Chapdelaine House

Two months ago my friend Alex shared this blogpost with me. There is a difficult divide for the modern musician when it comes to the role of a "lead musician" in the body of Christ, and a tempting 'Rockstar' attitude for those who lead The Church in singing praises to God.  Mostly, cues are taken from the worldly model of band leaders showing off and accepting attention from those attending concerts. Take a look at bro-Don Chapman's perspective of the 'changing of the guard' in present day worship in America. http://www.churchleaders.com/mobile/worship/worship-articles/170929-don-chapman-rock-star-worship-leaders-are-getting-fired.html The danger? That we would do the same as the fallen angel, and turn to receive praises of the body, attempting to steal from God what will be eternally due to Him.  He will be praised, and we are foolish to think that we will be successful in this stealing. [God, empty me of all sin in this area, that Your Church would prais...

As I write my December newsletter, I realize that there is a different crowd that scrolls my blog than receives newsletters. Our oldest, Markus says "daddy's wowk is pwaying."  Pretty much. So, I wanted to post info about supporting our family & ministry.  'Year-end' and 'tax-deductible' buzzwords are removed (er, except I just said them...) What exactly are you supporting?  Prayer in the Cincinnati Metro for our city and our nation.  With music as a weapon, I lead prayer meetings around our city and disciple & encourage the body of Christ.  "Feed the children" foundation could be the name of our ministry, since much of the support we receive  goes to feeding 4 children in our family. We live on the faithful giving of those who believe in what we are doing.  For over 3 years, this is how we've done it. So, shamelessly, I post directions and link here: 1. Read all directions 2. Select " Chapdelaine Ministries "...

Blogroll today revealed a post "Advice for Worship Leaders #1".  I'm assuming that there will be more in this series... Justin Rizzo is a songwriter/worship leader - his thoughts brought conviction to my own avoidance of songwriting; and gives me hope - even if i'm uninspired, prayer is the avenue to begin with.  It's important to sit down to write, "God has songs reserved just for you," Justin says. Full post: (c) 2011 Justin Rizzo - http://justinrizzo.com/blog/08/2011/advice-worship-leaders-1-dedicated-writing-time#comment-246

tran·scribe     (tr n-skr b ) tr.v.   tran·scribed ,  tran·scrib·ing ,  tran·scribes 1.  To make a full written or typewritten copy of (dictated material, for example). I've transcribed a few worship songs, and shared them here.  I cannot tell you how much transcribing has improved my musical skills.  If you play instruments, or casually know a few guitar chords and want to grow your skill from your bedroom, begin to transcribe a song that you really connect with.  Here's a little of my story with transcribing. It started when I began playing music, and playing worship songs.  My dad brought a 28.8kbs modem home from work in the early 90's, and I began to find new, fresh tunes for worship leading via the internet (I was 12-13 at that point).  It was a lesson in patience as the chord sheets and tabs wipe-loaded down the computer screen. Problem was, I noticed that some of the chord sheets that musicians were loading on ran...

Luke Wood is quickly becoming one of my favorite songwriters.  A cool pop-folk type sound, great lyrical artistry and some fun blues-style licks that some lead-lover can figure out if they'd like (post in comments if you tab them up). Here's one of his I couldn't find online.  Enjoy. The Joy of Being Lovesick Luke Wood [I play capo 3 or 4 (D# or E)] Main Line: Am – F – C V1 Bridegroom’s been a long time coming Bridegroom’s been a long time coming And I have this heavy burden called longing Until You return (repeat) Inst: Am – F – C V2 Bridegroom’s been a long time coming Bridegroom’s been a long time coming And we who miss you have been mourning Until you return (repeat) Pre-Chorus: Dm I’m sick with love F Until you come C                                           ...

I'm learning self discipline in my life currently. Practice is important for musicians, athletes and artists, but also professionals, public speakers, baristas and everywhere in between. Self discipline can be defined as doing the things we don't feel like doing. As the musical type, I can fall into this trap of 'feelings' - which are many times fleeting. We also cannot live off of adrenaline or inspiration; at least I can't. There's not enough juice in inspiration to keep me going for a month or a year. Usually, after the first couple days, i've lost the inspiration. Check out the football inspiration: Inspiration and talent will only carry you so far. The habits you form will sustain you. One fall, in the panhandle of Texas, the local high school football team was enduring a terribly embarrassing season. Week after week, the hometown would show up and cheer to no avail; it was abysmal. Finally, a wealthy oil man could take it no longer. The week befo...

Blog-world, Greetings from NKY. The baby slept until 8am this morning, and only once woke up for a feeding. This is a great morning to chew on some things that are in my mind from the past week. I believe this is my first response to a blog: a blog on RE:Sound blog [a new division of the Mars Hill/Resurgence family]. So, I read this blog about music that was written to counteract the act of burning, destroying, getting rid of, excluding all secular music when a person is converted. [I remember my dad telling me that he thinks his 1st ed. Zepplin LP kind of howled as he melted it in the fire. Seriously.] The writers' opinion was that destroying the music was simply an emotional expression of something inside, inspired by a teacher/preacher/youth pastor to get rid of immorality. The point of the article was that it was not the music that carried the evil message. It was not the music that needed to be thrown out, it was the heart of the individual. The heart was evil [sinful, ...