JonathanBryant.info

-Today was OFF THE CHARTS!
-I feel like we are hitting our niche lately, as far as music goes. I have really been in prayer about how our campus should SOUND (since that’s my primary task), and I think today was a great indication.
-Recognizable songs, but we put a bit more edge to them than is on the original recordings. I feel like this gives a better connection between people and the lyrics and music in a live setting. It feels good!
-Today’s set: Center of it All/Hughes – Freedom Song/Desperation Band – Marvelous Light/Hall – Stronger/Hillsong
-I have to stop here and say we have the BEST VOLUNTEERS IN THE WORLD! Thinking over this past week: the new building work day, set-up, Sunday morning, tear-down, etc. Wow!
-To piggyback on that, I asked one of our key volunteers if she was happy that we only had a few more weeks of set-up/tear-down and she said, “I really am gonna miss it.” ARE YOU KIDDING?! These people are great! THANKS A TON TO OUR VOLUNTEERS!
-I really liked the new show on ABC, Shark Tank. It could be my favorite reality show on TV right now. I hope it sticks.
-We had Mary Douglas from the Seneca campus on stage with us this week. She has an amazing voice and adds a cool dynamic… I hope to see her on stage with us again soon.
-We had a Worship Leader roundtable this past Thursday on the Seneca Campus. The three FCC worship leaders put together a cool group of guys and spent about 5 hours brainstorming, sharing successes, and encouraging each other. If you weren’t at this one, we’re planning another one for November… BE THERE!
-I’m out… gearing up for another great week at FCC!

-Wow, I miss blogging!
-It’s been a while now since I’ve posted a SNT. I did post a couple small things this past week.
-Here I go, wish me luck:
-Great day today. Shannon is on vacation, so I was the dude in charge today.
-Everything went smoothly, and people were excited to be at Foothills this morning.
-Great set, short, but great: All B/c of Jesus-Fee/All We Need-Hall/Oh You Bring-Hillsong United
-Oh You Bring is my new favorite song to lead, worship to, study to, listen to in the shower… ANYTHING! It just sets a mood and gets you thinking on who God is and what He does for us. Amazing song and people loved it this morning. This will be in our arsenal for a long time to come.
-My buddy Podge was supposed to play guitar this morning… instead, he was playing flu and ear infection. Boo. He’s on his way to recovery now that he’s seen the doctor today. Because of that, we went with a 3-piece today. Me, Bass, Drums. I had a BLAST… it may have sounded a bit thin, but Ron did a great job of fattening our sound up. It was cool, I’d do it again.
-Speaking of instruments, I got my new Strat this week. I traded my Gretsch G6120 for a PRS Goldtop (the story on that is coming) and a G&L S-500 Stratocaster. Daddy likey! It sounded HUGE this morning, and plays like a dream. I can see myself keeping this thing for a LONG time. And all that said… IT’S BEAUTIFUL! Click here for a pic.
-Ok, the PRS. First off, the guy shipped the PRS to the wrong zip code accidentally. Address was right, zip code wrong. So I’ve been calling to get it rerouted. It got rerouted. Everything was cool. I called Saturday (supposedly the delivery date) and the lady confirmed my address and said it would be there by 1p. Didn’t get the package by 1p. Called the FedEx people. Said everything was fine. Called back because I didn’t like that person’s answer. The second person called the actual driver and let me speak to him. The driver said everything was fine until that morning, when a lady (first employee I spoke with) called and said it was on the wrong truck and to have it changed. Long story short: It was on the truck, headed for my house on Saturday. The lady called and screwed it up. They stopped the truck and took my guitar off and sent it to Laurens, SC (about 2hrs away). Fedex doesn’t deliver on Mondays, so now I have to wait until Tuesday. Boo
-Long story huh?
-It’s gonna be good once it gets here though
-I’ve been thinking a LOT about leadership today, had these couple thoughts: 1. The best gauge of your leadership ability is the morale and effectiveness of those who directly report to you. 2.if everyone you’re in charge of is burned out… you’re doing something wrong.
-Things are going well in Toccoa… good things happening all around!
-I love it when people stick in because the work they do is too important to not do it. That gets me FIRED UP!
-I can’t wait for the Baptism & Lake Party this Sunday at 3:30p. Click here for details!
-Going to hang with the wifey… later.

-Ok, first of all, I’m BLOWN AWAY by what God is doing at Foothills right now.
-Here’s a little story… I’m (as we speak) on RagamuffinSoul.com listening to Hillsong United’s new album, that drops on Tuesday. Los is signed with Integrity, so they let him preview albums on his sight, COOL STUFF! What’s even cooler is he asked where everyone was from in the live chat… I saw a person that said, “Toccoa, GA.” I connected with her and she’s coming to FCC on Sunday! WOW!!! God is working… and it’s bigger than any of us.
-People sang their faces off this morning!
-The set was: Awesome is the Lord Most High/Tomlin – How Can I Keep From Singing/Tomlin – Mighty to Save/Hillsong – Let Her Cry/Hootie & The Blowfish
-I had more comments about the Hootie song than I have in a LONG time about any of our worship tunes.
-Feature songs work…! People connect and it brings a connection that opens them up to hear/respond to the Word.
-Greg brought it this week. Can I Christian Drink Alcohol will be up on Foothills.cc early this week… listen to it. Everyone needs to. It will CHANGE YOU.
-I loved having a week off last week, but I LOVE WHAT I DO! Seeing everyone this morning was a relief, it had been far too long.
-That being said, I can’t wait to move to Toccoa… I need that connection.
-I’m pre-ordering Hillsong United’s new album Tear Down the Walls right now. I’ve gotta have it. We’re gonna start doing some of these songs VERY soon. VERY soon.
-Saw some people at church today I haven’t seen in a few weeks. That was awesome.
-I had a band made up of all Seneca players this week. They’re awesome musicians and great guys!
-I’m already missing the TFC students that have left us for the summer. I hope they’re having a great break, and I can’t wait ’til they get back.
-I’ll post pics from today’s service on the Foothills Toccoa Blog tomorrow when I get them from Ron. He does an amazing job, and we’re lucky to have him on board to FCC.
-We had lunch with Eric Peters and his family this afternoon… good times. Then a long nap and quality time with my family.
-I’m out.
-Did you see the first two installments of “Using Track/Samples in a Worship Environment” from this past week? The first one was on the Equipment we use. This last one is on Tracking is the program Reason. Check them out and let me know what you think. Post #3 (Tracking in Garageband/Pro Tools) is coming early this week, be on the lookout!

-NEXT WEEK IS EASTER!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S ALMOST HERE!!!
-Foothills Toccoa went well this morning. A little rough with some technical issues… but all in all a good day.
-We did our first Acoustic Set ever. I think people didn’t really know what to think, but connected well once they figured out that you can worship either way.
-I challenged everyone at the very beginning that worship is a CHOICE… and then prayed over the service. I think that got some butts in gear.
-The set today was: Sing Sing Sing/Tomlin – My Savior My God/Shust – Revelation Song/Job – True Love/Wickham
-A video (WITH AUDIO) started during my solo acoustic rendition of True Love. It broke the mood, hard.
-God still moved in a powerful way during that song. Haha devil, eat that!
-I’m still losing weight. Another Weight Loss Journey post coming soon…
-We dropped Abbi off with Candice’s Dad and Stepmom on Friday… we really don’t know what to do with ourselves without the baby girl. We’ve been watching a lot of movies and napping. I miss her a lot.
-We had some sound issues this morning also. Someone blew our sub yesterday and we’re SCRAMBLING to get that fixed before Easter. It actually worked perfectly because today was Acoustic.
-Duplicity is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Julia Roberts across from Clive Owen was brilliant! You should see it.
-Next week at Foothills is going to be AMAZING!! In Seneca there are services at 7:55a (Eric Peters), 9:30a (Eric Peters), 11:15a (David Odom – Big Room) and 11:15a (Eric Peters – The Venue)… and in Toccoa we’ll have a 9:15a and a 11a (identical). DON’T. MISS. THIS.
-Greg brought it today. Forgiveness is a message we all need to hear.
-You should check out the new Foothills website.
-My guitar is broken. I need a new one. Please Jesus, I need something reliable.
-I’m bummed about not having a reliable axe. Candice has a Grand Concert-sized Taylor, but too small and no pickup. My Old Martin is just that… old. My Tacoma won’t stay in tune because the HEADSTOCK IS BREAKING OFF AGAIN! This drives me crazy.
-I can’t wait to see what God has in store for FCC next week! We’re all predicting 3,500 between 6 services on 2 campuses and 3 stages. WHOA!
-That’s all for me tonight. Have a great day tomorrow!! Invite someone to church on Easter!

-GREAT day at Foothills!
-Had a good crowd, especially to have been a rainy day.
-My new friend Anna Taylor sang a Miley Cyrus song with us, The Climb… and nailed it.
-The funny thing is, today is the first time Anna has sang with us, so I put her on just the feature song. However, I woke up this morning with NO voice. Problem, I know. So I caught her as she walked in and put her up there for the whole set, singing melody alongside me to reinforce the vocals. SHE ROCKED THE HOUSE! People loved her, connected right away, and worshiped Jesus… even with me having little to no voice. I L-O-V-E when stuff like that happens!
-Our set today was: Forever/Tomlin – Reign in Us/Starfield – The Climb/Miley Cyrus.
-We cut a song at the last minute… it wasn’t working, vocals were straining, didn’t really go with the message, so we canned it and went with a two-song set and a feature.
-It actually worked out great that way, because Greg taught on Faithfulness this week, and Shannon had some COOL stuff to say to our campus today about the subject. He said that we should always keep our eyes on the vision on FCC, no matter if we’re in a gym, or a building, or a school, wherever. He brought it and we needed it!
-We went out to eat with an old friend today. We used to hang almost every day, and I hadn’t seen her in over three months. It was good times.
-Our friends Scott and Catherine had their second baby Friday morning… and their two year old is in the hospital for a terrible ear infection, so they’re WIPED out right now. Candice dropped the baby and I off at the house and spent the ENTIRE afternoon and most of the evening up there with them taking some of the load off. She’s good like that. We’re praying for the O’Brien family… wanna join us?
-Another big happening this week is that we have done AWAY with Abigail’s “binky” cold turkey. She’s been getting really attached to it lately, so we thought 18mo is as good a time as any to do it. It has been hell on wheels getting her to fall asleep for the last two days for naps and two nights for bed… but tonight we said our prayers, put her down, and she didn’t give a peep. Wow. Thanks Jesus for that one.
-I’m hoping to make a “half part-time” hire sometime soon for the Toccoa campus. We need it, and Sundays will be totally different because of it. Details coming…
-I brought my old Martin acoustic out of retirement today. It sounds great.
-My Tacoma acoustic (that was broken in two and completely restored 5 months ago) is coming apart again. I’m BUMMED. I’ve already started saving for a new acoustic. It will be a while, but I only wanna buy once.
-My POD X3Live sounded amazing today. What a cool little box that is!
-I’m going to bed now, but I’m STOKED about work tomorrow! I love what I get to do.

-Great day at Foothills this morning. The set looked like: “Love the Lord” – Brewster, “Freedom Song” – Desperation Band, “You Never Let Go” – Redman, “You Found Me” – The Fray.
-The band NAILED IT today! Great guys with a heart for worship and excellence.
-I need to start blogging more. I should just go ahead and put it on my ToDo list.
-Speaking of, I have been using ZenBe Lists. It’s phenomenal, simple, and has a GREAT iPhone/iPod Touch interface. Check it out!
-I am SO grateful for my computer. In the last week, I have: made and finished ToDo Lists, picked out set lists, practiced using Garageband, made tracks and click using Reason/Ableton/Garageband, emailed, Twittered, Facebooked, set up bands and people, uploaded music and charts for this and next week’s teams… I am SO grateful for my computer.
-The first thing I’m doing when I get paid is getting a gym membership. We had to give ours up when I stopped working last year, and it’ll be good to get back in there. Also, I’ll start updating my Weight Loss Journey again. There hasn’t been much Loss to document, as of yet.
-I’m watching American Chopper on PBS as I’m writing this. Since when is AC on PBS? Haha.
-I’m gonna be connecting with a friend I haven’t really hung with in years this week, hopefully. I’m stoked. He was the guy that really convinced me (by the way he lived) that Jesus is real and has a TON to do with our everyday lives. I hope it all works out.
-Abigail is everywhere. Climbing. Running. Falling. She’s a mess and I love every minute of it!
-I am learning to use Reason and Ableton live this week. I’ve used Reason before, but I’m getting a pro lesson from a guy that’s been using it for YEARS. I’m excited… it’s gonna be like drinking from a fire hydrant, though.
-We just ordered an M Audio Axiom 21 key Midi Controller and an M Audio Firewire 410 interface. They use it in Seneca, and it works great. Basically, it’s a way to trigger tracks I’ve made in Reason and output them to stereo channels, and also output a separate click channel. Yeah! It’s gonna be awesome!
-Just started using PlanningCenterOnline.com. It makes my life a ton easier.
-New things starting make me happy. Old things fading away make me a little sentimental, but not too bad. Things change, we just gotta roll with them.

I’m done, because dinner has to happen. CATCH YOU LATER!!

Ok, so WHAT A DAY!!! I’ve only got 17min on the battery on my Mac, so I’ll try and slam it all in.

-Played first service at Foothills Seneca this morning. Great team! Great set!
-Had Schlotsky’s with some friends and then back to Foothills to catch the end of the 2nd service and to hang with some students from Toccoa Falls College. I’ll be working with them VERY closely in the near future… more on that later.
-Those students are GREAT people with hearts HUNGRY to worship Jesus! Awesome!
-I had an amp someone gave me and a pedal I wasn’t using just laying around the house. I saw a guy on Craigslist yeaterday who was wanting some beginner musical gear. I asked him what he had to trade for it, and he replied, “A brand new XBox 360 with 2 wireless controllers, 20gb HD, 3 games, and all the hookups, box, and manual.” I said, I’ll meet you in Greenville tomorrow night. So I met him tonight and we swapped gear. I LOVE the new toy!
-13min battery left.
-Candice and I played Halo3 for a while. She’s really good. When we were going to go to bed, I said, “Next kill wins.” So I proceeded to fire a rocket, accidentally, into a nearby object and killed myself. She says she wins, because she got the point. I say that I win because I said next KILL. I didn’t say who you had to kill. We’re still debating that.
-I’m finally getting over the croopy cough I’ve had for a week. Gracias Jesus.
-I’ll have some HUGE news on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. STAY TUNED!
-10min battery left.
-I had an old friend come up to me today and ROCK MY WORLD with kindness. She said that when she heard about the position at Foothills Toccoa, God laid me on her heart and she has been praying for me and my family. Wow. Her and her husband are cool cats, and I think we’re gonna plug into their home group. I’d love to get to know them even better.
-Abigail started saying, “Uh oh.” It’s friggin’ cute.
-8min battery, better wrap this up.
-It’s been a great week, and I’m looking forward to good things this coming week also! Like I said, check back in the next couple of days… you don’t wanna miss this!
-Also, you should follow me on Twitter if you don’t already. http://twitter.com/jtb And you can get me at my Facebook.

… so that’s it… with 5min to spare.

Wow… it’s 2009.

-Good day today at Foothills Toccoa. It’s a great church that meets in a gym and loves Jesus. I hope to be back there SOON.
-Got to lead with a guy I knew back in the days of working in the music store. He has since turned his life around and is SOLD OUT for Jesus. It was a joy.
-Set list from this morning:
:Sing Sing Sing – Tomlin
:Freedom Song – Desperation Band
:All We Need – Hall
:God of This City – Tomlin
-Got to play acoustic for the first time in about 6 months. LOVED IT! The Tacoma sounds as good as ever (even after getting the headstock broken off last year).
-I’m excited about lunch with a couple of the pastors from Foothills on Tuesday. Good things are happening!
-We had dinner with friends tonight. They love us and we love them dearly. I value them SO MUCH and am glad they’re in our lives.
-We had so much fun with them tonight, we’re doing it again tomorrow night! Except this time we’re gonna throw some Scrabble in the mix… yeah!
-I’m pumped about getting to my friend Jeff next week. I’m flying up there Wednesday and staying through the next Monday. Gonna “Secret Shopper” his church on Sunday morning and brainstorm ideas on how to take it to the next level.
-Haha, I know it seems like I’m excited about a lot this week, but I am.
-I’m excited about getting to play with Eric at Foothills Seneca this coming week. He’s great leader with such an original style and enthusiasm. Good man of God.
-So, obviously, we’re back from our trip. 2 weeks from home, and I have to say, I enjoyed being able to sleep in my own bed last night!

That’s enough for tonight. But I do have confession… a bunch of you have been asking about the Weight Loss Journey. Well, the answer is, I suck. I have gained weight and lost motivation. BUT I’M GONNA PRESS THROUGH. Confessions and new pics and weight to come TOMORROW.
Check it out and leave me some encouragement or some butt-kicking advice… I need both.

Night!

WOW! ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

-My family and I leave for a whirlwind two weeks tomorrow morning.
—First to Lincolnton, NC to be with Candice’s family from Monday night through Friday morning (26th).
—Then to Roanoke, VA to be with my family from Friday afternoon through Wednesday morning (31st).
—Then to TIMES SQUARE NYC FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE! We have a friend up there so free place to stay and carpooling so basically nothing for gas.
—Then back to VA to pick up the baby on Friday morning (2nd).
—Then back to SC to get a good night’s sleep on Friday night (2nd).
—Then to Foothills Toccoa to practice Saturday afternoon.
—CRASH SATURDAY ALL DAY! Unpack, wash clothes, etc.
—First day at Foothills Toccoa on the 4th!
—Wow… that’s a wicked two weeks, but it’ll be worth it.
-Speaking of Foothills, I put together my first worship set since the end of July… that’s 5 months! I’ve led worship in the meantime, but it’s always been a guest thing where the songs were already chosen.
-Picking songs for a new place is always weird, considering you don’t know what songs that they have/haven’t been doing. I chose the best I could and the worship Pastor is gonna get back to me about which ones are familiar.
-I’m excited about the week of the 11th or the 18th. I’m (hopefully) going to visit a great friend in Indiana. Gonna go hang out with him and his family, and also evaluate the new stuff that’s happening at his church. STOKED ABOUT THIS!!
-I have to drive tomorrow, so I’m cutting this short and hitting the hay. G’night and make sure to follow my Twitter the next couple of weeks. Craziness, here we come!!

Also, I’ve downloaded a program that allows you to leave video/audio comments on my blog. SO TRY IT ALREADY!      All you need is a webcam or microphone to get started. Check it out here.

So, today was a very good day. The early service at Foothills was great and it was baptism service, so it was a blast. Here’s my day:

-Like I said, the early service at Foothills was rocking. They had both worship leaders, Eric and David, in one service which was cool. They usually split up duties between the 1st and 2nd services and their new Toccoa Campus. It was interesting having them both on stage at once. They’re both great musicians and leaders who I have the priveledge of calling my friends.

-They had some technical difficulties, but all in all they pulled it off.

-Baptism service was a bit different. They had extended worship, a sermonette (still 35min! haha), and then worship while they took the people getting baptized to their youth auditorium. While the last few songs were played, the people getting baptized were on the screens via closed circuit TV. Pretty cool idea.

-We were joined this morning by a couple friends from college. Scott and Catherine are people we’ve always clicked with, and we’ve been hanging with them more and more since they’ve moved back to SC.

-Speaking of Scott & Cat, we’ve been over to their house a couple times to play a game called Settlers of Catan. It’s kind of like Risk, but not as big, I don’t think. I thought I would hate it, but now I think about it in my sleep.

-After church, we came home and decorated the Christmas tree while drinking my famous apple cider. Candice did most of the work, and I let her because she’s so dang good at it. I’m sitting here looking at it and it’s one of the best looking trees I’ve ever seen.

-After the tree happened, we all three took a nice Sunday nap, and now I’m watching the Steelers get waxed by the Cowboys. Boo.

-In other news, I’m pretty surprised about how the NFL has turned out this year. Underdogs pulling it out, teams picked to win just rolling over during the 2nd half. It makes it a bit interesting, I like. It also helps my odds, as I’m an avid gambler and have made a fortune on the NFL and dog races.

-Kidding about the gambling, by the way. It’s ok mom, don’t call.

-I looked up last night and the clock said 4:00am, and that was it. I was up. It wasn’t like one of those, “I could go back to sleep if I tried, ” feelings… I was up. So I came in the living room to check my e-mail, and had an inbox full of notes from a friend on a book he just read. He sends me these notes and we discuss them back and forth using GoogleDocs. Fun times.

-Speaking of that, I’m really excited about the next 18mo of my life. It’s gonna be tough, and maybe a little slower than I’d hope… but it’s all good. Details coming.

I’m gonna go have some dinner before it’s too late. Remember to check out my Weight Loss Journey page and look for updates every week. Just click on the link and then pick the week you’d like to see. I’m including pictures, weight, and how it’s going. It’s just the first week, so I’m still very fat, but I can already see progress. Thanks, also, for those who have commented and e-mailed with your own stories and encouragement… it means the world to me.

Alright… dinner and football, here I come. Have a wonderful evening!