it out. The song we are learning now (Say So) was good to get TBC up and running. Judging by the response, it will be a keeper. However, there's a new song called Oh the Deep, Deep Love written by Samuel Trevor Francis (1834-1925) and rewritten (added words and music) by Bob Kauflin that I know will be a keeper even before we do it. And if I'm wrong, I'll have egg on my face. Here are the words and a link to an MP3 sample of the music.

And if you want to catch Bob give a talk about an example of what makes a bad tune bad...check it out here.



By the way, you can sing “O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus” to the tune of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” or "Come Thou Fount" - take your pick. Interesting. The meter of lyric has worked for years, and still does.

Oh the Deep, Deep Love

Verse 1

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Your glorious rest above

Chorus

Oh the deep, deep love
All I need and trust
Is the deep, deep love of Jesus

Verse 2

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He came to pay our ransom
Through the saving cross He bore
How He watches o’er His loved ones
Those He died to make His own
How for them He’s interceding
Pleading now before the throne

Verse 3

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Far surpassing all the rest
It’s an ocean full of blessing
In the midst of every test
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Mighty Savior, precious Friend
You will bring us home to glory
Where Your love will never end


Original Words by Samuel Trevor Francis (1834-1925). Music, chorus, and alternate words by Bob Kauflin.
© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI). Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Ministries.
From Come Weary Saints. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
North American administration by Integrity Music. International administration by CopyCare International.

Filming the next blockbuster during staff meeting

Yup, that's Peter in jail - err our student ministries guy.

Which is the A team and which is the B team?

Since we've been syncing together the Main Auditorium (MA) and the Lower Auditorium (LA), some have asked, "Which is the A team and which is the B team?" Others want to know who's leading where. I gotta tell you, God has blessed TBC with both quantity and quality of musicians - we don't have a B team. It's first class either way you go. I laugh because it's like asking, "So where's God going to show up - upstairs or downstairs?" Folks, it doesn't matter - worship will take place. The only "who" that matters is Who we worship.

Surprise visit from Lititz, PA friends

It's a long drive from PA to Topeka, KS. It was nice to spend the
rest of Sunday with Bob and Karen.

Anyone else up for a trip out West? We've got a room ready for you,
with a private bath.

Do your musicians care about the technicians?

Some musicians take the stage rarely having the thought about who set up the equipment to support them or even the staging they stand on. Other musicians know exactly what went into everything to get the material in place. And some special musicians notice enough to take action to say "thank you" in a tangible way.

Listen to this pleasant little song showing our love for audio guys and gals.

Check out this story from Grace Church (Lititz, PA) where Matt McElravy is the worship leader.

FROM THE WORSHIP TEAM TO THE AUDIO TEAM
A few weeks ago, Zach Ford, one of our electric guitarists, approached me with an idea. He noticed that our audio techs in the monitor room were sitting on a metal folding chair during Sunday services. He proposed that the members of the Worship Team pull together to buy the Audio Team a nice leather chair, since they sit back there for all 3 of our morning services.

I thought this was a fantastic idea, and I was quite impressed with Zach taking the initiative to see this need and suggest a solution for it. So, Zach drafted an email to all the members on the current worship team cycle and I distributed it. The funds graciously began streaming in from our Worship Team.

Then, several days later Mike Smucker contacted me with an idea of his own. He had just recently purchased a brand new leather chair that he no longer needed. He suggested donating the chair to the Audio Team to meet their need. This was excellent!

I spoke to Zach about the chair, and he agreed that it was perfect. We also agreed that, since Mike purchased a brand new chair out of his own funds, that we would take the monies we had raised and bless Mike with them as a way of saying "thank you" for his generous gift. I was able to present this gift to Mike this past Wednesday at rehearsal.

And I'm happy to report that there is now a beautiful new chair for the audio techs in the monitor room! What a beautiful thing it is when the body of Christ joins together to encourage and build one another up!

My sincere thanks and appreciation to everyone who donated funds and made this gift possible!

Ever drink ranch dressing?

They do at Summer Sizzle. Topeka Bible Church.

Summer sizzle, youth event

Happening all week at TBC

Drum Loop - "Majesty" (Charlie Hall) - 75 BPM, split track

Just finished creating a drum loop for Charlie Hall's "Majesty" (Passion version) - click to listen. The road map is shorter than the recording (intro, v1, pc, c, v2, pc, c, c, outro). Loop is split L (click/cue) and R (loop). Travelling at 75 BPM. Lame by itself, perfect with a live band. Enjoy. We'll use it this weekend at Topeka Bible Church with our two synched bands.