BabuLife

Got the Itch Again

This itch seems to come this time every year.  Why?  I don't know.  Could it be the summer heat?  I am wanting a new guitar.  I love my Breedlove, but I have a hankering for something new.  Does this mean I'll get one?  No.  It never does.  But...I'd love to know what guitar you play and what you would recommend and why.

Photoshop Learning

I started a two day Photoshop class today at our local community college.  It's nice to finally learn what most of those little buttons are in there.  I've pretty much just used the cropping tool then inserting the image into Illustrator.  This is going to open a whole new world of graphics design.

Funny story - In the class there's one guy who is an avid Mac user.  He gets frustrated because he doesn't understand the mouse functions and file folders.  He keeps closing his work before he can save it.  I know, it's mean to think it's funny, but c'mon, you Mac users can be so arrogant confident in the quality of your product at times that it's nice for us PC users to get a laugh at you.  A guilty pleasure.

My Day

OH Yeah...this is how I spent some of my Memorial Day. 
Don't know who this guy in this picture is, but I was definitely feeling his laziness vibe.

View From the Stage: 5/28/06

Vacations all over the place today!  Our lead pastor , Tim Howey, was off spending some much needed time away with his family.  Video dude, Lighting dude, Drummer dude, and Keyboard dudette were all away this morning. 

We had an all acoustic praise time with two acoustic guitars a bass and three vocals.  It's nice to change it up every once in awhile.  Oh and great job to Jim Williams our Youth Director/Facility Director stepping in for Tim.  He did a great message on the vision of Grace Chruch which is "To Love, To Learn, to Lead". 

Burned by a Church?

Our youth director here at Grace and I were talking and wondered about this question: What does the phrase "burned by a church"  really mean?

My guess is that many people have a level of "burning" that they can handle.  Did someone at your previous church tell you "No you can't drink soda in the worship center"?  Or maybe someone burned you real bad by saying "When you volunteered to watch the kids, you didn't show up so we had to have someone else step into your volunteer position".  Or was it just that someone didn't return a phone call in the amount of time you've determined should be reasonable return phone call time. (I'm sure you can catch the hint of sarcasm here).   For a church to really burn me it'd have to be from someone really doing something harmful to me or my family.  I could get over someone not using my ideas or my opinion on the color of the carpet.

I've never been in the position of finding myself saying "I've been burned by a church" but I wonder if anyone ever has been out there reading this?  What was it that gave you the feeling of being burned by a church if you don't mind sharing.

Let's do it this way.  In an effort to help me, pastors and church leaders all over the world that read this blog (that would be like 30-40 people a day) Please leave a comment completing this sentence:

"Dear (insert church name here) don't burn me by......"

Royals Still Spiraling

Notice how it's been a week since I last posted the standings.  No change in the wins column.  They are currently on a 13 game losing streak.  I think I've decided it's just sad.  Nothing funny about it all.

Royals Homepage

Attention Leaders

What a kick in the gut!  Everyone needs to read this post over at TheResurgence.  Catch the burnout before it catches you.  I've been to the edge a time or two and I can sometimes see myself walking close to it again. 

Less is More

"The sign of truly great musicians is not what they play but what they don't play." Tim Hughes, Here I am To Worship (Never Lose the Wonder of Worshiping the Savior)

This is a true principal in the world of music.  Too often musicians assume we should play our instruments continuously during a song.  A song is like painting a picture.  You start with the pencil sketch and outline then begin to fill it in with color.  You don't just throw one color on the picture, you add other colors then add shades of colors which create depth.  A song is the same.  The instruments create the color and the shade.  Your instrument isn't the only one creating the breathtaking image.  Give a little space for the blues and yellows. 

I wonder how often this principle could apply on many teams.  Not just music.

Brajolina

View From the Stage: 5/21/06

Had a great Sunday.  It was nice to be playing again after my break last week seeing my folks off on their move to Gaza.  There's just something about singing and leading worship that just gets me excited.  And there are moments that sometimes occur that could possibly bring that excitement crashing down.  Today there was a moment.

Lights are down, the countdown clock counts to 0 and the first song, Beautiful One, starts.  I'm groovin', playing my guitar enjoying seeing the congregation begin to participate in the music.  Then the verse comes.  Light's go up on me to lead and I start singing.  I'm still getting used to the in ear monitors.  Sometimes I can't tell if I'm loud or not and I trust that my voice is just fine in the mains.  Well today my body pack for my microphone was turned off between services.  YIKES!  People are looking at me like...uhhh, yeah, what's he singing?  I hear a voice in my in ears "Ben, your mics turned off".  So I just keep playing thinking, "Ok, what do I do?".  I'm a little helpless and as I begin to head over to a mic on a stand where Brad is, our audio dude Scott says, "I'm coming".  Scott runs to the stage, catapults up to the stage then turns my mic on.  He was like Superman on steroids!  I didn't even know he was there. 

I love our team!