Ode 17

O Holy Night and The Splendor of Christmas

Many thanks to all who purchased copies of O Holy Night. We sold approximately 40% of the supply. That means there are more available for the coming holiday season. If you are interested in obtaining a copy you can send your shipping address, along with $15 to Larry Parker, SUMC, 1795 Old Peachtree Road, Duluth, GA 30097. I'll ship it to you free. If you are in the area you may want to simplify things by dropping by Sugarloaf UMC at the above address and picking it up there.

A lot of folks have bought the Sugarloaf Choir's newest, The Splendor of Christmas along with O Holy Night. When you do that we'll get them to you at the combo price of two for $25. When you purchase your copies of our CDs you are helping us fund the incredible music ministries of SUMC.

Beatles Music Now on Web

After a bit of work, the rough cuts of our Beatles service have been posted for listening (link is at the end of this post). I must say, they are indeed rough, live, house recordings, but at least you can get the idea what our version of the songs sounded like. You will find Bill Garrett singing "Got to Get You Into My Life"; me singing "Eleanor Rigby"; Tim Foster singing "Yesterday"; John McLaughlin on "Help"; and me on "Let It Be". All of these songs are played by our Sugarloaf Band and a string quartet that actually only had a total of fifteen minutes to rehearse Eleanor Rigby.

Read Psalm 102:1-11. It goes like this:

  ^1-2 God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries.
   Don't turn your back on me
      just when I need you so desperately. ...

The Lineup for this Sunday

It's great to be in a worship environment where the message is the main thing. How we get it across isn't as important as if we get it across. Hopefully, if you are local, you can make it to this Sunday's services. Here's our song lineup: Muddy Water, Long Black Train, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but No One Wants to Go Now (medley with David Crowder's version of Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die), Amazing Grace (a la movie soundtrack from Maverick), Come Thou Fount (country version with fiddle). I love being eclectic. All of this will be followed up by another poignant message by Stuart Greene. Who says the worship experience has to be the same old thing all the time? Last week "Unplugged", this week Country, next week "Beatles."

Today's Music Session

I was privileged to lead a music session for Pine Lake Music's Choral Sounds Conference. Before I led a session for a company called Consuming Worship, I sat in on my friend, Keith McBroom's work as he led a workshop for Integrity Music (pictured). During my workshop we listened to some great new music and discussed how it could be used creatively in a worship setting. One thing is for sure, I walked out of there with a renewed sense that worship leaders are trying hard to lead their congregations in a valid worship experience.

The Splendor of Christmas

The Sugarloaf Choir worked long and hard on their new Christmas project. We were singing about all things Noel in the middle of May. Wow, that was weird. Now it's packaged up and ready to go in just a couple of weeks . All of the folks who pre-ordered their copies can begin to pick them up June 28th after the services. I think you will like what you are about to hear!

David Glenn to Appear at Sugarloaf

My friend David Glenn, will be at Sugarloaf UMC in both morning services, to lead us in worship on August 9th. David will be singing his song, Bread of Life, as we take communion that day. Stuart and I are really looking forward to him being with us that day.

Recently, David sang at...

Kids Recording Christmas

This is a picture of our impromptu kids group, assembled from the Sugarloaf Choir families, helping us out with two songs for the Sugarloaf Choir project and one song for my recording, O Holy Night. Many thanks to the kids, their parents, and Carla Hoff, their director. Much love to you all from me to you!

Christmas Progress....

Here is a picture of me, "pre-recording" with the choir last night. Congrats to all of the troupes who worked so hard both nights. Next to the picture you'll see what Lisa Payzant wrote on her facebook page about the picture. (Sorry to say, my posture is not one of praying, it's one of texting, the common pose of our culture.)

"Oh, Lord, let them stay on pitch, on tempo and DROP THE 'SSSSSS'es AT THE ENDS OF LINES!" Larry Parker, our fearless, borderline crazy leader. We are like herding cats.

Christmas in May?

Sound engineer extraordinaire, Nathan Zwalt, from Nashville, has set up a studio in the basement of SUMC to record the choir's new CD called The Splendor of Christmas, along with my new album called, O Holy Night. Busy, busy, busy.

African Children's Choir Takes Sugarloaf by Storm

Last night the famous African Children's Choir stormed through Sugarloaf United Methodist Church and left smiles and love in their path. Somewhere around 850 people clapped, sang, and danced along as the childrens choir from Uganda spread the global love of Jesus Christ into the lives of each attendee.  I had the opportunity to not be in charge of anything (sweet!) and so I picked up my new Canon EOS 50D and shot pictures all night. (I wish I could say my shots are as good as what my friend Andy Brophy would have done but I have a long ways to go before I get there.) Here are a few reasons why the night was so incredible.