Sunday night was a night I’ve dreamed about for a long time – Bluegrass Worship!
I’ve loved bluegrass for a long time, and led worship for a long time, but I’ve never been able to combine the two together until last night. I couldn’t have been happier with the results. It was tons of fun to worship through a different style.
It wouldn’t have happened without some amazing musicians that came to help us out.
A special thank you goes out to Rhys Hester (acoustic), Dan Gibbs (mandolin), Blake Rochester (upright bass), and Stephen Gregg (banjo). Thanks so much guys. You did awesome. I’m envious of the level of talent that each of you have. Also a special thanks to Lee Cunningham and Mikey McFadden for taking all of those condenser microphones and making us sound so nice.
Here were the songs that we did:
Cannons – Phil Wickham
Wonderful Maker – Chris Tomlin
From The Inside Out – Hillsong
I Stand Amazed – the standard hymn version
I Saw The Light – good old fashioned bluegrass picking with blazing mandolin, banjo, and guitar solos
Who knows when I’ll be able to make it up to Pisgah again? I have no idea, but I know it won’t be soon. I wish I could go at least once a month. I think that would be ideal. This picture inspired me today, so I wanted to share it. It’s a picture taken on the Art Loeb trail. You can recognize Sam’s Knob in the background if you are familiar with the area. The picture was taken from this website.
Can’t wait to go soon, and often during the spring, summer, and fall.
Glory To God – Fee
Running Away - Hoobastank
Come Thou Fount
Lift High – Fee
To Know Your Name – Hillsong
Don’t miss next week at the Gathering. It will be a lot different than what you’re used to, but it should be awesome. (At least we hope so)
Filed under: Sunday Night Music
Here is the selection of music from Sunday Night.
Kingdom Come - Hillsong
Stronger – Hillsong
How He Loves - John Mark McMillian
Grace Will Be My Song – Fee
I saw Ryan Adam about 2 or 3 years ago at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. It was awful. I love Ryan Adams and listen to him all the time – but that show was terrible. Tonight was completley different. The show couldn’t have been any better. Every song was amazing. He played in Charleston again at the same place the night before, and most of the reviews said it wasn’t very good. He quit early with no encore, and seemed to be having a lot of issues. (Sorry Rita, did you and Kyle go??) So thankfully tonight, he was on the money. If you are wondering, here is the set list.
I really have no other words to describe the awesomness of this show!
Beautiful Sorta
Born Into a Light
Cold Roses
Come Pick Me Up
Everybody Knows
Wonderwall
Fix it
When the Stars go Blue
Shakedown on 9th Street
A Kiss before I go
Goodnight Rose
Monsters
Let it Ride
Two
Rescue Blues
Oh my God, whatever, etc
Evergreen
Magick
Encore
Oh my sweet Carolina
Easy Plateau
Filed under: Ramblings
If I ever disappear one day, you can probably find me somewhere in Alaska. I’ve never been. Ashley has – for free. I’m jealous. My Grandad has been twice…he drove a motorcycle by himself both times from South Carolina all the way to Alaska camping the whole way. Both times he was over 50, and maybe even one time after 60…but i’m not exactly sure.
If I do disappear, don’t worry, I won’t be as crazy as Christopher McCandless, but you should read this book or watch the movie “Into The Wild” if you never have. I just may start it again tomorrow.
UPDATE: Don’t worry, I won’t ever just disappear, and if I did, I’d take Ashley with me:)
Filed under: Sunday Night Music | Tags: Sunday Night Music, the tipping family
This week, all of the college students from Midtown are in Washington DC for Spring Break. All of our musicians happened to be in DC as well with all of our sound equipment, so Sunday night was a little bit different.
We had a good old fashioned acoustic set. I got to play with one of my best friends as well. Christian laid down some beautiful melodies on the electric, and I played acoustic. It was a lot of fun to do something a little bit different, and try to make a power amp that was built in 1976 succesfully power to Mackie spears and 2 monitors made in 1948. Believe it or not, it worked. — Thanks Lee!
Here were the songs we did.
Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman
Everlasting God - Tomlin
Hosanna – Hillsong
You Never Let Go - Redman
Most of you who read here already know about the Tipping family. Allen and Courtney are pregnant with 6 babies right now. They need your prayers right now. Go read their story, volunteer to help, and continue to pray for them.
Courtney went into pre-term labor over the weekend and she is only at 20 weeks. Please go visit www.thetippingfamily.com for more about their story and how you can help. But if you do nothing else, please at least pray for the babies, the doctors, and Allen and Courtney.
Filed under: Christianity, Personal Finance | Tags: balaam, money, numbers 22
Ashley and I have been reading through the Bible chronologicallythis year. I’ve been excited to go through the Bible year by year and see how all of the stories come together, especially in the old testament. I will say that it gets to be difficult when you spend a whole month or two just in Leviticus and numbers and nothing else! My thoughts during most of Leviticus focused on being thankful that Jesus erased the Old Covenant. All of the verses about being clean and unclean are a thing of that past, and we can thank God for that, because that is some confusing stuff.
Today I read the story of Balaam- you know, the story where his donkey talks to him? Israel is traveling through Moab, and the leaders of Moab are fearful of the Israelites. They go to Balaam, and after presenting a large sum of money to him, they ask him to curse the Israelites so that the Moabites can defeat them. After seeking God’s guidance, God tells Balaam, “Do not go with them. You are not to curse these people, for they have been blessed“.
Check out what Balaam says in Numbers 22:18:
Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God.
I love what that verse says. There was no amount of money that could persuade Balaam to go against God’s commands. Too often, people (including myself) make decisions that revolve around money.
I want to constantly allow God to lead my life instead of letting money make decisions for me. Easier said than done, but I’m learning.
Filed under: Sunday Night Music | Tags: chris tomlin, glory to god, matt redman, starfield, steve fee
Sunday night was very interesting at Midtown. We had a “State of the Church” message. It basically told the story of Midtown and how the church came to exist, and how the church is doing now. I think it was a timely message that reminded people of the reason that Midtown exists, and to encourage us to constantly give all of the glory to God.
Here were the songs we used:
God of This City – Chris Tomlin
Shine – Matt Redman
Glory To God - Steve Fee
I Will Go - Starfield
Glory To God is a new Steve Fee song that hasn’t been released yet, so don’t go trying to look for it on i-Tunes. There are some good videos on youTube though so check it out there.
