Wednesday!

Here we are again, cruising through a Tuesday night. My lovely wife, Cheryl, is already asleep and I've grown bored with computer games, the New Hampshire election results are only interesting for so long, so naturally my thoughts have turned to Wednesday and, YEAH, Choir Rehearsal. I LOVE Wednesdays!

I really love the music in Bow the Knee too. If you missed rehearsal last week I hope you can join us tomorrow to hear this beautiful work.

And not only are the songs beautiful, the script is excellent. It looks at the last week of Jesus' life through the eyes of the Centurion - the one who had such great faith. You can read about him here - the story of the Centurion found in Matthew 8

There is all kinds of interesting information in tomorrow night's Inchoirer so be sure and pick up a copy. I'll post most of that info here on Thursday, but it's just not the same as reading it in person with all of your choir friends at 6:30 Wednesday night.

I'll be looking for you then!

Praise Teams Returning

One of the main reasons we took a break from our Praise Teams was because I wanted to figure out a way where we could get the monitors where the singers were comfortable with what they were hearing and where we weren't blowing out the first two rows in the congregation with the amount of sound we wanted.

We looked at these, but thought they might be a little too large for the platform area.

What we came up with - for now - is a separate monitor for the praise teams. (We hope to eventually move to an "in ear" system.) Right now we have that monitor where the praise teams can mix the piano, drums, etc. in their monitor themselves. We are working on getting it where they can mix their own mics in too, but have a few things to rework before that can happen.

We'll begin again soon - possibly this Sunday. Stay tuned...

Handbell Festival - Feb. 22-23

The Handbell Festival for Middle Tennessee is February 22-23. Our handbell choir will be attending. We had our first look at the music for festival last night. They made some good choices for this year's music.

For those of you who have never been to a handbell festival, this is how it works. We will join 15 or so other choirs from across the state and ring four songs together. We will also play one song by ourselves for "adjudication" which is a fancy way of saying we'll ring for some judges who will then give us a score and tell us all the wonderful things we did as we rang.

Tim Waugh will be our clinician this year. That means he will be directing all of the choirs when we play together.

This is a good picture of Tim, but it doesn't show his pony-tail. He's a great director and makes festival fun!




You can see all of this info and more at http://www.tnbaptist.org/CalendarEvent.asp?eventid=1006&cat=music&subcat=events04

A Ride to Tulsa and Singing in Heaven

As most of you know, we left Whites Creek this morning for Tulsa - my son driving his van with his wife, three children and me (Papa) while Grani (Cheryl) drove her car with Christy and her two babies. I got to ride in the back. Wow! Riding down I-40 at 200 miles an hour is a whole different experience form the back! Twelve and a half hours later we arrived. Try keeping five children cooped up in a car for twelve hours then let them loose in great-grandma's house and watch the fun! Wheeee!!


Gibson, my oldest grandson (five) knew Grandmama and wanted to know how she died. One of the relatives - who will remain nameless to protect her bad theology - said, "Jesus came and got her." Gibson lit up and was very excited. "Did you get a picture?"


Wouldn't that be cool? We didn't get a picture, but we know Grandmama is with Jesus. I'll leave the preaching for the preachers, but I know once you're in heaven it's all music and dancing 'round the throne. Grandmama is there now singing the song of the redeemed, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain."

We actually get to have a head start on what is taking place in heaven as we gather together every Sunday morning! I'll be looking for you all as we worship together this Sunday.

Sunday's Anthem

Sunday's Anthem - Our Heart

This is the "All Nations Worship" window from a church in Alaska. I think it's cool.

See you Sunday morning!

Happy New Year

Here's wishing everyone a very happy New Year! One of the really nice things about modern day life is that you can celebrate the New Year in several time zones via the wonders of live television. I happen to really enjoy the Eastern time zone on New Year's Eve, so I have already hollered "Happy New Year" and kissed my lovely wife, my son and daughter and son-in-law and daughter-in-law and all five grandbabies and now I can go to bed knowing I have celebrated the arrival of 2008.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll share some New Year resolutions... basically for two reasons. 1. I'm way past ready for bed and 2. I haven't spent too much time thinking about it. With four extra adults and 5 little people under the age of 5 in the house (3 of them under the age of 2!) there haven't been very many quiet moments in the last two days that would lend themselves to being contemplative.

I would like to share with you some verses from my favorite Psalm. I think they are perfect for putting myself in the right focus for the new year.

Psalm 145 (NASB)

Psalm 145 written in the circles (in Hebrew) Hallelujah is written five times around the outside circle.

1 I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. 6 Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. 7 They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. 9 The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. (Read the rest of this great Psalm here Psalm 145 )

Easter Preview

For those of you who don't have e-mail (or whose server blocks my e-inchoirers), here is a copy of something I just sent the choir. Of course, I suppose if you don't have e-mail then you probably don't check blogs either. Hello! It's 2008! You need e-mail!

“The Tree” was fantastic! I think I already mentioned that… but now my attention – our attention – needs to turn to Easter. As you’ve already heard from me, Easter is early this year! It can only be one day earlier and that can only happen when there is a full moon on March 21 when it is on a Saturday and then Easter will be on March 22. But the odds for that are rather astronomical. Well, I’ve distracted myself. The reason for this e-mail is to let you know that for everyone who can be here THIS Wednesday, we’ll have a sneak preview of Bow the Knee. This will be this year’s Passion Play.

For those of you who like to put things on your calendars here are some dates you need to know. (don’t worry, there will be more!)
March 13 – dress rehearsal
March 14-15 – evening performances
March 16 – afternoon performance