The Media Says

Have you heard the Atlanta band The Media Says yet?  I’ve been around Ray Garrison and Tyler Freeman of the band from time to time.  Really good dudes; it’s not uncommon to see them helping out as “roadies” at a 2nd Wave concert, which really shows their great hearts and their support for the next generation of rockers.  The band grew out of the Northpoint youth scene under the tutelage of Jayce Fincher, late of Marvelous 3.

 

Download the band’s song Dance With Me here for free.

 

 

Glorious Interruption (free song download)

(If you don’t want to read this whole post, at least skip to the end for instructions on downloading an amazing song and watching video of the song performed live.)

 

The posts have been somewhat infrequent this holiday season. I’ve been doing planning and preparation for Christmas programs/services at 3 different churches.

 

Today I borrow a page, literally, from my friend Casey’s blog, because it contains an amazing song that he wrote for Married Life Live at Northpoint and Buckhead Church. I played it for the pastor of Connection Church, where I’m playing on Christmas Eve with Rudy Vaughn and others. Not only did he decide we should put it in Connection’s Christmas Eve service, but he’s now building his sermon around the song.

 

In Casey’s words:  Imagine your wedding plans and all the wonderful dreaming that takes place when you’re planning for marriage…your hopes for what life will be like, etc.  Joseph and Mary were no different then anyone else who was planning for marriage and dreaming of their lives together.  So the song takes place in the middle of what that story might have been like for them…as things took a different turn one night.

…speaking more to what their marriage and their plans would have been like as it was interrupted…gloriously…by Jesus, the son of God! The reality of how He wants to interrupt us…invade our plans and our dreams and show us more than we could ever hope for…by His glorious interruption in our lives.  

 We’ve all been through things that have made life difficult at best.  Our plans were altered, tragedy happens…or your life isn’t turning out as you had hoped.  

My hope for this song is that it will speak to that, and highlight the reality of Jesus IN our lives, our circumstances, pains and heartbrakes…good and bad, and that when Jesus is IN the middle of it…we begin to see it all differently and purposeful.  I keep asking this of Him, how might He want to interrupt my plans this season…this year…and give me more than i was expecting.

 

It’s a beautiful song, with piano by Davis Harwell and strings by John Carrozza.  You can download the song here at Casey’s page.  Please do.

 

Also, and this is way cool, you can watch Casey’s performance of the song live, along with a few words from Married Life director Ted Lowe at the Married Life web page.

 

Merry Christmas.

 

 

Majesty

Have been somewhat removed from blogworld over these last few days.  Just returned from the Charlotte NC area, where I was doing some consulting work with the three campuses of Christ Church.  Great people up there.  Cindy and our youngest, Jett, went with me, and we had a great time.  I was trying to remain inconspicuous as I observed their environments so I really didn’t take any pictures.

 

Folks, I’m in Christmas mode already and I’m loving it.  I’ll be the band leader for Buckhead Church’s Married Life Live on Dec. 13th, and we’re already picking through songs, singers, charts, and the like.  

 

Apparently, I’m not the only one thinking Christmas.  Check out today’s post over at our buddy Casey Darnell’s blog. His Christmas song Majesty is really powerful.  Casey will be a part of Married Life Live as well, but at Northpoint’s Alpharetta campus.  Here’s hoping the song he blogs about makes it onto the program at both campuses.  Please check it out and drop him a line.

 

Who’s ready for Christmas?

Access

So, Rudy Vaughn and I were in the band at Access Church in Jacksonville yesterday.  Rudy led worship.  Access Church is in a great venue, the Fine Arts Center of the University of North Florida campus.

 

We’d never met the other three guys in the band before, but they were interesting cats:

 

Mike VonBalson, of Jacksonville, used to be the drummer for the band My Hotel Year, who were no strangers to the Atlanta music scene and worked here with producer Matt Goldman of Smalltown Poets.

 

Will Hill on bass is a part of The Doorpost Film Project, which is a pretty exciting opportunity for filmmakers.  

 

Darin Peckham on guitar is now on staff as the music director for Access Church.

 

And, though he wasn’t on stage with us, we met a local musician who gigs a lot in Jacksonville/St. Augustine named Charlie Walker.  Check him out.

 

Finally, we met Derrick (spelling? sorry, man) of Anthem Church, a new Northpoint startup campus in Gainesville FL that launches October 5th.

 

These were good guys and we had a blast.  Hats off to all of them and to Access Church, who hosted us extremely well.

 

 

2nd.wav gets some good press.

Okay, it’s high time I blog/brag about the band my 11-year-old son Noah is in, 2nd.wav (pronounced Second Wave).  They were on the front page of the Forsyth County News today to promo their gig this weekend at Vickery Creek Elementary.  A snippet from that article: ”It’s so exciting because they’re actually a real band.  They actually get real gigs.  I know they play at different venues throughout the Atlanta area, so it’s a real treat for us to be able to bring them in and feature them at our school,” said Julie Royal (PTA Member).  

 

2nd.wav is Savannah Wofford on lead vocals, Russell Wofford on guitar/vocals, Holden Fincher on bass/vocals, Noah Stephens on keyboards/vocals, and Grayson Arias on drums.  Check out their recent performance at Northpoint’s Walking Wisely Weekend below, as well as some various band pics. (band photo shoot by Zack Arias)

 

You can inquire about booking 2nd.wav by contacting us here.