• Home
• About WMC
• Contact Us
• Forum
• Podcast

Sometimes I wonder if technology is really all it’s cracked up to be. At times (probably most of the time) it can be a wonderful thing. There are so many pieces of technology that make life easier, and make it easier for us to share our lives with others. There are times, when I do something that wouldn’t have ever been possible before with out it.

But at other times, I wonder. Yeah it’s great, but when it’s not working correctly, it can really be a pain. For instance: we use a VoIP phone. And when it’s working correctly it’s great. It’s cheap, and gives us more features. But when it’s not working it’s a pain. The internet is another example, when it’s up and the network is functioning properly, it’s great, when it’s not, it’s a pain.

Today, the network wasn’t working when we got back from the park, so I had to spent the next 3 or 4 hours getting it back up and working. It’s all working now, and I’m obviously online, but it was a royal pain to go through the process to figure out what was wrong.

Technology also has other issues. For instance, since we use a VoIP phone, it makes it more challenging to have phones throughout the house. So we either had to buy a more expensive phone with more extensions, or I had to figure out how to run the phone into the wiring in the house. I did that, but then there was interference from the phone service in the house. So, I had to disconnect the phone service outside the house. Now we have the phone running through the wiring in the house, which is nice. However, I’m forcing this new technology to fit into the mold of a technology that is becoming extinct. Which means at some point it will be extinct and we’ll have to buy something else to replace it.

I’m online, but thinking about not being so.

I have to admit, something kind of cool happened this weekend. My Senior Pastor played on the worship band. Maybe, this is old hat to some of you, but for me, it was something very new and very cool. We’ve been kind of searching for musicians for a little while here at Gateway and since he had wasn’t preaching this last weekend, he offered to play on worship band. Even though he’s an incredibly busy man, and has a lot on his shoulders running the church and many pressures I couldn’t understand, he gave his time to play in the worship band this weekend, and did a great job. It was very cool.

We also had a drummer show up at the last minute, which was also great. We’re really struggling to find drummers right now, so I was thinking we’d be without one this weekend (kind of a bummer on the weekend your Sr. Pastor is playing). But our children’s director (who’s one of our drummers) came through. In spite of being away at camp all week, and having his sister’s wedding on the same day, he came and played drums. It was great!

So something that could have been like last weekend - me, a bass player and a couple of vocalists - turned out to be a pretty well rounded band. So, props to Bob & Lee, a huge thanks for selflessly making the worship at Gateway this last weekend a success.

On another note, we’re in the midst of “One Prayer” at Gateway, and this last weekend we watched Craig Groeschel’s message “Make us One” and I thought it was phenomenal. It was a challenge to find songs that fit well with the message, so I didn’t try too hard to do so. (I actually tried for a long time to find some songs that went well - but couldn’t find any, so I gave up.)

Here was our set:

• All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises
• Joyful, Joyful (David Crowder Version)
• Welcome/Announcements
• Come, Now is the Time to Worship
• Meet Us Here (Mike Honholtz)
• Message
• You Alone

We even had almost the whole band for the closing which is something that we don’t do very often - I like to allow the worship people to leave early if the need to, since they’re there all weekend.

It was a great weekend, and people really joined in as well. Which is one of the biggest goals of what we do on a weekend.

I’ve got to confess that I absolutely love Last Comic Standing. I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t like it, and in general comedy might not be something the majority of America want to watch, but I love it. It’s great to see the people who are actually funny. You know, the people who don’t have to be dirty to be funny. That’s the kind of funny that takes creativity. It’s also cool because there’s more than one kind of comedy on the show. If you watch a comic, even the best comic, there could very well be times during their performance when you tune out. But, when you have a variety of comedy, it’s much easier to stay tuned in.

If I had one complaint it would be that we don’t see enough of the individual performances. I think we need to see all of every persons performance so we can vote better when that time comes. We do want to be an informed audience and not just guess who’s the best.

If you haven’t, you should try it out. It’s great!

I’ve been resisting the facebook surge for quite some time now. I did Myspace for a while, and I just wasn’t that thrilled with it, but my wife finally convinced me to get on facebook - (She actually set up an account for me then all I had to do was confirm.) So, after a month or so of waiting to decided if I should or not (I still wasn’t sure that facebook might be the meddling of the anti-christ) I have finally given in.

If you’re interested in adding me - you can do so through facebook.

Here’s the info for the latest installment of the Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast:

In this weeks’ podcast, Kevin & I were joined by Scott Olson mid podcast. We talk about using Hymns in worship, some of the pros and cons to having to fall into a style of music as opposed to using songs based on the content of the lyrics. It’s a topic we are just touching the surface of, but it’s a great start to the discussion.

Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast - Episode 6 - Hymns, Choruses, Blended, Contemporary - what have you… [36:08m]

I just thought I’d take a second a brag about my wonderful wife. We’ve been in the process of moving for about a month now, and she’s been amazing. She packed our entire house while taking care of a two year old and an infant. Since we’ve been at our new house she’s been an unpacking fool, getting the house set up and looking great, as well as painting and a whole slew of other things.

I take her for granted so much, but I’m so blessed to have someone as wonderful as her.

Thank you for all the amazing things you do for our family, and the sacrifices you make!

Below is the information about the most recent “Worship Ministry Catalyst” podcast episode:

In this week’s episode, Kevin & I talk about some of the important things in keeping relationships healthy among worship team members and church staff members. This one gets off to a hilarious start - at least I think so. We hope it’s full of helpful insight for you, your worship team and worship ministry.

Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast - Episode 5 - Relationships [35:14m]

If you have some helpful advice about maintaining healthy relationships among worship team members and church staff members please feel free to comment on this post with your thoughts. You can also email david@worshipministrycatalyst.com or kevin@worshipministrycatalyst.com

In this weeks’ episode, Kevin & I talk about dealing with confrontation, and to do it in love. All of us, no matter what position we are in will have to confront someone about something, and when that happens we need to be able to do so in a way that not only honors the person we are confronting, but honors God as well. Hopefully what we talk about will be helpful advice for you all.

Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast - Episode 4 - Confronting in Love [35:14m]

Please feel free to leave a comment on this blog post if you have some helpful advice in dealing with confrontation. If you’d like to get in touch with us you can use the form below, or email david@worshipministrycatalyst.com or kevin@worshipministrycatalyst.com.

Here’s my latest post over at www.worshipministrycatalyst.com

“This weekend was kind of a let down for me, being perfectly honest. The band that we had, did a phenomenal job, as did the vocalist and tech team. The reason it was kind of a let down for me was that I was trying to schedule a very full band, and I was pretty sure most of them would be able to make it, and we ended up with only three pieces to the band. But, aside from that it was a good weekend.

We’re in the second week of our Revolution series, and this week was about grace so we did communion at the end of the service. Bob wove it seamlessly into the sermon and tied the whole service together extremely well. It wasn’t one of those weekends where you do communion because you haven’t done it in 6 weeks, it was a weekend where we did communion because it was the right thing to do. The congregation responded very well to communion, and the worship that followed.

There has also been quite a bit of consistency to the experience of the entire weekend. The songs have been consistent with the theme, the decor is also consistent. The mood is set from the moment you walk through the doors with the decorations in the foyer, then pre-service videos and other videos throughout the service.

I love the direction we’re going with our services, we’re really starting to go in the direction of begin far more creative with the entire worship experience and not just trying to get the songs and message to line up. I hope that we really keep going further down this road so that the experience for everyone regular attender and visitor alike is something they remember after they leave the building.”