Keep It Simple

Let's get things rolling again!

2012-01-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

Back to blogging. It's so therapeutic, even if no one else reads my thoughts it steel feels good to get them out and on...paper? You know what I mean.

Be back with some thoughts later.

Monte at St. Louis Believe

2008-03-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots of Monte doing his drum thang at the St. Louis Believe at the Family Arena. Enjoy!

It's March!

2008-03-12T12:06:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! This is Amy. I've taken it upon myself to post for Monte since he's been quite busy with traveling and other responsibilities. Our life is crazy right now. Monte is en route to Palm Springs, CA for a Believe and I'm in Joplin to hold down the fort until he returns on Monday evening.

The craziness continues as Monte has 6 more Believe conferences after this until the beginning of May. Then our lives will be much more settled and we can enjoy the weather and possibly some traveling. We have a niece due in June and will be heading to Arkansas for that event. We also want to head to the east to see our buds in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee (baby there too) and possibly hit up Cedar Point for some roller coasters.

I'll add some shots of Monte at St. Louis Believe tomorrow. Until then, call Monte. His birthday was Monday and he turned 25! Enjoy the pic of the girls.

Wedding Bells

2008-01-05T18:44:00.000-08:00

If you're wondering where the New Years video from my previous post was shot, it was at our good friend Sara Mitchell's wedding. Of course, her new name is Sara Seminick. She and her husband Max were wed on New Years Eve. Amy was the matron of honor, and me?... I hummed a few bars along with my brother.

Since we were in the wedding party we arrived a couple days early for rehearsal, but also to spend some time with Sara, Max, and their families. We stayed with Sara's brother John and his wife Shawna who were tremendous hosts; we had a good time
getting to know them a little better. They have a really awesomely unique house!

You know how sometimes going to a wedding can be a bit on the obligatory side? That wasn't the case with this wedding at all. From the hours of driving, to helping decorate, to practicing my part in the wedding, all of it was a joy because of who it was for. It was a joy because I know these two are truly signing on for life. I have a very good sense of peace about their union. And in an age where more marriages fail than succeed that's very comforting. Sorry I'm getting all mushy, but they mean a lot to Amy and me.

The Bridal Party

Us Before the Wedding

Our Hosts: John & Shawna

Their First Dance!
Definitely not your typical
slow, romantic embrace.

Max & Us

My Friend Ryan

My Friend Rick

The Quintessential "New Years Home Video"

2008-01-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

Could this video be any more typical of the American New Years Celebration tradition? I think NOT!!! I laugh every time I watch it because of how incredibly archetypal it is: A large crowd of people dancing to some old school DJ song in front of crappy, yet blaring speakers; a little light show, steamers, party hats, the smell of booze and cologne in the air; everyone counts down to one, they blow their party whistles and, of course, it wouldn't be complete without the ringing out of "Auld Lang Syne," (yes, I had to look up how to spell that and no, I don't know what it means) and the kissing of the girl. Fun, fun!

A "Real" Job

2007-12-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

Well, since my last date with Believe was in late October and my next event with them is not until the first of February, I've had to give in and find myself a real job. You know, like the ones grown-ups have.

I've been in search of something I can do full-time until February and then switch to part-time when Believe starts up again. I have applied at several establishments over the past month or so, but none have come to fruition as of yet. However, I did serve as a substitute teacher for the first time today. I'm fine with doing that as much as possible until Believe rolls around again. But if one of the other jobs I applied for winds up working out I'll stop subbing and go for the offer because that would mean employee benefits and a steady work schedule.

Epiphany #2

2007-11-10T07:55:00.000-08:00

Maybe this is more of a soap box, but it's something I had not really thought about until recently. On the subject of recordings, lack of sonic character and quality is no excuse for poor musicianship.

I can't tell you how many times people have given me recordings they have put together and given me the excuse: "Now, I want you to know that it's not going to SOUND that great because all we had to work with was Garageband and a cheap mic I found in my dad's basement. And we were in a rush to get it done so, you know, keep that in mind also."

For those of you who have apologized in the past for such things (myself included).....

STOP!!!! Good music does not require an apology!

People are naive, but they aren't stupid. They can recognize a mediocre song even if they can't inherently point out sloppy technique, a weak melody, and a boring chord progression. But people are also forgiving. They will hear a well crafted song and give grace to the fact that the person who recorded it just doesn't have the money to invest in quality recording equipment or studio time. An indy recording's primary purpose is to showcase musicianship.

Disclaimer: All this to say, you should still strive to make your recordings SOUND as good as you possibly can. There's an old saying my friend M.D. shared with me once, and it makes total sense..."Good, fast, or cheap: pick any two." This witty little slogan applies to us poor folk in the following manner: If you want your recording to sound good, but you don't have a lot of money...it's gonna take you a really long time.

This can be hard to swallow, and please tell me if you disagree in any way, or if I've left something crucial out on this topic.

Roxy's Back Home

2007-11-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

That little booger is home now. She had wandered around the area around Webb Walmart for a day before a lady's gradnson picked her up out of the road at Madison and 171. She must have been trying to get home and tried to cross that busy intersection. So thanks to Susan and her grandson from Neck City, Roxy is now home and safe. Monte met Susan and brought her home Thursday evening. The next day was my birthday, which was much happier now that Roxy was home safe and sound.

Roxy's Missing

2007-10-31T07:39:00.001-07:00

This is Amy again. We have a request that all those in the Webb City area please take a look at Roxy (below right) and let us know if you see her with anyone. She squeezed herself out of the window of our car at the Webb City Wal-Mart yesterday morning around 8:30 AM. She was no where around the Wal-Mart when we searched for her so we are suspecting that someone saw her running around and probably picked her up not knowing whose she was. She does not have tags on her collar, but she is micro-chipped and linked with us. Her collar is black with white paw prints and she only weighs about 15 lbs. She does answer to her name. So far, she has not been picked up by animal control and has not been taken to the humane society or a vet's office. So please pray that whoever has her will give her to the appropriate authorities to be given back to us. It may sound silly, but these doggies are almost like children to us. We REALLY want Roxy home. So does Stella. She misses her puppy buddy. Now she only has her humans to play with her. Thank you!

Stella's New Pal

2007-10-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is Amy reporting on our cute new addition to the canine part of our family. Her name is Roxy (right) and she is similar in appearance to Stella as you can see. They are best buddies and love to chase each other around the house. She's on her way to becoming a well behaved dog.

Our New Babies

2007-08-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

My brother and I both committed to purchasing our first very nice acoustic guitars just recently. Aren't they beautiful? They sound wonderful too. They're Alhambra guitars. It's a Spanish company known for their classical guitars. But a few years back they started making steel string guitars and now the Hunt family has two of them.

I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this company with my friend Martin last summer in Carbondale, IL of all places. They only sell their steel string models in like four place in the USA. Last summer Martin was in search of a nice acoustic and I was not. He had money saved up for one and I did not. Therefore he was able to purchase one and I was not. But after a year of saving and waiting the day finally came, and it felt GOOOOOOOOD to get my hands on a quality instrument that I could call my own. Well, I guess I mean ANOTHER quality instrument. I still love my drummies!

Here are some more photos for you gear heads out there. Come by and play her sometime!

She's got solid Ovencal back and sides...

...and a Spruce top w/ an Ebony fretboard.

Here' the headstock; a classic design. There's a part of me that's glad "Taylor" isn't written across the top. Not that I have anything against Taylors. In fact I quite like the sound of most of them. I just know a lot of people who own nice guitars and almost all of them are Taylors. I guess I just wanted to find a guitar with great tone and quality that wasn't the "Taylor-tone." So believe me when I say that the driving force behind purchasing this guitar was not for the sake of being different. It really does sound amazing. But a different amazing than a Taylor. You follow?

Ahhhhh...hand made in Spain. How sweet is that. In between sips of Spanish wine a little Spaniard man hand crafted my guitar for me!

And here she is in her home. On the back wall of my office. Some of my studio foam happily serves as her bed.

Like I said, please come by and play her sometime.

Strengths & Weaknesses

2007-08-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

This summer has definitely been a huge learning experience for me. The expectations of me in leadership were raised by my superiors, which is a good thing. But when we are put in a position that a large amount of learning is required there will inevitably be many little failures along the way. But that's how we learn, right?

We all have strengths and weaknesses within our own character. I have always known that my strength lies in service and encouragement: that's me. And as with most people out there who are like me, my weakness lies in being able to step out and lead. Character flaws interest me because I don't really understand them. I look at certain friends I have and think, "Why does it seem that you are able to deal with confrontation so easily? Why are you able to just tell people what they need to do on a whim?" But at the same time I would imagine that those same friends might ask me, "Why does it seem so easy for you to open up to people and actively show that you really care about them?" My outright answer to them would be that I don't know why. I never really worked at it. It simply feels natural for me to carry out those actions. My guess is that is the answer for most people in their areas of strength.

So what do we do with this reality? The apathetic solution would be to ignore those flaws and avoid exercising them at all costs. But that is definitely not what the Bible teaches. "God has called all of us according to His purpose." And sometimes that purpose will require us to face those character flaws head on and improve them in order to accomplish the task set before us.

I just recently read a book called THE CULTURALLY SAVVY CHRISTIAN by Dick Staub. Great book. It doesn't really address the issue I've expounded upon here, but it uses a term I really like: being fully human. When God became man he lived a life on earth that was fully human. Intellect, spirit, emotion, relationships, and the creative mind...he embraced all these things and carried them out to their fullest human capacities.

It is easy us to carry out actions that exhibit our strengths of character, and by all means we should continue to do such things. But if God has called you to something involving a weakness of yours (and my guess is He has), then do not run from it. Embrace that calling, exercise those weaknesses, and take that next step in becoming fully human.

Carbondale, IL

2007-07-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

I'm spending the next three weeks here in Carbondale, and have a good amount of free time. So with that free time I was planning on frequenting my blog to tell fascinating stories from the life and times of me, and those around me. Unfortunately, though, the only place I can get wireless is here in this coffee house across the street from where I'm staying, and I don't own a laptop. In short, I'll have to tell you all about my experiences here when I get home. We'll talk then.

iCal

2007-07-13T14:17:00.001-07:00

I just learned a neat little thing. If you have a Mac, and you use iCal, you can post your calendars on the web and people can subscribe to them and stay up to date on your schedule. You can visit the following site and search my name to see my dates.

www.icalshare.com

Epiphany #1

2007-07-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

As any human being I have my fair share of sudden cognitive revelations. The following just happens to be the first one I've had, and remembered to blog about, since I started this little e-journal of mine. And I'm hoping there will be many more to come, hence the title of this entry.

Being a musician I have tried many times to nail down what my absolute favorite type of music is, but have failed at each attempt. There's just too much stuff I like. I'm sure many of you share that sentiment, right? As a general rule I can at least appreciate anything that takes talent to produce, no matter the genre. But this does not help in narrowing down what I find most enjoyable in music.

Then it came to me. I was pondering over the albums I'm currently in love with, and they all had one thing in common. Now, this common trait can't really be classified in any current genre so you'll have to help me with a title. Here's the best I can describe it: music that sounds like pre-80's that was recorded post-90's. Case in point...4 parts 50's Blues + 2 parts 60's West Coast + 1 part Easy Jazz = John Mayer's Continuum. Absolutely brilliant stuff. Another is Warren Barfield's latest "Reach." That album is straight out of the 70's, and I love it!

So the reason for the post-90's part is two-fold. One is sonic character. I simply enjoy the way the music sounds; the tone of the guitars, the timbre of the drums, etc. And two, it's happening now. It's a part of the culture I live in, and it gives me a sense of being a part of it.

In conclusion, this is not to say I don't enjoy the stuff from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. I do, and I greatly respect and appreciate it for inspiring the artists of today. Also, this is not to say I dislike 80's and 90's music. There are definitely elements of that time period I like, but by and large most of those elements don't fit into "my music" - the music that speaks to my soul, that defines me.

Hello. Goodbye.

2007-07-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday afternoon my wife and I took home a little 8-week-old puppy from the humane society. As you can tell from the pictures above she is absolutely adorable. Our good friends Martin and Jani came with us to help pick her out. Of course we thought long and hard about a name, but in the end we chose Macy. Our decision on that name was cemented when we learned that it meant "little girl" in Africaans, Martin's and Jani's first language.

But only a few short hours after we took her home Macy became ill. At first we thought she was simply having trouble adjusting to her new environment or that she may not have been properly weaned from her mother. However, we learned the next day that she had all the symptoms for a canine virus known as Parvo. Although it is treatable, it is very expensive, very evasive, and a very painful and traumatic process for the pup to go through.

When we visited the vet today and it was confirmed that she had indeed contracted Parvo sometime before we adopted her we decided that it was definitely in Macy's best interest to go ahead and put her to rest.

While she was just a dog, it is still very hard to let go of something you become attached to. And while there was nothing we could have done to prevent this fate, it is difficult to not feel responsible for what happened to her.

There is a very big reason why Amy and I choose to adopt pets from the humane society, and it's this: Macy's tail wagging back and forth right up to her very end because she knew somebody loved her and cared for her. That is reason enough, and reward enough to go back and try again.

Savannah, GA

2007-06-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous place to visit. FR was fortunate enough to spend a week there leading worship for a week of CIY summer conference. The highlights (and unfortunately lowlights) of the week:

This was the first event that the new FR had done all together with our new material (17 new songs, yikes!). Although I felt we pulled it all together really well, there were definitely a few spots throughout the week where our inexperience showed. After all this was the first SC for four of the six players.

It was nice to finally hear all our new stuff through a big system with good ear monitors. Up until that point we had gone through two practice weeks with quite the opposite. Plus being in a nice, big theater - not a big concrete cube like on Believe - made the experience even better.

I know this sounds weird, but the cafeteria food...was awesome! Now, you can't go and compare the caf. food to a Chili's or anything. You've got to pair it up against other typical caf. food, and when you do that it was flippin' amazing!

The beach and a golf course wound up getting checked off on my "to do" list! The band spent a morning at Tybee beach. Nick and I swam out from shore a little too far and had to work our tails off to get back. That was a little freaky, but obviously since I'm sitting here telling you about it we made it back safely. A friend of a friend of a friend was able to get me 18 holes and a cart for free to a local country club. Shot an 89. My one bird of the day was witnessed by four other chaps so that felt good.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring a camera so I have no pics to post, but I must say it is definitely a place worth visiting. Thanks for reading!

The Past Two Months

2007-05-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

So much to talk about so I'll just sum up.

1. Back in March I started a project in my attic; putting ply wood down over the joists so it's more conducive for storage. And like a typical guy I got it started, but never "found the time" to finish it.
2. My sister had a baby girl last month: Libby Elanise. Of course she's adorable.
3. Spring Believe wrapped up at the end of April.
4. FR is in the midst of prepping for Summer Conference. We're keeping 10 old songs from this year and adding 17 new ones.
5. Jon Hill is no longer with FR. He is now the head of production for CIY's summer conference department.
6. I am now the producer of the band, which means I am in charge of devising song arrangements and tracking arrangements. Fun, fun.
7. Because of #5 I am working furiously to get 17 songs ready in the next two weeks.
8. Last weekend I got to spend a couple of days with my old band mates from 3DU. It was good to catch up with them, and play with them again.
9. I've been up north in Iowa for this past week spending time with my parents and helping my dad with a few audio installs in churches.
10. I took my production gear with me because of #6.
11. I'm sitting here in my parents dining room blogging on my iMac!

That's What Friends Are For

2007-03-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

What great friends we have. Martin, you're the best! It's not too often one finds a friend who is willing to take a plunger to your kitchen sink. Good Times.

More Influences

2007-03-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

As a musician I'm always looking to expand my CD library, or should I say iPod library? So this blog is a call to anyone who would like to share their musical influences with me. If you can think of any specific records I should pick up I am ready and willing to give them a try. Old, new, whatever, but please no screamo, rap, metal, or honky-tonk. I'm not quite ready to expand my horizons that far just yet.

Birthday w/ Union

2007-03-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

Last week the Believe tour made a stop in St. Louis; our second largest event. In my opinion...best Believe I've been a part of thus far. Worshiping with three thousand people is one thing, but three thousand people in an arena? So much more intimate. The setup was great, elements were done well (for the most part), transitions were smooth. The tour is really starting to come together. Plus, Saturday was "the big two-four" for me. My parents and grandma came down to see some of the show and to celebrate my birthday. We don't get to spend much time together these days so seeing them was very special. Amy was there as well because it's close to home so that was nice too.

And then there was tear down. I stated in a previous blog that I am in charge of the truck pack. Now, on a normal Believe this job is only mildly stressful, but this was not a normal Believe. This time around we had the joy of working with union workers! I don't want to give union guys a bad wrap. After all they do get the job done, and done right. They are very forward with you and very crass at times, but they still know what they're doing most of the time. But for some reason every year the guys who help with packing the truck are just downright....I'll use a G rated word here...jerks!

You see, apparently these men are not accustomed to having to deal with a pack that requires stacking of any sort, and having to be patient with someone while he is thinking of how they are going to fit two semis worth of equipment into one with the equipment list changing and shifting each week, and having to work hard for the full four hours we are paying them for...apparently. I guess I can say it was a good character building experience, and a testing of my patience with people who are experts at...another G rated word...complaining. Thank goodness I didn't have to go it alone though. Thank you Jordan, Miachele, Chase, Ron, Sethy, Dustin, Isaiah, Ben, and anyone else who helped out there. I couldn't have made it through the night without you.

Amy and the MK

2007-03-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

I don't brag on Amy nearly as much as I should so here goes nothin'. My wife is awesome. She is everything a wife is supposed to be in my book, and in God's. I could not ask for a more supportive partner in life. She supports me all around: spiritually, emotionally, relationally, financially.

One way she's accomplishing the latter is through her Mary Kay business. She has been working hard at becoming a director in the business ever since she started over four years ago, and we have come to the conclusion that, since her business is by and large relationship oriented, it takes between 1-2 years to establish her business in a new area before things really start to pick up. Unfortunately in those four years we have moved three times! But now that we have lived here in the Joplin area for nearly two years her momentum is on the rise and her business is doing better than ever. I'm so very proud of her. She has a very reachable goal of becoming a director before the end of the year. I'll spare you the details of what director status means, but put simply...greater financial freedom and complete self-employment.

We are both praying continually that this goal becomes a reality for us. A big thank you to those of you who support her business. We greatly appreciate it.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

2007-03-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my being lax in blogging this past month. Do you ever get so busy (good busy) with life that you think about blogging, but there's so much that has happened you feel overwhelmed to try and fit it all into a neat, concise paragraph and so you say, "Ah, screw it!" and move on with your life? Well, that's where my mind has been over the past month when blogging comes to mind.

"But no more", I say! I shall bloggeth till I can bloggeth no more. Where to begin...

'Tis Cut

2007-02-15T21:04:00.000-08:00

The people have spoken...

The Jones MySpace

2007-01-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

Jordan and I were finally able to create a MySpace for our little duo.

www.myspace.com/jonesministry

Obviously at this point it's fairly minimal on pics and content. As we all know it takes time to develop things of this nature.

Up And Running Again

2007-01-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

Believe is up and running again. We begin the spring tour in sunny southern California. Naturally I packed shorts right? You know you would have even though it's January. I mean, the week before we showed up it was 80 degrees. But when we Midwesterners get there we naturally bring the crappy weather with us. So at night it was well below freezing. Needless to say the shorts didn't make an appearance. But on the bright side my taste buds did sample In-n-Out three times!

The room was bad. I mean, way more than usual. Typically we're in a big concrete cube - great acoustics right? But this time we were basically in a jet hanger. Concrete walls and floor, and a round metal roof. Yeah! Poor Josh. I felt so bad for him. He spent the better part of an hour finding and cutting hot frequencies in the room. I can't imagine how horrible the sound would have been had we not had a smokin' sound engineer. Kudos to Josh for making the room sound as good as it could.

This gig was my first time being totally in charge of loading the semi, which I greatly enjoyed. From my perspective it's a lot of pressure. Especially when the majority of the crew is done with their part of tear down, and now they're all out in the truck waiting on you to tell them what to do, and you've got 60,000 lbs. worth of gear to pack into a defined space. But on the plus side it keeps me constantly busy during load out so the time flies. And when the last case rolls in (or a frickin' boat - thanks Johnny!) and the door shuts, it's definitely one of those times in a man's life when he wants to let out the "Tim Taylor grunt". We all want to, but we never do. Maybe I'll start a "grunt thing" in Tulsa.

The Hair

2006-12-29T14:40:00.000-08:00

Should I cut it or keep it?

#3

2006-12-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

Do we look three years happier?

A Relaxing Evening

2006-12-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight Amy and I spent the evening with our good friend Amber. She used to be the pretty little lady who sang with Foundation Red, but has recently resigned to become a nurse and work on the mission field in Africa. She also happens to be a masseuse so after dinner she gave both Amy, and myself, a 1-hour message. I chilled to some Jamie Cullum, and Amy listed to Bethany Dillon during her massage; two artists that she and I are both digging right now. This is Amber. She's fun.

We really enjoy inviting people over to our home. And since cooking is one of my chief hobbies I know those same people get a little excited when we ask them to join us for dinner. Tonight we had East coast style crab cakes, sauteed asparagus, caramelazied onion mashed potatoes, and for dessert: raspberry cheesecake muffins. Needless to say we went all out! Amber is always telling me how much she enjoys crab cakes so I thought if fitting we would go that route. But more important that the food is always the bonding that happens around the table. People are always so interesting no matter how dull they think they're lives are.

I know this is a bit of a tangent, but thank you to those of you who are reading this and trust in me as a friend. Those who share with me what's really going on in your lives. Trust is huge in my book and I would never think of breaking it with any of you (you know who you are). We all need friends like that so thanks for letting me be one to you.

Magic Meeting

2006-12-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

Please let me know if you feel where I'm coming from on the following. Once or twice a year a chord progression and a melody line meet and something magical happens. The first time you hear it something inside you is released. It's like a part of you has been waiting to hear those notes in that context your whole life and then the day finally comes to enjoy it and soak it up. It's a good day.

I had that feeling just the other day. I went on a little album shopping spree and one of the albums I got was the new album by Train: For Me, It's You. The entire cut is great by the way. I highly recommend it. So, this moment I have just described happened the first time I heard the chorus of track 02 called "Get Out". I hope it does the same for you. Enjoy!

Second Chance

2006-12-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

I must apologize to some of you country fans out there. Growing up I had relatively no respect for the genre. The completely improper grammar really threw me off. And the twang. Oh the twang! Recently though I have given this style a second chance, and I have found that there are a few country artists out there I enjoy. Reason being there is a musical style underneath the blanket of steal guitar and misconstruence of vowel sounds that these particular artists are playing. For instance, Rascal Flats, who have a pop rock feel, and whose harmonies are amazing.

Tonight I happened to have the privilege of watching a Keith Urban concert on DVD and I was very impressed. That guy can wail on guitar. I witnessed him simultaneously sing lead and play very intricate lead guitar parts without looking at the fretboard for much of the concert. In case you're wondering, that's really, really hard to do. Plus, the majority of the music I heard was not country. It was much more grounded in a straight up rock style, but with a country edge to it.

So my point here is you can keep your Travis Tritt and your Tim McGraw, but I'll soak in some Keith or some Flats any day.

Saddened

2006-12-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

Last night Amy and I happened to be perusing through the four top quality channels we are capable of viewing via our state-of-the-art rabbit ears that sit atop our boob tube. And about the fourth time we zoomed past Fox we saw that the '06 Billboards were being aired so we thought it would be worth amusing ourselves for a few minutes to take part in the festivities. I knew we were in for a shocking display from it's first second of air time. The award show's logo is displayed as the camera pans across the thousands of people seated in the beautiful theater at the MGM in Las Vegas. And then the camera cuts to a 60-foot wide screen on the stage with the following giant letters gloriously displayed for all to see...

S. E. X.

Just a few minutes turned into about an hour's worth of engagement as we could not get over how awful and appalling the performances were! We proceeded to watch performer after performer "entertain" us with "music" that involved no singing whatsoever. Both of us could barely understand a word of what anyone was saying, but when we could make out the words it always alluded to, or blatantly implied, some sort of sexual inference. The speech 3-6 Mofia gave was very inspiring. I'm pretty sure one of the guys was on crack because literally nothing he said sounded like English and several times they had to bleep him out. I sure am proud of those boys for winning the Oscar for best song (if you can't tell I'm being extremely sarcastic). Oh, and apparently it's totally in to dress 80's now.

My heart was saddened last night when I was confronted by our culture's tainted and polluted exaltation of sexuality, and it's obsession with the glorification of musical ignorance. Yet those I watched last night have a far great influence on the world than the church. Scary, huh?

The Weather

2006-11-29T19:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone not around the Joplin area noticed today, but around these parts the weather was the craziest I've ever seen. This morning, November 29th I remind you, I walked outside and it felt like July...at 6:00am! Where am I, Tahiti? So now, a little over 12 hours later I'm sitting in my office and outside...it's sleeting and about 30 degrees. Holy Jet Stream Shift Batman! That's a temperature drop of over 40 degrees! At least now it feels like late November. Not that I was complaining before.

The Jones

2006-11-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

It is decided. My traveling music ministry with Jordan this spring has a name: The Jones. What does it mean? I'm not....really sure?....BUT IT'S CATCHY! We didn't really want to spend a lot of time coming up with some clever name that has some deep, profound meaning like Jars of Clay (brilliant) or something like that. So we went with something that the first time we heard it, it sounded simple, yet appealing.

Jordan and I have been getting together regularly over the past several weeks to work on fleshing out songs, figuring out parts, etc. We also spend a portion of our practice times together in prayer, asking God to not only gift us with musicial inspiration, but also asking him to guide us in what our definitive message is to be. Our message has altered slightly since last I wrote. We will still convey that we desire the church, as a whole, to reclaim the arts. But instead of making that the culminating focal point of the evening, we will use that as an example to our central message: We should desire to make the church the center of our culture. And Jordan's example and mine in this manner is our passion to bring the arts back to the church in order to work towards that main goal.

Any thouhts, questions, helpful comments are welcome in order to help us convey this hefty message. And if you have any suggestions on where we should go and minister please feel free to email me any contacts you like.

Wishlist '06

2006-11-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Bogen 676B 4 Section Monopod (amazon.com)

My underwear are discintegrating so some new boxers or boxer briefs would be great!

Superman Returns DVD (widescreen please)

The Drummer's Bible (check amazon.com)

American Eagle Faded Jeans (30x32)

DW 5500TL Hi-Hat Stand (check musiciansfriend.com)

Tama CA45EN Long Cymbal Boom Arm (www.musiciansfriend.com)

Tama CA30EN Short Cymbal Boom Arm (www.musiciansfriend.com)

Gray Can Be Blue

2006-11-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

There is but one room in our house left to decorate: The Office. I have had an idea in my head for it for quite some time and a couple weeks ago Amy and I got to see the beginnings of that idea come to fruition. We did the usual stuff: bought a new desk, a couple of book shelves, some artwork (my neighbor to the east is a great artists to he's going to do a few simple paintings for me in the future), and of course painted. Now the idea with the paint was to do two walls in light gray, and two walls in dark gray. Sounds simple right? You go to the store, pick out your grays, slap it on the wall, badda bing, badda boom. WRONG! We put our grays on the wall and after a few strokes we said, "That ain's gray!" A long story short we tried everything, including asking the paint experts and Sherwinn-Williams and still the walls look blue. In fact when we were painting the edges we laid tape down and the paint on the tape was gray, but on the wall it was bule! We were totally stumped. So we just decided to be content with a blueish-gray office instead.

It's Been Awhile

2006-11-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks have flown by here. It's good to back.

Prophet, Priest, King

2006-10-31T13:22:00.000-08:00

This fall I have been taking the class on the book of Hebrews. I must say I have learned more than I would have realized a few months ago. Something that has illuminated me reciently is that our Savior, Jesus is a Prophet, Priest, and King. Now, I know most of us have heard this term before, but some new light was shed on it for me this week.

According to the Old Law, an Israelite could not be both priest and king becasue those who were priest were from the tribe of Levi, and those who were kings were from the tribe of Judah. Since no one could logically be from both it was impossible to hold both offices. Until Jesus! You might ask, "Wait, Jesus was from the tribe of Judah so I can see how he could be a king, but what about the priest part?" Well, if you take a close look at Hebrews chapter 7 you'll read about this mysterious guy named Melchizedek. We find reference to him in Genesis 14:18-20. He was a priest of the mosthigh God; a king of righteousness and of peace, whom Abraham gave a tenth of everything he possessed. If we stop and think about this, Abraham is the father of all Israel, so this Melchizedek was a priest of a different order than the tribe of Levi because he existed before Levi ever was! Also, this guy has no lineage; no beginning or end (as far as we can tell from Scripture).

Then we flip over to Psalm 110:4 and read a messianic prophecy that says, " You (Jesus) will be a high priest. One in the order of Melchizedek."...........AMAZING! Jesus is the only person in history to be both a priest and a king of Israel. And let's face it, every word he spoke on earth was of God becasue he was God so he is irrefutably a prophet.

In light of all this I highly recommend a thorough study of the book of Hebrews. It's content is unlike any other NT book, and the picture it paints of Jesus is absolutely breathtaking.

My Job Description In Scripture

2006-10-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, so how crazy is this. I get up this morning at around 6:30am to do my daily Bible study and prayer time. I flip open to the book of 2nd Chronicles 34 (an irresistable book, I know) and there in the lines of text lies my job description.

Now, as many of you know I travel with a group called Foundation Red. We are a small known worship band who play at many Christ In Youth (C.I.Y.) conferences across the country and have done so for many years. In the spring and fall we play at their Jr. High Believe conferences and one of the delights (and chores) that goes along with my job on tour is not only do I play the drums during worhip services, but I am also a key member of the set up and tear down crew. And I'm not talkin' pluging in a few XLR cables and setting up some mic stands. We're talking blolting and flying truss, hanging lights, running miles of wire, etc. It's a big job. And since I'm somewhat of a veterine on the tour I have a few people under me that I more or less tell what to do (i.e. if they have questions they come to me). Then after eight or so hours of set up I take off my rodie hat and put on my drummer hat and go to work again. It's loads of fun; believe me.

Alright, so now with all that in mind let me quote for you this verse of Scripture taken from 2nd Chronicles 34:13b-14a. To put this into context the verses surrounding this are talking about Josiah, king of Judah, who has undertaken the task of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem because his crappy father before him was an evil king who didn't give a rats butt about God.

Other Levites, all of whom were skilled musicians, were put in charge of the laborers of the various trades.

Amazing! Here I am a musician who has workers under me that I train and instruct to construct a setting that is used for the means of worshipping our God. Wow! Needless to say after I read and reread this passage I was stoked about what I do for a living.

1 Believe Down...

2006-10-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

Well, my neck and lower back are killing me. Hmmm...Believe Tour '06 must be underway. The weekend went pretty much as I exected meaning: there are some changes to be made, some parts were a little sloppy, but we'll get it together by showtime in Dallas. I always feel kinda bad for the first few venues on tour because they're like the test rats to see what works and what doesn't. Oh well, someone has to be first, I guess.

My good friend Caleb and his wife Jayme were there to hang for a bit. Caleb and I always try and make a point to hook up when I'm in town. Sometimes it's tough, but we always manage to spend a few hours together. Here's a pic of us at Atlanta last spring.

This year, music-wise, is a little different considering FR (Believe Band) has neither a Bass player, nor a lead guitarist so those two instruments have been prerecorded along with loops and aux. guitars. So the majority of what's heard instrumentally is drums and Jon's mac, which makes for a really tight sound, but we'd still rather have players on the stage.

TO WHOEVER IS READING THIS FOUNDATION RED IS STILL LOOKING FOR A LEAD GUITARIST AND A BASS PLAYER!!! GET IN TOUCH WITH ME IF YOUR INTERESTED AND CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE: www.frworship.com

The Birthing Process of Ministry

2006-10-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

A new friend has crossed my path recently. Three weeks ago Believe rehersals were held at Memorial Hall here in Joplin and that was where I met Jordan, who would be playing acoustic guitar and singing with Foundation Red this fall and spring. FR is big on hiring talented musicians who don't act like talented musicians (if you know what I mean). So I knew from the moment we began to work together that we would get along both relationally and musically.

But a couple months ago God placed on my heart a vision. A vision of a very simple music ministry: just two guys with their guitars and their voices saying, "Church, no matter your size you need to be a safe place for artists." You see, ever since I moved here and started working with Johnny and Jon they have opened my eyes to this fact: three thousand years ago in Israel if you were a musician there was no question where your talent was used...the Temple. If there was a festival or a gathereing of any kind it was most likely in, at, or sponsored in some way by the workers of the Temple of the Lord. But jump ahead to today and if you see a musician with guitar in hand walking down the street where is he headed? Probably the closest bar. Why is this so? Is it culture? Is it money? I'm not sure I have a concrete answer at this point, but I am certain that at least some of the blame falls on the local church and it's lack of desire for harboring artists. (I'll speak more words on this issue in furture blogs, but we'll let it lay for now.)

So to tie ALL of this together...Jordan and I met up this evening to discuss this exact ministry and we are both stoked about the possibilities. Of course this is going to take a lot of time, effort, and prayer, but our goal is to have an effective, penetrating, musical message put together for us to start communicating next spring. Jordan and I are excited and I hope that those of you reading this can be excited along with us. (Again, future blogs will no doubt be dedicated to the discussion of this ministry).

Amy's Tree

2006-10-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

Amy, Martin, and I planted a tree in our front yard on Saturday. As luck would have it our neighbors had a couple extra silver maples in a pot that they weren't going to use so they gave one to us. We're calling it the Mary Kay tree because Amy is planning on going into D.I.Q. (Director in Qualification) later this fall so this tree will hopefully represent the flourishing of her business over the years to come.

The Single-Celled God

2006-10-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

I wrote a reflections paper for my Hebrews class at OCC a couple weeks ago. The topic was the elements of Christology throughout the book of Hebrews. Now, the writer of this book was extremely well versed in OT Scripture because his letter is riddled with it. And unlike us today, he did not have the luxury of owning his own personal copy of the sacred texts. I love his juxtaposition between chapters one and two and the scripture references therein. The first three verses of chapter one are some of my favorite in the whole NT where it talks about the cosmic scope of who Jesus really is, and the writer then goes on in that chapter to use scripture references from Psalms about how Jesus is far superior to angels. But then, a few verses into chapter two, he paints a brief picture from Psalm 8 of this Jesus going from this sustainer of the universe to a single human cell.

It was not until the writing of this paper that I realized this truth: Jesus did not enter this world as a helpless infant...He entered it as a single cell. Despite the fact that I have absolutely not biblical references to back this stance up, it just makes rational sense. It seems a little proposterous to claim that the fetus growing inside of Mary was some soulless being up until the point it exited the womb and then BOOM!!!....Jesus is on the scene. I could be incredibly wrong about this whole issue, but the ultimate point here is our infinite God's infinite understanding of humility.

Street Bucket Solo

2006-10-08T19:57:00.000-07:00


Yea for talented street musicians!

Dogsitting

2006-10-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Martin and Jani are going on a little vacation down to Texas over the next three days. The little tike in front is Rudy. We're dogsitting for them while they're away. Stella and the Rudster can't seem to get enough of each other.

Yup, that's a diaper! Rudy is only 9 monthes old and is in heat for her first time. Oh Joy....grumble ...mumble... ...grrrr.

Neighbors and God

2006-10-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

I've got some exciting news. For the first time in my life I've got friends who aren't regular church goers coming to church with Amy and me tomorrow! Of all the places for me to find someone to invite to church it was at the plasma center. Her name is Barb, and despite her antequated name she's only about 27 or so. I've been getting to know her over the past couple monthes during my frequent visits to donate (errrr....sell) my precious bodily fluids.

On a similar note, Amy and I live in what is known as CCO (Christ's Church of Oronogo, our home chuch) ville. Appropriately named because about 1/2 of the fifty houses or so in the neighborhood belong to someone who either attends CCO or works for CIY. Ironically though neither of our neighbors go to church at all. Amy and I have been trying diligently for the past couple months to witness to... we'll call them Sam and Mary (not that concealing their identities is really necessary, but just to be on the safe side). But Sam has difficulty accepting anything on faith and we are under the impression that Mary has been hurt by the church in the past. My point is that we have been establishing a good friendship with them and would love to be the tools God uses to bring them to Christ. So whoever decides to read this please say a quick, but meaningful prayer that the Holy Spirit would help us with this situation and that we will say the right words and do the right things in order to show Christ to Sam and Mary (God knows their real names). Thank You.

Photo Booth

2006-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Look what our Mac can do! "Photo Booth" is hours of fun if you've got time to kill.

The New Mac

2006-10-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally finished the long and arduous task of importing my CD collection into my iTunes library. A hundred and some Albums, 1,400 songs, and I barely scratched the 30 gigs of memory on our iPod!

Amy and I got a sweet deal on a new iMac, iPod, and printer last month. We've been in desperate need of a new computer for about the last year or so. Before our 20" iMac w/ a 2.16 Ghz processor, 2 gigs of ram, and a 250 serial ATA HD...we had an ancient Dell Inspiron 2500 with a .5 Ghz processor, 256 k ram, and-get this-a 20 gig HD. OOOOOOOOO! Needless to say we are incredibly extatic about the newest addition to our little family.

My Wife & Kid

2006-10-03T13:20:00.001-07:00

This is me, my wife Amy, and my dog Stella. I love my wife very much and am very lucky to have her. And Stella...well Stella is just down right adorable despite her horrific gas! Seriously, it's bad! Amy works at Ozark Christian College as the Assistant to the Director of Admissions. She is also a Mary Kay consultant. Stella pretty much just sits around the house all day while were gone. I'm sure you'll be seeing many more pics and reading many more blogs concerning these two.

Blogging: A New Frontier

2006-09-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

It has been brought to my attention by a few choice friends and collegues that it would be in my best interest to initiate my own personal blog. I have contemplated doing this in the past, but each time I thought, "Wait a minute, do I really have anything interesting to say?...Naaah!" Evidently this is not the case according to the company in which I choose to surround myself. So while this blog will consist of the goings-on in my life and in the lives of those around me I will try and keep it as interesting as possible if you so choose to regularly subscribe. And just so we're clear up front, the duration of this blog is most definitely indeterminable at this juncture. In fact, this may very well be the only post to appear, but who knows maybe this blog will last for generations to come, being stored on some random server, in some random office, on some random street, in some random city. Maybe, just maybe my words of wisdom will penetrate the souls of millions and will start a revolution that will change the world! Doubtful considering I'll probably spend most of my words discussing how strings of secondary dominant chords tend to lead away from the tonic triad and how my dog has licking issues.

See you next post!