mikeymo's place

As the front man for the worship powerhouse Israel and New Breed, Israel Houghton has recorded some of the most amazing worship albums of the last decade.  Love God, Love People is not one of those.

Because it's not a worship album.

Continuing on the theme of his debut solo release, The Power of One, which I loved, by the way, Iz extends his theme of social justice and personal activism. Houghton has big eyes - he sees the whole world as a mission field, and challenges us to put others before ourselves.  Gospel music with a clear message to do something, which is a message I can get behind.

As to the music, I think The Power of One was a better record, more tied together (thematically)  and more refined and eclectic musically.  Without the comparison, though, Love God, Love People seriously kicks.  I love the opening track, the title song, which introduces us to both Abby Road Studios and the theme of the record - if you love God, then you have to love people, too.

"Yahweh (the Lifter)" is another great gospel joint that I'm sure urban choirs will be adding to their repertoire soon.  "Love Rev" is a song that took me a couple of listens to figure out, but it's an eye-opener.  Kirk Franklin joins in on "Mercies," and in typical style, talks his way through half the song.

The low point of the record for me was the excessive auto-tune on "Our God," an otherwise beautiful song.  It made me long for a "Worship Leader Edition" like Iz did on The Power of One, where the songs were stripped down to barebones.  There's enough good acoustic guitar work on this record to make that worthwhile, I think.

I'd recommend listening to this record at least once through good headphones.  The production is killer, silky smooth and full-bodied.  The album ties together musically better than the last one, with a more consistent R&B/Gospel flavor, but then, I liked the diversity of One. 


Still, if you like urban gospel, or if your a fan of Iz (and you should be) then get this album when it releases August 31.

I think it's fitting on this, the first day of school, (in our town, anyway) that I write a post about playing hooky.   Now, you might call it bunking or wagging or dossing, but it's basically not being where your supposed to be, usually to be somewhere better.

So yesterday the whole clan played hooky from church.  (Hence the lack of a Sunday Setlist post this week.)  Why?  Because it was the last day before school started, because the summer was way too short, and because the day was gorgeous.  We'd been telling ourselves that we would drive up to spend a day in Rhode Island all summer, and hadn't.  We were running out of time, and so (after duly informing the pastor and our worship leader, and covering our children's ministry) we skipped.

Things were conspiring against us, mainly in the automotive department.  My wife's car snapped a tie rod Saturday night, and we were scrambling to find transportation.  We wound up taking my (smaller, non-air conditioned) car, and not being able to take everyone we wanted to.  We were hoping to meet the Klampert clan, but they were having car trouble as well.  We left two hours late, and arrived at Misquamicut  Beach around 2 in the afternoon.  There were signs saying all the lots were full, but we got right in.

A little backstory:  where we live on the Connecticut coast (which is distinct from the Connecticut shore) we have these little things that are laughingly called beaches.  When I was a kid in Long Island in the 70's, beaches were like the fictional Amity from Jaws: miles of white sand, thundering waves, and about a bajillion people.  Where I live now, we have mostly a sand/rock mix, shallow water and no waves.  To me, a beach has sand dunes with those leaning picket fences, dune grass, big waves and fine, white sand.

Rhode Island - now that's the ocean.  That's what I remember.  My wife and I were reminiscing to the kids about what it was like when we grew up.  We were both used to crowded Atlantic Ocean beaches; after all, there was no internet, cable TV or video games, and air conditioning was truly a luxury.  Hitting the beach was the thing to do all summer,  and hit it we did.

I told my just-turned-nine-years-old daughter about being her age; on a summer day I would leave my house in the morning, and not be seen until probably after dinner.  I might stop in for some food, but usually would eat at a friends house.  We had a pool, so I might spend some time swimming with friends, but more often than not, I was gone.  Every kid in the neighborhood had the same curfew: come home when the streetlights came on.  I couldn't imagine sending her out into the streets without knowing exactly where she was at all times, and neither could she.

We stayed until the sun went down, and the onshore wind and incoming tide pushed the water up to our chairs.  What a great day! (and all my wife's idea, BTW)

So anyway, playing hooky was a good thing.  I generally hate to miss church, and miss playing worship, but it was the thing to do, and I'm glad we did it.  Sometimes the simple things are best.

This week's worship recap, and it's a doozie.   Three churches over two days!!   And away we go...

Gospel Light Community Church

Opening :

Welcome to This Place (Juarez)(G)


Main Set:

Happy Day (Hughes)(C)
All Because of Jesus (Fee)(C)
Came to My Rescue (Davies/Sampson/Thomas)(G)
Wrap Me In Your Arms (Grothe/Gungor)(D)


Offering:

You're Worthy of My Praise (Ruis)(C)

I'm really feeling happy about the way my new FloorPOD is dialing in; I've got most of the patches I use where I want them.  I used the same patch on "All Because of Jesus" and "Wrap Me In Your Arms" and it worked great.  The same semi-clean, wet, multi-delay that gave the Fee song such energy made the Hillsong tune beautiful with some light picking and a switch to the neck pickup.   I still need to work on the OD/Distortion patch I'm using, but it's getting there.

Daniel led today, as Josh was preaching at Good News in the Bronx.  He did an awesome job, and it showed in the congregation's reactions.  There were a lot of genuine moments today.  The two songs that really seemed to connect were "Happy Day" and "Wrap Me in Your Arms."  Pastor Pedro asked us to play "Happy Day" a second time, which we happily (get it) obliged.  And I think we should get bonus points for the 1991 bookends on the set.


Lighthouse Fellowship Church

You're Worthy of My Praise 
Happy Day
Came to My Rescue 


On Saturday, our KidzPort ministry participated in a children's outreach hosted by House of Restoration Church in Hartford, CT called ROCK Day.  I was asked to be one of the musicians in this "rock concert" for kids.  It was a great day, and we had a great time!

Sing, Sing, Sing (Tomlin/Reeves/Gild)(E)
Your Name High (Houston)(C)
We Will (Unhindered)(Am)
Say the Name (Brown/Muizzi)(D)
We Shine (Fee/Giglio)(F)

The kids seemed to respond really well to "We Shine" during the event.  One of the kids in our Sunday ministry told me she loved "Sing, Sing, Sing" and I secretly heard my daughter singing "Your Name High" to herself last night.

So that's a lot of music.  See what other churches are doing at The Worship Community.

I've written a little bit about my experiences with the Integrity Worship Institute.  Last week, I started my second course, called Psalms for Worship: Timeless Insights for Worship Leadership.  I must confess, the psalms are an area of scripture I'm a little weak on, so I am looking forward to going through this study.

The book is called Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer by Eugene H. Peterson.  The first chapter said a couple of things that resonated with me.  First, the psalms are not meant to be read; they are meant to be prayed. Second, Peterson tells us that we cannot ignore the psalms.

I'm looking forward to this course, and to it opening up this important part of Scripture for me.

This was an interesting and not-so-ordinary weekend for us, being the time of our annual Father and Son Campout.  Since I was there, and not at GLCC, the campout is what I will write about today.

We hold this event in a great Christian campground and retreat center in upstate New York.  We have access to a large pavilion, which is where we set up the stage and have our services.  We have a service Friday night, worship time on Saturday afternoon, a service on Saturday night, and our Sunday service on Sunday morning.

We didn't bring any keyboards with us, so it was guitars and drums for the weekend.  Playing outdoors in front of all men and boys gave us the opportunity to get pretty loud, which is exactly what we did.  Here's the setlist (in no particular order)

Freedom (Bushard)(B)
Again I Say Rejoice (Houghton/Lindsey)(E)
Better is One Day (Redman)(E)
Rescue (Anderson)(D)
You Are Good (Houghton)(E)
Trading My Sorrows (Evans)(G)
God of Wonders (Byrd/Hindalong)(G)
One Way (Houston)(B)
Shout to the Lord (Zschech)(A)

I say no particular order because we used some of these songs more than once, and shuffled them around quite a bit.  It was clear that "Freedom" was the hit of the weekend, as can be seen in the video clip below.  We ran with an acoustic guitar, two electrics and drums.  We want to thank Elyano and Marcus from New Life Metro for coming and helping out, as well as our old friend Justin from GNCC for singing with us.

Below is a short clip of some of the worship.  It was taken with a camcorder, so the sound isn't great, but you can definitely get the feel of what we were doing.




Check out some other (less exciting) re caps on The Worship Community! 

I haven't written a "Song of the Week" post since last year.  Today I am re-instituting this series with a song that I think may possibly be the most perfectly constructed song I've heard in a very long time, the title song off Steven Curtis Chapman's masterpiece Beauty Will Rise.


Some amazing songs come out of personal tragedy.  If you're as old as I am, you can remember the tragic loss of Eric Clapton's son Conor in 1991, and cried the first time you heard "Tears in Heaven" because of it.  John Mark McMillan's "How He Loves" is another amazing song born out of personal tragedy.

"Beauty Will Rise" is another song born of terrible loss, but from the distinctly hopeful point of view of a man soaked in the love and grace of God.  To think that Chapman considered quitting music after his youngest daughter's death, it is clear to see that God touched him and comforted him in this time.

As to the song...  where to start.   The music, I suppose.  The song begins with a plaintive piano riff in 7-4 time, with a slight kick drum behind it.  This intro motif weaves its way in and out of the song, coming and going, finding different instruments to voice itself - first the piano, then we find it in strings.  Coming through the bridge, we again hear it, this time with what sounds like harmonics or chimes in an ascending scale.

The verses are uneven in their length; the second verse is shorter than the first, bringing the release of the chorus faster.  You're waiting for it at that point, because it completely sucker-punched you the first time.

Speaking of the bridge, it lulls you in after the emotional roller-coaster of the verses and choruses, dropping to a simple snare drum beat, then acoustic guitar, then the orchestra coming in.  The bridge is longer than expected, but you don't care.  You know that chorus is coming and you want it to come.  And it does, with the band dropping out and Chapman's voice soaring.  When the band hits full force in the second measure you physically feel it.  Finally, that repeated chorus leads to the tag, and suddenly that same motif from the intro is back, and you feel the resolution.

And the lyrics...  they are gut-wrenching and inspiring at the same time.  The opening lines tug at your heart:

It was the day the world went wrong,

I screamed 'til my voice was gone

and watched through the tears as everything 

came crashing down. 

You feel it.  You completely feel it.  But that chorus...

Out of these ashes beauty will rise  

and we will dance among the ruin.

We will see with our own eyes...

For we know that joy is coming in the morning.

In the morning, beauty will rise. 

Wow.   But the lyric that really gets me is in the second verse.

And if you can't believe, I will believe 

For you. 

How can a man come through that, and write those words, I wonder.

The entire Beauty Will Rise album is as simply amazing as this song.  I'd suggest getting the record, but perhaps not listening to it as you drive your car.  You may have a hard time seeing straight.

Every once in a while, a book comes along that is totally different than you expect.  Such is the case with Max Lucado's Cast of Characters: Common People in the Hands of an Uncommon God, a new book released by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Max Lucado is an excellent author, and a wonderful storyteller, so I expected nothing less than excellent writing.  What I didn't expect was how completely I was drawn into this book. Lucado takes 22 biblical figures and explores who they are, what they did, and what their motivations might have been, all while weaving in great personal stories and experiences.  Some of these people you might know well; Matthew, John, Peter, Moses.   Others you might not; Jairus, Abagail, Mephibosheth.  Still others don't even have names we know of; The Paralyzed Man or The Two Criminals.

In each case, Lucado takes what we do know from the biblical narrative, and adds his own personal brand of introspection and discernment, to see beyond the simple tale and discover who these people really were, and how their stories can help us find motivation, purpose and hope.

This book arrived at the perfect time for me.  I've been working on a message for an upcoming weekend, who's theme is the relationship between fathers and sons.  I had decided to base my message on the story of Mephibosheth, King Saul's grandson.  The chapter on this young man gave me new insights and ideas, and a new depth to the struggles he was faced with.  I will preach a better message because of it.

There's something for everyone here.  I highly recommend this book to anyone - young, old, man, woman, confident or unsure.  Because, after all, we're all characters, too.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I recieved a copy of this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers' BookSneeze program in hopes I would mention it on my blog.  Nevertheless, the opinons stated are my own.  I was not required to write a positive review. (16CFR Part 225)

Here's todays setlists from Gospel Light Community Church, and also Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Bridgeport, CT.

First, GLCC

Opening Song:

God of Wonders (Byrd/Hindalong)(G)

Main Set

Blessed Be Your Name (Redman)(C)
Glory to God Forever (Fee/Beeching)
From the Inside Out (Houston)(C
The Stand (Houston)(G)

Offering

Give to the Lord (Kenoly)(C)

"God of Wonders" wasn't supposed to be on the list. I was noodling on my acoustic at the end of rehearsal and started playing it, and suddenly we were all like "We gotta do that song!" so we swapped out another one for it.  We did it in a very Third Day way, me on acoustic and Daniel on electric.

The other songs were pretty much straight up, and sounded good today.  We've only done "Glory to God Forever" about six times, but I like it more every time.

It's hard to do justice to a Ron Kenoly song without a brass section and a two hundred-member choir, but we give it a whirl.  Everyone loves this song, so it works.  If your not familiar with it, there's a video of the master doing it below.

At Lighthouse, we did "Blessed Be Your Name", "God of Wonders" and "From the Inside Out."  LHFC is about as opposite a room as you can get from GLCC; our church is as wide as it is long, has a low acoustic tile ceiling and carpeting, so the room doesn't affect the sound much.  LHFC is in an old Methodist church building, with a long sanctuary and high cathedral ceiling.  Lots of hardwood everywhere.  The room is very live, and hard to dial in a good mix, but I think we're getting there, and today sounded and felt really good.

Next week is our annual Father and Son campout, so I'll be reporting from the woods of upstate New York.

Check out other recaps at The Worship Community.

Here's that Ron Kenoly song:

I don't get out to a lot of first-run movies anymore, but my wife managed to free up a matinée night last night.  The pickings were slim, but we decided to go see the new Angelina Jolie flick, Salt, and I'm glad we did.

Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt, a seemingly ordinary CIA field op/analyst with an expertise in Russia.  She has spent some time as an unwilling guest of North Korea, but now works at a front company in Washington, and is happily married to an eminent arachnologist.  Things start to unravel when a former Russian government official shows up as a "walk-in" at her office, offering to give the CIA some information on an intended assassination.

The official - Orlov - details a plan of Russian sleeper agents, raised as children to blend into American culture, and wait for decades until "Day X" - the day they will strike at the heart of America.  Orlov identifies Salt as one of the agents, and thus begins an action-adventure thriller that would do The Bourne Ultimatum proud.

The film keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat throughout, wondering what will happen next, and wondering who's allegiance lie where.  You're never really sure who the bad guy is, or who the good guys are. The plot may be somewhat formulaic, but director Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Catch a Fire) pulls it off nicely.

As expected, there is plenty of violence in this film.  It seems, however, that Salt doesn't actually kill any of the good guys, although she does serious damage to a lot of people.  Others in the film aren't that merciful.  There is a torture scene early in the film that is pretty brutal, and the Russians seem to have no problem killing.  It is also their intent to start a "holy war" that will destroy America.  

I'd suggest leaving the kids at home when watching this.  There's enough language and violence for me to think it would be inappropriate, and the PG-13 rating is generous.  There's not a lot of sex, and the film will likely survive fairly uncut to television.  For adults, though, this is an entertaining film, and pretty moderate for those who enjoy the action-adventure genre.  Just settle yourself in; you won't want to leave for popcorn during the film.

Here's the Sunday recap from this week at Gospel Light Community Church, as well as Lighthouse Fellowship Church.  We had a busy week, and Sunday was no different, but it was a good day of worship and word.   For the first time in a while the temperature was sub-90, which made it an absolutely gorgeous New England summer day.

Here's the list from GLCC:

Opening:

Better is One Day/I Can Only Imagine (Redman/Millard)(E)

Main Set:

All About You (Cruse/Ratcliff/Houghton)(E)
History Maker (Smith)(G)
We Cry Out (Johnson)(C)
Once Again (Redman)(D)

Offering:

Let it Rise (Davis)(E)


We did a medley with "Better is One Day" and "I Can Only Imagine" that worked out nice, from the chorus of one to the other.  It made a really nice worship moment for a walk-in song.  And "Let it Rise..."   We love busting out those old Holland Davis tunes.  Daniel had the keyboard on a Hammond voice, and it sounded really 'church-y" and classic.  Awesome.

At LHFC we did

Let it Rise (Davis)(E)
Better is One Day (Redman)(E)
Once Again (Redman)(D)

Lighthouse was wrapping up their first-ever VBS week, and so this was a special celebration for them, and we were glad to be a part of it.

Check out some other recaps at The Worship Community.