The Northern Conspiracy

Prep for Sunday, May 10

Sun, 03 May 2009 14:56:33 -0700

Next Sunday, Pastor Mark will be preaching on 1 Peter 5:6-11 about humility. This topic has been on my heart a great deal, mostly because of conviction that there are many areas in my life that need strengthening in this area. I can easily be arrogant, which is ugly in God's sight. How should we deal with humility as we sing together? A few ways come to mind: 1. When we see God truly, we are far less impressed with ourselves. Sing songs about God's glory 2. When we see arrogance in our own hearts, we must agree with God that it is sin and confess. Sing songs about God's grace. 3. When we understand that the work of Christ on the cross is completely sufficient to destroy our arrogance, we may truly thank him. Sing songs of thankfulness. So, that said, here are the songs I'm thinking of playing next week: Psalm 25 Death To Life The Glory of God Agnus Dei That leaves 2 open slots. Any suggestions?

Christ is Risen

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:24:48 -0700

Gloria

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:22:13 -0700

At the Foot of the Cross

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:15:58 -0700

A Prayer for Faith

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:08:39 -0700

The Glory of God

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:05:42 -0700

Come Unto Me

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:56:14 -0700

I Look at the Cross

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:48:42 -0700

Jackie

Fri, 11 May 2007 18:10:47 -0700

Jackie in between takes during Doxology

Joe

Fri, 11 May 2007 18:10:31 -0700

Joe pretending he knows what all those buttons do

Dennis

Fri, 11 May 2007 18:10:13 -0700

What you can't see is Jackie knitting a sweater behind Dennis. She made a lot of progress in the few short days were were there.

Seth & Joe

Fri, 11 May 2007 18:09:56 -0700

In the big room at AVAST!

Big acoustic trio

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:32:17 -0800

Since Craig & Jackie are in Hawaii, I decided to switch things up this week and to a trio with Seth & Audrey. Wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it ended up being a lot of fun and sonically really cool. I split the acoustic signal between the system and my Vox AC-15 with a new Roland Space Echo on the amp that I controlled with an expression pedal. It was a lot of fun mixing the amp signal with the direct signal, and that Space Echo sounds amazing. We pushed the Cello really hard in the system and Audrey sounded awesome. Seth played his full kit + a tympani. It was awesome. At the end of the day, many comments from people astonished at the fullness of the sound. We were surprised and had a great time with a simple acoustic trio. Who knew it was possible to make that cool?

This camera RULES!!

Fri, 11 May 2007 18:25:51 -0700

Back in February I went with a client of mine to the PMA show in Las Vegas. (I think PMA stands for Photo Marketer's Association...their web site doesn't really explain it. Not bad for a bunch of MARKETERS!!) It was your basic convention in Las Vegas, all of the major corporations were there...Panasonic, Cannon, Sony, Samsung, etc... These guys had MASSIVE booths devoted to their products, which were mostly ordinary and boring. But then, tucked in a corner was the most interesting booth at the show. I found the Leica booth. They had a few cameras out to play with. One of which was their new point & shoot: the D-Lux 3 and...holy moly! It's awesome! Check out the photos of our recent studio session at AVAST!. Here's the basics: Leica lens and construction means vivid colors. Variable aspect ratio: you can change from 16:9 to 3:2 to 4:3 all at the flick of a switch. 10 megapixel at 16:9 F2.8 - 8.0 Aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, and program are totally easy to use. Super bright display. I LOVE THIS CAMERA! Check out Leica's site for more.

Good Friday?

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:36:42 -0700

This is the first post on this blog. If you're reading this, well...that's amazing. As of today, nobody knows we're here and I don't know how anybody would know that we are here. Regardless, I'm going to write. I like to write. I need to write more. I've been thinking about Good Friday. Why do we call it Good Friday anyways? A few weeks ago I began putting together a list of songs to choose from for our annual Good Friday service at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Mostly hymns because hymns are good at the bloody and violent aspects of the cross, which is essential to the theme. Hymns are also really good at one other thing that, to me, seems out of place during the Good Friday service: Hope. Or, more clearly, the result of the finished work on the cross complete with the resurrection 3 days later. This is at the center of Christian hope: that Jesus lived a sinless life and conquered death and therefore has something of pure and true value to offer us. But focusing on the hope while trying to grasp the gravity of Jesus' death may going too far if we're trying to understand what happened on the 1st day. The idea goes like this. We focus on the death of Christ, the devastating act it was, and the ensuing confusion that must have taken place directly after. I thought he was the Mesiah. But now he's dead. We attempt to understand the loss. We mourn. We reflect. Some people cry. Some weep. Others internalize it. You know, we all respond differently. But then the band plays and leads us in songs that, no matter how bloody they are, seemingly always end in resurrection and hope! Ordinarily, this is good. But Good Friday is different. I think we should leave devastated. Let down. Depressed even. After all, that's how the disciples left. "And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things." (Luke 23:48-49) Not so much a hopeful image. If the goal is to put ourselves in their shoes, then we need songs that end in death. We need songs that end in injustice, the killing of the innocent man. We need songs that highlight our participation in the crucifixion because, after all, if we have committed one sin, then Jesus died for it, and therefore was put on the cross by our own dirty hands. We must think highly of Jesus' death. It's the only way we can truly rejoice on the 3rd day when we gather to celebrate His resurrection, restoring our hope, restoring our affection, and glorifying God like the angels do in heaven, "Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever, amen."