Digital vs. Paper – Are We at the Tipping Point?

April 24, 2012

I read a blog post today that posits that paper books will disappear very soon. In it, the author actually outlines some interesting “holes in the market” that will (the unspoken implication is) allow digital to completely replace paper. Perhaps… At my family reunion last weekend, one of the people there spent time on the [...]

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On Family Reunions and Worship

April 20, 2012

As an only child (ah…you say, that explains everything…well, not quite everything…) of parents who were older when I was born, my family, which mostly consists of cousins on my mother’s side, is small when compared to most. I used to live the farthest away, until one of my cousins moved to Germany, but even [...]

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Breaking Through the “Fourth Wall” in Worship

April 17, 2012

In an article entitled Yo-Yo Ma and Performance in the April, 2012, issue of the American Organist, Christian Lane writes: All to often we [performing artists] forget to listen and fail to connect. We get trapped, both literally and metaphorically, behind our instruments. We get lost amid our conflicting roles as vested spiritual leader, teacher, [...]

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Friday the Thirteenth

April 13, 2012

You’re either reading this because of the headline…or, well, you’re reading this because of the headline. These infrequent, yet regular, calendar-phobic days do weird things to people, but really? I’ve lived through an advanced number of years of these things, and, particularly given the nature of humans’ tendency to remember the bad and forget the [...]

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Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam…

April 10, 2012

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that having someone steal your work is the highest honor. But that’s not why you are reading this… On the day that I am writing this, I found my blog to have been inundated with spam comments. Fortunately I have a good spam filter, [...]

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Easter Lamb

April 3, 2012

For those looking for worship tips, or devotional materials, please know I was being literal in the title. For some time now it has been our family tradition to have the following dish as the centerpiece of our Easter meal. I know that many people have ham, but if you are looking for something different, [...]

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It’s Human Nature…

March 30, 2012

Stick with me for a while…this will have a point… Many smarter people than I have figured out that humans can’t turn away from a train wreck. See Hearst, Yellow Journalism, a certain 24 hour news channel, and your local freeway commute for example… My research into social media has also turned up the interesting [...]

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Recruiting Musicians to Ministry: Success Brings Success

March 27, 2012

Reading a post the other day entitled How to Build a Creative Arts Culture and came across this quote from a panel discussion: Re: Is your band paid staff? Taylor: No, because we don’t have the budget, and it wasn’t a possibility. We’ve grown our talent. Good musicians are attracted to good music. I want [...]

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Rehearse as if Someone’s Watching

March 23, 2012

I noticed something again last night. We had a new choir member come to rehearsal, and my rehearsal technique was much more focused. Part of that is the time of the year, when there is a lot to be prepared, and there isn’t time to waste, but I’ve been aware of a pattern for some [...]

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Starting is the easy part…

March 16, 2012

Some time ago I read a book by Kerry and Chris Shook entitled One Month to Live. Great book, and for a while it helped me focus on things that really mattered to me. Like Stephen Covey‘s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and a number of other books and conference and encounters with [...]

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