My New Hero

A few weeks ago, Clay starts telling me about this guy named Ergun Caner. I'll be honest - I'm always a little apprehensive about folks connected with Jerry Falwell, but I was fortunate enough to catch Dr. Caner's sermon, "Why I'll Never Be A Hyper-Calvinist," and I was amazed. This dude can bring it.

LOST viewers only:

1. First things first - in "Reckoning," the hour long recap show before the finale, they essentially took us through the whole thing. However, I'm wondering if anybody caught this: when they were playing the scene when the Others took the kids from Ana Lucia's group, there was an obvious shot of one of the Others grabbing a dummy. It was supposed to look like a man, but I don't think Abram's and crew would let something like that slip through the editing process.

2. I have a friend who said the whispering voices were saying "Elizabeth."

3. Which is creepier: The foot statue? The giant bird? How freaky things got when Desmond turned the key?

4. Desmond tells Jack we're trapped in a "snow globe." Then the Portuguese guys monitoring the electromagnetism are in a snowstorm. What the heck is that?

5. Why isn't Charlie telling Claire what happened in the hatch? Doesn't remember?

6. The thing that's killing me is this: Why Jack, Sawyer, Kate and (maybe) Hurley?

7. Anybody think Henry Gale's the boss of this thing now?

Please respond all LOST watchers!

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of "trend" lately, though not so much the merchants of cool idea but rather the idea of local trend with respect to spiritual matters.

Is it enough to have a thing that everybody comes to? This resonates on many levels. We spend time and often money doing everything we can to make sure that our churches are filled with people - that we become the "it" place to be. It's an honest thing - we believe we're worshipping at a good place. (If we didn't think as such, we would attend there, right?)

I keep thinking about all the guys slaving away at little churches where nobody goes. I'm thinking about the guy who plays an acoustic guitar without a pickup or the Sunday school teacher who reads their lesson out of a book. I think we're conditioned to cast folks like that in a negative light -

But we've got to give credit where it's due. We've got to acknowledge all those folks who've given faithfully of their time and talent (maybe) in places that aren't cool. Heck, maybe there's a problem if people aren't coming to a service, but I just think we've got to be prepared to sing the songs of the unsung as well as the, well, uh...sung.

Ah... that feels better.

This Is Awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtI2pa2m5cg

Got the new Billy and Cindy record yesterday. Very good and very different. Review will be in the June issue of WN. Check it out in a couple of weeks!

Meeting Justin Jinkins tomorrow to start tracking acoustic and vocal for studio-version of "Part of Your Story." Plan is to make the mp3 available on the June issue of WN. Don't know if we'll make it or not...may push the issue back a bit to make it happen.

Had my meeting with my vocal teams and band yesterday. It was good. I tried to be honest and still kind. Maybe I landed somewhere in the middle.

Found the Lemonheads on Rhapsody. Takes me back to high school. Man, I miss Grant Lasiter.

music that's moving me

Amos Lee - Amos Lee
Heard this guy on Austin City Limits and instantly dug him. Check him out. Like Terrence Trent D'Arby meets Norah Jones.

Lincoln Brewster - All To You (Live)
Yeah. It's an old record, but can you get any more rock and roll than Lincoln Brewster?

Well, let's see...

I bought a lawn mower last night, so I was anxious to get up and get to work on the jungle that is my yard these days. Unfortunately, neighbors on both sides of the street were having garage sales, which meant everyone parked all over our yard. I did the back, ran the weed-eater a bit, then came in. Krist had a big baby shower to host, so she was gone by noon for some last minute errands. She got back just after one, then headed to the shower.

I took care of the kids until 6pm. I had a practice with my youth band who are playing Sunday morning. When I got there, I discovered that they had taken a bunch of gear the previous night without asking. (They played a battle of the bands.) I moved them all into a room and griped a bit, which seemed to upset them. It felt good!

Practiced until 8:30. Kristen got home at 10:30. Caught up with her, then went to the church to see what the heck was going on with my projection. (On Thursday, I lost a whole service's worth of presentation material.) Just before leaving work, I emailed mediaShout. I checked my email and the tech guy said to run the new update, which boasts better DVD playback capabilities. I did the update, which found my presentation. But there are 2 problems. Number One - I can't save that show. It's like the wrong format or something, so I have to open it, make whatever changes I need, then leave it open. Number Two - I've lost the ability to use mpeg backgrounds which totally sucks because I had a sweet motion background for this Sunday. I sent the boys at MediaShout another email, but won't hear back until Monday at least.

I've got my meeting with my praise team tomorrow. I'm nervous, but glad to start making some changes.

LOST

1) I don't know if anybody else thought this, but both my wife and I thought that Claire's baby really looked like the psychic.

2) Okay...so we know they were "testing" Walt. But Mrs. Klugh tells Michael that there had been a development and that he would have to go save Henry and bring the four survivors back. Here's my question - what was their original intent in bringing Michael there? (At that point, Henry Gale wasn't even captured.) To reunite him anyway? To test him, too? (Drawing blood?)

3.) Why Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley?

4.) Who's on the boat? Kristen says it's Desmond. My out-there theory is that it's the boat that Michael requested - that the others are providing a way for everybody else to get off the island except the four people, Michael and Walt. However, the boat doesn't look big enough.

5.) I think Locke saw the boat before everybody else did. That's why he left.

6.) The way that Alex was talking to Kate in the flashback sure seemed calm. As if everything realy is okay.

7.) Eko has lost it.

There's a lot to theorize about, but the big debate to me is this:
Is the Island an experiment gone wrong/long or an experiment still valid and current?

Check out Jamie Lidell's Mutiply record. It's unbelievable. (A white dude from England, no less)

What a weekend....

Thursday night I had some problems with my praise team. (I left all stressed out and frustrated.) Friday was my day off, so I hung out with the kids and tried to get frustrated about the state of our worship ministry. Friday night I swung by the church to hear Jonathan and the .5IVE band practicing. Jonah and I hung out and then went home. Missed meeting Blake Stewart AGAIN!

Romack came by the house around 11 and we talked for awhile. After he and Angela left, I changed clothes and got ready to exercise. When I sat down to tie my shoes I knew immediately that something was wrong. Within an hour I was sweating, throwing up and whining like a little girl. Maybe Justin put something in my Diet Coke.

Spent Saturday much the same. Took some medicine that made me stumble around like a lifetime alcoholic and slept about 12 hours total. Woke up Sunday morning groggy, but better and went to church. We had Mother's Day stuff after church so I bucked up and went, even though I didn't feel like it.

I am such a man.

This week's gonna' be nuts...speaking at .5IVE, speaking at HCS graduation, trying to fix some team problems at the church.

Don't know if anybody's checked out the recent Caedmon's record, but it's pretty darn good.

Man, I'm getting so excited about the unplugged series. I dug out some of my old Indelible Grace CD's to start getting all "emergent." I'd like to write some stuff for the series, but I don't think I have time.

This has been a great week - no crazy stuff at the church. Just me doing my thing. Guys, I wish you could be at .5IVE. The crowd's still pretty small, but the music is so much fun!

tonight's .5IVE set

Praise Adonai (C)
Make A Joyful Noise/I Will Not Be Silent (G)
No One Like You (G)
O Come Let Us Adore Him (G)

anybody want to try?

http://www.ashleylangford.com/archives/2006/04/lost_quiz.html

Move over Aaron McClung:

Graphic for upcoming series...yeah, yeah...it looks like the one I did a few weeks back for another series.

I'm trying, y'all, I'm trying.

Got Crowder's B Collision in the mail this weekend. It's ambitious to say the least. The pseudo-bluegrass version of "Beautiful Collision" is pretty amazing. The live stuff is dead on.

Sunday's Set

Hosanna (Baloche)
Blessed Be Your Name (Redman)
Wash (Deal)
My Hope Is You (Third Day)
Part of Your Story (Wright)
Come Ye Sinners (Hart)

The band did a great job. Because it was Confirmation Sunday, we had a lot of guests from the traditional service. As you can imagine, they did a lot of . . . well, sitting and staring. Oh, well. The service went pretty long, then the family and I went to Sugar's (mother-in-law) for lunch. I had to help our youth band setup for a gig at 1:30, so I ate and took gear to the spot they were playing. They did a good job - they were very excited and pretty nervous, too. After they played, Clay and I swung by Sonic, then went back to church for Sunday night dteams. I got home at 6:30. Very full day!

Oh...I almost forgot. I got a weird call last week. Joel Wier called and asked if I could lead worship at Harmony Hill on the last weekend in May.

Yeah, right.

I'm a sucker for a good conspiracy theory...

http://www.freedomunderground.org/memoryhole/pentagon.php#Main

www.kylesfilm.com

Finley

Cuteness overload . . . can't talk . . . must hug this baby . . .

Me and Paul Rocking

Finally got a few pics back from our retreat at Pine Cove. Better late than never. This was 2nd smallest room I've ever played in. And, no, I don't think the guy in the blue shirt is picking his nose. I think he's calling a friend.

"You gotta' hear this band, dude. They're better than Crowder."

Lots of stuff happening - work is wild, crazy, stressfull, all that jazz. The new issue of worshipnotes is up and looks really good.

I'm getting tons of good response about Part of Your Story. Right now, my plan is to record a studio version and make it like a super hyped, big-time download on an upcoming WN.

There's also a Live at .5IVE record in the works. That could very well happen by the fall. I'm loving .5IVE; the band is phenomenal and I am enjoying it so much.

Lots of other stuff going on. Will post more when I have a few free seconds! By the way, LOST was unbelievable last night. Wish more of you were watching so we could all talk about it. Oh, well...Jason and I still have 24. (Which was also quite fulfilling!)

Shyla (another Maryland tale)

I didn't see Shyla until Sunday morning, and probably wouldn't have noticed her if not for Jason's crutches. Shyla was on crutches, too, but not the temporary kind like Jason's. I heard laughing with Jason and saying that we would have to work hard to keep up with her. I liked her immediately. Anyone who takes Jason Fullen to task is okay in my book.

Then, in the Sunday night service, Shyla stepped up to the microphone to offer her thanks to God. It went something like this:

"God, thank you for loving me and helping me to know that I'm beautiful even when I don't feel like it. Thank you for teaching me that I'll always be your princess."

We don't hear phrases like "I'm your princess" in worship very often. I'm sure a lot of people would say that's selfish - that it "isn't about us, it's about God's glory." But there is nothing more amazing or worshipful than seeing a 16 year-old girl realize that she is treasured completely regardless of physical appearance and to know that her Father, the King, is madly in love with her.