Free Show in Nashville

Our label Centricity Music is putting on a free showcase this Monday night in Nashville so if you are anywhere close come on out and enjoy a free night of live music!

Read more...

Lessons From Nashville - Follow Up Part 2

In response to some of the other comments here we go!

Kathryn said:

"man and woman in relationship together reveal God"

Is this referring to marriage or just how men and woman are as individuals? and how they each have a 'half' in themselves that becomes a 'whole' when they relate to each other?? I suspect maybe both.

This was a quote from Dan Allender. I think what he was getting at was that when we are in relationship, especially a married relationship we reveal God. When we come together as husband and wife the two become one. This is a mysterious thing that we don't completely understand but somehow, sometimes it makes complete sense. I think this is a window into understanding the 3 in 1 triune God; how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit can be one. At times this makes complete sense to me too but mostly I just can't comprehend it. I don't think this was the only aspect of the married relationship revealing God we were to understand but it is the part I took away.

I'd like to also mention another quote I missed and I'll need to paraphrase it as I didn't write it down.

"In a marriage you experience the Hell you won't have to endure and the Heaven you don't deserve."

Holly and mgb were wanting to hear more about creating as a Christian. One quote I had there was from Reed Arvin and it said this:

"There is confusion in the Christian writer between earnestness & soulfulness."

I think it took me a while to understand what he was trying to say. I say that because I fear I won't convey his thoughts well but here goes. By earnestness he is saying that the Christian writer is saying, "I'm trying to convince you by how much I mean what I say, or sing." This almost feels like a sales pitch.

"C'mon, God is really great. Really, He's so good, you'll love Him!"

Earnestness tends to come more from the head than the heart, a way of explaining why you should believe the lyric. Soulfullness however, comes from the heart. It's more of a human to human conversation. Maybe even more of a statement of how you are feeling with no attachment of 'you should feel this too'. I'll attempt to provide an example that ties into the previous one.

"I saw the birth of both my boys, I felt the magnitude and weight of the mountains around me as I once tried to run up one, nightly I hear my wife say "I love you" before I fall asleep. At all of these occasions the greatness of God is so obvious to me."

So rather than try to convince you about God's greatness I tell you from my heart what I know to be great about God. And this I think, is what Reed was getting at. This also is what he feels is missing from so much Christian music.

I hope that gives you some insight into what I learned last week. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to revisit it and hopefully help plant it a little deeper into my mind.

GL

Read more...

Lessons From Nashville

I've ingested a lot of mental material over the past couple of days while attending a songwriters retreat thanks to our label Centricity Music as well as a marriage retreat thanks to Porters Call. Speakers I heard include Reed Arvin, Dr. Dan Allender and artist Cindy Morgan as well as others. I would like to share more about it but I am just too fried right now to dig into it too deeply so here are a few key quotes/ideas I'd like to share for starters.

Concerning the technological revolution going on in music today:

-Skill has been displaced due to it not being necessary. What is necessary and most valuable today are ideas.
-We have less silence than any other humans before us. What kills ideas is the lack of quiet.

Concerning creating as a Christian:

-Christians tend to be distrustful of the deepest parts of their lives.
-There is confusion in the Christian writer between earnestness & soulfulness.

Concerning productivity:

-Never hurry, never rest.
-My talent is only set by how much focused work/time I am willing to put in.
-"It is wisdom to savor what is good."

Concerning songs:

-The verse is yours the chorus is the audiences.
-Songs should always stand without a set up.

Concerning men and women and God:

-Man struggles with not being enough and woman struggles with being too much.
-Man and woman in relationship together reveal God.
-Your face has been grafted by God. Every face reveals His glory. Do you love your face? Can you say it's beautiful?
-4 areas too dangerous to talk about, sex, money, children and in-laws.

I know I kind of left these quotes naked, without explanation. If there are ones you are more curious about mention it in a comment and I'll post more in depth in the coming week.

GL

Read more...

It's On!!

Well I've gone and done it. I just booked my next marathon. This whole running thing is getting to be a bit much. I am excited though. I believe I should be able to beat my Toronto Marathon time quite significantly due to my running over the past month or two. I won't post what time I hope to get quite yet but I am planning on a sub 4-hour marathon. I want to get a few more long runs under my belt before I go on blabbing about what my time might be. If you are a downhere fan you'll see Jeremy running that day too and maybe Dave and possibly Marc in the Half-Marathon. The funny thing is, the marathon takes place two days after the Dove Awards which is the end of Gospel Music Week in Nashville. So we'll be pretty bushed but, what else is new?!?

Read more...