Austin Stone – A well executed worship resource site

Thanks to my friend Chris Hatch, I heard about this church, Austin Stone. They are using video and sharing their music through their website in a way that empowers many other churches to perform their songs. It’s a cool business model, but it’s also an interesting model for how the church can share it’s songs in the digital age. Watching the videos, I am struck with a few random thoughts (2 positive and 1 critical).

Theology is important to my generation. Despite the accusations of traditionalists, the music of post-modern Christians is expected to have theological meat to it. It might not sound the same as Isaac Watts, but theology is not something we want to ignore.

There is an art to writing piano, guitar, and drum parts. (also bass, but there were no tutorials for that. Check out this video for bass tips.) You can see from the tutorials that these musicians are doing a lot more than strumming the four chords. When you go in the studio and take time to craft a song, you have to think about every guitar or drum part as a composer.

Your cultural is invisible to you and blatant to the rest of us. It’s great to see how this church is living out the gospel in their context. If you are not from their culture, you might notice that they dress different, sing different, think different, etc. When I listen to most “modern worship” recordings these days, I am struck by their mono-cultural nature. Did you notice the vintage keys and antique piano? Why not use a Phantom? All the guitar parts are a wash with delay and chimey distortion – where’s the funk or the blues? I’m not saying that they needed to include that stuff, but I am saying that this music is not designed to reach across cultural barriers. It seems to be comfortably easing into a singular cultural expression, but they are probably not doing that intentionally. Right?

True confession: I am totally jealous of this website. I love the video tutorials, the chart downloads, the minimalist design. They have nailed what we imagined our ncfmusic.com site to be like.

2012 NCMC, Holidays, and more upcoming events

The fall season for many of us becomes more and more like a flume ride. We spend September and October in a slow ascent with a feeling that’s somewhere between excitement and dread as we anticipate the events on the horizon. Soon, we come over the crest and find our lives becoming a crazy blur of screaming joy and nausea. Next thing we know, it’s January and we’re left feeling a little cold and wet with the entire holiday season  nothing more than a SD card full of crowded and poorly lit jpegs. Personally, I’m about the round the crest this weekend, so I’m not having fun yet. However, despite my melancholic remarks, here’s some stuff that I’m genuinely looking forward to:

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

We’re doing “Turkey Day” in the land of the Moonpie this year. I’m looking forward to talking shop with my dad, having a snackdown with my sister and kin, and getting together with old friends in order to have interactions that are more meaningful then liking their status. Maybe I’ll take my kids to the new Muppets flick.

Youth Sunday – November 27

The New City Fellowship youth band is going to take the role of worship music leadership for weekend. I love youth Sunday for the way it brings a sense of worship being the shared experience of an individual expression. In other words, people give the youth a lot of room to express their faith in worship without the usual constraints. It’s an experiment in cross-cultural ministry as we allow the young and powerless to lead those of us who usually hold the reigns in the church. (November 27 is also my wife’s birthday!)

The First Ever NCF Christmas Concert! – December 10

The NCF Choir will get to make a little more joyful noise this Advent with this new Saturday night event. We will share some familiar classics as well as some new classics. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate together the wonderful expressions of music that have become such a meaningful part of Advent for the church. The NCF Choir continues to come into it’s own as a ministry that both nourishes the participants and the church on an almost weekly basis.

Reconciliation and Justice Conference 2012 – January 24-25

We will be once again hosting this special meeting of pastors and ministry leaders from around the US to have a dialogue about the issues of reconciliation and justice within our denomination. I’m going to be there leading some of the worship. You can register here.

7th annual NCF Black History Celebration – February 25

This had been the highlight of the year for our music ministry for a long time, but now, it’s only been diminished by the abundance of exciting things happening all year long for us. We expect this year’s BHC to continue the tradition of celebrating the gospel of Jesus Christ through the unique expressions of Black Culture.

Food For The Hungry – March 15-18

I’ll be in Phoenix in March 2012 leading worship at a special fundraiser weekend for the ministry Food For The Hungry. This is an exciting opportunity to participate in a ministry that I can <pun> really sink my teeth into</pun>.

New City Music 2012 Conference

I just published this post and then realized that I failed to say anything about the 2012 NCMC! This summer’s music conference will be hosted by my church again. With the search on for a new senior pastor, the folks in Chattanooga decided to take another year off. The dates will be August 1-3. I don’t really have much more to say about it than that. I’m currently looking for ideas for speakers, musicians, and clinics to feature, so give me any you have that come to mind.

Dr. Leo Sanchez’s talk at the NCMC Conference

New City Music: 2011 Conference – Online Resources

The dust is settling. The evaluations are being read and processed. We have had review meetings and been praying about what next year will look like. In the meantime, we have an enormous amount of audio, video, pics, and other resources to package into digital nuggets for everyone to share and experience. So, here’s what we’ve got so far – by the way, all the content will be available in some form on the New City Music website.

Latin American & Caribbean Styles Class – Rhythm Samples - Dr. Leo Sanchez shared several specific folk styles that are unique to Latin America and the Caribbean. This article includes links to notated musical examples of all the tunes he shared.

Worship: Our Wake-up Call - This is a video of the opening plenary address (preaching) from Tony Myles on Ephesians 5:8-20. His sermon challenged us to be aware of the horizontal aspects of corporate worship in which we speak to each other through songs.

That’s all for the time being, but there’s enough in these two talks to stew on for a few weeks until we can get more online.

Don’t forget to check out the pics that Neil Das took of the conference here.

 

 

 

 

Coming Down from the Mountain – New City Music Con

God is good! I know you are thinking that I need to take a break, but I can’t sleep in and my house is quiet so it’s a good time to reflect. It was great to see the pics that Neil Das has already posted froom the conference. Check them out here.

I want to share my personal favorite moments from this weeks conference:

• The absolute explosion of celebration and activity on Tuesday night as Voice of Africa led us in worship. Emmanuel on the hand drums was a real treat.
• Tony Myles sharing that he doesn’t know what a “Plenary Address” is so he’s just gonna preach.
• My kids dancing and playing with Pastor Kevin VandenBrink’s daughter
• Playing a “stankin” set with the NCF U City crew – God, my God, God is good!
• My dad’s talk – a reminder that this is hard work, but the fruit is evident in the lives of the young people he has mentored
• Jim Payne’s songs which revealed a deep passion for the gospel and a love of the craft of songs
• Aloo Gobi – Zack said he’d make it “American Spicy”
• Malcom Speed’s revealing personal experiences with some of the legends of gospel
• It was great to see my Congolese friend, Nestor Biayi, affirmed in the African Style Class as he was called in from the back of the room to demonstrate Saben
• Dr. Sánchez – conga, guitar, upright bass, vocals, and bringing some cool hard truth with wonderful class. We were so affirmed and challenged by his words. (Yes, that talk was recorded and will be available as soon as possible)
• NCF- Chattanooga successfully did the work for me of picking tunes for the next year. I’m not sure that my team will let me rest until every one of those tunes is in our set.
• Doing the electric slide – can we do that in church?
• Jumping in on “Glorious” with Dr. Sánchez on the congas and clave
• Redeemer PCA in Jackson standing as a family together as their composers shared their songs.
• watching half the people in my “Into to Improvisation” class falling asleep – What do you expect when you put exhausted people  in a warm room on couches, after lunch. Next conference we’ll ask everyone to bring a yoga mat so that we can have nap time once a day.
• Watching Paul Neeley get Joshua Saleem playing hand percussion
• seeing my friend, Odetta Fields, come into her own as a choir director
• Jeff Rakes humbly taking us to school with his tune “All Honor and Glory” – man, Jeff set a new standard for my flute player.
• Seeing this cross cultural body of believers express their “heart song” in the form of “O Lord, How Excellent”
• Carrie Knapp – that girl can sang.
• Mike Higgins bringing us back to the promise that the curse is broken and the accuser has no power over me
• I loved the spontaneous expression in singing “You Are Good” at the end of the night. I wish that we had been able to hear more from Jonathan Gramling from Dorchester.  What a voice!

A note about intentionality

Here’s something new that we’re going to experiment with. This statement will now appear in our bulletin in order to give visitors and members alike a little glimpse into the intentionality of reconciliation that goes on in our church. We are not picking tunes based on one singular aesthetic ideal or liturgical tradition.

The order of worship at New City Fellowship is intentionally designed, in submission to scripture and Spiritual discernment,  to reflect the diversity of cultural traditions in our congregation. Our desire is that the principle of mutual submission in Christ Jesus will help us to glorify the Lord together with one voice even as we are individually stretched outside our personal traditions. Notes under the songs are reminders of the cultural tradition from which that song or style was created.

Songs in the bulletin will now include a note like “African American”, “Anglo American”, “New City Fellowship” or something like that. Non-English tunes will include a note about what language and what a rough translation of the title is. Our service can be pretty confusing to an outsider who is trying to nail down what our worship music style is.  My hope is that maybe we can give people a little idea of the thought and intention behind what might appear like chaos. More mercy!

Are you interested in how visual artists can serve the church?

My buddy, Mark Taylor, has been talking with me about how to empower the gifts of visual artists for service in the church. Mark is an artist, a teacher, an adoptive parent, and a hip-hop enthusiast. He studied at SCAD and ended up at New City Fellowship as he and his wife were looking for a multicultural church where their trans-racial family would find a home. We’ve been talking a lot about the use of art in the church. I’ve found that my church in some respects has been a bit aesthetically challenged. Part of the reason for this is a commitment to meeting the real physical needs of the poor. We’re not going to prioritize the use of our resources to create a swanky worship space instead of meeting basic needs of food, shelter, jobs, education, etc. This is why despite having a relatively large budget we still worship in a gymnasium on rusty, old folding chairs. But, applying some of the basic core values of our church, we know that the kingdom is not about how much resources you have, the kingdom is about small acts of love and grace. So how do artists in the church demonstrate small acts of love and grace. How do saints who are gifted in aesthetic skills put 1 Peter 4:7-11 into practice?

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Some churches invest these gifts into actual galleries or artist in residence programs. Some churches have artists in the worship service splashing paint on a canvas during the songs or the sermon. Some churches employ artists in the process of creating “sacred spaces” in which design and architecture are used better facilitate the experience of worship. I’ll be attending a conference next week that deals with just that.

For myself, as a liturgical musician, I have to confront these particular issues of the kingdom:

Is my art an act of service to the community? – I believe that “art for art’s sake” is not a kingdom value. Can music or art that is made without “love God, love your neighbor” as a central goal be a work of the kingdom? Beautiful sacred spaces are an offense to the Lord if they are lacking justice and mercy (Jeremiah 7). This comes from the Spirit and is a gift of grace.

Is my art a redemptive, salt-and-light instrument in my culture? If art is engaged with the culture in a way that takes the symbols of the culture in order to redeem them, then we are doing kingdom work. If our art is always sub-categorized into “Christian” art and left out of the market place, then we are no longer speaking into the culture.

Is my art a demonstration of humility? Artists have a sin tendency toward being self-absorbed. Humility is not an abstract concept; it’s a reality that has to be walked out. Art of the kingdom must reflect humility through cultural and economic reconciliation.

I’m still wrestling (or “wrassling”) with this stuff and I’d love to hear my sister or my cousin weigh in on this stuff as well. Neil, any thoughts?

If you are interested in joining in the process as we build a team of artists at New City Fellowship give me a heads up and I will pass your name on to Mark.

 

This set list is so good that we can only make it worse

I’m sorry, but this set list is so good that our music team and singers can only make it worse. Somewhere out in the cosmic ether there’s a platonic ideal performance of this set and so it’s only going to make us disappointed on Sunday when that platonic ideal does not materialize. (Do I need to tell you that I’m being facetious?) Seriously, this weekend we have an excellent team, and so I’m really looking forward to getting into these tunes with them.

Tu Es Saint
Children’s Choir
Jesus, Oh What A Wonderful Child
You Are The Living Word
O Come O Come Emmanuel
Your Presence Is Here
NCF Choir- We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder
Precious Is The Blood

Communication Ministry at New City Fellowship

We need gifted and passionate servants at our church to serve in the Communication Ministry. Communication Ministry uses the gifts of aesthetics, design, and composition through images and text to share information in a compelling and engaging way. As an artist, I know that I can use a song to covey a message in a much more powerful and meaningful way than if that same message is simply read. I can read a sermon, but a gifted pastor can present a sermon in a more compelling way through their oratory skills. In the same way, just about anyone can create a power point presentation or a make a digital video, but without the particular gifts, their presentation is not as compelling.

In our worship service, we use projected text to give the congregation the words of the songs we’re singing. Just like singing, the process of switching slides in time with a song is something almost anyone can do, but not every person is uniquely gifted as a leader. I have to confess that as the leader of the worship music ministries, I have mostly been looking for “warm bodies” to just show up and click the button. However, I have become more aware recently that I have been presenting this service opportunity in the wrong light. No one wants to just serve in any ministry as a “warm body”. God created us to have particular gifts that reflect his glory in us. I would love to find volunteers for our ministry that are longing for an opportunity to let these gifts be unleashed for the service of the kingdom. Please take a moment to pray for this vision.

Why is October going to be “the jam”?

I’m swamped with extra work these days which is why my blog is being neglected. Here’s some of the stuff that’s going to rock about October (dare I say it – “ROCK-tober”):

October 3 – The Congolese Sunday

We’re going to stack the deck in favor of Congolese music and musicians. We’re even going to have the French house church basically function as the vocal team. It’s an experiment in reconciliation. We’ll be singing in French, Lingala and Swahili. If you’ve been to our church, you know that we usually sing one or two songs from African origins every Sunday. This Sunday will be a big shock for some. Here’s a taste:

October 8-10 – NCF Church Retreat

Our annual church retreat is a great time to relax, meet people, and jam for Jesus in the back woods. We usually have an opportunity to worship in a more informal and extended context at some point in the weekend. I look forward to that time to pull out all the songs that people love to sing with gusto. Let’s not forget the S’mores, too.

October 16 – NCF Choir rehearsals begin!

I am especially looking forward to this year’s choir season because for the first time, we’ll have a part-time choir director! Odetta Fields has accepted the position and I am confident that she will do an excellent job. We’ve already got the tunes for fall picked out and we’re totally pumped about what’s in store. I am hoping that being free of the leadership of the choir, I’ll be able to sustain more focus on the general aspects of worship and music shepherding. Here’s a taste of one of the choir tunes we’ll be singing. Notice the tasteful use of stage ferns in the clip:

October 20 – Jammin’ for Justice 2

I’ll be playing a short set of solo jazz guitar at this event for my friends, Joshua and Taylor Saleem. Hudson and the Hoodoo Cats are the headliners. Here’s some info from facebook:

MCU (Metropolitan Congregations United) for St. Louis presents a night of live music, food and fun to highlight our recent victories and to thank business and civic partners for their continued support for justice in our City. Featuring music from Hudson and the Hoodoo Cats, and food and beverages from Schlafly Tap Room. Fabulous silent auction and raffle along with great door prizes. Tickets are $30 each or $50/pair. Contact Kim Smith for tickets (314) 322-2389.

October 23 – Restore St Louis Benefit Dinner

The NCF choir will be singing a few tunes for the RSL crowd. I’m glad that we can be part of supporting this event. I’m working on a choral arrangement of the Compassion Art Project’s, “You Have Shown Us”.

October 31 – PCA Reformation Service at Chesterfield Presbyterian.

Despite the fact that Mike Honeycutt will be preaching, Chesterfield is hosting, and the choir anthem is my dad’s tune, “Who Can Separate Us?” I will not be in attendance. (It’s Halloween night, people! Is it wrong to skip the celebration of the Reformation by participating in a enculturated, glutonous, semi-Catholic holiday whose origins stem back to pagan rituals?) Here’s a taste of what I’ll be doing: