The biggest, most anticipated Indie-rock release of the year is out and Robert Ham of Relevant sat down with Ben Gibbard to talk about the new record. The interview talked about the early days of the band in Bellingham, WA which made me sigh a little bit and reminisce about living in Washington, and my wanna-be-indie-rock days.




If you haven't heard the single for the new record, you probably haven't been listening to KROQ or your local Alterna-rock station. The new song is amazing, and gives me confidence that the new record "Narrow Stairs", will be amazing.

Labels: Music

Did anybody out there see this week's American Home Makeover? It was a 2-hour episode chronicaling the new home, group living area, and community meeting space for a Vineyard pastor who is ministering in the worst parts of Albuquerque, NM.

It was pretty awesome, although they definitely were careful not to use the name of Jesus anywhere in the episode. But still, the amazing things the the Martinez family are doing there is totally "Kingdom" stuff.

Great episode, I kept getting choked up, knowing how blessed the Martinez family must have felt to finally have their own dream house. Amazing stuff.

Labels: Leisure

THEMATIC WORSHIP
is a service where a single aspect
of God’s nature or work
is focused on and celebrated,
with the various elements of the service
chosen to support and develop that theme.
-Ron Man, worship.com

Ron Man has a detailed article that gives some great insight on "Thematic Worship", which he describes as tailoring our liturgy, specifically in songs, that highlight a single theme or characteristic of God.

It can be difficult, as a worship leader, to carry a theme throughout a set of songs that flows not only musically, but has a consistent theme or message. However, Ron challenges worship leaders to choose songs that, combined, express a single, cohesive theme.

You can check out the article at blog.worship.com.

Labels: Worship Leading

Northpoint Church has a helpful video on how to join the worship team at your local church. I think I may incorporate some of these ideas into our evaluation of new band candidates in the future at our church.

David, pay close attention!

Labels: Worship Leading

My friend, Jonathan, taught this morning at Live Oak Vineyard on Psalm 23, and truly trusting in the Lord. It really made me think a lot about my "faith" in God versus my "faith" in my job, my apartment, my family, my country, and myself. And on the average, I honestly think I put most of my faith in temporary things. In America, we have so much "security", or should I say "the feeling of security" in our affluence and resources.

My wife, who is much wiser and more in tune with God than I am, often tells me to "Trust God". It's a theme I hear over and over. I am a worrier. I admit that. It's hard for me not to . And I find that I worry more when the bank account is empty, or the future seems uncertain.

Jonathan's message and the message of Psalm 23 hits home for me today. It challenges me to trust God with everything. I hope to rise to that challenge.

Labels: Christian Life

It must be the weekend, because my brain is worked. I had a big, multi-tasking week at work, and I rewarded my hard work with a quick nap on the couch when I got home. I need to recharge a bit before heading out on the town with the unofficial "Three Saints And A Sinner" fan club tonight. The cool cats are playing at "the Gem" tonite, and it should be a good time.

Tomorrow my wifey comes home, and I'm sure she has a lot of great stories to tell me of her trip. I'm pretty sure all she will need her blanket and the Tivo remote on Saturday night. She's got a lot of American Idol and The Bachelor to catch up on.

I finally got a listen to "God Of This City", the latest cd from Passion/Six Steps Records. It was a solid record, but not the best they've ever done. But wow, "Let God Arise" and "God Of This City" are two amazing songs, and I hope to put these into my rotation of songs at Live Oak.



I've also been listening to Bloc Party's latest disc. Good stuff. Lots of energy, and I love the guitar sounds. The next thing I'm going to demo is Leeland's latest.

The weather was HOT today. I stepped out of my office at about 11 AM today, and it was like a furnace blast! Earlier in the week I was awakened by cold air blowing in the window, and now it's about 85 in my room. It finally felt like summer is right around the corner.

I had better get ready to head out to the rock show. I'll be live from the Gem on my twitter feed. You can check out updates here.

Labels: Life, Music

Wow, did The Office return from the writer's strike with a good episode, or what? My buddy, Steve, described it as "the most awkward episode ever", and I'd have to agree.



I don't want to spoil it for everyone, but the episode revolves around a dinner party at Michael and Jan's condo, and it was all seriously "over-the-top".

Now Grey's Anatomy returns in a week!

Labels: Leisure

Labels: Music, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music

The Dodgers are sputtering early in the season at 4-5. The skipper has got some work to do!

Labels: Sports

While Melisa has been out in New Orleans this week, I've done a few projects. As you can see, I changed my blog layout. I was kind of bored with the narrow, minimalist look. Now I'm overloading everyone with info, including my Twitter feed on the right side. I did that especially for my buddy, Steve, who is a huge fan of tweets! Ha, just kidding.

I've kept myself busy working a few late nights at work. Monday I pretty much was worthless after work, and just was a couch potato. Tuesday I gathered up a couple of guys from my home group to hang out, and had some good times talking about "The Vineyard", worship, marriage, not being married, church planting, and stuff like that. We didn't solve anything, but that's ok.

Tonight, a couple from the church took me in and fed me. It was the first time I ate any vegetables in the last 48 hours so that is good.

Melisa called, and she is excited about what God is doing on her trip. She said that her body is tuckered out from all of the hard work. She's been working with pastor Floyd and the team to put in a bunch of flooring in New Orleans at a house that is being remodeled after Katrina. Anyway, I've mentioned her blog, but if you haven't read it yet, go see it at http://melisakeller.tumblr.com.



Big plans for Friday. Three Saints and a Sinner are playing a show at Gem City in Monrovia. Join us!

Labels: Christian Life

This is my beautiful wife, Melisa, installing flooring at a house in the New Orleans area. I'm totally plugging her weblog of her trip and work there.

Check out her blog here.

Check out here photos of the ninth ward here. They are unbelievable. The damage is still not repaired in so many places.

Labels: Christian Life

I got a call tonight from our guest worship leaders, Daniel and Nicole. They are having some car trouble tonite, and may not be able to make it to church tomorrow. I'm not sure what to do right now.



Our set was supposed to be:

• Hosanna (Beloche/Brown)
• Mercy Is Falling (Ruis)
• He Reigns (Newsboys)
• Something Happens (Vineyard Music S. Africa)
• God Of All Splendor (Brent Helming)

Danial and Nicole were supposed to lead three of these songs, so I'm not sure which ones to replace right now. Something Happens is a song I've never led, so I'd probably need to do something different.

I guess I'll pray about it in the morning after I take Melisa to the airport at some awful early-morning hour.

Labels: Worship Leading

My beautiful wife, Melisa, will be taking a trip to Kenner, LA to help out with Katrina relief tomorrow. You can follow her blog about the trip at http://melisakeller.tumblr.com.

Labels: Christian Life

Yesterday I got busy at work, and didn't take a proper lunch break. It was almost 2PM, and I was tired and hungry. I wanted something cheap and fast, so I headed over to McDonald's to take a couple of hits off of their $1 menu.

As I pulled up to the Drive-Thru, I was greeted by the nice gentleman who asked me if I would like to try an iced coffee. I paused, and said yes! Then he asked me several questions, and I just couldn't understand the fellow. His accent sounded like he was maybe Pakistani, I'm not sure. Once I figured out that he was asking me if I wanted Regular, Vanilla, or Caramel. I asked for Regular and pulled up to the next window. The nice guy with the headset took my money, and seemed kind of angry at me that I couldn't understand his English. Sorry buddy, I tried my best.

I pulled up to the second window, and peered in to see how they were making my beverage. It looked like it was pre-mix. Hmmm, I couldn't really tell. But I expected that "instant" flavor. I slammed my $1 fries and double-cheese burger. That's a $2 deal that is an unbeatable deal. I then unwrapped the straw and got ready to drink my $1.89 iced coffee.

I expected the worst, but my first sip was somewhat surprising. Hmm, I doesn't have that horrible 7-11 instant flavor. Not bad. Ok, I know it's not a Starbucks Americano with four onces of half-n-half, but it wasn't bad. It's about half the price of a Starbucks iced latte, and probably at least half as good. The coffee flavor was a little bit on the light side. If it had a stronger coffee flavor, it would be even better.

All in all, I won't be driving to McDonald's specifically to get iced coffee, but if I happen to be at McDonald's, I might try it again.

Labels: Life

The Internet must be open during the Beijing Olympics. That was the message a top-ranking International Olympic Committee official delivered Tuesday to Beijing organizers during the first of three days of meetings - the last official sessions between IOC inspectors and the Chinese hosts before the games begin in just over four months.

Beijing routinely blocks Chinese access to some foreign news Web sites and blogs, a practice it has stepped up since rioting broke out over two weeks ago in Tibet.

-AP Sports Writer, Stephen Wade

China's cramping on NBC's television coverage seems to have the International Olympic Committee worried that their communications will be hampered by the Communist government. I guess they want to make sure their twitter tweets aren't going to be censored!

Labels: News

Que bella!

Labels: Whips