New Host (change your RSS)

Hey everyone,

This post is really for those who get this blog through RSS (all 2 or so of you :-P). Tomorrow morning, I'll be switching hosts for this blog and moving it to Weebly (where I currently host my web-site), so your RSS feeds will need to be updated. The web address will be the same... so head over there sometime in the next couple of days and update your records. Just wanted to keep everybody posted. Thanks!

Eric

The Day After Election Day

Good morning, America. I thought I was done posting about politics (in fact I think I even said I was), but I'm inclined to write a bit this morning, nevertheless. I awoke to a very interesting internet today, including: 1.) TONS of news coverage (both unbiased and otherwise), 2.) Quite a few blog posts (some insightful and fair and some... well... not), and 3.) A flurry of facebook statuses and Twitter posts (which were mostly pretty offensive from both sides. As much as I know that nobody needs to read another writing this morning, I feel the need to address this just a bit anyways.

The truth is, I think most people are just looking for something to fight about. We like to have conflict in our lives somewhere, and elections tend to set themselves up as prime opportunities. Give it a couple days or weeks, and we'll all be back to fighting about something else My candidate didn't win, and I'd be lying it I said I wasn't disappointed by that (ooh, did you all just read into that!? I actually told you who I voted for!). I also think that a lot of the people who voted for the victor didn't fully understand all of his policies and ideas, but the process worked, and worked better than it has the last two elections. I'll take it. For good or for bad, the next four years will be what the majority of Americans voted for... which is the whole point. I will be praying for President-Elect Obama, and for a smooth transition from the Bush administration to his own. I will pray that he will seek God's guidance as he governs, and that he would follow that guidance when he receives it. I will pray (or rather continue to pray) for success and prosperity and (most of all) peace for our nation. I hope that others will join me in this prayer, regardless of their political affiliation, regardless of who your candidate was, and regardless of how happy or angry you might be this morning. If your candidate won, please accept victory graciously. If your candidate lost, please concede defeat graciously. Above all else, please remember that the people who voted for the other candidate are just that... PEOPLE. They voted according to their own moral and political compass, and just because it is slightly different than yours doesn't mean that you are right and they are wrong. It just means you look at the world slightly differently. It's the way we were created. It's what makes our system work in the first place. Be respectful.

Having said that, this election isn't over. "President" was not the only race or isssue on the ballot yesterday. Both cnn.com and dispatch.com remain open on my screen this morning. I'm largely pleased with the results on Ohio's statewide issues. I'm pleased with the majority of the outcomes in local races, both here in Columbus and in St. Clairsville and Tiffin. I'm watching the final numbers come in on California's Proposition 8 with great interest, and I'm keeping an eye on the 4 Senate seats that are still undecided. The process isn't over yet. I'm also watching what's happening on Capitol Hill today, as the FCC has just voted to reallocate some frequency bands in a way that could cause major headaches for a lot of wireless microphone users in this country, including Centerpoint and me personally.

It's an interesting day. People feel many different ways about it, but no matter what, we move forward, not back. We have no choice.

Thanks for reading.

A New Community

Those who have read this blog for any period of time know that I'm all about community. Not the cheesy, church manufactured kind, either. I'm talking about REAL community - the chance to really start to get to know some other people, to share life with each other. I've always felt that Centerpoint was this kind of community to an extent, but the truth is, my demographic has never been very well represented there (not that that's unlike the other churches I've been in). So when we started talking last Spring about starting a new small group for 20-somethings, I got very excited, to say the least. It took us quite a while to get it going, but we finally did. We met for the fourth time tonight, and I hosted it here for the first time. Definitely what I needed this week (it's been a long one). The thing is, I don't even think that this group compares to many other "small groups" in the traditional sense. It's just different. It's a very laid back group of people, and not "religious" in any sense. The only things assured at our gatherings are that there will be good food, good beer, and good conversation. I couldn't think of any better setting to sit and discuss God's word. After all, most of Jesus' ministry happened in homes, usually around a meal. I'm definitely appreciative for these people and the time we have together... looking forward to getting into things deeper over the next weeks and months.

And now... bedtime!

More Than Enough

A good portion of this afternoon and evening will be devoted to preparing for the annual 4th-6th grade retreat that I co-direct at Kirkmont. This year our theme is "More Than Enough", so that's what I'll be pondering on and working with today. I think there are TONS of things in the world that we already have "more than enough" of, yet we still long for more. We've gotten really materialistic (at least in this country). I'm just as guilty. I find myself wanting things that I definitely don't need, and wanting even more of the things I already have. And in the midst of all of this, we miss the simple call: to forget all of it, and turn our needs over entirely to God. That's tough. We're not conditioned for that. We don't like to rely on others for our needs, and definitely not for our wants (because then we might not get them), but that's the goal that God has placed before us. And yes, the world would probably have a pretty major problem with us if we ever truly achieved that goal. But isn't that kind of the point?

Today I'll be working on relating this idea... this big, huge, almost incomprehensible idea... to a bunch of middle-school aged kids. Somehow I don't think they'll have as much trouble understanding it as I do.

So what do you think? What are some things that we have "more than enough" of?

My New Toy (AKA The Steal Of The Century)

Ok, so this is admittedly a really nerdy gear-related thing. I'm going to talk about it anyways. I'm that excited. Introducing the Stompbox:


What is it, you ask? Essentially, it's an electronic bass drum effect. You tap your foot on it (as you might do on the floor anyways), and it sends a low frequency "thump" through the amp or sound system it's connected to. There are other products out there that do this, and I've known about several for some time. The most notable is the Porchboard Bass (which I've seen Christopher Williams use), but with prices starting around $250, it's way out of my price range. Ellis Guitars also makes one, but it's also $150 in it's lowest configuration. Again, out of my league, but I've really been wanting this effect for my solo shows and coffeehouse percussion set-ups...

...so imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the Stompbox for less than $50! Now, I'll be the first to admit that it falls short of the others in some areas. It's metal, so it's sound doesn't quite have that "woody" sound that the others boast, and it takes some pretty hefty EQ adjustments, but it's totally worth it to get the sound at this price. No more lugging my big bass drum across town to play a stage it barely fits on anyways. This will also be a great addition to my solo guitar and ukulele stuff. All in all, a GREAT deal! The documentation that came with it implied that there are only 100 of these things out there, and they're handmade by the creator, so I feel very lucky to have tracked it down when I did. I couldn't help but share :-)

Politics & Religion

Note: This single entry will probably be the extent of my political blogging this election season, so enjoy it. Just saying.

So there was a Vice-Presidential debate on TV last night. Most of you probably watched it. I watched it too, but really only because it knocked The Office off of the air for the week. And the group I was with wanted to watch it. See, you have to understand, I really can't stand politics. Now voting, I'm all about voting, I vote every chance I get. But that has to do with people and government. Politics, and especially election politics, is just talk. In fact, the single greatest benefit for me of having a DVR has been being able to skip the commercials this time of year. But I digress...

We recently got a new small group going at Centerpoint of 18-20somethings. Very cool. There aren't a lot of us that age in this particular church, and it's been nice to be able to get together, enjoy a little food and wine, and talk about things from a different perspective. We meet on Thursdays, so last night's discussion naturally drifted to the impending debate more than once... we ran a little late, so we all ended up watching it together, too. Here's the thing, though - a large part of our discussion last night centered on honesty. We talked about some "little white lies" we've all told to keep people happy, and then posed the question: "Would Jesus have told those lies?" The answer was a resounding "no"... which brought us back to politics. Somebody mentioned that a straight answer from the politicians would be nice once in a while, which I think is the point. It's all about telling you what you want to hear. Jesus wouldn't have done that. He would have given us the straight truth, even if it was hard to swallow. That's why I trust in Jesus, but not politicians.

The truth is, every one of these folks has a group (or rather lots of groups) that they're trying to appeal to: the conservative right, the liberal left, moderates, Christians, Jews, whites, blacks, small business owners, rich folks, poor folks, or even the American public as a whole. The vast majority of politicians will say whatever those groups want to hear... and that goes for both sides. I've already seen news stories today exposing lies that both of the Veep candidates told last night. Aren't we better than that?!? Aren't we, the American people, smart enough to rise above our petty partisanship and demand straight answers from everyone, whether they be Republican, Democrat, or anything else?

I've seen great blogs written by Christian leaders that I deeply respect in support of both candidates (and additional stuff about their VP picks). All of it has been pretty balanced. Everyone admits that they have disagreements with their own candidate; that there are some things they like better about the other. And that's the way it should be. I won't be revealing my own pick here on this blog (although I have decided), because that's not what it's all about. Don't trust what celebrities, other politicians, or other pastors say. Don't trust what I say. Above all else, don't trust what the candidates say. Instead, get online, and do your homework! Find out what these guys are really all about. See what they say and do and vote for when the entire world isn't watching. See what lines up more with your own views and beliefs and what lines up with the teachings of Jesus, and then make your own decision. Because that's the point. And because politics suck.

Life Update

Well friends, it's been a while. My absence is not intentional, I promise. I've actually got a lot to write about these days, but just no time to get it out onto the keyboard! Tonight, though, I need to write. Therapeutic and all that. There has been a lot going on as of late... brief recap of the month I've been gone:

-Band camp #2: Otterbein's this time. Great camp, great band, LONG days! Plus lots of continued work with both Otterbein and Big Walnut. Marching season is pretty consuming this time of year. Competitions with BW start this weekend.

-A week on the road with the Van-Dells: This was a BLAST. The Van-Dells are a traveling 50's and 60's rock and roll revue that has been on the road for almost 35 years. I got to fill in on the drums with them for three shows a couple of weeks ago, complete with bowling shirts and letter sweaters. Good times. Good guys and great music, too!

-Lots of other stuff, including: Another performance with the Westerville Symphony, rehearsal accompanying for Otterbein's production of Smokey Joe's Cafe, the beginnings of plans for my third year of directing the 4th-5th grade retreat at Kirkmont, and of course lots of Centerpoint stuff... phew!

Things aren't necessarily slowing down, but they do seem to be settling into more of a routine for the next couple of weeks... hopefully that will allow more time to write. In the meantime, check out a couple other blogs that I've really been enjoying lately:

1. The Shlog - This is the blog of singer and speaker Shaun Groves... I've honestly never listened to a lot of Shauns music, but this blog is sheer genius. Check it out.

2. Vintage Faith - This is Dan Kimball's page (he wrote that little book I liked so much: "They Like Jesus, But Not The Church"). Very insightful.

3. donmilleris - As you might guess, this is Don Miller's new blog. 'Nuff said.

Now go read! Enjoy, and I'll hopefully talk to you sooner than later!

A Recommendation

I'm at my parents house for a couple of days - which is nice. Sometimes you just need a break. Here's something I've been meaning to share for some time. If you haven't check out Garfield Minus Garfield yet, you really have to. Here's the description posted on the site:

"Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It's a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb."

Ok, so first, let me just say that this thing isn't really nearly as serious as it sounds from this. It's actually really funny. In fact, Jim David (the creator of the original Garfield strip), has some really good things to say about it. Here's an example of one of my favorite strips:



Get the idea? Good! Now go read the rest!

I Want More Than My Lonely Nation...

...that's a quote from a Switchfoot song that we played in church last weekend. We're doing a series right now about community; about moving out of the isolation that our society and lifestyle creates and experiencing real, life-giving community in Christ. This is something I've been thinking quite a bit about, and I had another reminder this morning. On my way home from practice at the high school, I saw a couple riding their bikes, side by side. So far so good, right? When I pulled up beside them, though, I realized that they both had headphones in! They were physically together, but that was as far as it went. How often do we live like this? I know I do it. I spend my whole day around people, with people, but I'm not necessarily experiencing community. I mistake being surrounded by people for actually spending time with them, and then I come home at the end of the day and just want to be alone, because I "spent the whole day with people."

Only that's not the case.

I've been reminded of this several times recently, not only through Pastor Dave's messages the past two Sundays, but also through my own personal interactions with people. We need community. I need community. I've been in prayer about this as of late, on both individual and church levels. I know that others have been, as well. May God reveal direction, may God bring us out of our isolation and help us to find a way to live life in community with others. May we have more than our lonely nations.

It's All Relative

Today I saw gas for $3.46 a gallon. There were cars lined up around the block to get into the station, and even I got excited for a bit (though I didn't need gas) because of this low price! But then I started thinking about it... 6 months ago, or if not, certainly a year ago, people would have been (or rather were) absolutely outraged to see gas selling that high. It's all relative. Looking at the long term, gas prices are very high, but they're lower than they were last week, so we're excited. Most things in our lives are this way. Everything changes so quickly, we can barely keep up. We expect things to be new and different all the time. New clothes, new music, new cars, new houses. Nothing ever stays the same. I think this is one of the reasons that the church sometimes has trouble relating God's love and the love of Christ to the world: it's constant, it never changes. And yet, that's the very reason that we need it! In a world where nothing is guaranteed, and everything changes constantly, we know that God's love and Christ's sacrifice never change. They will be the same tomorrow, and the next day, and next week, and next year, and for all eternity. That's why we can take rest in that love, that's what makes it a refuge from the rest of the world. Why don't we realize that? Why don't we take comfort in it?

Jr. Music Camp Video

I've been waiting for this video to hit the web ever since camp ended in June. Kirkmont Jr. Music Camp 2008:

You Should Read This

I had intended to write something original this morning (and who knows, I may still do that yet today), but once I saw this on another blog, I just had to share it. So go read it.

How metrosexual is your worship leader?

Centerpointers take heart, I only scored an 8 :-P

Bootlegging

This is a busy time of year for me. Why, you ask? Because marching band season is officially in full swing! I was never a tremendous fan of marching band (or rather, marching in marching band!), but I did seven years between high school and college. Now that I've graduated, though, my focus has shifted to something that I enjoy a lot more: instructing marching drumlines. This year I'm doing two lines, an area high school (Big Walnut) and Otterbein. Otterbein starts so late that I'm not even really thinking about that one yet, but we're into our second week of camp at Big Walnut now, so I'm definitely tired.

On a completely different note: we played the song "You Said" at church on Sunday, and it reminded me that I had this video to share. This is from my last night leading worship at Otterbein Christian Fellowship this past spring. Someone randomly took video that night (which I ended up really appreciating... last night and all), and it actually came out pretty well, so I figured I'd post it up here as my first "bootleg." It's kind of choppy and the camera work is a little dizzying at times, but the audio's really pretty good, and I'm happy to have the documentation:-P Playing with me are my good friend Jeff Huenemann on bass and Jarrin Bradshaw (who you may recognize from the Brandon Abbott Trio) on drums. Enjoy!

Changes

I don't do this very often on this blog, but I'm going to go ahead and "talk shop" a little bit today. This past Sunday was a busy week at Centerpoint from a technical standpoint. Having worshiped outside for the last 4 weeks, it was a little bit of an adjustment to moving back into our regular facility. Beyond that, though, we're implementing a couple of changes right now (seemed smart to time them with moving back in, for consistency's sake). The biggest is that we've switched presentation softwares. Up to this point, we've used Sunday Plus, but we've felt for some time now that it just wasn't getting the job done. It's got some Vista issues, and we've had trouble getting video content to play back smoothly (which is major for us, because we use a lot of video in our services). The problem of course is that we're a little church with a very tight budget (primarily because of the facility we're currently occupying). So what did we do?

Enter openlp. With the recent explosion of high-quality, open source software (like Audacity and OpenOffice), I suppose it should have occured to me that there might be an open source worship presentation software sooner, but it didn't. In any case, I found it, and we used it for the first time this past Sunday. openlp is completely free and open source and includes the vast majority of the features found in Sunday Plus, MediaShout and others. The only major thing it's missing right now is text over video support, but the developers have suggested that it's coming in the next version. Exciting. I think this is a great example of folks in the church using their gifts and talents to help out others. I pulled a screenshot of the main operating window off of the openlp website:


The other change we made this week was significantly smaller, but still exciting. One of the first things that I got really excited about when we were designing our current worship space (really just a big warehouse we've converted) was the idea to have a completely modular stage made up of 4x4 foot panels. That way, we're able to change the shape, height, etc. of the stage quickly and easily. Since we moved into this room in October we've been using a stage for the band that was 32 feet across by 8 feet deep. In front of that was an additional 16x8 foot section for the pastor/interpreter/special musical stuff/etc. The drums were up on a short riser, but that was it. The band ended up basically in a straight line across the stage, and everything felt very spread out (especially after we went to in-ears and got rid of our stage wedges). Beyond that, we had trouble getting good coverage of the entire area with our (rather limited - four Source Fours with wide lenses) lighting system. So last week, Pastor Dave and I went to work on it. What we ended up was a new "base stage" that looks like this:


That took care of the lighting issues. Then we took the "extra" panels that we had just removed and started making platforms at different levels for the band members. It ended up looking pretty cool:



I'm really happy with what we came up with, and I definitely noticed the difference on Sunday. Everything just felt a little tighter with the band. It was good.

Addendum...

Ok, so this is really just an addition to last night's post - I mentioned three artists I've been listening to, and I wanted to pop in and note that both the Jon Foreman EPs and the Ivoryline CD are available to download for free on SpiralFrog (which is a pretty sweet site anyways) - wish I had known that before I bought them... hm... since the Sixpence None The Richer stuff was already free... there's really no excuse not to check out this music now, is there?

Enjoying Music

The title of this post might seem silly... especially on this blog, but here me out. Because of my job and degree and, well, life, I'm listening to music almost constantly. I think there's a real difference, though, between hearing music and listening to it, and an even bigger difference between just listening and really enjoying it. Tonight I got to really truly enjoy some music for a while... and of course, there's a bit of a story:

Last night I decided to rearrange my room. Good idea - it looks really good. Here's the problem: in the process of moving things around, I managed to pretty much destroy my subwoofer. I'm not really sure what happened, all I know is that once I got it where I wanted it and plugged it in, it just kind of popped. That's not the worst thing, because the speakers I had paired with it need to get back to the system they belong to at my parents house anyways.

So I went shopping today.

I wasn't planning on this expense, so I definitely didn't have much to spend, but I certainly couldn't settle for something that didn't sound really good. I ended up with the Bose Companion IIs. That's Bose's least expensive set-up, and I'll admit that I was really jonesing for the more expensive ones, but these still sounded better than everything else in the store (regardless of price).

I've spent quite a bit of time tonight listening, and they sound really great. There's just a clarity to the sound that I haven't heard out of my computer before. An incredible bass response, too - especially since this is the first computer speaker system I've had without a subwoofer - these beat out the Altec sub that blew up any day. They come highly recommended, as does the music I've been listening to:

1. Jon Foreman's 4 "season" EPs have been playing in my house/car continuously since they came out. Seriously some of the best music I've ever heard. I've gotten a little disenchanted with Switchfoot in recent years, but this stuff is just insanely good. Really acoustic, simple arrangements, but they showcase some truly profound music. You need to check this stuff out.

2. Ivoryline is a new rock/metal band from Texas. I got their CD a little while back, but haven't really gotten into listening to it until last week or so, and I must say that it's VERY good. Melodic and heavy, but still a pop element that I really like. Great vocals.

3. After "retiring" a couple years back, Sixpence None The Richer just released a new 4 track EP this week. I was never much of a Sixpence fan "back in the day," but the EP was available for free on Derek Webb's Noisetrade site (which is definitely worth checking out, by the way), so I decided to give it a shot. Wow. I'm really impressed with these tunes. Sixpence may have a new fan!

Now I've got the Pandora radio going, but I really need to get to bed... tomorrow's not a busy day, but it doesn't start earlier than today!

Resting in the Stillness

I ought to be in bed. Really. I got about two hours of sleep last night and I've been up since 6 AM. I'm very tired. And yet, here I am, still sitting at the computer at 1:29, typing away. The truth is that I don't really want to go to bed yet, because I really love this time of night. Everything is quiet and cool and dark... very peaceful. I love that stillness. I think about the passage that we've all heard so many times - "be still and know that I am God." How often do we do that in our modern, mixed up, multimedia world? I would guess that most people (at least if they're anything like me), don't take time to pause like that very often anymore.

Sometimes when we slow down and rest in that stillness, God comes to us through other people. Today has been full of good food and conversation, opportunities to connect and reconnect. I needed that. The last month or so has been a total whirlwind. Since graduation day (June 15) I've spent just 11 nights here at home. I've been all over Ohio, plus into Michigan, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It's been a great time, but also very tiring. Mentally, Physically, and Spiritually tiring. Today, I took some time to refresh. Some me time. Some friend time. Some God time. What a wonderful feeling! Why is it that we can't remember how good we feel in these moments days or weeks later when life is busy and consuming again?

I need to work on slowing down a bit, at least from time to time. I need to rest in the stillness and reconnect with my Creator. I need a "fill-up." I need a day like today.

Insomniatic Update

I had planned to be asleep in bed far earlier than this, but since I am still wide awake, I figured I should pop in here for a bit. Things have been quite busy, but should finally start to slow down a little bit now. The update:

Covenant Gathering was fantastic. Very tiring for me - lots of very good discussion on a ton of different topics, but I was often the only one with specific knowledge on something. Being one of only two or three people between 15-30, and also one of two or three people coming from a "contemporary" church (I HATE that word), much less working in one, people had a lot of questions for me. I was happy to answer them, but it left me feeling pretty worn out when I got home, therefore...

VACATION!!! I've been lucky enough to spend the last couple of days taking a break from it all with my family in the mountains of Pennsylvania (also got to see the Pirates play again on Tuesday night... good times!) I'm still at my parents house until sometime tomorrow afternoon, when I'll head back up to Columbus for the Centerpoint middle school camp out this weekend. Definitely looking forward to that - should be a very good time.

I've decided to try Twitter again... I'll admit, I still don't completely get it, but I've heard a lot of ringing endorsements lately, so I decided to reactivate my account and give it "the old college try" (which is a funnier way of saying things now that I've graduated). I figure that I update my Facebook status all the time, and Twitter can use my updates on Facebook, as well as a number of other places (including this page - check out the left hand column), so I really had nothing to lose. We'll see what happens. If you use Twitter - get me hooked on your feed!

I've got tons of little half-baked entries bouncing around in my head right now - so stay tuned for a whole bunch of stuff over the next few days (that's what happens when I finally have some time!) For tonight - goodnight!

Breaks

I still have a lot of prep work to do on my Covenant Gathering materials before I leave tomorrow. More than I'd like to have. It means very little sleep tonight and a VERY busy day up until I leave tomorrow afternoon. Nonetheless, I need a bit of a break, so I'm here to write. This is actually my second break of the evening, and I'm pausing to write about the other.

I took a walk tonight. It's been quite a while since my last one. I did that for a couple of reasons. First, because I needed a major break from the computer screen, it was 64 degrees outside, and I needed some physical activity bad. I guess that's actually three reasons. In any case, the other is that I've decided I need to stay more connected to the outdoors and nature when I'm away from camp (see two posts down for why). So I went out and walked for an hour. It was nice. I'm going to do it more often this summer.

...And now, alas, back to work.

Shifting Gears

I'm shifting gears. I've spent the last two weeks at Kirkmont Center, one of my absolute favorite places in the world. I've been working with kids ranging from 3rd to 12th grade, mostly on musical things. Here are a couple of pictures and video clips that somewhat document the time:






Now I'm preparing for another camp, one I haven't been to before. On Tuesday evening I'll be traveling to the Michindoh camp and conference center in southern Michigan to teach a class on music and worship at Covenant Gathering. Bit of a difference between a couple hundred kids and 11 adults... so that's the mental shift I'm working on this morning as I polish off my CG materials.