The Experience of Worship

When is Enough Enough?

Let’s work with hypotheticals.

Let’s say that you, as a worship leader, have an instrumentalist who isn’t getting it right.  He shows up on time, he has a good attitude, he’s a good guy (or she’s a good girl) - but they just do not have a grasp of what it means to be good at their instrument.  They have obviously listened to the songs, but they obviously haven’t grasped how to actually learn their parts in any succinct (or realistic) way.  They come prepared but sound like they’ve never listened to the song…because they just aren’t very good yet.

We’ve all had those instrumentalists (or vocalists) in our bands.  Right?  Can you visualize that person, right now?  Maybe they’re in your band RIGHT NOW.

The question is this: how long do you give them before you give them the hook?  How many times do you let them actually play on your stage and dink around and hit bad notes or play out of rhythm?  At what point do you say, we need to rethink our position here?

This isn’t easy because you never know how people will respond to you telling them, basically, that they stink.  And make no bones about it, if you are removing someone or you are cutting their amount of playing time, you HAVE to let them know what is going on.  You have to.  Passive-aggressive never works in these situations.

So, how long before you sit down with them and say one of two things?

1) Man, the last x amount of times you have played with us, it just hasn’t been good.  We’re very thankful for your time and energy thus far, but it just isn’t good enough yet.  I would love for you to continue to be a part of practices and watch how our other guitar players work, and continue to learn how to be a part of this team and what our standard of excellence really is - but for now I’m going to remove you from the playing schedule.  I hope you can understand.

or…

2)  Man, I’m so thankful you have been a part of this team so far, but I think right now I just don’t think we are going to use you anymore.

Now, obviously, you will want to go more in depth with both of these options, but I think that #1 is for anyone you think has a chance - and in my opinion, that is probably 98% of people.  That means you might run into 1 person ever 5-10 years who deserves #2.  #2 is reserved for someone who has no basic concept of rhythm, tone, notes, chords or music, really.  Like I said, 1-2% of people ever deserve #2.

But how long do you wait to give them this talk?

Here’s my opinion - feel free to comment and add to and/or disagree!  I think that when you get a new player, you should spend a time or two just you and that person practicing (I’m talking instrumentalists and obviously you must be careful if the person is the opposite sex).  Get a feeling for what they can do with the songs just listening to him by himself while you play the song over speakers or you play along with a guitar or a piano.  The information you learn from this style of meeting will be invaluable in the future.

Then, when you get into the first practice/time of worship you have an idea of how he’s going to play.  Then you evaluate that first time.  Did he play well?  Okay?  Badly?  Then ask him how HE thought he played.  Does his answer match around the same place you landed?  If not, you might be in trouble.  If yes, then you may be onto something.  Talk about how he can be better the next time.

Then, if he shows up the next time and has not improved, then you have your answer.  That person, in my opinion isn’t ready.  So, go with option one, help them learn how to rise to the standard of excellence you are trying to set.

The reason I believe this is the best way is because it deals with things straight and honestly, as well as uprightly AND it gives you the chance for pastor those people a little bit.

And if you handle it in the right way, you should allow the person being challenged to grow through the challenge.

So - what do you think?

Amps vs. PODS

The age-old debate between worship bands and sound guys is…stage volume. Which turns into amps vs. amp simulators. Because you can’t really have an amp on-stage if you’re also trying to keep it quiet.

So…pros and cons.

1) Amps are awesome. Well, most tube amps over $350 are.

2) Amp simulators are not awesome.

So…there’s your answer. Figure out how to use an amp 100% of the time if at all possible. Doesn’t have to be on-stage. Doesn’t have to be blaring. But a good amp sounding mediocre always beats a simulator.

So…do the right thing.  : )

Your worship band sucks. Now what?

Over the last coupla weeks I’ve had several conversations with worship leaders and musicians about my philosophy of worship and playing styles, etc.  And it made me do some thinking (out loud, which in Colorado we also call “talking”) and it made me want to write a blog about what it really means to be a worshipper on stage in a worship band.

1) You don’t have to be a phenomenal musician to do it.
You do not have to be the best musician to be a great lead worshipper in a band.  In fact, in my experience, the “great players” usually end up being the people who have the hardest time fitting into playing in a worship setting.  What you do have to be is decent to good; worshipful and passionate about worship; and humble and teachable.  Those 3 sets of things make the best worship musicians.

2) You don’t have to have touring experience or have played in a church for years.
Though experience is never a bad thing, I believe that if you have a basic love for music, are teachable and have a desire to be better, then you can excel in being a productive part of a worship team.

3)  You don’t have to have Pro-Level Gear to be able to do it.
Most churches have a drumset.  Most churches either have a bass amp or some way for you to go direct in.  Most churches have other guitar players who can help you get started on building the perfect pedal board.  And let’s be honest: as a worship player you really only need 3 things on your board: a tuner, an overdrive and a delay pedal that can do dotted 8th notes.

So…we know what you don’t have to have in order to be good.  What do you have to have to have?

We’ll assume everyone has the passion and the heart for worship and that they have a growing relationship with Jesus.  That should be a given.  What things should musicians have in order to be a part of worship?

Well, not every church is the same, but I’ll tell you what I’m looking for…

DRUMMERS
 - You must be able to play with a click
 - You must be able to lead the band through transitions (i.e., change the click over to the next song and count it in or whatever).

Pretty simple, right?  But you might say, “Chris, our band doesn’t play with a click.” Then no wonder your worship band sucks.  Play with a stinking click!  Come on!  It’s practically 2013!  Every band should be playing with a click.  A click just makes everything tighter and better.

Now, if your drummer can’t play with a click, then you get together with him and work with him for several weeks, tell him when he’s getting off, help him realize what he needs to work on…and eventually you get to a click.

Come on.  It’s practically 2013.

BASS PLAYERS
 - learn how to play everything slower than an 8th note.  16th notes on the bass are never allowed.  1/4 notes.  1/8 notes.  1/2 notes.  Whole notes.  Band away on those things.  But faster than 1/8 note…no, no, no, no.  No matter how slow the song.  If you play a bar of 1/16 notes, then your worship leader has the right to come over and spank your hand and your bottom.  Unless your worship leader is the opposite sex of you.  Then, just they can just spank your hand.
 -  learn how to do octave slides.  Those come in handy from time to time.
 - never play another Led Zeppelin bass riff.
 - leave your bass distortion, bass EQ and bass wah pedals at home.  All you need is a tuner. 

GUITAR PLAYERS 
 - learn how to play the 1 and the 5 of every chord up the neck on the 2nd and 3rd highest strings.  For instance a “D chord” will be on fret 15 on the 2nd string and the 14th fret on the 3rd string.  A “B chord” would be the 12th and 11th fret and so forth and so on.  Learn from G (8th & 7th) all the way up to F (18th & 17th) and memorize.  Then figure out which chords in each key use the same fret.  For instance, in the key of G, you can do a variation of a D chord with the 7th and 7th fret of the 2nd and 3rd highest strings.  On the 12th fret on both strings makes a variation of a G chord that includes a B-note.  Most of “twinkly” worship playing involves those 2 strings doing movements like that.
 - buy 3 pedals.  That’s it.  Sell everything you have right now.  Then buy 3 pedals.  1) a good tuner.  I have the TCElectronics tuner.  It’s fabulous.  The Boss Tuner is great also. Buy something like those.  2) Buy a killer overdrive pedal.  Do NOT buy anything that includes the word distortion.  If it’s a dual overdrive-distortion, do NOT buy it.  You do not ever want distortion.  Period.  Never.  Overdrive only.  There are three that I highly recommend - the Mad Professor Honey OD, the Timmy, and the Fulltone OCD.  Buy one of those and you will not be sorry.  I’ve heard great things about the JHS pedals, though I haven’t played them.  No need for a TS-9 or 808 for worship stuff…for the same amount of money you can get something better — like the pedals I mentioned.  3)  Get a delay pedal.  But you need a delay pedal that can do dotted 8ths.  That delay setting is the key to most worship music.  If you have $150-200, get the Boss DD-20.  If you can spend $250-300 get the Visual Sound Dual Tap Tempo.  It is THE best delay pedal I’ve played.  And I’ve played every single one of them.  And I’ve owned most of them.  The Visual Sound pedal made me sell all my other delay pedals.  It’s that good.
 - be willing to use a capo.  So many drone notes in worship riffs come from using a capo.  Invest in one and use it liberally.
 - be willing to play rhythm.  A lot of worship playing involves playing both lead and rhythm to bring “UMPH” to bigger sections.  Be willing to turn off your delay and pound out big open chords.

KEYS PLAYERS
- Keep it simple.  You may need 2 keyboards up there to switch between a couple of sounds.  But don’t be playing 2 massive keyboard sounds at the same time!
 - be able to play the piano riffs from the records.

I’ll give you the 2 biggest secrets to your worship band not sucking (Outside of the individual tips I’ve given above).  These are secrets I’ve learned from writing with and learning from guys who have written massive worship songs.  This comes from years of watching worship bands all across the nation.

Here they are.  You ready?  They’re simple…but oh, so massive to making your band good!

1) Dynamics.  Everyone doesn’t need to playing all the time.  You should train your musicians to look for every spot they can to sit out.  People laying out gives you dynamics.  Teach them to play quietly, sure.  But not playing at all is the most impressive and easy way to be quiet.

2) Simple.  Listen to the best bands in the pop/rock genre.  It is all about each person playing a simple part that fits perfectly into the grand scheme of things.  It’s the same with worship music.

So…go make your band better.  How about that?! 

Old People, Religion and When a History of Faith is a Bad Thing or…

“Why People Like Us Are Hurting the Church”

I got you with the title, right?  Well, don’t be dissuaded!  The title was just to draw you in…ready?  All right, here we go!

I’ve been a believer for 20 years now, a passionate disciple for 15 years now.  I’ve been to church countless thousands of time, having grown up in a home that took “if the church doors are open, we’re gonna be there” to new extremes.  Of course, my dad was the pastor, so it was kind of unquestioned that he would be there – and we, his family just followed him to Sunday School, Sunday morning services, Sunday night services, Wednesday night services, Thursday night soul-winning, Friday night A.W.A.N.A’s and Saturday night youth group.

I went to 3 – count them, yes, 3 – different Bible Colleges.  I had 12 semesters of Bible classes.  I have lead worship or been in a church to do a concert almost every Sunday for 12 years. 

I think it’s safe to assume that I have, at the very least, a rich history of faith.  I am – for lack of a better term - one of the “religious”.  I am younger in age, but because of my childhood (and adulthood) I am OLDER in my faith.

Being old in your faith is good in a lot of ways.  I have a rich understanding of Scripture that only comes with time and consistent study.  I can argue intricate pieces of theology, if I want to impress someone with how smart and highly spiritual I am (as if arguing the intricacies of Calvinism vs. Armenian-ism ever impressed anyone).  I can speak with big Christian words and speak in soft tones and tell someone about God’s grace vs. his justice.

But being old in my faith can also be bad in a lot of ways.  It leads to pride (I feel icky just reading the last paragraph above – ugh).  It leads to comfort.  And worse, it leads to the need for me to prefer some things over other things – and because of my history of faith I can feel like those preferences become issues of right and wrong, as opposed to what I LIKE more or less.

The biggest struggle I see in churches right now has to do with people like me.  People who think like I talked about in the last two paragraphs.

Church attendance is down across the board in the American church.  Sure, sure, you have the NewSpring’s and the Elevation Church’s and the CrossPoint’s and the Flat Iron’s – but for every one of those churches is 100 churches that are losing the battle to meet the needs of the unchurched or the young in faith.

And – for the most part – it isn’t the pastors of these church’s faults.  It usually isn’t the staff’s fault.  Though the pastors and staff may fall into the problem.  Because the problem isn’t that the staff and pastors aren’t doing a good job.  Most church’s staff are doing the very best they can.

The problem with churches is people like me.  And people like you.  Those of us that like things how we like them and aren’t willing to consider a time when WE were the young in faith and when WE needed certain things in order to be drawn into church.

When Jesus ministered here on earth, you know who he consistently challenged?  Not the gays.  Not the people with tattoos and long hair and crappy clothes.  Not the single moms who screwed up once again.  Not the divorcee’.  Not the dirty people who might smell up our beautiful auditoriums that we spent millions of dollars on.  Not the new Christian who hasn’t learned that sleeping with his girlfriend isn’t okay.

He challenged you and me.  The religious.  He challenged people like you and me who have a rich history of faith.

In fact, when a prostitute brought her meager gifts to Jesus, the religious people were offended that Jesus didn’t rebuke her for her well-known sin.  When Jesus ate with Zacchaeus, His disciples were upset because Jesus was eating with this horrible cheating tax collector.

Jesus didn’t care how old your faith was.  He didn’t care if you didn’t have faith.  His goal was to draw you to Him.

So, how can you and I think that it’s okay to fight when our church moves towards a more contemporary way of doing things?  How can we be upset when we do a style of music beyond our preference?  How can we get up in arms when the church’s focus becomes the generation of believers much younger than us?

It’s what Jesus would be doing.  Jesus made it clear He didn’t give a crap what us religious people thought.  He did everything in His ministry to reach out to the people who didn’t have a rich history of faith.

Because those of us with a rich history of faith should understand that church is NOT about us.  It isn’t about ME.  It isn’t about YOU.  When it becomes about us, then it simply becomes religion.  When we make church about our preferences then we become religious.  Church becomes just another Idol that gets in the way of being a Disciple of Christ.

So, if you find yourself getting upset because the music is louder than you like, then go get yourself a pair of freaking earplugs.  Because the twenty-eight year old who hasn’t been to church since that youth pastor in tenth grade broke his heart by being a jerk might need it to be loud for HIS preference.  And he doesn’t have the spiritual maturity to realize yet that church isn’t about him.  And he shouldn’t.  Yet.  But you should.  BECAUSE you have a rich history of faith.

If you find yourself getting frustrated because the service is darker than you prefer, then close your eyes and pray.  Because the single mother who’s embarrassed by the fact that she’s in church holding a six week old whose father hasn’t returned a phone call in nine months may need it be dark in order to not feel ashamed.  And she doesn’t have the spiritual maturity yet to realize that she is loved and held in the arms of Jesus.

It all comes down to this: the spiritually immature NEED more than we do.  And they should.  Jesus saw it.  How can we miss it?

So, how about those of us with a rich history of faith, start acting like we know Jesus better?

Good Friday Night of Worship

Here is the set list we played tonight for Good Friday.

VIDEO {talking about The Last Supper}

How He Loves

COMMUNION SET UP {by yours truly}

Communion Song
Hosanna

VIDEO 2 {talking about the Garden of Gathsemene} 

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
O the Blood
Lead Me to the Cross

VIDEO 3 {talking about what Christ went through on the Cross}

Come Thou Fount
Arms Open Wide

VIDEO 4 {Looking towards the Open Grave/The Seed of Hope}

Mighty To Save
Jesus Paid It All
Tell the World That
Take Heart 

The Albums + Kickstarter

O couple of people asked about what is happening with the albums.

First off, thank you to those who gave.  Prizes will begin to go out as soon as the first album - the worship album For Our God & King is finished.  Unfortunately, as I was finishing up the vocals for the album, I ran into some vocal issues and have not been able to finish the vocals at a quality I think the album is deserving.

Another thing that has happened is the partner who I had planned on releasing the album for free worldwide has been going through some changes making it impossible to release the album right now.

Also, in the meantime, I have decided to re-record all the guitars for the record.  This process extends the time of recording a little bit, but it’s also why we raised the money in the first place - to be able to finish the recordings and make it as good as possible.

Next comes mixing and finally mastering.

The goal is that the process be done by middle of April and available for download, when the prizes/rewards will begin to go out!

Thank you for your patience in this matter.  I promise that these albums are coming!  But there are some unforseeable circumstances that have made it difficult to get things done.  But we are getting closer and closer.

October Baby

I’m not political.  In fact, I’d consider myself pretty anti-political.  I agree with Democrats a lot.  I also agree with Republicans a lot.  Enough on both sides that I just don’t tend to get caught up in any kind of debates about politics.  A)  I don’t know enough.. B)  I don’t care enough…to fight about anything on either side.

I’m pro-life, as I believe that anyone who believes the Bible to be true should be.  But I think there are shades of grey on this issue.  I’ve never had to make the tough choice that comes with being told that your child will be born with a life-debilitating disease or the possibility that your wife could die in giving birth.  But to be fair, those things account for less than 5% of all abortions.  I can’t honestly tell you how I feel about those types of circumstances, because I haven’t been in that situation.  When/If I go through that situation, then maybe I can speak more authoritatively.

My point - so as to not be misquoted or misunderstood - I am pro-life, but I believe that there are situations where grace should be given to those who have horribly tough decisions to make.

Now to my main point.  I was not in October Baby to make a statement.  The reason I chose this movie as my first major role - after turning down a couple of movie roles in major motion pictures and a couple of tv roles - was because the movie was NOT a statement movie.

I’m an artist.  Not a politician.  I’m interested in questions.  I’m not interested in statements.  A well-placed question can break through the defenses of someone far quicker than a statement can.

The reason I hope that you will support October Baby in theaters over the next few weeks is not because I have financial stake in it (I don’t), it’s not because if the movie does well, I will do better in my career (that rarely happens for smaller bit actors like me, though it’d be nice to see Rachel get tons of recognition for her abilities), it’s not because I want to help spread propaganda (I think this film is about as far from propaganda as you can get).

The reason I hope you’ll support it is because I think it’s a good-looking, well-made film made by people who are interested in telling great stories.  And because this movie asks questions that need to be asked.  And you may not come to the same answers as me and that’s okay.  You might feel stronger than me on what “pro-life” means to you.  You might feel strongly that a woman should have the right to choose what to do with the life that grows inside of her.  You have the ability and the right to come to your own conclusions.

Ultimately, this movie is about forgiveness.  And how many times have we each tried to force Love from our hearts and lives only to have it overcome by forgiveness?

I know I’m a wretch in need of forgiveness and my hope is to learn to give that same forgiveness to those who’ve wronged me.

Night of Worship: Identity (2.25.12)

Here is our set list for our Night of Worship coming up this Saturday, with whose version we’re doing next to it..  I’m really excited about this set list…I think it’s going to be really, really cool!

Here For You (Matt Redman)
For Our God & King (Chris Sligh)
Like a Lion (Newsboys) 
Arms Open Wide (Hillsong United) 
With Everything (HIllsong United)
Always (Kristian Stanfill)
The Time Has Come (Hillsong United)
I Exalt Thee (Jesus Culture) - verse & chorus
No One Higher/The Stand (Fee) - full version
I Exalt Thee (Jesus Culture) - back to the chorus
Communion Song (Chris Sligh)
How Marvelous (Chris Sligh)
We Are (Kari Jobe)
Your Love Never Fails (mix of Newsboys and Jesus Culture)
God Is Able (Hillsong)
Forever Reign (Hillsong)
Our God (Chris Tomlin)

So - whattaya think of that set list?  I think it’s gonna be pretty powerful!  Glad I get to be a part of it! 

The Power of Celebrity, the Death of a Sanger

For some reason, Christians seem to have this thing about wanting everyone who’s famous to be a part of the same faith we are.  When someone says “Praise the Lord” after a game-winning touchdown or someone else says “I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” after winning a Grammy, the church likes to get up, excited that someone who’s doing well is “one of us.”

I’m not sure what I think about this.  

On one hand, Tim Tebow seemingly lives a life that says, “I’m a Christ-follower and I live every moment in worship, even when I’m on the football field.”  But I don’t know what Tim Tebow does at home.  By the way he acts in public, I have no reason to doubt that his private life is any different.  But…I don’t know.

On the other hand, a few years ago, R.Kelly came out saying he was a Christian.  He (if I remember correctly) even appeared at the Dove Awards, presented a Dove, he sang with Kirk Franklin (or maybe Kirk sang with him) and did the whole thing of “hey I’m a Christian! Look at me!”  Then it came out he’d by all accounts molested and urinated on a teenage, young girl - and most likely it’d happened many times.  And he followed that up with songs about sex, sex - oh, yes, and more sex. 

Now - do I know R.Kelly personally?  Of course not.  I enjoyed the Remix to Ignition from a purely catchy musical standpoint, but that is about the limit of my knowledge of R.Kelly.  I don’t know R.Kelly’s heart.  I don’t know if he’s a believer.  My guess, by everything that I see - from the outside looking in - is that R.Kelly is most likely not a believer.  Why?  Because the fruit of his life is opposite of everything that the Bible says should be the fruit of a Christ-followers life.  By the way he acts in public, I have no reason to doubt that his private life is any different.  But…I don’t know.

And, honestly, I don’t know why I should care whether he (or Tebow) is a believer beyond the fact that our hearts should bleed for the world around us.  But his life is no more important than the homeless guy I saw begging for a handout today in Boulder.

I wish that it were just easy and everyone went to heaven.  My understanding of Scripture is that that is not the case.  But no one knows for sure.  Who am I?  I don’t know.  I honestly hope and pray that Tim Tebow AND R.Kelly are Christ followers and will be with me in heaven.  I feel like I missed my calling as a Wide Receiver so maybe in heaven Tebow can knuckle ball me a pass or two; and R. Kelly will make a great addition to the worship choir for eternity.

Which brings me to Whitney Houston.  On Saturday, her funeral was a church service that was held on CNN for nearly four hours.  Was Whitney Houston a believer?  There’s a laundry list of tabloid fodder that we all have read and seen.  Was she a believer?  I have no clue.  I have no reason to believer that her private life was any different than her public life.  But - again…I DON’T KNOW.  

And even though the world tells me I should care, I really, honestly - beyond that fact that I, as a believer never want to see anyone not be a part of the Kingdom - I do not care.  I want her voice in heaven.  I want to walk the streets of Gold with Whitney Houston.  But just because someone’s a celebrity doesn’t mean that I (or you) should care anymore than the homeless guy down the street.

And that’s my problem with the whole thing.  I saw Christians act downright foolish (on both sides of the issue) around Whitney’s death and funeral.  

Don’t get me wrong - I understand why…The Bodyguard soundtrack was one of the first cassette tapes I ever got.  I listened to that thing over and over and over again.  Whitney Houston’s voice, before crack took it away, was - in this singer’s opinion - in the upper pantheon of the greatest singers to ever live.   To be honest, when I found out Whitney Houston died, I literally got choked up.  

But, then, suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere everyone on twitter, facebook, etc. is going on and on about Whitney’s love for the Lord.  And as I watched this happen, a couple of questions hit me:

1)  How many pastors, Christian “celebrities”, worship leaders, elders, Sunday School teachers, etc., etc., etc., have been cast out of ministry for FAR FAR less than sex outside of wedlock; FAR FAR less than consistent drug abuse?

2)  How many homeless and orphans and widows died this week, forgotten and uncared for?

This isn’t a Jesus Juke.  At least I don’t think it is.  

But how screwed up are our priorities as the Church that when Whitney Houston dies (and let’s be honest, this isn’t the first time this has happened) we suddenly try to make sense of it by talking about how much she loved God all over twitter and facebook when the honest truth is, we DO NOT know that she loved (or didn’t love) God.

How screwed up are our priorities as the Church that a pastor screws up and the first reaction of his body of believers is to castigate him and remove him from ever being a part of ministry again…yet we cling to any semblance of Christianity we can find with celebrities and then hold it up to be truth.

And here’s my point.  My point is 100% NOT to doubt Whitney’s Christianity (or Tebow’s or R.Kelly’s).  I hope and pray that Whitney is a part of the Church, celebrating God’s wonder and glory in heaven.

My point is to say that the church needs to…HAS to do a better job with how we treat our wounded.  When people fall, our goal should be restitution…not distancing ourselves from the sinner.  The goal should be praying for repentance…not anger over how they hurt the name of Christ.

Cuz God doesn’t need us.  His name is going to be just fine.  Christians have been foolish since the moment Christ ascended back to heaven.  And you know what?  They have also done a lot of great things since Christ ascended back to heaven.

Whitney had her inconsistencies.  She had her very public moments of indiscretion, of living opposite of Scripture.  And the church wrapped its arms around her in death.  And, honestly, that could be the most godly, hopeful thing they (we) could do.

It’s a gesture that the church should learn and should copy more often.  Wrapping our arms around the wounded and hurting and broken…instead of pushing them away for their failings.

What about you - do you agree?

Having the Cajones…

So, you’re a worship leader and you have players that are good musicians…yet your music on a weekly basis is still falling short.  What’s the problem?

Well, there are many things it COULD be.  But let me tell you what I have found that a lot of times it is.

Guitar players in middle America (and by middle America I don’t mean Omaha, I just mean anywhere that isn’t a music capital) normally have learned a style of music that doesn’t work with worship music.

A while back, I had this older guy - mid-50’s - who showed up with great gear (1975 Gibson 335, a blackface Twin Reverb, A-level pedals - I mean primo gear).   As this guy started warming up it sounded freaking good.  Great sounds.  Great tones.  He could really, really play well.  I mean tone in his fingers.  Great stuff.

Then we started rehearsal.  I kept thinking, “Ugh, something sounds horrible.  What is going on?”

My drummer at the time wasn’t a great drummer and - fair or not - usually the drummer is the first person everyone looks at when things sound bad.  Nope, it wasn’t him.  The bass player was playing well with the drums.  The keyboard player was doing what he always did.

Then it hit me: what was bothersome was that I was hearing blues licks in between every single sentence I sang.  It was like this:

My Jesus (beetle-lee-bom-bom-buh-beow)
My Savior (beetle-lee-beetle-lee)
Lord there is none like you (rohw-rowh-blewwwww)

The parenthesis features what the guitar was doing, by the way.  So I went back to him in between songs and said, “Hey man, did you happen to listen to the songs?”

“Yeah - the guitar parts were boring.  I thought I’d spice it up a little.”

Now. I had two choices.  Choice A was to nod my head and go back to rehearsing, grit my teeth and just deal with it.  I chose Choice B.  

Choice B was to say, “Man, I get that worship guitar can be a little boring some time, but, man, we like to do the songs pretty close to how they were originally recorded.”

The guitar proceeded to give me his blues licks.  After that week, I didn’t invite him back to play anymore.

Harsh?  

I don’t think so.  The worship team is only as strong as it’s weakest link.  If someone wants to do their own thing, then they automatically become the weakest link, even when they are the best musicians (especially when they are the best musicians - the best musicians normally have time and experience on their hands to make them even harder to deal with).

The key with worship teams is to breed humility.  The reason we play guitar or keyboard or drums a certain way (or choose certain songs to begin with) is not because that is our favorite way of doing things.  In fact, a lot of worship music drives me nuts.  The reason we do it is because of the following reasons:

1)  We want to present a consistent vision of what we do as a church.  When blues guitar boy plays his Clapton licks in the middle of Shout to the Lord, all it does is glaringly show the congregation that we’re doing something different.  With church music we want to give people a conduit to worship.  Doing things consistently the same (and hopefully, well) allows people the freedom to simply worship rather than focusing on what is happening on stage.

2)  A certain style of music resonates with the average church attender.  I’m not sure why that is…but it is what it is.  So, we want to make it as less distracting as we possibly can.  Unfortunately, the “Beetle-lee-beetle-lee”s are distracting - even when they are done marvelously well.

3)  A certain style of instrumentation works on the songs that resonate, so your band should learn to play within the confines of what works.  For instance, if your guitar player shows up with multiple mod pedals on his board, you’re in for major trouble.  It’s a simple truth.

So, confronting bad technique (or even harder - bad play) is not easy.  Do you have the cajones to do what you need to do? 

Kickstarter - great success!

I wanted to take the time to give a special thank you to all the people involved with my kickstarter campaign.  Over 200 people gave gifts between $1 and $250 and accounted for over $11,000.  There were 5 people who gave larger gifts for the other $20,000.  

For every person who gave - whether it was the large amount or the smaller amounts - I am so thankful for every gift.  Not everyone had the ability to give large gifts, but I know that each person gave what they could.  I’ll never get over how God has worked through this!

These two albums are going to be special!  I can’t wait to get them in your hands.  Still working on details but it looks like the worship album will be coming out late next month and “Colorado” will most likely be coming out in October or November!

Thank you once again for your kind gifts - I look forward to getting rewards out to you soon and very soon!

What to do with complaints

In my opinion, one of the most difficult things we as worship leaders have to deal with is complaints coming from the congregation.  We all have had them.  We all have been ticked off by them.  You know what they are: stuff like “The music’s too loud” or “I wish we did more hymns” or (this is one I got recently) “don’t make us stand for so long during the middle of the service when we do communion because I’m not 30 anymore”.

We all get them and/or we know that we will at some point get them.  The question is: how do you respond?

The way that I believe, in a perfect situation, complaints should be dealt with is like this:

     Dear So-and-So,

     Thank you for noticing that we sing loud music in church and that we
     have lights going and that in your opinion it looks like a “rock show”.  
     That is actually quite observant of you since, well - that’s kind of what
     we’re going for.

      My first response to you is: how old are you?  But I know that you are
      roughly over 50.  That saddens me because you should be at a place
      in your spiritual walk that your worship experience shouldn’t be
      dependent upon a worship or musical style.  My one message in
      response to your complaint is this: there are plenty of churches in
      this area that do things how you want them.  We here at “So-and-So”
      church really would love for you to be a part of our congregation,
      but we believe strongly that our worship ministry should never be
      held hostage by congregants who believe their opinion on music 
      and production should be held in higher regard than the opinions
      of people who have spent years in college and in training and
      happen to be experts in the area. 

     So, to recap: we spend hours in prayer trying to figure out what God
     has for this ministry and, beyond that we are all people who have both
     gone to school for our calling AND have spent years training to lead a
      congregation in worship.  So, trust us to do our jobs and we won’t
      come to your job and try to tell you how to do things.  Or you could
      just go to a different church.

     Thanks, So-and-So worship leader

Unfortunately for, well, all of us worship leaders we can never actually write that email.  Well, unless we work for a church that give us that leeway.  And those churches could probably be counted on one hand.

So, how do we real worship leaders in the real world deal with complaints?

Well, I have found (and I believe) that the best way to deal with complaints is to be firm, but loving.  As a worship leader, you have most likely spent a lot of time formulating what you do and why do it.  If someone is ticked off because you don’t have choir enough (or at all), then you should have a reason for it and you should be able to explain that reason succinctly and kindly.

One thing I would encourage you to do is develop a relationship with the executive pastors (as worship leaders we all have bosses, right?) so that they ALWAYS direct complaints about your ministry back to you instead of them trying to deal with it themselves.  You want to deal with these people.  It is your ministry. 

Ultimately, we are called to love everyone.  Even when someone who knows absolutely nothing about music feels like they have the right to sound off on music and/or production, we’re still called to treat them with love.  So treat them with love, but stand firm on what God has called for you to do in YOUR ministry.

CCM, Church Music and how Gungor is more talented than me

I recently read a blog written by Michael Gungor (one of my former label-mates at Brash Music and, in my opinion, one of the most talented musicians anywhere, not just Christian music) and I’ve processed and thought things through over the last couple of weeks and wanted to write both a response and my own version of an addendum to his blog. 

I love Christian music.  I believe in the power of Christian music.  I believe in what Christian music can do…because I saw what it did in my life.

Some of you may know how I grew up.  For those of you that don’t, very quickly here it is:  I grew up in a conservative Independent, Fundamental Baptist pastor’s home.  I was not allowed to listen to any kind of pop or rock music, even if it had Christian lyrics.  In fact, many believed that Christian music was worse because it had a little bit of truth, and a whole lot of sin!

I fell in love with BoyzIIMen, Shai, Silk, Keith Sweat and other kinds of vocal r&b/pop.  But I felt bad that they talked about having sex so much.  So, on the Christian side I found a group called Acapella and a singer named Michael English.  And I fell in love.  I would put those tapes (yes, I said tapes) in my Walkman and while I did my paper route at 5am in Germany I’d sing to the top of my lungs with Michael, Wayburn Dean, George Pedergrass, Duane Adams and the words of Keith Lancaster.

Then I went to college and a buddy of mine at Pensacola Christian College introduced me to Jars of Clay and dcTalk and Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith.  And I was in.  I was taken.  I was smitten. 

I love Christian music.  It is the music that CHANGED my life.  Some people have Joshua Tree.  I have Steven Curtis Chapman’s Speechless.  And I’m proud of it.  I believe that Christian music, in its prime (IMO the glory days of CCM are 92-02) was as good as any pop or rock music of any genre.

So what happened to Christian music?  Why do I find myself now listening rarely to CCM.  I listen to a lot of church music – Bethel Live, Jesus Culture, Elevation Worship, etc. – but I find myself avoiding CCM as much as I can.  I listen to a lot of mainstream music – Coldplay, MuteMath, Muse, U2, Young the Giant, etc., but I can’t tell you the last time a new Christian artist blew my mind.   I can tell you the last time a song blew my mind, because it’s happened once in the last 6-7 years: Laura Story’s “Blessings”.  Why?

I think that Gungor has it partly correct.  But I would differ from Gungor in this way: I think and believe that Christians NEED Christian music.  Not just church music.  But Christian music.  Let me explain the difference in my head.

Church music, in my mind, are songs that are written specifically to lead a congregation in worship.  I don’t like calling it worship music because all of our music as Christians, whether it’s a mainstream hit like “Meant to Live” by Switchfoot or a poorly-written CCM AC #1 (I won’t give examples, though I have many of them swirling through my head right now) – they are ALL worship songs.  Church music, though, are songs that are written to be sung in a congregation of believers.  A lot of Tomlin would be church music; Redman, Hughes, a lot of the church’s who are writing and recording music now-a-days – those songs are church music. 

CCM are songs written by artists who are believers who simply talk about their faith in an open and honest way.  They might talk about how they love their wives or how much they love God through the hard times or how much they feel loved by God.  Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith’s canon could be considered CCM.  I would consider myself (with the exception of my upcoming Church Music album) to be a CCM artist.

Now, remember the difference here – because it is important to the points I make.

Church Music is vital to the Church.  We need new songs of praise to introduce to our congregations.  One of my favorite things to do as a worship leader is to spend time researching and finding new songs I can bring to the congregation.

But I would contend that CCM songs are just as vital.  When I was growing up, we as the church were generally taught that listening to secular music was wrong.  That never really vibed with what I see in the Bible.  But now-a-days I feel like we’ve gone to the opposite extreme.  There are church pastors who will literally trash Christian music to make the point that we need to be creative and we need to challenge ourselves with our music.

We, in my opinion, need music that challenges us to walk closer in our relationship with Jesus.  We need music that edifies us.  I love U2.  I love Coldplay but when I hear “Blessings” it’s an edifying experience that I don’t get when I listen to my favorite mainstream music.  I just don’t.  I wish I did.  But good, well-written Christian music challenges and edifies in ways no other music can.

I recently got into a debate with a good friend of mine of how do we define “good” when it comes to art?  I honestly have a tough time when it comes to this.  For instance, I honestly believe that certain Christian bands truly mis-uses their popularity by continuing to rehash the same musical and lyrical territory they have on every album they’ve put out so far.  It breaks my heart that these guys continually have #1 songs that, when I hear, legitimately make me sorry to call myself a Christian artist because I don’t want to be associated with their music.

But in a meeting recently at my church a man, a pastor, who I genuinely respect and trust asked me if we could perform a certain band’s song that I find offensive because it is in my opinion poorly written, poorly performed.  We had a several minute discussion as I tried to get to the bottom of how someone whose opinion I trusted could honestly find any redeeming quality in this song. 

As we discussed it hit me.  If you think it’s good, it’s good.  It’s not just Christian music.  I like Katy Perry’s music.  I think it’s good.  Some of you would fight with me and say that it is horrible and it is stupid.  But you know what?  When “California Gurls” or “Firework” come on the radio, I turn it up and I smile.

I love 4Him.  I got kicked out of college for going to a 4Him concert.  But I genuinely still love 4Him.  If 4Him came out today I would most likely dislike their music, but in 1997 when “The Message” came out, that album was life-changing.  Would I consider it “good” now?  Hmmm…I dunno.  Probably not.  But I loved it then (and I still love it) so it’s “good” to me.

Milli Vanilli won Grammys.  Have you heard their music?  Michael Jackson is considered a pop genius, but his music from 1992 till his death can be categorized in one category: sadly horrible.  You know what?  I love getting Rick Rolled.  When I hear “Never Gonna Give You Up” I turn that stuff up and I smile and sing every word.

But you know what else?  I love blasting Sufjan Stevens and Sigur Ros and singing along (or in the case of Sigur Ros, mumbling along with a singer singing a made-up mixture of English and Icelandic).

Artistic music is good.  But sometimes it makes me want to run my car off the side of the road.  Pop music is good.  But sometimes it makes me want to run my car off the side of the road.

If Michael Gungor was the definer of all things legit when it comes to music, I would probably not enjoy my listening as much as I do now.  I love that when I shuffle my iPod that Nicki Minaj is followed by Nichole Nordemann and N*Sync is followed by 4Him and Katy Perry is followed by…well, Katy Perry when she was known as Katy Hudson and was a Christian artist.

I wish that I personally could define what was good when it came to music.  The AC top 5 would look much different than it regularly does: Downhere would be the Casting Crowns (i.e., the 10 year old band that has #1 after #1), Luminate would be the Tenth Ave North (i.e., the newer band having top 5’s and #1’s left and right) and I would be…well, I’d be more popular.  But fortunately I don’t get my way and music that connects for reasons I’ll never understand connects and music that touches my soul consistently doesn’t seem to touch other’s souls as consistently.  And that’s okay.

Because if you like it, it is good.  At least when it comes to music.

Are there problems in CCM?  Yes.  Great problems.  And I honestly believe that the way that radio treats upcoming artists will be the end of CCM as we know it.  And that breaks my heart.  You can’t continue to play Casting Crowns and MercyMe and TobyMac pretty exclusively, aiming for the 35-54 or even 25-54 year old woman who is most likely to give to your station and expect that in 10 years when the 18 year old young women are in your age group that they are going to connect with CCM suddenly because they have kids in the back of their minivan.  They will continue to listen to the music they listened to, to begin with. 

When I was a kid everyone I knew listened to Christian music.  In 2003 when I was a youth pastor none of the kids listened to Christian music.  The youth pastors I talk to now-a-days lament the same thing: kids don’t listen to Christian music.

We’re losing a generation of believers who will most likely never listen to Christian music because we’re focusing on the 35-54 year old women, while ignoring new artists on a regular basis.

I don’t pretend to know everything (or even much) about radio but even I can see that in 10 years that’s gonna be a problem.

So, what’s the answer?  At one point, I thought I had answers.  Now, 4 years later, I realize I have no answers for anything.  I’m simply trying to follow God on a daily basis as best I can and lead my wife and my little girl as best I can.

So, what’s the answer?  How about I respond with more questions?

Can CCM grow when the chances of a new artist breaking through are little to none?  There are 52 weeks in the year – subtract 4 of those weeks out for Christmas and you have 48 weeks, or 240 top 5 positions per year.  Out of 240 positions last year, less than 10% were what I’d consider new artists (artist who have come out in the last 3 years and before their current album have not had a top 5).  That’s less than 24 positions in a year.  That’s not 24 songs.  It’s more like 10 songs.  So, how can CCM grow when new artists are 95% of the time falling through the cracks?

To this point: I have a friend in a band who some of you would consider successful – 2 top 10’s last year (that he wrote, by the way), they played like 120 shows, opened for massive bands.  He made less than $10,000 last year.  He’s 25 years old.  How long can a band do that?  Meanwhile I know how much certain bands are making per show.  And the average per band member is greater per show than my friend made all last year.  I’m not begrudging successful bands success – I’m just saying there has to be room for well-done music by newer bands, too.

Continuing on.

Can Christian music grow or be successful when the average Christian ages 12-35 couldn’t care less about Christian music?  I’d say no – but I’d love to hear your thoughts on that.

Can Christian music grow when practices like larger artists touring charging younger artists to pay to be on tour are commonplace?  Yes – in Christian music, artists – or Artists’ labels – have to pay anywhere from $500 to $2000 PER SHOW (depending on what tour) for a new artist or band to be on a tour.  I’d say that this act is both un-Christian and debilitating to the new artist.  Thankfully, I have been on only 1 tour I had to pay to be on – but have friends who are in newer bands who are literally 6 figures in debt to their labels on top of their album costs because of touring.

Can CCM prosper when the focus is surviving instead of ministering?  CCM radio is trying to survive.  Giving is down in most places.  Pledge drives are taking longer and longer and are being less and less successful.  Artists are dropping like flies, left and right.  Bands that are considered successful are leaving their ministries to try their hand at mainstream or they’re going back into church work because they can barely survive.  Labels are barely surviving.  They’re cutting workers left and right, they’re down to bare-bone necessities as it is.  My old label has whole empty floors where people used to work but over the last 7 years have been let go.

I can be honest: when I was with a label, the focus during pre-production and production of albums was never one time about how can we make the best album or wondering how the album would challenge people’s Christian walk; in fact, I was asked to tone down some of my lyrics (I didn’t); instead, it was how many hits do we have?  How can we put the hits to the front of the album so people will buy the album on iTunes?  We were marketing the album while we were making the album.  And my question was always: how can you minister when your sole focus is survival?

EDITED TO ADD:  Final question: Is “good” good enough?  Just because the minority take the time to tell radio stations that certain songs are good, should radio settle for that?  Should we as artists settle for writing 4 chords songs with melodies that never go wider than an octave using instrumentation that has always been successful just because it’s “good”?  Is “good” good enough?  Or are we called to greater things?  And how do we define great things?  

So to end this long blog: maybe you love CCM as much as I do.  Well, maybe you like CCM IN THEORY as much as I do; or maybe you don’t.  Maybe you see the need for Christian music, like I do; or maybe you don’t.  No matter what – I’d love to hear your thoughts on how CCM affects or fails to affect you.

Look, the honest truth is, debate and passion in this debate is important.  We need that!  We need people to be passionate about Christian Music again.  I think Gungor is amazingly talented and amazingly well-spoken.  I agree with most everything he says - but my anecdotal evidence is different than his: I believe in CCM and want it to change people’s lives. 

By the way, I’ve played the is secular or is it Christian game, too: and I get it right about 95% of the time, too.  : )

Comment below!

With love, Chris