Blogs

Hey Errbody,

I was thinking I'd drop a line here, update you all and have a little snack between the virtual feasts I've been cooking up here for you guys on Student Praise Bands. First off, I've been getting emails, and I forgot to ask if its okay for me to share those as some folks might have the same problem(s) or will have them and communication is the key to a good relationship, and I do love you all. At any rate, in case you don't know its festival season, and currently we're in Midland, TX at Rock the Desert. And while its a great festival, the one variable at all of these fantastic events is the weather (All you Celebrate Freedom and Alive Fest people know exactly what I'm talking about). In other words, It. is. HOT. So we're pretty much on the bus where we would otherwise be out in the merch tent or on the inflatables. We have a lot of big things we're talking about with Crowns, from international dates to more evangelistic stuff focusing on different areas than we've usually played.
On to some more Student Praise Band stuff. By the way, thanks for the emails, I'll be getting to them, and when you do email me, let me know if its okay for me to share them. But today's thought has more to do with a situation where you have a band, and you know God's call on your life is in music and you don't know how to "break in" or "get started". I want to encourage you, because that's a hard spot to be, and I've been there. You've heard us say before that we never set out to be a band, and that's true, but the gap between the calling and the work is the same no matter if you're a missionary, or a musician, or an evangelist. There is always the burn of the passion for people set against the seemingly stagnant nature of the wait for the work. And we all know that anything sitting still on a fire starts to burn. That's where I was. A Bachelor's Degree in Aviation wiping down windows for the church as a janitor, and I felt like I was spinning my wheels, like time was wasting, but if you know anything about God, you know He wastes nothing. It was then that I realized that it didn't matter what my job was (at the time I didn't know if I was supposed to be a music minister, or a youth pastor), what mattered was my walk with God and how good my imitation of Christ was becoming.
You will hear Mark say a lot to "grow where you are planted" and I can't say it any better. Did you ever stop to consider that the perfect, all-knowing Jeremiah 29:11 God actually planned out where you are right now, what you are doing right now, the people you know right now, the closed and open doors right now? I think after we receive the call many times we want to just do it, maybe its American culture, maybe its human impertinence, but if you look at the Hebrews 11 monster faith people, their lives were defined in part by a period of waiting. And if you look past the obvious you'll see they weren't waiting at all, they were walking with God, and that's all we were meant for. What purpose was there for the first man, but to stroll with God in the cool of the day? I don't know what God wants for you specifically in this seemingly (and I do mean seemingly) motionless period, but if you cannot rest in His presence now, how will you ever be able to rest in His presence when you are under attack and the peace that passes all understanding seems like it passed you a long time ago?
Not sure who that's for, that was just on my heart. God bless and keep checking back for videos. I'll be hitting all the instruments and what the roles are in the band. Keeping in mind I'm gearing it more for students, so it'll be pretty basic, but even if you are a youth pastor that doesn't know much about music, it should make it so you could run a practice and help your students learn how to play together.

Peace
Juan

Here's S'More Links
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- Look no Hands - http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/ - Great source for chords, specifically for classically trained piano players having trouble adjusting to chord sheets

- My Utmost for His Highest - http://myutmost.org/index.html - if you feel like you've been called into ministry, this book is essential, I highly recommend it even if you haven't. Until you buy it, here's the website

- All About Worship - http://allaboutworship.com/ - I usually hate when people say this, but the name really does say everything. I'm new to this one, but like it so far, check it out and let me know what you think