I bought the new Chris Tomlin song “Jesus Messiah” on iTunes this week and have listened to it a few times. The first time I hit play I could have sworn that he said “She became sin..” so I had to hit rewind and go back and listen. I still think that if I try to hear him say “she,” he does :)

Because this is a Tomlin song, there are lots of people talking about it. My favourite review so far? Patrol Magazine has this great one-liner in their review -

It bears a strinking resemblance to, oh I don’t know, everything he’s ever done.

Zing! Haha.

Yeah. I think I agree. It’s a nice song – singable, great lyrics, nice production, would work great in a package with How Great Is Our God and Holy Is The Lord. Maybe that’s Tomlin’s idea – just write enough songs for churches to fill their services with 52 weeks of the year.

Anyone using the song yet?

I posted a while ago about a new resource from Integrity called iWorship Flexx – the basic idea with these videos is that instead of the band being stuck to the arrangement within the video there is now the freedom to have the video follow you’re leading.

The video has lyrics integrated right in to it and is split in to several videos – introduction, verses, chorus, bridge, etc. You can import these videos in to whatever presentation software you normally use and have someone at the computer sending the videos to the projector, following the band’s lead.

If you’re looking for an easy tool to use to make things a bit more interested on Sunday morning, you may want to check this out. The iWorship Flexx Majestic volume has videos for seven fairly well-known contemporary worship songs – Blessed Be Your Name, Here I Am To Worship, Hosanna, Majestic, Praise Adonai, Before The Throne Of God and Trading My Sorrows. It’s available for sale now – check it out at your local Christian bookstore or sites like www.worshipmusic.com.

So far today has been pretty tough. Actually the past several days have been pretty tough. I haven’t blogged about this yet but last Wednesday my friend Mike died. Mike was 24. It doesn’t matter what the issues are – 24 is too young to die.

I only knew Mike for about a year. He started coming to our church with his mom and immediately got plugged in to our worship ministry. He was an incredible piano player and was passionate about being part of a team of people who would lead our church in worship. Mike had lots of worship leading experience and was eager to learn more. I remember one of our first conversations, Mike came up to me and said “Chris, I want to do what you do!” That conversation started a series of meetings where Mike & I got together to talk about his faith, his desire to serve God and to be obedient to the call on his life.

Mike & I used to talk about how awesome it would be if he could spend a year or so in a real high level role with the church where he would serve in a different area of our worship ministry every week – planning services, playing piano or guitar, helping our tech team, lots of different things. Mike was so passionate about just being part of the team and accomplishing whatever we could so that our congregation was able to worship God.

When Mike told me a couple of months ago that he had been accepted to a Bible college to start taking courses in music ministry, I was incredibly proud of him and the steps he had taken to make that happen. It was so exciting to see him be able to put some flesh and bones on his dreams. At the same time I was really bummed that Mike wouldn’t be around our church – the school is out of town and he would have to live on campus.

If I have heard one thing about Mike in the past week it was that Mike was the gentlest guy anybody knew. If ever there was a guy that was impossible to NOT be friends with, it was Mike. I honestly cannot think of a moment of knowing Mike where he was not smiling, excited and genuinely interested in those around him. How could you not like a guy like that??

Mike was also incredibly talented. He was one of those musicians (and the worship leaders who read this will understand the value in what I’m about to say) that I had 100% confidence in. When I asked Mike to be a part of a service or asked him to carry an intro or a solo I had ZERO doubt that Mike would be able to pull it off at a level that would make me proud. Someone told the story this morning that some people who heard Mike play once nicknamed him Michael W. Thwaites because of his natural ability and what he was able to do on the piano.

I could honestly talk about Mike for hours. And, this week, I have. I’ve talked about him with other pastors here, I’ve talked about him with his family, I’ve talked about him with other people from our worship ministry and I’ve talked about him with friends. I’ve told them stories of Mike’s deep longing to be obedient to God and his desire for God to use his life in incredible ways. I’ve remembered how much Mike taught me in the short time that I knew him and how he continues to teach me through the stories that I hear about him, telling me new, incredible things about his life and the impact that he had on those around him.

So I am not ashamed to say that I miss my friend Michael. I do, so much. I will treasure the last conversation we had where he told me about some great things God had recently done in his life – things we had been praying about for months. I will miss his goofy smile, the funny way he would sit at the piano so he could see his music just right. I’ll miss his talent and the music that came when he played.

I do not doubt for one second where Mike is right now. Mike is in the front row of heaven with his arms up worshipping in a way that is wholly familiar but completely new at the same time. Mike has very literally been given new eyes and new ears to see and hear the glorious things that God has for him now. My prayer is that we would never forget what Mike has taught us – to seek God first, to be obedient to the call on our lives and to be faithful with what God’s given us. I know that I have been pushed in all of those areas because of my friend Mike.

Suddenly at his home on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 in his 25th year; beloved son of Wendy and David Thwaites. Michael leaves behind his brothers Bryan and Matt, his grandmother Marie Willan and his grandparents Carol and Peter Koeslag. Michael is survived by his aunt Linda, uncles George, Stephen and Rod, other relatives and many friends. Having been predeceased by his grandfathers Graham Willan and George Thwaites and his uncle Russ Willan. Michael walked his 25 years on earth with a passion to serve, to love God and others. He loved music and worship, he served in mission outreaches in Honduras, El Salvador, and New York City and serving at both Teen Ranch Orangeville and Teen Ranch, Scotland. He completed college at Faith Mission College Edinburgh, Scotland before returning to continue his service at Teen Ranch, Orangeville.

Back on the confessional wagon. Here we go. Sunday was nice for me – it was one of those weeks where I wasn’t involved in the worship team and handed all of the leading responsibilities over to volunteers. We have very capable musicians and three other people who lead services so once every couple of months I take a Sunday and participate in the service as part of the congregation.

Doing this gives me different “eyes” on what’s happening and also allows our other musicians to really step up and take leadership of the worship ministry.

Here is the service outline from Sunday -

“Rest Area” – Philippians 4:1-8
Beautiful One – Tim Hughes – C
Ancient of Days – Gary Sadler & Jamie Harvill – C
Father’s Day Video
Announcements
Blast Worship Team
Let My Words Be Few – Matt Redman – F
It Is Well With My Soul – Horatio Spafford – C
Message – Worry: Rest Robber
It Is Well – verse/chorus
Tis So Sweet – Louisa Stead & William Kirkpatrick – G

I hate giving services ratings but if I evaluate the service based on flow and musicianship and engagement with the congregation, this week was really high on all of those counts. Being off stage is always great for reminding myself about the importance of intros and transitions, etc but it was also great to just be part of the congregation – worshipping God with my brothers and sisters and enjoying His presence.

Not that this week was without its issues. So here we go -

1. We had some good discussions about “Let My Words Be Few” and the line that closes the verses and chorus of the song – “Jesus I am so in love with you.” Nobody can argue that it is clear that we should express our love and affection for God in our worship but that wasn’t the point. The issue that came up was mainly the distinction between the phrase “I love Jesus” and “I’m in love with Jesus.” It was very clear for some people that those two statements are NOT equal and that singing about being “in love” with Jesus is probably emotionally and biblically inaccurate. It took some discussion and some pushback from the worship team but in the end we changed the lyrics, projected the changed lyrics and everyone was fine with it. I think I’m going to do a separate post just on this issue because there is lots of stuff wrapped up in this small point.
2. We brought one of the worship teams from our kids ministry, Blast, downstairs to lead worship for us on Sunday. In Blast there are teams of students who are leading their peers in worship and I think that is amazing! Normally they use video or CD and do songs that are very God-focused, high energy with lots of actions. We brought them in to our service on Sunday and had them lead three songs just like they would lead them upstairs with the kids. People loved it and it was a real thrill to see this group of kids leading our church in worship – we will definitely be doing that more often.
3. The Father’s Day video we used was a big hit. Short, funny, fast-paced, to the point, impactful – everything that a good illustration video should be. We used it as a transition out of the first worship package – the leader asked people to greet one another and as the crowd was dying down we rolled the video. I came up on stage as the video closed to wish dads a happy father’s day and then went in to announcements from there.

Great morning. God was worshipped, His word was preached, His people were encouraged. What more could you ask for??

How was your Sunday?

I don’t usually post trailers or info on series that are happening at other churches but this was just too good to pass up. LifeChurch.tv is a multi-campus church with a whole bunch of sites and every summer they run an “At The Movies” series. Here’s the video trailer for the series this summer -

Great work – these guys always do awesome stuff and are constantly pushing the envelope, creatively. My favourite line – “All the time!” Haha.

It’s been minutes since Apple announced that the iPhone 3G is coming to Canada on July 11th.

How have the two companies involved chosen to showcase the new product??

Apple -

Rogers -

Priceless.

I got an email from Corbis this week letting me know about the opening of the Museum of Art for the Arts. I love the concept! Here’s what the email said -

In 2008, the Museum of Art for the Arts will open as the world’s foremost arts & image museum. After a heavy building and acquisition program, the museum now possesses thousands of important works – from Warhol to Picasso, from Renoir to Beuys. The MofAA can now provide expertly curated exhibitions from over 4 million pieces, carefully selected and on display in both its New York museum and online.

The MofAA offers its members and benefactors special access to the world’s premier image collection. While parts of the museum are open to the general public, the majority of its exhibitions and special offerings are for members only. Benefactors are granted early access to special events and exclusive promotions, in addition to virtually unlimited support from the museum staff.

The site itself is a beautiful collection of photographs, paintings, exhibits and blogs all showcasing creativity and expression. This seems like a new concept in terms of how the web is used and I’m pretty intrigued to see where this goes. I will definitely be blocking out some time to make my way through the different galleries and see what kind of exhibits are on display. Beautiful stuff.

TED Talks are a bit of a passion of mine and I’ve posted some here before.

Vik Muniz makes art from pretty much anything, be it shredded paper, wire, clouds or diamonds. Here he describes the thinking behind his work and takes us on a tour of his incredible images.

Vik’s thoughts on creation and creativity are beautiful and his understanding of causality is pretty humbling. Vik’s use of humour in showing how he was able to disarm critics is pretty impressive and the way that he envisions what “could be” out of what “is not yet” is incredibly inspiring.

RSSers hit the blog for the video!

I went down to Oakville on Sunday night to see Joel Auge at his CD release show. You might know Joel as the lead singer of Capstone and then fronted sixdays/Hewit for a few years too. He’s now signed as a worship artist with Integrity and his CD is out in Canada this week and next month in the US. He’s getting tons of buzz from Integrity and is already booked to play lots of the bigger conference and events that happen in worship world.

The release show was at The Meeting House – basically a warehouse-turned-theatre – and it was the first time I’d been there for a live event. The room was too big for the crowd that had gathered but it didn’t seem awkward – probably because most of the people there were from The Meeting House (Joel’s church) and already knew each other. The room itself is pretty impressive – I’d guess 800 seats with really nice-sounding PA. The stage is a good size for the room and gave the bands enough room to be comfortable during the show. There are two main screens in the room which were used for lyrics as well as a couple of quick video promos shown during Joel’s set.

I got there at about 7:15 with my daughter Avery and just as we walked in the opening band was being introduced. I recognized my friend Kieran who was leading a band of jr. high and sr. high students. They played a good set of 4 covers and pulled it off really well – their medley/re-working of Lifehouse’s “Everything” and “Fix You” by Coldplay was pretty interesting. They also did a really solid cover of Switchfoot’s “Awakening”. Overall I was pretty impressed with the band – they definitely did not sound like your typical jr./sr. high church band.

After their set Joel was introduced. The label has put together a promo video to introduce Joel and his music to people and they played some of the video that had him talking about making the record, a bit of his personal story, etc. It was a good way to start.

Joel and his band played three songs off his new record which were very solid. Joel is an incredible songwriter and I’ve always thought his songs sound “natural” – the melody, lyrics and structure all sound like they just rolled out of Joel’s guitar together. After the first three songs there was some Q&A with the MC where Joel got to talk a little bit more about his life, his ministry and his new record before coming up with the band to do a handful more songs.

After showing another quick video clip – Joel talking about the song “On The Blue” and where it came from – the band came up to close with two more songs and then Joel ended the show on his own with “On The Blue.”

Overall, it was a very solid night. Joel is an incredible singer, very entertaining and engaging. His band was incredible and the audio mix in the room was pretty impressive considering how empty it was.

The songs off of “On The Blue” are already getting some attention and some good radio play. The combination of great songs and Joel’s personality made the evening fun, relaxed, entertaining and just a really good time. Having my daughter there and seeing some old friends made the night a big success.

Joel’s CD is in stores in Canada now and coming out in the US on July 1. Tracks are also on iTunes and “So Deep In Love” is a free download in the iTunes US store – pretty cool promo.

Don’t believe me?

After rehearsal on Saturday morning I was struggling a little bit with one spot in Vicky Beeching‘s great song, “Yesterday, Today & Forever.” The end of the verse has a little tag that goes -

Always loving, always true/
Always merciful and good, so good

Between those two lines there is two and a half bars of empty space and it was feeling like there needed to be something in there – but I didn’t know what.

So what do I do? Twitter, of course! I decide it would be worth a shot to send Vicky a direct message and ask her if she has a suggestion -

A little over 12 hours later, here comes a very helpful reply from Ms. Beeching -

I don’t know about you, but that simple little exchange blew my mind. Think about this: I have an issue with a song and I am able to get in direct contact with the author of that song to ask how she does it! Within 12 hours I have a direct response from her with a suggestion. As I told someone this morning, that could not have happened even 1 year ago. Twitter has changed the world.

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UPDATE: Hi friends of Vicky – thanks for stopping by! I’m on staff as the worship director at a church near Toronto and have been blogging for about a year and a half. Have a look around and leave a comment if there’s something that catches your eye. Cheers!