Where the Devil Is

Hahaha. You know the old saying - "The Devil is in the details." Well, if you have ever looked at my quotes on facebook you'll see that one of my favorite quotes is "The Devil's not in the details, he's in the sound system." I may have heard that from someone else, but I don't remember that, so I've attributed the quote to myself.

I guess we have a short in one of the channels or perhaps it is going out.

Oh, for my readers around the world, here's what happened yesterday. I had perhaps the biggest choir of the summer up in the loft for our first service (8:30!) and we were singing with a track yesterday. We don't sing with a track every week, but yesterday's song had a great track.

So it was time for the choir number and I was waiting - patiently - wondering why they hadn't started the track thinking - "Oh! this is taking too long. start the track, start the track, start the track!" when all of the sudden loud voices started singing!

The track is a split track CD with instruments on the left and voices on the right.

"Oh no! I know I remember telling the sound guy to turn off the right and just play the left!" I thought to myself.

Well... I won't bore you with all of the details if you weren't there, but long story short - we didn't get it to work first service. After a few failed attempts we just went on with the service. The service was still nice, I just was very disappointed that the big choir didn't get to sing by themselves.

As you've read before from me, God Loves Choirs!

http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2007/08/god-loves-choirs.html

http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2008/04/god-loves-choirs-part-2.html if you only read one, read this one

http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2008/04/god-loves-choirs.html

Sorry, I've distracted myself. Going back to the original point. We think there is a short in one of the buttons or in the channel because between services we just touched one of the knobs on that channel and we could hear the track. We'll test it this week and see if we need to move the CD input to a different channel.

Life is sometimes like a mixing board. It looks like you have everything set just right and all the right buttons pushed or not pushed (depending on what you need to have happen) and yet still things go wrong. The first thing we want to do is assign blame and then we want to know "WHY?"

I don't think either of those is the correct response. Rather than trying to find someone to blame or asking God "why did you let this bad thing happen?" our response should be to find out how God can use this for our good or for His glory. It's not really about you, you know. It's about Him.

Here are some questions you may wish I hadn't asked, but you should try to answer them honestly the next time the devil shows up in your sound system, or car, or workplace or school or ______.

Does your reaction point people to Jesus or does it make people want to avoid you the next time something bad happens in your life.

Do you continue on in faith knowing God is greater than your circumstances or do you look for a rock to sit on where you can have a little pity party?

Would friends and family who don't know the Lord have any reason to want a relationship with God if your reaction was the only witness they had of a person walking by faith?

Have a great week.

Keep your eyes open for the "roaring lion" and walk by faith and not by sight.

Some Updates

1. Don't forget we have an extra rehearsal tomorrow morning (Saturday, Nov. 3) from 9-11 to make up for the two Wednesday rehearsals we are missing.
2. I've updated the accompaniment to "Go Reach the World" where it matches the track the trio is used to singing to.
3. I haven't forgotten about Praise Teams. Our sound guys are working on purchasing a monitor system where the Praise Teams will be able to do their own mix so they have just the right amount of piano, voice and band. This will make everyone's Sunday mornings so much easier. As soon as we get the system in we'll have a training night so everyone can try it out to see how it works. I think you'll all be very pleased with it.

Sorry, No pretty pictures on this post.

Thanks

It's always good to stop and thank people from time to time. I have a whole list of people to thank. Without them we wouldn't be able to do what we do week by week. Since I would probably accidentally leave off a name if I listed each name individually, I'll list areas of ministry and maybe you will know the names. I'll see if I can add names to this tomorrow.

Here are the areas of ministry where we have faithful volunteers putting in many hours of work week by week.

Sound crew

TV crew

Camera men

MediaShout/Computer crew

Praise Band members

Donna, my Ministry Assistant who does all kinds of things to make Sundays happen

Ushers and greeters

Did I leave any groups out? Thank you to everyone for all you do in service for our church and ultimately for our Lord Jesus Christ. You are very much appreciated.

Let me encourage those of you reading this blog to find some of these folks and thank them yourself!

MMLC - August 10-11

The Tennessee Music Ministry Leadership Conference is coming in August. August 10-11 to be exact. This is an incredible opportunity that only happens every other year.

The Tennesse Baptist Men's Chorale and Ladies'Chorus will be singing, but even more exciting than that is The Annie Moses Band willbe there. Oh my! They are really, really wonderful!

The conference is at Brentwood Baptist Church in (duh) Brentwood. The cost is $25, but that covers your lunch and materials. What a deal!

CONFERENCE DESCRIPTIONS & LEADERS

COMPUTER HELPS FOR MUSIC MINISTRY For music ministers, music librarians, music teachers, and others - Jim Faull, Founder/CEO, Worship Ministry Solutions, Kennesaw, GA

ADULT MUSIC MINISTRY For Adult Choir/Worship Choir Leaders and Members, Ministers of Music, Worship Leaders, Senior Adult Choir Leaders - Billy Orton, Minister of Music and Worship, First Baptist Church, Huntsville, AL

PRAISE BAND MINISTRY For Praise Band leaders and members who use “contemporary” styles in worship - Chip Leake & Praise Band, Worship Pastor, Thompson Station Baptist Church, TN

PRAISE TEAM MINISTRY (VOCAL) For Praise Team singers and leaders who use “contemporary” styles in worship - Kim Nobblitt, G3 Worship Music, Hurst, TX

KEYBOARD MINISTRY For Pianists, Organists, and Keyboard players• Ron Boud, Professor of Music, Union University, Jackson, TN & • Heather Sorenson, Lillenas Arranger, Music Associate, Lavon Drive Baptist Church, Dallas, TX

YOUTH MUSIC For Ministers of Music, Youth Music Ministry Leaders, Youth Choir Sponsors - Jonathan Nelms, Associate Pastor of Music, First Baptist Church Cookeville, TN

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC MINISTRY For Orchestra Directors, Instrumental Ensemble Leaders, Music Ministers who use instruments in solo, or ensemble forms - Kenn Hughes, Asst. Minister of Music/instrumental, Hermitage Hills Baptist Church, Hermitage, TN

HANDBELL MINISTRY For Handbell Choir Directors and Ringers - Tim Waugh, Handbell Clinician and Fine Arts Director, Bluefield, WV

PRESCHOOL /CHILDREN’S MUSIC MINISTRY For directors, workers, leaders of preschool and/or children's choirs
For Experienced:• Preschool - Susan Eernisse Music Teacher grades K-12 at in Lyons, GA; Robert Toombs Christian Academy Lyons, GA• Younger Children - Vicki Wright Organist/Arranger Nashville, TN• Older Children - Terry Taylor Minister of Music First Baptist Church Dothan, AL
For Less Experienced:• Preschool - Libby Carlton Founder/Teacher Catawba Community Music Program Salisbury, NC• Younger Children - Beth Coleman Children’s Music Director/Teacher First Baptist Church Winter Park, FL• Older Children - Beth McCoy Children’s Music Director/Educator Abingdon, VA

The conference schedule includes some times of worship and special times of reflection on how the ministry of music has impacted our lives. There is also on-site resource displays and vendors.

You'll be hearing more about this in the next few weeks. I'd like to see 50 people attend from Hilldale.