“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God” (Psalm 40:3 NIV).
We’re having a great time this week at the Saddleback Worship Conference! I’m really proud of Stephen and our WCC worship band for having been selected to play this year at one of the venues. I wish we could have brought the whole band, but Stephen and Robin will do their best later today to represent.
It’s good to network with other worship leaders and learn from one another. Musicians are often notorious for their egos, but the worship leaders and artists that we’ve encountered here have been so authentic and humble. Yesterday, Stephen (along with several other song writers) submitted one of his songs from the “Lost” CD to a “Songwriters Critique Panel.” On the panel were Tony Guerrero, Meredith Andrews, Steve Fee, Brenton Brown, and a guy from Song Discovery.
Earlier that day when we heard about the panel, I asked Stephen if he wanted to submit a song.
“Sure.” He said. “But I didn’t know I’d need my CDs today and I left them at the hotel.”
“How long do we have before the panel?” I asked.
“A couple of hours.” He said.
“I’ll be back.” I shouted back over my shoulder as I headed to the rental car.
It was an hour round trip to the hotel, but we didn’t come to Saddleback to just hang out. We came here to learn and grow.
As it turned out, the panel didn’t get to Stephen’s song, but he was willing. The panel wasn’t easy-going either. They really gave a quality critique. And with Brenton Brown’s cockney accent, they even had a Simon on the panel.
Since they didn’t get to hear Stephen’s song, we passed out CDs to most of the panel and to representatives from Song Discovery, Worship Leader Magazine, and Integrity Music. We invited them to Stephen’s acoustic set on Thursday afternoon. Maybe some of them will come.
But what was really fun was just standing and talking with Steve Fee and Meredith Andrews (she’s from Wilson, you know). They were very encouraging to Stephen.
Well, I’d better sign off. I’m just the pastor/dad this week… here supporting my worship pastor/son.
We’re here together, learning some new songs.
Considering we are just coming off Father’s Day weekend, I’d say it’s a great thing to just be a dad!
And this uncle is also very proud of Stephen!
Awesome!!! Who is that guy in the 2nd photo with Cheat and Caro??? I can’t wait to hear all the stories!!! Miss all of you wayyyyy too much. Can’t wait for you to be home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!