Did I get the gig?

[Brian Krashpad]

As some of you may know, I used to play guitar in church every week, for about a decade solid. There was a big gnarly scene at that church when they changed pastors, and a lot of people left, unfortunately including us.

We've been sorta "floating" between churches since. One of the churches we've been going to is a sister-church of the one we used to go to. They don't have a lead player and I've missed playing in church. It would be a good thing on a lot of levels if I could get back to playing in church (if for no other reason than that it'd force my sorry behind to go more often).

So I e-mailed their praise band guy Monday. Later I called him and he said they have a pastor installation coming up soon so he gave me the impression that they're hot to get me in the line-up, though I had no idea what they were expecting of me. He invited me to come to a practice last night (Tuesday).

I dodged a major potential embarassment bullet during our conversation, when I talked on the phone to the band guy. By his voice I thought "Kyle" was a lady, just with an unusual first name.

Nope. High talker. A guy. Fortunately I didn't say anything on the phone about how I was expecting "Kyle" to be a guy. THAT would've been bad.

Anyhow, Kyle is a high-talker and a gay guy. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There are a lot of gay guys who are music directors or organists in various denominations of Christian churches, and I already knew that (though I bet a lot of people don't realize it), one of the prior MD's at the last church I was at was gay, so no big whup to me. Besides, the girl singers are kinda cute.

I brought my vintage Sunn head and a 2x12 and a couple of my "name brand" guitars (Fender '52 Tele, Gibby LP) to show 'em I'm "serious." So I showed up and the praise band is only doing one song for the next service (they have a new "blended" service with some contemporary and some trad hymns, apparently never all contempo). So I set up and played along with them, we must've played the song a couple dozen times, they were mainly working on the PA mix for the singers. I started out just chording clean throughout, but about midway through the rehearsal I started going to distortion on the choruses for a little more oomph. I forget what song it was, but it's kinda a contempo "standard" I'd played many dozens of times at my prior church across town. So no major screw-ups by me or anything. I occasionally asked if they wanted me to do anything different, and Kyle basically said to do whatever I liked.

So then I broke down my rig and loaded out and we all went home. I didn't want to be presumptious, so I didn't ask if they wanted me to play this Sunday or what, but nobody said boo one way or t'other.

So, I guess it went fine, I had a good time, but I have no idea whether they'd like me to play with them. Kyle seems pretty laid-back though, in addition to letting me figure out what to do with the song, he was wearing slaps and kicked them off while playing piano, so he's not apparently a real formal person, which suits me fine.

I'll send him a very neutrally-worded e-mail saying I had a great time and thanking them for letting me come out. And saying if they need me to play Sunday or for subsequent practices, just tell me when to show up. I guess I'm being a little paranoid, but I thought it was kinda odd that we all just went home without any more being said.

:confused:

[Spudman]

No matter what happens you still have to say a whole bunch of 'hail Mary's' and 'our fathers'.:D

They are probably just thinking it over and possibly trying someone else out? I'm sure you are good enough to get the gig. If you do get it just be sure to leave the red suit and pitchfork at home on Sundays.:AOK:

[warren0728]

hey that whole kyle thing is too funny....when we left the restaurant yesterday you were thinking kyle was a girl (after originally thinking he was a guy during the emails)! :thwap: :whatever:

i'm sure you're in...they would have told you if they didn't want you!! :nono:

ww

[Brian Krashpad]

No matter what happens you still have to say a whole bunch of 'hail Mary's' and 'our fathers'.:D

They are probably just thinking it over and possibly trying someone else out? I'm sure you are good enough to get the gig. If you do get it just be sure to leave the red suit and pitchfork at home on Sundays.:AOK:

Haha, no, Lutherans don't say Hail Mary's. Although I'm sure my son did more than once when he went to the Catholic School down the road. It's kinda funny, as one of the original early Protestant denominaitons, a lot of Lutherans are subconsciously terrifed of seeming too "Catholic." Which is kinda ironic since Luther was a Catholic monk, albeit one who got booted. What I find really hilarious is that for the longest time you would never see Lutherans cross themselves like Catholics do. Even though it's in Luther's Cathechism that making the sign of the cross is a good thing!

Recently, some Lutherans will cross themselves, and I like to do that myself. But I had to watch some major league baseball games to be sure if I was doing it right. Now I have to break myself of the habit of spitting into the palms of my hands after crossing myself, though. :thwap: :D

Definitely won't wear my AC/DC baseball cap to rehearsals either. ;)

[Brian Krashpad]

hey that whole kyle thing is too funny....when we left the restaurant yesterday you were thinking kyle was a girl (after originally thinking he was a guy during the emails)! :thwap: :whatever:

i'm sure you're in...they would have told you if they didn't want you!! :nono:

ww

That's what I was thinking too. But I have no idea if they want me to play this Sunday, and if so, when I need to show up and be setup by.

I reckon I'll find out one way or another soon enough

[peachhead]

Maybe he's just assuming that since you came to practice and didn't tell him otherwise, you'll be there on Sunday?
That makes sense to me anyway.

[Brian Krashpad]

Maybe he's just assuming that since you came to practice and didn't tell him otherwise, you'll be there on Sunday?
That makes sense to me anyway.

That's what I'm hoping anyhow. Thing is, this Sunday they go off "summer hours" (we're in a college town and with the students gone there's a lot fewer people around, so they've only been doing one service each Sunday) and back to their 2-service schedule. I know when the service starts but not when they want me to be loaded-in and set up by. At our prior church we used to show up early, get all set up (actually I had a cab I left there 24/7 and the church had a head I used), and do some run-throughs just before the service started.

I'm sure it'll get sorted one way or t'other or at least I hope so! :D

[sunvalleylaw]

I would love to hear you play in a service. If I ever get down that way, I will have to attend. Punk praise tunes at the Luthern Sat. eve guitar Mass. (Lutherns probably don't call it Mass either, huh??)

[Brian Krashpad]

I would love to hear you play in a service. If I ever get down that way, I will have to attend. Punk praise tunes at the Luthern Sat. eve guitar Mass. (Lutherns probably don't call it Mass either, huh??)

No Lutherans don't use the term "mass." We do have matins and vespers services but most Lutherans don't know what those are. Just like most Lutherans don't cross themselves, even though Luther says to in his Cathechism.

I've rocked out a little at my prior church but nothing really approaching punk.

At the end of a rehearsal once I did play behind my head. But, no, not in church. ;)

[Rocket]

[Serious question]
Since I've rarely been in church, (well, since the 50's,) let me ask... what does one play in church?
[End serious question]

[Brian Krashpad]

[Serious question]
Since I've rarely been in church, (well, since the 50's,) let me ask... what does one play in church?
[End serious question]

Well, Tuesday night it was a Gibson Les Paul Studio Double Cutaway.

:D

But to answer your question, there's a huge batch of contemporary praise and worship music, a lot of it is made popular by Christian radio.

I don't listen to Christian radio often though.

[Rocket]

Is it a honed setlist or something tossed together last-minute by a designated band "leader"?
If honed... where do you find the practice time with both a day job[ugh] and a "Crash Pad" band.
Personally, I'd sure hate to be in a "last-minute-line-up" situation with anyone except a band of hardcore session players.
If that's what you're doin'... yer a monster, dude!

[bigoldron]

Good luck with the church gig Brian! Sounds like Kyle's just like some other music/artistic people I know. Not only is he a little light in the loafers, but he's also an inconsiderate, self-absorbed jerk. He's so wrapped up in himself that he either assumes you know what you're supposed to do or doesn't give a hoot one way or the other.

We've got a similar guy here in our small town. He's chorale/choir/drama teacher here at our high school and is the music director at his church and is involved with local community theater, etc, etc, etc. He's decently gifted, but is famous for not being on time and not having ANYTHING planned out ahead of time. EVERYTHING is thrown together at the last minute. Usually he pulls it off, but sometimes he doesn't. He's kinda like the Pied Piper (or maybe Michael Jackson) in that the kids love him and follow him (sometimes blindly).

What really peeves me is that EVERYBODY lets him slide with whatever he does, because, and I quote "that's just Gene." I am SO SICK of that I could puke!

Sorry for the extended rant, but I think Kyle should have the decency and the courtesy to at least give you a call and let you know whether or not to be there and what time.

Guess it's time for my medicine... :thwap:

[Brian Krashpad]

Is it a honed setlist or something tossed together last-minute by a designated band "leader"?
If honed... where do you find the practice time with both a day job[ugh] and a "Crash Pad" band.
Personally, I'd sure hate to be in a "last-minute-line-up" situation with anyone except a band of hardcore session players.
If that's what you're doin'... yer a monster, dude!

Well actually I'm in 3 bands, but only on paper. Crash Pad is on extended hiatus until I reform it with some new peeps. My side band Hoyt and the Hotheads is the most active, but we've only played a couple times this year.

The church gig is a honed setlist. Everything is part of the bigger service so it has to be planned well in advance, since the congregation is usually singing along with song leaders. But even when my rock bands were busier it's not that big a deal. One practice of a couple hours each week is all it takes for the church gig, There's actually a smaller repertoire of contemporary songs than of trad hymns. Perfect example-- the song we did Tuesday night was one I'd played many dozens of times previously over the years. In fact, before I left at the other church, if I had a conflict with practice on a given week, it was no big whup. I'd just go in early before the service and run over any new songs and wing it. The good thing about the last gig was it wasn't supposed to be a note-for-note thing like cover bands. I'd almost never heard the recorded versios of songs we did. My music director gave me discretion as to what I would do on each song, so the songs were definitely "our" versions. If the songs were real difficult, which fortunately was rare, I knew enough to lay low. ;) It looks like this thing will only be a couple songs per service (as opposed to my last church where we played EVERY song in the service, over a dozen or so each week), and maybe not even every week. Should take minimal time.

I'm no monster by any stretch but a big part is knowing your strengths and limitations.

[Rocket]

Why does this spring to mind?
[CAUTION-Surreality warning]

mduHrliy56Q

[luvmyshiner]

Dude, I would just assume you're in, and email him with "What time do I need to be there on Sunday and what equipment would you like me to bring".

If he doesn't want you there (and I find that very doubtful) make him tell ya. Then you can start looking for another church. Personally, I try to stay away from them. For some reason I break out in hives every time I get to close to God.:D

[Ch0jin]

Well good luck anyway mate!

Reading over your post reminded me so much of dates I've been on actually.

Not because I take girls to church on dates, but the whole "I think I did well, everyone seemed to be having a good time, but she didn't suggest another date. maybe she wanted me to say something?.... etc etc etc...

Funny.

[marnold]

For some reason I break out in hives every time I get to close to God.:D
That's because you would be a lawyer. *ducks*




Sorry, couldn't resist. :poke:

[luvmyshiner]

That's because you would be a lawyer. *ducks*




Sorry, couldn't resist. :poke:

Actually Marnold . . . I think you may be right.:D

[warren0728]

hey brian...any word from kyle? :whatever:

ww

[Brian Krashpad]

hey brian...any word from kyle? :whatever:

ww

No, apparently he's observing radio silence.

Or e-mail silence or something. :mad:

So basically I'm gonna have to call the church. However my guess is that he comes in one afternoon a week and checks his church e-mail (apparently he comes in on Mondays, my first e-mail was Monday and he e'd back within an hour or two). So I'll probably have to call and leave a message or ask to talk to the overall Music Director to see if I can get the info on when to show up from him instead.

[Brian Krashpad]

Well good luck anyway mate!

Reading over your post reminded me so much of dates I've been on actually.

Not because I take girls to church on dates, but the whole "I think I did well, everyone seemed to be having a good time, but she didn't suggest another date. maybe she wanted me to say something?.... etc etc etc...

Funny.

Haha, that's a good analogy. Though I wouldn't use the analogy with Kyle. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

;)

[marnold]

Ok, why is it that whenever anyone of you mention the name "Kyle" I imagine it being spoken by Mr. Hankey?

[Childbride]

Ok, why is it that whenever anyone of you mention the name "Kyle" I imagine it being spoken by Mr. Hankey?

:rotflmao:

[M29]

Hello Brian,

I would give em a call and tell them just what you have said here. I have been kind a hangin out here and wanted to know how it went the other day with the audition, everyone kinda booked and I have no idea how it went.

I hope it all works out. It is tough to find a good church sometimes, prayers comin at ya man:rockon:

M29

[Brian Krashpad]

Thanks M29. I called late yesterday afternoon, since the gear I would need for Sunday was at my office and I wanted to pack it then, rather than make a special trip later.

He admitted he'd got my e-mail Wednesday, but had got "too busy" to respond. :whatever:

Anyhow, the deal was, they have a "4-practice" rule, nobody plays in a service until they've done 4 practices.

So I guess if I just do 3 more practices I'm in. Fine by me, I guess they don't want flakey musicians.

Why he couldn't have mentioned that when he asked me to come to the first practice is beyond me. :confused:

[just strum]

Thanks M29. I called late yesterday afternoon, since the gear I would need for Sunday was at my office and I wanted to pack it then, rather than make a special trip later.

He admitted he'd got my e-mail Tuesday, but had got "too busy" to respond. :whatever:

Anyhow, the deal was, they have a "4-practice" rule, nobody plays in a service until they've done 4 practices.

So I guess if I just do 3 more practices I'm in. Fine by me, I guess they don't want flakey musicians.

Why he couldn't have mentioned that when he asked me to come to the first practice is beyond me. :confused:

Hey, you are dealing direct with these people, but personally I think the whole thing stinks. I don't care for people that don't play it straight (no pun intended. ok, maybe a little pun)

"Too busy" "four practice rule". I just don't think the guy is capable of being honest. Again, my opinion is built completely on this thread.

[Brian Krashpad]

Hey, you are dealing direct with these people, but personally I think the whole thing stinks. I don't care for people that don't play it straight (no pun intended. ok, maybe a little pun)

"Too busy" "four practice rule". I just don't think the guy is capable of being honest. Again, my opinion is built completely on this thread.

Fwiw, I don't get that vibe at all, being here. Lots of churches have various rules about integrating new people into performance situations. A 4-practice rule falls between the other 2 sitches I've been in. At my prior church I was a "founding member" so to speak, of our praise band, so I was invited and just started playing. We never did adopt any formalized rules about perfomance, if you came to practice you could play (and in fact I got to the point where if I had a conflict with making a practice I played anyway, I'd just go in early and run any new material right before the service).

On the other end of the spectrum, I enquired about playing at a big semi-mega church we've also occasionally gone to, and you'da thunk I was getting a security clearance from the Pentagon. Had to fill out an application, was given 2 CD's worth of material, with sheet music, and told to learn it, then I would have to audition, just for the opportunity to ATTEND their PRACTICE. It would've been un-Christian of me to have told them "F*ck this," but the thought did cross my mind.

I think this guy 's just not very good at managing things. Stereotypical flakey musician and/or neophyte church leader who's not very good at it yet. Apparently his day gig is working for the preschool the church runs, and it's just getting under way (new construction recently completed), so the busy-ness line does wash.

[just strum]

Like I said, my read is on what I see here. You have a better handle 1) you are dealing direct, and 2) you've been there, done that.

Good luck.

[Brian Krashpad]

Like I said, my read is on what I see here. You have a better handle 1) you are dealing direct, and 2) you've been there, done that.

Good luck.

Thanks. I can see how on a cold read it could seem like the guy is less than straightforward.

Seems he's more just discombobulated.

[just strum]

Seems he's more just discombobulated.

Thankfully we have none of that here.

[warren0728]

I can see how on a cold read it could seem like the guy is less than straightforward.
now that's funny....i don't care who you are! :rotflmao:

it does kinda suck that someone at the first rehearsal didn't just let you in on the 4 practice rule.... :thwap:

ww

[just strum]

now that's funny....i don't care who you are! :rotflmao:

it does kinda suck that someone at the first rehearsal didn't just let you in on the 4 practice rule.... :thwap:

ww

now that's funny....i don't care who you are!

[Brian Krashpad]

Calm down boys. :D

[warren0728]

it does kinda suck that someone at the first rehearsal didn't just let you in on the 4 practice rule.... :thwap:

ww


now that's funny....i don't care who you are!
hey i'm a funny guy even by accident!! :bravo: :rotflmao: :beer:

ok....calming down now... :poke:

ww

[bigoldron]

Kyle is sounding more like our local flake, Gene, every day. Gene is the disorganized person you'll ever meet. Sometimes his "rules" sound like Kyle's in that he appears to make it up as he goes. :rolleyes:

The frustrating thing (to me) is that people like you (and to a much lesser degree me), can be musicians/artists/talented/whatever without being an unorganized, carefree, goofball. This kind drives me insane (see my earlier post).

Anyway, good luck with your efforts to join the new church's praise band. I can understand the 4 practice rule, but someone should have bothered to give you a head's up on it. I'm begging for a drummer for my youth band. I've got one kid who could do it, but won't show up. Lost my bass player recently since he broke up with my daughter, which is another story. But that's kids. Adults shouldn't have that much drama. Oh well.

[Brian Krashpad]

So this week we didn't have a practice because the band leader, Kyle, wasn't going to be available at the usual Tuesday night scheduled time. This made me a smidge nervous because of the responses I got when I posted about this on the "Backstage With the Band" forum over at Harmony-Central, where several people (generally, these were rock band people with no church band experience) had responded with suspicions that Kyle was probably either auditioning others without telling me or just "making up" the 4-practice rule. :rolleyes:

Of course, I tried to tell the respondents over at HC that whatever their faults, church music leaders were generally trustworthy and would not jerk people around in an audition process like what might happen in a "real world" rock band scenario. The response I got was that I was being naiv and that church people are just as dishonest as everyone else. :rolleyes:

I am happy to say that the somewhat paranoid responses I got at the Backstage forum at HC appear to have been incorrect. Wednesday night I took my son Jack over to the youth meeting at the same church, and the youth group leader made a point of asking me whether I had remembered to not come to practice the preceding night, since it wasn't being held. She said Kyle had specifically fretted to her that he couldn't remember if he had told me there would be no practice that night.

So, to me, that tends to confirm that Kyle is just a bit flakey and not up to anything nefarious.

Flakey I can deal with. ;)

[bigoldron]

Flakey I can deal with. ;)

It certainly helps around here! :poke: :eek:

[Spudman]

Flakey I can deal with. ;)

Then I know a whole bunch of good players you'll like.:D

Flakey and me have a hard time. If someone tells me something then that is "their word" unless they personally correct or change their original. I hold men to their word. I figure I have a life too and you better be just as respectful of my time as I am of yours. After all...once it's gone - it's gone.

Best of luck. Only 3 more rehearsals to go before you are making the big bucks.:pancake:

[sumitomo]

I think the 4 practice rule is a good one lets everyone know you are sincere about worship.After all you are playing to the biggest audience of all that is God!!! Sumi:D

[Brian Krashpad]

It certainly helps around here! :poke: :eek:

Haha, true dat! :AOK:

[Brian Krashpad]

I think the 4 practice rule is a good one lets everyone know you are sincere about worship.After all you are playing to the biggest audience of all that is God!!! Sumi:D

Oh, I can wait. I've been out of my last church for about 18 months before I even inquired here.

[Brian Krashpad]

So I went to my second practice last night, and things are looking up. Unlike the song we did at our first practice, there were several songs we did that were appropriate for rock leads, plus we had a drummer.

So I did some leads on some songs, and the bandleader/pianist kept telling me to turn up, and I finally broke down and let them put me in the PA as well. I was really feelin' it and unlike the first practice, I did more than just chord along, because these songs were just more appropriate to do things with. As always, the soloing was completely extemporaneous, though I keep rough ideas in my head of what works and general ideas of what to do on each song. At the end of the rehearsal the drummer said "That was the most fun I've had in church in a long time!"

So now it's been 3 weeks, although the middle week we didn't rehearse since the bandleader couldn't make it. They have a special pastor installation service coming up this Sunday afternoon and it looks like they're going to "bend" their "4-practice rule" and ask me to play with them. The songs for that are all part of the pre-service music so in a way I won't actually be playing "during" the service.

Anyhow thanks for the thoughts/prayers.

Now we have to see whether any of the fogeys in the congregation have cardiac arrests when they see and hear an electric guitar in church.

[Spudman]

Just make sure they pass the Krashpad collection plate.:cool:

Congrats on getting the gig. I can picture a revival coming.

[warren0728]

that's good to hear brian....glad things "felt" better this time! :AOK:

ww

[Brian Krashpad]

Thanks guys.

As much fun as I have playing in church I'm trying to be a little careful here. At my last church we had some people who were opposed to guitars in church, but we had two services and they just went to the other one.

With one exception.

Maggie, a choir singer, decided to basically openly challenge the band, once. She was the stereotypical church busybody, very impressed with herself and her warbly old coloratura. And not liking that the band took center stage during one of 2 services or even temporarily inhabited "her choir's" bay.

One week when we had a guest keyboardist, Maggie chose to strike. (The usual keyboardist was also the praise band leader.) The guest keyboardist was a wonderful lady, a prof at UF who TAUGHT organ performance and composition, yet was nevertheless GREAT in working with hack rock muso's like me. Her great and unforgivable sin, however, was she WAS NOT A LUTHERAN! Worse, she reportedly was from one of those liberal religions like Unitarian or something that Lutherans like Maggie equate with devil-worshippers.

So anyhow, we're running a song RIGHT BEFORE THE SERVICE, and Maggie stomps up and announces to the keyboardist "You are NOT going to perform that song like THAT in THIS church!" It was an African hymn, and beautiful, though lively (I played banjo on it!). We had done it before. The pastor had chosen it.

As you might expect, I was livid. Had I directly responded to Maggie, it would not have been pretty.

Instead I immediately got up and raced over to the keyboardist, who, as you might expect, was in total shock, before Mags could say anything more, or, conversely, stomp off in triumph. I put my hand on the keyboardist's shoulder and said in a very direct and forthright way "YOU are our keyboardist. We WILL do this song EXACTLY as rehearsed. If ANYONE has any problems with that, they can take it up with ME later!"

All the while I was staring directly at Maggie. Of course, being the petty bully she was, she broke and walked away. I smiled at the organist and winked, and then went back to my chair.

We played the song exactly as rehearsed, and it sounded great and the congregation loved it.

And Maggie NEVER messed with us again.

Anyhow, the cool thing about that church was that there was a trad service and there was an all-contemporary service, so the two tribes generally didn't get to warring over it. Here at the new place it's evolved a little differently.

First, there's a lot more blue-hairs here. As a result, when they started up a contemporary service, it got shunted into the education building, not the sanctuary. The early and late services in the sanctuary were all-trad. Because it's a college town, over this last summer they canned the separate services and had one "blended" service in the sanctuary. So although the band finally got to play in the actual church, it was not a totally modern service.

For Fall, they decided to go to two services in the sanctuary but have the late service be a "blended" one. So the fully contemporary service is no more, but at least the band is playing in the church. However, the content in the blended service is skewed towards trad still. On some Sundays the band only does one song! To me, if you're going to call it a "blended" service, it needs to be a lot more balanced than that, especially given that all the litugy is still traditional. Hopefully we can inch our way into the 20th Century eventually.

And yes, I realize it's the 21st Century, but these are Lutherans after all. :D

[evenkeel]

Krash,
Very glad to hear this seems to be working out for you. You very obviously want to play so good on you for keeping your cool. :)

[Brian Krashpad]

Krash,
Very glad to hear this seems to be working out for you. You very obviously want to play so good on you for keeping your cool. :)

Thanks.

Tonight they had a choir practice, and the band leader I guess directs the choir too. My son went to youth, so since I was gonna be there anyhow, so I ran over a couple songs with the band leader, the other guitarist, and one of the singers before the choir practice started. So I guess that technically gets me to 3 practices, and if I run over stuff at 10 before the 11:00 Sunday service, I'll have actually been to 4 "practices." Voila, "4-practice rule" complied with.

So it looks like Sunday I'll play the 11:00 service and then the pre-service music for the pastor-installation service in the afternoon. The former will probably have more people at it, but the latter should be more fun.

[warren0728]

So it looks like Sunday I'll play the 11:00 service and then the pre-service music for the pastor-installation service in the afternoon. The former will probably have more people at it, but the latter should be more fun.
rock on rocker!! :rockon:

ww

[sumitomo]

I knew things would turn around for ya,and glad to hear so.Its a celebration to GOD so rockon Sumi:D

[Brian Krashpad]

Thanks Warren and Sumi!

We'll just see how it goes. Since I played at the other church for so long I'm not really concerned about my performance (although running through the PA is something I'm still not fully down with-- mainly becuase I don't have a silent tuner and don't know if their sound person has the sense to mute my channel in between songs). What I'm mainly concerned about is freaking out the blue-hairs.

Only one way to find out! :D

[luvmyshiner]

What I'm mainly concerned about is freaking out the blue-hairs.


Dude, I thought that was the whole point.:D Great story Brian, and I'm glad things are turning out well.

[bigoldron]

Dude, Lutherans ain't a whole different from us Baptists! I definitely feel your pain! We're doing a "blended" service now, but it still leans heavily to traditional. The youth praise band I lead plays mostly on Sunday night, be we actually got do a morning service a couple of weeks ago. We started an adult praise band in the Spring, played one song, and had to knock off because we couldn't get everyone together to practice.

BUT, we did start back last night, so maybe we'll get to play a song or two every now and then!

Getting back to the blue-hairs, you ought to see the expressions when they walk into the sanctuary and the guitars and drums are set up on stage! Ordinarily, there's only an organ and a grand piano. But, we're working on 'em. I personally would like to go to 2 services, with trad early and contemporary at 11, but there's that "C" word again (change :eek:)

I told some of the band members (most have only been here a few years), that when my wife and I started dating (back in '86), we couldn't even CLAP for someone who sang a solo. The sentiment was that "we were applauding the person instead of God". Fortunately, times have changed, albeit slowly.

Anyway, good luck with your new church Brian! It sounds like you're working your way into a new home. I'll definitely keep you in my prayers. :AOK:

[luvmyshiner]

. . . when my wife and I started dating (back in '86), we couldn't even CLAP for someone who sang a solo.

Back in the long, long ago, I served as an associate pastor at a Southern Baptist Church (don't ask, they were desperate) I was once reprimanded for "smiling" to much from the pulpit.

We don't talk about that much at the Sinner . . . um . . . I mean Shiner household.:thwap:

[Brian Krashpad]

Dude, Lutherans ain't a whole different from us Baptists! I definitely feel your pain! We're doing a "blended" service now, but it still leans heavily to traditional. The youth praise band I lead plays mostly on Sunday night, be we actually got do a morning service a couple of weeks ago. We started an adult praise band in the Spring, played one song, and had to knock off because we couldn't get everyone together to practice.

BUT, we did start back last night, so maybe we'll get to play a song or two every now and then!

Getting back to the blue-hairs, you ought to see the expressions when they walk into the sanctuary and the guitars and drums are set up on stage! Ordinarily, there's only an organ and a grand piano. But, we're working on 'em. I personally would like to go to 2 services, with trad early and contemporary at 11, but there's that "C" word again (change :eek:)

I told some of the band members (most have only been here a few years), that when my wife and I started dating (back in '86), we couldn't even CLAP for someone who sang a solo. The sentiment was that "we were applauding the person instead of God". Fortunately, times have changed, albeit slowly.

Anyway, good luck with your new church Brian! It sounds like you're working your way into a new home. I'll definitely keep you in my prayers. :AOK:

Lutherans still don't clap.

I don't really mind that though. I'd just like to see more contemporary content. This particular church is right on the cusp of being a "dying" one, full of all old people eventually withering away to nothingness (the church, not the old people). They just started up a daycare which is a great way to have more money coming in, as well as of course teaching values and religion to the kids themselves. However, a daycare also can bring whole unchurched families into the church, because it makes the concept of church less foreign to them.

However, that will only happen if the services are not going to drive them away. I can see easily how a trad Lutheran service would bore some people to tears. The hard fact is that church liturgy and music has to change with the times in order to survive. If there are other options out there that are not boring, people will find them.

Good luck Ron! Thanks, and prayers for you too.

[bigoldron]

Lutherans still don't clap.

I don't really mind that though. I'd just like to see more contemporary content. This particular church is right on the cusp of being a "dying" one, full of all old people eventually withering away to nothingness (the church, not the old people). They just started up a daycare which is a great way to have more money coming in, as well as of course teaching values and religion to the kids themselves. However, a daycare also can bring whole unchurched families into the church, because it makes the concept of church less foreign to them.

However, that will only happen if the services are not going to drive them away. I can see easily how a trad Lutheran service would bore some people to tears. The hard fact is that church liturgy and music has to change with the times in order to survive. If there are other options out there that are not boring, people will find them.

IMO, we're at that point where either we've got to decide whether to expand or shrivel up and die. We've got some younger (my age if you consider that younger!) families who enjoy a more contemporary service, our youth program is doing fairly well, but as you say, it's bringing in a lot of unchurched kids, so we've got to not only attract them, but we've got to do something for their parents.

But, we've got quite a few older members and some are rather vocal about what's wrong with what we're doing. One or two in particular try to run things as if it is their personal church. We try to restrain these few with our committee led decision making process, but for the upcoming year, several of them have gotten themselves on some of the more influential committees.

These few don't really care for the contemporary worship and certainly don't like having guitars and drums in church. But, hopefully, they're becoming more and more the minority.

Getting back to the growth thing, I'm on the property and grounds committee and we're looking at proposals for possible much-needed future building growth. We've been talking for a LONG time about it, but now we're actually got something to present to the church. I'm all for the new building, but as I told them, we've got to spark some interest to get more non-regulars to show up and get those who don't have a church home to WANT to come here.

Apparently, these are "not-too-uncommon" issues. Hopefully, we'll all do what's best for serving God and for the benefit of our church.

[Brian Krashpad]

Good onya Ron. Hopefully both our churches will see what they need to do to keep on keepin on.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Back in the long, long ago, I served as an associate pastor at a Southern Baptist Church (don't ask, they were desperate) I was once reprimanded for "smiling" to much from the pulpit.

Ummmmm, for what exactly is "smiling" a euphemism?

I say that those of us that are nonreligous outta get us a place to jam every weekend.

I'm not adverse to having Rev Skyrawker sprinkle a little of his magic progvision on us in between songs.

[Brian Krashpad]

I say that those of us that are nonreligous outta get us a place to jam every weekend.

I'm not adverse to having Rev Skyrawker sprinkle a little of his magic progvision on us in between songs.

I will come to said meetings with a bottle of champagne, bless it, shake it up, and baptise all of us.

[tot_Ou_tard]

I will come to said meetings with a bottle of champagne, bless it, shake it up, and baptise all of us.
Say Amen brother!

[just strum]

I'll bring the snakes. Oh wait, that was Shiners congregation.


http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h16/auroraohio/Guitars/222_snakehandlers_dewey.jpg

[tot_Ou_tard]

I'll bring the snakes. Oh wait, that was Shiners congregation.

Are "snakes" an equivalent euphemism to "smiling"?

[Brian Krashpad]

So anyhow I played last Sunday.

I unplugged my guitar to tune up and forgot to plug it back. So I had to plug in while playing when I noticed no sound coming out.

D'oh.

My fam was sitting in the back of the church and said they could barely hear me, which was fine by me. The praise band only got one song in the blended service.

I went back for the pastor-installation service in the afternoon. We did 4 or 5 songs as pre-service music. That went better. And I got some food after, at the reception. Apparently there's another guitarist and we'll rotate between us, although I've said I would play bass if they wanted or needed that. There's a lot less material since their service is "blended" rather than all-contemporary. I'd love to see the blended become mostly contemporary, or just morph into a contemporary service, but we'll see how things go.

[bigoldron]

Glad it went well for you. Keep hangin' in there and who knows, it'll be a full-blown contemporary worship before you know it.