So yesterday I threw a couple of on-line resources out there for guitarists.  I’ve found a few more that I thought I’d throw out here.  First off is the CCLI site called CCLITV.  Turns out they are getting into the act now as well and posting three different “channels” – one called OpenMic which allows the worship community to post videos of their original songs for others to hear, one is FirstTake – which is new worship songs from the worship artists that you hear on the radio and such and the third is called Instruct – this is a number of different training resources.  These are taken from different sources.  Some are from Paul Baloche’s workshop DVDs, some are from a guitar teacher and others are from Myrrh Record’s Worship Resources DVD.  Again, all is free – no membership to SongSelect is needed.

Some other sites that I use a lot for either chord charts, lead sheets or training resources are:

Iwillworship.com – these are chord charts that are made by the community.  They are not 100% accurate and sometimes need some work.

LeadWorship.com – This is Paul Baloche’s site and has lead sheets, chord charts and other resources for a large majority of his songs.  There is also an archive of articles of his that have been published in various publications.

Worship Source – This is a newer site that is a community type of site for worship leaders and artists.  It has instructional material, chord charts, and words on worship from a variety of people.

Resound Worship – This is another newer one out there from our friends in the UK.  Again, lots of great resources.

There are plenty more that I know I’m forgetting, but this should get you started.  Got a recommendation?  Through me a comment and let me know of other sites.

As someone who took a few guitar lessons about 10 years ago and then realized that if I want to really do this worship leading thing it might be nice to be able to play guitar so I can accompany myself I love the internet. One of my favorite sites is Worshiptogether.com because each week they give you three lead sheets that you can download for free.  However, what I like even better is their New Song Cafe.  Here you can watch a new video each week.  What you get is a casual interview with an artist where they talk about the song, where it came from, the story behind it, etc.  Then they will play it and finally they will walk you through how they play it.  It’s really a great resource to learn how to play stuff as well as really understand the heart behind the song.  I’ve also had the opportunity to see this done live at different conferences I’ve been to – pretty cool stuff.

Now, I’ve found another site that’s pretty cool – and if you’re a beginning guitarist or just want to learn a fwe tricks it’s even better.  The site is called iVideosongs.  It’s a site that will sell you a video with the artist where they play the song and teach you how to play it.  While I’m not a big fan of dropping $10 on a one song lesson you may be.  What’s I’ve found is pretty cool though is they have a tutorial section with lessons – and the price for MOST of these?  $0 – nada – zilch – zip (they do charge for some of the advanced ones) .  They’ve got Acoustic Guitar, Drum and Electric Guitar lessons.  Everything from REALLY basic stuff to some more intermediate and advanced stuff.  Everything is downloadable in .mov format.  The lessons that are free are not too in depth – they won’t taplace of a good teacher – but it seems like they’ll get you started in the right direction.  The site is still technically in Beta so there may be changes, tweaks, and charges later – but check it out.  Good stuff.

Well, yesterday was Brooke’s 7th birthday. Hard to believe that Beth and I are only 25 and our youngest is already 7 We had a day filled with soccer and softball and then went and picked up her Hannah Montana birthday cake!

We then had the neighbor kids over and enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Cincinnati Chili…good stuff! Spaghetti, chili meat, cheese and onions (didn’t have any beans).

We opened up some gifts – more Hannah stuff from CD’s to clothes, a new leopard webkinz and a cool Lava Lamp from mom and dad for her bedroom (pics of that to come later).

We then retired to the basement to watch Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and then closed out the night with cake and ice cream!

Happy Birthday to my little Angel – we love you Brooke!

Today was the first soccer games of the season today for both of the girls. This is going to be a fun season for Beth and I – both girls play on the same days and at the same times! Luckily today the fields were pretty close to each other and we could see when one girl was in and were able to just jump back and forth between the two games. Both of them did a great job (thanks to them having their mother’s athletic skills and not their father’s).

Brooke was very good about playing her position both on offense and defense – staying where she was supposed to be and not becoming a part of “the herd” (if you’ve ever seen a soccer game with kids under 8 then you know what I mean by that). She had a couple of good stops on defense, including this one where she was able to clear the ball out, and played a great game overall.

Ally played a great game also. She was her normal self, doing whatever was asked of her and passing the ball off to her teammates. While she didn’t score herself, she had one assist today which she was really excited about. She’s a great team player and loves the game.

Here’s a little video from a site called The Church You Know (there are some other good ones there besides this one) about why all the parts of the body of Christ are important.  Enjoy!

After Beth and I left Buckhead on Sunday we headed off to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  It was a beautiful warm day – at least for us Northerners.  We were able to just walk around the grounds and look at the amazing variety of plants, trees and flowers – mostly the flowers.  I took a bunch of pictures in hopes of getting one or two that we could get blown up and put in the house.  Here’s a few:

What really struck me though as we were walking and looking at everything from a Orchid to a Cactus to something that looked like it might have been a weed but had some big scientific name was the variety.  There had to be thousands of different types of plants – and everyone was different and unique.  Some looked similar to others, but each one had it’s own little difference.  The differences in color, shape, texture, fragrance, function, size – it was amazing.  Each one was from a different part of the world – North America, Amazon, Asia, Africa.  Different climates – dessert, plains, rain forests.  Different purposes – ground covering, carnivore, nourishment.

Why did God create so many different types of plant life?  Why didn’t he just make a daisy, some grass and an oak tree?  That would have been enough, right?  Why do we need orchids and lilies and daffodils? Why do we need beech trees and maples and pine trees?  Why cactus and venus flytraps and pitcher plants?  Maybe it was simply because he could.  Maybe because he loves the variety and beauty of creation?  Maybe because he knew that man had a short attention span and would get bored looking at the same thing over and over again   Of course, I don’t know the exact answer – though I am looking forward to asking him someday

And then I thought about how each of us has been created uniquely, we look different, talk different, have different skills and we each have a special purpose.  Why?  So we can brag about how we are special?  I don’t think so.  I think it’s to show us that alone we are limited in what we can accomplish.   However, together we make up the entire body.  We each have a specific purpose.  We each need the other.  In 1 Corinthians 12 we learn that, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.” (I’m guessing Beth would say I’m the butt sometimes)  We go on to read in verse 18 that, “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be”.  Not how WE want – but how HE wants it.  That when we come together and work as one, as we care for one another we can accomplish mighty deeds.  We can do exactly what it is that He created us for, that we can shine God’s light throughout the world in amazing ways!

I love being unique!  Now, which part are you?

One of the other cool things Beth and I had a chance to do this weekend while in Atlanta was worship at Buckhead Church

I heard about this church because I follow the online blog of Carlos Whittaker – whose blog I’ve linked to and referred to in the past.  Carlos is the Service Programming Director for Buckhead and also leads in worship from time to time as well as I’m guessing a few other things.  Buckhead is a satellite campus of North Point Ministries.  Andy Stanley is the Senior Pastor of North Point Ministries and his messages are usually taped and played via video in Buckhead, however, today (and for the next few weeks) he was in Buckhead to deliver the message in person.

How do I describe it?  Well, their worship set-up is beautiful – a huge theater like room with a lot of state of the art technology, lots of lights, a little smoke, video cameras, and an amazing light array behind the band.  The great thing was – at no time did I ever feel that anything was there just for “show”.  The use of the lights added to worship for me, the colors of the light bars behind the band changed based on the text of the songs and drew me in (though Beth was a little distracted by them once or twice – to each their own).  I found out afterwards that the light bars were brought in specifically for the new series that Andy is preaching on.  Casey Darnell lead worship with the rest of the band and they were amazing.  Most importantly was what my wife said afterwards – she watched the band during the songs, and while they sounded amazing and could probably open for any major act out there, she said they NEVER drew attention to themselves.  She said that they all were very humble in their playing/leading, not “showing off” and she could tell that they were worshiping – not performing.

Andy’s message was very good, the introduction to a series called “Faith, Hope and Luck”.  Eventually you’ll be able to find it here.  They also had a service of baptism which was very moving.  Hearing the testimonies of the individuals being baptized was a very powerful thing.

Afterwards Beth and I went downstairs and introduced ourselves to Carlos and chatted for a couple of minutes before he was mobbed by his beautiful children (again – check out his site for more on him AND them).  Carlos, thanks for taking the time – I would have loved to chat longer – I’ll definitely look you up the next time I’m in the ATL.

It was a wonderful way to start our last day in Atlanta and give God all the glory for what he has done in our lives.

So, Beth and I just got back from Atlanta, Georgia where I spent all day Saturday with about 300 other people who were auditioning for Gospel Dream 2008. Gospel Dream is basically American Idol for the Christian singer. This was one of those things for me where it was like, “Well, I’m not too old for this. I love to sing. Why not give it a shot?” Plus, I had some family encouraging me.  They only took three people – and to cut to the chase I was NOT one of them. At the end of it all I learned a little more about myself and feel as if I have a clearer picture of how God wants me to serve Him (and no – this wasn’t it).

Let’s start with some background on the audition process. You registered online before the event. No biggie. All that did was get your name in their database. I got to the hotel where the auditions were being held at around 6:30. I was 28th in line. Sign-in started at 9:00 so I had some time to chat with the people in line with me. That was fun. I met a very nice young man from Northern Georgia, a wonderful woman from Eastern Georgia and a nice couple who had drove in from Texas. We had a lot of fun just talking and passing the time. At 9:00 we went in and got our picture taken and our audition number. We then went in a holding room to wait for our number to be called. They took people in groups of ten so I was in the third group. While we were waiting “Mama D” was acting as the Master of Ceremonies and kept people entertained. And a lot of times the other contestants did that also – but I’ll get to that later.

So, your number is called, you go up and tell a nice young lady what song you’re singing off of the list they gave you (you had to pick from a list – I’m guessing because of rights to sing them on the show). You then went and waited your turn to sing. You were called in one at a time and went in to sing in front of one judge. I sang in from of talent scout Ron Grant (click here for video from the Chicago Auditions). It was him, two cameramen and a woman keeping time. You had 30 seconds – that’s it – then it was thank you, goodbye – no feedback, no “You’re going to Hollywood baby” – nothing. However, for me it was a little different. I sang Jeremy Camp’s “Walk By Faith” for my audition song. After I finished my 30 seconds he then asked me to sing something traditional. I was a little thrown off as I was expecting to be pushed out of the room. I asked him if there was something particular and he said, “How about some Amazing Grace” – so I sang a little of that. Now, I still had the Jeremy Camp song in my head – and I sang Amazing Grace like I was singing that song – which wasn’t good. Looking back I’m guessing he wanted to hear me do something a little smoother and purer. Oh well.

So, we then had to go back to the holding room and sit, and sit, and sit, and wait – for possible call-backs and for the final results. In the meantime many other people decided to take advantage of the open mic and…sing. And it was the most painful, ear-splitting, excruciating hours of my life. People that you will probably see when the show airs beginning on June 1st. I can’t judge their spirit – but it quickly became a series of “I’m going to show up them” with long runs, mis-hit high notes and one song with many keys “performances”.

At the end of the day, I’m not too upset that I didn’t move on – though I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t have been cool. The first person to move on was a Jeffrey Ho – something or other and when they called his name I thought it was mine – talk about your heart dropping into your stomach. Plus, I may still be on the TV so check it out when it starts airing in June on the Gospel Music Channel – watch for the Atlanta auditions.

I know that God has plans for me. As Jeremiah 29:11 says, “”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  

While this may not have been it, it doesn’t change who I am or what I will do with my life or how I will serve.  As Andy Stanley said in his sermon yesterday – my faith is not built on an event – my faith is built on the solid rock that is Christ Jesus.  I just have to continue to listen for His guidance and be willing to go wherever His plans will take me.

So, tonight Beth and I will be taking our son Taylor down to Malone College to see Hawk Nelson and Run Kid Run in concert.  It should be some good fun.  I know Taylor is VERY excited about it.  He went and got his haircut last week and made sure to get it cut so that he could wear it in a fauxhawk for the concert tonight (Jason Dunn the lead singer wears his this way).  I’m sure we’ll be coming home with a headache, ears ringing and legs tired from jumping – but I’m looking forward to it. 

So I was over getting my daily does of Carlos Whittaker’s Blog and he had linked up with another bloggers conversation and asked the following two questions:

Question One: What do you see the purpose of a church weekend gathering is?

Question Two: Do you believe God can engage a persons heart in a weekend service where there is a goal to help manifest this through musical worship, production, creative video elements??

Here was my response:

Interesting questions! I think that there are a number of reasons for our weekend gatherings. To name just a few: I think that it allows us to come together as the body of Christ and thank him for all of the things that he is doing in our lives. It allows us to gather with a community of believers who (hopefully) love us and care for how we’re doing. Who really want to know how we’re doing – they don’t just ask and keep walking. It allows us to bring our joy AND pain before the Lord in with our brothers and sisters and praise the one true God no matter where we are. It allows us to hear God’s word and God’s inspired message from a teaching pastor that has been called by God to lead the Lord’s flock. It allows us to refocus ourselves and do a gut check on where we are in our lives and our walk with God.

Because we are each uniquely created children of God we each have different gifts and we each have different things that draw us in. For some it’s the lights – the colors can represent so many things, for others it’s the sights – the images on the screen or in the room, still others respond to the music – the rhythm, beat or flow stirs something within them, some respond to the silence – a moment to pause and reflect on all God has done for them, still others respond to a smell – the purfume of someone beside them reminding them that they are not alone in this world.

My point is that we are all different – there is no right or wrong type of person and we each look for something different in our weekend gatherings. As long as the leaders are using the gifts that God has called them to use to reach all of His people – the saved and unsaved – then there is no right or wrong “style”.

So – that’s mine – what’s yours?