Wednesday In Colmesniel

9:05pm
I’m in the passenger seat of Brad’s truck as we make our way back to Lufkin. It was the last night of Colmesniel Crusade. Here’s what we played:

Arise
Open the Eyes of My Heart
I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever
Amazed

We came back for the commitment time and played:

Align
Unchanging
Holy Is The Lord

It was a really good night. It was really encouraging to see students passionate with their praise and adoration of the Father.

Our evangelist did a good job and once everything was said and done, 6 kids accepted Christ and numerous other kids spent time at the altar before the Lord.

Our guest guitar player, Cameron, was back and did a good job. I couldn’t hear him as well as last night, but I think he nailed most of the parts.

Mark and Brad did a great job reading the crowd and filling up the space.

Brad and I sang country songs with his iPod all the way home. It was awesome.

Colmesniel is done…next up, Sanger!

Todd Is Bitter

Things I’m Sick of Reading About in Blogs

1. Homework – we get it. You go to college. You have lots of homework. But do any of us care? Do any of us know who Dr. Reginald is or how horrible it is that your JTF Acad.Survey paper is due in four hours and the library’s closed and you haven’t even started it? Oh, yes, please…take a break from all your homework and spent time blogging about it. It’s really fun to read. Why not tell us what you’re learning…what school is helping you to do and who it’s teaching you to be.
2. Sleep – I’m sorry you’re not getting enough sleep. Man, you’re so busy. Gosh, your life is, like, so crazy right now. Man, I hope you get to go to Starbucks on a rainy Saturday morning and then spend the day laying in bed. Oh, ans try to make long lists of all the reasons you like laying in bed on a rainy Saturday. If you’re tired, go to bed. I don’t have any practical suggestion here – just don’t blog about how sleepy you are.

3. Cheese – C’mon, Danielle. That was just a weird post.

4. The Breakdown – If you’re in some sort of specialized field like music or medicine or social work or education or public service or transportation, never start a work-related post with something like, “Let me tell you how this whole weekly conference works” or “Listen, guys, working at the art studio is way harder than you can imagine.” These things read so condescending – why not make it personal? That’s why we’re reading your blog to begin with…we’re not trying to understand the intricacies of sacking groceries…we want to know what sacking groceries means in your life. What you’re really saying to us is that YOU are baffled by the weekly conference or that the art studio was harder than YOU could imagine. Let us see who you are!

There. I feel better now.

In Christian Love,
Todd Wright

Tuesday, Feb. 27 / Colmesniel, Texas

The original plan was to meet Brad at 4 at the church and be in C-town in time to work through the set w/ Cameron Fowler, our guest guitarist. I, of course, was running late, so I ended up calling Brad and asking him to just swing by my house on the way to Huntington.

Brad and I got on the road around 4:30 and made to Colmesniel just a little after 5pm. Cameron was there, ready to go.

Mark showed up right after us, so we all set up and started talking through the set. Cameron picked right up on “Everything to God,” which caused me to change directions and go with “Sing Like The Saved.” We did “Unchanging” with very few problems and then “Holy Is The Lord.” Cameron took a bit of time to figure out the timing on the bridge, but we got it worked out. Just for peace of mind, we ran the set again, which ended up landing us somewhere near 6:30pm.

The band went back to the kitchen to eat while I got the Powerpoint ready to go. After that, I went and freshened up. (I am the star, after all) and then came back and ate with the guys.

There were almost 60 kids there, which was quite a nice jump from the 30 on Monday night. It took forever to get them involved in “Sing Like The Saved,” mostly because we apparently were hosting some of the coolest kids in all of Colmesniel. They didn’t tell me they were cool, but they stood there with their eyes squinted in a weak James Dean impression and looked disgusted at their friends as we tried to have some fun.

When the speaker came up, I walked around the church to check out the other activities. We’re actually playing a thing called “Colmesniel Crusade for Christ.” This is a yearly event were FBC puts on 3 three-night revivals. While we played the youth revival in the fellowship hall, the church held normal revival services in the sanctuary and the kids met outside in this large circus tent complete with clowns, popcorn, snow-cones, etc. I wandered back to the youth room.
We played during the commitment time, then headed home. We stopped at the Dairy Queen in Huntington and rapped a bit, then drove the rest of the way to Lufkin, Texas, the best city in the state of Texas.

Bono, How I Love Thee; Let Me Count The Ways

It’s happened gradually, but I fear I am near complete saturation in my attempt to be all things Bono to the ministry of worship. How so?

I can’t do “Everlasting God” without adding the bridge of “With or Without You.”

I continually ask my band to play U2 songs in soundcheck or dismissal of services.

I ask people to join me on stage.

Let me explain: as many of you know, during the Vertigo tour, Bono began allowing people on stage to actually play with the band. At the particular show I attended in Dallas, they let a 20-year old kid strap on one of Edge’s acoustics and rock “Angel of Harlem” in front of thousands of people.

As I watched it play out on stage that night, I remember Bono saying something like, “Why do I do things like this?”

Well, I had one such Bono-esque thought tonight.

We took a three-piece to Colmesniel and it went quite well. This always happens when I do stuff w/ acoustic, drums and bass. I end up enjoying it a great deal, mostly because drums and bass are a bit more present and I am required to play in a much different style.

However, in setting up, Sean (the pastor at the church) mentions that the kid who’ll be running our Powerpoint is a very good electric guitar player. You know what happened, right? I pull Sean aside and say something like:

“If I asked Cameron to play electric for us tomorrow night, do you think he could?”

Sean gives me a definite yes, so I find Cameron a few minutes before we started. I thought the kid was gonna’ hug me. He was so excited. Then to make matters worse, I tell the crowd in between songs that Cameron will be joining us for the Tuesday night service. Talk about over-committing!

I actually think the kid is gonna’ do great, but I do hear a tiny little Bono-voice saying “Why do I do things like this?”

Question of the Day:Musicians, who COULD you join on stage?

COLMESNIEL GIG TONIGHT

Pray for me, Brad and Mark. We're taking the TWB unplugged to the woods tonight. God Be Glorified!

Any electric players out there want a three day gig? Pays $100. Big money...

Clear Lake III

Sorry for the delay...

After the gig, we hang out w/ the youth pastor. Of course, this is the "Let's wait around until the youth guy offers to buy us supper."

We gather up and head to FUDDRUCKERS. (Stupid name.) Of course, they've closed at 10pm. (Stupid idea.) We hang a big U-turn and head for Valdos, a Mexican Seafood place. I've decided that many eating establishments in Clear Lake have added "seafood" to their name. Why do I need seafood pizza?

The youth pastor had called ahead to Valdo's and found out that they closed at 11pm. So we roll in 45 minutes before closing w/ 14 people. I don't think Valdo's was too happy with us.

Knowing me as many of you do, I skipped the strange seafood/tex-mex combination and ordered the cheeseburger.

We ate, talked and finally made it back to the hotel sometime after 11pm. Everybody headed to their rooms to chill out.

Forrest played some of recital stuff on my acoustic while we talked about songwriting and lazily watched Cops. We went to be after midnight.

Why do cell phones continue to ring in movie theaters, churches and countless other places? Why can't we remember to turn our phones off?
Is it even a matter of forgetting? Or do people just feel that it's more important that they are "connected" non-stop?

I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not Gonna' Take It Anymore

Dear ABC,
At a time you find most convenient, please refund the three years of my life I've wasted on your completely foolish prime time drama entitled "LOST." You've given me nothing for my trouble. You took three months off during late 2006 so that we could have "all-new" shows in 2007 that "answered" our questions. Well, I haven't one question answered.
I think your struggling, Mr. Abrams. I think you and your team have dug yourself into a whole and you don't have a fat clue how to pull yourself out of it.
I am done. You get no more of my Wednesdays, ABC. No more. I put a stop to it, right now.

Demos Are Done...Wait, I Promise!

It's official! I finally finished my rough demos today. (Thanks to Forrest for giving me a bit of tail-kicking on finishing this junk up.)

Hopefully, I'll throw them on CD, throw CD and charts in an envelope and send them to Mr. King by Friday. Maybe. I think. I probably will.

CAN ANYBODY TELL ME WHAT THIS SONG IS ABOUT?
I'M BEING SERIOUS, HERE...WHAT STATEMENT IS THIS SONG MAKING?

Verse 1
A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

Pre Chorus
In my heart in my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Chorus 1
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

Verse 2
Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

CCLI

That's right, folks. I got my second CCLI payout on February 15th:



$287.42.

Keep singing those songs, people!

TWB Clear Lake / Part Two

12pm
Head for Clear Lake. Forrest gripes because he sat by a priest. Then Forrest claims the flight attendant liked him because she gave him a full can of Coke.

2ish
Arrive at Clear Lake Baptist. Jinx is on the way. Arrive to find bass amp is gone. Locate youth pastor, he goes to get amp. We look at the sound system. Jinx gets there and starts setting up. Romack found the drum kit to be a "bit" more challenging than I had originally communicated. Sorry, Justin.

4:00pm
Begin practicing.

6:00pm
Forrest grabs iPod to figure out the lead to "Let the Praises Ring" while me and the boys went to the hotel. We were at the Clear Lake Hilton right down the road from NASA. The hotel was very very nice.

6:40pm
Get back to church. Start throwing songs into projection software. Quickly discover that these folks have their projector formatted to display wider than their screen. Rather than try to reconfigure their projector settings, I open up each song file and reformat the margins. Finished up just in time.

7:00pm
Group meets in the youth room for games. Once game involved chocolate covered apples and another involved consumption of some strange pork product. (Very "Fear Factor")After the game, I take the stage as there is just "one more announcement." The announcement ended up being pretty long, but we finally took the stage somewhere close to 7:30pm.

7:30pm
LET THE PRAISES RING
ALL THE FREED
SING LIKE THE SAVED
PROMISES
EVERY MOVE I MAKE
PART OF YOUR STORY

Set went over like gang busters...they sang, jumped, screamed, lifted hands, applauded the Father...it was very good.

8:30pm
Preacher takes the stage. He used some Rob Bell stuff, did a sermon on the fact that "storms" not only reveal who WE ARE, but who GOD IS as well. As he's wrapping up, youth pastor comes over and tells me that we've got to wrap up the service. About five minutes later, he tells me to go on up and play anyway. We did "Let The Praises" slow. It went great. One of those times where folks would have gladly sung two or more songs.

9:45pm
Kids are leaving. Me and the band play "Where the Streets Have No Name." It was awesome, but the kids had no idea what we were doing.

TWB Clear Lake / Part One

10am
Arrive in Nacogdoches to pick up Romack. Church is locked and Romack is nowhere to be found. Romack arrives at 10:15, then takes 15 minutes to gather drum gear. Leave at 10:40 for Lufkin; call Chad to say, "We're running late."

11:10am
Opt for the loop coming into Lufkin and get stuck behind the biggest transport vehicle in the world. I swear, this 18 wheeler must have been transporting an 18 wheeler or something. It was so big that a "bucket truck" was driving in front of him to lift power lines out of his way. He was driving MAYBE 15 miles an hour. Call Chad, scream that I'm still late. I turn around, take Pershing up Southwood to Hayswood then back around to the church. (Like you care what streets I took.)

11:30am
Load Chad's car to overflowing assortment of clothing and musical gear. Head for Houston to pick up Forrest. Can get a signal to connect w/ Forrest as he sits in the airport waiting for us. We begin texting each other and he says, "Are you guys here yet?" to which I accidentally posted "Later." I suck at texting.

I really, really, really hate this chord.


(By the way, is blogger now uploading anybody else's pics in weird code before you publish them?)

At The Risk of Sounding Sexist

A few months ago, I happened upon a phenomenon that I thought was a rare occurence. As time went by, I began formulating a theory. As more and more evidence stacked up, I became even more convinced of my position.

Girls don't know how to use walkie-talkies.

Seriously, hand a walkie-talkie to ten girls and at least 8 of them won't have a clue what to do. They don't know what button to push, they're turning the volume knob back and forth and typically, they end up talking into the machine without turning it on.

I realize there are exceptions, but the majority of the time, girls don't have a clue about this particular brand of technology.

Anybody with me? Anybody hate me?

I've spent all day Saturday at Woodlands United Methodist Church (or First United Methodist Woodlands...who knows? Or cares?) I've been at a worship seminar (I think) and I'm now skipping the last session to blog from one of the three open macs in their Student Ministry Center called the "Rebel Base."

I saw one of their worship leaders walking by a little while ago....thought I might ask him for a job but then realized I wasn't cool enough.


Oh yeah..while I was at this giant waste of time, I missed Finley's first step.

Hardest-to-sing worship song ever?

darkstew

Confess Your Sins One To Another

When's the last time you watched an episode of "Saved By The Bell?"
I'll go first...

This Morning.