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-Ok, so this may have been my best day in ministry so far.
-By that, I mean I can’t remember another day where things went as right, as smoothly, as energetically, as purposefully, as exciting, as tiring, as laborious, and as much fun as things went today.
-Started off by sleeping in Toccoa last night. My buddy Podge is away on vacation and is letting us use his house on Saturdays for the next two weeks. It’s a little piece of heaven, I tell ya.
-So I woke up in Toccoa, which means I woke up at 6, instead of 4:45. It also means I drove 10min to the building instead of AN HOUR and 10min.
-Rehearsal was the best I’ve ever been a part of. My guys (Jason, Sam, & Bryan H) were ON THE BALL today. No sloppy notes. No botched punches. No wrong chords. They were on like Donkey Kong.
-Speaking of, Bryan Hartzog played with us for the first time today. He said he was ok and could probably do the job. Lemme tell you, he DID THE JOB! One of the better bass players I’ve ever played with. He’s now considered (he’s given his consent) part of the regular rotation. I’m pumped!
-Ok, back to the day… Run-through was also amazing. It was “service quality” and more!
-After the music, we checked the video one last time, and I must say, it was excellent. Scott Chatfield is putting out some high quality work!
-The energy in the lobby was great today! Tons of new faces… lots of first-time guests. After the service, every one I talked to said they’d be back for sure. Dang right.
-Transition during service were smooth as silk. Great atmosphere and people worshiped their tails off today.
-Best crowd interaction to date. No kidding.
-When I joined FCC as a staff member on January 25th, 2009, I told the pastors of the church that I felt it was going to be my calling to close the gap between the stage and the seats. I want Jesus to take over so hard that people felt connected to the King… and I think we took another step toward that today. Toccoa peeps, thanks for walking this journey with me… your willingness to worship is an inspiration to me.
-After church, we had a GREAT lunch with a bunch of friends at Los Amigos. Always good times when there are quesadillas involved.
-Then to set up the NEW BUILDING FOR OUR DEDICATION SERVICE! It was a blast. Greg and a few of the other pastors from FCC Seneca came out to support what God is doing in Toccoa, and it meant a ton. We worshiped (acoustic only) so hard that I could hardly hear my guitar over people singing so loudly. Seriously, you guys blew me away. Then Pastor Greg shared for a little while about the vision and purpose of FCC Toccoa and the new building. Then we had a time of prayer for our friends and loved ones that we’d like to see come to Christ. We wrote their names on the walls of the building and prayed for them. We’re gonna see those people step over the line of faith one day, I know it.
-Ok, enough of the play-by-play, you get the idea. Great day.
-I’ve been thinking a lot about our students at Toccoa Falls College. They get back to school in a couple weeks, and I wanna do everything I can to pour into them what God has poured into me. Some of them are going to be worship leaders for life… I’ve been praying for them tons.
-The band in Toccoa is really coming together. I was counting our players today and we have accumulated players. That’s only counting people that are Toccoa-exclusive, from Toccoa, live in Toccoa players. That also may not sound like a lot, but considering we use 4 players a week (sometimes 5) and only like to use people twice a month (even though sometimes we have to schedule more, like summer), that’s a month’s worth of players. Yea baby!
-Cool things happening all around!
-I can’t wait to see what the new building is gonna look like finished.
-There is a Huddle House across the road from it… looks like that may become a tradition. Uh oh.
-We took Abigail to McDonalds tonight to let her play and unwind from being in the car and everywhere all day. She loved it. We loved watching her. Win-win.
-Speaking of win-win, the biggest win for me right now would be going to bed. So I’m out!

Got these out on Sunday this week. Missed it last week for the first time… but I’m back in the swing!
-The Oscars are on. I’m not too fond of them. I love movies, but the posh-ness of it all creeps me out a bit.
-Hugh Jackman’s opening song and bit was PRICELESS! It was sort of tongue-in-cheek to the glitz and glamor of the night. Those 5 minutes were worth it!
-Seeing all this Dark Knight footage makes me wanna go buy it. I Heart that movie.
-Today in Toccoa was AMAZING!! Usually the crowd comes in around 10:45 or a bit after, but I walked out of my pre-production meeting at 10:25 and the lobby was FULL! People kept pouring in… and the cool thing is they were mostly first time guests!! God is moving in Toccoa and I feel BLESSED to be a part of it.
-I love that people are so supportive of my family and I. Folks in Toccoa tell us all the time that they’re glad we’re around, and to that I have to say, “I’m just as happy to be here.” It feels good.
-Today’s worship set and feature song went the best since I’ve been at Foothills. They’ve been knockouts up until today, but there was just something special about today.
-My band was OUT OF THIS WORLD! They make my job easy.
-Heather, Lewis, Daniel, Blake, and Sam played as a team and had it together today. Also, Heather lead the slower song at the end and… there’s not much else to say. Shannon offered her my job, so. Anyone hiring?
-Today’s set : O Praise Him/Crowder – How Can I Keep from Singing/Tomlin – Revelation Song/Jobe – We Can Work it Out/Beatles
-There were people dancing during We Can Work it Out today. I love that!
-After church we had lunch with Eric Peters (Worship Pastor at Foothills: Seneca) and his family, Lindsay Herndon (our new keyboard player and vocalist) and her boyfriend Aaron, and Daniel Keaton (my bass player from today). It was a blast!
-I look forward to playing with Lindsay in the coming weeks. She’s got an amazing voice and can play the keys like nobody’s business.
-We came home and took a nap, and I did NOT wanna get up. 5 more minutes?
-My daughter started saying, “Duck” and “Soap” tonight. I love bath time.
-She’s growing up so fast, it’s ridiculous!
-Granny Rita (my mom) is coming to visit this week. I miss her a lot. She loves Abigail so much, and would give the world for her.
-I’m going to bed. LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day tomorrow, but I LOVE what I get to do for a living!

GNIGHT!

So here’s the first of a weekly post I’m starting about how my Sunday went…

-Revolution Holly Springs went great this morning!

-The band was tight. We had a 3-piece today, which is a HUGE stretch for me. It makes me a better player, but I’ve hardly ever done it, so it’s a bit weird. Arranging songs at practice yesterday was challenging, but this morning went great.

-Gary Lamb brought it, and taught from the Word of God about sex and sexual sin. Also, he said “masturbation” about 20 times during the sermon today… people were squirming all morning long! It was great! (Seriously, you should go grab the podcast)

-I had a great ride to Canton yesterday afternoon and stayed with Ricky Merrefield last night. He’s a cool cat and his parents have a huge friggin’ house.

-Didn’t have to get to Holly Springs until 8a. That’s a lot better than 5a if I was in Canton.

-Preston is a great campus host… very energetic and doing a really good job there.

-I got my guitar set up this week, and it played like a dream this morning. (I know you don’t care, but I do) I also played without all my pedals this morning, just a tuner and an overdrive… sounded great, from what I could hear.

-Looking forward to next week at Holly Springs. I’m leading there with a 4-piece. The drummer is an old friend of mine that played with me at my last church, and he also has played with Thad before. Singing: “It’s a small world after all…”

-This afternoon, I ate in Marietta at the Marietta Diner. There were a TON of people in there, and I found out why… the food was AMAZING! Roast beef sandwich, onion rings, and a water. I’m gonna take Candice there next week on our way back to Revolution.

-I’ve got to get to bed, but make sure to keep checking out the blog this week for some brand new posts.