Immersion Worship

Here’s what I gather is going on here. Some idiot warehouse worker at Target raises his forklift as high as it will go, then moves it forward, hitting a fire sprinkler and causing it to start spraying water all over the place. But the fun really starts when he climbs on a ladder to try and fix the sprinkler.

This, boys and girls, is not a good day at work…

It’s always a bit sad when a conference comes to an end (unless it’s been a bad conference), especially so when it’s been particularly good. And that was certainly true for Day 4.

There was a single general session followed by two breakout sessions, with the conference wrapping things up with Delirious? at 2pm.

The morning’s general session, I think, was the best of all the general sessions. With Abe Laboriel, Paul Jackson Jr, and various friends of theirs leading the worship, it was incredibly engaging. Then a message from Rick Warren on spiritual growth in worship (delivered by video since he wasn’t present at the conference this week) really kicked my vision and desire to see my team and my ministry and my church grow in the right areas in to overdrive. I am stoked about some changes I want to make to the way we do worship and ‘worship team’ at The Summit.


Laboriel, Jackson, et al, tearing it up…

I had planned on going to the ‘Creativity & Balance in Songwriting’ workshop but I guess I missed the announcement because when I got there I found out that it was actually ‘Songwriting Critique’ with Adam Watts, Andy Dodds, and a couple of other guys. I stuck around for it and I’m glad I did, because I had a copy of a song I wrote with me on CD and I submitted it and had it critiqued. It was mostly positive and I got a couple of excellent suggestions from Adam Watts on some minor lyrical changes. Since Watts is practically a songwriting guru and pretty much anything he touches these days becomes audible gold, I really appreciated the feedback.

From that session I went directly to the ‘Vocal Artistry’ workshop with some dude who I don’t remember his name but knows what he’s talking about. Over the hour he shared some simple exercises to help cultivate freedom and strength in the vocals, and control breathing technique etc. It was entirely awesome and perhaps is the number one ‘practical’ thing that I bring away from the conference. The unnamed dude also had a complete CD and DVD set for complete training and exercise of the voice; one set for men and one for women. I picked up everything he had. It’s invaluable.

The schedule was running behind at this point so I just stayed on Campus. Alex was driving out this way from the IE, so I stuck around and ended up digging an impromptu meet with other bloggers and tweeters. Here’s the ‘Circle of Blogstars’; from right to left - Bobby Marchessault, Alex McLean, and Rich Kirkpatrick…



Also hanging out were Carlos Whittaker, Matt Olds, and Steve Eller. Great meeting all you guys.

Delirious? were the conference closers, and they rocked hard like they always do. I have to admit that, having known Delirious? as an entity for the last 14 years, and having seen them play countless times, it was kind of odd to not see Stew Smith behind the drum kit. The new guy is good, but he just doesn’t have the same visible fire and intensity that Stew had. Still, they were excellent and the new Kingdom of Comfort material sounded just awesome.



And then it was over. I went by the resource center and picked up armfuls of stuff to feed me and my team with, and so I’ll unpack some of it over a few posts in the coming weeks and give my reviews.

Generally I found this year’s conference to be better than last year’s in terms of gaining new perspectives and insights on all kinds of areas of worship ministry. I was taught and corrected. I was humbled and exposed. And I came away with a strengthened vision and a new excitement for what I do.

I’ll be back next year.

It was just a half-day for me today. Well, a little less than that actually. My wife had surgery on her hand this morning, so I didn’t roll on down to the conference until 4pm or so. Thanks to everyone who prayed for her, by the way. The doc says it all went well. I have gross mid-operation pictures of the open hand. It’s awesome. I’ll blog them later. You won’t want to miss that.

So I ended up rolling in late to Rich and Los’s workshop on using social media to lead your team. Los was mid-stream on Mogulus when I got there, and gleaned several good ideas from the last half of the session.

It was good to finally meet Los in the flesh. Since his blog is in the top 1500 most linked-to blogs in in the world, and he generally knows what he’s talking about when using social media effectively, I regard him as being amongst the authority when it comes to that stuff. Blogging royalty, if you will. Anyway, I hope to hang with him for a few more minutes before he takes off back to the ATL.

Impromptu and accidental dinner with a few good men and then it was on to Big Daddy Weave. Frankly, these guys are the white man’s Christian version of Hootie & The Blowfish. They were kicking. Really funky, tight sound, and they know how to put on a performance. They were great. I didn’t dig Kirk Franklin so much though; just not my style. I went to the resource center instead and picked up a few things - “The Way of a Worshipper” by Buddy Owens, “God Songs” by Paul Baloche, “Worship Band” resource pack by Jason Carson, and of course the obligatory conference t-shirt. We love merch in my house.

I’m particularly looking forward to tomorrow’s session on bringing contrast and balance to songwriting. It’s being taught by Adam Watts (amongst a couple of other people), and he’s an incredibly prolific songwriter who is producing audible gold right now. Can’t wait to learn from a master.

And of course tomorrow brings the last opportunity for tweeters and bloggers to get together. I think something is happening at lunch time, but keep your eye on twitter and the official conference blog for any more rumours or details.

It’ll be a good final conference day. See you tomorrow!

@EnglishGuy

Just a quick recap from today’s workshop sessions. I’m one of those ‘track hoppers’ who never follow a complete track but go to whatever sessions I think will be the most beneficial.

First up was ‘Preparing to Lead Worship‘ with Troy Kennedy. Lots of little gems from this, but a few the highlights were…
- Have a spirit that is pure, seasoned, and enriched
- Excellence is bringing the best sacrifice of praise I have right now
- The leader who is most prepared is the one most used by God

Second session was ‘Comedy in Worship‘ with Craig Hodgkins. Unusual topic, but incredible insightful.
- Good humor is ecumenical
- Use it appropriately; I can destroy the moment if used unwisely
- Adhere to the ‘Seven Discern-’ables’; Suitable, Applicable, Relatable, Unpredictable, Memorable, Achievable, and Disposable.

And the third session I attended was Debby Kerner Rettino’s ‘Training and Mentoring Worship Leaders‘. Another treasure trove of good insight.
- Be available; mentoring takes time and lots of it
- Develop trust; affirm the things that should be repeated
- Release them; recognize that they do not belong to you, they belong to God.

Unfortunately I will miss most of Wednesday as my wife is having surgery on her hand (please pray for her!). I hope to get back for the last session and any blogger/tweeter meet and greet that might happen.

If anyone is going to the two Social Media workshops at 1:30pm and 3:30pm, can you take notes and send them on to me?

Later,

@EnglishGuy

There’s something new going on this year. The conference has embraced social media. Brilliant. I’m sure a bunch of other bloggers are going to summarize the various ways of keeping up, but I’ll summarize here also. Here are the various conference Interwebs…

Twitter: Any Tweeters out there can join in the fun. Tag your tweets with ‘#PDWC08′. And follow people who are here (such as me, Rich, Steve, Bobby, and Eric).

Flickr: You can see photos that have been uploaded, or upload some yourself. Login with the username ‘worshipconference’ and the password ‘purpose’.

YouTube. Videos from the conference are posted here, and you can also upload your own. Login with the username ‘worshipconference’ and the password ‘purpose’.

Conference Blog: Rich and Carlos are mediating the blogging frenzy. Even if Bobby keep threatening to launch are subversive competition conference blog.

And of course you can always check back here also; I’ll be blogging my way through the conference.

That’s all for now from @EnglishGuy.

To say I have been anticipating this conference with high expectation would be an understatement. Last year’s conference was powerful for me and for my team’s ministry and I have higher expectation this year that God will speak to me. The fact that a good chunk of my team are here as well just adds to reasons why I’m glad to be here; this continues to unify my team, and that’s only a good thing.

The conference had an evening kick-off this year with a concert from Adam Watts, Meredith Andrews, and Leeland. Frankly they all rocked. Pretty much everything Adam does rocks anyway, and even though he only got a three song allowance on stage, he and his band were completely excellent.

I’d not heard Meredith Andrews before, but she certainly has a good sound. She leans a tad towards being country music, and so I didn’t completely dig it, but there was an incredible moment midway through her set where she stepped back from the mic and everyone just kept on singing. There’s something very moving about the sound of a few thousand singers and musicians all singing together. It was a very intense and sweet moment.

And then, of course, there is Leeland…



First the obvious observations. As a band, they rock. Utterly and completely. A phenomenally polished sound. Also, Leeland himself doesn’t look a day older than 15. I was thrown by his comment that the band needed gas money; I swear he’s not old enough to drive.

Less obviously, Leeland have something special going on with their music. I know a few people have taken a dislike to their newest material, but having experienced Leeland live, there is a natural thematic progression and expression to their songs when strung together. They are the complete live act. And absolutely freaking brilliant.

After the evening’s music had finished, I had the pleasure of hanging with Eric, Rich, Bobby, Mike, Jeremy, Erin, Ellie, and Steve for a bit. Great people, good time. Hope to hang with one/some/all of them again before the conference is over.

The conference has a more official blog this year than last year - Worship Conference Blog - so check it for more info.

And if you read this and are at the conference, drop me a line, let’s meet.

More later. English Guy, out.

Current Weight:189.0 lbs
This Week’s Loss:1.6 lbs
Total Loss So Far:11.4 lbs

Yes! I lost weight while managing to completely abuse my diet and with no exercise. Don’t ask me how. Last week there was a McDonald’s fest while waiting at the ER for my wife to be seen (two quarterpounders with cheese, fries, a yoghurt parfait, and a large coke), and various other none-NMFA items. Plus, with my ankle all jacked up, I didn’t work out.

The ankle is doing much better. The X-Rays showed no damage and I’ve rested it for a week. I worked out on it today and gave it a good 4 mile run, and it felt fine.

This week I’m at the Saddleback conference, but I’ll do my best to be good and to work out. Hopefully I can get to 185 by next Monday.

Brent, Kristen, Joe, Buddy, Dan, Rick, Brandy, Deborah, Joel, Theresa, Steven, Tawny, Kelly, Jen, Ron, Darla, Theresa, Heidi, Lynn, Natalie, and Love, how did you all do this week?

One thing I’ve learned over the past couple of days is that God is an encourager. My prayer since Monday has basically been a prayer of submission. I’ve been telling God that I trust Him to deal with all the stuff that’s going on around me, because I can’t; I don’t know how to. Sure, I’ll do what I know to do and be sensible about working out insurance and finances and all that, but I don’t want the wheel; I want God to know that I know He is in complete control.

And so while there is still so much uncertainty that we face over the coming weeks, God encouraged me today. My wife went out to a baby shower, and when she left I decided to pray for her (since it was the first time she has driven since her accident) and just pray again over these situations. While I was praying, God reminded me of a passage in Psalm 119, and that passage became my prayer…

Look upon my suffering and deliver me, for I have not forgotten Your law. Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to Your promise. Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out Your decrees. Your compassion is great, O Lord; preserve me life according to Your laws. Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have no turned from Your statutes. I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey Your word. See how I love Your precepts; preserve my life, O Lord, according to Your love. All Your words are true; all Your righteous laws are eternal.”- Psalm 119:153 - 160.

…and as I read this verse, God said one simple thing to me that just lifted me right out of my pity party for one and into a feeling of celebration and anticipation for an incredible future. He said “My promises to you are still true.”

I find it amazing that the promises God spoke over me thousands of years ago still remain true. The Psalmist was crying out in this psalm for God to preserve him according to His promise, law, and love, and that promise stands for all of us. That promise is still true.

Thank you so much to all of you who are praying. It’s incredible to see a community acting like a community, and my wife and I sincerely appreciate all your words of encouragement and prayers. Just to add to the list of thing to be praying for, I found out yesterday that my job is no longer secure, so I’m praying for guidance and clarity as to what I should do, where I should go, and when I should make the move.

We’re still pressing on and hanging tough. God is good. I can’t wait to see what He’s got in store for us.

In Rob Bell’s first NOOMA video, he talks about rain. More specifically, he talks about the storms in life. If you’ve got ten minutes, watch this before I tell you about the storms in my life right now…



The last couple of months have gone from a light drizzle to a raging storm. In the space of seven short weeks, my wife has had a car accident, my mum has died, my job is under threat of redundancy, my wife had another accident and has smashed up her hand so bad she might need surgery, and now last night my dad had a stroke. It becomes clear, at least to my wife and I, that we’re in one of life’s storms right now. The financial implications could be huge. The health implication even bigger.

This is, without a doubt, the biggest test of my faith that I’ve ever faced. There’s a part of me that wants to get a bit angry and wants to try and take control. But I know in my heart that if I do, life will spin out of control even faster.

As I was watching Rob Bell’s video, I remembered my mum’s favourite Psalm…

“I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God,who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. He won’t let you stumble,your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep. God’s your Guardian,right at your side to protect you, shielding you from sunstroke,sheltering you from moonstroke. God guards you from every evil,he guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return,he guards you now, he guards you always.”

I can’t see more than 3 feet in front of my nose when it comes to life, an I’m learning to trust God to get me through the storm. And even as I write this, I know God’s holding me and my wife tight and whispering “We’re gonna make it…I love you…”.

We’re in for some crazy ride here and I’m so thankful that I’m not the one who’s in control.

Last Sunday, Rhonda and I were strolling around Irvine Spectrum, and we stopped in to a shoe shop, just to see what we could see. While we were there, Rhonda found some shoes on sale for her, and then she pointed out a pair of Converse high top All Stars to me that were a bit different to regular All Stars. These All Stars had two layers to them. That’s the best way I can describe them. They’re called ‘Double Upper’, and they are perhaps the coolest pair of Converse I’ve ever seen. Anyway, I wanted to try them on but there were none in my size. That’s where Teh Interwebs are so handy.

I found the same design in different colours that I liked even more…

The only thing is that with two sets of laces and being high top, the lacing and unlacing procedures are something of a complex operations. Still…aren’t they awesome?