JonathanBryant.info

-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.

So I couldn’t wait until Sunday to put some of this down on the blog:

-Unleash was amazing! The speakers and sessions were awesome, and they provided everyone with a bunch of goodies and Chi-Fil-A for lunch… great time.
-Here are some of my most memorable moments:
—Are we asking God to use us to help build HIS Church, or we trying to build OUR church? -PN
—The number of Christians in America is rapidly declining. Lives are on the line and most of the churches in America aren’t doing anything about it. If it was your money, you would do something about it. -PN
—We’re never gonna be comfortable hearing from God if we’re uncomfortable with change. -PN
—Is there anything in your church that you are “manufacturing energy” for? -PN
—Your church is soaring at 30,000ft, are you really gonna be intimidated by a boy on the ground with a BB gun? -PN
—Leading Worship is a great gift of God’s grace. – LMcD
—We have to be a child of God first, a minister to people second, and a musician that leads songs on Sundays LAST. -LMcD
—We will never feel pressure like our Senior Pastors… let’s make sure to let them know we have their backs. -PN
—Do I understand that ministry is Received and not Achieved? -PN

-I’m still processing, so I’ll have more on this later… but those are the main things I’m chewing on right now.
-Eric, David, and I published our band schedules for April on Wednesday. God has been blessing us because I’m only using 2 people, one time from Seneca during the month of April… the rest are TOCCOA PEOPLE! Yea buddy!
-It’ll be a little different once May gets here, because college students are out. But it feels good to see direct progress right now. Thank you Jesus.
-I’m taking a break to write this from revising the budget for our family. It sucks… but I love the outcome. It will be ready to implement starting April 1.
-I think my Tacoma is breaking again. It had the headstock broken off last year, and I don’t think the glue joint is holding. It’s starting to make some weird noises during tuning… it makes me nervous.
-However, it gives me a chance to give my old Martin some play time. Restringing her today, I’ll let you know how it goes.
-Gotta get back to the budget, but thanks for reading.

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!

Spirituality, Calling, and Giftings aside, Here are 10 things that I really like:

.::Cici’s Pizza (it’s on my mind b/c we just got back from there) It’s good for the groups, because everyone can find something they like

.::My Tacoma guitar – It’s amazing. Just enough treble, nice balanced bass. It got broken earlier this year by a girl at my old church. The whole headstock came off…

.::The Luthier who fixed my Tacoma guitar – he could’ve charged me upwards of $400+, but instead, he decided he’d do it for $140. WHAT??? Gracias Jesus!

.::WCW Vs. nWo for Nintendo64 – Still my favorite vintage videogame of all time. Great gameplay, a bunch of really cool characters, and one of the best wrestling engines I’ve ever played.

.::My old Macbook – it has gone on to be with Jesus, but I loved it! I bought it cheap from an old friend and it did everything I needed it to do. Photo editing, movie making, internet, office, website building… ah…

.::The new Macbooks – haha, thought I’d tie it together. I really do need a computer, but I’m gonna save and get a Mac instead of buying something cheaper right now. Not being a snob, just know what I need and what will be most productive.

.::Watching my little girl run to the door when my wife gets home – wow… nothing like that big smile!

.::Guitar Tone – I love everything about electric guitar tone: swapping effects pedals, testing new EQs on my amps, finding out which guitar sounds best with which pedals in a certain situation. I would say that I am obsessed, but not in an unhealthy way. I don’t spend a ton of money, if I want something that I don’t have, I trade for it or sell something I don’t use and buy the piece I’m missing. I wouldn’t say that I’m searching for the perfect tone either… I would say it’s more of a situational experiment… I’m a gear nerd, I know.

.::GoogleDocs – super easy to use, very intuitive, and nice interface.

.::My iPod alarm clock – It wakes me up to whatever song I tell it to, when I tell it to. It’s basically my music slave.

Well, for no good reason, there were 10 things I really like. What do you really like? Leave me a comment.