The Beat of a Different Drummer

Drive 11

2011-03-31T13:40:00.003-04:00

Hello Blog, some of the very few photos I took at Drive 11 will be posted some time in the next two weeks, I honestly didn't use my camera much I was too busy taking notes and absorbing information, kind of odd for me (the not taking photo part, not the taking notes part) but it works.

My quick Drive 11 quick recap

Bottom line drill downs rock.
Went down with an awesome group of Lifepointers
Got to sit in the Opener rehearsal with our production team that went down, to say it was incredible is an understatement, and while I'm talking about statements I'd like to say FOR the record that the version they did of Link Park's Waiting for the end was better, MUCH more rocking than the original.
Stayed in the rehearsal with Jacklyn and Shane watched them run the opener another 2-3 times flawlessly
Lined up to go back in for the opener,
After at keast 6 perfect runs the server crashed, they rebooted and it was once again AMAZING
Super Awesome worship phenomenal teaching message.
1st day complete.
EArly morning
Northpoint Sunday morning service experience was pretty darn cool.
Wonderful Breakout
Christian Fast food (Chick Fil A)
More amazing breakouts
the iband and Acapella "sing off" Acapella! enough said.
Jeff Henderson with the afternoon main session and I had a huge take away from it.
Got 2 tickers from mydrive11wish to participate in the backstage tour that was beyond words cool, got to spend 30 minutes geeking out in their video control room.
PRoduction team Night owl talking about what we learned what we wanted to apply and other general ideas of how to make our departments better for both the volunteers and the people who would be walking in on Sunday morning.
End Day 2
ANother early morning,
2 super awesome breakouts one of which I had tons of take-aways from.
CLosing session
Very different styled worship session but once again ( 2 for 2 at drive) I ended bawling my eyes out during worship it was soooooo good.
Pastor Andy Stanley gave the closing talk which I think alone was worth the price of the conference for me and the rest of our group.
13 hours on a bus back to home.
Arrived at 2:00
finally fell asleep around 330
up at 8, made it into my office at 930 a bit groggy but feeling very good about life right now.

Lifepoint photos from 02.06.11

2011-02-10T23:00:00.001-05:00

See the full gallery on posterous

Lifepoint photos! Sorry about a couple of them. normally I cherry pick my photos better, but I love some of the interaction between Daniel, Mark, John and Jeremy even though the photos aren't quite in focus as well as I'd lke them to be.

Also there's a photo of John with some green dots, that's not photo-shopped it's the angle one of the lights came across my lens.

Posted via email from mfurukawa's posterous

Lifepoint Photos from 12.12.10

2010-12-19T20:48:00.001-05:00

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]Photos from Lifepoint's Hope series, Worship Team: Pick, Anne, Kevin, Elizabeth, John and John. + Pastor

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Now that the cat is out of the Bag

2010-11-30T22:45:00.001-05:00

So while the LC staff was away on their annual staff retreat, I assembled my "Operation Post-it" team and we spent a few hours letting them know how much we appreciated them. The team consisted of [this section removed for security] and myself. This isn't quite everything we did, but... enjoy[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

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Lifepoint Photos Round 4

2010-10-03T23:41:00.001-04:00

I really need a better name for these updates, becuse it's going to get confusing before too long... Thsi is from the last Sunday in our Elevate series, band photos are from sound check, practice and run though, Pastor's photos are from 1st service.

See the full gallery on posterous

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Photo updates round 3

2010-10-03T23:31:00.001-04:00

These were from a week? couple of weeks? (I've lost track of time) from runthrough on Sunday morning. The nice thing about being off, (not drumming) it that I get the spend run through behind the lens instead of behind the drums... not that there's anything wrong with being behind the drums...

See the full gallery on posterous

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Lifepoint Photos Round 2

2010-09-07T09:18:00.001-04:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Some more photos from Lifepoint.

One of my favorites is a series of photos of Mark who's one of our drummers the first shot is with normal lights, the second photo is with stage lights and the third photo is with our LEDs on, it's just interesting to see how the background behind him pops out.

Posted via email from mfurukawa's posterous

Photo Updates!

2010-08-16T16:39:00.001-04:00

See the full gallery on posterous

Sorry for my absence, life has been a little busy as of late.

But here are some of the latest batch pf photo's from Lifepoint Church, these were taken two weeks ago at Pre-service rehersals,

Posted via email from mfurukawa's posterous

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-05T00:21:00.001-04:00

okay so technically it's now the 5th of July...

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from mfurukawa's posterous

Portfolio Update: 04.19.10

2010-04-19T19:26:00.005-04:00

This is the shock mount I just got for my USB mic that I use to record practices and a few other side projects with.

From Drop Box

All these are from Lifepoint Church, a few from Worship practice the rest from various Sunday morning service.

From Lifepoint Related

And these are from the last major snow storm of the year back in Feb.

From Portfolio

Portfolio Update 01.25.10

2010-01-25T12:00:00.003-05:00

From Portfolio

Portfolio Update 01.15.10

2010-01-14T09:39:00.007-05:00

Okay, this is just going to be a regular feature on the blog. I have a love of photography and now have a more than decent camera, so I'll be posting these probably once or twice a week between normal posts.

I apologize for the tiny thumbnails, most of these look better in full view.

From Portfolio

Pickwell's Guitar from practice last week.

From Portfolio

Not a stream, but one of the paths in the battlefields after the snow melted.

From Portfolio

The kit I use to practice on is a mix between a Taye Go Kit, and a Traps set.

From Portfolio

To date this is my favorite photo I have taken with the new camera. This was taken this past week At Lifepoint Church after we had finished our practice, but before our final run through.

From Portfolio

From the last snow storm we got last week.

From Portfolio

One of the first shots I took with the new camera, one of the Japanese Maples in front of my parent's house.

From Portfolio

This one was actually done with my old camera right before it died.

Retun of Fudi the photogeek.

2010-01-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, I got a new camera for Christmas, and thought I'd share some of the fruits of my new (errrr old) labor of love with you.

Freeware fav's

2010-01-06T11:38:00.001-05:00

This is a geek-ish post, mainly for windows users: (Sorry MACies as i don't have one i don't know what freeware is out there for one), there are several great programs that I use on a regular basis that are completely free, (Some are freeware others are open source) included are a short description of said program.

Google earth: as something of a writer, when I'm looking for some exotic location... or just want to mess around I load up google earth. It's fun to mess around with and more than a little creepy when you think about some of the implications.... though while I'm on the subject of Google, let me add Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calender, Google Reader, and Picassa.

paint.net do not mistake this awesome program for mspaint (which and let's be honest about this, sucks), Paint.net is a fairly robust program that loads incredibly fast for quick photo touching up I've not yet found a better program in the freescape.

gimp - I honestly couldn't talk about paint.net without mentioning gimp, aka THE open source photoshop replacement program, I also don't use it that often, but it's still considered the best image manipulation program that comes without a price tag. Now I've had issues with the UI for gimp, but apparently there is a solution provided.

Launchy - now this one I know has a mac equivalent called quicksilver this is a very nice program launcher, (type based) for me I hit alt + space and then start to type the name of a program and then can launch it. I know it sounds like a long way to do things, but I abhor a messy desktop, and for me it's much faster to do this then to navigate through the start menu.

Dropbox This one is also cross platform, and one I'm working on getting more members of our creative arts team using. It's a free (for 2 gigs worth of space) file synchronizing service. As an added benefit you can share folders with other users, I team up with our main vj to ensure that our Lyrics are current for each week's worship set.

Winamp The original mp3 player... okay so perhaps it wasn't THE original mp3 player, but it might as well have been. I've been a winamp user since the early versions, long before all the improvements that have followed in version 5.x (What i'm currently using), that have made it in my opinion MUCH more usable then itunes, It takes a few seconds to set up, but once you do, the library feature is great! and makes managing my massive song collection, a breeze.

google Voice: okay technically this one is still in Beta, with invitation only, as someone who's gotten his invitation let me say simply, this rocks. Along with it I'll add Google Wave, especially if I can get more people to use it..

If you have any Favorite free programs? Share them here!
Logmeinfree I love logmeinfree, it's a web app that allows me to control another pc via the internet. Its come in very handy.

Darkroom When I just want to write creatively or am working on some major writing project I use Darkroom. It doesn't have any fancy formatting tools of a robust office program (For that try Open Office, it's a simple full screen text editor that darkens out (IE runs in full screen mode) everything else so that you can focus on your writing.

Foxit Reader My much preferred pdf reader over Adobe Acrobat reader, in general it loads and runs 2-3 times faster...

VLC Probably the best media player out there. It's constantly being tweaked and upgraded and it seem to play EVERYTHING.

TOK Box Video conferencing (And vid-mailing for that matter) made simple and easy, this is an awesome tool that should get a lot more street cred than it is!

Get Creative!

2009-10-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

I think part of the fun of being one of the cre8vs for Lifepoint is the incredible amount of truly random stuff I get to sift through when trying to find or pass along a nugget for my team.

CLICK ME

Okay it's goofy I admit, but it's still good advice.

Now that the cat's out of the bag.....

2009-08-27T08:38:00.006-04:00

Special thanks to this year's prank team, Cassandra, Dave, Lee, Debbie, Tony, Chris, Avery, Will, Clark,
and to those who offered support and/or encouragement but couldn't join us for the actual event, Willie, Sheldon, Brandie, Brian, Anne, Tom, David, and everyone else who had a hand in this little event to show our Staff that we're with them, Heart and Soul!

Video to follow when I get some time to edit it.

We love our Staff!

2009-08-26T11:30:00.003-04:00

Lifepoint Staff Prank 2009 INtro Video from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.

Direct Link

So last night a group of our Volunteer Force got together to celebrate our amazing staff....

And despite someone *COUGH COUGH decding to make a bigger mess out of it than I had planned I hope the staff enjoys it when they return to the office.... at which point they'll probably ask me for my key and resignation... oh well.

We love you guys! Heart and Soul!

A bit later AFTER they've all seen it I'll put up some of the making of the prank.

Slight Edge Nugget #1

2009-08-22T13:01:00.004-04:00

I'm catching up on some of my reading, and one of the books I'm in at the moment is The Slight Edge, phenomenal book that I highly recommend, wanted to share something I just read out of it.

And I'm paraphrasing a bit, but the point remains:

Making the right decisions, doing the right actions is easy to do. It's also easy not to do; It's the waking up at 5:30 to exercise, or hit snooze and go back to sleep (Guilty), it's the pack a healthy lunch, or hit a fast food joint at noon (Erp, guilty again), it's taking 15 minutes to sit down with a good book (besides THE Good Book), or switching on the news for a quick update.

Little things! No big deal right? you won't see a difference for doing, or not doing anything I just mentioned....

Today.

Probably not tomorrow either, let's not kid ourselves the obese kid who's parent are suing McDonalds for him being overweight didn't eat a single Big Mac and gain 200 pounds, it was little decisions daily about food intake and exercise that compounded over time to bring us to the end result that we now look at today. Just like that, those decisions we make daily compound over time to deliver the life that WE have created for ourselves.

We can make the slight edge work for us or IT WILL work against us.

So there it is, one little nugget out of... well I have no idea how many more, I'm only 5 chapters in and lost count of the amount of places I've highlights, or that have made me set the book down for a bit to think about what I just read.

The Slight Edge is written by Jeff Olsen and published by SUCCESS BOOKS.

Lifepoint Gives Back!

2009-06-29T12:34:00.008-04:00

Josh has got the video on his blog (Yay videographer team!) and I also took some stills in the morning before we rolled out.

Cathedrals....

2009-06-08T11:58:00.003-04:00

Before I begin, I wanted to say Congrat to Pastor Daniel and Tammie for the arrival of their daughter Faith. (Just in case you're not on twitter and somehow missed the news).

Having said that, let me begin...

This post is based off one of the talks at the Leadership convention I was at over the weekend, but this is something that stuck with me and reminded me so much about Lifepoint that I had to post it.

Most people I know who tour Europe always mention two things to me. 1) The castles and 2) The cathedrals... which if you read the topic of this post is what I'm going to be talking about.

These monolithic? neolithic? Ginormous structures were massive houses of worship, built in a time where drafting software didn't exist and heavy equipment was defined as a hammer that weighed more than 10 pounds....

Notre Dame I don't think anyone would argue with me if I were to say it's a architectural and artistic marvel... They began construction in 1163, the cathedral was completed in 1345 so that's a 182 year period, during which time life expectancy was 30 years at best, or over 7 generations of time, the people who began work on the cathedral did so knowing they would never see the completion, but that they were building something that would outlast them.

And yes there were several cathedrals that went up under in under 50 years, but even so that's beyond life expectancy for any one generation.

And the craftsmanship. There were artist who worked on the structures doing carvings and other touches, in places where people would never see the work their response when asked? God would see it. And they did this work and in some places it's there for all to see, and in others only God would be able to see their work. They dedicated their lives to build these structures and NO ONE knows their names, they were there to do something great.

People dedicated their lives to the work because they had a vision of greatness, and in their case it was building a location that honored God to worship him.

As I sit here and type this I don't know where you, the reader is in your life. I don't know if you're a member of an awesome church that's mission is to reach people far from God, or if you don't even know what this whole Christian thing is about and you look at people like me as if we're mad, my hope today is that you would understand this, when people grab hold of a dream, a vision that's bigger than they are, and when they're willing to sacrifice to see the vision through, then they can accomplish great things.

If you're a lifepointer and someone pointed you to this blog post I want to tell you a few things, that before the doors open on Sunday morning and people come pouring in, there's a team who shows up before the sun (though NOT before the Son) arrives and they go about the business of unloading tons of gear off of 3 trailers to build an environment that helps people to focus in on the Word of God that pastor is going to bring.
That during the service there's a small army of people working making sure that there's as little to distract someone as possible, they might be holding a baby, it might be pushing a sound knob, it might be teaching a 5 year-old.
That after the service and you've gone home, or more likely out to lunch (be honest!) that there's another group who'll spend over an hour restoring the school back to how it was before we began (And in some cases even better), including reloading those same three trailers.
That during the week the staff and at least a platoon's worth of volunteers are working behind the scenes to prepare for the next week,
That pastor is on his knees in desperate prayer to God his heart breaking for the lost that we KNOW is going to be walking into church, possible for the first time, possibly for the only time, and that we have one chance to reach them. That's a burden of a senior pastor and one that I'll never be able to fully comprehend. (Sorry off on a tangent).

For the most part, if you just come and go and show up to lifepoint you'll be blessed, you'll hear the Word of God preached straight from the Bible, you'll hear worship music that amplifies and glorifies our amazing God.

And you'll be just like a tourist walking through a cathedral amazed at the beauty of it all, and never know any of the stories behind the stories.

But if you get your hands on the net, if you decide to get out of the seat and join us in the field, you'll find your life on an amazing ride with other people, who like those who came before are willing to pour out their lives for a cause a purpose that's bigger then we are. You'll be putting your lives into creating something that's much more amazing than a giant building, it's seeing life change and we get to see results in our lifetime.

And should we go on for another seven generations, another 182 years, I doubt seriously that people will know our name.

But if they know the name of Jesus, if they enter a relationship with their Creator, and Savior, than like the amazing artisan ship of centuries past, our lives would have been poured out into something that truly does last.

God Bless
Matt Furukawa June 8, 2009

Does your pastor know that you've got his back?

2009-05-27T19:25:00.001-04:00

This was actually something that came about during Unleash 09 (Newspring's Conference) and it's been sitting in the unfinished pile of my blog (along with about 10 other articles) for the last several months .

Now I occasionally have trouble remembering what I had for dinner yesterday... but I can still remember this part of Perry Noble's talk like it was... errr... yesterday? Anyway, the part was, "Your senior pastor carries a weight on him that you will never understand or comprehend and needs to know that you've got his back."

I hope, what ever church you go to, what ever organization you belong too, what ever sport you play, your leader knows that you've got his back. Because if he(or she) does, then they doesn't have to worry about things like petty bickering or whats going on behind them, and can concentrate on the task that God has put before him.

More on this later...

Lessons learned from the tech sector....

2009-05-04T11:40:00.000-04:00

I make no qualms, or apologies about it, I want a netbook. I know I've already got a good labtop, and a powerful desktop in the works... (planned anyway), but I've come to really like these little mini-geek toys. And honestly? I wouldn't mind a macbook pro either...

And there's something to be said about that.

The tech-sector is offering specifically different products to different people based on want people have wanted, when the netbooks first came out they were only available with Linux, something that I've got nothing against, they were very limited in capacity, but all they really were intended for was a mobile wifi internet platform, and they served their purpose, as time has past people have wanted more options and the market has responded, now most netbooks that you can find, (or at least the ones I've seen) are preloaded with Windows xp, because it's more market friendly. (Fellow geeks out there STOP! I know, and I'm right there with you, but the fact remains that the everyday normal person who DOESN'T do coding from their station, and could careless about your 37 node beowulf cluster actually likes their windows operating system). And yes if you look linux is still an option, but you know what else I've noticed they're still selling laptops.

Sorry getting WAY off topic here, my apologies.

My point is that you're looking for portability you can buy a low end netbook (for under 200 if woot has a deal and they haven't sold out... again), you can spend a bit more and get a high end netbook, or a bit more still and get a notebook, or a lot more and get a mac. (And lets not forget about the netphones now available, the iPhone being the market leader hands down, but there our android phones and the new palm {pre I think} that's out/about to come out).

Setting aside brand rivalries for a moment, (and that means pc vs mac, give it a break for a few minutes) each machine serves a different market, and sells itself to a different demographic, yet the end purpose is still the same. They guys who use macs talk down about windows notebooks, windows users can't figure out why someone would pay three times the price for something with software that takes up a single shelf at best buy... and poor Linux is left for those who truly understand.... (Sorry getting off topic again).

The Church (capital c) is supposed to be like that too. Some people like a church (lower case c) that has loud rocking music that seeks to amplify and raise up the name of Christ, some people like a church (again lower case c) that has an organ and piano and a full gospel choir with anthems of praise, some people have a church (do I really need to repeat myself at this point) that can't sing at all, they meet in secret because of persecution and sing silently and lift or wjavascript:void(0)orship to God just the same.

1 Corinthians 12:12 - The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

Perhaps instead of complaining that the music is too loud, or too boring, perhaps we should celebrate that others are worshiping our Creator and Savior...

and who knows I might end up with a net book or a mac yet!

move aside apple...

2009-04-21T08:10:00.001-04:00

glass trackpad? pshaw, try THIS it's like they took a DS and then built a full labtop around it.

So I guess I am a right-wing extremist...

2009-04-15T12:02:00.003-04:00

because apparently:

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has turned her attention away from acts of Islamic jihad on American soil (which she now refers to as "man-caused disasters"). Instead, her department is sounding the alarm over an unquantified "resurgence" in "right-wing extremism activity."

On Apr. 7, DHS sent a nine-page warning memo to law enforcement offices across the country entitled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment."

The report includes a sweeping definition of the threat:

"Right-wing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

(Quoted without permission from http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46640)

But wait doesn't that make the entire Catholic Church Right-Wing extremists as well? The Baptists too,

Wow with such amazing examples of Leadership in Washington it's no wonder our Country is doing so great economically...

Pics now...

2009-04-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

Pastor just posted his Recap from Easter complete with pics.

WHAT?

2009-04-07T12:40:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry but this just seems wrong to me on SO many levels...

Shock and Awe....

2009-04-05T17:17:00.004-04:00

The end result of today was simply shock and awe. Shock that God would let ME be a part of what happened earlier, and awe over what He has done.

Gearing up for our Easter services as we conclude our "Old Time Religion" series (You do NOT want to miss Easter services at Lifepoint!) we, instead of our normal 2 services we did a HUGE combined one service today (at 10:22:30 (yes, thirty seconds, we split the start time directly in half). Today was our largest non-special event series... actually (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) today was our largest service ever! And the big surprise that we've been keeping under wraps, we did a baptism today.

Well actually we did 107 (One hundred seven) Baptisms today, I'm sitting here in front of my computer, still trying to wrap my mind around what happened a few hours ago....

Sorry at this point it sounds like I'm rambling, but I'm working on two hours of sleep in the last 48, and I'm still on an adrenaline rush from the baptism.

To make it more eventful a bunch of people from my team went up, I don't know if you ever have felt like your heart could explode from joy but I think mine just about did. Sorry, it was six hours ago and I'm still getting a little emotional here.

(We did a spontaneous baptism today, here's my post from the last one we did, to bring you up to speed)

Everything that went into this, every hour spent in planning, or in procuring the necessary items, every hour rehearsing the music, the time spent in meditation and prayer that God would just let the Holy spirit fall on the building even as service began, everything would be worth it, to know that even only one person would spend eternity worshiping our Creator, instead of separation from Him. We saw far more than one person cross that great divide today... excuse me for a minute I need a tissue, my eye's are sweating a bit.

Let me move on to the rest of the service, Pastor preached an awesome message and the worship set was just ON (2 songs, short set, and still amazing) I also wanted to give a Huge shout-out to my rocking bass playing Ricky Duncan who nailed a bass solo with his in-ears malfunctioning so that he had to play it without hearing a single thing he played! Awesome job man (You know I love you, but it's disgusting that you haven't been playing a year and did that... just sick :) ).

If today wasn't a God inspired day, I don't know what is, and if this is just a glimpse of what God is going to do in this community for Easter Sunday... some one please bring me a paper bag because my mind is already blown...

God thank you! I'm so humbled by what just happened today, and just so... so... thankful that you've let me take part in it, my prayer is You would be glorified and that my life would honor You, and Your sacrifice, even to the cross...

It's coming...

2009-04-03T08:32:00.004-04:00

Really! I am working on a couple in depth posts, but for now and in other news...

Elevation Church is hiring...

Now I'm not saying that I would immediately jump up and leave Fredericksburg or anything like that, I'm just saying... it deserves some consideration.

Where's the?

2009-03-30T08:13:00.001-04:00

Actual insightful posts coming soon, for now enjoy this
which I think isn't quite as cool as sheep, but not bad.

Just something cool I found...

2009-03-18T13:40:00.000-04:00

Extreme shepherding?

Lifepoint arrives to Unleash!

2009-03-18T11:10:00.000-04:00

Unleash Arrival from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.

We had an awesome time at the Unleash Conference!

Socialism for Dummies a case study...

2009-03-17T12:04:00.000-04:00

I had this conversation with a co-worker of mine who didn't understand the whole socialism/capitalism conflict, and was thus educated.

Here's the example that was used.

Illustration: You are a college student, you work hard, you spend your free time studying the big exam arrives, you spend the entire night before studying, you arrive at the class and take the test. Your roommate is in the same class as you, he arrives late everyday, parties every weekend, spends his nights bar-hopping, and the you find out the night before the final exam he was bowling.
Capitalism: Your efforts pay off and you receive an A for your work, likewise your roommates habits catch up with him and he fails the class.
Socialism: Everyone's grades are taken in and Averaged, you, your roommate, and everyone else in he class passes with a C.

There, that wasn't so hard to understand now was it?

2009-03-13T21:06:00.001-04:00

STOP!

2009-03-09T09:41:00.003-04:00

Seriously before you click on the link below just stop, I want to address a couple things before you get to it.
1) The website (blog really) I'm linking too is about real people, and their real stories, as such I'd rate it pg13+ so it's not for little kids.
2) I originally got this link from Elevations creative blog, as a favorite link because it talks about real people going through real issues.
3) My posting of this was prompted by Pastor's message and illustration yesterday. The message was on the power of unity, but his illustration... There were pieces of paper with random names all over the auditorium in seats, each representing a person, a co-worker, a family member, a friend, which then got me really thinking.

The Post Secret Community and Post Secret Blog is a website where people can share their secrets to the world, without identifying themselves by sending a postcard to the webmaster... Some are funny, some profane, and still others are heart breaking.

So why share something like this? here's excerpt from the official Lifepoint Blog

"The TRUTH is that God has strategically placed us in neighborhoods and jobs so that PEOPLE FAR FROM GOD WILL EXPERIENCE GOD’S DESIGN FOR LIFE. We quickly forget what it is like to live with regrets, unhappiness and feelings of rejection."

Here's a place that lets you look inside peoples lives, and even if you've forgotten what it's like, this is a (occasionaly) harsh reminder.

Well., it made ME laugh anyway

2009-03-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Birthday card from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.

Now I'm by no means an expert in this....

2009-02-19T09:13:00.006-05:00

Having grown up in a house where a period drama (more on this in a second) was as common as watching facts of life I was a bit surprised by a recent commercial on food network, it was a commercial for shoyuu or as it's more commonly known in the states, Soy sauce... Okay technically it was a commercial for Kikkoman a brand of Shoyu... errr soy sauce, but as far as I'm concerned if I ever refer to Shoy...soy sauce I'm talking about Kikkoman (In a similar fashion Hellman and mayonnaise the two are synonymous with each other as far as I'm concerned).

Sorry going off on a tangent there, the point of this blog post was in my (admittedly limited, but still more common to me than the average person watching the commercial) opinion was the words used.

Umami, it's Japanese for Delicious was the wording used.

Now when I was a kid I watched period dramas... (In this case, it was Samurai/Shogun era, the Japanese equivalent to watching a western TV series) as a young teen I was more immersed in Japanese culture than I should care to admit to... (point in fact to Lifepoint staff, JAPANESE NOT KOREAN!) (Point to Korean friends, not that there's anything wrong with Korea (err at least the southern half,) it's just not my heritage).

I have a couple friends in Japan, we've discussed food before.

my issue? never ONCE have I EVER seen, heard, or used the word Umami to describe something as being delicious (for that matter never before have I seen the word period).

No the terms I know Umai (pronounced oo (as in you) mai (as in my)) or in more informal (and more commonly in my experience) was Oishi! (pronounced Oy (as in Oy-vey) Shi (as in she)).

I listened to the commercial (it was long enough it was repeated Several times) to make sure I didn't mis-heard (I hadn't) after not finding it in the normal translating dictionary I use, I looked it up online and sure enough, it does mean what the commercial claims it does...

of course with a commercial like this:

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised...

Side note regarding just mentioned commercial you will hear them use Oishi in the background song about 21 seconds into it... Umami nowhere to be found.

Oh and speaking of commercials... I don't know about the video itself, but I know that the song was a diddy for the company, because I remember the show me, shoyou line... and I'm not going to link it here, it's too disturbing and that way you can't blame me for getting it in your head.

o.O

2009-02-18T10:22:00.002-05:00

i got the following video from Ryan Hollingsworth's post on the creative side of Pastor Furtick's blog (used by the Elevation creative Staff).

Now STOP! before clicking play or viewing this video I am obligated to warn you that this film has been rated PIADRRAYDDDTVSCIEMRL or Possible Insane Asian Doing Really Random And Yet Decidedly Disturbing Dances To Various Song Clips In Even More Random Locations... and for the wise-guys on my own creative team, no I am NOT related to this guy, who has way more guts than i do to post something like this on the net.

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

Decompression....

2009-02-13T16:05:00.001-05:00

How do you relax after stressing yourself out?
Case in point, I love what I do for and with Lifepoint Church, and seeing people come to relationship with Christ is the most meaningful and significant thing I can imagine, but it doesn't make the morning any less stressful.

So what do you do to decompress? I've asked this question to several people, one said they like to relax with beer (no, not someone at Lifepoint), other's said they like to go and play basketball for a few hours, some read, for one it's just a nice hot relaxing shower, I knew (well i guess i still know him, though I haven't seen or talked to him since High School) who'd paint (like throw the paint on the canvas), and I've got it on good authority that Chocolate is an excellent stress reliever...

For me it's always been writing and even more so music, but even the type of music will very by my mood, even in decompressing, sometimes I like to listen to something relaxing, other times I need something driving... tonight's been rather ecliptic, let me give you the last 10 artists I've cycled through in my playlist:

No Doubt
Maroon 5
Mark Schultz
Michelle Branch
Nana Mizuki
Mikuni Shimokawa
New LIfe Worship
New York Voices
New Radicals
Nightwish

So that's a rather large skip in genre (if you're wondering, I just grabbed the m and n folders and tossed them into winamp and hit shuffle)

So what do you do to decompress?

Does this strike you as wrong?

2009-02-03T06:50:00.000-05:00

I like so many of my contemporaries am a big fan of moleskine notebooks, they're awesome for a quick note jot, or sketch an idea out... so when I saw this on the blogroll this morning, my immediate response was... that's just wrong...

Nice...

2009-01-29T08:46:00.000-05:00

Pulled this from Worship Trench this morning,

Blessing...

2009-01-26T15:05:00.002-05:00

Something we did at Lifepoint Yesterday, the people who participated (as they do so) are posting their stories here, check it out.

Planning Center Tutorial 1 of ?

2009-01-21T09:10:00.001-05:00

If you use Planning center here's a quick tutorial on how to block out days you won't be available.

How to Block out dates in Planning Center from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.

Watch for...

2009-01-19T06:03:00.001-05:00

These web-services are on my use/try to get others to use/next big thing

General Productivity
Google Reader: My choice for an RSS reader, it's simple, it's mobile, (Ie you log into your google account and can access it from anywhere), it handles the several hundred different blogs I'm subscribed too (no i don't read every article every day) very efficiently.

Twitter: Is there anyone out there who reads blogs who hasn't heard of twitter yet? A "microblogging" service, also great for updating status on facebook and others.

Yammer: Picture if you will, a microblogging service, (ala twitter) that's built for a private network, a place where team members in various areas can post questions and comments about current and upcoming events, to other team members. Well it's here and it's called yammer, private networks are setup by email addresses, ie yourname(at)yourcompanynamehere.com , it also works with sms (text) or web posting (just like twitter).

Tokbok: I first found out about tokbox from Los's (Ragamuffin Soul)'s blog It's a live video chat service which can have multiple people video conferencing at once, plus, you can record and send video emails.

Facebook: Facebook social networking? maybe, but one thing that it's done (and done well) is put me back in touch with people from my school days (cough cough) years ago.

Fun stuff
Audiorium: THIS is the freeware physics game to watch for in my opinion, beautifully scored and rendered, and interesting to play, i'm waiting for them to release a soundtrack, I think the audio draws me in more then the actual gameplay at times...

More Cowbell Dj: Remember the Saturday night live sketch? Well so do the guys at cowbell dj, put a song up mess with a couple of sliders, and doink, your very own need more cowbell.

Generatus: Officially billed as "Social Network Status Generator" with the Tag, (Ideal for the imaginatively challenged), You've got to love something that automatically comes up with "Matt does for rock and roll what "The Sound of Music" did for hills"

Image Mosaic Generator: You've seen those pictures of something made up of thousand of tiny little images right? same concept upload a picture and it does the rest, it does choose it's own images to create yours from so that can end up being rather random but it's still a neat effect.

Random posts with commentary...

2009-01-14T09:48:00.001-05:00

Well when I first saw this, i hadn't realized that it was ONN and not CNN, which led to some confusion and later laughs. Though one line they have in there is true, "I'll buy almost anything if it's shiny and made by apple" as i'm surrounded by mac users at LC (And no, I'm not a mac hater)...

Forget Napster, of Kazaa, or whatever it is that they're going after these days, the mpaa and riaa need to go after China, and they're not the only ones! Copyrights (and human rights if you really want to get right down to it) violations are rampant in the worlds most populous nation.

Pastor Furtick from Elevation Church nails something that I'm still working on in this post.

Pete Wilson from Crosspoint posted a link to THIS post, which i found to be very insightful.

And speaking of insightful Perry Noble from Newspring has a three part post on what the Church can learn from the Auto industry Here, here and here.

Ben Arment hits a point on getin creative here.

Craig Groeschel of lifechurch has an amazing (if short) post here, reminding us hat it takes all kinds for the body... but my favorite line from his post is

He can use Baptist Christians, Methodist Christians, Episcopal Christians, and Spirit-filled tongue talking Holy Ghost rollin’ Christians

I'm actually working on a separate post in which I'll reference Craig's post, but for now,

VB

2009-01-10T15:40:00.002-05:00

No, not Vacation Bible, not Visual Basic either.... but Volunteer Banquet, last night was Lifepoint's first annual Volunteer Banquet it was an amazing time, the staff went all out in showing their appreciation for the volunteer and volunteer staff of the church. Guest speaker Jonathon Falwell gave a great talk, Birch and Z our guest musicians from Christ Fellowship in Miami were awesome, and the food!

If you volunteer at Lifepoint I hope you felt as appreciated as I did, and if you're a staffer, thanks for an amazing night!

... and I'm off tomorrow I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself! And speaking of tomorrow, you do NOT want to miss tomorrow morning's worship set, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter.

New years Revolutions...

2008-12-29T13:51:00.004-05:00

It happens every year, you know, I know it. Every January first everyone decides to make some changes in their lives, ie: People decide that their New Year's Resolution is to loose weight so they go join a gym, two month's later they're still paying on their contract and haven't been there since January 9th.

Let's face it, it's part of human nature to fail on our new year's resolutions, look up the definition of resolution and in regards to how we use for new year's you'll read something along the lines of "a formal expression of opinion or intention made", it's making a decision to change something in your life, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing to do that. To decide to make a change in your life is a great thing, but how's this for an idea, instead of just deciding to make that change... how about ACTUALLY making that change, why not, instead of making a new years resolution, make a New year's Revolution?

Looking up the definition of revolution, and sure you'll find it's a turn, it's also a political coup, but more importantly a revolution is a sudden, radical, or complete change. Isn't that what so many of us need in our lives?

Happy New Years to everyone,
Matt

mac vs. pc 2.0

2008-12-23T09:52:00.001-05:00

You know those I'm a mac, i'm a pc commercials? (And visa-versa for the ones that microsoft put out)

yeah well this blows then all away.

on baited breath....

2008-12-23T07:41:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow night is our Christmas Eve service at Lifepoint (Chancellor High School Auditorium, 6:30pm), not counting tomorrow itself here's how many hour that has gone into it.

Planning: 50 man hours
Music Preparation: 67.75 man hours
Video/Tech preparation: 16 man hours (est)

And all this before the actual service tomorrow.
133.75 man hours or almost 17 working days of work straight, and like last year this is only counting the actual meeting times, this isn't taking in countless hours that our staff and volunteers have exerted on their own. That number will easily triple tomorrow.

Why?

It's simple really.

Tomorrow night people will arrive. Some of them may have been invited by a Lifepoint regular, some might have just seen one of our banner or road signs. some might be on the verge of divorce, some might be about to give up for good, some might be at a church service for the first time in their life, some might be there for the only chance they're giving this thing called church, some might be hurting inside, some may have emotional scars, some may have a terminal disease, many will not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

That is why Lifepoint exists, To reach people far from Christ, so they can experience God's plan for their lives, and that's we we joyfully pour the hours in for a night like tomorrow. Because they Christmas story is truly the joy story for us.

A Christmas Miracle?

2008-12-21T23:07:00.002-05:00

Firefight: Miracle no one died on Denver Runway

Check this post out!

2008-12-18T12:14:00.003-05:00

Mike Harrison has a good post on giving here.

I guess the subject is at the forefront of my mind having just ready the go-giver, which is an awesome book you should read, yes you, right there, the one in front of the monitor. Go out a get a copy, in fact, get two and then give one away!

More posts to follow later.

Reason # 2 why I want an iphone...

2008-12-15T14:35:00.003-05:00

because this app just looks to be so much fun for anyone musically inclined.

Does that make it middle aged?

2008-12-09T14:06:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday to the mouse, turns 40 today!

This is more for the Lifepoint staff...

2008-12-09T11:48:00.003-05:00

than it is for me, I think between our staff members we have two iphones, and multiple crack.... err black berries, ran across these today and thought they might be neat little apps to have on the phones.

The Bible for iphone
Likewise for the blackberry

what?

2008-12-07T19:54:00.003-05:00

Somehow this is both kind of sad... and not surprising to me in the least... but apparently "Online game World of Warcraft now offers more secure authentication than nearly every online banking system the average consumer can access"

Are you kidding me? All this for a video game? okay I understand how popular and widely used this game is played... I even know there are people who have made millions (literally, it's kind of scary) by playing in game and sell junk via third parties... insane I know... but still, this is a bit much isn't it?

Nice....

2008-12-05T14:40:00.002-05:00

Josh just posted the new bumper for Lifepoint's series for Christmas, Adventus: The coming.

Watch it here

Fresh off lifehacker

2008-12-05T14:34:00.003-05:00

http://lifehacker.com/5101972/most-underhyped-apps-of-2008

I haven't tried all of these yet (though i will be) I can personally vouch for VLC, songbird, Opera, open Office (though I haven't upgraded to version 3 yet) and Picassa

What in the world?

2008-12-05T12:10:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, hope you had a safe and happy thanksgiving... stumbled onto this via one of the creative blogs... you know that old expression about artist's suffering?

a moment of randomness....

2008-11-26T11:11:00.001-05:00

sorry a couple real posts coming sooon, but for now please enjoy a look a "Christian Jelly Bellies" over at SCL

... I want one of these...

2008-11-13T10:29:00.003-05:00

Okay so it was like they took a bunch of photographers and videographers and put them in a room full of legos and geeks....

and thus I want one!

Sorry for the lack of informative posts lately.

Very Random

2008-11-11T11:35:00.001-05:00

In an effort to help promote energy independence and global initiative we here at Fudi's blog would like to present a new way to SAVE MONEY in these hard times, yes with energy costs on the rise a new champion of freedom is needed and I've decided to spear head the cause, join now and for a mere 25 million dollars you two can own your own nuclear power plant!

makes me want an iphone...

2008-11-07T08:13:00.000-05:00

okay now this is cool....

http://gizmodo.com/5079308/the-iphone-ocarina-link-never-would-have-allowed-this

I needed the laugh this morning...

2008-10-31T08:27:00.001-04:00

I got this off Greg Atkinson's blog this morning and I got a kick out of it... don't be surprised if you get automated replies from me from now on...

Best Out of Office Replies by Jeremy Wright

1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.

2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.

3. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from holiday on 4 April. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.

4. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged £5.99 for the first ten words and £1.99 for each additional word in your message.

5. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and trysending again. (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over and over).

6. Thank you for your message, which has been adde d to a queuing system… You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.

7. I’ve run away to join a different circus.

8. I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons… When I return, please refer to me as “Margaret” instead of “Steve”.

*** I don’t know about you, but I’ve needed a laugh lately. I thank Eric for always having a smile and a joke ready. Number 1 is my personal favorite. So what can you come up with? Got a number 9 and 10 reply?

Stories and statistics

2008-10-23T12:26:00.007-04:00

I couldn't tell you where I stole this line from, but I'm fairly confident I didn't come up with it myself... for now I'll give credit to the unknown source, but eventually I'll get to the point where I'll take credit for this expression, but here it is.

Behind every statistic is a story

Looking at the church overall, and speaking from personal experience, I know that all too often people look at easily track-able numbers like attendance when it comes to looking at our statistics as a church to see "How we're doing". While this isn't the case at Lifepoint, I do know at churches I have been to in the past the focus seemed to be on attendance, and in force of habit, on occasion I have found myself regressing to see how we did on a Sunday by attendance, instead of focusing on things like that are nowhere near as easy to track such as salvations, baptisms, and/or as how we like to put it, Life Change.

But if you look at it even with attendance, how often do we really pay attention to what those numbers actually mean?

Every one of those "numbers" is a person with a story, that person? you know the one who was number four hundred ninety nine, do you know their story? do you know that their family was in discord before they started coming to Church and that it's made such a huge impact in their lives? What about person number four? They're the one who didn't want anything to do with God or church before a friend dragged them in (kicking and screaming) and now after encountering God their life has turned around and they're not only here every week, but helping with setup and now, bringing their friends!

What about volunteer number 49? They're the one who had been burned by "Religion" and was done with church, who never knew a church like this could exist, where the purpose is to reach people far from Christ, and now are back on fire for the Lord?

Or Kid number 87, who's parents brought them to kidspoint for the first time, who finally was told the gospel in a way that made sense to a 3rd grader and changed their life forever...

Those kind of stories go WAY beyond simple numbers, and this post is more of a mental reminder to myself than to anyone else and really help to drive that point home, maybe you're the Pastor of a Megachurch with over 3k in weekly attendance, or maybe your the choir director of a church that has more people in the choir then on the pews... is Life change happening at your church? What are the stories behind some of your statistics?

Got RSS?

2008-10-22T15:26:00.002-04:00

If you follow more than one blog regularly (or in my case if you read like over 3 dozen blogs), then you might find using an rss reader very handy... there are quite a few out there, but the one I've found that seems to work for me is google reader, it's nicely tied into google, (which I use for a variety of things, ironically not so much for searching).

How it works:
Well it does take some time to set up, you have to add the blogs you follow, you can search by accounts if you know them, or do search strings for certain ones... or if you're lucky the blog you read has a "RSS" feed button...

Once it's set up, it pulls feeds (articles) directly from the blogs you've set it up with in one hand y to read from spot so you don' have to go hopping from website to website.

For example, before I started using google reader I had a small cycle... I'd first open my own blog (occasionally to update it) and then from there I'd hit the links to jump over to Pastor's blog, from his I went to Jeremy's from pick's Id go to josh's then from Josh I'd jump back to mine to hit either Northpoints, or Wade's.

Now I open up google reader and if there any new posts from any of the above mentioned plus 30 or so more there all in one centralized location.

if anyone has some questions on rss readers feel free to post them here.

~Matt

We Don't need no stinking measuring spoon...

2008-10-20T12:47:00.002-04:00

If you spend enough time in the kitchen, you eventually arrive at the point where you can "eyeball" certain measurements, (watch any cooking show, unless it's Alton Brown, odds are you won't see a measuring soon). (For the record I'm nowhere near that point). r

Well I found this little nifty game, for those who like to "eyeball" certain angles and such..., enjoy, as for me I'll stick with the spoons.

Pranking to bless...

2008-10-20T08:57:00.002-04:00

Lifepoint Staff Retreat Prank from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.

So a little bit of explanation... about the video you just saw, or are now watching, is the work of a small group of us who wanted to both uplift, and prank the staff of Lifepoint church... the cans in front of the office doors are the preferred soda of each occupant, and who doesn't like candy? The one thing that didn't translate to video well was the smell... something like five pounds of double bubble gum was scattered about and the scent hits you right at the door.

Sorry about the poor quality of the video, all I had was my litle cannon sure shot digital camera which shoots 30 seconds of video at a time.

Aggravation...

2008-10-17T14:56:00.003-04:00

Is there actually anyone out there stupid enough for to fall for this? And if there is do you feel sorry for them, or feel like they got what they deserved for falling for something like this...

First off, the typos... (though to be fair this one has far less then the ones that normally arrive in my inbox)

Second of all, if it were to be true (it's not, bear in mind) than by accepting this you would be guilty of some massive tax fraud/evasion/etc... keep in mind that They didn't bag Al Capone for murder, racketeering or any kind of crime syndication, but they nailed him for tax violations... (That's where the IRS gets it's fearsome reputation).

By the way if you read this blog and you've actually tried to do one of these things.... please don't tell me, I will think less of you.

Hello Dear,

I have Paid the fee for your Cheque Draft.but the manager of Eko Bankn
Benin told me that before the check will get to you that it will expire.So
i told him to cash $2 Million USA DOLLar all the necessary arrangement
of delivering the
$2 Million USA DOLLar in cash was made with FEDEX COURIER COMPANY.

This is the information they need to delivery your package to you.with
FEDEX COURIER COMPANY, contact them now.

NAME: FEDEX COURIER COMPANY.
ATTENTION: PERSON: JIMI ANDERSON.
POSITION: FOREIGN DELIVERY DEPARTMENT.
ADDRESS: COTONOU BENIN REPUBLIC
E-MAIL:fedexcouriercompany432@gmail.com
PHONE NUMBER: +229-9317-8953

Please, Send them your contacts information to able them locate you
immediately they arrived in your country with your BOX .This is what they
need from you.

1.YOUR FULL NAME
2.YOUR HOME ADDRESS.
3.YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER.
4.YOUR CURRENT OFFICE TELEPHONE.
5.YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER.
6.A COPY OF YOUR PICTURE

Note that this is there E-mail contact is (fedexcouriercompany432@gmail.com)

Please make sure you send this needed info's to the Director general of
FEDEX COURIER COMPANY BENIN REPUBLIC,DR.JERRY COOK with the address given
to you.

Note. The FEDEX COURIER COMPANY don't know the contents of the Box. I
registered it as a Box of an African cloths. They don't know it contents
money, this is to avoid them delaying with the Box.don't let them know
that is money that is in that Box.

Thanks and Remain Blessed.
MARK ROBERT(ESQ)

Has anyone seen?

2008-10-17T11:31:00.001-04:00

I was thinking about going to watch an American Carol tonight, has anyone seen it? Is it worth the ticket price?

Healing to do healer...

2008-10-15T10:40:00.002-04:00

I still distinctly remember how i felt when I first heard the song "Healer" by Mike Guglielmucci, I also (VERY distinctly) remember how disgusted I felt when I heard the truth behind the story. But, as Pick has pointed out to me on more than one occasion (mainly when I'm arguing about doing a performance song) is that Truth is truth, whether it's coming from an old hymn or a Train song. And after a bit of consideration I've come to accept that regardless of the means of promoting the song, there is strong truth to it, and it's an amazing worship song.

However, with far better words and scriptural backing allow me to share with you an email I received from one of our band members about using this song in worship, I've left out name references as i didn't ask this person permission to share this on the blog, but as awesome as this email was I wanted to share it.

Man you sure know how to make a guy think...

When we were talking about this song at practice that night - about how the Hillsong guy Mike whatshisname lived a lie, promoted the song with his fake illness, the unbelieveable audacity of a very well-known Worship Leader to so distort everything related to the situation, I had no desire to ever do the song at all and said so that night. When I saw the Planning Center notification this morning, I "reviewed" the service to see what we were doing. I saw the song listed and the pit of stomach balled up in a humongous knot. I was getting ready to click the "Decline" button when something (had to be God) told me to wait. I then remembered something in Phillippians I had read before in my personal reading etc. Here's the passage...

Phillipians 1:15-18 (NIV)
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.[c] 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

I didn't remember anything false in the lyrics, but I listened to them again to make sure and yes there is truth in the song.

I went to planning center again and clicked the accept button. I'm just thankful the Lord and the Holy Spirit kept the promise from John 14 about the Comforter (Holy Spirit) being with us to bring to our rememberance everything He has taught us.

The reason I'm spelling all this out for you is in case someone else has doubts about the song feel free to share how God helped me.

Just don't expect to see the song on my "favorites" playlist :-)

I personally felt "ministered" to by this email and if you're a worship leader out there, or someone who's job is to find new worship music and you've been struggling with this song as much as I have I hope this helps you out.

God bless,
~Matt

Momentum....

2008-10-14T13:42:00.003-04:00

Tonight's the momentum meeting for some of our Volunteer leaders and coordinators. Having been off yesterday I had the chance to spend some time in the office while they were planing part of the meeting, It's going to be an awesome night, full of inspiration and information to help us invest in our teams so that we can reach this community.

things that make me go hmmm....

2008-10-06T20:21:00.000-04:00

I'm a conservative person, I mean that from a financial, political and social stand point.

So with all this bailing out going on, I got quite a kick out of this "Birk plan" I don't know if you've seen it so here is a copy of it.

Subject: The Birk Economic Recovery Plan
Hi Pals,

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in
favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at
adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals
$425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It
Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

A husband and wife has $595,000.00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college - it'll be there
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Moms and Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.
Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .
And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam. Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
Kindest personal regards,

T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic
PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

Now before we even consider expanding this for 700 billion, let's look at it this way....

Where did the 85 billion dollars come from in the first place? Think about it, $425,000 to every person 18+ (Before taxes) had to come from somewhere, or they (as the Government just absorbed it, either by introducing more money into the market, thus decreasing the inherit value of the dollar, or by just taking it as part of the federal budget (snort).

I'm no economist by any stretch of the imagination but to me it stands to reason, if the Government bring in money through taxation... wouldn't that mean that the 425,000 that would have been paid out to every person 18+ is now being PAID by every person 18+, I know what you're thinking, but Matt, the Government will levy taxes on those big corporations, like the oil companies, they'll just sock the money from big oil...

Well where does big oil get it's money? Government taxes One Company (let's just use Exxon as an example) for 10 billion in some sort of new tax? Exxon just shrugs and adjusts the price of every gallon being sold to make up for it. So who ends up paying for that in the end?

And since when has the Government ever been able to take over something and then produce better then the private sector? If you don't include the military I think the score is 0 and counting.

Case in point: The Post office, if the Postal Service runs so well, why do people pay fed-ex and UPS, and DHL instead of just going to the post office?

Okay, this might be more like it....

2008-10-06T14:41:00.002-04:00

So last weekend (the one before this past one) I had the awesome opportunity to go down to Elevation Church with Ben (Our Kidspoint director) and Chris (Our Foyer team director/coordinator), I met a ton of awesome people, seriously their staff just rocks!

And I had a great time sitting in with their worship team meeting, what do I mean? Well check out these videos done by Wes (their Producer) and you'll see what I mean.

I need some bleach for my brain...

2008-10-06T11:31:00.004-04:00

STOP
Before you watch the following please note that I found it in a thread topic WORST Worship ever! But this is my answer to Clark always playing the Sonseed video.

So True!

2008-09-25T07:35:00.002-04:00

Read this over at Los' blog, so true... well I couldn't relate to everything, but most of it, and definitely the spirit of it.

Sorry for not posting much, been very busy this week, mostly been twittering,

Lifeshare!

2008-09-21T21:05:00.000-04:00

Life worship tonight online at Lifeshare, Join us, you've got some time left!

Who knew....

2008-09-19T13:50:00.002-04:00

Okay admit, if you've spent any time online... and let's be honest, if you're reading this blog you're someone who has, you're probably familiar with emoticons.

Now some people reading this probably don't realize what I mean by that term, emoticons are those little :-) that people use instead of words, or use to convey emotions, (Hence: Emotion Icons, or Emoticons). Most of us have used them at one point or another, it seems like they've been around for as long as the internet has... well not quite but almost, ran across THIS ARTICLE from wired about the history of them, or at least the origins.

Lifeshare JOIN US!!!!

2008-09-18T21:15:00.002-04:00

LIFESHARE!

For the next 5 days, join us at 9:00pm on the east coast!

Lifeshare

2008-09-17T21:00:00.001-04:00

The Payout...

2008-09-12T15:30:00.001-04:00

Recently (well a week-ish) ago I had the chance to talk to Pastor about the payout for volunteers. Looking at what was it that got our teams to do the amazing things that they do, looking at what they do is nothing short of phenomenal, but why?

Why would people give up their Sunday (Morning for some, whole day for a few others) why would they make time during their week doing things for free that would astonish most people. Why do a few put 20+ hours a week into this?

Submitted for your approval (Yes with the accent): a few reasons why our Volunteer army does what it does. This list isn't all-inclusive in fact its quite short, and I'm sure that there are a lot of things that people would say that aren't on this list... but I'm the one blogging here and this is what I managed to come up with.

Reason number one: Bigger than yourself, AKA wanting to belong to something. People join many organization, or volunteer for community services because they like to be a part of something that it bigger than just them.

Reason number two: Emotional beneficiary, AKA That warm fuzzy feeling. A lot of people get a warm and fuzzy feeling for doing things for others.

Reason number three (and this is the real one I told pastor that I thought the pay out was for our volunteers): Life change, AKA grabbing the net. Or I could say buying into the vision.

Lifepoint is about one thing, reaching people far from Christ so that they can experience God's plan for their life.

That's what I think most of our volunteers get as their payout, we get the humbling honor to see peoples lives change. The day we talked about this I realized that we've seen more people take a radical step of faith and forever change their eternal destination than we started this church with, THIS YEAR ALONE, and we've got 4 months to go before the year is over, I don't think there is anything out there that compares to a payout like this, and I daresay that there isn't a single core volunteer who would disagree with me.

Lifeshare

2008-09-12T15:01:00.002-04:00

So I'm not 100% sure what I just got myself into...

But it looks like it's gonna be a wild and fund ride, so be ready!
Lifeshare a 7 day online challenge!

Warning: YARAD (Yet Another Rant About Driving)

2008-09-12T07:31:00.002-04:00

Right I've been working on an actual quality post for the last couple days, but that'll have to wait.

Dear Dude driving in the fast lane...

I consider myself to be a safe driver, if one who prefers to drive a bit faster than one probably should. That being said I've always a few ground rules that I am meticulous about when driving.

The one that applies to this case is this, the left lane, oft referred to as the fast lane is for people who want to drive fast. As such the bare minimum speed to drive in this lane is the actual posted speed limit... (Side Note: As such as long as someone is at LEAST driving the speed limit I'll cut them a break even if they are in the fast lane.) Having said all that, allow me to continue my rant...

I understand that, despite having state tags you may not be from this area and thus you may not be familiar with the area and as such may have missed that rather large 55 miles an hour sign that was RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. (Okay deep breath) I also know that the big field used for the equestrians when they have a horse show going on is really interesting, though I would think that it might be more so when there is actually something going on rather then a big empty field. Even though it's on the RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD and NOT ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD KNOWN AS THE FAST LANE (Sorry).

So even taking all of that under consideration, you were passed by a SCHOOL BUS! That's right the big yellow cheese wagon with LIMITERS was going faster than you! And the final problem I had was after the long uphill climb (during which you finally eclipsed said school bus) you did not get out of the fast lane, no you decided to once again slow down and let them catch up... I'm just grateful that the school bus driver noticed my obvious ire, (Perhaps the fact I was banging my head into my window was an indication) and allowed me to pass.

By the way have you ever noticed that anyone who drives faster than you is an idiot and anyone who drives slower is a moron?

*No I did not actually bang my head into the window, nor did I do anything else to actually indicate that I was ready to run someone off the road this morning, if anything I'm rather proud of myself for NOT getting offensive in my driving, it was however extremely frustrating to be passed by a school bus...

Kaizen!

2008-08-26T21:05:00.003-04:00

Is what I would use to describe our approach into creating an engaging worship environment, actually it's something that I would use to describe anyone on Lifepoint's staff (Both volunteer and paid). It's something that's part of our staff culture.

So what is Kaizen? (Okay, I know some of you are googling it at the moment, so I'll wait). So now you know, at least I hope you do, for everyone one else who was waiting for my explanation allow me to enlighten you.

Kaizen, the literal translation for this term means improvement, however to the Japanese (irksome glare in the general direction of everyone on the Drive Conference... especially Clark, with the possible exceptions of Kristen, Ben and Ronnie) the word goes much deeper, it's a term for a continuous (unending perhaps) quest for excellence. It looks at every part of an organization and analyzes not only the the results, but also the process that brought them about, and is always looking for ways to improve the systems.

I remember reading about PDCA Plan Do Check Adjust, and that's something that takes place every week at Lifepoint, every week we plan the service (okay actually a few weeks out now, but work with me on this!) We then do the service, the following Monday we Check (review) how it went, and the Adjust our next Plan for the following week, we not only look at the results, (Life changes via salvation's, baptisms, etc...) but on what went into the service that produced said results.

Applied to daily life it's a quest for personal excellence in all aspects of life. One part of my life I know that I apply Kaizen to is drumming, I'm always studying different techniques grips, etc (which is actually what lead to me learning the tradition grip that I often use).

Content, but never satisfied, a never ending quest for excellence... How can you apply the philosophy of Kaizen into your life?

Is it really on your side?

2008-08-26T18:49:00.004-04:00

Here at Lifepoint we're gearing up for our fall semester with the kick-off series "One Month to Live" and the series in general has gotten me thinking, how often do we think of our lives as a clock where the hands go continuously around in a circle. It's understandable to think like that as we go about our lives on a daily basis, but it's perhaps more proper to consider time in the frame of an hourglass.

As maudlin as it sounds, we all have an appointment to die, (baring the rapture but that's a whole 'nother post)and every day we get closer to that appointment, our time on this earth isn't infinite so the hands of a clock going in a circle isn't as good an illustration of our time as the sands that fall from an hourglass.

I had the opportunity to hear Willie Jolley speak a few years ago and I still remember how he began his talk, it's a poem that has, and probably will stay with me for the rest of my life, "I have only just a minute, only sixty seconds in it, forced upon can't refuse it, didn't seek it didn't choose it, But it's up to me to use it, I must suffer if I loose it, give account if I abuse it, Just a tiny little minute but an eternity is in it"

So what are you doing with the time that's been given to you? 525,600 minutes in a year (With all due respect to the song) how did you spend yours?

Failing Forward

2008-08-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

Author and speaker John C. Maxwell talks about the difference between ultimate success and lack thereof has to do with our view of and response to failure... and mind you that's paraphrased and not a direct quote as I read the book several months (A year?) ago.

That being said, I realized I've dropped a huge ball, and it's not something I've done, it's rather something I haven't really done.

One thing we talked about in our Volunteer staff meeting this morning is that there's more to our jobs than just the systems we have in place, Like what are we pouring into the people on our teams?

After chewing on that thought all morning at work, I'm not quite sure that I really have spent time getting to know the folks on my team beyond the superficial "See you at Practice on Thursday/Church on Sunday" check that I'm actually quite sure that I HAVEN'T spent any time really getting to know the amazing people on my team.

I can't tell you how many kids that everyone has, or what they're names are, and it's not like getting to know people is that hard to do, or something that I don't already know, I once read (and I honestly couldn't tell you where) is that we usually know what we're doing wrong, we just need reminders of it from time to time.

Failure on my part? No doubt, response to said failure? Well beyond the immediate "duh" reaction of hey stupid get to know your people I'm still staring at my screen trying to think of things...

So.... If you're on the worship team expect to be having coffee or something in the not-to-distant future, or heck maybe I just need to schedule something fun for the whole team to enjoy doing... hmmm that gives me a couple ideas....

The point of this post? (shrug) I'm not sure perhaps things for other people in my position as a reminder to TAKE THE TIME to get to know your team, or perhaps for my AMAZING worship teams (yes plural) to let you all know that I've been slacking, but I want you guys (and gals) to know I love y'all (egads I live in the south!) and respect your talents, time and ministry, I can say without hesitation that the practices we have and Sunday Mornings (and nights?) are the highlights of my week.

Or in other words...
Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.

Getting to know you,
Putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely,
My cup of tea.

EVERYBODY!

Getting to know you,
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you,
Getting to know what to say

Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day.

Sorry that was corny I admit it, but my point still stands.
Right, lunch break is over, back to work.

You've got to be kidding me.

2008-08-22T16:19:00.000-04:00

So Clark and I have this little game we do to amuse ourselves, if someone says something really stupid we ask Public or Private, meaning did they go to a public school or a private school.

So what do you think, Public or Private?

Way too much fun!

2008-08-22T12:31:00.003-04:00

What am I talking about? Well allow me to give you an example... good luck following it...

For all you Grammar (And spelling) Nazi's out there, this one's for you...

I tend to be very loquacious when it comes to penning, or perhaps now typing my thoughts, some people talk a lot, I write fairly decent amount I think... Despite my claims (which are yet to be proven untrue) of being the most wordy blogger on the Staff,I've got nothing on some of the other bloggers I think most (If not all of us) follow. And I know that my information and random thoughts aren't always useful to everyone but I try to do some relevant posts on a semi-regular basis... which does remind me that I haven't done one that recently so I supposed I should get to work on that.

There that didn't look to bad right? Well now shudder at how it looks now!

i tend too b hella loquaciouz wen itz comeses tew penning, ore perhaps nao typing miy thoughts, sum ppl tok lot, i riteses fairly decent ammount i fink... dispite mah claims (wich am yet 2 bee proven untrue) beeun thee mos wordy blogger oan da staff,i've haz nothing onna som o' de othr bloggers i thikns most (iffn nawt al of us) follow. an i kno dat my informsion & random thoughts aren't always useful too everyone butt i trai to do sum relevant posts oan an semi-regular basis... witch doez remind mi taht i haven't dun wun dat recently zo i suppost i shud git to wokr on taht..

Just having some fun with-- unintelligencer.com

Geek Talk....

2008-08-20T06:38:00.000-04:00

That's right this post is for people who aren't afraid to admit their geeks!
(And yes you apple fan-boys, you're included by default in this)... for that matter if you even reading blogs to begin with chances are you're a geek... (hmmmm that gives me ideas for a Jeff Foxworthy-ish post "You might be a geek if...")

So anyways here's a few interesting geek stories that I've found and decided to share with you, that's right you, the one sitting down over there reading this

So yeah I'd like an iphone but... these are just cool... way cool imagine a world where people go from talking on their cellphone to playing in a Jazz (insert world relevant to the number of people around you) in seconds! And it's not just limited to jazz, (though that was the first thought that popped into my mind).

So this is something right out of a movie... and while it's cool it's also kind of creepy. So move aside pixar Emily's kung-fu is stronger than yours. Watch the video in the link, it's got to be seen to be believed.

Finally putting that road space to good use... Of course then you run into the problem of what to do during a cloudy day... But sure no one wants to hear MY theories of a magnetic induction generator, though there is the problem of needing a ten jigawatt flux capacitor...

Though speaking of roads reminds me that I still need to get a new gps unit... Oh look here's one, how convenient and... KIT is that you? wow GPS AND a slice of my childhood all wrapped up in one convienent package. Directions to anywhere even Beijing...

And speaking of Beijing, unless you live under a rock I'm sure you know that the Olympics are going on right now. Well apparently even up in the Satelite Of Love they're aware of what's going on....

Changing it up...

2008-08-18T09:23:00.002-04:00

I've modified setup for the church drum kit a bit...
switched out the 13" Tama for my personal 10" Grestch (Tom)
Switched out the 13" piccolo snare for the 14" Tama with fat cat strands.... Let me say for the record that I LOVE what these new snare strands have done to my sound. It really makes the snare pop.
Cymbal setup it pretty much the same, but I added a clasped in place hi-hat, it makes it easier for me to hit a couple grooves when I don't have to worry about the l/r cross factor... and it's easier (I know cheap cop-out) than me trying to learn how to play open handed (which is on my list to do!)
I'll have to post a picture when I get a chance to take one again.

This is Lifepoint?

2008-08-13T08:38:00.001-04:00

We have a staff culture at Lifepoint of Passion, Generosity and Honor, but there's an unwritten fourth part of that and that's having fun!

Here's a little video that the staff did introducing our two newest staff (not to be confused with volunteer staff) members, showing that yes, we do indeed have fun with the little camera thingy that comes with a mac.

And yes, they do actually do work most of the time, at least they are every time I've gone by the office.

Lessons Learned...

2008-08-08T11:12:00.001-04:00

Okay, so this post is going to both the Lifepoint Worship blog, (Check it out if you haven't yet) and my personal blog (Which again, I would encourage you to checkout if you haven't seen it yet).

But as this past week we did an acoustic worship set there are few lesson's I've learned as music director that I'd like to pass along to you.

Point number one: It's really important to be off stage and evaluating worship on a regular basis. (Ironically Reid just talked about this on North Point's music blog, the same day I talked to Pick about the issue).

Point number two: Acoustic sets, are well recieved by the people attending the service (at least the few we've done have been), however, they are much harder on the music team.

Point number three: When you normally have a male worship leader, and switch to a female lead do not forget that every song will need to be re-keyed, and allow lead time for this to happen rather than wait for practice to role around.

We've had other churches come to see how we do things at Lifepoint and one person commented that it seemed like we had it all figured out, well we don't but we're always learning how to do things better, (hmm this gives me an idea for another post),

We Interrupt this regulary scheduled blog to bring you...

2008-08-06T10:48:00.000-04:00

As probably the most active (and unquestionably the most verbose) Blogger in the Lifepoint Staff, (Both Volunteer and paid staff) I also try to keep current on what other churches and ministries are up to. As such I follow many other blogs, only some of which I have in my blog list.

The results of the above are occasionally I link to another blog for information or insight, or something of that nature. Today, though I just wanted to share something that I thought was really flipping (and by use of the term "flipping" I am merely attempting to state that this goes way beyond the term awesome) awesome.

As perhaps not everyone at Lifepoint knows (But will if they read this post) we are part of a network of churches (Ground Level Network) The church spearheading this is Elevation Pastored by Pastor Furtick. They are hugely impacting their community and have invested a lot into Lifepoint Church.

So back to the reason for this post, I was reading Wade Joy's Blog (Elevation's Worhsip Pastor) and found THIS POST, and then went to Pastor Furticks Blog and Read THIS POST and I got excited. and I mean excited, why? Read and see for yourself!

Testing... (tap, tap, Tap)

2008-08-05T11:43:00.001-04:00

Testing a new program for blogging called Zoundry Raven, it's a portable application (that fits on a flash drive) and allows me to write and save my blog posts, and then post them to multiple blogs (which I run) at the same time...

So this is a test to see if it's working correctly .

I get no respect...

2008-08-05T10:24:00.001-04:00

See? (You'll need to go down to bullet points)

Minor changes, Major results...

2008-08-02T13:36:00.001-04:00

It's amazing what a huge effect you can get from a small change... well on second thought perhaps not so amazing, after all a slight shift of one or two millimeters can put your aim off by a huge amount 100 yards downrange...

Let's try this again, it's amazing what tweaking the way you do things can have a profound effect on the end result... bugger this just isn't working out right, let me jump to my point.

I play both traditional and match grip when I drum, as I had loaned out my copy of secret weapons for the modern drummer I'd been working on rudiments, my only problem is my left hand (the one in the traditional grip) wasn't working right, (well it's the left hand, so I guess it shouldn't be working right, but I digress) now I got it back and started watching and there I see what I'm doing wrong, I turn my hand somewhere between 5 and 11 degrees and bam, problem solved. I can now play just as fast (Arguably faster) with trad than match.

So why all the drumming posts? (As I've got two more I'm working on), well the drum-off is coming up and I'm debating entering.

Here's the thing I'm not a technician, and I've never had much experience playing without a band, (IE solo work), on the other hand... it's a chance to gain some experience and more importantly, from what I understand, contestants get special discounts...

Sorry getting of track here, this principle expands beyond the realm of drumming, what little adjustments can be made in your life to have a major affect on the way you live? I've been slacking a bit these last two weeks, but when I take my quiet time in the morning before I start my day, I always seem to be better equipped for the challenges (And accompanying stress).

So what minor change can you make for a major result in your life?

The GH fanmode strikes again....

2008-07-29T21:09:00.004-04:00

Okay so as a drummer there are certain other drummers that I really love to hear play, Neil Peart (Rush), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Jojo Mayer (Nerve), Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Stevie Wonder (Believe it or not, but he did a lot of the drumming on his albums) but when I logged into my itunes to see what the new podcasts were, turn on fan-boy mode because Gavin Harrison was up for the drumset video. (Winner of the Modern Drummer Prog drummer 2008 award, and drummer for Porcupine Tree) Random a bit, yes, but it's a drummer thing (hmmm I'm blogging that... oh wait I just did).

One of his signatures? Is a custom 5 cymbal "Chime" thing (Watch the video you can't miss it) I SO want one of those...

So, what's YOUR story...

2008-07-28T11:47:00.004-04:00

This is something we came up with at our creative planning session and implemented it this past week.

Stories, and we've gotten a few, one of which brought tears to my eyes...

If Lifepoint Church has had an impact in your life, or the life of someone you know we're looking for stories, Why? well partly because we love to know that we're making a difference in peoples lives, (and eternities truth be known,) but we also need them for something else... it's a surprise let me just say hat you don't want to miss this series!

send to
stories
at
visitlifepoint
dot
org

And yes I did it that way to avoid the spambots, this is something that we're hoping everyone will take part in, I know my own story (which I almost posted on the blog before this came up) will be headed that way.

So what's your story? (so far anyway, because like mine I know it's still being written).

~Matt

Drummers go Crash Boom Bang

2008-07-23T15:04:00.002-04:00

Reid just posted this article over on North Point's music blog, regarding my favorite subject as a drummer, cymbals.

Which of course got me thinking about my own cymbals, (Because I'm ALWAYS looking for new/new old cymbals). Lifepoint's standard cymbals (which are, in all honesty needing to be replaced at some point, but it's not a big priority), include a set of Sabian Hats (And I honestly don't remember what series) a B8 crash (16") a B8pro crash (Again 16") and an 20" XS series Ride.

My current set of cymbals are as follows: 1 10" Sabian HHX Splash, 1 12" AAX Sabian Splash, 1 12" A Custom Zildjian splash, 1 16" A Zildjian crash, 1 18" A Custom Zildjian Crash, 1 20" K Custom (My Baby!) Zildjian Ride, 1 mix pair (K custom bottom, K top) Zildjian hats (I really got a good deal on those, like half of what they're worth). I also had (until two weeks ago) a Cobalt River 14" crash. This was a cheap (very cheap) cymbal but had a very nice trashy crash sound, I need to replace it soon, and as it was a 15? 20? dollar cymbal, replacing it is nowhere as difficult as replacing one of the other cymbals in my collection.

When will I have enough cymbals? I'm not sure. They're not a huge priority for me budget wise, but they are something I'm always looking at/for. I'd love to get some meinl's to try but no one carries them locally, and while I've gotten a couple of my collection via ebay, I do prefer to test out a cymbal before I buy it.

So gifts for me can include itune giftcards and cymbals. I like Zildjian A Custom, and K Custom series, Sabian Paragon, Vault, or any series that ends in an "X", Meinl Byzance and Soundcaster Series, Paiste Signature and 2002 series. Yeah Guitarists have it cheap. They get a few guitars, and sure the cost several grand... drummers collect cymbals, at anywhere from 100-700 a pop, and some drummers (Say like John "Bermuda" Schwartz best known for his work with "Weird" Al Ynkovic) Has collections spanning hundreds (over 400 in his case).

And yes this was a rather Random Post

Basics....

2008-07-22T08:51:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it's hard to remember that they best of homes always begins with a strong foundation. And even when we know that it occasionally takes a reminder that even a foundation needs to be maintained.

Case in point, myself.

My reminder came from an article I was reading about Bassist John Myung (Of Dream Theater) where some of his bandmates mentioned that he was one of the only person they knew who warmed DOWN after a show.

Which brought my back to my drum corp days were we both warmed up and warmed down after practices, (but not always after performances) which then took me to the fall I worked as an Drum adviser for a marching band. I came in about halfway through the season on a request from a friend to give them a hand, the kids (I thought of them as kids even then, and I was only a couple years out of high school myself, at the time) were decent, but had no drum instructor to build their foundation and thus were floundering.

Instead of jumping on the music (which is why I was asked to come in the first place, to help them learn their parts better) I jumped on their fundamentals (Discipline! Rudiments! and Warm-ups!) It wasn't that they didn't know their part, quite the opposite actually, it's that they had problems on the performance aspect of it.

Now a part of me wishes I could say after a few weeks with me they turned into a whole new drumline that went on to win a bunch of awards at competitions, sadly that is not the case.

However I did come to find out that my time spent working on their fundamentals wasn't wasted as that helped them And I quote this from someone who had seen their early shows) "They looked and sounded like a real drumline"

So why did I just say all this? Well my point is I know about basics and fundamentals, but like so many of us, after playing set for a while I've slacked off on most (Nearly all) of said basics. So yesterday I began a regiment for getting this drummer's fundamentals back up to par.

So what does that entail?
1) Ear training, (this is the one part of my fundamentals that I can honestly say that I haven't stopped doing ever.
2) Arm strength/power/endurance, Jojo Mayer covers this one on his dvd but this is a delicate balance, because of the nature of the human body, build up more power, and you won't be able to access higher speeds.
3) Foot training, for those funky syncopated kick patterns (not something you normally run into in worship music, but you never know!)
4) Coordination/limb interdependence, the abilty to play different beats with different limbs (arms, legs, etc) at the same time. Sounds easy? here's a simple warm-up. Try tapping triplets with your left hand, eighth notes with your right foot, quarters with your left foot, and sixteenths with your right hand. (Try it slow, if you manage that, try speeding it up).
5) Warm-up/Cool-down routine, if I had professional drum instructions I'd probably have a slew of fancy exercises, (well maybe, shrug, it's not something I've had the luxury of having), I do have my rudimental listings and a handful of exercises for that, having played quads in drumline I'm used to adapting said exercises, of course my favorite exercise? (This sounds odd, I know) is eight on a hand, (plus the adaptations 1-xx on a hand, countdown on a hand etc).

So that's it, getting back to basics all around, remember that the house you live in is only as strong as it's foundations, (Read Matthew Chapter 7).

Oh the Irony....

2008-07-17T15:03:00.003-04:00

It's thursday and that means it's Creative Chaos time hosted by 'Los at Ragamuffin Soul.... (Creative Chaos is like a meeting of the minds... errr blogs for creative type people in various ministries)

This is some thing that Josh (Campus Pastor for Lifepoint Downtown, and Creative Director for Lifepoint Church) participates in.

With me so far? Okay He's in Canadia (and yes I meant it like that, it's an inside joke) so he posted his before the start of creative chaos, it's a look at what we do on the creative team. (Find his post HERE) So the irony? 'Los did his Creative Chaos posting on this....

now see the irony?

Not Dead....

2008-07-16T14:22:00.002-04:00

Just very busy these last few days, I've got a half finished setlist blog on LC Worship that needs to get done too.