Stranger Than Fiction

Frankenstorm has flooded the east coast of the U.S.. I am watching the hurricane aftermath this morning with one eye on the T.V. and the other on my computer. The election has all but been silenced by the storm. Even as the candidates cross their fingers, hoping their message holds until the election day next Tuesday, other news seems to have passed under the radar. It's amazing the kind of stories that squeeze their way to the forefront during deadlocked news days like today. Also, many good stories get buried, unfortunately.

Brenda forwarded this headline from the UK's Daily Mail website to my phone this morning:

"Mega church pastor beaten to death with electric guitar by man who rammed car into church."  

The news shocked me as I read the article. Apparently, a crazed man rammed the church, ran after, caught and killed the pastor, Rev. Danny Kirk Sr., founding pastor of the Greater Sweethome Missionary Baptist Church in Forest Hill, Texas. The congregants are in disbelief. They say the pastor was a caring man and a great preacher, that he will be greatly missed.


Am I dreaming? Another story from the Daily Mail website was from the U.K (Oct. 30, 2012):

"Mr. (Geoffrey) Haywood was pretending to be blind when he went for a walk near his home and fell into the water-filled ditch, where his body was found by searchers. The coroner described it as the most extraordinary case he had dealt with in more than 30 years...Mr Haywood’s brother Howard said: ‘Geoffrey had psychological blindness which started after the death of our mother. I would put a Christmas dinner in front of him and he would say, “Where’s mine?” But if someone dropped money in front of him he would pick it up straight away."

Again, am I hallucinating? Are these reports for real?

Of course there is an extreme quality in both of the preceding stories. I wonder what other kinds of crazy happenings are going on in our world that are not even reported. (As a minister, I've been privy to many crazy stories that would boggle the everyday mind). But in this crazy world, truth is stranger than fiction.

We almost forget that 20 years ago we barely had cell phones. I remember watching the OJ's "low-speed" chase live in my living room on June 17, 1994. We thought then that we were super hi-tech. In the years since, the availability of immediate news on our phones has ramped-up the need for news agencies to offer a constant flow of stories to elevate ratings.

I can't wait for the elections and the storm to blow over so we can get back to normal. Who knows what stories will next make their way to our phones and our hi-def TVs? Maybe something like:

"He's alive! 'Dead' man stuns his grieving family by turning up to his own funeral!"

No, wait, that happened six days ago to a Gilberto Araujo of Brazil. 

Waiting For the Rain

Today the world awaits the second installment of ABC's new prime time soap, "Nashville."

As a resident of greater Nashville, I am interested in how the TV show will affect our economy. It is said that 125 to 150 people have found steady employment on the production and that, better yet, if a full season is shot here (hoping that last week's pilot and it's 9 million viewers keep coming back for more), $44 million dollars is expected to be spent. Also, according to Sunday's Tennessean article by Jaquetta White : "So far, (the) 'Nashville' produc­tion has involved 350 to 400 Tennessee vendors, according to an assistant to the show’s pro­ducer. That includes transportation, construction, design, cleaning and just about any other type of company that comes to mind."

As the pilot's storyline portrays, the real Nashville is filled with people who have moved their lives to this great Music City to fulfill dreams of being a star. The problem is the industry has a very narrow view of who's an investment-worthy new act. Its all about how quickly a company can return their investment and start making a profit. If your song moves up too slow or stalls somewhere on the chart without establishing you as a star, you're probably going to return to the line of starving artists, hoping for another shot.

Being a song writer myself, I can relate. The music business has changed dramatically since the digital revolution, and even the stalwart "Big Three" music conglomerates haven't seen profits like they used to back in the boom days. The game is tougher, meaner and potentially leaves more souls in the dust.

Being creative is a faith game. We write songs, books, screenplays, or whatever, without any guarantee that they'll ever see the light of day. We can only do our best and keep writing, re-writing and editing so that, hopefully, someone will see what we see in our work.

For twenty years I've been waiting at the curb four times a year for that royalty check from which comes a diminishing amount of money. The faith it takes to keep writing and creating is too costly for many. Its not uncommon for those who moved to town in the boom days to head back to Indiana or Louisiana, in hopes of finding a different line of work in a less competitive environment.

Its kind of like Noah in the Bible: We keep building something for which there is no apparent reason. A voice in our head says, "Build it and the opportunity will come." But there are no clouds in the sky! As a creative person, I can't let the discouragement freeze me out of doing what I love. Living in Nashville among other artist creates camaraderie...we all cry on each other's shoulders. The best we can do is build the finest "boat" we can while waiting for the rain. There's something to be said about being ready when opportunity strikes!

A Disaster Averted

Sunday was a day I won't soon forget. As music director, it's my responsibility to keep things rolling smoothly at church on a weekly basis, and to make corrections when necessary. I'll contact the worship leader the week before if anything in the song list or the the musical lineup needs tweaking. I try to head any problems off at the pass, but this particular weekend was crazy.

Our drummer was driving down from East Nashville to be with us at our Spring Hill location--about a 45-minute drive. I usually leave my house at 6:50 AM to be on stage by 7:00 (oh, the blessing of living near my church!). The musicians started arriving and began setting up. I noticed our drummer wasn't there, and it was 7:10. Then 7:20 came;  I started to get concerned.

My brother Jon and his family were in town from Birmingham, Alabama, for a visit. I had just said "good morning" to him as he was doing his quiet time. Collecting my things before leaving, I mentioned how cool it would be for him to play drums with our worship band sometime,  and that it would be like old times when we traveled the country and the world together thirty years ago as musicians. (I am reluctant to ask him to play because, when he comes to my place, he's looking for a break from his own weekend responsibilities as drummer for his church's worship band).

The hands on my watch showed 7:30. Oh crap--we've got a problem! I needed to somehow locate the missing drummer and started plotting what to do if he couldn't make it. I was concerned that he had an accident, slept in, or had mistakenly showed up at our Franklin campus. I couldn't find a phone number for the drummer and didn't see any texts or messages from him on my phone. So, it was up to me to find a solution to the eminent catastrophe brewing on the horizon: no drums for the two services that were only a little over an hour away.

I called my brother when he was still sitting alone doing devotions. He was surprised that we needed a drummer--especially since we talked about it a short while before.  He hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'll be there!" He made it within 15 minutes, we rehearsed, and he did a killer job both services.

In my career, I've learned that anything can happen, anytime, like the time Jon's drums never showed up at a gig we flew to in Houston. After a bit of an emotional and an equipment adjustment, Jon improvised and played the whole gig on just a snare drum--the only piece of gear we were able to scrape up. We probably played one of our best shows that night.

It's convenient when my brother, a drummer, is staying at my place, five minutes from church when I need him. But most of the time, it seems that options are few and time is limited when problems arise.

I later learned that our original drummer had blown a tire on the interstate. He didn't have my phone number to make a call. I was relieved to hear that he had the tire repaired, and since we were already starting the second service by that time he was set to go, he just headed back home.

I thank God for turning a disaster into a heart-affirming opportunity for my brother. It was also a chance to reunite with him after a 15-year gap between playing together. And most of all, the church didn't even know the difference--maybe it was one of the best worship sets we've done.

Sometimes the pressure helps to step up our game. I hope we don't see another one of those "growth opportunities" for a while...I'm still reeling from the bullet that just missed us!

Lead...Then Get Out of the Way!

Dolly Parton was in our local news this week. It brought to mind what she always says about her appearance: "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap!" And that, my friends, leads me to a few thoughts about leading worship.

I had a great conversation yesterday with a new friend on the subject of worship. He once had a mentor who said the #1 thing to remember as a worship leader is to lead the congregation to the Throne, then get out of the way. I heartily agree.

The difficulty in preparing for worship, and making plans to get out of the way, is that it takes a lot of skill to make it look so simple--thus, the reference to Dolly Parton. I've had the rich experience of playing behind some of the greatest worship leaders of our time. I took the opportunity years ago, while being a back-up musician, to study the way an excellent leader bonds with and leads their audience. It's hard to reduce a skill like this to a few points--and with such limited time--but there are some basic things to which a young, or a new worship leader can aspire.

It's important to have a worship plan, but be willing to abandon it to follow where the Holy Spirit leads. The crucial thing to remember is that the Spirit is leading us during our planning time, too, and it has been the rare occasion that I've ventured away from the original plan. So, the plans we make must be solid, Spirit-filled, and we must scrutinize every aspect in order to help the audience focus on God.

Our goal is not necessarily to have an impressive set of songs, or to create an opportunity to display our artistry. It's always been, though, about leading our congregation to God and getting out of the way! Here are some things that help me every time I sit down to plan a service.

1) Choose congregational keys for the songs.

Some worship leaders blame the audience for not singing, but the reason they aren't singing may be because they can't sing the song in the key you've chosen. A congregation has a limited range that goes fro B flat--below middle C--to D, an octave and a whole-step from middle C. Choose song keys where the melody stays within these boundaries. Worship leaders that are altos and high tenors can make the mistake in keying the songs to their own singing range.  In doing so, they alienate John and Jane Q. Public's ability to sing the songs!

2) Be prepared so that you are at rest with yourself on stage.

Think through the transitions between songs--what you're going to say and what you'll play. Work out a seamless way to go from one song to another. Dead airtime in a service (mostly between songs) can be a trust-killer for audiences (sometimes in the middle of a sweet time of worship, though, silence can be golden). It's smart to practice transitions in rehearsal. Make a "cheat sheet," if needed, to lay on the stage floor in front of you. A quick glance downward can rescue you during a momentary lapse of memory. Know your chords, use a monitor for lyrics, make eye contact with your congregation and draw them in. Being comfortable on stage will help your audience trust and follow you. Confidence breeds confidence.

3) Don't be afraid of dynamics in the service.

It's okay to bring the music down to one instrument at times, especially during an intimate moment in worship. The stripped-down, single instrument can facilitate a "one-on-one" feel that will enhance an intimate lyric. Some people ask me why my sets usually start with faster songs and end with softer songs. I answer that it's human nature. In other words, folks are coming in from the parking lot, hardly focused on spiritual things. Faster songs, with a "gather together" lyric, help focus attention toward the stage to begin the worship journey ahead.  It's our job as leaders to help the congregation focus ultimately on God and not themselves. I design a worship set to facilitate this journey for them--like concentric circles leading into the "bulls eye" of intimate worship.

4) New songs may be cool, but a familiar song always wins.

Choosing songs from the CCLI top 25 may keep us from feeling stagnant and bored, but don't underestimate the emotional power of hymns and of older worship songs. Why? Because people are already familiar with these songs; they've already made an emotional connection with them. Emotional connections and familiarity are important in worship because the congregation can close their eyes and sing without looking at the lyrics on screen. It's important to teach new songs, too, just not too many at one time. Remember, it's not about you, but about the journey of the congregation and, more importantly, about God. Don't let the need to be cutting-edge veer you away from the chief goal: to lead the congregation toward a deep and personal connection with God.

As we grow in our ability to lead people, we see that it takes a ton of  life-experience and skill to make our jobs look easy, and it takes a considerable investment of time each week to be effective. It's all about leading our church family to the Throne and getting out of the way, to leave them standing alone in the presence of God.