I’m back in good ‘ol Dallas (’till I fly to Atlanta tomorrow). Hopefully I’ll get to go to 7:22 tomorrow night at North Point. My worship pastor and I will be meeting with Clark ProMedia to go over our equipment list for our new worship center. It will be two days of meetings, then I’ll finally be back in Dallas for a while. I think the next thing I have on my calendar is Catalyst. I’m taking a break from conferences/traveling.
Nashville was great. I arrived Tuesday night and had dinner with Wayne (our church’s band director who was also in Nashville) and Gersh (formerly of WhiteHeart) – who Wayne was spending the week with. Gersh (who has written 20 #1 songs) works with churches and worship leaders, as well as writing, arranging and producing for a living in Nashville. I didn’t plan on it, but I ended up spending all day Wednesday with Wayne and Gersh. We started off the day eating brunch at the famous Loveless Cafe, which was amazing (see above).
Wednesday night, I took Wayne to see the legendary Wooten brothers, who play every Wednesday night in Nashville. This was my 5th time seeing them and I was as amazed as ever. I think Wayne was blown away, too. I met up with my best friend, Thomas Rose (worship leader at Mosaic Nashville) and followed him back to his new house, where I stayed the rest of the week.
Thursday, Thomas and I hung out at Rocketown (where Thomas also works) – Rocketown is a youth community center/skate park/concert venue founded by Michael W. Smith. Later that afternoon we went to a strategic planning meeting for Rocketown, which was held at one of the board members’ home (the owner of Purity milk and ice cream). I sat two chairs down from Michael W. Smith, who was listening to stories from teenagers that had been impacted by Rocketown’s ministry.
Friday, Thomas and I stopped by MediaShout to say “hello” and get a demo of their brand new MediaShout V3 Express. It was great to meet some new folks at MediaShout, as well as talk for a while with my friend, Paul Jackson, President of MediaShout. MediaShout Express is going to be an answer to prayer to many, many people. Every conference I do, I come across people that would love to leave PowerPoint, but can’t afford to pay $399 for something like MediaShout, EasyWorship or ProPresenter.
MediaShout Express is on sale for $199 – that’s right ONE ninety-nine. Express has all the main features of the full version (and is upgradable, if you want to go to the full version down the road), including text over motion backgrounds, a song database, Scripture, sample media and more. The retail price is $229 – tell them Greg said you could get it for $199. If you’re ready to take the next step, leave PowerPoint and start using a presentation software designed for worship, then this is definitely worth checking out.
Friday night we went to the Nashville Sounds baseball game (minor league team), where it was Faith Night. Rocketown was there in full force – with their skaters and bikers putting on a show outside the gates, plus one of Smitty’s new bands (from Rocketown Records) playing music – as well as Michael himself singing a song. Michael also sang the National Anthem and threw out the first pitch. It was great exposure for Rocketown. The B-Boys (a dance group from Rocketown that my friend, Thomas, oversees) danced on top of the dugouts in-between innings.
Saturday night, we got to visit LifeChurch.tv’s campus in North Nashville (Hendersonville). I’ve blogged about LifeChurch.tv many times, but had never been to this campus (they have 11). Thank you to Andrew and Charles, who invited me via this blog’s comments. Andrew is the campus pastor at the Hendersonville campus (read his words HERE). Charles works for MediaShout and is a part of their tech team at the church. LifeChurch.tv was on week one of their new series “30 Days to Live” – it was very moving and powerful. I love the move and work of God that I experience each time I visit one of their campuses. I’d encourage you to check out the service online. ALSO – don’t forget that you can use ALL their resources for each series for FREE via their Open website.
Sunday, I worshiped at Mosaic Nashville, where my friend Thomas leads worship. This was their second week in their new location (which is really cool). I had a great time there and then hit the road to head back to Big D.
I got back in time to see my kids last night. I’m hanging with the family all day today and then catching a 6:30 AM flight to Atlanta to begin the 2 day meeting. I’m not bringing my laptop with me, so I’ll blog again on Thursday.