Sabbatical

I can hardly believe it myself, but today I'm entering my eighth year of ministry as the Creative Arts Pastor here at Constance Free Church. As I’ve reflected on these last seven years, I have been reminded again of God’s amazing faithfulness and ever-present help in my endeavors to lead our Creative Arts Ministry. Through a variety of seasons of life and ministry, I’m grateful to have had exceptional support from my senior leaders, the dedication of an outstanding staff team, and the commitment of an amazing team of faithful volunteers. God’s hand of blessing remains strong and I will never stop believing that our best days are still to come. 


Our Elders and Senior Staff have established a very generous Sabbatical policy that aids a ministry staff member in their physical, emotional, and spiritual renewal after each seven years of service to our local church. I have been blessed with the opportunity to experience my first ministry Sabbatical this summer. I will be out of the office from July 5 through August 16. During this time, Scott Campbell (along with the support of the Arts Ministry staff) will be overseeing all matters pertaining to the leadership of our department. I'm very grateful for Scott's willingness to step into this role and hope that you'll assist and encourage him in any way you can. I will remain engaged on a very limited basis as we continue to work on the new recording project. 


With the utmost sincerity, I want to thank each of you for making our staff and church such a fulfilling place to serve God. Angie and I are unspeakably grateful that God has allowed us to plant deep roots here in Minnesota and look forward to many more seasons of ministry together. You are the BEST and I consider it one of my life's greatest privileges to minister alongside each of you. I love you all dearly.

Bass Tracking (Part 1)

The recording project keeps moving right along!  The last couple of days have been spent tracking bass for the new album ("All Together").  Teresa Siegel had a lot of fun - she and Scott did a great job creating some pretty sweet licks!

Choir Tracking

I'm a bit frustrated with myself right now.  Actually a LOT frustrated with myself.  We've been trying to chronicle all of the pieces of the new watchword:truth recording project ("All Together") with photos and videos.  I DIDN'T GET A PICTURE (or video) OF THE CHOIR.  Not even one.  Totally forgot.  Hmmpphh.  Well, trust me - they did a GREAT job on Sunday tracking the background vocals for Reign Everlasting.  

Music Set | June 26/27

Here's the music set from June 26/27 at Constance Free Church //
(most songs - except CFC originals - can be downloaded from the iTunes music store)


Sing Sing Sing | Chris Tomlin | Hello Love album
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Alive | Pocket Full Of Rocks | More Than Noise album
Counting On God | New Life Worship | Counting On God album
Revelation Song | Gateway Worship | Living For You album
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Reign Everlasting | Dan Leverence & Joel Bowers | from the upcoming watchword:truth release All Together (Fall 2010)
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What A Savior | Laura Story | Catalyst Music Project album
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I'm Singing | Kari Jobe | Self-Titled album


We finished our series "ACTion Figures" this weekend with a great message Pastor Randy.  Using the life of Phillip as an example, Randy challenged us to remember that the circumstances of our lives are never an accident.  God puts us where we are - sometimes even in spite of ourselves.  It was a great reminder that we're never without the opportunity to live our lives (no matter the circumstances) to influence OUR world for Christ.


We also received communion this weekend and I actually found unique symbolism in it given our teaching theme.  Christ was given the most difficult of life circumstances and yet he chose to honor the Father by fulfilling the call that was placed on His life.  Thought you might not expect communion to be a natural fit for this weekend, I thought it was a really great extension of our worship experience.


Another highlight of this weekend was a special appearance from the choir.  Generally they're on their summer hiatus, but we wanted them to be part of our new recording project so we taught them one of the songs and had them introduce it to the church.  After our services concluded, the choir tracked their vocal parts during a special recording session.  It was a lot of fun and you'll enjoy hearing them when watchword:truth releases its new worship album later this Fall.

watchword:truth

For quite some time, I've been thinking that our church band needs a name.  Names say a lot and I wanted our team to have an "identity" that was meaningful.  For the last several months, our team members and I have been pondering a name that would represent us well and (as of this weekend), we finally have it.  

The Constance Free Church Worship Band is now watchword:truth.

By definition, a "watchword" is a word or phrase expressing a person's or group's core aim or belief - a guiding principle, slogan, or mantra.  As a worship band, our "watchword" will always be the Truth of God - His Word.  Even as I thought about some of my own personal guiding principles and convictions, it occurred to me that Scriptural accuracy in lyrics is always the FIRST filter that I run a song through in evaluating its potential - even before determining whether it has a singable melody.  This is true of the original songs that we write for use in worship as well.  The Truth is our foundation.  

watchword:truth is a great identity for a worship band because one of our most important roles is to prepare people for the ministry of the Word (the Truth) in the form of the weekend message.  And it isn't just a name - it will be an identity that we will strive to personify.  As our team grows, expands, and is presented with unique ministry opportunities, we will remain faithful to our desire to serve the local church.  We will embody the guiding principles that have always united us.  Our music, message, and ideology will always reflect our desire to remain scripturally sound, culturally relevant, and deeply in love with God.

Music Set | June 19/20

Here's the music set from June 19/20 at Constance Free Church //
(most songs - except CFC originals - can be downloaded from the iTunes music store)


All Together | Dan Leverence | From the upcoming album, All Together (Fall 2010)
Majestic | Lincoln Brewster | Let The Praises Ring album
Savior | New Life Worship | Counting On God album
- - - - -
Glorious God | New Life Worship | My Savior Lives album
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Reign In Us | Starfield | I Will Go album


What a powerful weekend!  I was deeply moved by our experiences together.  In addition to the music, we heard a brief grace story from Troy and Tara Livesay who are serving on the mission field in Haiti and had some amazing stories to tell of life there after the devastating earthquake.  Our guest teacher was Dave Kiamu, a Liberian pastor who serves in leadership with the EFCA ministry ReachAfrica.  Dave was an engaging teacher who challenged us in several ways and I will remember this weekend for a very long time.


Praise God for the reminders of how He is at work around the world and making real life ACTion Figures in the 21st century!

Drum Tracking Has Begun!

You may remember (from an earlier post) that we're in the process of recording a new album that will feature 12 original songs from the team of songwriters and musicians at Constance Free Church.  Our team(s) are very excited and the "fun" stuff started this week.  Two of our drummers (Dan Noraker and Pete Grover) came in to begin drum tracking.  It's been an incredibly fun week and we're excited to keep moving forward with the rest of the project.


So far everything's on schedule for a Fall release and we're looking forward to the big CD release concert on Friday, September 24 at Constance Free Church.  More details will follow, but make sure you mark the date on your calendar and plan to attend what promises to be an amazing night of worship at CFC.