Disqus - Latest Comments for Chris from Canada

Re: Smiling and Pastors

Chris from Canada — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:07:04 -0000

Ugh. Really. We're criticizing a guy who is pouring out his life for ministry because he's hoping to get a bit of a breather during ONE of the services on Sunday morning? Stuff like this makes this whole blog thing pointless.

Re: Obama Leaves His Church (and 10 things to know about leaving yours)

Chris from Canada — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:07:42 -0000

"Truth be told, when I hear talk about the “last church” I know it is only a matter of time before we fit the profile."

That is bang on. I am always amazed at the things people are willing to say when they first come to our church if they are coming from a negative experience. And we can also count on those people bringing issues to us in about 18-24 months when the honeymoon period has lapsed.

Re: “Healer”, I think I’ll Say Something

Chris from Canada — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:50:52 -0000

What a crazy story. What a crazy couple of days. I have heard so many stories through my blog of people who are very, very close to Mike and are blown away by what is happening.

Chris from Canada's last blog post...Amazing video editing stuff

Re: Hockey? or Walmart?

Chris from Canada — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:05:09 -0000

According to Palin hockey moms wear lipstick. I guess the Walmart lipstick just isn't as nice? :)

Chris from Canada's last blog post...Q&A w/ worship pastors

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Worship Confessional 24

Chris from Canada — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:05:13 -0000

This might sound trite - but it is what it is..

On Sunday, our people were worshipping.. It was awesome..

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Chris from Canada — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:11:56 -0000

When we do the song I have to really discipline the bass and drum players to fall RIGHT in the groove on the first - if the tempo starts to run away the pre-chorus/chorus sections just sound ridiculous.

We'll usually start with a very simple up-down-up-down strum pattern on guitars and a straight four on the kick to get things moving. We build really nicely on the pre-chorus and just launch into the chorus section.

We've been doing the song for a few months here and every time we do it the congregations just belts it out.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Game Over Part 2

Chris from Canada — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:12:48 -0000

Best. Comments. Ever.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Time to Link Love

Chris from Canada — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:51:19 -0000

You're linked at www.chrisfromcanada.com

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Church…?

Chris from Canada — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 23:09:14 -0000

Orangeville Baptist Church in Orangeville, Ontario - northwest of Toronto.
Part of the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Authenticity

Chris from Canada — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:51:25 -0000

You know what's making me laugh when I look at that picture? Imagining what sound is coming out of the mouth of the guy in the top left corner - the one with the peppermint Lifesaver.

I'm guessing it's something like this - "AAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!"

At least he'll have nice, fresh breath.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » It’s Official

Chris from Canada — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:01:05 -0000

Congratulations - you guys must be pretty excited!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Why I Do What I Do

Chris from Canada — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:27:16 -0000

Awesome. God is so good!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Good Morning

Chris from Canada — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:00:38 -0000

The one on the right is my favourite.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Dream Job

Chris from Canada — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:40:08 -0000

Like you, I'm living the dream.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Technology Equals Apology

Chris from Canada — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:44:39 -0000

Sweet - great thoughts on the communication stuff!

Great work on the video by those guys. Nice!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Buckhead Church Opener - Ladies and Gentlemen

Chris from Canada — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:41:04 -0000

Carlos - this video is begging for a worship confessional!! We need some context! :)

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Solve This Riddle

Chris from Canada — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:57:58 -0000

Unconscious!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Snip Snap - The Review

Chris from Canada — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:18:36 -0000

Oh dude - if ever there was a video with equal amounts of cringing and laughing, this was it!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Guide Me Ragamuffins

Chris from Canada — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:22:37 -0000

Someone already said it - but if the cash was mine it would be tickets and eats for me and buddies to see "I Am Legend".

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » To See The Future

Chris from Canada — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:58:26 -0000

Nice - good song, good production. Will definitely buy this.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Buckhead Church Christmas Opener

Chris from Canada — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:14:10 -0000

Sweet - very classy.

Nice work Jamie!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Sorry We’re Closed

Chris from Canada — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:04:26 -0000

This year and last we did one service instead of two on the last Sunday of the year.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Antlers Are Growing From My Brown Dome

Chris from Canada — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:37:49 -0000

In September I posted about my 2-year old dancing to Johnny Cash - http://www.chrisfromcanada.com/?p=93

A month later a package arrives in the mail from my friend Mark - http://www.chrisfromcanada.com/?p=152

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Looks Like I Might Not Have To Move To Canada

Chris from Canada — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:55:01 -0000

We'll take ya!

Our politicians are way more fun up here, anyways.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Early Morning Shots - Buckhead Church

Chris from Canada — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:04:25 -0000

Zing!

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » A Waste Of Time

Chris from Canada — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:39:55 -0000

I'm with Trevor - when I see the commercial I think of this video.

It's hard to really get a sense of why you guys used the video without knowing the context of the rest of the service but I trust that you guys know what you are doing and that it set up the rest of the morning really well.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » There’s Something In The Air - MacWorld

Chris from Canada — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:20:35 -0000

I predict jeans and a black turtleneck.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Wrecked - Blogging For Change

Chris from Canada — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:37:06 -0000

Awesome - Uganda is very close to my heart. We sponsor two kids there and are very involved with a ministry near Kampala. I can't wait to see what comes of this.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » You Ask…I’ll Answer

Chris from Canada — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:48:30 -0000

I'm interested in the basement story too and I want to make sure you don't disqualify Jake on a technicality.

So what's the story with the basement?

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Karaoke Gold

Chris from Canada — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:21:15 -0000

I love the woman in red getting all teary. Awesome.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Stall Etiquette

Chris from Canada — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:39:05 -0000

Are you sure it was a man in there? Maybe you made "that mistake" again??

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » “The Editors of the NIV Pee Sitting Down”

Chris from Canada — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:30:20 -0000

Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona.

http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/

More AWESOME videos on their Youtube channel.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Don’t Try And Change The World…

Chris from Canada — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:48:54 -0000

If you are responding with the "Let's follow Jesus and not the latest buzz trend word flashy thing" try to remember that this statement was part of a 40-ish minute talk that Jon gave a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure that it's one of his familiar talks and has said the same thing to groups of leaders all over the place.

Don't get caught up in just thinking that this is Mr. Tyson's mantra - that he is asking Christians and artists who are Christians to abandon the teachings and understandings of Jesus as it relates to engaging and interacting with the world around them.

The tension is here - for centuries society looked to the church for the finest in art, music, education and "culture" (whatever that means, says Shaun) but we've allowed every philosophy EXCEPT for that which Christ preached to be the filter through which society understands itself.

Jon's comment was more of a challenge to Christians and artists who are Christians to reclaim their role as creators - or co-creators or even re-creators - of culture. His intent is to inspire those of us who are inspired by the Divine to reflect that divinity through art - not to simply produce art as a reflection of what culture is already (mass-) producing.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » The Myth Of The Creative Leadership Lid

Chris from Canada — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:17:09 -0000

Fantastic. Thanks man.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » St. Arbucks Cup Speaketh Truth

Chris from Canada — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:43:34 -0000

Nice - we both posted about jazz today. Weird.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Just A Pic

Chris from Canada — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:07:19 -0000

I call this one "The Many Faces of Crazy"

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Throwin’ Rocks At Yo BooDaddy - The Mini Series Finale

Chris from Canada — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:04:26 -0000

Yeah songs about dancing and slow motion video is a surefire way to get dads of daughters crying.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » How He Loves Us

Chris from Canada — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:11:11 -0000

I've seen it a few times - I don't know, I just don't get it. I'm not discounting that the song is powerful or that God can use it for great things but I've seen lots of "wow!" reactions over the past month or so to this song and I'm just not there.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Let’s Keep Link Loving

Chris from Canada — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:18:57 -0000

You're linked at my site - not sure if I'm in your rotation or not.

www.chrisfromcanada.com

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » How Can I Pray For You?

Chris from Canada — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:44:18 -0000

I know that regular prayers aren't as powerful as those from Carlos :)

... but as I was reading the comments I was praying too for some of the things mentioned here. Blessings on you guys.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Worship Confessional 43

Chris from Canada — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:21:15 -0000

I love that there's like a momentary shot of Matt & Jefferson during Salvation Is Here. Awesome.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Caption Please

Chris from Canada — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:21:15 -0000

Left elbow meets crotch in 3.. 2.. 1..

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Reading The Shack While In My Hammock

Chris from Canada — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:29:17 -0000

Driscoll says don't read it so you don't read it? That sounds logical.

Anyways..

It's no Pulitzer Prize-winning work of fiction but once you hear Paul's story you will see everything in that book in a new light.

He was up here a couple of weeks ago and he is clearly in awe at what is happening with this book that he wrote for his kids. He doesn't get it. He doesn't understand. They've spent $300 on marketing and sold almost 500,000 copies - you're lying if you say you're not thinking that you'd like to try and figure out how to get that kind of marketing buzz happening!!

I'm sure you know but Paul will be at Catalyst so the buzz on this thing will continue for a while.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Top 5 Ragamuffin Essentials

Chris from Canada — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:16:25 -0000

Losiah's adoption
Moving to Buckhead
LA Ink
Compassion bloggers
Ask/answer questions

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Caption’S Please

Chris from Canada — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:20:55 -0000

"So what do you do Carlos?"
"I'm a worship leader!"
"Yeah right - where's your cardigan??"
"Don't make jokes about my cardigan, Mark. I'm serious."

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » Caption Please…

Chris from Canada — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:15:53 -0000

He-Man - nice!

Actually this is proof that humans lived during the time of the dinosaurs.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » I Have Been Littered With Emails On HEALER So…

Chris from Canada — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:38:35 -0000

My question is when did Hillsong know and how long did it take them to stop using the story to promote the album?

So yeah, that is messed up. The guy needs major healing.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » I Have Been Littered With Emails On HEALER So…

Chris from Canada — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:05:02 -0000

I posted this on someone else's blog but is grace the same thing as giving the guy a free pass??

Here's my thoughts - http://www.chrisfromcanada.com/?p=710

We have some serious soul-searching to do, I think.

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » I Have Been Littered With Emails On HEALER So…

Chris from Canada — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:00:17 -0000

Questions that have come up from people as I've talked to them about this -

Was this guy planning a miraculous healing as a next step?

Will God use this song in an authentic healing experience for Mike now?

Hmmm..

Re: Ragamuffin Soul » The Renewed Mind Is The Key To Christ In Me

Chris from Canada — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:32:54 -0000

If there isn't production like this at Buckhead by the end of '09 you should be fired.

Re: Karl’s Rant

Chris from Canada — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:18:47 -0000

It would be really great to have a running blog commentary on how this plays out. I am definitely interested in hearing more about this!

We currently run 6-8 different in-ear mixes on a Sunday morning for between 7 and 10 different musicians, depending on the team. This usually ends up in vocalists sharing a mix, drummer/bassist sharing a mix, etc. This fall we are moving 4 of those mixes to Aviom's so that our rhythm players - drums, bass, piano, guitar - will have their own dedicated mixes and full control over them.

The sound/noise issue is something that we're trying to figure out as we go into stage re-modeling mode and I'm interested to see how you guys figure all this stuff out!

Re: Can I be real? (Worship Confessional 13)

Chris from Canada — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:17:10 -0000

Yeah.. Wow.

I would expect (and hope!) that someone in leadership at our church would derail a conversation like that should it ever happen when I'm away.

Re: Movie Wrap Up

Chris from Canada — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:21:08 -0000

300 is on the list this weekend when the wife goes away!

Watched "Children of Men" this week - best movie I've seen this year.

Re: Notes from Staff Meeting

Chris from Canada — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:27:48 -0000

I had the chance to do a 1/2 day workshop with Nancy at the Willow Arts conference on this topic and I knew going in (and was reminded when it was over) that #2 is FOR SURE the big one for me.

I'm learning every day how important it is to bring issues to the forefront with people who work above, alongside and below me and it is not a natural thing for me to do at all.

Re: What I Spent My Evening Doing

Chris from Canada — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:42:21 -0000

Oh man - I hope you took a "before" picture to remember how to put it all back together! :)

Re: The Coolest Thing I’ve Seen All Day

Chris from Canada — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:51:04 -0000

We do that with our worship team on Sunday morning before the service starts! :)

Re: Introducing the Blank Podcast

Chris from Canada — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:25:51 -0000

Right on - great stuff, Travis!!

Alex - keep 'em coming!

Re: Boys vs. Girls: Taboo

Chris from Canada — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:59:47 -0000

Hey man - the comments don't seem to be connected to the posts. I'm trying to leave a comment on your last worship confessional but instead it takes me to the comment page for this post!

Re: Google Reader Trends

Chris from Canada — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:56:05 -0000

You are indeed in my top 10 - partly because you just blog so much :) I read everything (at least quickly) that comes through my reader.

You are #4 - behind hockey, freakonomics and the ragamuffin.

Re: Physical Appearance & Hiring

Chris from Canada — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 08:45:40 -0000

This has come up a couple of times in our hiring process and it has come down to this - are you so locked in to your personal appearance/style that you are NOT willing to change or modify adapt for the sake of the culture you are trying to reach?

For example, we had a guy apply for a job here and he happened to have earrings. Nothing wrong with earrings, in my mind, but as we had the discussion it became apparent that him having earrings (and keeping his earrings!) was a bit of him thumbing his nose at the older crowd who would be amazed that someone with earrings was a devout follower of Christ.

"So, would you remove your earrings if it was an opportunity to show grace to the culture of senior adults who are vitally important to the life of our church?"

His answer? No, he wouldn't. He wasn't willing to change his appearance/style because, for him, the congregation should be willing to accept him just as he was.

So the discussions about hiring him stopped. He was very competent. He had lots of experience. He had great references. But the attitude about appearance and style revealed an issue of the heart which came out loud and clear.

That's probably not exactly what you're talking about but I guess the baseline is yes, appearance does matter.

BTW - Nice photo of Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto. Beautiful theatre.

Re: Physical Appearance & Hiring

Chris from Canada — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:24:54 -0000

Cool - I like this discussion.

Actually the guy I was speaking about in my first comment DID fit in to the "style" culture of our church. Although I work at a "baptist" church we are pretty laidback when it comes to what people where, how we dress in the office, etc.

The question about his earrings came out of a discussion of how can we respect, honour and serve parts of our community (in and outside of our congregation) with our appearance. We got to talking about would this guy ever change his appearance for their sake and his answer was "No."

We have guys on staff who have earrings, tattoos, dress very formal, dress very casual. As you can guess, this means we have very different personalities on staff - conservative, easygoing, combinations of the two.

It's an interesting discussion. I don't think it's as easy as "Well if he's got the ability and he's got the personality let's hire him!"

Re: Physical Appearance & Hiring

Chris from Canada — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:26:50 -0000

I'll add this - what about race? Does your church hire to reflect the racial culture of your congregation? Do you hire someone of a certain race in the hopes that it will attract more of that racial group to your church?

What about worship teams? Do you intentionally make your teams diverse - by age, gender, race - to intentionally reflect the diversity of your congregation?

Re: California is on Fire!

Chris from Canada — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:19:51 -0000

Where Temecula compared to all those red dots?

Re: California is on Fire!

Chris from Canada — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:44:36 -0000

I went to see Tower Of Power last night (incredible show!) and the lead horn player had his apartment burn down although he was most upset about his motorcycle "exploding" in the fire.

Re: How do you rate your Worship?

Chris from Canada — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:58:15 -0000

It's all about feelings. If it feels good, then it's probably good. ;)

I've found the stuff that Jordan has posted at Worship Trench the past couple of weeks to be very helpful. Actually last night we had a leaders' meeting and worked through the ministry evaluation questions.

We don't yet have a concrete rating system but here are some questions we ask after every week -

Did we encourage people to worship God?
Did we inspire people to worship God?
Did the service flow well as a whole?
Were there any distractions that could have been resolved?

Re: Youtube + Projector = Hours of Entertainment

Chris from Canada — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:50:38 -0000

Watching YouTube videos through the Wii is a favourite pastime at our place!

Re: Vocabulary

Chris from Canada — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:32:45 -0000

Yep! Same thing - gym with chairs and setup/takedown every week. We call it our auditorium on Sunday but it's our gym the other 6 days of the week.

Re: Latest Find: Buckhead Production

Chris from Canada — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:20:39 -0000

Good link!

Saw your name on the recreate list - looking forward to meeting you.

Re: XP Joys

Chris from Canada — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:31:13 -0000

I fixed the problem of my niece and nephew not having met their youngest cousin yet. Good times.

Re: Ducks vs. Leafs

Chris from Canada — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:09:08 -0000

The irony about all the fighting stuff is that the NHL bigwigs are trying to get rid of it cause they think that doing that will make the game more palatable for Americans. Nevermind the fact that it's exactly this kind of stuff that has made WWF and Nascar HUGE in the US. People in Canada are pretty fed up with Bettman changing the game because he thinks it will mean better TV ratings in the States.

Re: Ed Young Impersonates Joel Osteen

Chris from Canada — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:07:40 -0000

I'm surprised nobody from Osteen's camp has made it here yet. They're usually good at finding these posts and letting you know that "You just don't know his heart!"

By the way, I love Ed Young's quote about "every pastor's dream" being to walk on that stage. Right.

Re: Weekend Rewind Easter 08

Chris from Canada — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:02:08 -0000

http://www.chrisfromcanada.com/?p=488

Can I get a link on your blogroll?

Re: Oops, I Don’t Have Terminal Cancer!

Chris from Canada — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:20:36 -0000

"Oops" - haha. Good description.

Yeah. Ridiculous. I have serious questions about when all of this was known (particularly by the Hillsong/Planetshaker folks) and how soon they pulled Mike & his story from the promotion of the CD/DVD.

I mean did NOBODY check this story? No phone calls to the doctor? Nobody going with him for treatments? Nobody seeing him actually take the medication? It's unbelievable.

Chris from Canadas last blog post..Cool ideas

Re: Oops, I Don’t Have Terminal Cancer!

Chris from Canada — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:21:45 -0000

There's a difference between giving the guy grace and giving him a free pass, no?

Chris from Canadas last blog post..Cool ideas

Re: Bands I Learned How to Play Drums from: 3

Chris from Canada — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:04:08 -0000

Yes - so good!!

I didn't watch all the videos but did you post the Superman Song?

<abbr>Chris from Canadas last blog post..Free tickets - Vicky Beeching & Bluetree</abbr>

Re: What should I do about the box score?

Chris from Canada — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:24:57 -0000

Bring back the numbers! I always enjoyed seeing how things were trending with you guys - how were numbers were up, how many were going to which service, etc.

Re: Nominate America’s Most Innovative Churches

Chris from Canada — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:42:48 -0000

I like the list. When I hear about churches doing some new things it opens up some new resources, sparks some creativity, usually leads to making some new friends. I like JG's suggestion as well.

It would also be good to hear how the INNOVATION is EFFECTIVE in seeing people come to faith in Christ. I'm worried that we are beginning to hold up innovation over life-change.

Re: How do you count weekend attendance?

Chris from Canada — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:13:16 -0000

Hey Tony - once you've counted all the data and posted it on your blog, what do you do with it?

Do you have an Excel spreadsheet with formulas which will show trends or correlations? I'm guessing FellowshipOne helps with that?

Re: Box Score for September 9, 2007

Chris from Canada — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:59:29 -0000

Hey Tony - whoever did the Gametime intro video at about 17 minutes needs to be told that they did an amazing job!!

Re: Lonely People

Chris from Canada — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:05:33 -0000

Was the singer on a rotating platform on the beginning or was that just the camera?

Re: Field Trip to Greenville Campus

Chris from Canada — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:06:27 -0000

Tony - can you remind us what this building used to be used for?

Re: Healthy Debate

Chris from Canada — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:59:18 -0000

I think this is one of the favourite things about our team - lots of good discussion and engaging the issues but we always come out the other end very unified.

Re: Do you know where your money goes?

Chris from Canada — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:32:42 -0000

Tony - can you (if you haven't already) do a quick post on how you keep track of your spending?

Re: Don’t Call 1-888-PEDITRA

Chris from Canada — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:18:27 -0000

Tony - is there a lesson to be learned? I did check out peditra.com and saw that it was redirected to the YouTube video but didn't call the number.

Would you think twice about including a phone number in a video or make sure that the number is owned by the church next time?

Re: I Love My Church!

Chris from Canada — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:23:42 -0000

Hey Tony - can you post the God Of This City video?? We did the exact same thing two weeks ago when we highlighted our regional ministry - including our work with single moms. Pretty cool stuff.

Re: You Asked For It

Chris from Canada — Mon, 26 May 2008 10:29:15 -0000

Wow - some of those questions are definitely unique to the culture where you guys are living. Interesting.

Re: Hybels Affirms Commitment to Seeker Church Movement

Chris from Canada — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:14:49 -0000

With the Willow Arts Conference starting on Wednesday this is good timing for them - they get the video out in time for it to make a little buzz and get some people talking before thousands of arts leaders from across the world gather in Chicago. It gives a platform for Nancy Beach or another Willow leader to stand at the conference and remind people of their commitment to reaching people who are far from God.

The leaders at Willow are not fools. They've seen everything written related to Reveal and were just waiting for the best time to respond.

Re: Humor: I raise my elbow in praise

Chris from Canada — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:14:44 -0000

Hi Jeff - thanks for the link! I've added you to my reader and will link back.

Re: An open letter to traveling music ministry artists | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:15:56 -0000

Great post - I'm going to link this on my blog.

Re: Worship Leader Wednesday #1 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:23:51 -0000

Jeff - thanks for posting this! I'm sorry for not coming by earlier but I'm just now getting to reading my blog. I'll link this on my blog and send some more folks your way (hopefully!).

Re: Saturday Morning Cartoons | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:20:14 -0000

:shock:

I would laugh if this wasn't describing an exact situation that I'm dealing with right now. Haha!!

Re: Worship Leader Wednesday #2 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:24:32 -0000

Nice - great to hear more of your story, Brent. It is awesome to start hearing of the things that God has brought us through to get to the places that we are at today.

Re: Worship Leader Wednesday #3 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:16:50 -0000

Another great interview!

"I predict (and hope to see) a return to a more simplistic approach to worship that is accessible to everyone, singable, and corporate-friendly."

Totally agree.

"That we just can’t sing notes much higher than D-E …. drop the superstar vocal ranges and arrange songs that normal congregants can
actually sing with passion!"

Yes yes yes!! The trickle down effect is that now songwriters in our church think they can write melodies that have this ridiculous range and fly all over the place - making it impossible for Joe Christian to sing on Sunday morning.

Re: Worship Leader Wednesday #3 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 07:15:25 -0000

Haha - That's going to haunt you forever, Fred!

Re: From the Feed Reader | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:33:55 -0000

Yikes - I could spend days on those links!!

Thanks for the mention. That brainstorming thing has been helping me lots.

Re: Worship Leader Wednesday #5 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:43:38 -0000

Good stuff - I'm loving these interviews!

Re: Worship Confessional: January 13, 2008 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:49:57 -0000

I hear you, man. I really do.

Two things -

1. It's encouraging to hear you say that you're "only" 4 1/2 years in. That's cool.

2. Can you tell us the story of last Sunday??

Re: Worship Leader Wednesday: Special Edition | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:49:22 -0000

We've started dB-ing (is that word? :)) our services. I'm not sure if we're A-weighted or C-weighted but we're using the kind you're supposed to use for a band sound rather than a vocal sound, I know that much.

We're running about 94dB and peaking about 98dB. That seems to be the right levels for us - fills the room nicely with sound and also allows people to hear themselves singing.

Re: Worship Confessional: January 27, 2008 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:11:04 -0000

Good call on the pre-service stuff. We started doing it when I came to the church cause I was feeling the same thing - it took a couple songs to really get the band going.

It's a way to get the band warmed up AND it's also a signal to the congregation that we're getting started soon.

AND - if we're doing a new song in a service we'll do it during pre-service to give the crowd a chance to hear it and the band one more chance to play through it. Good stuff.

Re: The kind of help you’re looking for | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:18:38 -0000

Sorry to hear about that - great news that you're getting the tests and treatment you need. The whole concept is so foreign to me. Not meant at all as a bashing of the American health care system but it just seems so illogical to me.

Re: Worship Leader Wednesday #9 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:58:06 -0000

"3 streams worship" - I like that!!

Re: iLife: Study, part 2 | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:21:59 -0000

Hey Jeff -

We're putting together a series of tools to help our people with spiritual disciplines. Can I use what you've got here if I give credit to you and link to the blog?

Re: The Monday Minute | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:20:53 -0000

Easter was fantastic. We did a baptism service so both services heard testimonies of how God has changed lives. Very cool. I'll post a full confessional later today or tomorrow.

Re: Preparing for Corporate Worship | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:04:10 -0000

Nice - my pastor and I are tag-teaming part of the message on Sunday and I'm covering this. Good timing :)

Re: Blogger Small Group | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:05:31 -0000

This sounds like a fine idea but do you (and all the other bloggers out there) really have time for all this??

Chriss last blog post..World Record Slam Dunk

Re: Blogger Small Group | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:52:42 -0000

Jeff - I hope my comment didn't come off as flippant or disrespectful. It would be much easier if everyone just disabled comments :)

I guess I'm just thinking about how much time we give to this stuff. Of course there's nothing wrong with studying scripture and spend more time in the word but is adding one more THING to our blog life really that valuable?

Part of the reason of why I blog is for the resourcing and the community but I also know that those who are trying to facilitate community (the ones mentioned in your post and others) are gaining great benefit from all of us linking back to their sites on a very frequent basis.

Again, not flippant or sour grapes - just trying to see where all of this is going.

Chriss last blog post..A beautiful night for a ballgame!

Re: Pray like you tweet | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:31:03 -0000

Hey Jeff - thanks for posting this and thanks for praying! It was a pretty amazing thing and I'll write back with all the details if you send me an email.

We are home now and everyone is doing great. Baby and mom are perfect!

Chris from Canadas last blog post..Community Makeover in Paulding County, GA

Re: Fabricated ministry: We were warned | Consuming Worship

Chris from Canada — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:57:28 -0000

Good thoughts - thanks man.

Re: From Around the World

Chris from Canada — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:38:25 -0000

Hey Jeromy - thanks for posting that.

Cool story about how it all unfolded - our team went over to Uganda expecting to put together packages for about 300 families. Unknown to them, the agency had gone and raised enough money to give packages to almost TWO THOUSAND families of students and teachers at the schools we are partnering with.

Amazing!! Loaves and fishes?? :)

Re: From Around the World

Chris from Canada — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:12:08 -0000

The team just returned last week. We'll send another team in March and then one more next fall. We are there for the long haul :)

Re: Building Campaign vs. Vision Campaign

Chris from Canada — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:10:42 -0000

Awesome - great thoughts. I've gone through the same sorts of struggles over the past several years. We went through all of this last year with our whole Beyond thing and it was never about a building - it was all about vision.

At the same time, a building can be very important. I got an email today from a guy who said he's driven by the church every day for the past several months and has finally realized that God needs to be a part of his life again. What?? That is crazy amazing! Of course God doesn't need our stupid building to open people's eyes but for this guy it was the building that did it!

Re: Idiot’s Guide To Surviving Worship Team

Chris from Canada — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:20:23 -0000

Nice - you are the man.

Re: Teaching Moments in Worship

Chris from Canada — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:54:56 -0000

Since everyone is just cross-posting their responses, I’ll do the same :) Canadians like to follow what everyone else is doing, anyway.

Isn’t teaching going to be a natural by-product of whatever songs you ask your congregation to sing? If you ask them to sing songs that are written as teaching songs then they may learn more, deeper, insightful things about the character of God but even if you are inviting them to sing songs which are not “theology to music” you are STILL teaching them, no?

There is a great amount of theology that is both directly and indirectly learned from congregational worship. Anytime church leadership puts words on a screen or a songsheet and asks the congregation to sing those words together, there is definitely the assumption that the leaders are approving the words and the sentiments of those words.

Can the church not be expected to grow in their knowledge and understanding of who God is through the singing of songs AND through the preaching of the word?

I’m not here to wave the flag of the Reformed songwriter-teachers but I think there’s a general assumption being missed - whatever songs we sing, those are the songs which will teach.

Re: Headed to Catalyst 08

Chris from Canada — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:40:05 -0000

Hope you had fun! Sounded great!

Hope you're not stuck on 666 anymore :)

Re: Check Out How Twitter Helped A Worship Leader….

Chris from Canada — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:37:43 -0000

Hi Vicky - thanks for linking the post. Twitter has made the world much, much smaller!

Re: The Supernatural … Do You BELIEVE?

Chris from Canada — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:40:51 -0000

We are just finishing up a series in 1 Thessalonians and during one of the first weeks one of our staff preached on the verse that commends the Thessalonian church for having "faith that works." His main point was that this verse can be read two ways - we should be known for our works of faith but we should also be known for the fact that our faith works, that there are times and situations where becaue we have faith in God and in who He is that the outcome of that situation is a logical outworking of our faith.

Threw me for a bit of a loop - but I was reminded of that sermon when I read your post. There are certainly times in my life where I believe not because Christ is Truth but simply because He is true and there is no other logical option at that point.

And yes, I'm a skeptic. I'm Canadian - we're bred to be skeptics :)

Re: New Instrumental Soundtrack

Chris from Canada — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:45:09 -0000

Nice - looking forward to seeing the video.

Have you got some links to some good ProTools tutorials? I've been using it a little bit just to create scratch tracks of new songs to send to our musicians but would like to use it for doing more stuff. Got some links?

Re: Update from Vacation - My Favorite “Character” Shot

Chris from Canada — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:29:53 -0000

Apparently Disneyworld is the remedy! :)

Re: Calling All Worship Bloggers …

Chris from Canada — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:17:25 -0000

Hi Fred - I've registered at TWC and sent you a message. Thanks!

Re: Monday Night Ramblings

Chris from Canada — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:29:33 -0000

You dropped $55K of debt in 18 months?? Did I read that right?

If so, congratulations!!

Re: Worship Q&A - Professional Worship Leader, Pt. 1

Chris from Canada — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:37:42 -0000

Good stuff, man.

Re: Worship Confessional #9, Sept 16, 2007

Chris from Canada — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:45:07 -0000

Haha - I like how your camera was already running when you opened the door and came in to the office! :)

Re: Saturday Coffee

Chris from Canada — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:53:57 -0000

Celebrated my mother-in-law's 60th last night.
Just finished worship practice.
Nap time very soon!
Birthday party for neighbourhood kids tonight.
Two services tomorrow morning.
Bills vs. Patriots tomorrow afternoon.
Small group tomorrow evening.

This is definitely not a simplify weekend :)

Re: Worship Confessional #10, Sept 23 2007

Chris from Canada — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:23:23 -0000

I LOVE the Brian & Jenn Johnson record - good pick!

Re: Why blog?

Chris from Canada — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:18:00 -0000

Two reasons -

1. Self-discipline - itâ€™s a way to organize my thoughts and reactions in a ministry role that doesnâ€™t always encourage reflection.

2. Connections - I like making friends with people and blogging is helping achieve that.

Re: Happy Birthday to Me

Chris from Canada — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:36:33 -0000

Happy birthday Fred! I hope it was a great day for you!!

Re: O Holy Night Saga Revealed, Pt. 2

Chris from Canada — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:15:40 -0000

"The cabin boy of the church."

Classic!

Re: O Holy Night Saga Revealed, Pt. 6

Chris from Canada — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:17:06 -0000

Thanks for telling the story, Fred. It's been fun!

Re: Music from my Niece, Madeline

Chris from Canada — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:22:29 -0000

She has great intonation - unless you loaded on the autotune - which it doesn't sound like you did! Nice work, both of you.

Re: HELP - Joy to the World, Mariah Carey

Chris from Canada — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:27:22 -0000

If those are for sure the bass notes try this -

A - D#m7b5 - G#7 - C#m7

The only thing I'm not sure about is that the melody note (G#) doesn't fall in the second chord (D#m7b5) so that might not be totally right.

Re: Why is it that …

Chris from Canada — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:45:32 -0000

As a father of a 2-year old and 8-month old you cannot believe how much I am longing for the day when it will be a burden in my life to wake my children up!! :)

Re: Tragedy - Please Pray

Chris from Canada — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 01:13:34 -0000

Wow - that is awful. Thanks for letting us know so we can pray.

Re: Worship Textfessional, Sunday Jan 15

Chris from Canada — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:47:04 -0000

I watch the videos.

"No Other Name" is awesome - I think I heard of it first on your blog and I've pencilled it in for a service we're doing next month. Looking forward to using it.

Re: Worship Leader Pitfalls #2 - New Music

Chris from Canada — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:14:31 -0000

Fred I hear what you're saying - I'm not sure I've ever met someone who tried to introduce a new song EVERY week! That sounds like overkill!

I try to do 3 new songs every quarter - about once a month but not locked in. We'll do the new song 3 weeks in a row, give it a week off, bring it back and then it becomes part of our repertoire. Also means we kill a song about every month, too. Got to be fair :)

Not sure I agree with the "older is better" vibe that I'm getting from the comments. I agree that familiarity is important but that can quickly turn to mundane routine. Doesn't mean old songs aren't important - we use songs that span the last 200 years or so of church history here - but there is also a very strong desire to be writing songs for the next generation.

It's important to value history, it's also important to create history!

Re: Prayer for Andrew

Chris from Canada — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:08:28 -0000

Posted this on my blog.

Re: Blogging Marathons

Chris from Canada — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:24:01 -0000

Since you didn't read all my posts I guess I'll just have to email them to you :)

Re: So, let’s see …

Chris from Canada — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:43:04 -0000

Awesome - great news on all fronts. I'll continue to pray for you guys.

Can't wait to see some pictures of this great new building!

Re: SSCC - New Facility Open

Chris from Canada — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:53:06 -0000

Wow - great to hear!

Who did the logo design for your different ministries? Love the branding and consistency!

Re: On Leadership: 3 Nuggets, Pt. 1

Chris from Canada — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:31:08 -0000

Jordan at WorshipTrench had some sets of great questions to ask worship team folks to start some great discussion. With (I hope!) some wisdom I modified the questions to fit our culture and our challenges and we have had a great few months interacting with the questions and each other's answers.

As far as reading patterns, it all goes to RSS so it doesn't matter when you post.

Re: American Idol - Shout to the Lord

Chris from Canada — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:54:19 -0000

I'm doing Shout To The Lord on Sunday so that I can be relevant! Haha.

I posted last night re: the American Idol debacle and I guess my timing was right - most of the day today my blog was ranked #1, 2 or 3 in a good search for american idol shout to the lord - and there were LOTS of people searching. I'll do a post next week showing some of the behind-the-scenes stuff but it was pretty amazing.

Re: Redneck Worship Leader - Gone Fishin’

Chris from Canada — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:43:43 -0000

Ha - that is hilarious. Those shorts are the best part.

Re: Why Jordan Hates Patriotic Songs (in worship)

Chris from Canada — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:50:27 -0000

I've never understood the whole patriotic worship thing. It just would not fly at all in Canada. We included zero Canadian patriotic content on Sunday morning and nobody made a peep about it. It's just not very Canadian.

Chris from Canadas last blog post..Happy Canada Day to you, too!

Re: Why Jordan Hates Patriotic Songs (in worship)

Chris from Canada — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:42:32 -0000

You might be interested in this - http://www.markbeeson.com/mark_beeson/2008/06/4...

Chris from Canadas last blog post..Happy Canada Day to you, too!

Re: Songs that Get’r Done

Chris from Canada — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:53:00 -0000

You Are by Mark Roach
Everlasting God by Brenton Brown
Center by Charlie Hall

Chris from Canadas last blog post..Brooke Fraser - concert review

Re: What Makes a Great Worship Song?

Chris from Canada — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:05:37 -0000

Great singability + great theology = great worship song

Chris from Canadas last blog post..At least somebody likes me!

Re: Healer - Mike Guglielmucci Exposed

Chris from Canada — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:18:12 -0000

Good thoughts, man. This is tough to hear.

My thoughts - http://www.chrisfromcanada.com/?p=710

Chris from Canadas last blog post..Mike Guglielmucci is a fake and a fraud - but what about you?

Re: Worship Books - Which Ones?

Chris from Canada — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:34:46 -0000

Unceasing Worship by Harold Best
Recalling The Hope Of Glory by Allen P. Ross - it took me a year to get through this

Both of those books have rocked my world in the past couple of years.

<abbr>Chris from Canadas last blog post..New Site - check it out!</abbr>

Re: Songwriting in Worship

Chris from Canada — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:08:05 -0000

I have been much more disciplined about songwriting this year than ever before and that has paid off. Co-writing has totally changed the process before and has also resulted in some great stuff.

My main focus for songwriting now is to write songs that speak specifically to the situation of my own church. I think that is part of the pastoral role and duty that we have.

<abbr>Chris from Canadas last blog post..Free tickets - Vicky Beeching & Bluetree</abbr>