So, this will be the first TMQ (Tuesday Morning Quarterback) post that will have nothing to do with football because I didn’t watch any games on Sunday or Monday. Before you blast me out of the man cave, this was a rather unique weekend for me and so sometimes things have to take a back seat. And when your family is not accustomed to that being a regular thing, you have to go with the family. Anyway, I have still have something to share and it fits, so I’m using it.

Last night while watching the elimination portion of my favorite show, The Sing Off, something popped into my head. One of the groups that was in the last 2 (and the one that ultimately lost) was one that I expected to be there. However, the other part of the duo, I didn’t expect to see there for a while if ever. They are a powerhouse group of female vocalists who can blow the roof off. But in last night’s episode, they broke one of the big rules in music. They didn’t pick a song that they could sing. They changed their approach to the show and it almost cost them. They went for the cute factor and completely left behind the fact that as a group they probably have the strongest voices in the show every time they step on the stage. In a vocal competition that is so strong with a myriad of amazing groups, you have to lay it all on the line on every opportunity. They didn’t do that and they almost were sent packing.

Sunday, during our opener I had an idea that I thought was going to be a good one, but it sort of fell flat because I didn’t go all in and execute it they way I wanted to. I ended up being mad because about it because I thought it could have been a powerful moment that wasn’t because of me. So as I sit in my TMQ chair writing this, I know one of the things that was missing in this week’s service was me giving everything I had. The thing that is hard for me and should be hard for anyone in my situation is because, unlike the girls of Delilah, I didn’t give my all during a church service when I was supposed to be giving my all to the Father. How many times do we go throughout a day or week and not give our all? How many times can you look back and say “Man, this would have been better had I been able to give all to it”? After Sunday, I have decided that I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to have to look back and say “I wish”. I had almost forgotten about how bad Sunday was until I was reminded during the show last night. Interesting how that works…

I will leave you today with the words of a hymn by Elisha A. Hoffman.

You have longed for sweet peace,
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.

Refrain

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest,
And have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul.

Would you walk with the Lord,
In the light of His Word,
And have peace and contentment alway?
You must do His sweet will,
To be free from all ill,
On the altar your all you must lay.

Refrain

O we never can know
What the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
Till our body and soul
He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.

Refrain

Who can tell all the love
He will send from above,
And how happy our hearts will be made,
Of the fellowship sweet
We shall share at His feet,
When our all on the altar is laid.

“As he walk the streets with lepers, prostitutes and lonely beggars…”

This song (written by a friend) has been popping up in my head as I’ve been doing some work lately. This may feel like a long way to make a point, but it works. We have a ministry in our church called connectors. This ministry is designed make sure that everyone that walks in the doors of our church receive a welcome and that it’s more than just a hello and thanks for coming. I believe that the people doing this are doing a good job because every week we have tons of stories about first time people. Why? It’s because we take things a step further and try to take time to really get to know the people that walk in the doors of our church. At the point you have set foot into our building, we don’t really care why you are there. The point is that you ARE there and we want to make sure that while you are there you engulfed in Christ’s love. It is one of the things that makes me proud on Sunday mornings.

One of the things that makes me the most proud about this is that it has similarities to what Christ did. During the week our people are talking to whomever they see. So when new people come to the church and I get a chance to meet them and ask them how they found our church a lot of times they are telling me how they met someone during the week and got invited to join our family. We are spending time where people are. We’ve gone past standing at the door screaming at people as they walk past hoping that they come in.

As I write this, I realize that this has not been everyone’s experience with the church. Not everyone has received a welcoming embrace. Some of us have received judgmental words and eyes. Some have experienced gossip and controversy. Some of us have even experienced the abusive misappropriation of scripture. All of these things are in strict contrast to a love that is lived out in scripture. Or at least I think so. Should there be discipline? Definitely. Should we be trying to point people toward truth? Without a doubt. Does every meeting with someone who doesn’t know Christ have to be a deliberate attempt to save them before they unexpectedly die from that thing that’s right around the corner waiting to take them? I don’t think so. If we are truly living lives that bring glory to God, then God, who is ALWAYS at work around us, will do the work that needs to be done in the hearts of those that don’t know him. When we look at the stories in the Bible, Jesus didn’t go into the tax collector’s home and start preaching to everyone (Mark 2:13-17). He went to eat with people who most people didn’t like. When he spared the girl’s life by challenging those with no sin to throw first, he was showing grace and to someone that no one else would give a second chance to (John 8:1-11). Those were examples of us connecting people to people. Once we do that, then we can talk about connecting people to God. Come back tomorrow and we will talk about that. As for today, tell me what you think about this.

I’m a pretty mainstream guy musically, I’ll admit that flaw in myself. I usually find out about music from a commercial on TV or if it’s on the radio or because someone else sang it first. I wish I was that guy that read music blogs all the time and learned about the hot new group before they make it to that point, but I don’t. So when I was asked by a friend to go to a concert at a local bar club thingy to hear this group, I jumped on the chance to be cool.

So we jumped in the car to go to The Firebird, a music lounge in Downtown St. Louis to hear a group called Paper Route. I didn’t know what to expect because I had never heard of them. But I love music and so I was game. What happened next was simply amazing! This group was a visual stimulation unlike anything I’d ever seen before. It was unreal how much energy this group had! I was immediately drawn in by that energy. After getting over how entertaining they were, I was amazed by the music. I’m not a (I don’t even really know what type of music to call it officially) fan. But this group is the truth! Their CD, Absence, is amazing from start to finish. Again, you have to remember that I don’t listen to this particular style of music on a regular basis. That does not stop me from being a fan of this group. This CD is still in heavy rotation in my car from over the summer.  My favorite song on the CD is probably “Enemy Among Us”. Such a great feel and the lyrics are loaded. Please click on the link and give them a listen.

This song is one that I got the chance to sing for the first time during the Global Day of Prayer in St. Louis last May. I was asked to be a part of the worship band for that event and this song was one of the ones we sang. Travis Cottrell arranged Praise to the Lord the Almighty, which became one of my favorite hymns over the past few years. This is such a great arrangement of this song. It never gets too big and it beautifully frames the poetry of this song. Thanks to Travis for this arrangement. I had written my own arrangement of this same song at my previous church and decided to never use it again after hearing this one.

I can’t find it anywhere to link here, and the version I have is evidently too big for WordPress. So you’ll have to take my word for it, or find it and listen to it. When you do, tell me what you think.

Okay, so this one is more of a whole CD, but it’s my blog and my rules so therefore this is how I’m doing it. Now that my power trip is over, back to the music.

I was introduced to this group on the weekend of my anniversary. Our good friends Jim and Alisha invited us to come and hear this group that Jim’s nephew is in called the Fundamental Elements. I hadn’t heard of them before, but they were local and supposedly pretty good. What happened next was a thing of beauty. They put on quite a show even in a room that wasn’t that great for a concert. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was going in with a completely open mind. I was not disappointed. I won’t recap that whole thing again for I have already done that here. But I have a couple favorites from that CD titled Cycle We’re Living In. The whole CD is a favorite and if you want to give a few of the songs a listen, you should go to their website. 2 favorites that I have to hear if I’m listening to this CD are Don’t Say. I LOVE the way the beat starts the song. I also love the energy of the song from start to finish. It really enhances the words. It could have been a sappy, sad begging song, but they decided that it was more song with a  sense of urgency I tend to agree (“Don’t say this is my last day with you…”).

My other favorite song on the CD is ‘All I Need’. That one isn’t on the website for you to listen like the other one is, so you’ll have to take my word for it. This song is my favorite for a couple reasons. My buddy who is the guitarist for the band, plays a beautiful line throughout this song which is the first thing that I noticed. My other completely favorite part happens after the bridge. Some awesome poetry that’s ‘straight butta’. A couple people should get a kick out of that line. Anyway, if you ever want to hear that one, come find me. It’s usually in my car or on my iPod. It was much later that I found out that Joe, the aforementioned amazing guitarist, wrote this song. Making it even MORE cool.

This group rocks for many, many reasons. One of the coolest is that they are local and supporting local music is always good. How local are they, you ask? Well, the lead singer lives on my street (so he says, I’ve never seen him though LOL). The keyboard player SUPPOSEDLY stays a couple streets over from me. Again, either they never come outside, or they are always traveling with the band because they’re EXTREMELY popular. I do know where to find the guitar player, though. So I guess that’s a plus. Anyway, look these guys up. They are THAT good. They have a new CD coming out soon and they have a show this Friday night that I’m hoping to see. There should be a whole bunch of new stuff playing which is good. I’m gonna go ahead and put in my request for my 2 favorite songs and hope that one of them reads this. Also, I’m kinda hoping that ‘How Quickly’ made it on the new CD…

I have decided this week that I’m going to share a couple of my favorite songs. I thought it would be something a little different and a little dive into my mind. I like all kinds of music and so this should be fun. Please weigh in and let me know what you think. Share with me some of your favorite songs as well.

This first one is called Sing and it’s from Martha Munizzi. I love this song for many reasons. One of the biggest ones is the fact that I got to play this with an amazing band at Christian Life Cathedral when I was living in Fayetteville. That was just such an awesome experience in my life and every time I hear this song somewhere I think about how much fun that was. It was a praise team and church favorite there for awhile and whenever it was dialed up for a particular Sunday everyone was happy.

Now people may have their own thoughts and ideas about Martha as a person or singer or whatever, but I totally love this song. Actually, this CD (The Best is Yet to Come) is one of my favorites. Great from top to bottom. Anyway, there was such an air of worship during this song and I fell it love with it from first listen. Even though it came out a few years ago, it’s still a favorite of mine and I thought I’d share it with you first. If you haven’t heard it before, here’s a link to it. Check it out and let me know what you think about this song. Keep checking in this week because there’s gonna be some fun songs to pop up. I may even throw up more than one a couple days.