May 10
-Just saw a commercial for a new show called “I’m a Celebrity in the Jungle, Get Me Outta Here!” I’ll be watching that.
-I pulled a personnel report on my team last week and realized that, in taking care of my team members, I have lead 17 weeks in a row without a Sunday off. What an idiot.
-A good friend/mentor told me once that leading worship every Sunday without a break causes a couple things to happen: 1) Feeling like “I’m the leader and no one can do it but me.” Which is bullcrap. 2) Feeling like “I’m working all these hours and not getting paid what I deserve for the work I do.” Which is bullcrap. 3) Feeling like “What I’m doing is the right way, and if I take a week off it’ll be not as good.” Which is bullcrap.
-Pride is a monster that takes over the minds and hearts of those willing to let it in.
-Pastors, Worship Pastors, Kids’ Pastors, Campus Pastors, team leaders, ministry heads… TAKE A FLIPPIN’ WEEK OFF SOMETIME SOON! If for no other reason than to attack pride before it attacks you.
-I’ll be taking a week off soon. Just so you know. 
-The worship on the week I take off will probably be better than when I’m there. I have an amazing guy lined up to take the lead for a Sunday.
-All that to be said, today was a solid day. Not great, solid.
-The set was: We Shine/Fee – Blessed Be Your Name/Redman – Marvelous Light/Hall – I Will Go/Starfield.
-Honesty: I think We Shine is a bit much for our people in Toccoa.
-Honesty: That doesn’t bother me one bit. People are people and it’s my job as their pastor to lead THEM into an encounter with Jesus. I love to worship to We Shine and some of the heavier stuff… but it’s not my job to lead myself into worship, now is it? I LOVE the process of getting to know my church and how they connect.
-We may try it again and see how it goes, but for now, that song’s on the bench.
-The rest of the set was great, including Scott Chatfield’s video backgrounds for We Shine and I Will Go. He knocked it OUT OF THE PARK with those this week!
-Honesty: I love what I do. I love what I do even when I don’t like what I do (certain parts), because it grows me as a person and a communicator.
-Case in point… after We Shine today, I did Welcome and Announcements. I love speaking to people out of the Word, and I love doing invitations, but I hate doing Welcome and Announcements. I hate it because I’m not good at it. I learned a lot about doing W & A today and I look forward to doing it again in the near future.
-I appreciate Shannon letting me find my niche in Toccoa. He lets me do what I feel is right, and is honest and open about the outcome when we meet together after the fact. I value his friendship and leadership.
-We went out to eat twice today. Now I’m miserable.
-We had a great time with a couple friends. They’re some of my favorite people.
-I feel like God is using Candice and I to stretch some Foothills people that aren’t really “hang-out people” into “sorta hang-out people.” I like that a lot.
-I’m praying for my friends Eric and Rachel and their family like crazy this weekend and into this coming week. Don’t ask why, just pray for them.
-Perry Noble had a twitter today that I thought was profound. It read, “PerryNoble: If you are being STRETCHED by God right now…He’s not punishing you…He’s preparing you…GET READY!”
-That blew my stinkin’ mind. I’ve know it, but it just hit me in a way it never has before.
-Carlos is doing a worldwide prayer service on his blog as we speak. What a cool guy… you should check him out at Ragamuffinsoul.com
-I’m about done for this day. I’m gonna put up some thoughts on Toccoa and how the campus is doing tomorrow or Tuesday, be looking for them! (You can subscribe to my RSS feed with the button on this page, or just check back to http://jonathanbryant.info)
-GOODNIGHT!
Apr 27
-Yesterday was amazing
-Sunday Morning Set: Surrender/Vineyard – I Surrender All – Today is the Day/Brewster – This is Our God/Hillsong
-This is Our God is one of my new favorite songs. Look for it again in the coming weeks!
-After a quick lunch and about a 30min sitdown, practice started for our Night of Praise that happened at 6p last night.
-2p-5p was the fastest three hours of my life! Haha, no kidding… we had a ton to do, and got it all done… but it was tight.
-Night of Praise Set: You Are Good/Matt Papa – We Shine/Fee – True Love/Phil Wickham – Reign in Us/Starfield – All B/c of Jesus/Fee – Everything Glorious/Crowder – Jesus Messiah/Tomlin – Salvation is Here/Brewster arrangement
-I am honored to work with David Odom and Eric Peters. They’re pretty much ridiculous at what they do. It was great to share a stage with them last night!
-I was seriously proud of us for only doing 2 Passion songs last night. I think sometimes, as worship leaders (MYSELF DEFINITELY INCLUDED) we turn to Tomlin/Hall/Crowder/Redman stuff because it’s easy. It’s good to have a church and band that loves to branch out into the other stuff, though.
-I HAD A BLAST LEADING WORSHIP LAST NIGHT! No kidding.
-Words don’t really do justice, so I’ll stop. I’m going to try and get a recording of the service online sometime this week. Hopefully it’ll turn out great. I’ll let you know.
Feb 16
Here it is, a day late.
-Yesterday was great, but crazy!
-Soundcheck, Runthrough, Service, Drive Back, Lunch, Quick Nap, Bowling Small Group, Starbucks, chill. Jam packed!
-I had a great time bowling with the people from Foothills in Seneca last night. Wow, what good people. I also took my buddy, Scott. He’s cool too.
-I had a great band yesterday, Lewis, Scott, Heather, & Daniel. They make my job SO easy it’s not even funny.
-The set looked like this: Happy Day/Hughes – Everlasting God/Brewster Version – From the Inside Out/Hillsong United – Help/Beatles.
-I like doing a 3 song set right at 0:00. Usually we do one song, welcome, and then the two-song set. We’re gonna keep evaluating, and maybe even leave it that way permanently… you never know.
-One of the other worship leaders at the church, Eric Peters, is learning the ways of the Mac as we speak. He just bought a Mac, loaded Reason and Ableton, started using a click and track from Ableton on Sundays instead of his normal drum machine… A TON OF NEW STUFF… ALL IN THE LAST 3 WEEKS! He’s rocking and rolling! I’m kinda scared about when he gets the hang of it, he’s gonna make better tracks than I ever thought about. That’s what it’s all about!
-I love the people in Toccoa.
-We may be getting a bit more “stable” in the next few months. Details to come.
-Today (Monday) was really good. Pastors meeting, then hanging with Shannon for a bit to debrief yesterday, lunch, Big Idea meeting, Creative Team meeting, then walking Eric through more mac stuff before grocery shopping with the girls, going to Verizon and filing an insurance claim on my broken phone, and then coming home for dinner and some chill time. (Wow, that was a run-on sentence, I’m sure). SO MUCH FUN! I’m beat, though.
-Gonna cut this a bit short… it’s 10:48p. I’m going to watch the end of CSI:Miami, twitter one last time, and then hit the sack.
-Eric is coming to the house to make some tracks tomorrow afternoon… I’m looking forward to it.
-Hope everyone has a great week!
Jan 18
-Another good day at Foothills. I was in Seneca today, playing in Eric’s band for the last time in the foreseeable future. I’ll be in Toccoa next week, and I’m PUMPED!
-Good set today: .Friend of God .You Never Let Go .What a Friend We Have in Jesus (SWEET arrangement by Scott Henderson. I got to play acoustic. It went over VERY well) .We Need Each Other (Sanctus Real).
-Had to change from electric to acoustic today during a song transition. Went well, but BIG possibility for disaster!
-I think the most excited thing for me today came after the first service. David Odom (one of the other leaders @ Foothills) has been using the band I’ll be working with from Toccoa Falls college. Now, I’ve heard these guys and gals were good… but I had no idea. Eric, Rachael, Candice, Abigail, and I were headed out to lunch and I forgot my phone in the green room. So I go back through the auditorium and the band is ROCKING! So I look and the acoustic player is Scott from TF. Then I see that the drummer is from TF. Then I see Heather from TF singing and blowing the roof off. Over half the band was made up of college students and it was QUALITY! I’m really looking forward to connecting with the students and making some great relationships and musical strides in Toccoa.
-So I start work tomorrow. Wow.
-Tomorrow is “Meeting Day.” Everyone has warned me about it… but I love meetings. I do enjoy being prepared and connected.
-We’ll be choosing another day for me to work during the week (Wed or Thurs probably). So my work week will look like: Monday in Seneca, Wed of Thurs in Toccoa, Saturday setup and practice in Toccoa, Sunday service and teardown.
-I’m really excited to be working with Shannon, the campus pastor, very closely. He has a heart for Toccoa, and he’s PUMPED about the new year.
-Money’s pretty tight right now. I haven’t had a steady job in about 5 1/2 months. Just being honest.
-February 1st will be a relief. It’s payday. Like a real, we’re getting 2 checks, payday. I’m excited.
-I think Shannon (campus pastor) and I are going to invest in an M Audio midi controller and Interface to work with Reason and Ableton. If you understand what that is, cool. I only halfway get it. (It has to deal with making loops and click tracks to use during worship).
-I think that I need to invest in some sort of modeling device for my guitar. Foothills uses no amps for guitars or bass, only modeling devices through in-ears, so no stage noise. Good system, but I don’t have the hardware yet. Maybe I could sell some of my analog gear to purchase one, we’ll see. Anyone used one (Line 6 X3 live? Vox Tonelab?)? Got opinions?
-We’re about to go to the store and get a shower curtain. FUN! Haha.
-I had my first baking success last night. Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. I am HORRIBLE at baking, but usually a good cook. Last night I actually got the cupcakes right. Yea!
-Candice is still feeling bad. I’m trying to take care of her. She’s sweet when she’s sick.
-We had a blast with Eric, Rachael, and Dakota at Copper River today. (Eric is the worship pastor at Foothills and Rachael is his wife. Dakota is their very cool kid).
Ok, shower curtain, here we come! Goodnight everyone!
Full work day report to come tomorrow!