Santa Cookies and Milk II

Last year we did the whole cookies and milk and Santa thing with Josh for the first time. It's been one of my most popular videos on youtube. Click here to watch it. So, this year, I set it up again and put together a little video of his reaction the second time around. Enjoy:

Word Wednesday .::26

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Hosea 6:1, 6 ESV

1 "Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up."

6 "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

We cannot impress God, but we can please Him. As a worship leader, I am constantly battling the performance bug. I have to check my motives and pride all the time. No matter how great our band sounds or how well our service looks, the hearts of God's people is the only thing that will please Him. As we please Him, the more His kingdom will grow. Sacrifice is good and offerings are necessary, but through it all God wants our hearts.

What's your Word?

Movie Monday VIII

This is a post that you can participate in on every Monday. I'm a big fan of the cinema, so I decided to break up the Monday blues by talking about movies.

Last week was Christmas, so there's some traditions out there as far as movies. There's a bunch of great Christmas movies, so let's talk about it.

What's your traditional Christmas movie that you just have to watch every year?

I would have to say a tie between Christmas Vacation & A Christmas Story. Both movies are hilarious with quotable lines that just won't go away.


your turn...

Worship Confessional 12.28.08

Communion service today. "You Gave Your Life Away" was a great moment during communion. Great song.

Set List with itunes links:
Hosanna (Praise is Rising) - Brenton Brown
Our God Saves - Paul Baloche
You Gave Your Life Away - Paul Baloche
My Savior's Love (I Stand Amazed) - hymn
Happy Day - Tim Hughes



Here's my song "Jesus Christ". Let me know what you think.



This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlists.

Warning

I traveled back from Jax today. I got almost home, and then I saw the dreaded flashing lights behind me. Our tags are expired, but we registered online before we left, so we're just waiting for them to come in the mail. I told the police officer this, and he just let me go. Usually, it costs me money when I get pulled over. No mercy most of the time.

Do you usually get ticketed when pulled over, or do you get let off, or are you one of those that has never been pulled over?

Birthday Tradition

I was born on December 11th, 1977 and my brother was born December 10th, 1986. 3 years ago we started this tradition:



Any birthday traditions out there?

Post Christmas Post

This has been a great Christmas, but it's also been a crazy Christmas.

Here's a quick breakdown:

-Sunday night- we arrive in Savannah, after a 5 hour drive.

-Monday- we wake up @ 4am to Jade trying to breathe and coughing. I had a little pressure in my head. It seemed that we might have a handle on Jade's sickness, though. I went to bed around midnight shivering and teeth chattering. I'm hardly ever cold. I went to bed with 3 blankets and a sweatshirt. I woke up around 3am drenched and hot. I broke some kind of fever, evidently.

-Tuesday morning- Jade wakes up coughing real bad, and I woke up feeling really sick. Jennifer and my dad took Jade to a doctor, and found out she had a double-ear infection. They gave her an antibiotic shot, and she started feeling better. I ended up in bed the entire day. I got a lot of work done, but I hated staying in all day. I also think it was God's way of making me catch up on some much needed rest.

-Wednesday- I woke up feeling much better, and Jade as well. I actually went out and got some lunch at Spanky's and my brother and I went out to do our "birthday tradition". We actually documented it, so I've got a video coming soon on that one. We got home and then Josh was crying and saying his ear hurt. That was scary, but thankfully, his ear stopped hurting and he's been fine since. We opened gifts that night with my family and all was great.

-Thursday- We had a great morning with my family and we headed off to Jacksonville with Jennifer's family for Christmas with them.

It was crazy, but we all made it out alive. Today we're just chillin'.

Where did you spend Christmas this year, and do you have any entertaining stories for us?

Word Wednesday .::25

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Daniel 5:23 ESV

23 "...you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored."

Tonight, we opened presents from my family. It was great seeing everyone, especially, my kids, get their gifts. In about 2-3 months, those gifts will still be with us, but they will lose significance over time. Christ should be the focus of everything, including Christmas, and we have to keep Him in central in our lives. He is everything. His hand is our breath.

What's your Word?

Worship Confessional 12.21.08

Set List w/itunes links:

O Come All Ye Faithful - Third Day
Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin
Glory to God - Vineyard
O Holy Night - Hymn



This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlist.

"Offering to You" on CCLITV

One of my new songs, "Offering to You" is on CCLITV. You can click here and go check it out. It's a video from one of our worship services at Bethany. Let me know what you think of the new tune.

Hey, Guitarists...

...here's a little deflator for ya...

16 straight

In case you don't know...I'm a life-long Boston Celtics fan, and I am basking in the long-awaited success right now. NBA Championship last year, and now they're 24-2 with a 16 game winning streak! I laid my head on my pillow with a smile on my face as they beat the Hawks last night. Thank you, Boston Celtics, for winning again. It's been well worth the 20 year wait.

Word Wednesday .::24

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Daniel 2:30, 47 ESV

30 But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

Wow! What an amazing example of how worshiping God can be the most evangelical thing we can do. When we transfer the glory to God, we direct people to the ultimate Life-Changer. The best antidote for pride is praise.

What's your Word?

Colors in Spanish

Here's Josh singing his colors in Spanish. He's already smarter than me.

Movie Monday VII

This is a post that you can participate in on every Monday. I'm a big fan of the cinema, so I decided to break up the Monday blues by talking about movies.

Let's talk about the 80's. There are so many memorable movie moments from the 80's. You have actors like Corey Haim, Mollie Ringwald, Emiliooooo Estevez, etc. There's also a lot of great movies from the acid wash era. Then there those flicks that are so cheesy, yet we love them.

What is your 80's movie that is cheesy, yet you still love it?

I would have to go with a tie between The Karate Kid and Footloose. I picked up The Karate Kid for $5 at Target recently. I just couldn't resist it. Then you have the amazing punch dancing sequence in Footloose. It's amazing that anyone ever thought that that was actually cool.


your turn...

Worship Confessional 12.14.08

We did a cool version of "Joy to the World" today, and "Here I Am to Worship" was definitely the key moment.

Set List w/itunes links:
Joy to the World - Christmas tune
Joy - Tree63
If I Have Not Love - Matt Redman
Here I Am to Worship - Tim Hughes



This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlists.

Birthday Gifts

My wife and kids lavished me with birthday gifts this year. These are a few of my favorite things:

-a shirt
-first season of the british office
-new killers album
-guitar strings
-Mariah Carey Christmas album (this is a replacement; I lost it, and it's my favorite Christmas album)
-chocolate chip cookies


Here's the thing...I bought 2 of these items myself, and let them wrap it up and give them to me, which means I had to wait a little longer to get them.

Guess which 2 I bought.

Christmas Decor

The Durbin house is very festive this year. After getting called out at church, we sprang into action lit up the house. This year, I even took the Christmas spirit outside.

Here's some pics:

How did you decorate this year?

This Day in History

31 years ago, I was born very close to the same time (10:46am) as I post this blog. That's me in the hospital picture above. It looks like they wrapped me like a giant sub sandwich. Check out all the groovy 70's clothes. Kinda like a scene out of a young Pacino movie.

Click here to see other interesting facts about December 11th. I don't feel really old quite yet, but I realize I'm on my way. My 40's are within striking distance now. So...

...where is 31 on the "getting old" scale?

Word Wednesday .::23

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron.

To participate, do your own post on your blog about your Word for the week, and link it to the bottom of my post every week by using the application provided below. Always leave me a comment, so I know you dropped by, and link back to my post from yours. Thanks for participating.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Ezekiel 36:22, 32 ESV

22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

If we're not careful, we can actually start thinking that the reason God does what He does is all about us. It's not. I've heard John Piper say that, "God is the most God-centered person in the world." We can't forget what it's all about, and it's not all about us. It's all about God's glory. We just happen to be the ones he blesses through that process and obedience.

What's your Word?

My kids & Walmart Santa (Caption Please)

click image to enlarge

Movie Monday VI

This is a post that you can participate in on every Monday. I'm a big fan of the cinema, so I decided to break up the Monday blues by talking about movies.


Tomorrow is the anticipated release date of The Dark Knight on DVD. This is possibly the biggest movie of the year. It was so nice, I saw it twice in theater. It's definitely the darkest of all the Batman flicks. So, this morning, we had a discussion in our office about the best Batman flick, so, that's what I want to hear from you.

What is the very best Batman movie and why?

Mine would have to be a tie between the first Michael Keaton one and The Dark Knight. You really can't compare the two, because they're completely different styles, but both of them were ground-breaking to the Batman genre. Both had totally original and unforgettable portrayals of the Joker, but both completely different from each other.

your turn...

Worship Confessional 12.07.08

Set List w/itunes links:

O Come All Ye Faithful - Third Day
Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin
Glory to God - Vineyard
Everlasting God - Brenton Brown



This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlist.

Songwriting::::UNIQUENESS

These posts on songwriting are not written from a professional point of view. These are just my thoughts as I experience new aspects of the craft. The best part of these posts will be your input.

I've been writing songs for the church for almost 7 years. I've learned some things about writing, like, I've written a ton more bad songs than good. I've often said that I have to write about 10 bad songs to get a good one. I've also learned that the trick to writing a great worship song is writing something that is simple, accessible, and yet still fresh. Last night I was driving home listening to a very well known worship artist's new CD. As they started singing one of the "new" songs from this very anticipated release, I realized that the melody line to the chorus was pretty much identical to another song from a not as well known worship artist that just came out last year. I'm assuming that the very well known just hasn't heard the not as well known, mean while, I feel a little jipped.
Uniqueness is what gives a song it's own identity. When I first started writing, I wrote a song called "I Will Worship You". I know, real original and unique, right? Granted, the lyrics were pretty generic, but the melody line was actually really good and infectious. I was excited. I thought I had really written a nice piece. Then, a couple days later, it hit me. As I was singing it, I realized it was the exact, identical melody line to Michael Jackson's "You are Not Alone", which was a huge, mid-90's tune. At that point, I had a choice. I could either keep it and use it, because I was in a pretty traditional Independent Baptist church, and I'm sure they weren't up on Michael Jackson songs. Or, I could wad it up and throw it away. I recently heard Andy Stanley speaking about "ideas". He said, that our creations become our babies, and if we're not careful, we will hang on to them, even at the expense of our ultimate goal. At that moment, I learned the importance of uniqueness. If it's not unique, I will definitely toss it, and I've learned the art of throwing away bad songs more and more since then.
As worship songwriters, we have the daunting task of writing something that is simple, yet unique. If it's complicated, it can be really counter-productive in worship, and if it's cookie-cutter, then it loses flavor. That can be a challenge, but it's a worthy one. When it comes to the melody line and musical composition of a song, we should not settle for anything less than unique.
Then we have lyrics. I think we all know the challenge that lies here, but again, it's a worthy one. Writing a unique lyric in worship can be very tricky. If we use the same lyrics over and over again, it loses the beauty, but if we focus too much on wording things in a new way, we can miss the target. There are certain words that just can't be substituted when we worship God. The biggest word is probably "holy". This is possibly the greatest attribute of God, and it says so much. There other words as well. We don't have to eliminate them in writing, but we do have to learn to use these words in a fresh, unique way. I just recently wrote a song where the chorus starts off with "Holy, holy". That's a huge part of the song, but the word holy is not the focus word in this particular tune.
Psalm 96:1 says "...sing to the Lord a new song;" If your song sounds just like something else, then it's really not a new song. Just because we pen a song, doesn't mean we've created something original. As we grow, as writers, we have to learn not to settle. The greatest part of that verse is that God is the One is birthing the new songs. He's bringing songs through us, for us to bring Him praise. The best worship songs that I've written all came from Him. There's only so many words, and so many chord progressions, but God is still moving and people are still creating. Freshness is so vital in keeping things moving and growing. As we write worship songs for our churches, we should settle for nothing less than unique.

Have you ever written a song that, you realized eventually, sounded just like a another song?

Welcome, Landen!

This our student pastor's first child. Congratulations Warren & Lyndsey! He was born last night, which is one week before mine, and exactly 3 weeks from Christmas. He's a very lucky kid to have God-loving parents and grandparents. He was a big boy - 8lbs. 13oz.

Our second child, Jade, was our biggest: 9lbs 5oz.

Alright, parents: What's the biggest baby you've had. (Not emotionally. Pounds & ounces people.)

I'm on a Chick Flick Site

Somebody came to my blog from a chick flick site. How ironic is that? The site picked up my post about the movie "Fireproof", where I called it a Christian chick flick. I do not care for the chick flicks that much.

What's your feelings on the phenomenon that is called the Chick Flick?

Word Wednesday .::22

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron.

To participate, do your own post on your blog about your Word for the week, and link it to the bottom of my post every week by using the application provided below. Always leave me a comment, so I know you dropped by, and link back to my post from yours. Thanks for participating.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Ezekiel 24:14 ESV

"I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God."

After refusing to repent and receive God's purification for so long, Jerusalem abused God's mercy and God's judgment was inevitable. The last thing I want to do is have to discipline my kids when they do something wrong. I would rather they just do right, and then I could encourage them and affirm them, but that's not reality. God never takes joy in disciplining His kids, but He has to from time to time. I know I need every now and again. God's mercy is beautiful and dependable, but His justice is just as consistent. He is the Lord, and he will be righteous always.

What's your Word?

Jade Tongue Trick

Nothing like...

...getting called out by your Pastor. I haven't taken down the Christmas decor from the attic yet, and I mistakenly told my Pastor. My wife was working in the nursery, but she heard it all thanks to me installing the TV connection to the worship service. We'll be putting the decor up tomorrow night.

Movie Monday V

This is a post that you can participate in on every Monday. I'm a big fan of the cinema, so I decided to break up the Monday blues by talking about movies.

I just saw Bolt over the weekend, and it was pretty good. I'm not usually one for the animated flicks. The best one I've seen recently is Kung Fu Panda. So, let's talk about animated movies.

What's your favorite animated movie of all-time and why?

Mine would have to be Aladdin. It came out in my high school days, and we memorized the whole thing. It was a big deal. 90's pop culture for sure.


your turn...