Sorry this took so long to post, but I haven't been up to speed on my blogging lately. I've finally Flickr'd a few photos that I took during our trip to Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The whole trip was a blast. Lake Charles was incredible. The people there were some of the most incredible, sweet, and generous people I've ever met. They came to worship, that's for sure. They even cooked us up 50 pounds of crawfish to make sure we got some local food. It was great!





More pics from Lake Charles and Baton Rouge

If you are wondering why the heck I took a picture of a bag of candy, those are Peach Rings, which have quickly become the official fuel of Sheri's band. Drew met me at LAX with a fresh new pack, and they kept me going on the four hour drive from Baton Rouge to Houston! Thanks, buddy.

Labels: Events, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music

Melisa and I are in the Peach State this weekend, playing guitar and keyboard for my sister's CD release weekend, and we are having a blast. The west coast contingency of the band took the red eye out of Seatac and LAX on Friday night to make it out for the weekend.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

It was a fun trip, because the Californians got to meet up with Rhett(who flew from Seattle) on a connection in Phoenix. We all had to work on Friday, so it was a long day. Thankfully Drew (bass) brought a bag of those sugar-coated orange slices (see picture), which kept us sugar-loaded and chatty. Melisa totally loved the flight from Phoenix to Atlanta, because US Airways showed "27 Dresses", which is that Katherine Heigl movie that she's been so wanting to see.

We got into Alanta airport about 1:15 ET, and we were all hungry. My sis and my parents trucked a couple of their cars down to the airport to pick up four hungry west-coasters and a bunch-o-gear. By this time it was 2AM, and nothing was open. We tried to find a McDonalds or Wendy's that was open to grab a burger, but nothing was open. After a half-an-hour of trying, we gave up and went to Mom & Dad's place in Buford. We were all excited to get home and chatted and ate ham sandwiches until about 3:30 AM. I think I fell asleep at 3:45! Wow, what a long day.

The alarms started ringing at 8:15 AM or so, and the house was bustling with people hooking up their gear, restringing guitars, and sucking down bagels and coffee. We were off early to Sheri's place to meet her and Joshua, pack some more gear and merch, and head on down the road to make a stop at a lunch-party that Melisa's cousins, aunts, and uncles threw for us. It was a blast to see all the Barrett folks again.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

The party was cut short when the road manager (that's me) put his foot down and said we had to leave or we were going to get behind schedule for the sound check. After about 23 hugs and 12 pictures, we left for the Marietta Vineyard.

The soundcheck was a little bit of a process. We were a lot louder than their usual worship team, but Chris, their soundman, is a total pro and dialed the stage in for us. We all felt comfortable and ready for a great night of music, worship, and prayer.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

The Marietta Vineyard folks were just so wonderful to us. Dian Thiel is their worship pastor, and for the Live Oak folks that read my blog, we sing one of her songs a lot, it's titled, "If You Say Go". Yep, I knew you knew it. A special thanks to Cathy, Chris, Diane and Tom for all of their effort to make the event go well, and to take special care of the entire band.

The evening was so wonderful, and God really blessed our nite. The high points for me were "Shout Aloud", "Fearless Now", and the ending song, "Sing Your Praise" where we were joined on stage by about a dozen group-vocalists that recorded the group-vocal tracks on Sheri's CD. I hope someone got some pictures of that, because it was really cool.

After the concert, the folks at Marietta sang "Happy Birthday" to Drew (May 1st) and I (May 6th) because we are near our birthdays. Sheri's record officially drops in the US on May 6th, which I think is really cool.

This morning Melisa and I are going to the Methodist church where my parents are pastoring. We are going to lead a few songs for them this morning. Then we are meeting up with the rest of the band for the two-hour journey to Augusta for another worship concert! Phew! I hope Drew has more of those candy-coated orange slices in his backpack!

More pictures and info about August coming up on Monday. Please do check back in!

Labels: Events, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music, Worship Leading

Labels: Music, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music

Labels: Music, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music

As a worship leader, I always try to create song sets that consist mostly of songs that are praise of God and His greatness, and less about "us" or "me". Sometimes worship sets can have all songs about us and what we need, which isn't always bad, but shouldn't be the norm. As many leaders in the Vineyard have said, including Bert Waggoner and Don Williams, worship leaders are preaching the Gospel and teaching theology just as much as pastors and teachers are, we just do it with song.

But now we are in the season of Lent, which is commonly not observed or given much attention in the Vineyard or protestant churches, but our church is embracing this year. As a worship leader, I've had my radar up for songs that really deal with the themes of repentance, dying to self, and turning back to God. It means that some of the songs I will choose for my sets will be a little be more "me" oriented, but are songs that say to God, "I'm turning back to you, cleanse me God!"

I was sitting at my lunchbreak in the car, and I a song by Charlie Hines on the Vineyard Club CD, "Fascinated" really speaks this well. Here are the lyrics:

You wait in silence, You wait with mercy
You wait in love, Lord, You wait for me

You wait in patience
You wait with forgiveness
You wait in tears, Lord, You wait for me

And I can’t go on, have I gone too far
As I turn toward You I turn away
And all my sins You’ll take away
As I run to where I left You standing
I long to hear You say “welcome home”

You wait in joy, Lord
You wait with compassion
You wait with grace, oh, You wait for me

As I turn toward You I turn away
And all my sins You’ll take away
As I turn toward You I turn away
And all my sins You’ll take away
As I run to where I left You standing
I long to hear You say
I long to hear You say
I long to hear You say “welcome home”
No matter what I’ve done
How far from You I’ve run
I always hoped You’d wait for me

Not only are the lyrics excellent, but the song is beautifully written. I really feel like this is a song that I am supposed to add to our next service as we continue in this time of Lent.

Labels: Vineyard Music, Worship Leading

Vineyard Music USA has four nominations for the Worship Leader 2007 Praise Awards from Worship Leader Magazine. Be sure to case your vote for:

Worship Project of the Year: Full Attention
Song of the Year: “Sweetly Broken”
Worship Compilation: Playlist: Stand In Awe
Breakout Artist: Jeremy Riddle

Go to: 2007 Praise Award Nominations Announced at the bottom of the page and cast your votes!

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Labels: Music, Vineyard Music