The last day of Music Week is always bittersweet. So many "highs" up on the mountain (now that's a pun) that it's hard to come down. Normally, the last day is actually pretty lackluster as it just involves packing up, eating breakfast, and leaving. This year, they had a closing worship service which featured the Conference Choir, Handbell Choir, Children's Choir, and a brief message by Mike Harland. Despite the group performances not measuring up in quality to some of the guest artists, I actually always enjoy the groups that perform made up of the conference registrants, perhaps because I know that they are "real people" like me, the soldiers in the battlefield if you will. Mike's closing message was a good summary and tied up all of the loose ends for the week and presented the final challenge for all music leaders to go back with a spirit of humility in their leadership. A good reminder to end with, I thought.
All in all, despite an overall decline in registration this year, I thought this one was one of the better Ridgecrests I have been to in recent years. This year the Lord for some reason put in my path a few church musicians that had some personal hurts or issues in their lives, and it reminded me that there are some folks serving out there under some serious duress. Pray for two in particular - the Lord knows who I'm talking about. God also reminded me this week of the Biblical purpose of church musicians and of the seriousness of the calling.
It's good to be back home now, though, and I'm looking forward to a holiday weekend and then hitting the ground running on Tuesday with a new degree of fervor, with God's help.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Ridgecrest Music Week 2010 Day Four
Today was the last full day. It began bright and early with a class on movement with preschoolers. Me marched, played with streamers, and danced around. Oh, and did I mention THIS WAS 8:30 in the morning? Ha! I'm not exactly at my streamer twirling best at that time. Still, I must take this time to mention that the children and preschool music leadership classes have been exceptional this time around. I've had three different teachers (one of my afternoon classes today was also in this area) and Sharon has taken many classes in that area as well. The afternoon one centered on creative ways to monitor discipline and to make transitions without losing kids' attention.
I also took another class with Phil Barfoot on music ministry ideas, this one centering specifically around adult choirs. Some very neat ideas there, a couple of which I may put into play into the coming months. There was some discussions on ways to recruit, maintain attendance, provide pastoral ministry, and more. Worship today was led by Michael Adler from Shades Mtn. in Birmingham, AL. I had forgotten how skilled he was at leading worship. I had first saw him here about 7 years ago, and he's gotten even better. His skill, as I may have eluded to earlier, seems to be in wedding traditional hymns and choruses together in ways that make sense and preserve the dignity of both. Mike Harland concluded his messages today.
The only afternoon class I took today was a detailed look into the LifeWay Worship Website's Worship Map service, which allows you to plan worship services online and then share them with the musicians tech folks involved. I like the concept, but I'm not sure I like how much they want you to pay to use the "advanced" version. Still, the basic version is free, and I may play around with it a bit to see if it can streamline things better. It's probably about time for me to revisit how I do some of the service planning and see if anything needs to be tweaked in how I get information to the people involved in services. From this I went straight into the final reading session of the week, this one again highlighting LifeWay music. I will say, LifeWay's music this year is pretty high quality, and they are really bringing some good composers and arrangers into the stable. I did find a very good possibility for a Christmas Cantata this year. I want to compare it with some from a few other publishers, but in the next few weeks I'll begin narrowing it down.
The evening ended with a concert featuring three Southern Gospel groups: Sisters, Assurance, and Greater Vision......and Ice Cream at the Nibble Nook.
I also took another class with Phil Barfoot on music ministry ideas, this one centering specifically around adult choirs. Some very neat ideas there, a couple of which I may put into play into the coming months. There was some discussions on ways to recruit, maintain attendance, provide pastoral ministry, and more. Worship today was led by Michael Adler from Shades Mtn. in Birmingham, AL. I had forgotten how skilled he was at leading worship. I had first saw him here about 7 years ago, and he's gotten even better. His skill, as I may have eluded to earlier, seems to be in wedding traditional hymns and choruses together in ways that make sense and preserve the dignity of both. Mike Harland concluded his messages today.
The only afternoon class I took today was a detailed look into the LifeWay Worship Website's Worship Map service, which allows you to plan worship services online and then share them with the musicians tech folks involved. I like the concept, but I'm not sure I like how much they want you to pay to use the "advanced" version. Still, the basic version is free, and I may play around with it a bit to see if it can streamline things better. It's probably about time for me to revisit how I do some of the service planning and see if anything needs to be tweaked in how I get information to the people involved in services. From this I went straight into the final reading session of the week, this one again highlighting LifeWay music. I will say, LifeWay's music this year is pretty high quality, and they are really bringing some good composers and arrangers into the stable. I did find a very good possibility for a Christmas Cantata this year. I want to compare it with some from a few other publishers, but in the next few weeks I'll begin narrowing it down.
The evening ended with a concert featuring three Southern Gospel groups: Sisters, Assurance, and Greater Vision......and Ice Cream at the Nibble Nook.
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