What About Bob

Hallelujah!

It's Family Friday. Here's the latest news from the Chambless' family.
Eli's Pre-School class was featured at the latest Chapel. He's got staccato singing down.

Andy Mckee - Rylynn - Acoustic Guitar

Simply Amazing stuff...

Glory Revealed

One of the cool aspects of attending the recreate conference is getting pre-releases of great projects. 
Glory Revealed is one of those gifts that I've been listening to for several months.  The work is headed up by Third Day's Mac Powell (who led us in worship one morning during the conference) and produced author/preacher David Nasser. 

The work has a very acoustic feel with guitar, mandolin, banjo (at times), Dobro, Fiddle, and a little harmonica  (Fortunately No Cow Bells ).  The sound is much like James Taylor with a Nashville slant.  But the great thing about Glory Revealed are the lyrics - they are all scripture straight out of God's Word.

The Reunion Records release of Glory Revealed plays like a "Who’s Who" of Christian music. The multi-artist worship album features artist-songwriters such as Casting Crowns’ Mark Hall, David Crowder, Brian Littrell, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith and Shane & Shane. Nasser employed his friend and musician extraordinaire Mac Powell from Third Day to serve as the proverbial casting agent and record producer.

“We want people to not only get to know the scriptures better through this, but to get to know Jesus through His own words,” Powell explains. He offers this reason: “I had made a rough mix of the songs to listen to in my car. I didn’t know that my family had been listening to it while driving, and one day I got in the car with them. They turned the CD on, and my little girl, who is seven, started singing along to Zephaniah 3:17:

The Lord Your God is with you
He’s mighty to save
He will take great delight in you
He will quiet you with his love
He will rejoice over you with His singing

“I just started crying. It’s so powerful that even little children can hear these songs and memorize them,” Powell recalls. “They are planting great seeds of scripture in their hearts.”

The Glory Revealed concert is coming.  Listeners will have the opportunity to experience the music of Glory Revealed, as well as Nasser’s message, this spring on a unique tour in March and April. Confirmed artists include Powell, Littrell, Hyper Static Union’s Shawn Lewis, Shane & Shane, Trevor Morgan, Candi Pearson-Shelton and Starfield’s Tim Neufeld. The tour will feature an intimate, living room style set up where all the artists will be on the stage leading worship simultaneously.

For tour dates, visit gloryrevealed.com .   To read CCM's review click HERE.

Worship: Raising the Bar?

This last year I've challenged my team to "Raise the Bar" of worship arts excellence here and we've made some inroads.  I'm sure we are all working towards excellence, that's a given.  The mindset is easy, but the implementation can be tricky.

The term "Raising the Bar" evokes a challenge for some and fear to others.  If you are a Worship Leader (includes all involved in a worship service), "Raising the Bar" may make you question your own abilities.  "What does this "Raising the Bar" process mean to me?"  And therein lies the problem.  WHY do you want to "Raise the Bar?"  Is it for God or self? 

How do you implement excellence in worship for God's Sake alone?  How do you work past all the emotions and strive to provide an acceptable and worthy sacrifice?  What is acceptable to God?  Why is creative church an oxymoron?  How do you make the hard decisions of selecting the right leaders of worship and not "upset the apple cart."  And how do you balance excellence with grace, ministry and heart?  What one thing has made the biggest impact on improving your craft of worship? 

These are not rhetorical questions - I would like to hear from you via post or email.  Raising the Bar in the area of worship arts will be a series of posts and I need your input.  Once collected, a collaboration of ideas can be posted and shared. 

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. - Proverbs 27:7

Unless you try to do something beyond what you have
already mastered, you will never grow. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Post about Post-Its

When Post-its came out, they really rocked my world.  I used tons of Post-its until I realized that I had too many Post-its to manage!  So now I use my Franklin Planner to make notes.  It's a huge thing, but it helps me manage multiple tasks and doesn't litter up my computer monitor and the wall space around it.  I still use Post-its from time to time... that is until the Days of Elijah.

My son loves to draw.  He could use a ream of paper in one afternoon.  His eyes lit up when he first  discovered Post-its.  He can use a full stack of Post-its in 30 minutes.  He comes to my office sometimes and if I turn my back, he turns my office into a museum of art with Post It notes. 

The other day, he was only in here for 3 minutes so the size of the project was small but he left me a little keepsake.   When I discovered the first one, my heart melted... only to find the second one.  Seems he has more affection for his Hermie pal. Skeeter.  Why not.  Skeeter is his favorite cartoon character and also the state bird of Tennessee. 

Thanks, Post its.  You keep my life interesting.

Worship Set March 25th

This is what is planned for worship this Sunday at Broadmoor. 
We are leaning more blended this Sunday.
Next week we will lean the other way. 

Hallelujah, (Your Love is Amazing) - Brenton Brown & Brian Doerksen
Shout to the Lord - Hillsong
You Are God Alone - Billy Foote
At The Cross Medley - G3/Robert Elkins arrangement
What a Friend We Have in Jesus - Hymns for Praise and Worship

Chris Sligh vs Bob Jones

 Chris Sligh, the "American Idol" contestant who has won fans thanks to his curly mop of hair and soulful voice, has a few people concerned with his departure from strictly Christian music.

But for most others in this city of 56,000 about 100 miles southwest of Charlotte, N.C., Sligh has become a hometown hero.

Jonathan Pait, a spokesman for fundamentalist Bob Jones University where Sligh attended for several years, said: "We really are somewhat disappointed with the direction he has gone musically."

He nonetheless tunes in each week to monitor Sligh's progress.  People say that Sligh, a 28-year-old son of missionaries, may be singing rock 'n' roll on television, but he's always clear about the faith that motivates his music.

"He's not going to back away from the fact that he's a Christian," said Chris Surratt, pastor of Seacoast Church, where Sligh has been music leader for more than two years. "He's going to let that shine through in what he does."  Hundreds of people gather each week to hear Sligh's music at Seacoast, where his electric guitar and vocals have become an integral part of services, Surratt said.

The Blessing of the iPod

The New Year's Day service at St. Mark's Catholic church used to draw a dozen people. Now it is the most popular service of the year, drawing hundreds of young people. The reason: Father Bolgren has started blessing the iPods.
    "It's a way of getting their hearts and minds," he says. "Kids take it very seriously."
    On the first day of 2007, several hundred teenagers stand in line to have Bolgren bless their iPods with a prayer and a daub of oil. All morning, Nanos, video iPods, Minis and more parade before him.
    "I really liked the black Nano," he says later in the rectory, resting between services. Asked if the service is simply a gimmick, he says no. "Priests bless cars and pets, so this is not far afield," he says.
    Several churches nationwide are using iPod-related rituals to get kids' attention. One church in Montclair, Calif., hosts regular playlist burnings, where kids set fire to a list of songs they promise to delete from their iPods.
    "It gets quite emotional," says youth pastor Ronny DeLane who founded the "God on the 'Pod" services at Evangelical Free church. "The kids lay their iPods on the altar and dedicate them to God. Then they set fire to a CD or list of songs in a metal bowl and promise to delete them from iTunes when they get home. There's a lot of crying."

Is an iPod tithe next?  Read the rest HERE.

American Idol Thoughts

Finally home on a Tuesday night and had a chance to check out the vocalist.
Melinda Doolittle is smokin' everyone else.  Here are my rankings from tonight's show.

Haley Scarnato -6.5
Chris Richardson -7
Stephanie Edwards – 6
Blake Lewis – 5
Lakisha Jones – 7.5
Phil Stacey – 6.5
Jordin Sparks – 7.5
Sanjaya Malakar – 5
Gina Glocksen – 7.5
Chris Sligh – 8
Melinda Doolittle - 9.5
Tennessee native Doolittle is still on top.  She will win this year's contest.

Louisiana Capitol History

The epic story of Louisiana Governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long remains to be in the common knowledge of most Louisianians.  If you're not from Louisiana, Huey P. was a larger-than-life politician who gained national attention as Louisiana's "Kingfish" during the Great Depression era.  He was quite a character...very charismatic rallying the poor to support his fight against big corporations like Standard Oil; but also ultra political and bordered on a socialistic society with his Share Our Wealth plan.  Check out this link HERE to read the story.  That era of Louisiana can accredit much good to his leadership...paved road, new bridges, free text books to students, and a new capitol in Baton Rouge.  
When visiting the capitol, you can actually walk the path were Long was assassinated and view the bullet holes in the wall and column.  I've seen this so many times.  I must see it when I visit.

They've got a display that is actually hiding additional holes in the wall.  Long was assassinated by Carl Weiss, a medical doctor.  Theories say that it wasn't the bullet from Weiss but from stray bullets fired by Long's bodyguards.  Long died a few days after the shooting.

There are many books and movies based from this real-life story.  The most recent was "All The Kings Men" starring Sean Penn.  This movie was loosely based on Huey.  That movie was filmed in Louisiana while we lived there.  Brandi was actually an extra in that movie.  She also has spent much time at the capitol as a lobbyist.  So you could say that Louisiana's capitol will always be a place of importance to our family and all of our home state.