This is part seven in what will become a series of posts following the creation and evolution of SHINE, a contemporary worship service at Glenwood Presbyterian Church. You can find the table of contents here.
After Christian Endeavor’s first ever appearance in the sanctuary on September 10, 2006, the next important date in the process was November 11th, although we didn’t know it at the time.
November 11th was the date that the Session (Glenwood’s ruling body) got together to plan goals for the year 2007. This was the second time we had held a “goal-setting” meeting, and the idea was to give us some direction for the coming year – what needed to be accomplished, what did we feel God was leading us to do, that sort of thing. During the meeting, one of the concerns we had about the church was the lack of a large number of young adults and young married couples who would be the future of the church’s membership. In addressing how we might meet this concern, the idea of a contemporary worship service came up. I don’t recall who brought it up first, but interestingly enough, it was not anyone that was directly involved in the band or knew that we had discussed this possibility when the band was forming. I took this as more evidence of God’s hand at work.
Eventually, it was decided at that meeting that we would try to start a contemporary worship service in place of our current Sunday night Bible study which was drawing about 15 people on a good night. I was placed in charge of the committee which would be responsible for this project and we were given a blank slate of sorts to redesign our Sunday nights however we wished. (Sunday nights also included choir practice, refreshments, and youth group meetings.)
In an attempt to solve our well-chronicled bass player problems, I got a bass guitar for Christmas and started learning to play it. I must be doing okay because the rest of the band has at least let me keep pretending I know what I’m doing.
My committee really got to work after the start of 2007 and had several meetings to try and hammer out the details of what our new service and Sunday night schedule would look like. We decided to replace our refreshments which we would have after the Bible study with a light meal that would take place 30 minutes before the start of the service. The rest of the schedule came together fairly easily. I visited a contemporary service at another church to get some ideas for what we wanted to do as well. We determined that the band would play three or four songs and then we would have a Bible lesson. We wanted to incorporate powerpoint for song lyrics and I had also seen some Christian video clips on the internet that I thought we could show to help make transitions smooth.
In addition to the obvious issues about how to pay for a screen, projector, laptop computer, and the other things that we needed, one decision that we really struggled with was where to put all these things. Where would the band be stationed? Where would we hang the screen? Would the projector be mounted or not? I cannot tell you the Sunday mornings that I sat in the sanctuary and visualized different set-ups until it almost drove me crazy. Glenwood was built a long time ago, so it wasn’t built with a big stage that we could put the band on, and the only time we had performed in the sanctuary we had simply tried to squeeze into a corner with less than stellar success. I knew we didn’t want to have to set up and break down all the band’s equipment before and after each service.
Then Kevin decided it was time to speak the unspeakable – why not put the band in the choir loft behind the preacher and move the choir down into the corner on choral risers. The idea was that we could then have the band out of the way and that the choir could more easily be moved. Aware that this idea might not sit too well with the choir members or their fans, we decided that we would schedule another Sunday morning when the band could play for our morning worship service and set up in such a way that folks could see how it looked without it being a permanent situation. We scheduled it for February 25, 2007, and it looked like this…. (Remember, this was Kevin’s idea)
It didn’t take Kevin long to change his mind. Here’s part of his email from the next day after seeing the video.
To: Brian
From: Kevin
February 26, 2007
I must say, this configuration creates the odd impression that a band is attempting to play music while standing in a jury box at the courthouse. And with Randy standing up front in full black robe (Judge Wellford), and the overhead fans spinning above the proceedings, it appears we’re trying to do a musical version of “To Kill A Mockingbird.” It’s a bit surreal. But that’s just me.
Actually, I hadn’t given any thought to where Randy might go and wait during the rock’n’roll numbers. I hadn’t quite expected him to remain in the pulpit. He’s like the Fifth Beatle or something. But where can he go? He cannot casually sit in that leather chair to his right, what with Led Zeplin screaming into a microphone just inches from his ear. Talk about an odd scene.
By the way, your invitation to any person who might play an instrument to join us will not go unheeded. Melvie let it be known that she plays the accordion and the zither, and she wants to sign-up immediately. But I told her there is no where left to stand in the jury box, and recommended she try the clerk’s office or the Register of Deeds.
Like we said Saturday, one step at a time. At least we proved the band can fit up there. But with the partition rail there in front of us, boxing us in, and five massive chairs right out of the Middle Ages in front of us, that hulking pulpit with silk flag draped down the front (emblazoned with the Presbyterian coat of arms), full communion table, candles, metal crucifix, faux marble columns topped with flower arrangements – large white cross looming in the background — the whole scene looks like a send-off to knights going to fight in the Crusades, all in the company of an electric bass. Maybe next time we’ll have Sam appear in a suit of armor. Randy could mount a horse, trot off to the left somewhere. I don’t know.
Okay, enough of that. But let’s agree, the “new contemporary” and the “old formal” mixed together that way, well, it is odd-looking. I think things will improve when we can create more of a contemporary “stage look,” a bit more opened up, without the Medieval trappings out front.
More and more I am convinced that for this thing to fly, we just need to build a new sanctuary and start from scratch. Will you bring this need to the attention of the session?
Okay. That is all. The jury is hereby dismissed. God save the Queen.
So we scratched this idea, and decided to build a band platform in the corner. There were many other decisions to be made, however, and our kickoff date of May 6th was fast approaching! But that’s a topic for the next chapter.
This is part six in what will become a series of posts following the creation and evolution of SHINE, a contemporary worship service at Glenwood Presbyterian Church. You can find the table of contents here.
After our debut performance at the Glenwood Presbyterian Church July 4th Cookout (which actually took place on Sunday, July 2nd, 2006 - so not only was the name of the event unbearably long, it was also inaccurate, but I digress) Christian Endeavor was giddy with their newfound fame. Ideas started coming out of the woodwork for what goals we could accomplish next…
To: Brian
From: Kevin
July 3, 2006
Hey Brian,
Let’s start planning for the October outdoors event – what kind of set(s) would we like to do? What will serve as a stage platform? Who could help us design a portable “riser” with a few pieces of lumber and plywood from Lowes? I know what we could do for lighting, should this become an evening event (some portable floodlights I have access to).
Let’s start planning for a Sanctuary number; first a quiet performance number to dampen the shock value of a rock band in church; and later an actual group number. How about the last hymn of the morning, with the congregation standing, so everyone will truly understand that they are supposed to sing along. What if we were to come up with a projection screen somehow (I could put together the powerpoint). On a more basic level, we will need some longer cables if we would like to set the board up in the back left corner. But moving a couple of pews should be no problem, of course.
I was really pleased with the turn-out yesterday. This proves there is indeed a lot of life and vitality in that neighborhood that can be attracted to Glenwood. It occurs to me that we should have more events like that – maybe begin blending in a devotion to accompany the free food, games and entertainment (noting that yesterday’s event went off without so much as a prayer, I don’t think). Could all of this evolve into a contemporary service or Bible Study at some point? – lure a crowd in with free food, gradually convert mere “attendees” into actual “participants” and “members”
Christian Endeavor was practicing fairly regularly (usually once a week) now and we decided the best plan would be to learn a few songs that could be done in a Sunday Morning worship setting without knocking some of our older members out of the pews. We did have other requests to play, however…
To: Kevin
From: Brian
July 17, 2006
We are having an “Invite-a-Friend” Sunday at church on August 20th. We have had a request that CE play at the luncheon to follow the worship service. I don’t really feel like we would be ready quite that soon with new songs, but I wanted to pass it along as an option and I took it as a compliment that some folks were eager to hear us again. Or maybe they were thinking, “Surely that can’t be that bad a second time!” Just kidding - we have certainly generated a “buzz” which was one of our goals.
We ended up not playing at the Invite-A-Friend event, but continued practicing towards playing on a Sunday morning. Kevin had the suggestion that we could rent an AV projector and project our lyrics on a big screen above the stage. And our bass player problem was solved - Josh graciously agreed to play bass while Sammie Jo would continue to play acoustic rhythm guitar.
To: Kevin
From: Josh
July 19, 2006
Hey Kev, listen, this is my thought toward the bass, if it’s music it’s ok with me, if it’s an instrument it’s great with me. The bass is just as great as the guitar and I would be honored to play it. It was the instrument I started playing first when I was a kid, THEN I turned my
attention to guitar. Bass is great and I’m down for it, I look forward to practice on Thursday…besides this completes all the requirements for a Webster’s definition of a band– band (n)-ensemble of musicians joined together to make music; traditionally guitar, bass, drums, vocals and/or piano.
Call us a fully functional band as of….now.
Within a couple of weeks, Josh would disappear and I would never see him again. I am not making this up.
Actually, he left the band to go back to college at Appalachian State. But I really never saw him again. And we didn’t have a bass player again.
We did end up performing three or four songs as part of Glenwood’s morning worship service on September 10, 2006. We set up the band on the left front side of the sanctuary and our performance went well. We didn’t get around to renting the projector for the powerpoint lyrics, but we had at least cracked into the legitimate worship of the church. The biggest compliment that I heard was that our music was “upbeat but reverent.” I thought about starting a petition to get our band’s name changed to this, but decided I wouldn’t have the votes.
In any event, Christian Endeavor was about to receive a daunting assignment from the church which would require all of our energies…
This is part five in what will become a series of posts following the creation and evolution of SHINE, a contemporary worship service at Glenwood Presbyterian Church. You can find the table of contents here.
When we last left our merry and somewhat delusional cast of characters, they were preparing for the debut of Christian Endeavor on June 25, 2006. The idea was to perform a few songs after our regular Sunday evening Bible Study. We currently had Kevin on drums, Sammie Jo and Josh on guitar, Jeana on keyboard, and Brian on vocals. In addition to rehearsal time and song selection, there were equipment issues to deal with. The church currently had a sound system, but nothing near big enough to deal with a “rock band.” Without a budget for our little experiment, how would we purchase the things that we needed? And it goes without saying that we still needed a bass player . . .
I recommended to Kevin that he look at Musician’s Friend - an online music store which I had used in the past. Let me pause for a moment to highly recommend this store to anyone out there who is looking to purchase anything musical - the prices are good, the selection is large, and as will become apparent later in this post, the customer service is excellent! We purchase almost all of our needed supplies from them and have yet to be dissatisfied.
Christian Endeavor was already generating a good deal of excitement and anticipation at the church. We had needed to get Sessional approval for our rehearsals and the planned performance, so the word was out. After much prayer, we started getting some pretty sizable donations from some of the members of the church to go towards the purchase of a new sound system - none bigger than Kevin, who put up the money for most of the system that we ended up purchasing…
From: Kevin
To: Brian
June 17, 2006
Here’s an update on the sound equipment. I have ordered the Yamaha EMX5000 20-Channel Powered Mixer as well as two Yamaha S115V Club Series V Cabinets. (…and I can’t wait until Jennifer sees the credit card invoice!!). I also purchased the necessary cables (20’) for them. And of course I am always a sucker for those comprehensive extended warranties, and ordered this too (for the mixer only, however).
I would recommend that we both immediately download the PDF manuals for these products and begin to familiarize ourselves with how the equipment operates, lest we destroy something that has the word “diaphragm” or “impedence” associated with it. Unless I can shepardize one of these terms and fix it that way, we’re out of luck.
The equipment is coming from Kansas City by UPS. It will intercept a gold truck somewhere near Knoxville (…no, sorry, wrong show). Actually, it should arrive by “mid-week to late-week,” so I don’t know that we will have it by Wednesday evening.
We’ll have to see. But when it arrives, it would be great if you could meet me at church so we can work on setting it up together.
I ended up purchasing more equipment than our band probably needs, in terms of power and quality, but this is one of my weaknesses. Part of my motivation, both for this purchase and for everything else this band involves, is the sense that we are doing something for Glenwood. I am sure you feel the same way with all that you and Jeana do. I will mention that I had an e-mail from LeeSa Engle this week. I had asked her if any of her “kids” (high school and older) might play bass. She said no, but on the subject of Glenwood forming a Christian Rock band, she was enthusiastic, and mentioned that her church doubled in size upon forming a band and starting a contemporary service. We’ll have to see about that at Glenwood … first things first … but LeeSa’s remark was just the extra motivation I needed to get my credit card out on this one. I do pray for this little project of ours, and I hope to never lose sight of my need to continue to do so!
Then, in the same email, we have a dose of what you literary types call “foreshadowing.”
On the subject of our debut for June 25th — and I hope this won’t sound like a downer — it occurs to me that we could postpone this and not do ourselves any harm. Without a bass player we’re really not ready to perform, in all honesty. And in fact, the June 25th date has been overtaken by events. In other words, the purpose of this 6/25 debut was to simply introduce the concept of a Christian band, and see how it might be received by the church (somehow I had imagined that we might put all of this together without generating any notice and rather surprise the Sunday night crowd with the easy-going “Word of God Speak”). As it has developed, the church is already fully aware of our efforts, and very enthusiastic (from what I hear), and the last thing I would want to do now is go on stage half-cocked and dampen expectations for this. Bass player aside, if we don’t get a chance to rehearse with the sound system prior to this outing, there’s another chance for something “not to sound good.” The 6/25 date was of course arbitrary, but served its purpose by motivating us to “get going.”
So just give postponement some thought (we’ll see how practice goes this week). At this point, I wouldn’t mind if we elect to debut CE with “Word of God Speak” on a Sunday morning sometime mid-summer. That sounded really good Wednesday, I thought. I really wish we were ready to do the July 2nd cook-out. Oh well…
I was able to talk Kevin out of delaying our debut and we awaited the arrival of our new sound system as we worked to perfect our first set of songs. Then we ran into some problems….
Problem number one was the arrival of the sound system -
From: Kevin
To: Brian
June 22, 2006
Hey Brian. The sound equipment arrived this morning. Unfortunately, there was some damage in transit. One of the cartons apparently took a pretty good wallop, and the horn is popped out of one of the speakers – screws knocked out, wood stripped out of the cabinet, it will definitely have to go back. The other equipment (speaker #2 and mixer) looks okay, but if it took a wallop like the first carton did, it may be suspect. I’ll plug the stuff up later today and see how it does. It is probably okay, going just by appearances. And tell you what: I may delay returning speaker #1 until Monday. It will probably play okay, it’s just that the horn is knocked loose (hanging on by a single screw) but is otherwise “still connected” via all the wiring. This way we can still use it Sunday.
Hey, the mixer has a whole lot of knobs on it – any idea what they’re for?
Musician’s Friend agreed to let us use the damaged speaker (which worked fine) for our first performance before shipping it back for a replacement.
Finally, the big day was upon us - June 25th - and we had a great crowd that Sunday night including many that came just to hear the band play. But God apparently didn’t want us to play that night. Josh had gotten a replacement at his restaurant job so that he could be there - only, his replacement didn’t show up. To Josh’s credit, he was ready to quit his job so that he could make our performance, but Kevin was able to talk him out of that. Sammie Jo had agreed to be a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding that afternoon - but the wedding was outside and a summer thunderstorm had caused all sorts of havoc with the schedule such that Sammie Jo couldn’t be there that night either. So we had to tell everyone that we were unable to perform that night because we were missing two members of the band. We took it in stride and regrouped…
To: Brian
From: Kevin
June 26, 2006
Don’t worry about our aborted performance. I heard on Entertainment Tonight that the entire incident is being dismissed as a publicity stunt. Ticket sales are really taking off now.
Seriously, I was pleased by the level of excitement generated last night, and the “large” crowd. From the youth to the seniors, enthusiasm is widespread, and I thought we were going to have to call a bouncer to deal with Jane Anderson when the service began with the traditional calling out of hymn numbers (please don’t forward this e-mail to anyone, as I wouldn’t want that silly remark to find its way back to Jane, lest she think I am anything but THANKFUL!! for this level of enthusiasm).
So all in all, last night was a great success, in terms of our modest objective announced back in early April.
The new plan was to perform for our church’s July 4th cookout to be held on Sunday, July 2nd. This is an event the church has done the last several years and invited the neighborhood for hot dogs and hamburgers. We were able to perform for a much larger audience and actually performed our “set” twice during the event. We were well received, and more donations started coming in to cover the costs we had incurred. God certainly knew what He was doing - as always!
Here’s a video of one of the songs at this first performance - Never Been Unloved by Michael W. Smith. This was taken with an old camcorder, so the picture and sound quality is not the best (which will drive Kevin crazy). But it gives you a picture of our start, and you’ll understand that we sound better in person.
This is part four in what will become a series of posts following the creation and evolution of SHINE, a contemporary worship service at Glenwood Presbyterian Church. You can find the table of contents here.
On May 2, 2006, Christian Endeavor practiced for the first time. At that time, it was just me, my wife Jeana, and our fearless drummer Kevin. The plan was to get a couple of songs together for our first public spectacle/performance after a Sunday evening worship service on June 25, 2006. Kevin brought along a Strawberry Shortcake tape recorder/singing machine to record our efforts (its unclear as to whether his daughter Sarah actually gave permission for the use of her equipment for this.) And we had an audience of sorts - Debbie had come to babysit our children, and Kevin’s wife Jennifer and mother-in-law Sylvia were present as well. No one quite knew what to expect, but things went relatively well.
To: Brian and Debbie
From: Kevin
May 4, 2006
Subject: CE — The Good, The Bad (and the Ugly)
Hi gang,
Good news and bad news:
Bad news is that the Strawberry Shortcake tape recorder was a failure from the git-go. I now understand that the Smurf tape recorder is the one recommended by Consumer Reports
The good news:
1. Sarah sure had a blast. She told me on the way home she wants to LIVE at Glenwood.
2. It turns out we really impressed Sylvia. Jennifer says she went home and really bragged on our sound to Lyn (no kidding). This says a lot, since Sylvia attends Calvary (with Jennifer) and is accustomed to hearing their very professional 25-piece rock band. Jennifer said she really thought we sounded great too. These reviews are way beyond anything we were really attempting. I was just curious to see if we could start a song, and then finish the song, all at approximately the same point. So I am encouraged to say the least.
3. Jennifer may have located a guitar player for us. He is a 20-year-old from ASU (”Josh”) who presently attends Calvary Church. I spoke with him today by phone, and he is THOROUGHLY excited about the prospect of joining us. Jennifer met him in a restaurant, and it turns out he is the son of Jennifer’s friend “Diane” from Calvary. He told Jennifer he knows both “Word of God Speak” and “Never Been Unloved.” Of course we’ve not heard him play yet. He is sending me a CD of some of his guitar work, however. He also plays bass (to some degree anyway), some piano, and piccolo (I am not making that up). He can also sing harmony, he tells me. Apparently our project is “just what he is looking for.” So we’ll see…
4. Listening to the Strawberry Shortcake tape, I believe we need to go back and listen to the CD again on “Word of God Speak” — we had some sort of a disconnect between the lyrics and the piano score. And on “Never Been Unloved” I did a poor job on the tempo (if I try to wear finger picks on the guitar I tend to push things a bit).
5. I don’t know when anyone might want to schedule another rehearsal. But I have two more songs I would like to try, and they are numbers 3 and 4 (or 4 and 5??) on the CD Brian made. We will definitely need a guitar on these. But let me let you guys pick our next song or two.
So, it wasn’t exactly Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell, but at least we didn’t completely fall flat on our faces. We scheduled another rehearsal and recruited Josh Furr and my niece, Sammie Jo Beasley (soon to be Sammie Jo McCluskey) to play with us. Both were very good guitar players, although neither really wanted to play bass guitar.
As a band, we began to start thinking about basic things like where everyone was going to stand, and what equipment we needed to get, along with some advanced topics like the following points raised by Kevin…
As we begin thinking about some sort of a playlist, it occurs to me that song material could be planned in two categories:
“Performance” numbers, such as the ones we’ve been focusing on (Word of God Speak / My Savior My God, etc.); and
“Group” (much simpler) numbers that are easily done by a congregation in sing-along mode. Calvary Church does the sing-alongs by displaying lyrics across large TV screens (I am trying to compile from the screen the “small credit” info identifying where this music may be found, such as “worshiptogether.com.” — you may already have some ideas on this).
One mistake many bands make is to have every available musician playing every note of every single song exactly the same way as every other song from start to finish. Result: songs sound repetitious, and with a boring “sameness” to the playlist. I would like for you and Jeana to help us begin giving some thought to how we can best discipline ourselves and avoid this pitfall. For example, certainly every song won’t need drums. Similarly, if we have a prominent rhythm guitar featured on a particular number, the “full” piano can yield a bit, or completely; or be used for effects such as strings (or to cover a bridge; or by adding a “flourish” here and there, that kind of thing). By the same token, on a pure piano song such as “Word of God Speak,” we won’t need a rhythm guitar cluttering up the mid-ranges. And vocals can be addressed the same way. For example, in “Word of God Speak,” what if Jeana or Sammie Jo were to step up and do a verse? Or in “Awesome God,” what if all the instruments dropped out in the second verse and several vocalists continued the song acapella* (then the instruments could be brought back in one by one for a “building” effect). There are so many creative things that can be done that make songs fun and interesting (and unique), and yet so many bands fail to ever take advantage of the opportunities. Obviously we have our hands full now just learning chords, tempo, stops and starts, and so forth. But let’s begin making some mental notes about how to best choreograph these songs as we go along.
Meanwhile, we kept fishing for a bass player and started focusing in on our June 25th “gig.” The only problem was that we didn’t realize that God didn’t want us to perform on June 25th - He was going to put us on stage at the right time and date for His purposes. But that’s a topic for the next installment.
This is part three in what will become a series of posts following the creation and evolution of SHINE, a contemporary worship service at Glenwood Presbyterian Church. You can find the table of contents here.
One of the struggles that we faced early on was finding a bass player. We thought we had struck gold early on with a guy named Frank, who Debbie knew. But as we would find out, tragedy was about to strike. As we started fleshing out our ideas, the enthusiasm and trepidation began to grow. One word of caution: these emails contain a lot of references to the Andy Griffith show. If you’re not a big fan, go study up by watching some episodes…
To: Debbie
From: Kevin
April 9, 2006
Hi Debbie. Just letting you know that I sent Frank an e-mail explaining what we have in mind. I’ll let you know if I hear back from him. In the meantime, I have a couple of other bass player possibilities, but these are guys I played in a band with years ago, and I am having some trouble tracking them down.
Debbie, while I have you (and I am copying this to Brian as well), here are a couple of other thoughts that I have had:
As a working name for the band, I would like to call it “Christian Endeavor.” I can envision Christian Endeavor as sort of an extra-curricular “adjunct” to the church, sort of the way that the softball team (our famous Gladiator squad) was an adjunct. It wouldn’t be a replacement for anything Glenwood is presently doing, but just a little something extra that could make an appearance now and again. It could feature different vocalists for different types of songs, whoever might be available, whoever has some free time, that sort of thing. I would like to see Sam involved with a couple of numbers. I can envision the choir (or a “mini-choir”) as a vocal component doing backup harmony. Debbie, I see you as a first-rate tambourine shaker. Or maybe Christine. Who knows?
Apart from performing on an occasional Sunday morning or Sunday night, this band could perform at special events (can we say covered dish?). Maybe take the band on tour and do a performance for another church’s event. Or some warm summer evening, a Glenwood church cook-out, with Christian Endeavor playing out on the front lawn (we’d have to get a city permit, but the whole neighborhood would hear the concert, whether they wanted to or not!).
And dare I say it — how about taking Christian Endeavor to Camp New Hope for a live performance from “Drink Machine Palladium.” Volleyball, frisbee, Mountain Dew, swimming, and live music. Glenwood would be the coolest thing going. And throw into the mix an occasional beach music song, or the Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Jimmy Buffett — this would be a Christian music band, but versatile enough to change gears on occasion for “good clean fun.”
Well, I’m getting carried away, of course. But a band can be a very fun thing, and in my experience a band is great device for attracting people — those who want to hear the band, and those who want to be involved in it. Unfortunately, a band is also very time consuming, and it takes an awful lot of practice just to be awful. I note that when I was last playing in a working band (we were fairly decent — we used to open for the Drifters) I was not married, did not have children, and did not have my own law firm to manage. And I know Brian has even less free time than I do (Brian, how do you do it!?). I am concerned that I may be biting off more than I can chew.
There’s also a money issue (e.g., some additional sound equipment, monitors, board, that type of thing; church rehearsal time requires electricity, heating and AC — the Session would have to approve all of this, of course).
So yes, we’ll start with very tiny steps, see what happens, see whether learning even one simple song is going to be possible, and worthwhile. And forget what I said about the Doobie Brothers, that was silly.
I meant Fleetwood Mac.
From: Brian
To: Kevin
April 10, 2006
Kevin:
Do you know what we’re talking about . . . we’re talking about having a band concert…
Glad to hear that you are still excited about it – I know I am. I love the name, but I was thinking more along the lines of “The Extremely Mediocres” or “Musical Crucifixion.” I’m also glad to see that you have to fight the inclination to get way ahead of yourself with ideas.
I’m the same way. One thing I envision is at some point having a regular worship service featuring our music and aimed at the young people – a contemporary service with a bible study/devotion/evangelistic talk. Certainly not every week, but maybe once a quarter or once a month – something like that. I’d be happy to (teach/preach/tell everyone what I think they should do) in an outlet like that. Sunday or Saturday nights, maybe? Just an idea to add to the list.
The church currently has two monitors (which are pretty beat up, but still work), a limited sound system located very inconveniently in the room beside the choir loft and some extra speaker cords. We have about six or seven good microphones plus the wireless one that was purchased for Brock and Jane’s birthday celebration. In the fellowship hall, we have a basic “thingie you plug microphones into” (at least that’s the technical term for it). We also have two “Singing Machines” in various stages of operation (just like the pros use!).
I have a cheap acoustic guitar and Jeana has a pretty good electronic keyboard which we could use (and the talent to use it to cover a lot of mistakes.) God will have to provide the rest.
As for your idea of a neighborhood cookout, we have spoken about doing a Fall Festival type thing on the church grounds aimed at attracting the community. We will probably not be ready this year, but I envision making this an annual event, so Christian Endeavor (or “Suffering
Sinners”) could certainly be a part of that in the future.
We are definitely biting off more than we can chew so let me leave you with these thoughts. Jesus picked eleven disciples to first spread the gospel – eleven mostly uneducated, untalented, ordinary people, and because of them, we are here today.
“God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that were not – to nullify the things that are, so no one may boast before Him.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29
“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” Matthew 19:26
From: Kevin
To: Brian
April 10, 2006
Brian
The similarities between this project, and a certain band concert in Mayberry, are so frighteningly palpable that I had hoped no one would think to mention it in polite company.
Thanks for the inventory of sound equipment — maybe there’s more stuff than I thought. There is also a collection of spiders underneath the choir loft (oops! did I mention that again!?)
Hey, great idea about the Bible Study for young people, with “Musical Crucifixion” as kick-off music. Believe it or not, Jennifer has expressed a strong interest in being involved in something like this at Glenwood (she
mentioned an occasional Wednesday evening Bible series, rather than Saturday or Sunday — but the same basic idea). Jennifer’s idea was that me and her could do the lessons, and she has even gone so far as to sketch out five
Bible lesson topics already. I was quite surprised when she expressed so strong an interest in this. She wanted to start next month. I told her the band wouldn’t be ready for another twelve years, and that’s assuming Clara can get the mildew out of the uniforms.
I was only half-joking in my e-mail to Debbie about rock or pop numbers (Doobie Brothers, etc.). Some songs could be just for fun, but surprisingly an occasional Christian theme is heard where you least expect it (”Don’t you feel it growing, day by day; People, getting ready for the news…” –from “Listen to the Music”). Put this in the “getting way ahead of ourselves” category, but it would be fun to take a song like that, tweak (or omit) a lyric here or there, and create “subtle” Christian music out of classic rock that would catch an audience totally off guard. When I played in a band called Timberwolf, it was always the greatest fun when the audience could never anticipate what was coming next. [Here's another song idea, capitalizing on the recent success of the Johnny Cash movie. The song "Walk
the Line" could be a Christian song in its own right, without changing a word. Send Rob Kota out in a black suit and a guitar slung across his back, folks would go nuts...]. This suggests that even if this turns out not very good, it could still be quite entertaining!
Hey, seriously, I appreciate the enthusiasm for this crazy idea (Suffering Sinners), and the scripture you provide lends much encouragement!! But as Andy once told Goober, don’t over-expect. And let’s not allow ourselves to
become discouraged if it doesn’t work out. My biggest concern now is not having adequate time to devote to it.
For those of you that like to skip to the end of a book to see how it ends, you will be glad to know that Johnny Cash/Rob Kota did indeed make an appearance at SHINE this year, singing “Walk the Line.” Things were starting to take off!
To: Brian
From: Kevin
April 13, 2006
I have located some very basic drums. They were salvaged from Fat Albert’s junkyard circa 1971, and purchased recently at a yardsale for $6. Thank Rick Smith for this. Hey! Hey! Hey!
Word of our project has leaked out somehow. I don’t know whether it was Laura Lee Hobbs at the dimestore, or Helen (not Crump) at the coffee clatch. But it’s clear that the gold truck is on its way. This is not the crowd I was expecting to get excited, but let’s take what we can get.
To: Kevin
From: Brian
April 13, 2006
As for the excitement generated, the demographic I have always excelled at is 70-80 year old men and women. Jeana was the exception.
And I’m going to have return the drum set I bought from that Sanford guy and his son - I paid $10 for mine. Boy, did I get ripped off! I felt sorry for him because he kept having chest pains while I was there.
To: Brian
From: Kevin
April 17, 2006
Okay, here is our first rehearsal date: Tuesday, May 2nd, 6:30 p.m. See if this works for you, and I will pass it along to Frank.
Assuming we will meet at church, are we now at the point that we should seek some sort of approval from Randy and the Session to go forward? I suppose if we got together somewhere besides the church we could postpone alerting the paparazzi for a while longer, and avoid more rumors about a gold truck coming through Mayberry. Just like the episode, this truck may not have any gold on it either (I understand the real band will go by way of Raleigh). My preference would be to meet at church, however, since this is where the sound equipment is.
As usual, I am getting way ahead of schedule with these meanderings. The goal now is to see if we can put together one song. Let me know what you think of the May 2nd date.
So the plan was hatched. We had our first rehearsal date. We thought we had a bass player. Past that, we weren’t sure what we had. Unfortunately, Frank suffered an injury to his shoulder at work the next week and couldn’t lift his arms. I think it may have required surgery. Kevin then tried to recruit a guy who was supposedly named Landon Crane, although I’m sure that was an alias. That didn’t pan out either - but we marched ahead nonetheless.
To: Kevin
From: Brian
April 23, 2006
Kevin:
Just wanted to let you know that the Session approved our rehearsal date - I just told them that I was getting together some “special music” so as not to alert them about the gold truck.
…But they’ll hear the music … and they’ll know it’s tonight…
In our next installment, Christian Endeavor appears on stage for the first time at rehearsal, and we add a few new members to the group. A couple more bass prospects die mysteriously. Stay tuned!
This is part two in what will become a series of posts following the creation and evolution of SHINE, a contemporary worship service at Glenwood Presbyterian Church. You can find the table of contents here.
(To be read in overly dramatic fashion:) When we last left our friends, Kevin had admitted to having at least one idea….A phone call was made, and was followed by this email to Debbie….
To: Debbie
From: Kevin
March 8, 2006
Thanks Debbie. I enjoyed our talk. From a different angle, it occurs to me that what Glenwood might do to “improve” (revitalize) is really no different than what an NFL team might do to improve or revitalize. If the Jets aren’t playing up to snuff, the Jets look to other franchises that are very successful, with the idea of emulating what works for the successful club (if that’s the “west coast offense,” then the Jets consider giving that offense a try, and so on).
And so it is with churches, one imagines.
My thinking with the music is that one feature many highly successful churches seem to have these days is music (and musical instrumentation) beyond a traditional organist. Is this alone the key to their success? Certainly not, and yet “modern Christian music” sure seems to play a vital role in filling the pews and attracting a membership (while beloved “hymns of old” are not completely set aside either, thankfully).
I think this is something that could be attempted very slowly and incrementally, allowing Glenwood to continue to cater principally to its present older membership, but paving the way for the future at the same time (noting that our “older” congregation is not going to be there forever, except of course that WE are going to be the older membership very shortly!). Again, I don’t envision rock’n'roll and bouncing off the walls by any means, but if something like this were to take root and show some promise (and if I could have an opportunity to be involved somehow), you would probably have to beat me with a stick to keep me away. Especially if I could have a hand in some percussion somewhere along the way.
In my heart I cannot help but be intrigued about the possibility of getting involved in a musical project such as this at Glenwood. I’ve thought about this many times. In fact, I have a couple of ideas about how something such as this might be attempted on an experimental basis, maybe “once a quarter” (or maybe even on an occasional Wednesday evening?). It would involve borrowing a couple of musicians to get started.
Is this God giving me a nudge now? I don’t know. But because this idea generates excitement in my heart, and involves Glenwood, I felt “nudged” to mention this to you after your remarks on Sunday. Take that for what’s it worth.
And I’d like to see Sam involved in something like this as well!
Let’s keep praying!
I hope to talk to you or see you soon.
Love,
Kevin (& Jennifer & Sarah)
So the idea was out there. Could we incorporate contemporary Christian music into the worship of Glenwood Presbyterian Church? What form would it take? And who made that long-distance call to Denver on my phone? These questions and more were still looming.
But soon, the ideas started to take on a more specific shape. On Sunday, March 19, Brian sang “Word of God Speak” by MercyMe accompanied by Jeana on the piano to begin the morning worship service. That helped crystallize a plan in Kevin’s mind…
To: Debbie
From: Kevin
March 19, 2006
It was good seeing you this morning. I thought the service today was great. Debbie, that song Brian and Jeana opened with, absolutely fantastic. Maybe they’ve sung that before? If anyone in your family has them performing that on tape, I’ll pay to get a copy. Tell me where to send the money.
At the risk of getting carried away, in many churches a song like that would have the congregation on its feet. Glenwood is a bit stoic, as we know, and it’s an older crowd so that’s okay (just barely could the congregation eek out a smattering of light applause, seeming very self-conscious in doing that much — I hope my loud clapping didn’t cause any heart palpitations). But Brian and Jeana’s performance deserved a standing-O. I glanced back at you and thought you were a bit teary-eyed. Maybe I imagined that last part, but I do believe there is a powerful emotion in that genre of Christian music that younger people (and maybe even us) really identify with, and feel drawn to. If anyone were to ask me, I would say that music, under Brian’s direction, is the future of Glenwood. Five years from now, I see a vibrant church, full of the Holy Spirit, where four or five responsive readings have been eliminated to make room for three more songs like this one; where a younger congregation is beginning to flourish; where you better arrive early if you hope to find a place not to sit, but to stand.
Okay, I’m getting carried away after all. But I was touched when you gave me a hug this morning and told me you “missed our little talks” from a couple of weeks ago (of course I returned your hug on Becky’s recommendation; and I’m beginning to feel a bit faint at that). Seriously, I was so moved by Brian and Jeana’s performance this morning that I had to tell you that it filled me with a vision of great things to come!
Talk to you later,
Kevin
And this one….
To: Brian
From: Kevin
March 20, 2006
Listen, here is what I would like to propose that we do (after much talking about it): Purely as an experiment, let’s plan to put some instrumentation to “Word of God Speak” and just see how it goes. We’ll make it very simple — me, you, Jeana, and a bass player to be named later. It’s a very straight-forward song, and the additional instrumentation should be quite easy to add. I recall you mentioned to Debbie that you didn’t have much experience with “band stuff,” so I will look after these details, if you will of course handle all vocal direction.
For planning purposes, let’s pick a date a few months from now (say, the Sunday evening service June 25th) and debut the song (and our band) during the refreshments. The “audience” will understand that we are just beginning, and only throw the smaller doughnut pieces.
Brian, with your approval to move foward on this, I will see if I can locate a “session” bass player who would be interested in helping us. I will also need to arrange to get (borrow) a very basic drum rig for some light percussion. Hopefully we can have these details in place by May, and thereupon schedule a couple of rehearsals.
And then we’ll just see how it goes. We can make this a one-time thing, or consider taking it to the next level if it seems worthwhile. If we get really ambitious, maybe we could even open a Sunday morning service with our “Christian band” by around Rally Day — and have the choir blend background vocals into the mix? Lots of possibilities with this. But we’ll move very slowly and see how things develop.
Let me know what you think. As far as locating a bass player, I happen to know the Grateful Dead recently broke up, and some of those guys are still looking for work.
-Kevin
So, we now had a tentative date for our first “gig.” There would be some setbacks (the lines about a bass player in that last email are foreshadowing) but there would also be some things that went just right.
In our next installment, we begin the search for a bass player and start to prepare for the band’s very first practice!
This is part one in what will become a series of posts following the creation and evolution of SHINE, a contemporary worship service at Glenwood Presbyterian Church. You can find the table of contents here.
It’s ironic, I guess, that the path to a new contemporary worship service at Glenwood started with a recent technological advancement - a simple email. You could also say it started with some other unusual things, that looking back, are clearly the handiwork of God.
The events that were set in motion by the email in question didn’t have anything to do with a contemporary worship service. Who knew but God that it would end up there? And the email was sent only as a welcome and an invitation from one member to another, but it turned into so much more, just as the simplest spark can produce a roaring inferno.
Glenwood is a small church with a membership of around 85 and an average Sunday morning attendance of around 50. Much of that membership is getting older and there were concerns that without an increase in the number of young families, the church would be in serious trouble in the not-so-distant future.
Kevin, a member of our church, had lately been attending other churches with his spouse and daughter due to a move to King, NC. He came to Glenwood on March 5, 2006, to worship because he mistakenly thought he was supposed to serve as an usher that morning. But Debbie, another member, spoke to him that morning and followed up with the following email. This email, like others that I will post here, has been heavily edited in order to focus on the important parts and have been used with permission from the authors.
From: Debbie
To: Kevin
March 7, 2006
Hi Kevin,
It was so good to see you at church Sunday! It is ironic that you were there because you thought that you had to usher. There seems to be two different lists floating around since it said in the newsletter that Brian is supposed to be responsible for locking the church this month and it is actually my turn on another list that i saw. Anyway, I am thinking that maybe God brought you there Sunday because I had been thinking about you and your family and writing you an email and i just never stopped to take the time.
Glenwood needs you and Jennifer and Sarah!! Our church membership has really dwindled down and it seems like the few of us that are left are working all of the time trying to help it survive.
Glenwood Church means so much to our parents and family members that grew up in the church and also to our forefathers that sacrificed in order to build the church and all the history that it contains. As my mom says, “Everything important that has ever happened to me, happened at Glenwood Pres Church.
I am sure you have noticed…our church has very few men….and some of the most active, older ones are starting to step back….which is only understandable….they have worked hard and deserve to be able to turn the reins over to someone else. You would be such a valuable asset to Glenwood….you have your dad’s gift of leadership and public speaking. We need you!
With love in Christ,
Debbie
This was followed by a reply from Kevin:
From: Kevin
To: Debbie
March 7, 2006
Hi Debbie. Thank you for this very thoughtful message. I want you to know that I pray regularly for Glenwood and that I would love to see a resurgence and revival at this church that is so very special to all of us.
For so small a church, Glenwood accomplishes a great deal more than most people realize, I suspect. Sometimes I feel like Glenwood is akin to a “mom & pop” store trying to survive in the age of Wal*Mart (i.e.. “competition” from so many larger churches with “mega” congregations, mega programs, mega musical productions, etc.). But small or not, I love Glenwood. I love to attend there.
One thing Glenwood offers Sarah, that Calvary cannot, is the chance to be “one of few,” such as in a stage program (such as Bible School, singing on the stage during our Christmas get-together, and maybe this month’s talent show for Habitat, I hope). This is one time when being small has an advantage. Calvary has simply too many children for any one four-year-old to feel unique, or to be able to “take the stage” and perform for the whole church. Sarah LOVED her chance to perform (sing a Christmas song) back in December — and at Glenwood she can do things such as that, where at Calvary she is one of seemingly hundreds of children.
I’m like you and everyone else — I love that church with all my heart. There will never be another Glenwood.
Hey, do you have a phone number where I can call you this afternoon? I would like to talk with you.
Debbie, thanks again for your remarks Sunday, and for this e-mail. I look forward to discussing this with you some more. I have at least one idea…
Kevin
Kevin made that phone call, and shared his one idea with Debbie. And the spark had turned into a flame….
Tomorrow, we’ll hear what Kevin’s idea was and how the fire grew…
