mikeymo's place

A truly awesome and fun day this Sunday for Gospel Light Worship.  

First off, we got to minister in two different churches this morning.  Lighthouse Fellowship Church is a small, brand new church plant in our city.  They are currently renting a church building up the road from us about a half mile.  Even though the church that they rent from has an awesome setup, LFC has no worship musicians at the moment, so they've been using CDs for their worship time.  So after rehearsal this morning, we went over there and did a short worship set for them.  The small group was so excited, and we were excited to be there.  We'll have to make this a regular thing.  Our setlist there:

Your Grace is Enough (Maher)(G)
One Way (Houston)(B)
The Heart of Worship (Redman)(G)

They had a really nice setup at LFC  (There was a cool 100w amp and a MIM Strat for me!) so all we had to do was show up and play.   It was really a lot of fun, and it felt great helping our sister church. 

Once we finished the set there, it was back to Gospel Light for our own worship service.  Our set there:

Opening:

Because He Lives (Gaither/Gaither)(G)

Main Set

All Because of Jesus (Fee)(C)
O Praise Him (All This For a King) (Crowder)(Bb)
The Heart of Worship (Redman)(G)
Healer (Guglielmucci)(B)
Revelation Song (Riddle)(D)

Offering:

Freedom (Bushard)(B)

A great set, and we had a completely full house today as well, braving the single-digit temperatures.  We were a little dicey about doing "Because He Lives" - it's really not the kind of song we were used to.  But it sounded really good in rehearsal (kind of "cowboy worship") so we figured we'd give it a go.  Thematically, it fit in with the rest of the set well, and our long-time members seemed to appriciate it.

We also had our bishop in today to give the message, so it was kind of a special day all around.

Check out other lists and recaps at The Worship Community. 

That's gotta be the best phrase I've heard in quite a while.  It comes to me straight from the Twitter stream of the smartest friend I've never met, Fernando.  He had pointed out an article to me and 1217 other people on Music Think Tank, referring to some writing by Seth Godin.

Now, I know publicly disagreeing with Seth Godin these days is akin to what Newton and Galileo did to the church in their day. For the three of you who don't know who Seth Godin is, he is a business blogger, author and entreprener.   He's had some good ideas, some brilliant ones, and some not-quite-there ones.  Like most of us.

Seth recently wrote a book called Lynchpin: Are You Indespensable?   I haven't read it.  (I haven't read any of his books, actually.)  In an interview on MTT, Seth said:

"Feeling like a loser is part of being an artist, but I want to challenge the notion of “great music.” Sure, some music that’s great is great for the ages and it’s okay that’s it’s not being heard, but so much of what people call great art (whether it’s a book or a song or a way of doing customer service) isn’t actually great, it’s merely “very good.” Very good music is unheard every day, because very good music is not in short supply. There’s a huge surplus of it."

OK.  Not so bad.  But he also said:

"Great means unsettling. Great means open to criticism. Great means booed off stage. And great music, like great a idea, spreads. Ideas that spread, win, and so the goal today is not to make great music for 1970 or 1990, but great music for today, for a market that’s super picky and selfish and has ADD. Great is in the ear of the listener, of course, and the definition is simple: if it spreads, then for this market, it’s great."



So great is commercial?

"I’m not equating “great” with “commercial.” I have no doubt that there’s great art that doesn’t sell. But most musicians you and I know are TRYING to be commercial, if commercial means successful, heard, lots of stuff sold, lots of people at the concerts. And in the rush to be successful, sometimes great gets pushed out the window. "

So what exactly is Seth saying?  I'm not sure he knows.  I do know, that he doesn't know much about musicians.  While I will give it to him that he is very good at what he does (dare I say "great?), he seems to miss the point of artistry - of chasing the muse.   A "great" artist does not create to become great.  A great artist is great.   An artist does not try and become commercial - the market changes its perspective to accomodate the artist.  Sometimes this happens right away.  Sometimes this does not happen until time has passed.   Unfortunately, sometimes the "market" is, as one commenter aptly put, "stupid and lazy."   But yet, Seth says:

"Great is in the ear of the listener, of course, and the definition is simple: if it spreads, then for this market, it’s great."

We've become a "soundbite and single" community.  We like our information - and our art - in small bites.   The difference between artists today and artist of yore, is that they often had patrons - wealthy clients who would see their inner greatness and give them room to create.  Patronage of this type is all but dead. Musicians need to eat, so they need to "create" something people will pay for today.  Yet Seth tells us we have to create something "remarkable."  We have to change people's lives.  Hey, I'm all for that.  I aspire to that.  But honestly, most of the stuff that's "great" by Seth's definition - spreadin, read: popular - kind of stinks.

The distiction is this:  Some say an artist should create for himself.  Others say an artist should create to resonate with others.  I think that Seth is saying this.  But (and here's the link-bait) Seth Godin is wrong.  Great is when an artist creates for himself, and that creation resonates with others.  Stick that on your purple cow and ride it.

Of course, since I am criticising Seth, he must be great, right?   So come on and criticise me!

I've made no secret of the fact that I loved the recently-ended SyFy series Battlestar Galactica.  Actually, I think it might have been one of the best television dramas ever.   That may seem strange coming from my perspective, but I undertand that if people were placed in the situation that the 40-odd thousand remaining humans were placed in on that show, that the results would seldom be pretty.  

The producers of Battlestar are at it again, debuting another show set in the same universe.  It's called Caprica, and it debuted on SyFy last week.  (The pilot has been around a couple of months now on DVD and online.  The show hit TV this week.)  I thought it would be a good time to kick around some thoughts.

Caprica is not Battlestar Galactica.  Not by a long shot.  Doesn't try to be, doesn't want to be.  The show is set 58 years prior to the events in the Galactica pilot. There are no space ships.  There are no aliens. There is no intergalactic war. There are people - normal people doing somewhat normal things.  They live on another world, and they are more technologically advanced than we are, but not much.  They play tennis.  They send their kids to school.  They have lawyers, mobsters, corrupt judges and industrial tycoons. They are us.

Caprica describes a world where the "norm" is polytheism - worshipping a pantheon of gods, somewhat casually.  But there is a new movement afoot - the worship of the One True God.   This "monothesism" is greeted with hatred, fear and scorn.  It's practicioners have to hide themselves, and communicate with codes and secret signs.   Sound familar?

This is not a "messiah" story.  It's kind of more an "Abraham" story, I suppose, when the idea of worshipping one God is brand new.  But it does have some Christian overtones to it as well.  The persecution, the secret meetings, (the ichthus replaced by an infinity symbol) and evangelism.  Yes, good old-fashioned witnessing.  There was one really poignent scene where Zoe, one of the central characters (Alessandra Torresani) and another boy try to witness to Zoe's best friend, Lacy (Magda Apanowicz).  To me, it was very realistic and heartfelt. 

The big question, however, are asked by the adults: a wealthy industrialist, Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) and a lawyer with mob ties, Joseph Adama (Esai Morales).  Both characters are deep, multi-layered and absolutely fascinating.  Both men have lost daughters in a terrorist attack, and together, they have the ability to resurrect them, after a fashion, by capturing their electronic footprints and translating that into a software program that is an exact copy of the dead girls' minds.  These "copies" can then be uploaded into robotic bodies. The questions become "when do we have to let go", and "how far will we go to stay connected to the ones we love most?"  And more importantly, "how much of ourselves are we willing to sacrifice?"

While the TV version was toned down from the uncut DVD release of the pilot in terms of sex and language, this is still not a show for the kiddies.  It deals with adult themes in an adult manner.  When people are torn open and deeply wounded, the results are often not pretty. 

It will be interesting to see where this show goes.  Battlestar was ambitious, and took a full season to hit its pace. Like it's predecessor, Caprica has many, many threads.  How well this talented team of writers, producers and actors weave those threads into a tapestry remains to be seen.

This weeks service recap and setlist from Gospel Light Community Church.    We'll start with the set:

Opening:

Blessed Assurance (Crosby/Knapp)(D)

Main Set:

One Way (Douglass/Houston)(B)
Turn it Around (Houghton/Lindsey)(D)
Freedom (Bushard)(B)
From the Inside Out (Houston)(C)
You Are My World (Sampson)(G)

Offering:

Cover the Earth (Houghton/Houghton/Cruse-Racliffe)

Things were a little rough today, all told.  We seemed to be having a hard time nailing some of the songs in rehearsal.  Not like we haven't done them a hundred times before.  But, we pushed through, and got happy with everything, and felt prepared. 

When service started, Josh got stuck, and would up being late, so we had to start without him.  We did the first two songs, and there was just this sense of uneasyness and confusion.  That's when Laura stepped up and called it like it was and stopped the set for some prayer time.  Awesome is what it was.  The whole congregation prayed over us.  Josh was there by that time, and we started "Freedom."  The last three songs were just amazing, especially "You Are My World." 

Lesson for the day: let go and let God.  That seemed to be the confirmation of all the testimonies today. 

Next week will be a lot of fun.  We are leading worship at another church before our service.  It's a new church plant that doesn't have any musicians, so we're going over to lend a hand.  We're all really looking forward to it.

Check out other recaps at The Worship Community. 

When The Joint Review launched, it was not about reviewing only major-label releases from internationally-known artistst.  We've done our share of up-and-coming artists, and welcome indies and even unsigned artists who are relevant to the Christian community.  KERYGMA is such a group: a worship ministry from India, they have a vision to reach people worldwide through worship music.  Seems like they are succeeding.  What The Joint says:

BYRD: The project itself deserves a giant HIGH 5! It’s very ambitious and encouraging to see. However, the reality of it is that it doesn’t strike a chord with me. Stylistically, it’s just doesn’t jive for me. There is a bit of a language awkwardness at times. So it’s just hard for me to really dig in. I’m most interested in the progression this group makes on future releases. Keep moving forward!

MAHONEY: Once the listener sets aside the idea that every worship record has to sound like Hillsong United or Fee, this becomes a really good record.  Having just completed a recording project, I’m very impressed with what was accomplished here.  Definitely worth a listen.

VANCE: You might find it a little strange at the beginning with the Indian accented (and at times, not so good) vocals, but once you get over this it’s a great little record.

Read the full review here.

So, if you're in the mood for something different, want to give an up-and-coming ministry a chance, or just dig yourself some sitar, check them out.  

Every month, Gospel Light participates in a united worship service with several other churches.  These churches have all come out of GLCC in one way or another.   Last night (January 17th) we added to the group. 

GLCC has planted two other churches in recent years.  In 2003, we sent out Pastor Winston Gordon and his wife Ingrid to Waterbury, Connecticut to launch Beacon of Light Community Church.  (It's hard to believe it's been over six years already.)   This past July, our founding pastor, Jim Miller, and his wife Andrea left GLCC to plant Good News Christian Church in the Bronx, New York.   We've just had another couple out of our church officially start a new congregation - Lighthouse Fellowship Church.

LFC has a unique story.  Hector and Jennie Muniz have been  travelling evangelists for the last five years, living in Central America, travelling to Europe and across the USA, ministering in churches near and far.  Last year, however, they were asked to assist in leading a small church plant in a neighboring town.  The overseeing body of that church decided to pull out, but the people in the tiny congregation wanted to stay together.  Hector and Jennie agreed to let them meet, in their home, until the end of 2009. 

But God moves in amazing ways.  That small congregation has agreed to come under the guidance of Harvest Fellowship of Churches, our overseeing body, with Hector as lead pastor. So while LFC is not a direct plant of GLCC, they are still family.  What's really great is that they have secured space in a church building right up the road from us, so we can support each other easily.  (In fact, our worship team will be leading worship at LFC at the end of this month, then leading at GLCC the same day.)

Back to last night's service.  It was the first-ever joint service with all four churches present, as GLCC released and commissioned Hector and Jennie for their new roles.  The building was crowded, the music was flowing, and spirits were high.  It's amazing seeing the Kingdom grow city by city, place by place. 

Here is a short medley of some of the celebration.  Some pix are here.

This weeks service recap from Gospel Light Community Church.

Good day today all around.  Our setlist looked like this:

Opening:

Oh Lord, You're Beautiful (Green)(D)

Main Set:

Blessed Be Your Name (Redman/Redman)(C)
For Who You Are (Morgan)(B)
Glory to God Forever (Fee/Beeching)(B)
How Great is Our God (Tomlin/Reeves/Cash)(C)
Shout to the Lord (Zschech)(A)

Offering:

Lord I Lift Your Name on High (Founds)(G)


So this week I went and bought new strings for the electric, but more importantly bought all new cables.  So I was rocking some major tone and volume - had to dial it down a notch, actually.  Still, the tone was on the money - I was lovin' it.  Don't undersell the importance of good cables. 

We introduced "Glory to God Forever" today.  I've been wanting to do it since I heard it, but more so since I played it at Lifepath Church with Joel a few months ago.  Just a great song.  And everyone was really into it - it was one of the better introductions we've had. 

I also played electric for "How Great is Our God" for the first time ever.  (I just didn't feel like switching.)  Definitely had a different groove to it, but it came out really good, I thought.

We're having another service tonight - a joint service with three churches that grew out of our congregation.  In fact, it is to celebrate the launch of the most recent one.  Not exactly a plant like the other two, but the new pastors are from our congregation.   We'll be playing again, and our choir will be ministering as well.  Great day of worship? 

How was yours?  Check out others at The Worship Community.

The Joint is back!   The first review of 2010 has been released.  Switching things up, The Joint reviewed the latest release from Switchfoot, titled Hello Hurricane. What did the guys have to say? 

KLAMPERT: A great CD that brings me back to when I first heard them. Its raw and passionate and real. I only had one issue with this CD. The main melody in “Free” is the same as Black Sabbath “war pigs”. But you would have to be a nerd to realize that I think.

BYRD: Switchfoot’s switching it up a bit creates a real masterpiece that I really can’t even say leaves a weak track on the CD. There are some of the raunchiest rock songs on here mixed in with some truly delicate and beautiful pieces that all mix so well! Bravo.

MAHONEY: A must have for “pre-mainstream” Switchfoot fans.  Raw, raunchy and real.

VANCE: A must-have for Switchfoot fans!

So head on over to The Joint Review to get the rest of the story! 

I've been a member of the Thomas Nelson Publishers "Book Review Blogger" program for a while now.  It's a great program, and one that deserves recognition.  Basically, the way it works is that bloggers can sign up and request a review copy of select Thomas Nelson titles, provided they agree to blog about it, and post a review on a major consumer site.  Win-win all around.  In fact, I posted my latest review yesterday. 

When I logged on to submit my review, I found something interesting.  The book review program has now been rebranded as BookSneeze. 

Wha...?

Apparently the title comes from Seth Godin's book Unleasing the Idea Virus.  The idea, according to CEO Michael Hyatt, is that a "sneezer" is "the term he uses to refer to those individuals who get so infected with an idea that they become contagious. They spread it to everyone they now.(sic)"

For now, Hyatt is seemingly taking a "wait-and-see" approach to the new title.  I will say this: at least Thomas Nelson is doing something. They are thinking outside of the box and taking risks, something those of us in ministry and those of us in business could stand a little more of. 


So I changed my blog badge, and now will submit my reviews to "Book Sneeze."   Get your hankies ready.

I'm a history geek.  I only came to realize this later in life, otherwise I would have likely been a history major in college.  But I find history fascinating, especially making connections between different periods in history.  Ask anyone in my congregation.  Whenever I preach, it's like a mini history lesson.  I love to put my messages in historical context.  Sometimes I spend so much time studying the history surrounding a particular verse, I forget I have to study the actual verse.

5 Cities that Ruled the World (Thomas Nelson Publishers) is a perfect book for me: easy reading, captivating, and well written, it reads like a novel for a guy like me.  Author Douglas Wilson takes the reader through the evolution of modern Western society by running us through the histories of five of the most important cities in history: Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London and New York.  Wilson interweaves these histories to give us a wide picture of how current society formed the way it did, and the roles each of these cities played (and play) in what we know as the world today.

Each of these cities has made a lasting impression on our collective faith, thought, politics, literature and commerce.  This book will make an lasting impression on your view of these cities.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I recieved a copy of this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers in hopes I would mention it on my blog.  Nevertheless, the opinons stated are my own. (16CFR Part 225)

This week's service recap on a frigid New England morning.  Temperatures in the teens did not dampen the spirit of worship at today's service, that's for sure.  Rehersal went really well (except, oddly, there was one song we just couldn't seem to get on the same page with the first couple of times through.  Worked out well in the end, though.) 

Here's the setlist:

Opening:

Mighty to Save (Morgan)(A)

Main Set:

He Reigns (Furler/Taylor)(C)
Eres Todopoderoso (Salinas)(Bm)
God of Wonders (Byrd/Hindalong)(G)
Rescue (Anderson)(G)
The More I Seek You (Neese)(E)
I Surrender All (Van Deventer/Weeden)

Offering:

You Are Good (Houghton)(E)

There was a time when it seemed we were doing "You Are Good" just about every week.  It was one of our "go to" songs when we were called on the spot to do a song, or when we were invited to play somewhere other than the church.  We've done it every which way from Sunday, literally. But we haven't played it in months, so it was very refreshing.  Right until my high E string broke.  Figures.

"The More I Seek You" was not in the set list.  I guess in honor of the NFL playoffs, the singers called an audible.  Actually, we just wanted to extend the worship time, because it was amazing today.

"Eres Todopoderoso" is a Spanish song we picked up about four years ago when we were on a mission trip to Belize.   It's a simple tune with a great vibe to it.  For those of you who've never heard it, I'm including a video of the great Latin Christian band Rojo doing it below.  (Check out their YouTube page for a great Spanish version of "O Praise Him."  (Alabad a Dios)

Sunday Setlists has  moved over to The Worship Community.  Check it out.

Rojo:  Eres Todopoderoso

In my ongoing quest to get the most bang for the buck, I decided to try a little experiment.  Specifically, I wanted to use an old electronic piano as a MIDI controller, and record to my laptop.

I took the first stab at it in Windows.  The program of choice was going to be LMMS, which stands for Linux Multi Media Studio.  Originally a linux-based DAW and loop maker, LMMS has been ported to Windows and Mac OS.  The closest "pro" analogue would be FL Studio.

The keyboard is an old Radio Shack LK-1500 that we got the kids for Christmas many years ago.  It's a decent cheap piano with lighted key tutorials, a drum machine and all that jazz.  Plus a USB port and some MIDI settings.  I was hoping the piano would be plug-and-play to XP, but no such luck.  Still, finding a driver took all of .000345 seconds on Google.

So I loaded up LMMS and off we go. The interface is pretty simple.  Select an instrument patch, and put it in the editor. By clicking on the wrench box, you can select your MIDI input, which in this case showed up as "LK-1500 Keyboard."  Right click on the editor and select "Open Piano Roll."  Make music.

I found that no matter how much I tweaked the buffer settings, there was way too much latency.  The music dragged.  Plus LMMS is best suited for making loops, not multitracking.

On to Ubuntu.  The goal was to record something in Ardour. So once Ubuntu was booted up, I launched LMMS to see if the OS even recognized the piano, which it did, no intervention needed.   Now, Ardour is not a midi editor.  So if I wanted to record something from the piano, I would have to translate it into audio on the fly. 

I decided to try and use QSynth, the GUI front-end for Fluidsynth, a software synthesizer.  After some trial and error, the process looked like this:

1. Start JACK via QjackCtl.   
2. Start Ardour and create a new project.  Add an audio track.
3. Start QSynth.  Load a soundfont. 
4. In  JACK, under the ALSA tab, connect the piano to FLUID synth(qsynth)
5. In JACK, under the Audio tab, connect qsynth to Ardour: Audio 1 in. 
6. Make sure the MIDI channel on your piano matches Qsynth.  (I used 1)

Next, I'm going to work on trying to use more than one soundfont to get a layered sound. 

This past weekend, being the first Sunday of the new year, we followed tradition and shared visions for the new year at GLCC. 

I always enjoy these "vision casting" Sundays.  For me, they are full of promise and hope.  One of my favorite verses is Habbakuk 2:2 :  "Write the Vision, and make it plain on the tablets, that he may run who reads it."  There are a couple of important parts to this:

• Write it down! This is as much for the person with the vision as those who are reading it.  Writing things down gives us tangible evidence of our faith.  One can say "It would be nice if..."  but that is fleeting.  A written vision statement helps in accountabliity, and is a metric one can measure success about.  I had a professor who used to council "Quod non est in scripto, non est in mundo." "If it is not in writing, it is not in the world."
• Make it plain! Be sure everyone who reads it or hears it can understand it.  Make your goals clear and reasonable. 
• Run with it! This is my favorite part.  Expect that others will "catch" the vision and run with it.  A vision, especially a ministry vision, is not a one man show.  People will get caught up in it.  Andy Stanley wrote in Visioneering: "Vision evokes emotion. There is no such thing as emotionless vision. People will either love it or hate it.  Focus on those who love it. 

I shared my vision for our children's ministry on Sunday.   What's your vision for this year?

Photo by Laura Vazquez

A day of mixed feelings today at Gospel Light Community Church. 

As usual with the first Sunday of the year, today was a day for vision-casting for the new year.  Each of our network pastors spent several minutes outlining our goals and vision for the upcoming year.  It's always an exciting time, full of hope and promise.

Today's Setlist:

Opening:

I Surrender All (Van DeVenter/Weeden)(D)

Main Set:

Say So (Houghton)(E)
We Cry Out (Johnson)(C#m)
The Stand (Houston)(G)
Healer (Gugleilmucci)(B)

Offering:

Freedom (Bushard)(B)

We were a little short handed today, so Daniel and I shared the drumming duties; I did the first three songs and switched to guitar, he played keys on the first three and switched to drums.  Figures, make the old man play the fast songs!

It was also Communion Sunday, so the service was very uplifting and positive, a great way to kick off the new year.

Unfortunately, we had lost a brother on Wednesday to a long illness.  Isaias was one of the earliest members of the church, and he and I had played together on the worship team for several years, me playing drums and him playing percussion - congas, timabales, bongos.  If you could hit it, Isaias could play it.  His homegoing service was this afternoon, and though it is a celebration of sorts, he will be missed.  I only wish some of our newer members could have gotten to know him.

Check out other setlists at The Worship Community.