"What The Heck" and Spontaneity in Worship

I had a moment with the Holy Spirit, which prompted me to segue into a song I hadn't planned in my setlist. I could feel everyone hop onboard that moment, and there we were, singing our hearts out, some praying in tongues, others, like me, singing from the depths of my tiredness, sorrow and pain a new song of praise and worship.

And when the moment passed and it was time for me to hand over the time, I got that look from one of the authoritarian Megalomaniacs in our midst: "What the heck are you doing?" (I've heard him use harsher terms on me before.)

Let me share from my heart (a rarity for me, but something I am embracing if I am to be authentic).

If authentic worship means being open to how the Spirit moves, and being ready to pour my heart out like an offering unto God, I don't see why I am being judged for obeying the Spirit. I hear Jesus calling me out to be raw and real. I hear the Spirit singing alongside my offering of worship. I sense the Father's smile as He looks on His worshipful children.

Sure, it wasn't planned. That's precisely why it's authentic. You won't hear my heart's cry when I'm rehearsed. But you see, that's the way God has wired me. I am made to worship in a certain style, in a certain setting. There is as much validity in spontaneous, raw worship as in traditional, quiet liturgy--all are expressions of worship God longs for us to engage in to meet with Him!

I challenge every worship leader to be conscious of how God has made you to lead. Are you in the traditional stream? Then craft corporate prayers to the glory of He who hears our every cry. Are you in the contemporary stream? Then let your worship flow with the fullness of the Spirit, letting your songs and dance and thoughts bring everyone towards the jubilant expression that God takes delight in.

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A New Resolve - Pedaltrain Nano Mark 1 (AMT/Xotic/TC Mini Pedals)

How small can a pedalboard get? This was the challenge placed on my heart for a while, and I didn't have the chance to get down to actualize a fully functional pedalboard with my favorite tones at a fraction of the size. When I distilled my creative requirements for tone, I realized I essentially needed:

• A wah pedal
• A compressor
• A boost
• An overdrive
• A volume pedal
• A delay

Were there six such pedals in a miniaturized form factor? Yes! Hence, it was a matter of time (in acquiring the necessary funds) before I could put all of the essential components together to form the tiniest pedalboard I have ever assembled:

From right to left, the signal chain is as follows:

AMT Japanese Girl WH-1

Xotic SP Compressor

Xotic EP Booster

Xotic SL Drive

AMT Little Loud Mouth LLM-2

TC Electronic Flashback Mini Delay

And here's a short video on how I set up the overdrive section with the Xotic Trinity:

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Viewing iCloud Calendar Events in Google Calendar

I wrote a short how-to for ministry members to view iCloud calendar events on their Google calendar spaces because some people just don't have iCloud access (being Android phone users). This is a short post, but I hope it helps you out as much as it helped me!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ucwY4RHrkpr6GU1JIS-yxZBDilq1D7-0cssAjGEPey0/edit?usp=sharing

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A Small But Functional Board With Xotic and TC Electronic Pedals

The last house gig and memoirs of playing at Blu Jazz showed me that giant pedalboards are not the way when all you need is a basic overdrive and delay sound. I thus began my search for a combination of micro-sized pedals that would require minimal setup/tear-down and maximum tone.

I initially toyed with the idea of using my improvised plastic case pedalboard, put together by repurposing a piece of foam (that came with a laptop case), cutting it down to size and slapping on some fuzzy-side Velcro. I quickly realized there were too many of the small pedals for practical use--so I have set it aside as a backup nano-board for the acoustic or the bass.

I then realized I really wanted full-sized wah and volume pedals, and I use them pretty frequently in my playing. Hence, I decided to mix-and-match my current pedals, partially upsetting the initial creative vision I had for a fully-nano sized board. Two more revisions led to this board:

This is a Pedaltrain Junior board outfitted with the following signal chain:

Xotic SP Comp

Budda Bud-wah

Xotic EP Booster

Xotic SL Drive

Cmatmods Signa Drive

Ernie Ball VP Jr

TC Electronic Flashback Mini

TC Electronic Polytune Mini (to mute the signal when I change TonePrints with my phone)

Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master

TC Electronic Ditto Looper

Palmer PDI-09

All pedals are powered by a Diago Powerstation, and I repurposed a Fisherman's Friend tin as a pick/ear buds tin. I'll definitely be bringing this on a field test at the next service, and I'm excited to hear what happens!

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