friendly reminders

hello all -

i thought we might be due for a couple friendly reminders about a few things that i think are important as well as a brief thought about something that might be around the corner.

first, thanks for your service.  i love serving with you all.  the Lord has been blessing and i'm excited and encouraged.  many leaders have to deal with prideful and hard musician personalities.  i don't.  you should know that the fact that i don't have to deal with that impacts the church.  it keeps me from being distracted.  the less distracted that we are, the more we're able to lead the congregation in undistracted praise.

reminders:

1.  practice times - now that we've been going for quite a while without a midweek/saturday practice, i think we're plugging along just fine.  but, in order to keep up the pace, i think it's very important that we reinforce the practice times and recommit ourselves to being prompt.  some of you are very good about being on time and prepared.  i thank you for it.  dick, you are a model of this, and i really appreciate that - i honestly believe it's an evidence of God's grace.  and there are others who used to not be as prompt and have recently been very punctual.  i recognize that effort and i thank you for it.

but it's something that we could still stand to improve on.  

it's imperative that as musicians we have a full 1 hour and 15 minutes before the singers arrive.  this allows for more in the way of arranging and it gives us a chance to digest any new music.  to do that, we need to be up and running at 7:30.  so, the reminder is that 7:30 is the start time.  if we could be there, song sheets pulled, set up, tuned, and ready to jump into the flow at 7:30 we can maximize our time.

singers - the time is 8:45.  that gives us a short 45 minutes to practice.  if there are any new songs or any songs that haven't been done for a while, it's really important to not waste any of that time.  so i'd ask again that we show up on time and with song sheets already pulled.  again, this allows for time with arranging, practicing harmonies, transitions, etc.

our goal is to be wrapped up by 9:30 each morning so that we have a chance to rest our fingers, wrists, and voices before we begin.  remember, that for us musicians it's been a full 2 hours (3 for me) that we've been singing and playing by the time that 9:30 rolls around.

2.  just about everyone has made a habit of bringing their music home and coming to practice with it already pulled.  keep up the good work.  if you haven't begun to do that, start!  it's amazing how much time can get sucked into stuff like that.  even if we show up promptly at start times, it's not uncommon for us to not get going for another half an hour because people need to pull sheets, make copies, tune, setup, etc.  let's be prepared once we arrive.

3.  build a music library.  the notion of prepping for a sunday morning by purchasing, listening, and being ministered to by the music is only the first goal that i have in providing the links on this blog.  my heart's desire is that you build a library of music that you listen to week in and week out.  why? because there are some wonderful truths in the music that we're singing.  those truths are put to music in a way that you, if you become familiar with the songs, will be able to pull out and apply to life.

a week ago i was at my parent's house and i was thinking through some songs for a sunday morning.  and as i thought of one of the songs i was able to rattle off the entire four verses in my head without thought.  i stopped and thanked my dad for the richness of the songs that he brought us up with - singing frequently as a family.

the songs that we're singing are no less rich (especially since many of them are the same songs).  it's great to have them at your beck and call when either trials come to you or to family or to a friend.  they minister to my heart.  and they'll minister to yours if you allow them to become a part of your life.

so, if you have the technology, downloading the song as soon as it's posted and listening to it as you do housework or as you drive to and from work is a blessing that i would like for you all to enjoy.  this is a desire that i have for the entire church body - which is why i've spoken with my dad about taking a couple minutes to plug a couple of the sovereign grace cds that i think are a cut above the rest.

the added blessing is that you'll be ready to hit the ground running when it comes to doing new songs and old songs on a sunday morning.

so please, if you have the technology, download the songs right away and listen to them through the week - for your own benefit and for preparation.  if you don't have the technology, i have a list of a few "must have" cds that i think you (as well as every church member) should have.  please ask me for that list.

i promise that it'll be a blessing.

that's it for reminders.

plans:

only one note here.  there's a new song that i'd like to introduce a few months down the road.  i'm not sure if it'll be around christmas or if it'll be around resurrection sunday.  it's a wonderful song from the sovereign grace psalms cd - listen to it by clicking here.  todd twining (a paster at the orlando church and a singer on many of the sovereign grace recordings) has put together a choral arrangement of this piece that is absolutely fantastic.  i heard it done and i was crying by the end.  they've been kind enough to distribute the choral arrangement for free - to see it click here.  i'd like to do this on a sunday morning - having mary on the piano, jake on acoustic guitar, doug on drums, and all of the vocalists (or at least most of them) as a choir.  if all goes well, i'd like to pull in a couple other people to play some additional instruments (perhaps sax, trumpet...).

this is going to be a big challenge for all of us.  the last time we attempted something like this was with steve graf around - and he was much more gifted in these areas than i am.  but, i believe that i have the faith to give it a shot.  so, if you could all download that song and download the arrangement to have a look, we can take it from there.

like i said, i don't know what the timing is (i don't think it'll be before christmas).  but the sooner that you can digest that recording, the better we'll be down the road.

i'm really looking forward to this.  it's going to be a challenge (i haven't written parts for instruments other than piano or guitar since highschool - and i've never directed a choir).  but i believe that it'll be blessed.

that's it.

thanks again for your service - especially the musicians who have been faithful in serving anywhere from 2-4 sunday's a month.  you're serving the church.  that means that you're serving our Lord.  and that means that you're storing up treasures in our true home.

tw