Here are some updates to my goals I had set out at the beginning of the year

1. Restart Freedom and Hymn Sings

I have always wanted to use Freedom and our Hymn Sings to unite the Church.  (Capital “C” is used when I am referring to the whole body of Christ)  I am not only planning to have two of each but my goal is to get some other churches involved in these events.

Still working on this…I haven’t scheduled any yet but I am hoping to have Freedom in May.

2. Begin Blogging Again

The goal of this website has always been to encourage and equip worship leaders and the Church.  This has not always been the case and it has also been almost 8 months since I last blogged.  Consistency and quality of posts is what I am shooting for.

FAIL!!!!!

3. Year Long Hymn Project

I believe the hymns hold some great theology and truths that need not be lost by the next generation.  So each month starting in February thru November we will be learning one hymn each month to the point that as a church we could sing it without words on the screen.  Why?  So that the truths of Christ would dwell richly in our hearts.  I’m not sure what hymns we are going to do yet, still working on that.  We will also record the hymns in the arrangements we will play them in church and put it on a CD.  If you have any suggestions for hymns to include in this project comment below of e-mail me.

We started this in February with Come Thou Fount and March will be Nothing but the Blood.  I have received a lot of great feed back about this project.  Because of Easter we probably won’t have time to really bear down and get the songs recorded until May or June.

4. Finish The Gift of Prophesy, Read the Way of the Wild Heart, Begin to tackle Bible Doctrine by Jeff Purswell.

For me to be a more effective worship leader and be able to help advance the Kingdom of God I need a better grasp on much of the theology of the christian faith.  I have realized because of the family I grew up in I have a strong grasp of many of the core things I believe but really can’t defend them very well.  I want this to change in 2010.  Reading The Way of the Wild Heart is a bit personal…my Mom gave it to me for Christmas.  (It must be said that I am a slow reader so this is a faith based goal)

EPIC FAIL!!!!!

5. Monthly worship Podcast

My brother-in-law Brian and I are going to start recording a monthly podcast to encourage and equip worship leaders and the Church with topic discussion, interviews, song reviews, guests and also some randomness.

Brian and I hosted our first, listen here, in February.  Topic was why a worship band, interview was with Jon Payne, Pastor at Sovereign Grace Church in Gilbert, new song review was You Alone Can Rescue by Matt Redman.  I’m really looking forward to the next few months of podcasts.  Potential content: Topics “The Theology of Woah!!”, Interview with a worship leader and two of the rappers on his worship team.

6. Create at least one more opportunity for the Orchestra to play

Last year our orchestra for Easter was 13 strong, this year it looks as if we will even have more.  One bummer has always been that there has really only been one opportunity each year for them to play.  So I plan to find at least one more opportunity for the orchestra to play at church.

I need to get through Easter first:)

7. Record a Live CD

I get, on a consistent basis, people asking for a CD of us playing the worship songs we do on Sunday mornings.  So at some point this year I’ll gather our church, probably on a Sunday right after church, and record the CD.

No plans yet but I don’t expect to do this until later in the year.

8. Help grow our worship leaders lunch

Once a month I get together for with four other worship leaders from the Valley, Jon Payne and Jason Hansen from Sovereign Grace in Gilbert, Aaron Bower from East Valley Bible Church in Gilbert and Alden Powers from Roosevelt Community Church in Phoenix.  It is always a very encouraging time and Jon Payne and myself have discussed a desire to see this group grow.  We both desire to help encourage and challenge other worship leaders.

Austin Martin from Chandler Christian joined us for our Worship Leaders Lunch in February.

9. Weigh 220lbs by December

I have struggled with my weight for all of my adult life over the last two months I have suffered with intense back pain and I have also been sick twice for more than a week.  These circumstances may not be caused by my weight but it sure isn’t helping.  I currently weigh 270 so this will put me at a pace of little less than 5 lbs per month, a manageable goal.

I have been bouncing around the mid 260′s the last month or so.  Physical Therapy has been going good but my back has still been bothering me too much to work out at a high intensity to accelerate my weight loss but I’ll get there soon.

10. Go back to School

I need to do this for myself, life forced my to put my education on hold six years ago so it’s about time to pick it back up.

Is it bad that I am writing this post in my Psychology 101 class?  I am back at school and enrolled in two classes, PSY 101 and Music Theory.  I am really enjoying Music Theory it’s actually changing the way that I am thinking through my chord charts.  And when I think about a key I am actually thinking about how many sharps or flats it has.