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Top 11 Posts of 2011

January 3, 2012 in Apple, blogging, Faith, Gear, iPad, iPhone, Jailbreaking, Mac, Ministry, Technology, Worship, Youth with 0 Comments

I’ve been away on vacation for the past 2 weeks, so I didn’t post this on December 31 like everyone else.. but incase you are interested, here are my top 11 posts of 2011.

Use Pandora Radio On Your iPhone in Canada
HotSpot Shield for iPhone DOES Work
Canadian’s Can Access Netflix USA
Get Spotify in Canada
iOS 4+ Compatible Slim Slider Theme
John Mark McMillan Signs with Integrity
My Modded iPod Touch
OnSong iPad App for Worship Leaders
Funny Christian Advertising
Mac ToDo/iPhone.. The Way it Should Be
My Favorite Pod Patches

This past year I’ve really been focusing on the tech posts (as you can see from my Top 11).  This wasn’t my initial purpose with the blog.  Originally I planned on posting a lot of ministry based stuff, and I did some of that, but looking at the stats, that wasn’t the stuff getting the hits this  year.  So my plan (do I dare call it a resolution) for 2012 is first of all to post more, but I’m going to continue to focus on Tech stuff, but I’m planning to specifically post more on Tech in ministry. So the coming months will hopefully provide you with some great tech tools and tips that will help your ministry, whether you are in youth ministry, worship, tech, whatever ministry you may be in.  I will also continue to post random cool hacks I find like Pandora in Canada (it had over 10,000 hits in 2011).

A Time for Everything

November 29, 2011 in Faith, Family, God, Ministry, People, Youth Unlimited with 0 Comments

For the past 3 months Ecclesiastes 3 has been on my mind as Jennifer and I have spent time  in prayer.  We have been praying about our future and where God might be leading us.  Are we suppose to stick around Centre Hastings with YFC or is God calling us elsewhere?

After a lot of prayer we feel that God is calling us to move on.  It has been a really hard decision to come to, but, we said back when we took this job with YFC in 2005, that we always wanted to be doing what we felt God was calling us to do. So as of November 15th, 2011 we handed in our official letter of resignation, with the request to stay on until June 2012, so that  we could finish up the school  year with the current group of students we are working with.

So where are we headed?  We aren’t sure yet!  I know a lot of people would probably say “why would you leave one job not knowing where you are going?” well.. I believe that is a part of working in ministry… God sometimes calls you to do things that don’t always make sense, but we believe that he will provide for us.

In all the praying we have been doing, I feel that God is calling me back to my first love, which is worship ministry.  We don’t know where he is calling us, but feel very strongly that God is calling me to a church somewhere that is seeking a full time worship leader.  Our hope is to get closer to home on the east coast, so we are seeking out churches on the east coast, but we also know that we may not necessarily find something on the east coast, as not a lot of churches have budgets to hire worship leaders.

So ultimately we are continuing to pray for where God is leading us.  In the meantime, the finances with YFC in Centre Hastings have taken a down hill spill, so as a result, the board has decided to cut me back to part time as of January 1, 2012, so we are also in search of something to subsidize the part time salary that YFC will be providing us.

In the meantime, if you happen to hear of a church seeking a worship leader, please, pass the information along to me!

Repost: What Will We Remember

August 8, 2011 in Culture, Faith, Family, God, Ministry, Music, Music Monday, Worship with 0 Comments

This is a repost of a post I did back in 2006. I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately, and now that I’ve got more people actively reading my blog, thought I might get more input from you guys.

I had a very interesting conversation today with a elder from my church. He was talking to me about our Sunday Evening youth worship services. For those reading who do not know about Sunday night, it is a youth oriented service, because the churches around here don’t always offer a youth oriented service where the young people feel comfortable to worship, so we have started a service that plays music they like and messages they can relate to (of course the Gospel never changes, but sometimes we need to look at how we present it so that it can be presented in a culturally relevant way).

Now you need to understand that this guy is not a stick in the mud at all, he loves the youth and loves our services.

The elder came to our latest service, which was on April 9th I think was the date. He made the usual comment that I hear from older folks in the community “it’s a bit loud for me, but the youth love it, so keep it up.” But that is not what stuck out to me.

We started talking about worship music, and about how it’s certainly different today that it was 50 years ago (heck even 15 years ago) and he started talking about songs like Amazing Grace, and while talking about it, we started talking about really old folks, you know, the ones who are loosing their minds. We both have noticed the same thing, you can go into an old folks home, where people are gone totally senile and can’t remember anything, but if you pick up a guitar (or sing it aceppella) and sing a song like Amazing Grace, for some reason these people who can’t even remember their kids names, or why they are in this place, always seem to be able to sing along.

After we had this conversation, he left me with another thought to ponder. While there are some amazing songs coming out now a days by some great worship leaders such as Matt Redman or Tim Hughes, are their any songs being written now that we sing, that in 50, 60 , 70 years when we can’t remember to chew or how to tie our shoes, we will remember?

That really stuck out to me, because right now, I’m not so sure that I can think of a song as influential as Amazing Grace, or The Old Rugged Cross. While I LOVE absolutely LOVE worship music of today, and generally don’t enjoy hymns (I just don’t, get off my back) I can’t really say that anything is so memorable that in the state of senile-ness (I know its not a word) I would remember it.

Comment please, I want to hear your thoughts, or maybe a song suggestion from this generation that you believe will stand the test of time….. and sanity.

The Old Spice Youth Pastor

August 8, 2011 in Culture, Faith, God, Ministry, Youth, Youth Unlimited with 0 Comments

This is kinda old news.. but I’ve been super busy and haven’t really been posting much lately.. so I thought it’d be a good idea to post it now.  I’ve actually got a list of topics on my iPhone that I plan on blogging about soon.. it’s just finding the time to do it!

I love this, and I think it’s great.  The part that really sticks out to me (aside from the creativity) is the idea that we as youth workers get caught up with the idea that our kids want us to look and act a certain way, when the reality is, our kids just want us to be us, not someone else.

The Hour(s) Before

July 25, 2011 in blogging, Faith, Family, God, Music Monday, People, Prayer, Sunday Set List, Worship with 2 Comments

Today’s post is part of a series of posts called “The Hour Before” You can get a full list of links to these posts by checking out the series here - http://robrash.us/blog-series/the-hour-before/

This is a typical Sunday during the regular calendar.. not the summer calendar

It’s Sunday morning.. an early morning like every other one.. 6am, Seth (2) comes into our room, “mommy, daddy, I slept in my big boy bed all night, and I didn’t pee… how was your sleep?” We exchange groans, grab the little guy and stick him in between us and put on his movie.. Land Before Time 10,000?

6:10 Seth can’t keep quiet any longer.. he just wants to play with his baby brother Micah (5 mos), so he pokes and prods at him until he wakes up.. always with a smile on his face.  Jennifer, the saint of a woman she is feeds Micah, tells me it’s time to get up.. we all lay in bed for another 15 minutes or so.

6:30 I get out of bed.. go shower, shave all that jazz.. get dressed.. the usual is a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, nothing too fancy.. it’s how we roll at Madoc Baptist.

7:15 wifey has made me some coffee.. too strong usually.. but I drink it anyway in an effort to thank her!  I sit on the couch with my boys, and watch some recorded episodes of Chuck and Friends while I help Seth with his clothes.

7:50 time to say “see you later to the fam” I grab all my gear and pack the car.. time for coffee number 2.. I go to Tim Hortons, despite the fact that they’ve burned the coffee the last 4 that I’ve had.. I guess I’m a sucker for punishment.

8:00 I arrive at the school… 2 years ago we sold our building.. we couldn’t fit anymore people in there, and we didn’t want to create multiple services, because we want our whole church to be a family, so until we raise the 1.5 million we need to build our new home, we meet in a gym in a public highschool.

8:05 the family who graciously transports our gear every Sunday arrives, we unload the 2 big custom made boxes that contain all of our gear.

8:10 a few more guys from the team show up.. we start setting up speakers, projectors, computers, soundboards.. all that fun stuff… though we have a small team of faithful people who set up every week.. we manage to set everything up in about 35 minutes.. repetition was the key..

8:45 the rest of the band is here, and set up.. likely some small technical difficulty.. but I fix it pretty quickly.. sound check begins.

9:15 sound checks done, and new songs we’ve worked those final kinks out of.. time to pray..

9:30 Bible Study begins.. I pop back to the sound desk and make sure everything is in line for the service on the computer..

10:15 study over.. I go greet some of the seniors, make sure their hearing aid line is working.. my family arrives.. Seth runs in the gym, tells everyone he’s here, and usually yells to me what type of underwear he’s wearing today.. he comes up on stage, gives me a hug and a kiss (probably the highlight of my morning).. Jen walks over with Micah, whose mouth is wide open, also looking for a kiss (Micah that is) at this point I’m on stage with guitar in Rock position.. Seth strums a few strings on my guitar, plays with some buttons on my X3Live.. I then fix my settings.. he goes back with mum

10:30 the party begins.

12:30 time to pack up, go home, have some lunch, and have a much deserved nap

 

Gungor.. the Live Experience

May 16, 2011 in Faith, God, Music, Worship with 0 Comments

This past year I was introduced to a new(ish) band, and I was told that I have to check them out.  The band is Gungor and all the reviews are in.. and they are awesome.  Fronted by Michael Gungor  (famous for songs like “Say So” and “Friend of God”)

Gungor is a band who, for me, have redefined what worship music looks like.  It is so raw, yet so profound and complex that every song I listen to on their CD “Beautiful Things” brings me to a place where I just can’t do anything but stop and worship.

When I was told about the CD I was also told that at some point in my life I would HAVE to see them live.  The live experience with Gungor is apparently an experience not just for the ears or eyes, but every aspect of life.  The opportunity has come, and tonight I will be making the 3.5 hour drive with Jen and 2 friends, for Oakville to experience Gungor.  I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am about this.  If I owned a Gungor CD, it would already be played so much that it wouldn’t work anymore (thank God for digital music)!!

Have you seen Gungor live?  What was the experience like for you?  Is it all that I’ve been told it will be?

I will post pictures and video once I get home of this amazing experience that I’m sure it will be!

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