Recent Musical Observations...

On Shane and Shane's Pages
I think I'd really like to hear more solo stuff from Shane Everett. To me, he's the coolest thing going in that whole Shane and Shane thing. Such a great voice.

On concerts
When it did become trendy to look like you just woke up?

On Crowder
It ain't A Collision, but some of it is still pretty good. ('Course, I could live without all the bleeps and blurps...) Wait a second...I hated A Collision!

On gigs
What sort of band do I take to for a 4-night revival in a tiny East Texas town?

On concerts, again
Will Blake take me along to see Family Force 5 and Jonezetta, even though I killed his chance to see Baloche earlier this week?

On Phil Wickham
Hey...there are actually some worship songs on this record!

About to dig into Phil Wickham's Cannons. I'm apprehensive, but Blake says I'm gonna' dig it, so I'm going in with an open mind.

Anybody heard it? Anybody like it? (Not you, Blake. You're fast approaching stalker-level with both Wickham and Crowder.)

My Favorite Will Ferrell Moment on SNL

Carlos Santana Shreds...

Thank you, John Simmons, for sending me this video. It brought me much joy and it is a credit to you that would somehow know that I would love every second of it.

SURVEY...

What's one of your favorite blogs/sites to visit? And don't say this one. Nobody likes a kiss-up.

Find Us Faithful

For those of us involved in ministry - and that pretty much applies to all of you - we have a lot of responsibility and privilege. Not only are we charged to be shepherds for our people, but quite often, we're also shepherds for those who will one day take our place.

Youth pastors, you see this in the group of 2 or 3 guys who are always at the church, or consistently asking you about when you "knew" you were called into ministry. Worship leaders, you see this in the middle-school girl who makes a bee-line for the drums each week, watching, asking, making mental notes.

It happens to us all - the young people that God places in our lives to watch, learn and maybe even model what they've seen.

And while most of us are more than willing to stay late after practicing teaching a guitar chord or meeting for an early morning Bible study or attending some high school sporting event, we're still falling short in the lives we display for the kids who are to come after us.

Specifically, I'm talking about us, guys. Who among us doesn't have a college guy or high schooler hanging on our words and watching what we do? We've got to do a better job at modeling an entire live of God-honoring behavior.

I personally believe that many of us have done a great job in displaying what a good minister does, but fail when it comes to showing what a good husband and father does. You see, all of my young guys are watching me - they see when I cancel plans on my family to make some rehearsal, when I ignore a call from my wife just so I can indulge in some late-night parking lot chat. They notice when all I talk about is the job. They notice when I pass on a day off or use that free time just for me. And they notice when I can't turn off my mind and I'm still "at the church" even when I'm at home.

Let's work harder, guys. Let's be aware that these that follow us are learning more than just chord structures or songwriting or web design or sermon planning or outreach. They're learning how to be the kind of man God calls them to be...and some of them are learning it wrong. Let's do it better.

How's This For A Mix-Tape?

Lately listening to these 3 albums - Foos, Crowder and Ross King.
A weird mix to be sure...

A. Mutemath is cool.
B. The original video is cool.
C. Performing "the video" on Jimmy Kimmel is cooler than cool.

WHAT TODD AND JONAH WILL BE DOING 5/8/08

I Really Enjoy This...Should I Be Concerned?

MAN, I HATE RAP MUSIC.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Here's the site we launched this morning to run in conjuction with our God 101 series that started today.

We had no music today, but special guest Rob Byers, who's an artist. Rob spent almost 40 minutes painting a massive mural on stage. Our pastor then came up and talked about "brushstrokes" - how we had no idea what the picture was going to be. Slowly, as we saw more brushstrokes, we begin to get a better perspective.

Mike then asked our people to take a few minutes and write down their own personal brushstrokes - times when they've "seen" God. It was really cool. I would tell you what we're going to do with those cards, but since my blog is now linked at http://www.worshipbuzz.com/, some of them may be reading this!

I must keep it secret! I must keep it safe! I will say that reading through these cards has been a moving experience. Will try to post more info on the next "super-secret-church-thing" in the next few days.

1. Why business/churches with double-door entrances (usually glass) only unlock ONE OF THEM.

2. Vanity license plates.

3. The success of Robin Thicke.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOURS? WHAT'S OUT THERE THAT YOU JUST DON'T GET?

Okay, we're closing in on mix stage for the record. This means that I'm now starting to fill out paperwork, get pictures together, make sure I have enough money to actually duplicated CDs, write my thank-yous, all that stuff.

This is where you come in.

I'm having so much trouble figuring out track placement. Here's what my list looks like right now:
TODD WRIGHT - ALL THE FREED
1. All The Freed

2.

3. I Am Glad

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13. The Cross of Christ

Here are the remaining songs:
Like The Sun
My Lips Will Sing
Align
Part of Your Story
Search and Know
Beautiful
King of Mercy
You Gave Sight
Let It Be
Glorify

Where would YOU plug those 12 songs? Come on - I need some help here!

THE JIG

Britney bombed. Sarah Silverman is mean. Usher is mad. Kid Rock threw punches with Tommy Lee. Justin Timberlake left a party with Rihanna.

Here's the thing: I don't watch MTV. I didn't watch this award show. But thanks to the amazing power of American news and the wonder of YouTube, I - along with millions of others - have become privy all the lowdown dirt on music's biggest night last weekend.

But this award show was pretty important in my opinion. Intrigued? Good, here's why:

For the last 10 years or so, MTV has changed its approach. They went from making money by selling 3 minute commercials for artists to making money by pitching a lifestyle. For a decade, MTV (and others like it) have held up stars like Britney and Silverman and Kid Rock as if to say, "Here, American teenager! This is the life. This is success...look how many cars they have! Look how people applaud when these stars come onstage!"

And while most teenagers don't seriously consider a life in the entertainment industry, they have been force-fed images of what MTV programmers consider the "good life" and, believe me, that takes root.

We see this in a lot of forms - young people deciding to lead lives of anarchy where nothing is really right and everything is cool. We see teenagers who've decided that money really can make you happy. We've got college students who scream their lungs out protesting a war when they're totally cool starting up a slugfest at some nightclub with a stranger who looked at their significant other in a questionable manner.

The wheels are coming off, gang. The pretty and the rich and the talented are being crushed under the weight of the vices made possible by their very successes. I hope students look at the MTV Awards and realize that the jig is up. This thing - this idea of happiness they've been seeing for years and years - isn't working.

I think our youth pastors ought to be talking about this award show for months - not as some sort of fuel for a Jesus-doesn't-want-you-to-drink campaign, but rather as a startling reminder that our culture is screwing us. It's teaching us things that are going to handicap our spirits and put our families and finances and very existence at risk.

Do any of those people mentioned in my first paragraph seem very glamorous now? No, they look empty. They look like lives-at-risk.

I'm not going to be the annoying Christian guy who says, "MTV awards? I don't care about stupid stuff like that!" We better start caring and noticing those rare times when media really does reveal the ugliness of a life lived for self.

What It Looks Like

For quite some time, my wife has been "encouraging" me (read: "pressuring") to do more teaching during our worship times at church.

I love the people at our church, but a majority of them don't really know much about what the Bible says about worship. In the past, when I've done these little teaching things, they've gone over well, but I've been looking for some sort of overarching theme to help me approach the issue.

I was familiar with Aaron Keyes "Postures of Praise" sermon, so downloaded the pdf from him and started looking through the material trying to formulate my approach. I knew this past Sunday was a great time to do it, since we were doing Michael Neale's "From the Rooftops," which has this line: I lift my hands in adoration.

Before we did the song, I talked about "what it looks like" - essentially, what does the Bible say about the physical aspects of worship: lifting hands, singing, clapping, kneeling, shouting, dancing. I used the phrase "what it looks like" 2 or 3 times because I thought it created a unique, non-threatening approach. I spoke real briefly about what most of us at my church think of with regard to the lifting of hands - that its something we do to acknowledge God's sovereignty or we're feeling particularly inspired. I think those can be great reasons to lift hands, but I wanted to come at if from a different angle, so here's what I read:

Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
Psalm 28:2

Then I talked about how children do this - when they cry for help, they throw their hands up. I mentioned that there were probably were people in the room who needed help and I encouraged them to lift their hands during the song. I also mentioned that if they felt weird about that, then they might consider simply opening their hands up in front of them.

It came out nice. The song went over great and I even got a bit of postivite feedback immediately after the service, which is always a good sign.

For quite some time, I've wanted to do this sort of thing for my folks, and this time it worked. I think we'll hit on the hands for three or four weeks (not necessarily consecutively) and then move on. I'll let you know how it goes.

Since Jonah started school a few weeks ago, I've adjusted my work schedule a bit so that I spend more time with him. Both of our kids go to bed pretty early each night, so I had to make some changes to my calendar in order to see him in the afternoons.

With my new schedule, I drop Jonah off at school and then head straight to work. (I'm normally a roll-in-at-9:30 type of guy....) I work through lunch and then leave at around 2:30 to meet up with Kristen and Finley to pick Jonah up. There are, of course, exceptions and the occasional late-night trips to the office, although I try to limit those.

Today was great. We picked up Jonah and while I was waiting to get him, our realtor called Krist and said they wanted to show our house at 4. We ran home, cleaned up the kitchen a bit and then headed to the mall. Yes, the Lufkin Mall. We got a pretzel, looked around the video game store, hit up the Great American cookie company, then browsed around the bookstore. I loved it - just me and my family, spending an afternoon doing stuff that seems unimportant but matters in ways I can't even express.

The Lufkin Mall is awesome.

I'm not kidding. I love our mall and here's why...
1. It's just big enough. (If I want to buy trendy shoes or some girl pants at the Gap or a movie or chicken sandwich, I can. The mall's got almost everything a family like man needs.)
2. It's just small enough. (I hate big-city malls. I cannot stand fighting my way through mooks and midriffs, dashing for a table at the FoodCourt where I have to yell across the table to my family just to be heard over the din that can only occur in a spacious, tile-floored mall. I don't like what my kids hear and see in big city malls...profanity, sex, disrespect, etc. I'm not saying Lufkin doesn't have those things...just that they're not usually on display at our beloved shopping center.)
3. It's mine. (When I met Kristen, she worked at our mall. I would spend every single lunch-break racing over to see her, just to sit beside her, just to hear her talk about her day. My mall may not have much, but it's got that memory, and that's enough for me.)

So, the next time you're in the Lufkin Mall, take a second and appreciate the perfect blend of mid-size shopping options, small-town quiet and the amazing historical significance it holds in the life of your most beloved blogger, Brandon Todd Wright.

Big Brother Vs. Mom and Dad

Caught a story on NPR this morning while driving to work. I had heard that California was about to try to do some law-making about cell phone usage in cars.

What I hadn't heard is that legislators are also trying to pass a law that prohibits 16 and 17 year-olds from driving while using any electronic device (including hands-free equipment.)

Opponents of the bill say that teaching safe driving is the responsibility of parents, not the state.

What do you think? Would this law be an invasion of personal privacy? Does the safety of its citizens warrant the government violating what a person does in his or her car?

More Shaun...

Robert Conn is the man.

This is the promotional pic for his upcoming fall scavenger hunt.

It is awesome.

Yes, I am trying to think of a way to get to his church just so I can be a part of this event.

Great image, Robert!