From the heart of a Musician

You know one thing that’s nice about sitting on a plane for four hours, is that it forces you to sit down, not do anything and think. Well, here I am on my window seat 26A, perousing through my iTunes library, and I decide to do this one thing. I listen to the Fred Hammond and Israel Houghton records that I first got into when I first started playing worship music. When you listen beyond the AMAZING chops that musicians have on those records, you will find soulful songs that bleed honesty, and I find that to be courageous writing.

After listening through those tracks, I moved on to the first New Life Record that I had the honor of playing on (Counting on God). I realized how those black gospel records had a heavy influence on me, and how that soulful artistry came through in my playing. I moved on to other records that I played on, and I realized something, that artistry had slowly been suffocating!

This week, I flew to Colorado Springs to record a record that Jared Anderson was producing, and to be quite honest, I really didn’t get the chance to be in the right mindset to record. Honestly, I came to the table with stale, overused ideas that I have always felt comfortable with that had worked in the past. When you lean on the same ideas and habits musically, your comfort increases, but your creativity dies, and when your creativity dies, your souls stops receiving oxygen, so you become a comfortable cadaver. Over the week, I didn’t play horrible, but at the same time, I couldn’t really offer anything that blew me away personally because my soul wasn’t breathing into these ideas.

Our engineer, Mike Rossback said something to me during the week that crushed me, “if we’re here recording and doing music, why not make it the most amazing thing we’ve ever made”. Wow...to be honest, I responded to that statement with a little bitterness, because it meant I had to get out of the comfort zone, and create a bit of a new identity. What’s funny is that wasn’t Mike’s intent at all, but it was exactly what I needed to hear! Over the course of the week, it felt like musical bootcamp for me.

So, as this experience comes to a close, I’m sitting on this plane not looking back on the past week, but reevaluating what the heck happened to my oxygen starved soul! That’s why I’m digging through my iTunes library, and listening back to the music that inspired me to become a better musician. I’ve got to say, it’s been extremely healthy to look back on the past!

Is there some sort of lesson in this? Not really, I’m just putting my thoughts out there just because it makes me feel better, and if you read this and get to know me better, than yes, posting this was worth it for me!

Needs

Ive been getting really overwhelmed with needs lately. Whether there my needs, someone elses needs, or just the needs of life. What I’ve come to realize is that needs are just a part of life.

However, there is something that every need, and ever person has in common: they all have to bow to the Name of Jesus!

No matter how overwhelmed you are, God is STILL God and he’s STILL worthy of our full attention. No matter what you’ve done, no matter who much crap you’ve piled up, God is still wants you just the way you are!

Think about that when you feel overwhelmed!

Galations 1:10

What Cynical People Want

Food for Thought: When someone is accusing someone else of a crime, Whats the one thing that superceeds any testimony, alibi, or argument? EVIDENCE.

Let me paint a picture of what SOME christians look like through the eyes of a cynical non-christian.

“Man, he’s alot different at church than he is in the workplace”

“He’s nice, but I don’t sense anything genuine under her skin”

“He’s quoting Bible verse’s, but I’m not convinced that he’s aware of the words he is saying”

“What a legalisric weirdo!”

You know why I can quote those lines? Because those were comments direcred toward ME at one point! You see, I was “doing” christian things, but all those “things” really are are testimonie’s, alibi’s, secondhand accounts and empty arguments that fall flat on the ground. You know what “things” do for a cynical person? They ADD to there doubts!

HERE’S THE TRUTH

LOVE is the heartbeat of GENUINE Christianity, and SACRIFICE is the EVIDENCE of LOVE.

Show me someone that doesn’t sacrifice for there spouse, I’ll show you a broken marriage. Show me a person who doesn’t MAKE time for freinds, and I’ll show you someone who’s alone. Show me a person who CALLS themselves a christian and doesn’t make time, give money, OR show compassion to the people that are around him, and I’ll show you someone who TRULY doesn’t see and understand the sacrifice Jesus made for them, therefore doesn’t understand the meaning of being a christian, which is beleif in the Sacrifice of Jesus.

Therefore, he ISN’T a christian!

The american idea is to serve your own wants, fulfill your own needs, but to be a Christian is to set whats good for you, and wash the feet of others.

So I’ll say it again: SACRIFICE is the EVIDENCE of LOVE.

Present the evidence, and NO cynic will question your Belief!

Why I CHOOSE to play Christian Music....

Ok, so it’s no secret to a lot of you guys I don’t enjoy playing Christian Music that much. Even more so, I really don’t enjoy the politics that are associated with Christian music. Ok, I’ll be honest: I HATE it. I don’t like the fact that my generation hates it and so in order for Christian music to be relevant, it has to cater to generations ten or twenty years before my time. Honestly, I personally enjoy playing my instrumental music the most because it’s something a lot of people don’t listen too, and because of that, it’s music I play to stimulate my own senses. I guess you can call it my vacation from Christian Music. HOWEVER, I’m not ranting, I’m simply stating the facts!

So why the heck do I choose to keep playing music that I don’t like? The answer is simple.

The funny thing about God, is that he can work through anything I do, as long as I do it. I never understood how that worked until a young teenager came up to me after a worship service and told me how he was thinking about suicide, but during the worship set, he felt something he never felt in a long time, hope. He thanked us for saving his life. In another sunday morning, a couple wanted me to give there kids piano lessons. A couple months later, they opened up to me and told me how they were on the brink of splitting. However, watching there kids try to learn music gave them something keep the marriage going and eventually it was worth fighting for. I have countless other stories I can tell you just like that, but I wouldn’t stop typing. I’m actually kind of getting emotional typing this up.

Everybody wants to be the next “American Idol” or “Guitar Hero”, and soak up all this attention for themselves. That’s all fun, but that’s not for me. I’m so tired of chasing five minutes of fame. Why do that when you can give others something that will last? A Grammy is a piece of metal that sits on the shelf, but something like a Marriage is something that affects you and your kids for a lifetime. Do you see what I’m saying?

So the reason I’m writing this is for one purpose. I know a lot of you guys play in churches because I get hundreds of messages asking me to encourage you in what your doing. When you play, you have NO idea what impact you have on other people. So don’t give up on it just because you think the music sucks. This doesn’t just apply to Musicians either, this message was really for EVERYBODY.

This is it, this is why I CHOOSE to play worship music. Read II Timothy 2:15
~dl

PS
Thank you Pastor Ross, Matthew, Jeremiah, Jared, Jon, Glenn, and everyone else at New Life for giving me the opportunity to do What I do. Ryan and Joshua, thank you as well!

The Church and the People it Hurts

Ok, this is a VERY touchy subject, and I know just about ALL of you guys have experience with this.

Over the past six months, no matter where I’ve been whether its the church I work at, my former churches, or a church I’m visiting, I’ve noticed an AWFUL a lot of hurt people approaching me. The fact is, I know EXACTLY why they approach me. When I play music, I tend to wear my feelings on my sleeve. In the past, I’ve been burned by people in church before, and that tends to lead to a visibly raw performance when I play worship.

As I’m typing this, I know I don’t have ALL the right answers, but I WILL NOT hide the fact that I’ve been burned by church’s in EVERY single way imaginable! The reason why I won’t hide that, is because I also don’t hide the fact that I still LOVE the church no matter what I’ve been through, and I NEVER allow ANY excuse to change that.

So in this particular blog entry, I’m going to be VERY direct, and VERY honest, but if you finish reading this, I promise it’ll be worth it.


I want to address three different types of people in this blog: People that have been hurt, people who intentionally hurt people and people who unknowingly have hurt people. I can definitely say I’ve been on EVERY sides of this coin.

For those that KNOWINGLY do the hurting:
I know a lot of friends and pastors that will agree with me on this. In my experience in the ministry, there’s not a lot of things you can do to push away the Grace of God. However, one sure way to push God’s Grace away is to push the people he sends in your life away. Not only do we have a calling in life, but NONE of us can do that calling alone.

Whether you like it or not, GOD usually provides the people you NEED, not the people you HAVE IN MIND. The key to success in the christian life is ALL ABOUT PEOPLE...PERIOD. Love is not an option for us, it is a requirement! We have to willing to clean each other’s messes REGARDLESS of what YOU FEEL THERE SHORTCOMINGS are. Besides, we’re not the judge of people, God is. Let God be the judge, all we should focus on is using the people in our lives.

For those that UNKNOWINGLY do the hurting:
This is the category I tend to be in! First off, lets make it clear: it’s IMPOSSIBLE to make everyone happy in life! There are just SO many people from SO many backgrounds that SOME people are not going to be able to work with you. Does this mean we should avoid these people? Absolutely not. The hardest part of life is working with people you don’t like, but it’s required of us.

My personal story is the life of the “people pleaser”. Growing up I wasn’t friendly in order to make people happy, I NEEDED people to like me! It was an addiction for me! If ANYONE didn’t like me, I had a HARD time dealing with it! What ended up happening to me was that people walked all over me, and when things got out of hand, I started getting upset at people. When I started getting upset at people, people stopped liking me, and so I ended up being at square one again.

Everything started changing for me when I decided to actually LOVE the people in my life, rather than feed on people liking me. When you actually love people, you start celebrating there victories, and mourning there loses. That’s the difference between being a people pleaser and someone who loves people.

For those that have been hurt:
This is tough. My pastor say’s it the best. “When people leave church, you don’t say “Whatever”, you should say “Wow, there hurting, and I hope they get healed wherever they go.”

I’ve been hurt by churches before, but beside’s the fact that this information is VERY confidential, but more importantly it DOESN’T MATTER! John Bevere is a forefront teacher on this, and one thing he says is that “The church disappoints the most people because everyone has this expectation that church people can’t let them down”. John’s absolutely right on this! The church is made up of people just like me and you!

I FORCED myself to make this confession:

I AM CASTING JUDGEMENT ON PEOPLE BASED ON MISTAKES THEY’VE MADE TOWARD ME, AND I NEED TO STOP.

If there’s one thing our society is pathetic at, it’s our need to keep score of things. If someone does something to us, we have to keep inventory of it and count it against them. It happens in marriages, in families, in jobs, and especially in church congregations. This is why people in church use the word Hypocrite so loosely, because they judges peoples characters by the failures and not there beleifs. I’ll repeat this, GOD judge’s character, NOT US. Don’t sit there and cast judgement, and just learn to work with them!

Bottom line: PEOPLE make mistakes. The church is no exception. If you spend your time judging people by there mistakes, you’ll constantly be let down. But if you learn to work with people despite there mistakes, you’ll start to see why God is using these people, and why he sent them into your life.


I Corinthians 13:12-13 (NIV)
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR EVERYONE:
Don’t take anything I’ve said the wrong way, my intent isn’t to discourage, but to encourage true growth. If you’ve hurt people, don’t ask for forgiveness, BEG for it. EVEN if you don’t understand what you did.

If you’ve been hurt, FORGIVE them! REALLY FORGIVE people that have hurt you! Nothing in life is worth staying mad about forever, so just forgive them. If you REALLY need to, make a phone call, talk to them in person! I did this before, and a funny thing happened, people started to look past my mistakes and shortcomings and see me for who God called me to be: a worshipper.

ASK FOR FORGIVENESS, FORGIVE PEOPLE. The imperfect person (hypocrite/coward/people pleaser) in you will fade away, and you’ll become who you’re CALLED to be.

"The last thing people need is another jaded christian, especially when most people respond to a redeemed sinner"

Clarification: My Thoughts of Capitalism

Okay, I've been taking ALOT of heat (mainly face to face confrontation, but on facebook as well) for making jokes about capitalist's lately! I throw the term around WAY TOO loosely, and a lot people think that I'm a firm opponent of the system! That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Here's where I stand: Capitalism is GREAT! Anybody who believes that capitalism is stupid has NO idea that they are enjoying the benefits of it.

HOWEVER, as with ANYTHING IN LIFE, SO many people ESPECIALLY in this SPOILED ROTTEN country make it an idol. I define Capitalism as a system based on the notion of making money...PERIOD. Once again, there is nothing wrong with making money, but the fact of the matter is, people make TERRIBLE decisions in the name of making money.

In Mexico, there is a SILENT WAR happening between DRUG LORDS and Mexican authorities. One of these Drug Lords argued that this war was in the name of Capitalism. The truth is, is that he's RIGHT!!! He's willing to destroy ANYTHING in his path in order for him to gain FINANCIAL POWER! I understand that's an extreme example, but it gets the point across.

So what do I believe? I believe that GOD is the answer to everything for me!!! God WANT'S us to prosper financially, but not at the expense of our relationship with him! I've seen this THOUSANDS of times, GREAT christian people will go through HORRID financial situations, and they'll ask God, "Why have you done this to me?" "This isn't fair!!!"

This kills me EVERY TIME!!! First of all, GOD doesn't do fair. God does justice. If God wanted things to be fair, there's NO WAY he would have sent Jesus to die for us! We deserve condemnation, but instead we get justice, and the crazy thing about justice is that ANYBODY can pay ANYONE'S price. JESUS PAID OUR PRICE!!! Justice was satisfied for us!!! Don't pin your issues on the fairness of God when we all deserve death!

When we go through financial hardship(I'm DEFINITELY preaching to myself here), just know this: CAPITALISM is wonderful, but the only thing better than capitalism itself is CAPITALISM UNDER GOD.

I could elaborate on this, but it's better to simplify this: MAKE MONEY GOD'S WAY, and THINGS WILL WORK OUT!!! You don't have to cut peoples throats, or make terrible moral choice to make a buck! YOu don't have to rob the bank to feed your kids is what I'm saying.

If people understood this, then our economy would be in a better place because people would ACTUALLY trust each other(BERNIE MADOFF)

So when I use the word capitalist in a derogatory way, I'm really saying "You could care less about Integrity, all you care about is money."

I'm not trying to offend people, in fact all I'm trying to do is ENCOURAGE people to live with integrity above all else! I'm learning this in my own life! It's difficult, but in the end SO MUCH BETTER!!!

Jesus Simons

Just got off the phone with one of my best friends who is a worship leader! and I really wanted to share something for other musicians and writers. This is WONDERFUL!!!

Working on the Music staff at a church can FEEL LIKE the BEST and the WORST jobs you can do! It's the BEST job in the world because your doing music for a living, and your music is DEFINITELY making an impact, which most people would argue is best place to be in life (I'm definitely one of those people!).

It can be the WORST job in a sense that you REALLY SEE HOW OPINIONATED AND INSENSITIVE CHURCH PEOPLE CAN BE! In EVERY church big or small, there is a group of people who are just CONSTANTLY critical! Not only are they CONSTANTLY CRITICAL, but in the church, they feel as though they are being CRITICAL IN THE NAME OF GOD. In there own minds, there "Simon Cowell-like" opinions are furthering the kingdom of God.

I call these people "Jesus-Simon's".

As funny as that sounds, thats just the UGLY truth about working with PEOPLE! I understand that it's not really fair to say that this is a church problem, but is IS fair to say that church's are made up of imperfect people.

This blog entry ISN'T for "Jesus-Simon's", in fact I actually LOVE having "Jesus-Simon's" around! Personally, I enjoy the challenge of getting there cranky butts to focus on God rather than there own narcissistic opinions (I make it a game and actually keep score).

This blog is for people who ACTUALLY serve in church's and who undoubtedly deal with this pressure ALL THE TIME!!! The fact of the matter is, hearing those opinions DO affect us, and people that say it doesn't are being dishonest with themselves.

Here's the BEST NEWS!!!

Peoples OPINIONS ARE AND ALWAYS WILL BE COMPLETELY OBJECTIVE!!! When it comes to your taste and ability in music, there really is no such thing as a COMPLETELY right answer, which is infuriating at times if you want to please people!

Here's the beautiful thing: we're not trying to appease the "Jesus-Simon's" of the church. We're in it to help people experience the PRESENCE of GOD!!! Thats good news for me because it mean's I don't have to be Liberacci on piano in order to carry the presence of God. God can use a donkey to speak to a prophet, so he can definitely use my less than spectacular musical abilities to speak to people!

That doesn't mean you shouldn't do your best, because you SHOULD! What I AM saying is that you shouldn't try and be someone your not just because a "Jesus-Simon" doesn't like the flavor your cooking. Unlike "Jesus-Simon's", God will use us IN SPITE of our shortcomings.

Psalm 7:8
Let the LORD judge the Peoples,
Judge me O LORD according to my righteousness,
according to my Integrity, O Most High

Who cares what the "Jesus-Simon's" say. God is the judge of everything, and he judges righteousness and integrity. Trying to appease overly critical opinions isn't living with Integrity if those opinions aren't genuine to who you are.

Be the best at being who YOU are, and God will use you! That's the promise he gives to us as worshipers.


Here's a great story:

One time a guy told me I was acting too sexual on stage, so the next week I played I looked for him and prayed "God, mess him up like you've messed me up". During that worship set God showed up and answered that prayer, and at the same time really messed me up! I LOVE that!