Madness

Well as I am sure you'll have all noticed, tonight was Halloween. I don't know whether it is because we have just moved house to an area of Portsmouth called Somers Town which is more densely populated but we seemed to get stacks of kids coming to our door asking for sweets. They were all quite friendly though and when we explained that we were Christians and didn't celebrate Halloween by dressing up as witches and stuff they were pretty cool with that and didn't extend us the honour of going through with the 'trick' part of their plea.

It did strike me as odd though - as I was walking back home this evening - and passing many people dressed up as witches, vampires and other occult figures that there seems to be quite a lack of understanding about what they are doing. To me it is clear that the enemy is something that is as real as the hair on my head - and messing around with stuff like that is something that should not be taken lightly. I give them the advice I'd give anyone who is about to drink a bottle of engine oil - make sure you know what you are doing before you do that.

I guess that is it isn't it - if you don't think there is anything else out there - good or evil, then why bother worrying about it? After all - it is only a bit of fun right? Well, the greatest trick Satan ever pulled was to convince people that he didn't exist. I think it is about time people - more specifically the church - stood up and exposed him for who he is.

We'll Sing

One of the things I really want to do on this blog is keep track of (and keep myself motivated to write) new songs that I am writing. The song here is one that I've been working on for a while and have finally got round to recording for my own records.

It is a song that came from my heart of wanting to express a little about what we do when we meet together and sing songs of worship. Often it can get overlooked as to why we sing at church - we just do it. I wanted to express here why I think it is important, why I do it and what I want to express to God when doing it.

I wanted to try and write something quite congregational here - as often my songs tend to be a little hard to sing. So we have some simple melodies and reasonably straightforward chords too.

Anyway, here is a recording of it - my first in Pro Tools (I am a die-hard Logic fan you see!) and it sounds OK - if a little tame and unadventurous. Plenty of time for that though...

Ramped

So the busy weekend was certainly busy and I seem to have come down with something exotic (and quite phlegmy) - probably because I got quite tired! Never mind, would definitely do it again.

YouthQuake was a great laugh - the young people who came along certainly seemed to enjoy it and, although it is hard to tell, seemed to engage with lifting God up. There were some issues with the sound which made it quite hard to lead worship - and it reminds me of how cool it is to be able to lead regularly in a place where you have spent time getting things like foldback sorted out. But hey, it was still quite cool and it was a real honour to be able to worship with such a quality bunch of guys and girls. They are truly awesome.

Then a good wedding where I was leading the worship and then playing in the evening band. The service went a lot smoother than it could have done, as we had a limited amount of time to get ready and the happy couple seemed pleased so that was cool. The evening was also a great laugh - especially as the band was battling one of those 'play too loud and we'll shut the power off' level meter things that was built into the venue. The band always loves playing for my friends as they always have a good time - which is more of a witness to them than they probably realise.

Another plus was that my wife came back to our house (now that we have a kitchen) and I hadn't quite realised how much I have missed her.

So a more relaxing week (hopefully) of some DIY and other stuff. I am looking forward to a chilled out weekend this weekend. That is definitely long overdue...

Busy busy busy

I got a busy weekend coming up...

Firstly tomorrow (Saturday), I am leading worship at an event in Winchester called YouthQuake. This is a workshop / worship event that happens in Winchester Cathedral every couple of years and is run by a old friend of mine. I absolutely love leading worship - especially when I get to play with my band of merry men and women, who are just excellent at what they do. All in all it promises to be a really cool day and I am praying that we can really connect with the young people there and lead them into a place of worship.

I always find it quite hard the week leading up to events such as this - I am so aware of things that can distract me from doing the job I feel called to do. The thing the devil wants is for me to be feeling guilty or distracted about something as I go into this and so when things have been tough this week it has been tough to look immediately to God rather than get annoyed...or worse :) My heart for this event is that we as a bunch of worshippers can really engage with these young people as this can often be difficult when we don't know them and they don't know us. Really I just want to see God move - and pray that I don't get in the way.

The business doesn't stop there though - oh no. We get back from Winchester late on Saturday night and then on Sunday I am leading worship for a friend who is getting married in London (in fact we have a practise for this tomorrow before we leave for Winchester). Then I have to play in the evening reception in a funk band I play in called the FreeStyle Funk Collective. All in all, should be a great weekend of playing - but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be ramped by the end of Sunday.

The best thing is that I get to see my wife on Sunday and I haven't seen her for a week while she has been staying with family due to a decorating situation here at home. All in all I am quite looking forward to this weekend...

The great british weather

I'm an Englishman - born and bred - and one thing I've always noticed is the ability for English people to get the weather into every conversation. One of the top news stories at the moment is that is 20 years since the 'Great storm' of 1987 and it seems that we English just love to harp on about it.

This was brought home to me when I was having my haircut a few weeks ago. I go to this quality barbers in Fratton called 'Latif' who is from Uzbekistan but does a superb haircut. So as I was in the chair admiring his work a chap comes to the door, who must be a regular and greets Latif with a hearty British hello. Now Latif speaks good English, but he definitely prefers to get on with the job rather than make small talk. So after a quick hello with the man at the door silence falls on the barber shop. It was quiet for a good minute or two, so much so I thought the chap had gone until, low and behold, he launched into his 'catch all' conversation starter: "So how about this weather we are having at the moment eh?" Latif was fairly unimpressed and the chap then moved on, probably not quite understanding why the conversation didn't bloom into life at his mention of a few spots of rain.

The funny thing is, I do that too - especially with people who are not from this country - and I have no idea why. It seems to be built into my very core. 'If conversation dries up, talk about the weather' - what makes us like that?

Life is more than the weather people, it's about time we thought of something else to natter about :)

Uncle Gaz

The last few months have been very odd for me as both my wife and her sister are pregnant - now that is some nice planning there. Well last night my sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy little girl called Ella May and apparently all doing well. Hugest congratulations go out to all three of them.

The crazy thing for me is that it now means that my wife is next. Uncle Gaz is feeling a bit odd right now as I've never been one of those before. Blymey, what is Daddy Gaz going to feel like??

Train me up scotty

Tonight was the first night of worship training at Kings Church where I am the overall worship leader. We run these evenings as part of a 12 week course that allows people who have an interest in being part of the musical worship of our church to come along, learn about worship and have a go at playing with other people in the context of a contemporary worship band. We make people go through the worship training before we get them playing on a Sunday to ensure that the team is all on the same page spiritually and the music is kept to a high standard.

Tonight was the first session we had of this academic year and we had close to fifteen new people turn up which was awesome, if a little overwhelming when I have to try and coordinate all that. However, it actually turned out to go much better than I thought and the guys who came were really up for having a laugh as well as worshipping God.

People have often said to me that it is kinda harsh making people go through this to gain access to the worship team that plays on a Sunday. I just don't see it that way at all. First of all it is a huge responsibility to have any part in leading the most public regular meeting of any churches calendar and I think that requires we are 'selective' with who we put up there. Not to say we purposely exclude people, but we give time in allowing peoples attitudes and motives to come through, as those are more important than whether they know every Matt Redman song in the book. Second, I think that it allows us to really manage the quality of everything we do as a church. Often visitors come into church and are really put off with the fact that everything seems to be either stuck in the 1960's or is just really bad quality - like the microphones don't work, the preacher sounds so bored he is putting everyone to sleep and the man singing is really out of tune..... of course some sweeping generalisations there, but you get my point. I think that everything that is done in church should be done to the best possible standard and in a way that does not distract from the True and Living God - the reason why we are doing it in the first place.

And if that makes me harsh, then harsh me up baby.