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I’ve had the opportunity to be emailing back and forth with Mark Waltz from Granger Community Church over the past little while and thought I’d pass along the story I told him about our amazing first impression when my wife, my oldest daughter and I visited Granger on our way back from Chicago.

My wife and I had the pleasure of visiting GCC back in June of 2006. I had made the trip down to Willow for the arts conference and on my way back decided to visit a few churches that we had been following. It was Father’s Day weekend and GCC was in the middle of the iPod series – I think the message that day was on iLove but I’m not 100%. I think it’s important to note that this was my first Father’s Day as a dad, our first trip away as a family and our first time leaving our daughter in the care of total strangers at another church.

Anyways, we had our 8-month old (at the time) daughter with us. We came in to the building and found a check-in station. The guy there asked for my last name and when I gave it he said “Chris?” I was a little surprised that I was already in your database but he asked if I was on the GCC mailing list and said that all of that info is connected. That was pretty impressive.

A nursery volunteer met us at the check-in station and brought us downstairs where we met some other volunteers before heading up for the service – which was fantastic. That was the morning that one of your music guys sang “Fix You” – gave me chills.

After the service we got Avery and then had a quick tour thanks to some of your production guys. We thanked them, grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel. When we went to get her ready for her nap she needed a diaper change. Okay – this is the good part!! :) On the back of Avery’s diaper was a bright pink sticker that said “I’ve Been Changed!” with a time and the initials of a volunteer. This sounds really silly but that was the most impressive thing of our visit to GCC. The amount of care, concern and intentionality that sticker communicated was through the roof for me as a new, overprotective dad.

As I said before, that small sticker impressed me so much that it is still the main thing I talk about when GCC comes up in conversation. I’m sorry to say that it wasn’t the lights or the video screen or Mark’s preaching or the coffee or the greeters or any of that which impressed me the most about GCC – although how you guys use all of things is incredible. It was the care for my daughter communicated through a silly little sticker that really showed the heart behind what you guys do.

Ever had a really great first impression?

So this book has generated quite the buzz since the author decided to publish it himself. I’ve heard lots of talk about it and am excited to start reading it this week. My pastor and his wife both read it and he gave me a copy for me & Sonya to read. Sounds like we’re in for a big of an adventure together!

If you haven’t heard about it, you can get more info on the book at these spots:

• WindRumors (the author’s blog)
• www.TheShackBook.com
• Subversive Influence (interview with the author)
• Lo-Fi Tribe

Have you read it?

All in all, we had a great morning together at OBC on Sunday. One of our worship volunteers led the services and he did a great job. I love his enthusiasm when he’s leading and his ability to speak through song transitions to lead people from one song to the next – he did an exceptionally good job with that on Sunday, I thought.

We started with a very solid set – “That’s Why We Praise Him” and “Your Love Is Amazing” are both favourites of our church so even though I broke a string (again!) during the second song at the 9:00 service, the congregation carried along just fine without me. It also helped that we had an incredibly solid piano player on the team. We did a key change in the first song and took it up from C to D in the bridge so we had people really belting out right from the first song.

Our second set flowed really nice – “Everlasting God” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” with a responsive reading from Psalm 37 thrown in the middle. We were talking this week about the faithfulness and provision of God in our times of worry and also in our times of greed – look through Luke 12 and see how Jesus tells people to respond in each of those situations. Pretty interesting.

Our response section was the hilight for me in both services. We found a really nice arrangement of “Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus” and then blew the roof off the place with “Step By Step” by adding the “Forever We Will Sing” like Smitty does on his worship album.

So 3 sections of 2 songs each which some people don’t like but by playing around with transitions, scripture elements and dynamics we were able to make each section on its own very strong and they worked together to pull off a really good service on Sunday morning.

Although this year has been lots of fun for people who are big fans of NCAA football, I think I’m not alone in saying that I’m not overly excited about the prospect of Missouri vs. West Virginia for the national championship.

Maybe someone from down south can educate me but is there an another option for the big game??

Please say yes!

My friend Craig asked me to come and speak to his worship volunteers this weekend at their Amplify Worship & Music Conference. I’m excited about doing it – I’ll be working with one of their musicians to do a main session on how to arrange a band effectively (when to play, when not to play, what you should play, etc) and then doing a breakout on my own related to songwriting and how to write well for congregational worship.

I’m not sure why but this week has been filled with three very different teaching/training opportunities – Tuesday night with World Vision speaking to artists who have itinerant ministries and helping them think about how to be more effective in booking events with churches. Then on Thursday night I visited some new friends at an “in-residence” ministry in our town that has students come for training from all over the world. There were students from the US, New Zealand, France, England and India. It was a real privilege to talk with them about what it means to live a life of worship and to look at the story of Abraham together. Today’s conference is much more practical and hopefully it will be helpful for the people who are there!

Needless to say, I’m excited to get through the weekend to have my day off with my wife and kids!

What have you done this week?

Here’s what we’re doing at Orangeville Baptist Church tomorrow – November 25, 2007.

Sunday, November 25, 2007
“Follow Me”
That’s Why We Praise Him – C -> D
Your Love Is Amazing – G
Offering/Announcements/Prayer
Everlasting God – A
Responsive Reading – Psalm 37
Great Is Thy Faithfulness – C
Message – “Making God’s Agenda Yours” – Luke 12
Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus – D
Step By Step – G

A couple of cool things for us tomorrow – we’re using a really nice arrangement of “Tis So Sweet” that I found by scouring iTunes the other day. There’s lots of hoedown and bluegrass versions of that song! But we found this one which will serve us nicely (we’re adding vocals, obviously). And then going into “Step By Step” we’re using the chorus/ending from MWS’s “Forever We Will Sing” which we’ve done before. I think those two songs are going to work really nice to close our service and give people a chance to respond to the message in worship.

I was looking online this week for an online tool that would help with some brainstorm/mindmap stuff and I found this – bubbl.us

The interface is really intuitive – start with your “big idea” and then hit return to create a child balloon or hit tab to create a sibling balloon. After spending 20 minutes or so playing with some ideas for our Christmas series here’s what I ended up with -

Click on the image and you can see it full-size.

At any time you can click and drag a balloon to change its location or you can “associate” balloons together (see the good->bad connection just below the “Surprise” box in the middle of the screen?). If you like you can collaborate on these things and invite other participants or export the diagram to post online for people to check out.

Good tool! I think I’ll be using this one alot.

I was asked by my friends at World Vision if I would come teach a seminar on helping artists become more effective in booking more events in churches. Because I’ve worn many hats in the past (artist, manager, promoter, consultant, booking agent, publicist, radio promoter, blah blah blah) and am now the one receiving phone calls from artists I was able to put some (hopefully!) helpful ideas together for people who are looking to share their ministry with churches.

If you want the full notes from my talk, send me an email or leave a comment but here’s the quick recap:

Top 10 Things I Wish Artists Knew About Booking Events In Churches

1. Plan ahead
My calendar is sometimes 18 months ahead. Don’t call in November for a Christmas booking. September kick-off planning starts in the spring, Christmas planning starts in the summer, Easter planning starts in the fall, Summer special event planning starts in the winter. Be working 6-9 months ahead. Coming with a tour routed and 2-3 potential dates is very helpful.

2. Know when to call
Not Monday or Friday – those are usually church staff days off – don’t call those days.
Tuesday is staff meeting – don’t call that day.
Wednesday & Thursday are good options but Wednesday is best. Thursday is usually doing final details for Sunday. Best approach – send an email Tuesday evening letting me know you’re calling on Wednesday and send me links to your website, clips of your music, video and references.

3. Who are you?
Make sure all of your promotional material (emails, websites, printed pieces) advertise the same “you”. Are you a children’s entertainer? Your promo picture should tell me that. Don’t make me figure out what you’re about!

4. Have a crystal clear mission
Are you a worship artist best-suited for Sunday morning? Do you have songs to sing specifically to women? Is your focus outreach to youth? If you have a clear description of what you’re trying to do with your ministry, it will help me decide what events are suitable for booking you. And, perhaps more importantly, if I don’t have an event that would fit you I will probably know someone who does.

5. Come with realistic expectations
If this is the first time we’ve worked together, don’t call with huge expectations of payment. Unless I’ve budgeted for X number of performance events per year I’m going to have to pull the budget money from somewhere else. If you’re calling me as a chance to get some exposure in a new market or to gain some experience then that may be “payment” enough for the event. If you’re going to a “big church” for the first time, don’t expect that to mean you’ll get a big audience unless your performance is tied to a bigger church-wide event – ie. Christmas banquet, community outreach event, etc.

6. Develop relationships
Getting an opening slot through the artist vs. talking with the promoter about that opening slot. The artist may or may not be able to get you added and they may or may not ever go back to that venue BUT the promoter will more than likely work that venue again AND will have other events in the same region that will need artists.

7. Give permission to say “no”
You called me, I didn’t call you. So if it doesn’t work out and I need to say no, please don’t be disappointed or upset. “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything!”
And remember..

8. “No” doesn’t mean “never”
Just because a church says no to you this time, don’t drop communication with them. Ask if it’s okay to add them to your email or mailing list – you should have a “fan list” and a “promoters list” with different content targeted towards each group. (NOTE: You may also want to consider having an “industry list” as well for radio stations, booking agents, labels and other industry people who are looking for different info than fans or potential promoters.)

9. Help spread the word
Once the booking is confirmed, get all the info online as quickly as possible. The church is investing significant amounts of money, time, volunteer hours, energy and logistics on making this event happen – make their investment worthwhile! An artist that promotes events along with a church is an artist that will be booked again!

10. Do what you say you’re going to do
This goes back to “who you are”. If you’re booked to be entertainment for a dinner theatre event, don’t spend half the show talking. If you’re booked to perform at an outreach event and give a clear presentation of the gospel intertwined with your music, make sure you give a clear presentation of the gospel. The church is not asking you to sell out or be someone you’re not – the church is just looking for an artist with the skill set that matches their need for that particular event.

www.worshipmusic.com has some “Featured Christmas Resources” available – cause I know we’re all looking for them right about now!

Here are a few things worth checking out:

Various Artists – Come Let Us Adore Him
If you’re planning on doing “specials” during Christmas, you’ll want to check out this CD. We used “Sanctus” by Ana Laura as the opener for our Christmas Eve services two years ago. This is a compilation CD featuring different artists and there’s a good mix of new and traditional with some pretty good arrangements.

iWorship Christmas – Resource DVD
I know that lots of people aren’t fans of the iWorship stuff but the Christmas one is a good resource to have. There’s the Christmas version of “Offering” by Paul Baloche which changes up some of the lyrics and tells parts of the Christmas story – it’s pretty well done. We’ve used these videos as walk-ins during Advent the last couple of years and I think we’ll do the same this year.

Hillsong – Celebrating Christmas Resource CD
It’s Hillsong so you know it’s done well. Again, if you’re looking to do a special and you need charts, this is a good resource. “O Rejoice” and “Saviour Christ The King” could both be used as Christmas Eve performance songs.

Visual Tracks – O Holy Night by Point of Grace
I haven’t used this but I have seen other Visual Tracks. They’re okay – but I thought I’d put it here in case you’re looking for something like this. Basically this is the poor man’s version of iWorship videos (and some of you are cringing at the thought!) but they have a pretty good selection of songs available.

Hope that’s helpful!