Thanks to all who came out Monday night for the Winter 2008 installment of “Making the Band”, our quarterly open call for musicians. By the grace of God we had about 100 people come out and are well on our way to beginning another round of new band development. Since September we have grown from 8 to 16 bands which puts us ahead of schedule for our goal of 25 bands by the end of 2008.If you left your contact info you will hear from us by the end of the week with a series of questions to gather more information about your background and musical experience. After that, you may hear from either someone in the dept. (myself, Joel Brown, Brian Eichelberger or Nathan Burke) or a developing band leader.

Here are the notes from my talk and the audio:

Notes: MTB Winter ‘08 notes (pdf)

Audio:
Click to download the mp3

I hope you heard my heart tonight… We are looking for something very specific from Mars Hill bands. We are constantly working on what that means but, at the end of the day, there are few that make a band. I want to be honest about what we look for both theologically, musically and in terms of leadership. My prayer is that God will continue to bless us with humble musicians that he has called to service at Mars Hill and that those who don’t find a role in a MH band will find a place to faithfully serve elsewhere in the body.It’s a great privilege to lead you in this area and I am excited about this next season.

Please pray for wisdom and discernment in the coming weeks as we decide who to invest in for the next round of development.

Jam for the Lamb…
Pastor Tim

Barring catostrophic weather the Making the Band event is on for tonight. Though we’ve had a little snow and the drive might get a little sketchy, we’re going to go for it anyway. So make it out if you can. 7pm at the Ballard campus. If weather gets in your way and you’re still interested in addtional info, please contact The Deacon of Sound, Mr. Joel Brown (joel@marshillchurch.org).

From time to time I get asked to participate in conferences outside of Mars Hill.  As I evaluate what to take part in with my limited time I look at the focus and goals of the conference as well as it’s ability to build the church and deepen our understanding of God’s word.  A couple of months ago I was contacted by Doug Hudson of “Song of Solomon Bible Conferences” and asked to lead worship at an upcoming Seattle stop of their “Everlasting Love Tour”.  As I spoke with Doug and looked into the conference I immediately decided it was something my band and I should do. The “Everlasting Love Tour” is a crash course in the book of Song of Solomon tackling the major themes of the book over two days.  Tragically many people skip over this old testament gem or allegorize it away as a description of the love of Jesus for his people.   When you dig into the Song of Songs you find it deals, in enough detail to make you blush, with themes of attraction and dating, sex, conflict and romance.  The Everlasting Love conference intends to get into all these themes and more.  Most people these days enter into marriage with vast mis-understanding in these subjects and deep engagement with the Song of Solomon is absolutely essential for every couple even considering marriage.   The featured speaker leading us through this great study will be Voddie Baucham.  I first heard of Voddie when Pastor Mark Driscoll met him last year as they were both speaking at John Piper’s Desiring God Conference.  Mark spoke very highly of him and you can hear his message from that conference here.   Please consider joining me Friday, February 1st and Saturday, February 2nd at Overlake Christian Church in Redmond, WA.  My band and I will be playing twice on Friday night and Jesse Butterworth, worship leader at Overlake’s “Illuminate Service”, will be leading worship through song on Saturday.  For more information on the conference and to register go here. Hope to see you there…Pastor Tim 

Today, all day long, my dear brother Mark Driscoll poured himself out for us to speak about what the scripture has to say on the sovereignty of God.  The question was answering was part of our series “Religion Saves & 9 Other Misconceptions” and asked, “Why does an all loving, all knowing, and all sovereign God will into creation people He foreknows will suffer eternal condemnation? Why does Romans 9:20 feel like a cop-out answer?”Pastor Mark did an outstanding job of breaking down this highly contentious issue with historical context, theological clarity and biblical truth.  As I sat there I could not help but think of the great hymn, “What Wondrous Love is This”.  This if one of my favorite texts that we sing at Mars Hill.  A few years ago I discovered it and took the text and wrote a new melody.  Last year my band and I recorded it for the “Rain City Hymnal” project due out next month.  Here is a the text: What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul! What wondrous love is this, O my soul! 

What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss 

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, 

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, 

When I was sinking down, sinking down, 

When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown, 

Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul, 

Christ laid aside His crown for my soul. 

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing; 

To God and to the Lamb I will sing. 

To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”; 

While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing; 

While millions join the theme, I will sing. 

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on; 

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on. 

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be, 

And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, 

And through eternity I’ll sing on.

Here’s a final mix of the song as it will be heard on Rain City Hymnal:

It is absolutely essential that every person who claims the name of Christ wrestles with these ideas.

Please take time to dig into this doctrine through the word this week.  Listen to Pastor Mark’s sermon again and look up the passages.  And, if it helps, spend some time with this song in personal worship through song. 

In Christ…

Pastor Tim

A buddy turned me onto a good article on the Wired site called David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists - and Megastars. Instead of bellyaching over the demise of the Big Record Company biz, he gives some creative, viable alternatives to distribution, touring, publicity and getting paid. Good stuff indeed.

Here’s a follow up with Thom Yorke of Radiohead on the release of the “pay-what-you-want” release of their latest, In Rainbows.