Electric Guitar Lead Riff on "You Have Saved Us"

Another post for the electric players - wow, two in a row!

As you know, we introduced a new song, "You Have Saved Us" by Paul Baloche, back in January. I remember an afternoon when one of our electric guitar players called me and shared that he was trying to figure out the lead riff the electric does at the beginning of the song. He had an idea of how to play it but it didn't quite sound like the recording. I could tell he was (initially) a little frustrated with how challenging it was to replicate this deceptively simple riff.

I actually contacted the guy who plays electric on the recording (Ben Gowell) and although he didn't respond to me directly he happened to post an instructional video on YouTube just four days ago. In the video he shows you how he plays the riff and how he incorporates the delay pedal. Needless to say delay is something you hear A LOT of in modern worship songs - a nod to the tremendous influence of bands like U2 and Coldplay.

Anyway, here's the video - remember, he is playing it in the key of A, whereas we do it in G.

Electric Guitars

Came across a helpful article for electric guitar players over at MusicAcademy.

http://www.musicademy.com/2010/02/top-10-dos-donts-lead-guitarists

You'll notice that MusicAcademy is one of the links on the right side of the page. MusicAcademy is a British-based organization dedicated to equipping and training lead worshippers. They have some excellent resources, articles, videos for every instrument - including the voice. In fact, we have training videos from them for keyboards, bass, drums, orchestral instruments and a vocal warm-up CD as well. You are ALWAYS welcome to borrow these resources - there's some great tips and technique stuff.

Speaking of electric guitar, one of our own, Mark Kahler, has been featured in a recent publication. No, it's not Rolling Stone or Guitar World - it's ADVANCE for Nurses, and our man Mark is totally rocking it on the front cover. Just had to share this one with you all!

Experiencing God

It has been an amazing week hasn't it? Life interrupted, plans put on hold, a lot of time spent indoors. The amount of snow that surrounds us is absolutely amazing, beautiful, and yes, even a little scary - especially when you are two years old and looking up at a five foot drift (that would be my daughter Anna). As I've spent the past several days inside I have caught myself admiring the sheer magnitude of what has taken place all around me - and being awestruck by the One who superintends it all. God has definitely opened the "storehouses of snow" (Job 38:22)!

In the midst of all this snow we managed to open the doors for church this past Sunday (kudos to our maintenance crew). Those who were able to make it heard Pastor Brian preach on "Experiencing God" - the idea that we were designed to be in an intimate, growing relationship with the triune God. Although many of us know things about God, understand the gospel and espouse biblical beliefs and convictions, experiencing His presence - listening, conversing, meditating, communing - well, that seems a little more elusive, at least for me. But that's what Christ has secured for you and for me - a genuine, living, dynamic friendship with Himself.

One of my favorite Psalms says "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Ps. 34:8). I love how the psalmist invites us to experience God's presence - which is what we are doing when we are truly worshipping God. Pastor Brian had Connie & Janell powerfully demonstrate the difference between "reading" and "tasting" a cheesecake recipe. You and I shouldn't settle for just second-hand experience with God - we have been offered a personal relationship with God. The question is, what does that relationship look like? How do we experience His presence?

Over the past few years I have slowly come to the realization that I need to both "practice the presence of God" in my daily life as well as set aside time to read the Scriptures, pray, journal, etc. It's not a case of either/or but rather both/and. Yes, I am a slow learner. But God is gracious.

As I go throughout my day, I want to be aware to how God is present all around me. I want to be dialoguing with Him - praying, listening - as situations present themselves. As I was walking to the church the other day I was experiencing His presence as I noticed a couple cardinals chirping a way in the trees, and it reminded me of the line from the song "This is My Father's World" ("the birds their carols sing"). As I talk to my brothers in Christ I experience God as they speak the truth-in-love, sharpen and encourage me. As I lead others in worship I especially experience His presence - and feel His pleasure.

But I know I also need to be intentional - highly intentional as Pastor Brian would say - about my devotional time with Him. Right now this takes the form of reading the Bible, perhaps another devotional/Christian living book, praying and journaling. I am still learning what this looks like, but I know that if I want to experience the "abundant life" I need to regularly be engaged in these disciplines - along with "practicing the presence". If I don't take time to slow down, reflect, recover (!) I begin to lose some of that deep connected-ness with God. My intentional living factor goes way down.

So, those are my reflections on this past week's message - kind of raw and unfiltered. I hope you have a chance to think about this idea of experiencing God, and consider in what ways that is happening or can happen for you. If you missed Pastor Brian's message you can catch on the church website.

Weighing In on Potential New Songs

Hey Worship Team,

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I would be putting together a page on Planning Center with potential new worship songs. The initial idea came from Gordon, and I thought it was an excellent idea indeed!

We thought it'd be great to get some feedback from you, the worship team member who could potentially be playing one of these "new" songs in the near future. Was the song memorable and catchy? Was it singable? What was your initial impression? This is the kind of feedback I would be looking for.

So, I invite you, encourage you to visit the "new songs" page and let me know what you think. The link to the page is below. You'll need a Planning Center account to access this page - but if you're on the worship team you'll already have one one.

http://www.planningcenteronline.com/plans/1145285

I've set everyone on the worship team up as an "editor" for this page only. This will allow you to leave feedback on the feedback tab. Here's how: If you click on the pencil icon to the right of the song title a box will pop up and you'll see an area called "feedback notes". Here is where you can input your thoughts on the song. Just be careful not to delete anyone else's thoughts!

You are also welcome to post feedback on the new songs in the form of comments to this blog post. Or, if all else fails, just shoot me an email with your thoughts.

You may be wondering what criteria I use when considering new songs to introduce. Here are several considerations (in no particular order):

• Theological Content - what does the song say about God, His character, His redemptive work? Is the song declaring, affirming something about God that calls for a response? Is what the song is saying theologically sound?
• Musicality - does it have a memorable melody? Does the melodic structure fit the lyric or theme?
• Singability - can the average person sing it after hearing it a couple times? Is the melodic pattern easy enough to follow, and is the melodic range (lowest to highest note) within the range of the average person?
• Lyrical Quality - does the song avoid cliches? If the song has a rhyme pattern, are the rhymes solid? Are the metaphors consistent or mixed?
• Singular vs. Plural - are the pronouns in the song personal or corporate? I tend to prefer songs that use the "we/us" language in corporate worship settings.
• Repertoire - when looking at the songs already in our repertoire, does the new song cover a topic that is lacking representation in the repertoire?

I hope you can take a listen to some of the new songs...