Mount Hermon’s Christian Songwriter’s Conference, August 25-28, 2008 (Monday-Thursday).

After a fantastic Songwriters Conference two years ago at Mt. Hermon Christian Conference Center, sponsored by Integrity Hosanna! Music, Mount Hermon has decided to start one of their own.  They will have such big names as Paul Baloche, Don Moen, Joy Williams, and many more.  If you are a seasoned songwriter or just starting, you’ll get tons of tools, information, and find great fellowship.  Hope to see you there!  I’ll be leading a couple of workshops to help songwriters craft their songs:

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THE TASTY INGREDIENTS FOR WRITING SONGS

Enhance Creativity through the Eight Elements of Songwriting.
Understanding the key ingredients to songwriting will open up a new world of flavorful recipes for each songwriter. This seminar gives you practical ways to take your ideas and inspiration and craft them into a beautiful and expressive song. Reggie will cover working with music, working with lyrics, and how to combine them effectively.
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USING SOUND TOWARD A SONGWRITING ADVANTAGE

Ensure Expressive Songwriting and Performance through the Four Elements of Sound.
There are four basic elements of sound found in life. Exploring each one will give your songwriting and your performing a powerful boost. Everyone wants to have meaningful and expressive songs. This seminar will show you how to take new songs, as well as already existing songs, and make the music even more vibrant and effective.

The week at Silver Spur proved to be both meaningful and fulfilling.  Over eight teenagers gave their life to Christ for the first time and over 20 made the commitment to walk closer to Christ and grow as Christians.  It was energizing for me to know that most of the teens wanted to worship through music and not just have their ears tickled.  The camp speaker, Ray Spann, was also a musician and ministered with me to accent the week in a wonderful way.  My buds on percussion and vocals added a lot to the worship times.  Thank you for your prayers!

Last week was such a crazy week as we packed, loaded, moved, and unloaded all our stuff from Mt. Hermon to Danville.  It took us three days to get our Mt. Hermon home ready to rent out.  Everything is looking good and we’re wondering why we waited so long to totally fix up our home there.  Now we’re slowly unpacking boxes and getting familiar with the Danville area.  We love it!  Sherri and the boys are so glad to be here.  The people are so friendly in this area and we have already had a meal made for us and people bringing welcome gifts.  It’s great to be a part of Creekside Community Church.

Next week, I’ll be leading worship for Silver Spur’s Teen Camp, Sunday through Saturday, July 20-26 (near Sonora, CA).  A few friends will be joining me (two vocalists and a percussionist) for the week as we seek to draw the teens into a deeper experience of worship through music.  Join us in prayer that the youth who attend will capture a renewed and deeper way to live with a lifestyle of worshiping God.

I’ve just taken a new pastoral position at Creekside Community Church in Alamo (near Danville and Walnut Creek in California) and we’ll be moving at the end of this month.  This is a huge move for us since we’ve lived in Mount Hermon for 14 years.  I’m very excited about the church, my ministry involvement,  and what it means for my family.  We’ll be living only 5 miles from the church which means no more commuting.  I’ll still be working with Heartfelt Music Ministry, but I’ll be more involved with this local church in the East Bay.  It is clearly a “God-send” and already we can tell God is at work to build His Kingdom in a significant way.  Would you pray for me and my family’s transition, move, and ministry with new people?  There never a dull moment when we let God lead the way!

I’ve finally joined the world of web wayfarers in building bonds through blogging.  A big change is this new site, thanks to Mount Hermon’s Web Master Dan Dawson.   I would like to invite more interaction and discussion on all topics posted here regularly by me.  I realize those who are following the journey of Heartfelt Music & Ministry are varied in every way — from an eight year old guitar student to an 89 year old prayer partner; from concert goers to worship pastors; from MySpace maniacs to YouTube teachers; from brand new Christians to those seasoned in faith for many years.  I celebrate the diversity and think it’s wonderful to dialog together about important topics such as faith, music, and worship.  It would be a delight to hear from you and converse on the topics presented.  Thank you for your continued encouragement and support.