Beards and Skinny Jeans

Two weeks ago I attended my annual worship conference in Florida.  As always, it was a great time of worship, training, and refreshing.  And I thought with this week’s blog post, I would share with you some of my observations while there.  So, here goes:

1. Music people have a hard time being punctual.  Each of the main sessions began at a very specific time with the doors opening 30 minutes early to give everyone an opportunity to find a seat before the session began.  And still, about half of the 1500 people in attendance couldn’t seem to find their way into the building until the sessions had already begun.  It kind of reminded me of our early service on Sundays where most of the congregation doesn’t show up until after the opening song.
2. Most music/worship ministries are small.  I had an opportunity to meet and talk with a number of worship leaders from around the country and most of them are part of worship ministries that include themselves and 1 or 2 other people.  When I would share all the people we have involved, they would just drop their jaws in disbelief.
3. Everyone uses loops/multitracks.  We started using multitracks (loops) at the end of the spring and they’ve really added a lot (musically) to our worship times and our overall sound.  Well, every group/band/artist at the conference used them except Josh Wilson (but when you can play an acoustic guitar like he can, you don’t need loops).  Even bigtime Christian artists like Steven Curtis Chapman (who led in worship during one session) used them. 
4. Beards.  Musicians love to have facial hair.  Whether it’s a goatee, sideburns, soul patch, or just a 5 o’clock shadow, music people love to decorate their faces.  And apparently 2015 is the year of the beard.  I’ve never seen so many beards.  Although my favorite were the guys with full beards and long hair pulled into buns.
5. Skinny jeans.  What is it with musicians and skinny jeans?  To even think of pulling off the skinny jeans look as a guy, you’ve got to be super skinny.  Most of the guys I saw were not.  And don’t worry; there isn’t enough money on the planet to make me wear skinny jeans.
6. Vocal issues.  Wow, the number of men leading who had their voices crack.  They sounded like me singing “Great I Am” at our 8:30 a.m. early service.  Maybe the notes come out, maybe not.  It was the same for them.
7. Technical issues.  The right lyrics never seemed to be on the screen.  Sometimes the MC’s mic would be on.  Sometimes not.  When videos would play, there was normally 10 seconds of silence before the sound was turned on.  And during the last session, one of the projectors came loose and almost fell.  You’ll never appreciate MPBC’s tech team more than when you go to a conference.  They are the BEST!!!

So, that’s just a few of the things I observed.  I’ll share more in the coming weeks and months.  And who knows?  I might even grow myself a full beardJ.

Worship Big!

Brad