Sunday December 13, 2009

This week we went all Christmas and did:

Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy) - Chris Tomlin
O Come all ye faithful - Chris Tomlin
How Deep the Father's Love - Kelly Minter
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle

The last song we had planned was "All Because" by Steve Fee, but we ran out of time and didn't get to do it, which was big bummer 'cause we were really looking forward to it.

Merry Christmas!

November 29th, 2009

This week we had the privilege of being led in worship by Dave Lingenfelter, a local worship leader and Scooters Barista.

It was a great honor to worship with him. He really blessed KP with his leadership, talent, and authenticity.

The songs we did were:

Not to Us - Chris Tomlin
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle
Majesty - Charlie Hall (This was an acoustic version)
Much - Ten Shekel Shirt
Blessed be Your Name - Matt Redman

Thanks so much Dave for your leadership.

November 22nd, 2009

Here's the music we did on November 22nd.

Born Again - Third Day
Mighty to Save - Laura Story
Mystery - Charlie Hall
Take My Life - Chris Tomlin
He Reigns - Newsboys

A couple of weeks behind here :)

Messages Online

Maybe you already knew this and maybe you didn't, but you can listen to the messages at KP right on the net at www.kawprairie.org/messages. Just look to the right for the messages blog and you're there.
Right now you can listen to the first message of the series: "Shoesapalooza: Beautiful are the feet."

You can normally pick up an audio CD at church of the previous week's message and a couple of the songs the band did, but quantities are limited.

The internet people! Let's do it!

The Worship Experience

There's a difference between knowing about God and experiencing God. Much has been said on this subject. Henry Blackaby wrote the book "Experiencing God," which has helped a great many people move from a knowledge of God to something far more intimate. In college I read the book "God Chasers" by Tommy Tenney, in which he talks about the encounter of Moses on the mountain when God told Moses that He was about to pass by and he covered Moses' eyes so that Moses never saw God's face, but he saw his back. Tenney challenges his readers to ask themselves whether they are living where God was some time ago, or if they are staying close behind Him, experiencing that place where God was just at, if that's the closest we can get to being in His very presence.

Lately it's the words of Marcus Borg that have brought this to mind. In his book "Meeting Jesus again for the first time," Borg draws that same contrast by saying that people can move from a second-hand experience of God to a first-hand one; from knowing about God to knowing Him personally.

It's made me think a lot about the worship at our church. Our prayer is always that we may experience God's presence. Tommy Tenney would say that's a gutsy prayer. If we were to really experience God's presence, if we had been there and all our faces were glowing like Moses', we might be a bit more frightened about praying that prayer again. Nevertheless, whether in those words or others, my prayer is that at church, and at any church that worships the Lord, people can, through worship and the Word, move from a second-hand God to a first-had God, from a second-hand week, to a first-hand week, from a second-hand home life to a first-hand home life.
As if you weren't ready to stop reading and move on, I'll brave a few more thoughts.
What about all the things that have to happen for worship to go there. Is it harder to commune with God when you're tired, when you're hungry, when you're hurting, when you're uncomfortable, when you're cold or hot or annoyed because your kid wouldn't stop kicking the back of your seat in the car ride to church?

And that makes me think of the faithful people who do stuff like pass out bulletins, arrange chairs, brew coffee, smile at the front door. What would worship be like if those folks hung up their hat and walked away? If the chairs were awkwardly arranged and you could hardly get comfortable? If there were no seats at all? If no one was there to say good morning? If you couldn't follow along with the message more closely with the notes in the bulletin? If you couldn't see the words of the songs? If you didn't know whether it was your row that was up next for the communion line or the row across the aisle? If there was no coffee for that extra jolt of awareness the caffeine affords?

I just don't think it would be the same. And not just because we're spoiled North Americans who can enjoy all these conveniences and without them we'd cry and kick and scream. No, because in order to communicate with someone, you have to be able to focus on them and they on you. Because your wife knows she can't talk to you if the football game is on or the words will fall on deaf ears. Because if you were too annoyed or uncomfortable, you'd be in no frame of mind to hear God speak to you.

That's why those little things matter; because we can do them, they're not that hard, and they make a monumental difference in our ability to pause in the middle of our busy lives and just listen to Him for a while.

I want to send out Big Kingdom Kudos to those faithful people who make all that happen. It is because of them that the table can be set for me to share a meal with the Teacher. It is because of them I can hang out with my spiritual family and spend some meaningful time together.

Lord, may we do everything we can, everything within our frail power, to create a space and time where people can meet with you and move from second-hand faith, to a first-hand encounter. Amen.

Sunday November 15, 2009

Here's the set we did Sunday. It was a good set and we had a great time playing it.
Kudos to Nathan, who played guitar with us for the first time this Sunday. He did a great job!

Hosanna - Paul Baloche
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
Consuming Fire - Tim Hughes
How He Loves - David Crowder Band
Everlasting God - Lincoln Brewster

Click on the links and you'll be directed to the iTunes URL where you can chose to buy that song and put it on your mp3 player.

The more the merrier!

It seems like just yesterday we stood around asking things like: "who do you know that plays guitar? Bass? Drums? Keys?"
It really is not very far from yesterday. One year ago, roughly, we had our first, very own, KP band playing at church. We had found a drummer, a bass player, a keyboardist, and we were ready to rock.
Not long after that we had nearly enough to have two bands. We couldn't believe it.
Today we have enough for well more than two bands, although not enough for three completely different ones.
The reason I'm remembering this journey is because this Thursday we are auditioning at least one person, and maybe two, a guitarist and a vocalist. By the end of the year, as many as three other folks will be getting involved in the music ministry of KP. That's five new people in a matter of two months. My guess is that pattern is going to continue as more people get involved at KP and want to use their gifts for the Kingdom.
This is all so exciting!
But there's a part of me that's sad and even scared.

Could we have dreamed that after just a few months we'd have two bands? No way! On the other hand, could we have dreamed that in one year we might not have enough room for everyone to play and sing? I don't think we gave that possibility too many thoughts; partly because we were afraid of what that would mean.

That brings me to what is now an age-old dialogue: how do you decide who gets to play and sing and who doesn't?

People have debated this for some time, and the discussion has raged in my own heart for a while now. On the one hand you want to get as many people involved as possible; you want people to feel welcomed and valued. On the back side of that hand (because it's not a different hand for sure) is the fear of hurting people's feelings, of leaving them out, of having to tell them that's not actually their strongest gift, and they would better serve the Kingdom elsewhere. That fear contributes to the idea we should just let everyone who wants to, participate.

On the other hand, you have the idea that the work of the Kingdom is of such importance that it must be done to the best of our ability; that to offer anything else is to undermine God's work in His church. On the back side of that hand is the idea that there are right and wrong ways to do artistic expressions. There are, at least in the music of our church, right and wrong ways to use the art form, good expression and bad ones.

So what is the church's calling when it comes to the arts and people's involvement. I don't know the answer to that, but my guess is that it involves both hands.

The church has to be inclusive; a place where people can easily get involved; an organism where people can put their God-given gifts to use. At the same time, the church is called to serve God with our whole heart, and to offer our service to God "skillfully" as the Psalmist would say (Ps. 33:3). We have to reach our culture with the message of Grace in a relevant, authentic and powerful way.

So I think that if we're going to use art to do that, in this case music and visuals, we should do the best job we can do, and when there are lots of folks around who want to do it, our job is to pick the ones that better fit the art form.

Unfortunately for me that means that dreaded, dirty word: auditions! For many it's a word that does not belong in the vocabulary of the church. I think it does belong, and in some cases it's absolutely essential. You wouldn't want someone teaching kids who did not have the right gifts and skills for it. You won't attend a church where the preacher was an ineffective and boring communicator (at least not for long).

It's just a fact of ministry. We have to be wise with the gifts God has entrusted to us. Plus, in a church like KP, there are countless things that someone can do to participate in the work of the Kingdom there; things that don't all require a very specific gift but that are just as important to the work.

So I don't feel badly about raising the bar. We'll try to keep lots of folks involved, but we'll chose the ones that fit better according to where we feel God is calling us to go. We'll offer everyone a place to serve and even challenge them to do so.

Some times we may be disappointed at the outcome, but as Marc James wrote "I Surrender all to You."

If you're thinking about auditioning at KP for a spot on the music team, by all means please pursue that. You're not going to get American Idol treatment. We deal in the currency of Grace and a Kingdom mindset. Visit www.kawprairie.org/music to download our forms and questionnaire.

Sunday November 8th

These are the songs we did this weekend:

Beautiful the Blood- as by Steve Fee
Come Thou Fount -as by David Crowder Band
How He Loves -as by David Crowder Band
The Stand -as by Hillsong United
Not to Us -as by Chris Tomlin

There was so much energy at church Sunday. The band played really well, the church was singing and clapping, it was just a very intimate time of worship.

Some stories must be told

Sunday during the second service we had one of those moments that if you didn't know about, you would not notice.

Right after PD's sermon we started the song Surrender. The plan was that about halfway through the song Dave would do a guitar part to wrap up the song and then we just do another chorus or two. At least that's why I thought.

Now, it is not strange for me to "think" we are going to do something with a song and it be miles from what we planned and practiced. Seriously, it's a weekly occurrence. In the middle of the song, caught in the moment and with no brain waves left to apply to memory, I think of how the song is going to go and no part of my brain tells me "that's not what the band is expecting German!"

That said, instead of going into that guitar part I expected, the band died away, as they would at the end of a song, or for a chorus that we wanted only voices to be heard on.

Not sure of where the breakdown was, I improvised. Knowing that the prayer stations were open in the back of the room, and seeing they were staffed and ready, I encouraged people to go back and pray if they had something they wanted prayer for. By the time I was done the band was pretty much on idle, waiting for what was coming next, undoubtedly clueless.

So I started in alone and hoped they would follow me. They do that very well. I guess they have to 'cause I just can't seem to stick to a plan (if you're a musicians who was thinking about getting involved at KP, you should know what you're getting into). It's really not terrible, but it does happen.

So we finished the song, and went on to the next one as planned. If you didn't know better, you'd have seen it as part of the plan. I like doing that too; stopping in the middle of a song while the music is still going to say a few words. I had even wanted to do it earlier but thought of it right in the middle of a song and knew it would be really mean of me to do that to the band without any prior notice.

Thanks band for being flexible and spontaneous!

November 1st

This was week three of "City Livin'" After church a bunch of people went to several places around the city to volunteer time serving others. ReStart, Metro Lutheran Ministries, and some others.

The whole day was packed with times of intimate worship.

These are the songs we did:

Give You Glory- as by Jeremy Camp
Here I am to Worship- as by Chris Tomlin
That is Why- as by Josh Franklin (not in iTunes)
Surrender- As by Lincoln Brewster
God of This City- as by Chris Tomlin

This Thursday night Jeremy Camp will be at Lenexa Christian Center. Several people from KP are going. You're welcome to join us.

October 25th

These are the songs we did on Sunday October 25th, the second week of "City Livin'"

We Fall Down- as by Kutless
Our God Saves- as by Paul Baloche
Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)- as by Chris Tomlin
None but Jesus- as by Hillsong United
Yesterday, Today and Forever- as by Vicky Beeching

It was a great set.

October 18th

I've been totally slacking off, not posting here. Unacceptable! Well, I'm sure if you're reading this you may not have even noticed, so maybe it's not the end of the world or anything.

In either case, I'm going to pick up the pace. Unfortunately I don't have interesting things to write about most weeks so I'll most often post a list of what songs we sang at church that week linked back to iTunes where you can hear a sample and perhaps even buy yourself a copy.

Sunday October 18th we did:
Prince of Peace (You are Holy) - as performed by Michael W. Smith (roughly)
God of This City - as performed by Chris Tomlin
Hungry - as performed by Kathryn Scott
I Could Sing of Your Love Forever - as performed by Delirious?
Father let me dedicate (Be Glorified) - as performed by Matt Redman

It was a great set and a beautiful time of worship as a congregation.

See you Sunday.

Guitar Solos

I don't know how you feel about guitar solos, but having grown up in the 90's with perfect-hair rock, I love them. The electric guitar has been a major part of music now for a very long time and in recent years it finally seems to have made it's way into the church.

Thank you Lord!

I don't know what most worshipers think about guitar solos in church but I'm going to try to explain what I think about them.

King David, before he was king and was just a little guy in the court of King Saul, was known for his skill with the harp.

The Bible says that Saul had problems with "a spirit from God." I will not even touch what that could mean, but I would like to touch on what happened when he had these encounters. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 16 that David would play his harp for Saul and that the music relieved him.

The Psalter is filled with examples of God's people celebrating God with not just song lyrics, but with the skillful playing of musical instruments.

So you have this two way street. The music serves as a conduit, and perhaps in some way as the yellow lines in the middle of the road. On one side runs traffic of worship and adoration toward the Father in the opposite direction as the relief, comfort, and joy that comes to His people. The worshipers lift up songs of thanksgiving and joy and praise on the very same medium that the Father sends down peace and comfort and hope.

Maybe the guitar isn't that conduit for you; maybe it doesn't serve as a path or line between you and the Father, but for me, listening to Dave play his guitar, listening to Sam on the keyboard, Kevin on the bass, Jason on the drums, and hearing Lisa's voice beautifully convey the message of the songs, I sense that something opens up, and we are in a place unlike many others, a place we don't get to come to just any moment of any day.

So if you're finding yourself sitting through a 20-second instrumental part of a song at KP (or wherever you worship), and you're not sure what that's got to do with the message, try to take a step onto that road, venture out into the path where these spiritual things can happen. Let yourself go.

If you don't want to do that, or can't, that's okay, just clap along and enjoy good music. The music is being made to honor the Lord and for that it is precious.

Sunday August 13

This photo was taken to serve as a template for the teams that set up the chair columns every week.
As I look at it I'm reminded of the work that goes into preparing for a Sunday worship gathering. There are folks who show up to put chairs, tables, and all kinds of things in the room, and there's the people that put that stuff away; there are folks who set out the elements of Communion; there are folks who brew coffee and cut donuts; there are people who prepare lessons for kids.

I could go on for a long time talking about the gazillion people that seem to be buzzing about like bees every Sunday morning. It's all kind of a blur. In the picture it looks pretty relaxed, but it is in fact a bit of a whirlwind.

And yet, after the dust settles, we find ourselves offering anything we possibly can in worship to God. When we're done all the rehearsing and preparing, brewing and setting up, greeting and welcoming, we sit down at the Lord's Table together and we bow before the One who alone is worthy.

Worship at Kaw Prairie has slowly been moving toward a place of intimacy and comfort. I don't mean that folks are comfortable like I might be watching football on TV. I mean the kind of comfortable that is safe, that is inviting, that connects lots of different dots in our lives and creates a picture of something glorious.

Worship at KP has been drifting new waters, exciting places that we've not been before and I can't think of any way of describing it to you other than to encourage you to come in and just allow yourself to be part of the family and a part of our effort to be in the presence of the Most High.

May His presence be evident to you this week.

August 23rd

This post will not do justice to what happened Sunday.

It was a great day musically. It was a great day of ministry too. I have to put a plug in for WILD, our student ministry. We started Sunday night and it was just a ton of fun. If you're on facebook, you should look at our page, Wild @ Kaw Prairie.

It was a great day theologically! PD really brought home the message of Grace. One that we all need for the resentment and vengeance we carry around, but one that, for that reason, we need to extend every chance we get.

Carly rocked Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats," a natural lead in to a message on vengeance. I know what you're thinking, "those people are Kaw Prairie are pretty slick!" Well, you're right, but you should know we steal (borrow) most of this stuff. The idea is getting the message across. Carly did just that sporting her cowboy hat. Nice work Carly and band for rendering that song well.

It was funny to me that right before we played that song in the first service, the person doing announcements (who will remain unnamed), finished up with her announcements and said "let's return to worship now." Well, "Before He Cheats" was hardly a worshipful song, although it did serve a purpose in our worship and our application of the morning's message. It was just an interesting introduction. You can appreciate that a bit more by watching the youtube video of that song.

In what you might call a more worshipful tone, we also did:

Here I am to Worship - Chris Tomlin
Come Thou Fount - David Crowder Band
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) - Chris Tomlin
The Wonderful Cross - Chris Tomlin

Have a great week!

August 16th

I'm catching up slowly.

The week before last was the beginning of "The Theology of Country Music."

Doug did a phenomenal job of singing "That's My Story" by Collin Raye

We also sang:
All Because - Steve Fee
How Great is Out God/How Great Thou Art - Chris Tomlin
Mystery - Charlie Hall
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall

If you're going to look up those songs please keep in mind that I'm not necessarily listing them by author, but by the artist whose performance we tried to emulate.

I really should get on the stick and get some cowboy boots and a hat for this series.

August 9th

It's been a while since I posted. Bad blogger!

I would hardly call myself a blogger.

So a week and a half ago was great! Here are the songs we did:

We Fall Down (F#): Kutless
A Mighty Fortress (G): We came up with our own arrangement
Sweetly Broken (B): Jeremy Riddle
Surrender (G): Lincoln Brewster
Love the Lord (G): Lincoln Brewster

I suppose if I had posted right after the service I might actually have some anecdotes about it. Sorry :(

I will say that our experience with the new PA system is paying off. We're not seeing a ton of dividends yet, or at least not that we can hear, but we are learning so much about how "not" to run the system. Not that this particular week was aweful, it was in fact as good as could be expected, but that we learn more every week. More to come on that.

Eschatalogy at KP

This week's sermon in the series of "Things I wish Jesus hadn't said," was about the end times. Jesus did talk about the end, and he said some things that are very intriguing. Opposite of that, He also said that our chief concern was that of doing the work of the Father until the Son returns, not to ignore that work to devote our time and energy to figuring out when and how He's returning.
Admittedly, the study of His return does in many ways yield the fruit of of the Kingdom as it gets people thinking about it and confronts them with a decision. So the sermon wasn't about finger-pointing, and line-drawing between people, it was simply a palette of several scholarly and faithful views that exist on the second coming.

My favorite part of it all was that short video in that church. That part when the lighting strikes and suddenly the room goes from being full to there only being like 20 people there. It was a cool video anyway.

As part of this presentation on such a hot topic, we did our best to cover REM's "it's the end of the world as we know it." That was pretty fun too. There were more words in one verse of that song than there were in all the other songs we sand the whole morning combined. Actually, I don't know if that's a fact, but it sure seems like it.

We also did:
Beautiful the Blood (Fee)
Enough (Tomlin)
How Deep the Father's Love (our own arrangment; more closely resembles Kelly Minter's)
The Stand (Hillsong United)

I'd be curious to learn what most folks at KP thought of the "The Stand." It's a great song with a simple lyric. For me, the intense nature of the words and music of the chorus really draws me in to the meaning of the words. I've been singing that song for a few years now, and as you might know, the words repeat themselves quite a few times. Even with that, the words still draw me to their meaning much like they did when I first learned them.

"I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the one who gave it all. I'll stand, my soul, LORD, to you surrendered; all I am is yours."

The band did a really great job this week. Aleks was able to play guitar, which was a a lot of fun. Ethan went from being asleep at practice, to being totally rocktastic on the drums during the actual service. I just don't know what happened there. Kasie was a rockstar on the guitar. Doug seemed to have a great time singing. Joe played very well. Sam was his usual awesome.

The coolest thing I heard about our set was that someone said, "on that last song, it was worshipful to just watch the band worship." That is the highest of affirmations and testimony for a worship team.

Last week (July 19)

I didn't post last week. Oops!

The 19th was a ton of fun. We had Kasie play acoustic for the second time. She did a great job. Of course she sang too, which is always a blessing.

Kevin, Jeff and Rachel played awesomely! We had the awesome blessing of having Corie play Djimbe. She was great.

We did a new song called "Son of God," by Starfield. I, for one, really like the song. It's a cool song musically, but my favorite part are the words. It juxtaposes a God who hung the stars and a God who lives inside my heart, one who dwells in the expanse of the Universe and yet inhabits my own life too. Granted the universe bows to Him more readily than my cluttered soul, but it's still a beautiful thing.

Then the song confesses with gratitude that it is being sung by one "forgiven." I know it's easy to praise God for who He is and His glory, but for me it's more difficult to remember to praise Him out of pure gratitude for what He's done in my life. Maybe it's the other way around for some folks; they worship out of gratitude alone. I marvel at the size and magnificence of this great Lord Jesus, but I also can detach my own life's journey and not worship out of gratitude as well. I hope that makes sense.

We also played "I could sing" by Delirious
"None but Jesus" by Hillsong United
"At the Foot of the Cross" by Kathryn Scott
"You never let go" by Matt Redman.

It's a humbling task, that of leading the children of the Most High into His presence, a task that I certainly don't set out to accomplish, but that I simply participate in and hope to facilitate. It's up to each of us to enter in.

Sunday July 12

Sunday was uneventful in most ways. The set was a really good combination of songs.

You're Worthy of My Praise: Jeremy Camp
Holy is the Lord: Chris Tomlin
You Gave Your Life Away: Paul Baloche
Surrender: Lincoln Brewster
Love the Lord: Lincoln Brewster

We literally did all but one in G, and that was Holy is the Lord in A. I almost talked to band into doing that in G too but they really like doing a key change in the middle of "Worthy," finishing that out in A, and then playing "Holy." It was a the right choice, I was just being lazy when I suggested we keep it in G.

By the way, at the risk of getting in trouble, when I put the name of a person by the song I don't mean to list the author of the song, rather the performer whose version/sound we're trying to duplicate. If authorship is also necessary, please let me know and I will gladly include that information in this space. Naturally, many times the version we're doing is the one done by the author himself/herself, so that will some times work itself out.

A couple of interesting things stick out to me about Sunday. Our sound board has this nifty gifty of being able to record our services to a USB stick in mp3 format. We then import it into Garage Band, split it up into tracks and make the sermon and a couple songs available to folks who were working with the kids that morning or were unable to attend. However, this week, our board had a mental breakdown and just would not record. I say a mental breakdown because that evening, the board was back to normal and recorded without a problem. You're guess is as good as mine.

The unfortunate thing about all of it was that Dave, a guitar player, was back with us this week after about a 6-month break, and he was great. We may have played one of our best sets yet in the building, and, as you've already guessed, it was not recorded.

The other funny thing that happened is that Pastor Dan and I tried to communicate without words or body language again. Don't you just love when people do that? At the first service, I prayed between the first song and the second, and after the second song he prayed before he served Communion. For the second service I resolved not to pray so that his prayer would be the opening prayer of the morning after we had sung two songs preparing us for worship and communion with God. However, I didn't tell PD that's what I was doing so he sat in his chair waiting for me to pray, or at least that's what I thought was happnening. I actually communicated with him later using words, and not assumptions, and learned he was just worshipping along and just missed his cue to come up and do his thing. Either way, it turned out fine. The church's worship has little to do with the level to which we produce it or manipulate it. Our careful preparation and delivery does an awful lot to create an atmosphere of worship and to lead people, unhindered, into a place where their focus is solely on the prescense of God. However, that is not the end, it is a means. Authenticity, humanity, and honesty, are closer to the goal, although in and of themselves also vehicles or elements of the actual interaction that happens between the human and the divine.

These worship services that are marked both by humanity and the ancient practices of the church, really are unlike anything else I've been a part of. I'm blessed and honored to be a part of it.

July 5th

This weekend was a lot of fun. There are a few fun stories to tell about it.

At practice we learned two things: Avioms are just so sweet whether you're wired to them or wireless. Those guys are going to start using us for ads.
The second was that Hungry will continue to kick our bums on that one little walk down. It seems silly, but everyone's brain interprets and reproduces things slightly different. The other day Aleks was teaching me a guitar diddy and when I played it he said: "well, that's like the one I do, but not the same." "It's the exact same thing," I said. "No," he answered, "yours is shu-tu-wata-wata. Mine is shutu-shutu-wata." That's not exactly how it went, but maybe you get the point.
Hungry just gets interpreted differently in each of us. One of these days we'll just play our own stinkin' arrangment.

Sunday was an adventure from the beginning. Mrs. Judy couldn't get her brand new computer to put out any sound; we had 18 different things to sound check in a small amount of time; our pastor refused to serve us communion (not really, I just felt the need to jab that out there because he was delayed in serving us. You just had to be there).

We did these songs:
Father let me dedicate (Be Glorified) - Matt Redman
Enough - Chris Tomlin
Amazing Grace (My chains are gone) - Chris Tomlin
Hungry - Kathryn Scott
Holy is the Lord - Chris Tomlin

The set went really well. Everyone did a really great job.

It was Bruce's first Sunday at sound by himself and he did great. Cody had his first go at lights and he did a great job. I think this may have been Jason's first shot at camera, and he was great too.

The only other cool story was that between services Java Joe dared Sam to drink a shot of espresso with pomegranete in it and he gulped it down for a candy bar. I thought kids would do anything for a dollar, but the standard has been lowered to 50 cents. Go figure!

The Lenexa Parade

Wow, we had a great time playing in Lenexa Yesterday.

We did two songs back to back, since no one watching the parade could possibly even listen to one song all the way through as we were moving the whole time.

We turned the speakers up loud and we did a worship song and a secular song. It was really interesting to see the reactions of people.

Some people thought it was a bit odd that a church band was playing in a float. Some seemed to think it was odd that we were doing Christian music on a parade, and some probably didn't recognize the U2 song we did and just thought they whole thing was peculiar.

Then there were the folks who really appreciated the fact we were singing worship music in a city parade. The applauded us as to say "thanks for spreading the gospel with your float."

Then there were the folks who heard playing U2 and were puzzled, as though they would have never expected a church to play that.

And lastly the folks who thought it was pretty cool we were playing U2.

Everyone on the band did a great job, and the people who put the float together did too. They really worked hard to paint the float, assemble it, and organize everything. The walkers were also great. The biggest crowd of walkers we've had yet (I heard someone say). They were smiling and handed out tons of fliers and candy.

Who knows? Maybe some of the folks who got a flier will visit this blog to find out about KP. If you are, thanks for celebrating the 4th with us at the parade. Come see us if you're looking for a place to worship and be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Everything has its pros and cons

The entire KP music team will have something to say about this next comment, but it's just true.

Having the metronome is a really great thing, but some times it can be so confusing.

Today we played:
Your Grace is Enough (Chris Tomlin Version)
Consuming Fire (Tim Hughes)
Grace that is Greater (Bart Millard)
I Could Sing of Your love (Delirious)
Not to Us (Matt Redman)

It was a good set and everyone did a great job playing/singing.

However, on "Your Grace," We spent most of the song, or at least I did, finding our way back to the metronome. Either we wanted to play it faster, or a couple of us were dragging the others away from the metronome, or the metronome was possessed. Either way, I could just not enjoy that song 'cause all I could do was fight to stay with that thing.

The rest of songs were very natural and the metronome fit right in, and we with it. What was unfortunate about it was the fact that it was the first song and it may have given us, and those gathered, a rocky start to the worship.

We're still learning a lot about wearing in-ear monitors. Everyone uses them differently, but I'm more and more convinced that everyone should have control of their own. It sounds ridiculous, but the ideal way to go is to have an Aviom and a wireless system for each of the front people. It just seems like such a ridiculous waste of money, but communicating with the booth and getting what you need from the system are just way more difficult, and costly, than just buying the darn things.

I'll have to get some more equipment when we can afford to do that. In the mean time, thanks to our sound people for being ever so patient with us.

You might have to be on-stage to appreciate this next part, although I'm sure it will make perfect sense. It really takes some getting use to when all you hear is what's coming out of your headphones, but I've gotten so used to it now that I just feel like I'm right in there with everyone, sitting in a chair just worshiping alongside the others. If the metronome is set to a good tempo for the band, I don't even notice it there. I guess if I distrusted the person mixing the house you might not be able to concentrate, but I do trust the people back there, so as long as I can hear what I need to worship and to lead, I'm good; and that's a really big blessing to me.

I got a few pictures today from one of our photographers. I really like the lighting in these.

Walk it off!

I always thought telling someone to walk off an injury was kind of stupid. If I've hurt my ankle or my knee, how will walking help? I know it applies some times, and it's not always bad advice, it's just odd.

Well, we had to "walk it off" Sunday. Everything for first service went as planned. Then second service got off to a good start. We played:
Friend of God (D)
The Heart of Worship (D)
Grace that is Greater (G)
Open the Eyes of My Heart (E)
Everlasting God (B)

However, it was when we got to Everlasting God during second service that we ran into unexpected problems. They were not only unexpected, they were unexplainable. There was a strange feedback noise coming from the guitarist's (Aleks) effects pedal, the wireless in-ears were dropping in and out, even the Avioms were behaving in that way. We have no clue what happened, why it happened, or how to avoid it. After service we tried to figure it out and could not. Your guess is as good as mine.

The "walk it off" bit is that we just played right through it. I thought "maybe the guitar is a little wak and my ears are losing the battery, the rest of the band is fine, we'll keep going." Little did I know. So what did we do? We "walked it off," we played through.

I don't know what the church heard (or thought), but I was really proud of us for playing through it in what seemed like a pretty strong way.
After we "played it through," we laughed it off. Hope it doesn't happen next week.

Oh, and cudos to Nancy on her first week at keyboard; she did a fantastic job. And thanks to Carri for filling in at the last minute.

June 14, 2009

Week 3 in the building!

I'm putting a picture on this post of Sam and I only because it's the only picture I got from one of our photographers. Otherwise I would put something more inclusive up here.

It's so funny how different things are for the band on Sunday mornings.
I came in at about 7:10 and I just sat down at the coffee shop, checked my email, brewed some coffee, and then casually walked into the worship space. It used to be 6:30 am, Kevin's waiting for me 'cause I have the key to the school, and then hit the closet with a furry.

Then, we got through all the songs during our sound check, with time to spare. Ahhh!

There are several things I want to remark about this week and I'll start with the people that stick out in my mind.

We were blessed to have Rich play guitar with us. He's been a friend of KP for some time and has seen us go from school to ministry center. He's a great guitar player and he did an awesome job of stepping in last minute and playing with us.

Everyone really did a great job, but a highlight for me was our drummer, Jason. He's really a different drummer than he was 9 months ago (approx.) when he started playing with us, and I'm just really excited to watch his journey.

Someone said something to me about the young fellow that plays piano at church. That's Sam. They highlighted mostly the passion with which he plays and worships. Then the photographer told me that if I would keep my eyes open a bit more we could have a few more good pictures. I agree with him, but I am so thankful to be on a team with people who are passionate and not afraid to show it. May we serve with a pure and holy passion always.

It never fails, however, that something doesn't go the way you want it, or that someone really didn't like what happened. Fortunately, for me, I didn't get to hear any of that, but our good friend Bryan, the sound man, did. I guess the music was too loud for someone's taste and they let him know. I hate he has to deal with that. He, and all the techs, really work hard as a team with me and other leaders, and then they single-handedly bare the brunt of the complaints. I don't want to pick on anyone, but I do want to reflect on the eternal discussion of volume and music at church.

"I don't like the music style."

"I think it's too loud."

"It's not loud enough."

"Turn down the guitar." (I always laugh a little on this one because I just know enough guitar players to know how that makes them feel)

Obviously I can't solve any of that on a blog, but I want to take a stab at some of the things that I believe are at the root of this problem.

I spent a lot of my formative years in church and I still vividly remember the music and the lyrics. I remember fondly what it was like to sing in the church choir, and in special productions they called Cantatas. Still don't know what that means.

I remember my friend Josh getting lead parts as a singer and actor in those and thinking he was the man.

I watched some of my friends play the guitar and just wished I could do half of what they could do.

Then I had the guilt of not taking piano lessons seriously when I realized playing the piano could have been such a cool thing (sorry mom!)

Church music has evolved for me considerably, but it's been a more natural growth for me from something I did in church, to something that more closely resembles what I was listening to outside of church.

I'm taking the long, long way to say that I think at the root of the volume problem at church is not that it's in fact too loud, but that we don't like the kind of music that's being played. It's one thing for a desirable noise to be loud and a whole other thing when something that you just don't find interesting has you cornered and you can't get away. Of course, that can't be the universal answer to the volume question, but I definitely think it's a good start. If you don't like the music, you don't really want to hear it loud or soft.

Lots of people don't like the rock n' roll guitar sound. They don't enjoy the high gain crunchyness of the guitar. I love it! It's very common, and necessary, in contemporary worship music, and for those who like it, it touches something very deep inside of us. It's literally "moving," as weird as that may sound.

Now, the volume and music discussion will be around for all generations, but at KP, we will continue to live in the tension of making worship comfortable for as many people as possible, while holding to the idea that we cannot play music that absolutely everyone will like, and that we cannot be a one-size-fits-all environment when it comes to worship or to anything, for that matter. That was definitely a run-on. Sorry!

We will do as good a job as possible with the genre we feel called to, and we will do it all to the glory of God, and with a missional attitude. We will be as balanced as we can be without compromising artistic or biblical integrity.

The dialog is always welcome, and we might be slow to change, but we will always do so with the leading of the Spirit and the leadership of faithful people who are laboring for the gospel side-by-side with us. I don't mean to dismiss any questions about volume. I'm simply affirming our vision and inviting the conversation, wherever it takes us.

After all that blah blah blah. It was a great day of ministry at KP and I pray people were ushered into God's presence and had the opportunity to ponder the questions posed by the "Payday" sermon:

What is my motivation in giving to the church?
Why does the church needs financial resources?
Am I giving because I have to or because I'm a part of a mission?
Am I giving my resources or my heart to God?

Thanks PD for a very challenging message.

Are we getting the hang of it?

Another week of ministry in our new building has come and gone, and it was another great week.
I had to be gone for the first service, because I was flying in from Oregon, but I was there for second service.
Everything went really well; the lights folks had to improvise, and they did great; the video tech did a nice job of keeping up with a different worship leader; the sound tech has nearly mastered that new high-tech machine; the band did an amazing job without me, too good of a job really.
I want to thank of all the above mentioned folks for their hard work. Doing ministry, as a lay person or as clergy/staff, can be a very draining task, but I pray it was also a fulfilling experience.

So here are some of the things we're learning:
-We cannot over-train in any of our tech jobs. All four+ jobs need ongoing training simply because we keep running into stuff that we had not encountered before.
-Communication is really important, in ways we don't even know about yet. Maybe we should have a short meeting before church every week to go over little details.
-Set up and tear down is a good little chunk of work. Those teams are nothing short of heroes.
-We need more volunteers all around the church. Let's do this, if you're reading this, you are agreeing to our site agreement that to read is to volunteer?

There is no such agreement, but if you want to volunteer, there is a place for you at KP.

Oh, the set list for this week was:
Sweetly Broken
Not to Us
What a Savior (a Jill Phillips arrangement)
Beautiful the Blood
We Fall Down (the Kutless version)

Great job Sam, Ethan, Doug, Kasie, and Aleks!

See you next week.

Our first day on Meadow View

Ever since Sunday I've been thinking about starting a blog for Kaw Prairie. I finally sat down to do it.

I'm entirely sure what I will put on this blog, but for now I want to start with reflections from our first day in our new toolbox, the ministry center on K-7 and Prairie Star Parkway, in western Johnson County.

What a day!

Unfortunately for you, you'll get to read most of my impressions. If you could talk to Kaw Prairiers, you'd get a much cooler, and more diverse story.

Sunday started off being interesting when I realized I was the first guy at the building. To my great surprise, the key I'd been given worked. Woohoo!

My priorities going in the door were, make sure everything still turns on, get my instruments ready, prepare anything I can for the band and singers, make sure everyone knows what they're doing, make sure I go to the bathroom before church, and try to stay awake.

I was worried about a few things: will it sound good? Will we remember the music? Will the systems all work like they're supposed to? Will people be really freaked out? Will it be worship or just some kind of showcase?

All things considered, it all turned out perfectly. The band did an awesome job. We even improved some stuff. The ushers knew what they were doing, the greeters seemed to be smiling plenty, the tech stuff was sweet, and nobody made the bitter-beer face when the lights dimmed and we started singing.

Don't like to see the bitter-beer face in church.

It wasn't until the end of the second service that I breathed and realized what was happening. PD had just inspired us with a fresh coat of paint on our calling, the church had responded to worship, and nobody seemed to be frustrated with anybody else.

It really was a great day!

Now I'm sitting at an airport lamenting the fact I'm going to miss first service of week 2, but feeling very thankful that Kaw Prairie exists because of people who serve with passion and authenticity, and who work really hard for the Kingdom of God in our little corner of the world.

Church tomorrow will go well; the band will do great; the tech stuff will be classy; ministry on the prairie will be fun and authentic, like the Mexican food we all love so much (right?).

Oh, and the songs we did were:
You are Worthy of my Praise
Not to Us
Take my life
Breathe
How Great is our God/How great thou art.

That was a fun set.