CREATIVE FUZION--UNDER THE SYCAMORE TREE

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We're in the midst of preparations for the play UNDER THE SYCAMORE TREE at The Ritz Theater here in our town. This will be my first production to direct here.

Here are some of the scenes from rehearsals and painting that has gone on. I will try to update you soon on the set as it is built.

National Worship Leaders Conference--Kansas 09

For the last two years I've had the joy of attending the NATIONAL WORSHIP LEADERS Conference (in Austin). This year they've returned with Dorothy to Kanasas (July 20-25).

NWL has been a wonderful training time for me and my team. We had great worship experiences together and then went to all of the workshops offered that pertained to our team and situation.

We even met Fred McKinnon there last year, along with Russ Hutto and Shaun Groves. It's been a great way to meet and network with other ministers.

I won't be going this year (unless Fred picks me)--but I've urged others to go. It's a can't miss situation.

Have you been to National Worship Leaders Conference?

HT: Fred McKinnon's Blog

SWINE FLU VIDEOS (circa 1976). Run Them Again

Perhaps we need to run these campy videos again. Looks like they were are foreteller of our current situation.

The Prompter President

This clip is making it's way across the net and is topic number 1 this morning on the talk shows.



Is there not a hard copy of the speech on the platform? Can he not ever so often look down at the written portion to see where he's at?

I just know from personal experience that no matter how familiar I am with the topic that I'm speaking, I never go to the podium without an outline or a prepared speech (just in case). I'm afraid we're in for more of the same for the next 4 years.

The Bull In The China Shop (uh..)The Grocery Store

You've heard about the bull in the china shop, this Irish grocery store got the full meaning of the terror that this bovine brought as it wandered down the aisles.

It's a sign of the end times!

Under The Sycamore Tree--The Work Begins

The work has begun on The Ritz Theater production of UNDER THE SYCAMORE TREE. You'll see updated post through out the next month about rehearsals and preparations.

I was reminded tonight as we read through the script how important theater is to our culture. In a visual society, perhaps we've become too dependent on the electronic, televised and over-produced segments to give us the arts. Maybe we've forgotten the thrill of the live visual event that calls for us to engage with the artists on stage and think as we see.

Live theater does that. It draws you in and asks you to think as you see. That's something that's rare today.

The cast is varied. Some have been on the stage recently and some haven't seen the footlights in a while. I think that will be good as we each challenge each other to rise to our best for this effort.

Were you involved in theater?

Dad, What's A Revival?

Driving down the road on Sunday evening, I made mention that our local Methodist church was having a spring revival. That prompted a remark from my 8th grader, "Dad, what's a Revival?"

I thought to myself "that's a comment worthy of a blog"-so here it is.

I grew up in a minister's home and thus Revival meetings were frequent and seemed to come more often than I care to remember. The extended services of the church called for morning, noon and evening meetings, always with a covered lunch or meal. Being a minister's kid it also meant some type of after meeting with the revival team.

Included in these meetings were special times for groups of the church together. Who can forget Men's night or Sunday school night or the infamous YOUTH night with the predictable Pizza suppers. And after Wednesday evening the church went back to being the church.

Nowadays you don't see many revival services in the church. They come rarely and I personally haven't led a revival service in 8 years. Perhaps we don't see them as often because the church continues to go on being the church and we don't see the real fruit and evidence of revival.

Do we need revival? Absolutely. If ever there was a time for a fresh wind and fresh fire to blow through the Body of Christ--it's now. Does it need to be like it has been in the past? Not necessarily.

What do you think?

Worship Confessional, April 26, 2009

This post is part of Sunday Set Lists over on Fred McKinnon's Blog.

Today's Songs

We're Marching To Zion (Contemporary Hymns-Brentwood Benson)

Hallelujah! Your Love Is Amazing

Turn/Greet/Welcome/Announcements

Father Spirit Jesus

Made To Worship (Tomlin)

Message

Here I Am To Worship

Short and sweet on the music today. Everything went well. The back half-songs were high. Reminder to me to always check the keys before the music is printed. Only Chris Tomlin can sing in the upper ranges of "C" major. Oh well.

How was your worship today?

Water Cooler Wednesday-30 Years of Worship Leadership (Repost)

This post is a "repost" by request of some of my Ministry buddies who got a chuckle out of it.

This post is part of Water Cooler Wednesdays over on Randy Elrod's blog, Ethos. Check out what other creatives are talking about each Wednesday.

I've been thinking about this post a long time. It has been rolling around in my head over and over again. I would start to write it, and then think about it some more; only to let it sit a little bit longer.

All of it was inspired by the news that a friend of mine, Ty Morris Jr., is retiring from Music Ministry at the end of June after 34 years at the same church. That is amazing! If you'd like to send Ty a congratulation note, you can do that here.

That means that Ty came to this church in his 30's and in the mid '70's. Boy, has he seen a change in the landscape of worship and music ministry in those 34 years. It got me to thinking about this.

The 1970's Worship Leadership:

Title: Minister of Music, Music Director, Song Leader (that's it-nothing else)

Job Description: Handle the music (that's it)

Resources: The Hymnal (that's it!) and Sing and Celebrate (remember that?)

Instrumentation: Piano/Organ (is there anything else?)

Guitar--only played by the youth minister and only at retreats

Groups: Sanctuary Choir--The jewel of the ministry; with robes

Youth Choir--where 75% of the youth group was participants

Handbells- Youth and Adults

Children's Choirs (with Auto harps) and him directing

Performances: Christmas "Cantata" (by John W. Peterson)

Easter "Cantata" (by John W. Peterson)

Choir Festivals/Piano Festivals-yeah, people played piano back then

Services: Sunday AM & PM/ Wed.Prayer meeting to lead a song

Nursing Home service once a month-Sun. afternoon (nap time)

Sound: Depending on size of church--he ran the sound under the pulpit(don't laugh--I was doing this in the early 90's)

Media: Slides-only slides; reel to reel tapes; no performace trax

Drama: Youth Only--then they were called skits and only for missions

Training: Seminary trained--had to be! (unless you were an evangelist coming off the road--then that counted as experience)

Clothing: Coat and Tie--of course!

Compare that with the Music leadership of 2008

I'm wearing this on Sunday--you like?

Worship Leadership in 2008

Title: Creative Arts Pastor, Pastor of Worship, Imagineer

Job Description: Handle it (everything!)

Resources: The Internet, Hillsong, Willowcreek, NorthPoint, Crowder, Tomlin, Praisecharts, etc, etc (what's a hymnal?)-or make your own charts with FINALE

Instrumentation: Anything but Piano/Organ (full blown band) and anything that a computer can recreate (Ableton Live!); Guitar is welcome here not only on retreats; leader needs to lead from an instrument

Groups: Praise Team/Praise Band

Seasonal Choirs

Special groups-Jazz, Blues,

Performances: What? (every Sunday is an Experience!) Christmas/Easter worship experiences.

Services: Sunday AM (that's all folks)

Sound: Run by a team (but Minister must be able to speak their language--levels, db's, inputs/outputs, gain, amplifiers)

Media: Video, Computer Generated (must be fluent in AVI, MPEG 1-4) able to download from the net; also able to edit video too (AVID, FINAL CUT); Photoshop....; mp3s, DVD's, Ipods; TV broadcast lingo and Radio too; Streaming web services; webcams; Media Shout or Pro-Presenter; know what a BNC cable is; understand compression of audio files

Technology: Must know computers--RAM, GIGS, CPUS, Monitor resolutions; be able to fix the projectors and any other broken technology in any other areas of the church.

Drama: Not just for yutes anymore---he/she must be equal to a Broadway producer; forget Cecile B DeMille--we want Steven Spielberg!

Stage Design: know how to create environments; lighting-knowing the difference be tween a par and an elipsoidal and moving lights!;calculate DMX capacity; fabrics, scrims, props, trusses, cycs

Designer: know trends in culture, colors and all things APPLE!

Publications: differences in CMYK and RGB; print scales and modes, paper finishes; large scale printing for advertisment/promotion; type setting, fonts, Adobe C3

Public Relations/Communication: Web presence and e-communications

Training: Seminary not required--on the job more valued (farm leagues)

Clothing: Casual ( that is usally user defined)

Any one of these could be a single job by themselves!

I wonder what the next 30 plus years will look like? What will the next generation of worship leadership have to know and master? Any ideas?

That's all I can think of now. I'd like to hear from some of my pastor friends who read this blog (you know who you are) how communication (preaching) has changed in the last 30 years and the role of the Sr. Pastor has emerged. I'm sure this will cause some stir as you read through these, but I think I'm pretty close to target range on these. It's the reality I'm living in today.

Special thanks to my friend, Randall Hall for the brainstorming on this post.

Trackback: Lifeway Worship

Two Days To Auditions "UNDER THE SYCAMORE TREE"

It's two days away from auditions for UNDER THE SYCAMORE TREE at The Ritz Theater. I've been working hard the last couple of days on set design, sound, light plots, making phone calls to people, working on publicity and posters. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes of a play production. I've yet to make contact with the Costume designer (she's busy with One Act play this week, or the set builder).

Here are some of the sketches for the set. It's all prelim--but it's suppose to look like the inside of an ant hill. What do you think?

You're Never Too Old To Sing

We spent the day in Lubbock at the State Senior Adult Choir Festival. This is our 3rd year to attend and by the looks of it--Sr. Adult Choirs are growing ( is it any surprise since the Baby Boomers are aging?). There were some 600 there today and we heard some great choirs.

The format for the day is a mix of choirs singing for each other ( usually 2 songs) and then all of the choirs working together on 5-6 songs, mixed with some hymn singing and food (we're Baptist ok--we've got to eat).

I heard some great singers today and it reminded me that you're never too old to sing. The majority of singing comes from the attitude of the mind and also taking care of your body. One lady hit a high C on a song ( way to go girl) and they all enjoyed it.

So--do you sing? Will you be singing when your 64, 74, 84, 94?

Worship Confessional, April 19, 2009

This post is part of Sunday Set List over on Fred McKinnon's Blog.

It was a good day today.. simple, but good. Maybe we carried that same theme over from last week. We did an extremely accoustic feel today--piano/and gymbae (?) because bass and accoustic were out. I was bothered at first by the thin sound, but then I thought "let the people sing and hear themselves today. So we did that. It was powerful and the recording sounds great.

O Worship The King (Tomlin)
Famous One (Tomlin) Both of these together were a great opening.
Welcome/Announcements/ Offering
Perfect Peace (Laura Story)-- If you haven't heard this song--go listen to it here!

Mighty To Save/Shout To The Lord--An new one with an old one--works everytime.
Video--Putting Off (SermonSpice)
Message

Susan Boyle Video--we used the Susan Boyle video that is the sensation this week. Russell tied it into the part of Ephesians 4 where it says to use our words to build up and not to corrupt. This was powerful too. And I snuck my Les Misreables book in and played I DREAMED A DREAM as they were going out.
You Are God Alone Revelation Song--Great worship at the end. How was your day?

Stepping Out--Directing At The Ritz

Twitter and Twisters

My introduction to Twitter began in February 2008 as we were at the Recreate Conference in Nashville. That Tuesday night we were at The Factory in Franklin and in the midst of the concert with Paul Baloche, we hear tornado sirens.

All the Twittering (and the itch to Twitter) began that night was we bantered about while awaiting instructions what to do.

Last night we were warned there were 2 tornadoes in the area. In West Texas that means finding the middle of the house (our hallway) and sitting there with pillows. Our 11 year old was most adamant that we get in the hall. So what did I do? I twittered! Here are some of the Tweets.
fbcjdrake: Radio just said 2 go to our church 4 shelter uh im not there about 8 hours ago from txt
fbcjdrake: Last Will_done family together_check hold on about 8 hours ago from txt
fbcjdrake: So whats up family ? As we are gathered in the hall about 8 hours ago from txt

fbcjdrake: We are in hall way tornado warning for scurry county about 8 hours ago from txt

I talked to @jake1977 who was downtown at the Manhattan (our coffee house) and we had a great time bantering about. I remarked to him "Twittering and Tornadoes are fun!"

What did we do before Twitter?

Other Posts: Auntie Em Auntie Em

Sweet 16---Happy Birthday Taylor

Sixteen years ago today a big bundle of energy entered our lives. I guess that's why I awoke early this morning... remembering back how she kept us up all night of the 15th and into the morning of the 16th.

She came into the world with her eyes wide open and ready to see everything. She hasn't changed much--she wants to see and do everything.

It's hard to look at her now and realize that bundle of joy is almost through with High school and is learning to drive (boy are we learning).

Anyway, Happy Birthday Taylor. We love you and want you to have a special day today. You're only 16 once.

Tax Day Blues

Well, it's TAX DAY and we all have the blues. We're ending up paying (again this year) and we thought we were going to be ok. Turns out that if you make just a little more this year than last you get bumped into a whole new realm where the government digs a little more out of you.

We are not even"rich" middle class--we're just plain old middle class and we're paying through the nose this year (thanks to being classified as Self-Employed).

Where's the tax relief we're always promised in November? Where's the accountability for the BILLIONS we already send to Washington?

No wonder there are TEA parties taking place today all over the US. People are fed up with paying more and seeing the government spend even more. Enough is enough.

Maybe this makes me a Right Wing Activist according to Homeland Security--but we're fed up with this!

Other posts: Taxes-I'd Rather Be At The Dentist

Lego Jesus

My good friend, Dan Perkins, posted this over on his blog about a group who constructed Jesus out of Legos.

Having purchased Legos for a congregational "creative element" a couple of weeks ago, I can just imagine how expensive this is. I thought Legos would be a cheap material ( it was when I was a kid), but the 220 piece box was $15 and there weren't many large pieces in the set. I was kind of disappointed.

It's interesting to me how they can sculpt Legos into a portrayal of Christ. Dan made the observation that Jesus said that "in three days he would remake this temple"--I don't think he meant with Legos.

Did you play with Legos?

Other Lego Posts: Legos Are The Best

Legos-The Toys of Creativity

Lego Artist (Post #2)

HT: DoxA

Easter Pictures

We haven't been very good at taking family pictures. However, the holidays are great times to do that. We put the camera on the mailbox and did a self timer thing.

We don't realize how big the kids are getting until we take their picture. Bubba is quickly outpacing his sisters. I tell them to be kind to him because he's gonna be bigger than them. All of them had new Easter clothes...so they look presentable.

Do you take family photos?

Worship Confessional, April 12, 2009

This post is part of Sunday Set List over on Fred Mc Kinnon's blog

Well, Easter 2009 is done and in the books! It all began on Thursday with our prayer stations ( you can read about that here) and then our Maundy Thursday service. That service was very powerful (just scripture, song and communion). Sometimes the most powerful things are the simplest.

Today began cool and wet (from the rains overnight). We had two services as usual. Our early service was down (some of our regulars were travelers this year. Second service was full and we kept it really accessible this year (not a lot of new songs--in fact NO NEW SONGS) and mostly arrangements of familiar Easter music. Although I was jealous of so many others doing the new Tomlin songs, I think it was the right thing for us this year. Just a simple service with not a lot of fanfare. I'm afraid that too many times on these special events we try to knock it out of the park for the sake of effect and when people return the next week they find it to be a very different place. It was just a good day of worship.

Set List

Countdown

Alive Forever Amen (Cottrell)--this one rocked with a great track by David Trevey. "Worthy is the lamb, worthy of our praise,worthy is the one who has overcome the grave"

Christ The Lord Is Risen (G3 Worship) new arrangement-really fresh with a great new bridge.

Turn /Greet

"The Journey of A Shoe"--the video led into our promotion about Shoes For Orphan Souls (We wiped out the local Walmart this week). We're collecting 600 pair of shoes.

Welcome/Prayer

Are You Washed/Lamb of God (Cottrell arr from LION OF JUDAH-CALVARY'S LAMB)

Scripture Reading (1 Cor. 15)

Glorious Day (Bleeker)--we did this during December and brought it back for Easter Sunday

Morning Message--Taking Off/ Putting On--our continuing series in Ephesians

Jesus Paid It All (Stanfill)--great closer!

How was your Easter day?

Good Friday

(Photo by @loswhit)

Mark 15:33-36
When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
When some of those who stood by heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling on Elijah.’
Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink saying, ‘Wait! And see if Elijah will come to take him down.’ NJB

Why It's Called Good Friday