Back on the wagon

I've recently gotten back into the habit of reading a bunch. I've always loved reading, but for quite a while I hadn't read anything new. I've been reading the "Dragons in Our Midst" series by Bryan Davis. Although it was primarily targeted to the teen crowd, it is still a good read for old folks such as I. You should look into it.

Zee leetle grey cells

Alas, one of the great dangers to working from home is that sometimes the days pass by so similarly that you actually can forget which day it is. That happened to me this past Wednesday.

For some reason my dizzy brain was thinking it was Tuesday, so I didn't practice any of the tunes for worship that night. The worse part is that my brother called me right before 6pm to ask me where I was, and it took me a few seconds to even understand about what he was talking. Although initially I told him to tell everyone I wouldn't make it, after I hung up I decided to try. Keep in mind I live more than 30 miles from the church.

Well, I ended up making it there with 15 minutes to spare, and, other than hitting quite a few clams because I didn't have time to warm up, it went ok. It was still a little sad to think it might have been one of my last nights to play, but ya gotta move on.

Grace and peace, y'all!

(Un)Planned Obsolescence

This past Monday night after our weekly worship team practice we had a bit of a bombshell dropped upon us. Our pastor was there, and basically said he thinks the worship music we have been playing is poor, and he wants to bring in much younger musicians to eventually replace all of us old folks. Now, I've been saying we needed replacing for quite some time, although my reasoning was just that one should always be seeking his eventual replacement in any ministry. What made me a bit angry was the way we were portrayed. Our pastor said that he believed that the younger musicians were talented ( which I suppose means we are not ), and they all seem to play multiple instruments ( which quite a few of us old folks do as well ), and had more energy.

While some of this is undoubtedly true he neglected to even talk to the old folks about what he was planning. In the meeting he said he talked this over with a few of the young guns he's bringing in. Strange he didn't talk to any of the old gray hairs that have been doing this for more that a decade. Along the way he also said that there are several talented young musicians in our congregation that we are keeping from being able to play because they don't want to play our crappy music. This is where it got personal to me. We are always looking for new people, and we have had several events where we asked anyone that was interested to come out and find out more about being on the worship team. Very few people ever showed, so I doubt the veracity of that claim.

What frosts me is that for quite a few years I, and other team members, have been trying to make these very changes happen, but we met with no success due to our worship leaders disinterest, or desire to do it his way. This is why it frustrates me so much. I'm sure the younger folks will have an easier time because our pastor essentially removed the worship leader from actively leading ( he sings and plays acoustic guitar ). Therefore they will not have to deal with the impediment that we had.

I do wish them success, and I've known this chapter has to close at some point, I just do not like the way it happened.

p.s. I accidentally left the CD recording at the end of our practice. We sometimes just do random jams, and this is a rare time that it was actually recorded. I'm playing the keyboard, along with my brother on bass (although the level is a bit low to hear very well), our Wed. team guitarist, and drummer. Poor quality I know, but it wasn't intended for this. Still if you want to listen here is the link: Dead Men Walking .
The title I just made up, and yeah, it's a little snarky. I figured since our days were numbered now it was appropriate.

and remember, keep it on the one!