A Pastor that I used to work with always said “if the devil don’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy”. It’s so easy to get very busy. That’s when the excuses come up, ” I don’t have time to workout”. “I don’t have time to spend with the kids or my spouse”. We will never have or find the time for these things we have to MAKE the time. This picture was taken a couple days before Easter. So much stuff needed to be done. I really didn’t see or spend time with the kids. I actually had there mom keep them quite a few days during the two weeks leading up to Easter. It killed me but the tasks needed to be done. Until I said NO! we must take a break. I grabbed the boogers, on a Wednesday night and took them to the beach. It was like the world stopped turning for 2 hours. It was truly “heaven on earth”. Little did I know how it would refresh my mind and soul, and don’t forget the priceless smiles on my babies faces. I surely didn’t have the time and I had a pile of work still waiting for me but I made time to connect with Heaven on Earth which was just a reach away. Don’t look for it, Make IT!
Ever forget to hit the right note on stage or hit the break with the band?
It’s amazing how easily we forget, regardless of how much we think about things. Is it that we don’t care enough? Is it that we are just not focused? Maybe we don’t realize just how big a deal some things really are.
I myself am guilty of this, I forget that what I do is NOT a job but a CALLING. I forget that I am NOT in charge but that I made a pact with God that HE would be the Master and I the servant.
Here are just some things that help me:
1. Journaling- Writing down thoughts, moments in my life, emotions, it’s good to look back and see how far God has brought me.
2. Rest- Studying, rehearsing, practicing…..get some rest.
3. Alone time with God- This is probably the best remedy of ‘em all, that silence, the alone time with God and being able to clear away the noise, stress and tasks.
On February we hosted a “Lost Launch Party” for the highly anticipated first episode of Season 4 of Lost. One the most successful t.v. series of today. Some of the mag team Lost devotees got together at our house to share this awesome experience! The entire party theme was “Lost” including the food and beverages which were all supplied, courtesy of Dharma Initiative.
Ernie, a Lost fan and member of FRC Mag forwarded the pictures of the party to a friend, who happens to be one of the main character’s cousin, Josh Holloway (Sawyer). A couple of days ago we found out, that Josh had seen our pictures, and dedicated this picture to the Flamingo Road Church Worship Team! How awesome is that??
Props to Ernie for hookin’ us up!!! Ernie is sending us the original autographed picture to create a collage with the party pictures, so make sure you come by the green room and check ‘em out soon!
As I mentioned some weeks back we are incorporating a metronome clock, the Boss DB-90 into our worhsip experience. Just want to write down some tricks and tips for all of those involved to remember.
Turning it on- There is a “back light feature”, since we all have Lighting schemes and it CAN be dark on Stage, there is an easy way to do this. When you “power up” the Metronome, “hold down” the Light button with the Power button, essentially pressing the Power Button twice WHILE holding the Light button.
Volume controls- There is a Volume control for the “input” which will be the Aviom/Talkback Drum mix, there are also”several faders” that Control the BEAT CLICKS individually, with a “MASTER CLICK” Volume seperately, all in all you have Volume faders and controls for everything seperately. (Very cool)
Pedals- There is a “preset/tempo memory” Pedal that can go “up” or go “down”, which makes it easy to find the tempo for song 1, song to 2 or go back to song 1. There is also another pedal we can use to “start/stop” the Clock, THIS is up to the drummers so please leave us feedback on whether you prefer to hit “start/stop” with your finger or just put a small pedal to do this instead. (Let me know)
How this may impact your ministry when you serve-
You will have BPM clock times added to the HUB for each song before each weekend. Each song will start “through you”, YOU will count us off for each song and “keep us in time”. Remember, this new tool is to help ALL OF US stay better in the pocket and improve our control of tempo as a team.
Leave us Feedback and tell us any other ways this can help us grow in our worship experience.
A while back on the potential leaders blog they had a segment that focused on some great quotes, excerpts from people, leaders that have influenced the world. Today I want to open this up on our magteam blog.
Below are a few quotes that speak volumes about character, values and ethics which are all essential to our growth and participation as magteam ministry.
“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.”
Vince Lombardi
“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.“
Mother Theresa
“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.“
On Monday I was challenged by our Executive Pastor, Raul Palacios at our weekly staff meeting. He taught about how Jesus one day woke up very early in the morning and went to have a quiet moment of prayer alone (Mark 1:32-38). When the disciples showed up, they told him that everybody was looking for him, since he had performed lots of miracles the day before, a bigger crowd was at his door that day. Jesus’ response was so different than what they were expecting. He said they needed to go to another village to continue performing miracles because that’s what he was meant to do. Can yo imagine? He stood up a big crowd of people who were waiting for a miracle! And then Raul told us this words “What do you have to stop doing to do what you are meant to do?”
Even though Raul was talking about leadership, I think there is a worship twist to that story. I sometimes have been so busy and preoccupied learning chords when rehearsing songs or while I’m on stage performing that sometimes I forget what this whole thing is all about. It’s about Him! It’s about God, our creator, our Father, King of Kings and Lord or our lives.
Now, I won’t encourage you to drop your mic or instrument and go have a moment with God in the midst of a worship set. I will be in trouble if you do that because of reading this. I just want to encourage you to take your time to talk to God alone and ask him about that moment when you are on stage and what he wants you to do. He might talk to you about the lives he will change and the people you will influence while holding that mic or strumming those strings or moving those props. The bottom line is, that is what we were created for, to worship him.
” Sing to HIM a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the lord is right and true; HE is faithful in all HE does.”
The VIDEO: Thomas Lang on drums, displays almost super natural “creative control” and excellence, seeing musicians like this play with such grace pushes me even harder to rehearse and re-rehearse!
Over the next few weeks WE will be launching and participating in a new MAGTEAM Blog website, as we get closer to that I thought I’d keep with the topic of “excellence in Worship” because that is our calling and responsibility, or like I read once “Our ABILITY to respond IS our repsonsibility”.
With so many different teams, locations, volunteers, schedules it becomes challenging to maintain a high level of execution across the board BUT remember this, WE play for the most awesome king, the most high, the Lord of Lords, King of Kings and HE deserves ONLY our very BEST.
In heaven what will THAT band sound like, what will THOSE arrangements sound like, how will THEY sing, who’s gonna be playing drums, on Bass, Keys, Guitar, Horns, Vocals, Percussion, Etc…?
The new Magteam Tool is here: The Metronome for our worship sets. As you might have experienced, Easter was incredible and one of the major reasons was that our Global Magteams worked through a “click-track”, which simply means we were all in perfect “time”. Nothing like playing in perfect time.
It is so easy in a live settings to “speed” things up, or on tiring days to “slow” things down but in order for us to grow and raise the bar we NEED a steady tempo.
In comes the DB-90 Metronome clock, it will have tempo’s pre-programmed that each Drummer can easliy start/stop at the push of a pedal, go to the next Tempo up/down(pedal) while STILL being able to hear their mix ALONG with the Click. How cool is that?
The process is easy, program the tempo, save it, hit start and play along JUST like being in a studio.
This will set us on a new phase in worship and will dramatically help rehearsals AND Live worship set’s Globally. So, if you want to get a head start let me know and I can show it to you and get ready because we are launching it in a few weeks at ALL of our campuses.
Let’s keep raising the bar for the High King we serve!
“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised”
What are you believing God for today? Relationships? Healing? Promotion? I’ve learned in my life that perseverance is hard to achieve. I always want fast results no matter what I have to do. God teaches us to persevere on His word. Perseverance means that you are focused and believing in what God says about your situation. It’s looking away from distractions and any negative, defeating thoughts. Perseverance looks away from discouragement and looks to the Word of God. Perseverance has a voice, and it says things like, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper…if God is for me, who can be against me! I am more than a conqueror through Jesus!” Whatever you are believing for today, keep believing! Stand strong and fight the good fight of faith.
There are so many things in your life you can’t control but God has control over all of them. Right now I am just putting my faith and my future on Jesus Christ is hard not to think on human solutions or on what should I do now. Remember God is there, everything happens for a reason and that reason is for His glory.
If you need perseverance in your life I want to pray for you and with you, because I believe we are more than the Mag Team, we are a family, e-mail me your requests or prayer needs.
In my life God brought 2 amazing man of God, and we pray together, we talk, we persevere together. Like pastor Troy said, don’t do life alone.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to be Back Stage during the 5 PM service in our Cooper City Campus and it was a very unique experience. The “Celebration Moment” was awesome! I was actually throwing balloons from the “Catwalk” and enjoyed the worship from a different perspective for 2 reasons, the first one: I’m usually on stage during worship ( I wanna encourage you to be part a worship service not only when you are leading a song or playing with the band or doing tech ). Second reason: While I was up there this thought came to my mind, “Not only people we see in the auditorium celebrate with us, God is also watching us from heaven, and he celebrates every time we worship him!” One day we’re gonna be celebrating 50 100,000 150,000,000 I can’t wait!!!
"The thing that gives me the most joy in being a leader is that people get to see my heart through my leadership..." Ricky Garcia, FRC Cooper City. read more...
