BabuLife

Dell Hold Music

Well I'm sitting at my Mom's house 45 minutes from anywhere in northeast Missouri.  Basically sitting on a farm here at Heartland Ministries trying to access wireless internet that my parents have set up in their house.  I seem to be getting an error message "Limited or no connectivity" on my Dell notebook. 

So I'm sitting here on the phone listening to some of the best hold music. Well maybe it's not the best, but at 1:30 in the morning it sure sounds great. They have played "Some of Them Want to Use You" by the Eurythmics, "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran, that one song that was really popular in the early 80's by the group The Fixx I think it's called "One Thing Leads to Another", "Everybody Wang Chung" by guess who...Wang Chung.  I've discovered that Dell has given me something entertaining to listen to.  I've almost forgotten how frustrated I am that I've been sitting on hold for about 40 minutes.  Those sneaky Dell people have made me nostalgic for my youth while I was previously grinding my teeth waiting for an answer.  When that rep gets on the phone I'm gonna give them a piece of my...oh wait, Culture Club!  Camacamacamacama Camacamelian....

New Fall Fashion Line

I'm thinking this could be a very useful tool around the house, office or just for a night out on the town.  Especially for one of those nice romantic dates.

 

Just a useless toy that I would buy if I had money for this kind of stuff.  You can purchase this Clone Trooper helmet at the StarWarsShop.com.

UPDATE: SOLD OUT!!!

Looking for new music?

If you're looking for some new music like Doug, there's no better place than checking out other blogsites like Heath's. I'm always on the lookout for what others might be listening to. Check out my iPod Essentials on the left column of this blogsite for my recommendations.  Also, check out my music category for my iPod Noise reviews.  These are little writeups about music that I'm listening to lately. 

So here's the question:  What's your all time favorite album and/or song, band and/or singer?  If you'd like to give two recommendations for each as "Christian" and "Non Christian" that's fine. And if this is too tough to answer, what music have you been listening to lately?

Caption Game: Bring it On

Now don't be shy...my Dad does visit this site periodically (but he does have a good sense of humor).

   

Fellowship Church Worship Center Overhaul

Fellowship is going to be doing an overhaul on their worship center.  They've been touring churches to find out what might be a good fit.  Check out what they've been finding here.  All you techies (video, audio, lighting) might find some interesting info.

New Blog "Life With Little Women"

My wife has jumped in!  Addie has decided to join the blogosphere.  I'm thinking she should change the name to "Life With Little Women and a Foxy Hunk".

Check it out here.

Official Sith Release Date

Well it looks like Revenge of the Sith dvd will be on the shelves November 1, 2005.  I know what I want for Christmas...actually, I know I won't be able to wait for Christmas.  Check it out here.

Prayer Request: My Dad

Please be in prayer for my dad.  He is currently in Gaza ministering over the next month.  It's becoming a little tense over there as Israel begins to remove Jewish settlers from Gaza and the West Bank.  Thanks!

View From the Stage: 7/24/05

This past Sunday, Brian Gann taught us about what it means to worship God.  It was refreshing to hear a message that focused more on the aspects of God.  Brian did a fantastic job.  It's really neat to see how Grace Church has pastors who can just step in for Tim Howey without skipping a beat.  Great job Brian!

Concluding the message Brian shared, Tom Herzog took a moment to encourage the church at the close of the service.  There's a great post on "It's About the Journey" where Tom posted his thoughts.  Tom is an incredible, passionate pastor who has an uncanny ability to communicate.  Check out his thoughts on worship here.

Closing the service out with the song "Not to Us" was also uplifting.  There's something about leading a group of people who are all excited about singing their hearts out to God in response to a calling.  Check out Jannas post on her thoughts here.

Choosing Worship Songs: Style

All right, now here's a topic that can get many a worship leader in trouble with their congregation.  Choosing a style to present the music is a hot topic in and of itself.  Rock, Reggae, Classical, R&B, Gospel, Country or traditional.  These are just a few of the styles one can choose from when leading their church in worship.  In this post, I'm going to share how I approach this issue. 

Again, I am a GROWING expert and am only giving a glimpse of what my experiences have been and what I currently do.  I do NOT believe I have arrived and would love to hear about others experiences and thoughts.

Style

I have found that as a worship leader, it's necessary to know that I am in this role to serve the church, not just entertain them.  Once I learned and applied this principal, I discovered that I must not simply choose song styles based on my preferences.  This is a difficult thing, because simply put, there are some styles that I enjoy more than others and there are some styles that the praise team can tackle better than others.

When people mention a cool worship song they've heard and say they'd love to hear our team do it, I quickly run through my mind the style and whether our team can play it at the level of excellence necessary.  There are just some songs that we can pull off well and some that just don't quite work.  And that's ok.  Challenge your team to play things that they aren't used to playing. You may just discover that you can play a little gospel along with your rock.

Now back to the people in the church. You must be willing to take risks in leadership.  Serving the people does not mean catering to everyone's opinion of what worship music should sound like. Refer to my post on "10 Things on Worship Leading". Sometimes the church body is best served by the worship leader who challenges them to open their ears, eyes and hearts to styles that are relevant in today's world.  There's a can that I won't open here labeled "Music styles and instruments that are Biblical" that many folks like to pull out and open from time to time.  I typically like to stay away from that since it usually gets you nowhere.  Just ask them if they'd prefer you play a Sackbut.

So find the style that best fits your community and from time to time, mix it up.  It might even revive a bored worship team.

Recommended link: worshiptogether.com