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rehearsal tonight, that is … it was tough, rough.

I rarely walk away from a rehearsal feeling defeated and unprepared. I assume this week it was mostly due to a few of these reasons:

1 – still recouping from all the preparation that went into last weekend, our ‘grand opening’
2 – a short week (more on that in a sec)
3 – LOTS of unexpected detours in my schedule

First, the setlist …

As seems to be the case these days – I am working with more of the “newer people” … those who have only started participating in the music/worship ministry at SSCC since I took the job almost a year ago. One of the first mandates I had was to build teams and get more people involved. Tonight, I continued “breaking in” a new drummer … and pulled one of my singers over to play acoustic AND sing. I also recruited Kim, a great singer – but one who has only been on stage with me maybe twice all year.

They did a great job … and I kinda felt like I let them down because I wasn’t really sure what I needed, where I needed it, and wasn’t sure how things were going to flow. The songs in the setlist, for the most part, aren’t songs I typically lead … as a matter of fact, with the exception of two of them … I’ve never led them before .. but they were needed for thematic reasons.

Walk-In: Happy Day (Tim Hughes) .. this was the best song of the night from an “ease to play and sing” aspect, although Travis did say it sounded like were just yelling. But, it was our first song out of the gate, and we were still getting our IEM mixed.

First Set: See His Love (Tim Hughes) … great song … pretty strong, just catching the vocals up on the melody. Brent did great, and was able to carry some acoustic rhythm while singing.

Second Set:
Mighty Is The Power of the Cross
O The Wonderful Cross

This was just a trainwreck. Both of these songs have been done for years, all led by another one of our wonderful worship leaders, with arrangements that are far different than the ones I’ve always heard and listened to on other recordings. I’ve played/sang “Mighty Is” with the other team, but I’ve never led it. “O The Wonderful Cross” is also a great song, and once I finally quit worrying about “how they always did it before” and made it my own, it got better.

Closer: Amazed (I think this will be fine, but I had already hit the “wall” mentally and just didn’t have the energy to spend much time here.)

Walk-Out: Love Me Do (Beatles)
Sadly … I was never really exposed to “The Beatles” that much .. I mean, shock .. I’m a music guy, but never really listened to the Beatles? Gasp. Even worse, you can’t buy their stuff on iTunes. *curse* Had it not been for Gary and Jay, (don’t bother on the link, homey doesn’t blog anymore) I dunno if could’ve pulled it off … I’m basically just playing keys and letting Jay take the lead here.

So:
#1 – because of all the effort and energy that went into last weekend, we took MONDAY off … which is usually our planning/eval day. We’re all exhausted and most of have spouses whose “grace tank” is nearly empty from being gone so stinkin’ much. This segues into #2 …
#2 – because of #1 … we took Monday off. But Monday is USUALLY our big planning/eval/preparation day .. that got postponed to Tuesday. Tuesday was a short day for me because I spent the last half of it taking Andrew to the DR in Jax. (Praise God it was good news!)
#3 – I was completely distracted Wednesday … let’s just call it “church stuff” … relational issues .. fires that got started that had to be put out. The kind of stuff that freaks you out and has the potential to wreck a lot of things. The kind of stuff that knots you up instead so much you can’t even think of your own name. That carried over into Thursday. So, instead of preparing for rehearsal, playing these tunes over and over, etc … I was in a few “discussions” … necessary ones, but enough to steal time away from preparation.

Granted, I cheated on church a bit today. I haven’t been around much for Joy or the kiddos the last couple of weeks, so I came home for lunch around 11:45 so that Joy could go out and have lunch with a girlfriend who is going through a really rough time in her life. I made lunch for the kids and hung out with them. After lunch, I finished putting the new trampolene together for the boys, and finally got the Mosquito Magnet fired back up in the back yard. I had a couple of great conversations on the phone w/ some great out-of-town ministry folks who I’ve hit “ignore” on my cell phone way too many times when they called … only because I was too dang busy to just “chat”. (good to finally catch up with you, Ken) I got to see my wife … albeit, just a little while, but I knew I’d be @ practice until late tonight. Plus, I found out that next week, I’m being called back out on Monday evening for another meeting … so by golly … I cheated church. GUILTY. I really didn’t cheat on hours … just the schedule. And since my schedule isn’t a 9-5 etched in stone .. I dunno know if I really even cheated. All I can say is that from around 11:30 – 3:30 … I wasn’t @ the office.

Oh yeah – I launched the first C3 Choir Rehearsal too, so I had to get ready for that. How did I manage to plan all of this in the shortest of short weeks …. and of course, I couldn’t have forseen some of the issues I’d have to deal with that consumed time, but more importantly, my energy and passion. And I almost forgot Jeannine – my bass player’s lovely wife. I accidentally walked OUT of the sanctuary just as she was leaning into the door to peek in … BOOM, slice … emergency room – 5 stitches in the head. Don’t I feel like a hero.

Alrighty … so how’s that for a BIG PILE OF ****** EXCUSES?

Watch and see … I’ve seen it time and time again … God will show Himself strong. We’ll have a sweet time of worship and praise on Sunday. It will come together, and His grace is sufficient. Watch and see.

So .. you ever have those days, weeks, or rehearsals?

For the Kingdom,
Fred