September Ministry Update
October 1, 2013 9:56 pm Ministry Journal
People Matter!
People are what God cares about most (John 3:16). Even though the schedule seems a bit hectic sometimes, valuing people the way God does makes it all worthwhile. Autumn is here and the pace has really picked up for me. Waking up at 5:00am is something I may never get used to, but Valley Christian School is a tremendous ministry experience where I daily see God moving. I have 20 private students in San Jose, Los Altos, and Mount Hermon which I look forward to mentoring each week. I continue to lead worship at various churches and provide concerts and workshops throughout the Bay Area. Let me know if you’d like me to come to your church. For more information, go to the Heartfelt Music website.
My most recent album called Instrumental Guitar Volume 1 is available on iTunes, our product page, as well as other venues (like Rhapsody). The stories behind the songs are on the Heartfelt Music Blog.
Heartfelt Music Ministry has been carrying a financial burden for a few years now primarily because of the Christian Guitar & Bass Conferences we held for 15 years. We really can’t do some of the projects and conferences because of this burden and much of the time I spend is donated time. We have been faithful to pay toward this burden each month and will have it completely paid off in 18 months. For now we are greatly limited because of it. The next eNewsletter will include an opportunity for you to help. Thank you for your prayers!
New Here and Now Album
I’m still progressing on a new album called Here and Now. Three songs can be viewed on my You Tube Channel (Similar versions that are on the album): Worthy & So Wonderful, You Are My God, and Here and Now. I’m writing a new song called Calm Down which is replacing the song He’s Alive. The songs are developing very nicely. Six of them are completed, but I need to put the finishing touches on the other four. I’m not sure when this new album will be released because of current financial limitations. All of the recording has been done on the Roland VS-1680 shown above.
Music Training at VCS
Ministry at Valley Christian Schools is thriving! In the High School, I’m teaching two worship bands, a music technology course, a beginning guitar and bass course, and private guitar lessons. In Junior High, I’m leading the worship band and teaching private guitar lessons. In the Elementary school, I just began an after-school course for beginning guitarists called Guitar For Fun (As you can see in the picture above). Mentoring and empowering these students to serve God through music is a passion of mine that is so fulfilling.
Music in the Mountains
Last Saturday, I did a concert for the community off of Summit Road in the Los Gatos mountains. The view was beautiful as we had a BBQ dinner before I sang. Many of the people had lost their homes in the fire a few years back and still are struggling to get back to normal. I shared about God’s deep love for them and how I’ve experienced Jesus through a number of tough situations. It was an encouraging evening as 30 of us were packed into the living room.