Long Overdue Update

Its been a while since the last update. Not a lot going on, some of us have been sick, working crazy hours, etc… We have had to put the recordings for the website on the back burner for now. We’ll pick that up again after things calm down a little.
We are now having Advent services every Sunday night until Christmas. Chris Stanley kicked it off last Sunday night and we are playing tonight. Should be exciting.
We’ve been doing some Christmas songs for a week or so now, and we also learned “Give Me Your Eyes”, by Brandon Heath… It’s an awesome song with a great message!

I think God has some exciting things in store for 2009 and I cant wait.

The newest member…

Ok, not officially a member of the band YET… but Christie and I have a little one on the way. Turns out she is about 5 weeks along so we are extreemly excited and blessed. Rest assured he/she will totally have my wifes voice and my rhythm. (Lets all pray it isnt the other way around… The child would have absolutely no musical ability)

 On a different note, we have consistantly incorporated the use of backing tracks via Ableton live over the last couple of weeks and I have to say it is going much more smoothly than I anticipated.  It turns out that my ebay aqquired copy of the full version was pirated, so we’ll be limited to what we can do with the lite version for a while.

If anyone feels lead to donate a laptop and/or money to purchase the equipment we need to make ableton live work for us, please contact me ASAP (or click the donate link on our homepage) LOL. I’m not sure how much longer Christies laptop is going to hold up. I underestimated how expensive this whole setup will be.
All the hardware we need is listed on this website http://www.interactiveworshiplive.com/store/ after the credits section: $300 for the Ableton live software (I can get an educational discount and an upgrade from lite version I already have), at least $500 for a decent laptop with firewire and 2GB of ram, $300 for a presonus firebox audio interface, $175 for an external hard drive for storage of the tracks, and $60 for the necessary cables (a Hosa 8 channel snake) . Add all that up and then subtract the money the band has and you come up with $1,335 (plus tax)….  or $1,035 if we just use the LE version I already have. 

We are just waiting on the Lord to bless us and meet these needs.

Good news and bad news…

Well, its been a little while sense the last post. I am happy to report that God opened a door for Jeff (the sound guy) with a job opportunity locally so he will not be moving after all.

The bigger news though, is that Moses Fraiser has departed from the band. We hope to still see him from time to time on Thursday nights but he needed to make the decision to spend more time with his family. Music  is a rather time consuming ministry which currently takes up several nights a week for us as a band and individually, he has struggled with this for several months while it has been apparent that God is also calling him into an evangelistic ministry. He wants to really slow down and seek God’s will. I believe huge things are in store for Moses and we will all be praying with him.

With that said, we are re-working some things in the band to better utilize all the gifts God has given us. You may hear some changes in our song arrangements and could even see some of us playing different instruments or playing our existing instruments in new ways. Everyone is going to step it up a notch and we hope to be stronger than ever.

Random Thoughts

I just wanted to share something that was on my heart.

What is the first word that comes to mind when you hear the name “Jesus”? Unfortunately I believe too many christians would respond to that question with the word “Church”.

I would say your first thoughts should be “love, a relationship, faith, savior, etc..” Church should not be the first thing we think of when we think about Jesus or christianity in general.

 Don’t take what I am saying out of context, Church is extreemly important. It is one of the many tools we have at our disposal for spiritual growth, and possibly one of the most important, but it I feel like society has made such an inseperable connection between church and christ that many of us forget that the christian walk is about SO MUCH MORE than church. In fact christianity is not about church at all, but church is about christianity.

Untill we can get past this connection christianity is no more than a religion, when it should be a way of life. I just dont understand how people dont get this…

All things are possible, if you believe God for it!!

Hello to all….I am so excited to be a part of this praise band! It gives me an awesome opportunity to share God’s Word to all types of people. I love the Lord with all my heart and no matter what trials we may face in this life God has a purpose for each of us. It is up to us to pursue our dreams and know that as Philippians  4: 13 says; “I can do ALL things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Never let Satan rob you from pursueing your dreams. Make your request known to God and state your vision. If you believe in God, and yourself you can do anything. I could not play and sing music for hundreds of people, ushering in the very Spirit of God  by myself. I had to believe God and step out in faith. He has shown me that if I lean on Him all things are possible!

In Christ,

Sheila