What a Day

Yesterday Shag (my roommate) and I went to Atlanta to hang out with Laura Story. She is a worship leader/songwriter and is best known for writing Indescribable which Chris Tomlin bought from her. She and I went to college together, kinda, and we knew of each other....she was a very talented musician who had an awesome voice and she was cool so, of course, I never talked to her. Anywho, I emailed her and asked her a few questions about worship and she invited me down to her church for the day.

We went down Monday night and spent the night with her and her husband, Martin. We were running about 2 hours late so I called to apologize and it turns out they were at the Braves game. She told me to just go in the house and make myself at home. Now, this was super awesome....b/c I have been trying to be a "grown up" and be on time and stuff and the fact that she wasn't even there made me happy. She loves to party. When they did get there it was like we were all best friends who hang out all the time. We talked about mutual friends and laughed about what's been going on the past few years. Turns out she's good friends with Dodd, who is my hot friend who lives in Panama. Small world huh?

As I laid on the pull out couch trying to ignore the bar going across my back I thought, "what am I doing in Laura Story's house??" Once again I laugh at how God weaves everything together. Earlier I sat at her piano off the kitchen and wondered if this is where she has written some of the best songs I have heard in the past 5 years. She is so talented. But I was trying to fall asleep cause I knew we had a very full day starting at 8:15 the next morning.

So we wake up and go to Perimeter in Alpharetta. The day starts off with staff prayer then Laura gives us a tour of the church. Shag and I were like children...they have 4000 people every Sunday, a phat sound board in almost every room, a climbing wall (duh), and a recording studio. It was hot. But the favorite part of my day (besides when the 70 year old man in charge of communications stopped Laura to tell her he loved the new CD but the music was too loud) was when we went to the Music and Arts office and sat down for an hour or so with the 3 worship leaders, the worship producer, and the intern. I had no agenda for my trip to Atlanta. All I wanted to do was pick other worship leader's brains and see how they pick songs, plan a service, write songs, encourage their volunteers, confront sin with bandmates, hold tryouts, etc. The list goes on. It was a great hour and a half. Everyone involved in worship at Perimeter is down to earth, easy to talk to, and fun. Once again, it was like we had all been friends for a long time.

I came away from the meeting knowing one thing...there is no cookie cutter solution for leading worship. It is hard and no one has it figured out. But there are some things they do to stress themselves out less. They are very organized (because they have an elder who forces them to be organized) and they let all the worship volunteers know up front what is expected of them. They have 2 rehearsals a week and a worship small group that meets once a week (they talk about Jesus and memorize scripture and stuff) and if you can't make those, you don't play. It was pretty simple.

Oh I learned one other thing...probably the biggest thing I've learned in a long time: I am incredibly blessed to have Hope Point. It is 400 people and 1 band (1 1/2 bands) and it has all been kinda a grass roots movement. We have had no plan but God has taken care of us big time. We are able to do our style of music and do it with excellence and everyone likes it. Plus the band just started meeting together 2 times a month to eat supper at my house, pray, memorize scripture, and learn new songs. We are like a little family. I am sure the church will grow but right now it is so young and pure....there aren't hoops to jump through. Pretty much I am saying it is easy. They're aren't politics and tons of complains; we aren't forced to do a choir, and we run at 98 DBs, which is rock and roll at it's finest.

Perimeter is an awesome church, by the way. I am not saying they have those things I named above...they have a great staff that gets along great but there are pros and cons to every church, big or small. They have a HUGE church so they have lots more to think about and do. But they have a swimming pool and a full time guitarist on staff who used to play with Cindy Lauper. Wow, this has been a long post.

I had a great time with Laura. She is a gifted, humble, nice, down to earth song writer who could be as big time as it gets if she wanted to be. She didn't have to drag me around with her all day (which i am sure was a burden) but she did. I loved hearing all the things they do and how they do them. There will be a lot of ideas that I steal from them and pawn off as my own. But I also loved how God opened my eyes to the preciousness of Hope Point. I didn't get home tonight bummed out b/c we are so small and nerdy...I am rejoicing with true joy that God has placed me at a church that is alive. I fit so well and it works. We don't even own a building, we only have 2 staff meetings a month, and we sure don't have 4 bands but the Holy Spirit is evident in that gym every Sunday at 10 am. I love my church, I love working from home, I love wearing jeans, I love loud guitars, and I love the peace and purity that Hope Point has. Today was a great day for me as a worship leader. It would be impossible not to change after today. If nothing else, my mindset is different....I am not doing my job perfectly but God is using me and is protecting me. He wants my full obedience no matter the cost or the outcome. I may not always be popular or liked by everyone but I will make sure the band I lead worship with is ready...musically and spiritually.

If you're in ATL check out Perimeter Church and go to itunes right now and buy Great God Who Saves by Laura Story. It really is one of the greatest CDs I have heard in a long time.