inside the mind of bdivine

-B

If any one reading this has a suggestion of a studio or company that could help with tracking, let me know.
We're obviously looking for great quality at a good/fair price.

We also have another option & that is tracking everything on our own...That's something I'll do more research into next week.

-B

Last year it was one of my goals to produce a live worship recording here at The Church at Chapel Hill.
Moving into the new worship facility, design projects and other priorities kept that from happening.

Well this year we're going to make it happen. As a matter of fact, it's quite possible that it could happen in the next 4-5 weeks.

Last week, a few of the guys in our band went up to the N.Georgia mountains w/ one goal.... to write songs that would make Jesus famous. We came away w/ 4 songs that we really feel good about. So with those and about 11 other original songs, we're moving forward.

Anyway - over the next few weeks I'll probably be tweeting/blogging about this process.

We're pushing the pedal to the metal in order to make this thing happen.
Ready, Set, Go!

-B

I was reading through Psalms today and came across an incredible description of the God we serve.

Psalms 97:1-6
1 The Lord is king!
Let the earth rejoice!
Let the farthest coastlands be glad.
2 Dark clouds surround him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire spreads ahead of him
and burns up all his foes.
4 His lightning flashes out across the world.
The earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord ,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
every nation sees his glory.

I’ve read that passage a hundred times before, but today it jumped out at me in a whole new way. It’s easy for Christians to get into a routine or pattern in our relationship with God where we forget how truly holy and great He really is. I needed this passage today as that kind of reminder.

“What comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”
- A. W. Tozer, opening sentence of The Knowledge of the Holy

It wasn't until last year about this time that I realized that my body had developed a craving/addiction for the caffeine that I had been taking in. That realization came after a day and a half of not drinking any coffee. I got a terrible headache that took 3 days to get rid of.

Here we are on day 3 of our 21 day all-church fast and once again I have been reminded by a painful headache that I drink too much coffee/ caffeine. This time however, I slowly weaned myself off the caffeine, so the headache wasn't as bad as it was last year, but still the reminder was there. My body was reacting to the lack of caffeine by producing a headache. It was telling me... "Hey, get some caffeine in me now".

This got me thinking. In my desire for a greater passionate relationship with God I should want this kind of painful reminder when I don't spend the time I should in prayer and devotion. I should be taking in so much of Jesus and His word that it becomes something I crave and that my body can't live w/out. In Psalm 84:2 the Psalmist said "My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."

I hope this challenges you today to pursue God in such a way that even 1 day w/out prayer, worship and Bible reading would create a painful reminder.

1. Pray more

2. Give more

3. Exercise

4. Write more

5. Eat healthy

8. Read at least 10 books

I'm kickin' off the year with our church and a ton of other people in a 21 day (Daniel) fast. I'm expecting God to do some amazing things in 2010. Can't wait to see what happens.

Most people LOVE Christmas music. There are so many great songs that mark the season and that give us those "warm fuzzies".

There are some albums that are staples around our house at Christmas.

- Merry Christmas by Mariah Carey from 1994 - still get's worn out.

- The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole

- Miracles: The Holiday Album - Kenny G

- These are Special Times - Celine Dion

- Last year I picked up Christmas Songs by Jars of Clay. Really good stuff.

This year I'd highly recommend Chris Tomlin's Glory in the Highest.

It's a little different than all the others in that it's a worship album. A Christmas worship album.

Remember, Christmas literally means CHRIST WORSHIP.

Let me encourage you to allow the remainder of this Christmas season be focused on worshiping Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who came to bring hope, peace and salvation. He is the One worthy of our worship.

Here are a couple direct links to purchase and download the album.

Purchase from iTunes

Purchase from Amazon

What are some other great Christmas albums?

I just picked up a couple new books that I've heard good things about.
Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell.
I know Bell has a lot of critics, but every time I've heard him speak live, I've really enjoyed it.
So - I'm gonna dive into these with the intent to finish them both by Christmas.
That may not seem like a very lofty goal - but considering I've never been an avid reader - it's a S.M.A.R.T. goal for me.

A couple weeks ago I experimented w/ running our click track and loops from iTunes. See the initial blog entry here: http://bdivine.posterous.com/how-were-running-loops-this-weekend
It worked pretty good, but as almost everything does, it had it's pro's and con's.
After mixing down the songs to stereo tracks in ProTools and importing them into iTunes, everything went really well. Our drummer fired the tracks from iTunes and we really didn't have any issues.

It wasn't until the following week when I went to put the tracks together for the weekend set list. We were doing a brand new song and so, like normal, I recorded a few loops and tracks for it. Again, I panned the loops to the right and the click to the left. Unfortunately when I went to "bounce" the file, I forgot that I had muted the click track while I was mixing the loop tracks... and since I was in a hurry, I didn't listen back to the bounced AIFF file.

When we got into rehearsal, the drummer pulled up the track and it started running. The pads and loops sounded fantastic, just as they had the week before, but there wasn't a click running alongside it. The lightbulb went off in my head and I realized what I had done.
The biggest problem w/ running tracks from iTunes or any other 2 track set up is that you're stuck w/ whatever is in the tracks at that moment. You can't adjust tempo, volume of individual tracks, or even add tracks quickly.

The next day I went in and built our worship set in Live which worked beautifully as it usually does.

Here's the practical lesson I took away from this:
When working in worship you have to BE FLEXIBLE. While iTunes is a great tool and can be used.... for us it's not the best way to stay flexible in our worship experiences.

I'm always looking for new ideas on running loops, however the one thing that I don't ever want to loose is flexibility.