i am an offering

We are officially going to our new church, Living Word, and it’s exciting. My wife and I had dessert with the pastor and his wife and two other couples last night and it was so good to just get to know them and their hearts.

It’s exciting to be a part of this new place God has placed us!

And..I will be blogging regularly again!

No, those two things don’t go together, but they’re both on my mind.

Usually I write a review on Thursdays, but didn’t end up having time yesterday, so I thought I’d share one today. I was blessed to spend an entire day in an Adobe workshop on Adobe CS2 products. With CS2 comes the Bridge application, which I had previously opened, looked at, and then quickly proceeded to shut down because I didn’t really know why I needed another file browser. Thankfully, my eyes were opened!

We spent a significant amount of time in the morning just on the Bridge, and let me tell you, it was worth it. So, designers, if you don’t use it yet, I highly recommend that you do.

Some things that I am already using:

• Favorites: These are favorite folders that you use on a daily basis that you can specify, and they always are quick to get to. No more digging for files. And since the Bridge shows you thumbnails of every type of Adobe file (.psd, .indd, .ai, .pdf, and probably more), you can see and find your files really easily.
• Metadata: Yep. You can tag and categories all your files. This is beneficial for searching, keeping track of versions, and attaching metadata that is Google searchable to your files. Very cool.
• Compact mode: This absolutely rocks. You can switch the Bridge to compact mode, which then basically makes it a Palette just like in any other Adobe program. It will stay in the forefront of all your applications. You can then just drag and drop any kind of files into any kind of Applicaction. No more having to do file > place all the time!

The bridge has already saved me a ton of time.

Secondly, Brian Bailey, author of The Blogging Church, has just posted a great series on blogging for ministry. Anyone who is getting into the church or ministry blogging world should definitely read these.

Today, in schools across the country, students will be participating in what’s known as the Day of Silence. This is a day to stand up against discrimination of students who are dealing with homosexuality.

This morning I experienced a great witness of God’s power. Many of the students in our youth group are going to be speaking out in love today, wearing shirts that say, “I love you too much to remain silent,” and sharing the love and compassion of Jesus with everyone they come in contact with. We spent time in prayer with the students, and I witnessed them worshipping with no restraint as we were ready to send them to their schools today.

This is scary stuff for these students, but they are willing to offer themselves in love despite what might happen.

The Apostle Paul was dealing with a student going into opposition as well; Timothy. Paul wrote these words to Timothy:

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.” 2 Timothy 1:6-9.

Today, these students are fanning into flame the gift of God, because God has not given them timidity (fear), but power. I pray that they would not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, and I pray that their example today would encourage me to not be ashamed.

As I’ve been hearing things about this day for a while, I can’t help but wonder, if we are truly seeking to be like Jesus, why we haven’t had the bold love to:

• Be the ones volunteering at the AIDS clinics.
• Be the ones willing to reach out to people that no one else will.
• Be willing to let our compassion be shown more than our conviction (while not compromising that conviction.)

Jesus loved, touched, and spent time with Lepers, prostitues, Samaritans, and all of the people that the religious types hated. Let’s stand on what the Bible teaches, but let’s show the amazing love that Jesus has shown with a boldness that cannot be ignored.

A very common situation I see often in working with musicians is that they get a little bit nervous whenever I ask them to just “chord” a hymn by looking at the hymn’s music. While this seems daunting to some, I’d love to give you a few simple tips on how to do it. I’ll also talk about the drawbacks to doing this as well. (This post assumes you have a good grasp of basic music theory.  If you don’t, I would suggest visiting here.)

First: Determine the chords you need.  Most of the time, these will be the chords on the downbeat of a measure.  Because hymns tended to have very complex, moving, four-part harmony, the downbeat was usually where the major chords fell.  If only the downbeat doesn’t sound quite right, look for the chord on beat three (if it’s written in 4/4) or beat four (if it’s written in 6/8) next.  Find all of the major chords that are needed for the melody to sound correct.  Once you determine a chord, pencil it in.  Most of the time, you can rely on the soprano and alto lines to determine your chords, but….

Second: Watch the bass line.  If you are unsure of what the chord is, check out the bass note.  Most times this note will give you the last piece of the puzzle you need to figure out the chord.  However, this can be deceiving to people who aren’t as familiar with music theory.  Don’t use the bass note as your sole determination for the chord.  One of the greatest things about hymns is their use of inversions (a different way to play the same chord) in the music.  Many times, there will be a D chord on top with an F# in the bass, making this a first inversion D chord, and usually leading to a chord with a G on the bottom.  Take advantage of these ‘out of place’ bass notes.  They make the chord structure much more interesting!  And don’t forget to write inversions out on the chord sheet.  If you have a first inversion D chord, make sure it’s written D/F# so the bass player knows to play an F# on the bottom.

So, once you’ve figured out the major chords, and the major bass notes that go with each chord, you have an instant chord chart for this hymn!

The one major drawback to this method of scaling down the notes of hymns and making them a bit more modern is that the harmonies will sometimes end up changing.  So, either you’re going to have to write out some new harmonies for those singers whose ears aren’t as developed, or you’re going to have to trust that your singers will find these new harmonies. 

Sometimes the modern harmonies might throw off the congregation as well, so do this technique with a lot of wisdom and discernment!  Let me know if you have success in this area.

Well, I usually don’t write on Sundays, but I just had to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone at Lord of Life for being so wonderful to us today.   My wife and I were so blessed by all of you today.  You will be missed, but remember that we are still in town, and still a phone call, email, or blog comment away from you.

Moving on is difficult, but I am super excited to see where God will take us.  Tomorrow begins a new adventure.