This weekend

Tonight will be our first "real" Praise Team class. We will have a "group voice lesson" which I hope will be helpful to all. I think this will be an interesting season for the Praise Team as individuals, as a group, and as a ministry at Burnt Hickory.

A couple of interesting things coming up.

I will be playing this Sunday for the Grace Pointe church. Their usual guitarist is out of town, so they invited me to sub for him. It will be an interesting experiment. It will also be good to reconnect with those friends I don't get to see very often. I just wish the rest of the family could be there too. (other commitments prevent this)

My in-laws will be in for the long weekend starting tomorrow (Thursday). My father-in-law and I will likely be trying to get a lot of the basement wiring done. We're thinking we need to get a pro to design the actual layout of the room - for "code compliance," etc. Which sounds great - except for paying for it!

I'm working a good bit with my friend Carla McCormick (the co-lead in the VBS production I mentioned) to try to get our "band" (such as it is) back rolling again. It sure is hard trying to have a band while maintaining all our grown-up responsibilities. But I want to get out and PLAY so badly! Especially with all the amp building and modding I've been doing lately. Wanna give those new tones a workout! Our regular bassist will be unavailable this summer (at least) due to grown-up responsibilities, so we're going to have to make some adjustments. We'll see how it all pans out.

I hope everyone has a great 4th celebration. God, bless America (please)! (and perhaps, America could bless God too...)

"Un-Siamesing"

I was in a conversation with a good friend, trying to describe (at a high level) the struggle/process I've been in. I was able to define it a little better this way.

My relationship with God and my relationship with the church have had too much overlap - they've been intertwined too much, to the point where they were hard to distinguish (for me). Like they were Siamese Twins. So I'm now (finally) going through the process of making my relationship with God a related but distinct thing from my relationship with the church. Un-siamesing them. (I just love making up new words.)

BTW, Natalie's quiz results for Theological Worldview were VERY different from mine. She tested out a Wesleyan, with a high percentage of Fundamentalist as well. Pray for us as we work to harmonize our views and chart a path for our family.

Meanwhile, our efforts to re-build (or, really build) a Praise Team at Burnt Hickory CoC begin anew. We have a very talented lady who has sung professionally that is part of our group, and she is willing to give us "group voice lessons" as a part of our weekly rehearsals. I know I'm looking forward to learning to sing more properly - as I get older my vocal stamina isn't what it used to be, and I'm sure it is at least in part because I have developed several bad habits in my singing. Certainly I try to push too much volume.... must be from too much loud guitar music and the consequent hearing loss.

I do dearly love these people I get to work with. However, I still can't say I'm "committed to the work there" yet. Natalie and I spent some time checking out the web site for Northwest Christian Church, which meets at Kennesaw Mountain High School - we pass it on the way to BH every Sunday morning. They are certainly a "Restoration Movement" church also - and therefore have a lot of the same perspectives and ideas that I want to run away from, though they have instrumental music (the big reason that tribe split from the CoC) and they have increased roles for women (including a female worship leader). So we probably won't be checking them out.

Father God, my Redeemer and my Rock, please have mercy on me and grant wisdom to lead my family in following You. Please bless and strengthen me to cherish them and protect their hearts.

OK, I took the quiz too...

My results:

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 82% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79% Neo orthodox 68% Charismatic/Pentecostal 64% Fundamentalist 50% Classical Liberal 39% Reformed Evangelical 39% Roman Catholic 29% Modern Liberal 29% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Back from PBC

Another "SuperWeek" at Palmetto Bible Camp. God blessed us with a great staff (again), great campers (again), and even great weather, for the first time in SEVERAL years! We're all exhausted, but also filled.

It was especially hard this year at camp because I entered the week on a sleep/energy/voice deficit. Our VBS was the previous week at Burnt Hickory and I was the male lead in the "production". It went fantastically well, and I had a blast, but it wore me out! The cast did include a lot of people who have cast their lot with the Grace Pointe Community Church, which was interesting. (Sorry, but I must say that the "e" on the end of Pointe is trite, and very annoying to me. Seems VERY contrived. Oh, well. That's what a focus group will give you, eh?)

I have to admit that we did not go to Burnt Hickory this morning. One reason was that we were simply wiped out. The other reason is that it is always very hard to go back to low-energy-level worship after camp. Sigh.

Oh, yeah - re: the last post. I did not have to give up any "responsibilities" based on my resignation as a deacon, so that's good - I guess.

So tomorrow it's Back to Work! I really needed the break from work. Kinda felt ground down a bit. However, I always face the challenge, when returning from camp, that what I was doing last week holds so much more value and significance to me than what I'm doing at work. I wonder if it is a call to worship ministry... which does indeed scare me, due to my lifestyle addiction.

I hope to blog more frequently. It does me good - even if no one else reads it. BTW, thanks for the kind words, Kevin.