Sure... I'm Flawed, but 'I Know Who I Am' In Christ

I just want to say that I love… love… love all the songs that we are working on for May. Aaron Keyes' song, “Not Guilty Anymore” absolutely blew my Knee-Hi’s off. What a beautiful declaration of who/what we are in Christ. Also, the profoundly simple message in “I Know Who I Am” has sort of become my little ‘insecurity fighting anthem‘. With greater and greater frequency, I come across people who are cuter, thinner, quicker, more talented, smarter, and more ambitious than me (and their kids all make straight A’s). DRAT! But when I do, I just sing that song to myself … “I know who I am… I am yours and you are mine“. And then God and I have a little chuckle and I feel better.

I love y’all,
Sharyn

Map To ThaiOneOn

No... not to Thailand, although the the thought had crossed my mind to put a Topographical map of that gorgeous country on here....

Anyhoo.. here's a link to a PDF File that you can view, download and print out that gets you to my house. If you are coming from the Five Forks Direction from Scuffletown Road, then everything is kind of reversed... and my neighborhood is a bit further than a 1/4 mile.

Top 3 Vocal Exercises

If you haven't already seen it, check out the new Brett Manning Singing Success video that is posted on Praise Choir People. In it, Brett demonstrates and explains his three favorite vocal exercises. I am a huge believer in Brett's method. His approach teaches us to sing with a natural, rather than an "artsy" tone.

Brett and our own Steve Smith are good friends. Steve mentioned last week that he was on a call recently talking with Brett about coming to Brookwood to do some vocal sessions with us. When he comes, Brett will be doing both private and group sessions. I'm looking forward to having him here. Stand by for more information.

Maybe you know a place ...

I have a friend from Boone, NC who has a friend who's child is having surgery at Shriner's Hospital next week. Apparently, only one parent can stay with the child at Shriner's. So the other parent is looking for an inexpensive place to stay in Greenville for several weeks.

Do you know of any places other than Ronald McDonald House, I guess they are fully booked, that provides services for families in this situation. If so, let me know. Thanks.

Good News

Tammy Tester has been hired by Steve Smith to be his administrative assistant. Congratulations Tammy. I think I speak for many of us when I say, "you were made for this job." Won't it be a blast spending your days working in the Brookwood worship ministry?

I've watched the ease with which Tammy handles administrative details over the last year and a half and have been very impressed. In fact, I called her today as I was driving up the Pennsylvania Turnpike, to check on a couple of things that needed to be prepared for rehearsal tomorrow. As usual, Tammy already had it done. I felt a little stupid when I hung up the phone, saying to myself ... "Dummy, you should have known you didn't need to check on it".

You are the best Tammy! I know that we are all going to be blessed by your ministry.

Fast Sale

Keep Priscilla in your prayers. She and Richard had planned to put their house on the market this week, but it sold BEFORE they could get it on the market. Sil has to get things packed up and out of the house before the end of the month. That is a good definition of stress. But, WOW, what a answer to prayer!

Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon

Lea Ann is running the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon this weekend!! Way to go, Lea Ann. Be sure to bring back before and after pictures ...

Pennsylvania Bound

I'll be in Ephrata, Pennsylvania the rest of the week. It's right in the heart of Lancaster County. Dodging Amish buggies on the roads is a normal thing there. It's also close to the Hershey chocolate factory; but I won't have time to get there. I'll be working onsite at Ephrata Community Hospital.

Jerilin will be running rehearsal this week. So, I know it will be FUN. I wish I could be there. I'll look forward to being back with you next week.

Joe's Words

Amen. I was chatting with the bass player after the second service... (I dont know his name), but he was spot on... he told me and I quote, "that there was so much Spirit moving through us, that I had no idea what I was even playing." That's what Im talkin about.

And then I receive this affirmation this morning. How cool? We are free. Free to sing, free to dance, our debt is paid. The very last line says Everything I need to remember. That we need to remember. I could go home happy at this very moment, with this on my heart.

Love to you all. Have a great week.

A Special Day

Today turned out to be very special morning for us. We had a great time together. The music turned out to be a lot of fun. The Spirit of God was with us. And we got to experience a new part of our musical journey as Steve led us in a somewhat ad lib fashion though parts of the songs. You did great. From where I was standing, you sang with such confidence, that it sounded intentional and rehearsed. You are to be commended for being tuned in to what was happening, and the Spirit is to be thanked for leading us all.

It is such a joy to be a part of this group! Thanks for being such a sweet family.

If you haven't yet checked out our Praise Choir People network, visit us at http://praisechoir.ning.com.

God's Timing

Rob's thought for the day was incredibly timed. I was a peeved at someone and was about to make a phone call and go on the attack when I read Rob's post. It reminded me that God has a better way, if I'll step back and follow his lead. I was happy with the way the situation worked out.

Then later in the day, when Rob's reminder was a distant memory, I 'did it my way.' It didn't work out so well.

As I'm sitting here, thinking, "when will I learn." God is reminding me that it's not about remembering or chosing to do things his way. It's about allowing him to transform me from the inside out, so that I naturally, first listen for his lead and follow it. Over time, he promises that I'll begin to do, by nature, what he would do. Christlikeness!

I'm looking forward to serving with and worshiping with you tomorrow.

As a reminder, here's the link to the WHAT TO WEAR post.

For Every Action, There Is A Reaction

I love this. When something causes you to react, what does your action tell you about your soul? I think this ties nicely into Joe's post about the will, and completely trusting God to manage the given situation, good or bad.

Flyer, Menu and GPS Coordinates

Just to see how savvy we are... (and yep, I'll bring copies on Thursday)... BUT! The flyer for Thai One On is in a downloadable PDF Format. To get it and read it, you need Adobe Reader.

See you Thursday.

Here's your sign.

Reminder

This is just a reminder that this week our rehearsal is on THURSDAY. We'll begin at 6:30 PM in Pod I. There will be no sight singing sessions.

I hope you have a great week. See you Thursday.

Its Official. This thing (or thang) Has a Brand.

The Will

Here is a powerful thought that I read this morning in one of Dallas Willard's books.

The God-intended function of the will is to reach out to God in trust.

This is a revolutionary thought to me. I tend to use my will to take control of my life. I grew up in a religious system where "willpower" was admired and was used to make oneself "do the right thing." It seems, however, that God wants us to use our will to put ourselves in a posture of trust.

The path to a "solution" is surrender.

Awesome Rehearsal

Being with you and rehearsing with you last night was awesome. I was delighted with the results of our work. Thank you for giving yourself so fully!

Please remember to work this week on the tricky little turn at m.15, and the fun "Whoooo" at m.50. Beyond that, I'd like you to just be sure that you know the words and your part on everything. Next week we'll meet on Thursday night with the band. It will be fun.

Wasn't it great having Don Chapman with us? His skill on the keyboard made it possible for us to move quickly, learn quickly, and cover a lot of ground. THANK YOU, DON! Don is an expert on what's going on in music ministries around the U.S. and the rest of the world. He travels all over the country visiting other ministries and teaching at music conferences. If you want to know more about Don's business, check out http://www.worshipideas.com/. You'll find links to several of his websites that offer resources to church musicians. Or to learn more about what Don himself is up to, check out his blog at http://theadventuresofdonchapman.blogspot.com/.

Remember to watch the John Tesh - Shackles video below to see what the choir in that video is wearing. I'd like us to model that this month.

Social Gathering 411

A bit of an update on the invite to my humble abode, slated for Saturday, 5.3.08:

1)Not sure of the start time yet.

2)The Theme for this event is: Thai One On: man can cook. This will be an excursion into some seriously Basil Rich recipes from Thailand and the surrounding areas. No protesting allowed. Wait, that's Tibet.

3)If you have an aversion and or said allergy to Coconut, Chicken, Peanut, Peanut Oil, or Very Fresh basil.... there is a Papa John's around the corner. Upstate Special - one topping thin crust, 9.99. (single parent, remember?)

4) My son, Tanner, will be running Sous in the kitchen. He's OK with knives... but if he has a pair of kitchen shears in his hand, make no sudden movements and back up slowly.

5) Flyer/reminder will be available next Thursday at Technical.

6) Map will be posted on Blog. Do not try to Google my house, or do World View. For some reason, I don't show up on any map (Joe, Sharyn... please refrain from comments at this time)

7) You are all going to start asking... "What Can I Bring?". The answer - yourselves, and a great attitude for fellowship, music, praise, etc. (if you happen to have a copy of Holly Jolly... that would be good too. I gave mine to Sharyn for Lent)

8) I'm sorry, but there will be no child care available for the evening. What this means is, that if you have a kid, they are welcome, as mine will be there. This also means, that I'm not watchin em. I do have a nice neighborhood, all cul de sac, nice backyard. GameBoys, PSPs, PlayStation and tons of movies. Typically I just turn mine loose. They always come back when they're hungry.

Love you all.

I Am Free

Here is the link to I Am Free.

Audio - I Am Free

Another way to serve

If you'd like to contribute a little more of yourself to our Praise Choir ministry, here's an important opportunity.

For the Sundays that we sing, I'd like to be able to send the lyrics to our songs in the proper sequence to the video team in advance of our technical rehearsal. They can just plug our lyrics in and know that they are right. The benefit to us will be that we can have confidence that the projected lyrics are going to give us the support that we want on Sunday morning. No questions, no errors! It will make our Thursday and Sunday rehearsals more effective, and it will allow us to focus our minds on other important things.

Whomever takes this on needs to be able to read song structure well (repeats, etc.) so that the lyrics will be sequenced right. For obvious reasons, we need someone who is a bit of a perfectionist. This would be a "one time a month" gig with the lyrics due early in the week that we sing.

If you are interested, give me a call (864.787.5425). We'll talk more about it.

Daily Affirmations

You know, we all have them. Whether its a little book, or a calendar that serves a magnet on the fridge holding up that cherished piece of art from a child or grandchild... but daily affirmations play a role in our lives, and serve as a constant reminder, that our God, is an Awesome God... and he reigns. I took a class at Brookwood this past year called Christ Life, Phase 1 - While We Were Slaves. Title speaks for itself. We are all slaves to our past, our present, or other pieces of junk that we carry around with us. This junk gets in the way, bogs us down, clouds our thoughts... and in essence, keeps us from becoming more Christ Like... which is the intention of our Creator... he didn't cook us up to run around His Planet, wandering aimlessly... He wants us to love, to live in peace, to be perfect...just like his Son, and our Brother.

So I will share today's affirmation. Every so often these affirmations that I receive, really make sense for the day, and today's was no different. I love you all. God Bless your day today, and the days to come. I'll see you all tomorrow night.


All of us on this earth are perfect beings in the Eyes of God.
After all... he's the creator. How do you look at your kids? Perfect, right? I mean they may tick you off, or disappoint you, but when you look at them... really LOOK AT THEM, you see perfection.

How else would the Father look at us?

What to wear

Here is the John Tesh video that we tried to show you last night. Look at what the choir is wearing. This is a very good look and should work well in our setting. After rehearsal we were looking at this and someone used a term for the colors that seems to describe them ... jewel tones. Check it out - and enjoy the great music and video.

Bad Timing... on my part.

As was pointed out to me last night, the reception for Steve Smith is on Sunday evening... and I rush in and plan some form of event on Saturday... I know we all love each other, but spending the entire weekend in food and fellowship? I imagine that we have some other plans, right?

Therefore (and no, Sharyn, this is NOT an April Fool's Joke...) I am going to move the date of my invite to you all to my home to Saturday, May 3. That will give you all time to plan, and hopefully be able to make it over. Unless of course the house sells between now and then, and then you can all come over and help me pack. Either way, it will be enjoyable, and God willing, the weather will be nice and I can fire up the grill.

I will create some form of flyer so you can all stick it on your Fridge as a reminder, and I will post a map to the blog.

Is that cool with you all?

9900

By the counter on the right.
Too exciting for words, actually.

Prayer Request

Please take a moment to pray for the family and friends of Eric McKnight(23) who was killed in a motercycle accident. Kylie Davis, one of the new additions to our choir family, and her husband were very close friends with Eric. His death is a great loss to them.

Rehearsal Plan

Tonight we need to work on all five songs. We'll break into sectionals for Can't Stop Talking, and Enough. While we are all together we'll work on the other songs. We're also going to try doing We Have Overcome in a key that is one step lower to see if it works better for us. It will be a fast paced rehearsal covering a lot of ground. So, please, have your mind in rehearsal gear when you come in the door. Thanks. See you then.

Its The Methodist In Me, I Suppose.

So I grew up Methodist. Sang in the choir. My father was actually the choir director. But that is another story, for another time. The point is, and I do have one... that of all of my fond memories of the church growing up, my favorite was the Fellowship Meals we would have twice a month after service. You know.... covered dish, pass the corn, more potatoes??? that kind of thing. So... what I was thinking, and I do that from time to time, is that I would invite you all, or at least open my house to you all, for a fellowship, meal, type party... type thing. Im getting ready to try and sell my house again, so what better way to kick off selling season, than a little open house with food, music and fellowship with 40-60 of my closest friends.

Im thinking this Saturday night - from 630 to whenever.
Now Im not going to do this, if its a bad time for the majority of you, since I want you all there... so either leave a comment on this post, or email me direct at robwharton@charter.net - or do both... or... you can say a word or two, too me tomorrow night (or in Sharyn's case... she'll just thump me on the head).

If I get a good indication of the amount of people, I will formalize this thing a bit more.

God Bless.

Trust me, this is better than the idea of burying a little statue of a saint in the backyard.

-rob

Change ...

Steve Smith called last night and asked if we can make a change to this month's song order. He wants to know if we can open with Holly Jolly Christmas. I'm guessing he had lunch with Rob yesterday ...

Okay, it's weak, but it's the best I could come up with this morning ... Sorry. Anyway, happy April 1.

Enough - Trax

Here are practice trax for Enough.

Enough - 4 Parts
Enough - Soprano
Enough - Alto
Enough - Tenor
Enough - Bass

What I'm Thinking About

Jesus said "bless those who curse you." It really wasn't a command. It wasn't a "do" or a "don't". He said it in the context a a whole list of things that happen in kingdom living. He was saying in effect, "if you are living in my kingdom authority, you will bless those who curse you." Or, put in other words, "if you have surrendered enough of yourself to me, you will, without thought or effort, bless those who curse you."

Hmmm .... I don't like what that reveals about how much of my life is controlled by him. Blessing those who harm or speak ill of me is very hard. It certainly doesn't flow out without thought or effort.