today's set
All the Earth (Baloche - radio mix)
Great and Glorious (Smith)
Praise the Lord (King)
Here I Am (Bleeker)
Lay It Down (Lubben)

Strange set today. Drums experimented a bit too much w/ "All the Earth" and it turned into something very different from what we practiced. "Great and Glorious" transition to "Praise the Lord" was good. But the flow to "Here I Am" fell apart. I think the electric guitarist and I started as intended, but I think everybody else was standing there completely bewildered.

I think we're hitting a new, more difficult, phase as a worship band. I told the team Thursday that I feel that we're okay as far as proficiency (for what we want to happen,) but we need to work on feel. In fact, I recorded a live mix of the service today to here our flow. It wasn't a perfect mix, but it would be nice to archive this stuff.

As much as I hate to, I think I'm going to have to lock back in to some more structured orders for the songs. Freestyling seems to be something that we're not ready for. I don't like it, because I'd love more freedom in worship, but I do think I need to be considerate of the team. I don't think they're going to enjoy playing if they feel like they have no idea where we're going.

I lead worship at the Wesley Foundation this Wednesday in Nacogdoches. I'll play w/ Justin Romack, Chris Caraway and Ryan Finnerud. We're not going to practice - just run some stuff in the sound check. Yikes! Should be interesting....and possibly good.

Got a couple of things I'm writing that I like. I've been working on one called "Words Fall Short" for about a month. I don't know if its ready. I need to play it for some folks and see what they think. The other I called "We Love Your Word." That title will probably change before its done, but I like it. I've dropped it a few steps to make it more conversational. I've had the verses since last year, but just figured out what I want the chorus to do. Neither tune is finished - I'm trying to take plenty of time to make them as strong as they can be. I thought I'd write something for the retreat I'm doing in May, but I think I've already got a couple that fit the theme of the weekend.