One down ten to go

We had our first Easter Cantata practice this past Sunday. I thought it went fairly well, all things considered. I chose one of Brentwood's "Easy 2-part" series for us to learn, The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference. It is a very easy arrangement if you can read music, unfortunately most of our choir can't read music. I have intended on having sight reading and shape note classes for them sometime but just haven't had time to do it. They do a great job of listening and following along with the music and always pick it up eventually. Still, it would be nice if they could read music.

Most of the songs were familiar to everyone except for, Always the Cross. It is a really beautiful song with great words but is just a little more contemporary than what we are used to. None of our youth were there for practice and I think they will probably like it the most. I think we will do alright on it and it may even become one of our favorites.

I had failed to give Barbara (our pianist) a copy of the music before our first practice so she was seeing it for the first time as well. We played the listening CD over the sound system and she played along with it. She did an outstanding job. I wish there was an accompaniment copy of the music because the books are difficult for her to turn the pages while playing. I will probably need to take a book apart, enlarge the print and place them in a notebook with plastic sleeves. We had the same problem with last year's Easter cantata too.

So, all in all it was a great start. I think once we get comfortable with it we will really enjoy it. We only have 10 more opportunities to practice!

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Happy New Year!

Had a good time at our New Year's Eve watch service at church last night. In the past I have only lead the music for the watch service but this time I lead the music and preached one of the messages. I was both excited and nervous. Excited to be preaching on the last day of the year and getting to deliver a message that I felt God really wanted me to deliver. Nervous because I would be preaching in the presence of a seasoned preacher, A. J. Crawford. The man has been preaching for 54-years!

Our crowd was down considerably. There was bad fog, UT was playing in a bowl game, and several loyal members were sick. I didn't let that bother me though. Normally I prefer preaching in front of larger crowds, not sure why but I'm less nervous when there are more people. Things went well last night though. It sure was a great way to ring in the new year. You can listen the message I preached, "Another Jesus, Another Gospel," below:

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I'm really excited!

I am continually amazed at how God works. It seems like when everything is just going against me and all is hopeless, He steps in and takes over. It is like that old McKamey's song, "God On the Mountain."

Lately I've just been so burdened down with things. I was depressed because I had just been accepted into Crown Seminary, to obtain my Masters of Ministry degree, and all of a sudden there was no money available for me to start my classes. I was at the point of giving up. Then, God lays it on someone's heart to help me out. I was able to pay my first semester fees, marticulatione fee, and get all of my required books yesterday. Just like I wrote in THIS post, I am intimidated, overwhelmed, and excited!

As if that wasn't enough, I received an email 2-days ago from David Hoskins (manager for Cross 4 Crowns) asking if I would be interested in hosting the quartet at Highland Baptist! He said they had a couple of available dates in May and he thought about our church. If you know me very well at all, then you know that 4-part quartet style music is my very favorite music of all. I've written many times about my early love for the Kingsmen and how those old quartet albums inspired me to sing. Well, Cross 4 Crowns just happens to be one of my very favorite groups of all. They are a throw back to those quartets that I grew up listening to. Perfect harmony, skillful musicians, great stage presence, gifted, and spiritual. Put all of those together and you are knocking on the gates of Heaven! My family and I attended a Cross 4 Crowns concert at Corryton Baptist last year and we were so blessed by them. You can read about that on THIS post.

The month of May is a tough month. There is Mother's Day, Memorial Day weekend, and it is leading into Vacation Bible School. Also, I already have another Southern Gospel group booked for the last Sunday in May. I wasn't about to let any of that stand in the way of perhaps one of the greatest blessings for our church. I chose Mother's Day evening worship service to have Cross 4 Crowns come out to worship with us. I realize it is a little risky crowd wise. Some people will no doubt have plans to lay out of church to do things with their mother. But, I figured, with enough prayer and preparation, God will take care of the details.

So, this coming Mother's Day, May 10th, at 6:00 PM, Highland Baptist church will be hosting Cross 4 Crowns in concert! It will be a special Mother's day event. I can't think of a better way to show your mother how much you love her than spending an evening in church with her, and treating her to the finest Southern gospel music this side of Heaven. We will also be having refreshments in the fellowship building immediately following the service. I truly think it will be one of the "Crowning" (pun intended) moments of the year for Highland Baptist. So, spread the word and let's come together as one body in Christ for a fantastic evening of music and worship!

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Relieved, sad, and worn out

Well, all of the hard work and practice leading up to the Easter Cantata is finally over. We performed "AMEN" this morning during the Easter Sunday Worship service. I am relieved, sad, and worn out now that it's over. As I placed the cantata book into my choir bag after the service, it was like I was putting away an old friend. This cantata had a special meaning to me on so many levels. I dedicated the cantata in the memory of Mrs. Dockery. I thought of her many times today while at church. I missed her terribly but I knew she was having a much better Easter than I was. She is actually with the one that we were singing about! But, I was still sad as I turned to the front page of my book and saw her name written there. This was also the first "real" cantata that I had taught our choir. Always before it was just song selections that I had picked out and threw together, stuff that they already knew on some level. AMEN was pretty difficult for a choir such as ours. I was very proud of our members and how much they worked on this and put forth such effort. They are such a great group of people.

There was a nice turnout for the choir, not so much for the entire church. Many empty seats this morning. Things just aren't like they used to be when on Easter Sunday morning the church house would be packed full. I can remember services where you were lucky to get a seat. This morning you had your choice.

The low church attendance didn't effect the effort that we put into our cantata. I believe each and every choir member put forth 100%. I thought the sound was excellent. We only had a couple of small hiccups through the entire 30-minute performance. I brought the choir in 2-beats too early on one song and Barbara accidentally turned 2-pages instead of one during one of our songs. We kept going right along and didn't miss a beat.

Our opening song was the title song, AMEN. After we finished, everyone in the church began clapping. I'm not sure if it was because it was so good or because they thought we were finished. If it was the latter, they were in for a surprise. It is a pretty long cantata. If you actually listened to the words and the spoken parts in between numbers, you will hear about the entire life of Jesus, topped off with a salute to his power and majesty. I think my very favorite number is "Why Should He Love Me So?" It is so beautiful and so true. I cry nearly every time we sing it. I'll try to get the whole thing uploaded soon and post a link to listen. Songs include:

AMEN…...........Wonderful Words Of Life............Let The Song Go Round The Earth..............Why Should He Love Me So?......Alas and Did My Savior Bleed / My Faith Looks Up To Thee.....................Crown Him / All Hail King Jesus....AMEN (Reprise)

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Good Friday Communion Service 2009

I had been looking forward to tonight for several weeks. Our pastor began having Good Friday communion services last year and I really enjoyed it. I knew that it would just be our usual faithful few that would come out. I was pleased that we had about 29 people show up tonight. A few of our regulars weren't there because of prior commitments but we had a nice turn out. Just like last year, we all sat together in the center front section of the church. It felt good for everyone to be so close together, more like a family. I wish we would do that all of the time. Sometimes I feel like our church is so big inside and we all spread out away from each other and it seems cold and distant. I honestly feel that we would have better services if everyone would come together as one. At least move down toward the front and participate instead of sitting way back in the back like they have one foot out the door.

Last week, my aunt Barbara asked me if I would sing "Man of Sorrows, What A Name," during the communion service. I wasn't sure how people would react to it. It's not the "usual" Highland kind of hymn. The song was written in the 1800's by one of the greatest hymn writers in history, Philip Bliss. It tells the story of Jesus and is so touching. I didn't hear any feedback afterwards so I'm still not sure how well it went over. I love this kind of music. I also sang it more in the fashion of how I was trained to sing and it felt nice to me. You can listen to me sing this song with Barbara playing the piano, here:

Man of Sorrows, What a Name

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
"It is finished!" was His cry;
Now in heaven exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we'll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

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They're here, they're here!!!

The new Easter Cantata books are here!!!

Talk about fast! Lifeway really came through. Only 4-days after ordering the 20-books, they arrived at my front doorstep today. Now we can really get into things.

All of the songs are pretty simple and it is written for just 2-parts. Nothing fancy. At first, I had considered eliminating one of the songs in the musical, Let the Song Go Round the Earth, but after listening to it several times I have fell in love with it. I feel that all of the songs together tell the story of Jesus very nicely, and the reading parts along with scripture makes it the perfect Easter cantata. I think everyone that hears it will be pleased and blessed.

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The Music Budget

...or lack of.

As I mentioned before, I am a non-paid Minister of Music at my church. We are not a huge church and we don't have budgets for a lot of things. So, that means I do not have a music budget. I'm always told by our deacon board to get whatever I need and the church will pay for it, but I just don't feel right about doing that. I know that we need every penny that we get to pay the bills, pastor's salary, association fees, missions, etc. So I very rarely ever ask for anything.

Every year at Christmas, all of the officers of the church are presented with a check of $25.00. I normally just put it back in the offering plate. However, this year I cashed it and used it to buy a new bookshelf for the choir room. I felt bad about cashing it but was really grateful to get a new shelf. I've already filled it up and could use another one but that's beside the point.

It is coming up on Easter time and I've been looking at different Easter Cantata music. A few months ago I was at the Evangel Christian Book store and bought a dozen or so used cantata books for $2.00 each. I sorted through them and found one called, Amen, that I thought would be good for our choir to learn. I went back to the Evangel yesterday and found 2-more of the same book. It is produced by Lifeway and retails there for $5.99 a piece. I usually get at least 23-copies of music to go around, 20 for the choir, one for me, one for the pianist, and one for the organist. Some folks end up having to share but it works out good. So I am 20-copies short right now. To purchase enough books I will need $120.00. Where will that money come from? Should I ask choir members to pony up and buy their own copy? Should I ask the church to pay for them?

Tonight while I was at my parent's house we were discussing church budgets. They attend a different church than I do and they have several more members and a pretty large budget. I noticed they have over $6,000 allotted for choir music! Wow, what I could do with that! I guess I just need to turn it over to God and trust Him to work things out for me. He always does but it sure would be nice to not have to worry every time I need new music!

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I Call Him Lord

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Redeeming Love

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I'm Glad I Know Who Jesus Is

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My what a time!

It is Monday the morning after. Our cantata has been sang and the Christmas play is now over. Both services were spectacular! I'm always very nervous leading up to any performance, wondering if things will go smoothly or be a bust. I did not need to worry any this year. Everything went off without a hitch.

I was so proud of the choir yesterday. I could feel the spirit of the Lord the entire time we were singing. It was like electricity was flowing through each person. Tears were flowing, hands were raised, and shout of amen could be heard all over the house. Of course I started crying from the very beginning of the service when my daughter and 2 other young girls sang two songs to open up the service. They did a wonderful job and it just seemed to set the mood for the entire day.

We had a huge turnout for the Christmas play last night. All of the time and effort that we put into it was well worth it. Nobody forgot their lines and there were not any hang ups. The only thing I could see that would have made it better was if there had been some microphones for the choir. You can't hear them much on the tape, all you can hear is me because I had a mic in front of me. Oh well, you learn by trials.

I'll post more about each service later on. I video taped the play and Greg Fisher took hundreds of pictures. So, when I get everything uploaded I'll post them here and on the church website.

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Crunch time

Well, here it is the day before our Christmas service. Tomorrow I will lead the choir in 4-special Christmas hymns that we have been working on for the past 3-months. Two of the selections, Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee, and I Call Him Lord, we were already familiar with, as we have sang them before. The other two, I'm Glad I Know Who Jesus Is, and Redeeming Love, were both new to the choir. I am really pleased at how well they have learned them. We have already sang the last two for choir specials over the past 2-weeks so they are definitely ready to do them.

Today I will be arranging a special church bulletin that outlines the service. I am planning on printing Joyful, Joyful, on inside of the bulletin and using it as the opening of our service. I usually read select passages of scripture in-between songs to serve as a buffer and to convey the Christmas message. Last year I think I read too much and sorta trampled on the pastor's sermon by using the scripture he had outlined. This year I will limit to just the bare minimal.

We always put a lot of time and focus on our Christmas music. It's the worst time of the year for the choir because we normally have lots of folks out sick at this time. I myself have been suffering from an upper respiratory infection and sinus trouble for the past 4-weeks. I'm not going to be 100% tomorrow but I know the Lord will help me. I'll probably give the choir a 2-week break after this and then we will be cranking back up for Easter and other special music. I'm looking forward to moving on to something new.

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