Blog.

A quick update tonight… I wanted to fill you in on the baptism service we had almost a month ago, which was absolutely amazing. Definitely one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced. We ended up having 131 baptisms, and over 650 people in attendance!

I have uploaded the video that my intern put together of this event, but due to copyright protection and the like, I have password protected the post. To view it, send me an email at wes at wakefi dot com (replace the “at” with @ and the “dot” with, well, a dot) or leave a comment below (ensuring to put your email in the email field) and I’ll send you the password so you can watch the video. Believe me, it’s worth watching. I won’t require your social security number or anything personal, so if you’re interested in seeing it, let me know!

This Sunday, my church is doing a baptism service at this little camp in the middle of the country at a small pond they have there. Amazingly, as of this writing, there are 80+ people signed up to be baptized, and we expect to have over 100 by Sunday. We’re also expecting 600+ people to show up, which makes for quite a few watermelons and smores!

I thought you guys would like to hear a glimpse of the music set that we have planned for the evening. The following are four of the five songs we will be doing and were recorded by Paul Kordon (our worship leader) and I last week, with both of us doing the vocals, Paul on guitar, and me on mandolin. For the actual set on Sunday, we will add an acoustic bass guitar, a lead electric (country-fied) and a small percussion/drum setup. Needless to say, I’m very excited about this.

Enjoy the audio. (Click on the triangle on the far right of each player to play the song…)

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I want to share some exciting news with you guys… For those of you who haven’t heard yet, as of June 1, 2008 I will be a full time staff member of Christian Fellowship Church where Heather and I worship. My job title will be “Technical Producer” which encompasses all things audio / video / lighting (AVL) in the building complex, which is right up my ally. In addition to that, I’ll still be playing with the band when I can and possibly doing some arrangements, but how extensively will all depend on how much time I have after we get all the AVL issues smoothed out.

This position crept up out of the blue and I’m totally convinced it’s God who created it for me. Without going into a mile long story of all the random stuff I’ve done in my life that has prepared me for this position, let’s just say it fits like a hand in a glove. Heather and I are stepping out on faith here, but we firmly believe in the faithfulness of our God, and we believe He continuously provides for His children. Some people think I’m crazy for leaving my engineering job, but I think I would be crazy if I didn’t follow where God leads…

Go here for the church’s website. There’s also a permanent link in the sidebar to your right…

I lost my uncle to a car accident today. As hard as that is, I am rejoicing in the fact that he was a believer. He leaves behind a wife and two kids under the age of 10. There really are no words that can be said, only prayers to be offered. My family covets your prayers…

As I grieve, I find comfort in a song by Brad Reynolds called “There is A Friend”. You can listen to it here. Click on “music” at the top of the page and skip to the 5th song.

There is a hope
There is a promise
There is a peace beyond compare
There is a calm amid confusion
There is a friend who’s always there

Prince of Peace, Lamb of God
Take my heart and Draw me Close to where you are
With your spirit fill the corners of my soul
As I offer up my praise unto your throne

If you need hope
If you need comfort
If you want peace beyond compare
Come to the place you’ll find in Jesus
Receive his Grace, and sing this prayer

Prince of Peace, Lamb of God
Take my heart and Draw me Close to where you are
With your spirit fill the corners of my soul
As I offer up my praise unto your throne

I haven’t written in almost two weeks, but there really hasn’t been much to write about. It’s the same old story day after day. Work, eat, practice music, sleep. Repeat. We haven’t taken any photos lately, but I hope that will change soon.

Yesterday, Heather and I went to see “Bodies… The Exhibition” in DC. In short, it is a museum about the human body, and the exhibits are genuine cadavers that have been preserved and presented in a masterful way. Although it sounds a bit disturbing and creepy, we were amazed and completely entranced in the complexity of God’s finest creation. There were skeletons, muscles, bones, skin (probably the strangest thing we saw), abnormalities (lungs with emphysema, cancer, pneumonia, tumors, etc), a section where they showed the development of a fetus from conception to almost birth (complete with how the bones develop during those 9 months), and probably the most amazing section: the circulatory system. They invented a way to preserve the veins and arteries within a body, while removing all other parts, creating a beautiful network of the blood transport system. Parts of it strongly resembled a fine coral reef. You can view a couple videos of the exhibit here. (Click “About the Exhibition” => “video”)

The exhibit really caused me to wonder how someone could view the incredible “machine” that is the human body and not believe in a creator. National Geographic is starting a new series called the “Incredible Human Machine” where it will showcase the complexity of the human body. I don’t receive the National Geographic channel, but if you do, check it out and let me know how it is.

On a separate note, I uploaded a talk by Gregg Matte that he presented at a worship conference in 2003. If you have anything to do with worship planning in any way, I highly recommend this talk. Find it here, or check out the downloads tab at the top of the page.

It’s been awhile since my last update, and I apologize, I’ve been pretty busy.

I took a 5 year break (thanks to Texas A&M College of Engineering) from anything remotely musical other than the A Capella quartet I traveled with and I recently realized how much I have missed having a musical outlet. If you know me (as most of you should, if you’re reading my blog) you know I’m passionate about music. From an early age, I have always had some kind of outlet for my music. I took piano lessons from age 5 till my teacher moved around age 12. It was around that time that I started drums/percussion in school, which continued through my junior year at ACU. (Including 1 year of being a music major) I picked up Guitar in 8th grade and while I have never regularly played guitar in a band, I would sometimes lead a small group praise night, or have jam sessions with a couple friends. From the time I was little, to the time I transfered to Texas A&M, there was always a reason to practice and strive to make myself better musically, whether it was a piano recital, a concert, or a percussion ensemble gig.  I didn’t realize at the time how much I had missed my music during my time at A&M until recently.

Heather and I have been attending a local church that we have decided to call home. Typical to my nature, I can’t call a church home and just sit in a ‘pew’ every Sunday. Therefore, I volunteered to help out with the worship band for Pipeline, the 18-30’s ministry of the church. They graciously invited me in and I started practicing / playing with this group as they started up this fall. In addition to Pipeline, I answered a note in the church bulletin asking for technical volunteers. I have considerable experience with audio/video/lighting and I thought I might be of some help. Over the next week, I had several conversations with the technical director (Glenn), who asked me to sit in on one of the main worship band’s rehearsals to see how they ran the technical side of the “show.” Through Glenn, I met the worship director, (Kay, who happens to be the main pastor’s wife) and through some rich conversation she finds out that I sing, and that I’m a percussionist. They were needing someone to play Auxiliary Percussion, and Kay asked me to come back the next week and “audition.” So I did. Funny how God works. I ended up auditioning every instrument I play except guitar, which was the one instrument I would have felt the most comfortable on. Long story short, the next week I was on stage singing! (Mostly harmony, some lead)

I have been singing/playing with them weekly since then, and I guess I am now one of “the band.” I went from no musical outlet to two bands and teaching guitar lessons. (1 student from Pipeline) The biggest challenge has been learning a ton of new music, which I’m still doing, and catching up on my instrumental skills. I have been asked to fill in for our pianist on Oct. 21, which is pretty nerve racking, but I’m excited about the challenge. I have a pretty large set of shoes to fill that day, as Cyndi is pretty talented.

In all of this, I have recently been thinking about past struggles with pride, and I pray constantly that I can be completely transparent and truly lead people to worship Christ. In this, I thank God for the musical talent He gave me, and I feel the responsibility to develop it and use it for His glory. If I am ever doing this for any reason other than that, I pray God removes me from the position he has put me in.

In other news, we (Me, Heather, and a couple friends) traveled 10-20 miles West of where we live to visit a couple winery’s a few weeks ago. The weather was beautiful (low 70’s), the wine was decent (it’s Virginia, our expectations weren’t very high), and the company was grand. We didn’t take many pictures, but we had a great time. The second winery (not pictured) was hosting a festival. It turns out that the owners were from Louisiana, which explained the Mardi Gras beads and the Zydeco band, complete with accordion.

I was reading up on a friend of mine who leads worship at a little church in College Station, TX, where I moved from. He’s a singer/songwriter and truly has a gift for lyrics and an unbelievable heart for the Lord. I found this post by Ross, and was overwhelmed when I read it. That is what a family looks like.

By the way, check out his music here: www.rosskingmusic.com and here: Ross’ myspace