Living a life of integrity

If you really think about it, integrity is a really intense word. This is how Dictionary.com defines it:

"1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty."


Whoa. It's hard to find another word that describes that as well as the word "integrity" does. The problem is that it's a $65,000 word. It's not part of the everyday vocabulary. Not everyone truly knows what it means. In fact, I believe very few people do. But they should.


In everything we do, we should have integrity. It should be at the very core of our attitude, our actions, and our words. Integrity goes beyond being real, truth, having morals, etc. It encompasses all of those. It's living a life without reproach. 


The funny thing is, nowhere in that definition does it say anything about perfection. Integrity isn't about being perfect, or even striving for perfection. Having integrity is saying, "Regardless of my faults and my struggles, I am going to live a life that can be used as an example to others." It's saying, "I want to influence people to live with purpose, truth, and diligence."


What makes living with integrity so difficult is the fact that each one of us needs to remain honest with ourselves. We need to check ourselves, hold ourselves accountable. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone screws up, but it's the one with integrity that takes responsibility, owns up to that error, and fixes it. 


This word goes beyond religion. I'm a Christian and believe me, I think Christians need to abide by this more than the rest of the world. Christianity leaves a bad taste in many mouths and it's because so many have lacked integrity. But this is something everyone needs to live by.


This is one of those topics that could be discussed forever, but I'll quit while I'm ahead. Only you can decide how to live your life as one with integrity! 

Back to School

I went back to college yesterday! I even had a new notebook and pens. I was invited to take a class through Elim Bible Institute - Buffalo titled "Worship Leadership" (Why on earth would they ask me????) taught by none other than Bill Lambert.

I have huge expectations for this class. I don't care that I've been on at least one worship team for almost 10 years and I've been worship leading for about 3. I'll be the first to admit that I still have so much to learn. And Bill is perfect to teach it. He's old school which is unfortunately underestimated too often by today's generation. And he's got 30+ years of experience to give us a practical understanding of worship leadership. It's going to be a good class.

I'm personally looking forward to the fact that of the 15 or so attendees, I'm one of two young people. The dichotomy of musical preference between the generations will be funny to see play out. This will definitely be a learning experience!

Once you grow up, it all changes

Gone are the days of carefree youth.

As I grow up, I'm seeing a huge increase in responsibilities and commitments in my life (naturally). And I'll start this post off by saying that it's not a bad thing. So often, people wish they could be a kid again so they don't have to worry about anything, but that's not me. Yes, those days were awesome, but there's a lot of good in being older too.

I feel that in the last year, there has been a major shift in my outlook on life. I'm starting to embrace the realities of life, I'm starting to prioritize commitments, I'm starting to own up to my mistakes, my debts, etc. It's hard sometimes.

Whether it's the prospect of being married someday soon, being financially independent, living my own, or whatever, my thought process is a lot different now than even 12 months ago! The things I dream and care about have changed a lot.

I like it. I love the thought of proposing to my girlfriend. I'm pushing to come to a place where I can pay off my debts fully. I can't wait to have my own place. It's intense but it's good. I know I still have a lot to learn but I know that I have a good career, a great girlfriend, amazing family, and a solid church home. I have the foundation to excel in adulthood. So now it's time to step my game up and follow through.

Worship on iPhone

This is how this band became one of my favorites. But I encourage you to check out their other stuff too, they're pretty awesome!

Worship Leaders - Who's got the right stuff?

There are way too many people who equate talent with leadership. Because they have some sort of skill, they must be qualified to lead others. I disagree with that wholeheartedly.

The worst culprits? Worship leaders. You got some guy who's awesome at playing guitar, a great singer, knows the music, and yet when you put him in charge, it falls apart. Yet people who have the authority to assign leadership remain convinced that they're qualified.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Let's stick with the worship leader example. In case you're not familiar with this industry, let me outline everything that a worship leader needs to think about:

1) Band mates: Who's in the band? What are their skills? Where can they best be utilized? Are they strong Christians or are they weaker? Can you give someone a special part? Are they going through something that you need to encourage them on? Do they have a problem with something that you need to address?

2) Song selection: what set list will accomplish the most? Does it have consistency? Does it fit in the time frame allowed for worship? Is the band capable of playing the song with excellence (including you)? Is there a mixture of fast and slow, worshipful and praise, old and new?

3) Leading the band during a song: What parts sound good where? Who should sing when? Are you giving proper signals to go to some other part? Are you allowing other band members to utilize their gifts?

4) Leading the congregation during a song: Are you making sure the congregation is with it? Are you encouraging the congregation? Can you adapt to a bad reaction from the congregation on a song?

5) Being sensitive to what the pastors expect: Are you staying in your proper time slot? Are you providing songs that coincide with the message? Are you providing a mix of songs that will glorify God yet not creep out any of the newer members of the church?

There's a lot more where that came from, but I think it's a good start! The point I'm trying to make is that leading (specifically, in worship) is not easy and it's not for everyone. There are so many things that go into successfully leading something and a good leader remembers it all. Trust me, I'm still learning and have a long way to go! And I'm sick of people assuming that because someone is good at a specific thing, makes them a good person to lead others in that. Not true. Plus, I haven't even mentioned a whole other side to the ability to lead - attitude and personality. Maybe that will be my next post...

My Summer 2010 Bucket List

Summer's almost over. Not cool. The problem with having a great summer is that they go by faster. And this summer has been awesome. I've made it up to the cottage a few times, went to the Adirondacks for a week, went to KB, went to numerous parties, swam a lot, ate a lot, relaxed a lot. It's been awesome.

Unfortunately, I haven't done everything I wanted to. But there's still time! Technically, summer isn't over until September 20, so I have more than a month left. So this post is officially my SUMMER 2010 BUCKET LIST! ...before this summer kicks the bucket...

The List:
1) Go to the beach. I don't care what beach or if I get to swim or not, I just want to walk on sand and surf.
2) Go see a movie at the drive-in
3) Take a boat ride on Rushford Lake with Nemo. He has yet to be on the boat, he's going to love it!
4) Finish at least one more book. I think I only read 3 books this summer. Yikes!
5) Finish all of my TV shows on the DVR. I have to be ready for all of the fall shows! Unfortunately, most of the shows are both Shannon's and mine which means I need to drag her over to the house to watch them.
Shows to watch: Psych, Leverage, and Burn Notice.

I just stared at the computer screen for 10 minutes and came to the decision that the list is complete. Let's get to work!

The rise and fall of Kingdom Bound

Kingdom Bound is a four day Christian music festival at the Darien Lake Theme Park in Darien, NY (30 min east of Buffalo). Kingdom Bound (or KB) has been going strong for over 20 years and has seen some amazing bands come through. I think my first KB was when I was 16. I was pretty pumped to see bands like The Newsboys and the OC Supertones and Five Iron Frenzy. And of course to KB attenders, the entire theme park is open as well. So tons of great music, plus the rides.

Every year, KB consists of four venues within Darien Lake. There's the Performing Arts Center (PAC), where the big name bands play; the Park Stage, where the smaller, less-known bands play (usually); the Worship Tent, where all of the worship bands play and the less-known speakers talk; and the Marketplace, where tons of Christian businesses peddle their wares and Christian colleges do recruiting. It's a pretty safe set-up.

While I have been able to attend at least one day of the festival every year since I was 16, the only two I missed were last year's and the year before - KB 2008 & KB 2009. I was fortunate enough to go with Shannon to this year's, on Monday. Shannon picked that day because BarlowGirl was playing. I was pretty excited to go. It's been three years since the last time I went and the festival is always fun. But when I got there, I felt let down a bit.

It's not like KB changed since the last time and maybe that was the problem. KB has been doing the same thing, the same set-up for 20+ years now and they don't change because it works and it's safe. But I must say, I was bored. Yeah, I think that best explains how I felt, bored.

It's not like they lacked artists. There were tons of them. But I'm noticing much fewer big name artists than in previous years. Couple that with the fact that the set-up is the same, I worry that KB won't be able to keep up with the times. I would be very interested in seeing yearly attendance numbers...

Obviously, planning this kind of thing is not easy. I can only imagine the hassle of booking artists, working with the theme park officials, advertising, etc, etc. If an artist doesn't want to come, they won't come. And if KB can't afford them, they can't afford them. So sure, there are some things that they can't change.

So I say, change it up on your own terms! Mix it up! Here are some ideas to get the KB folks started:

1) Put some hard rock artists (TFK anyone?) on the big stage
2) Fill up the smaller stages with local bands (maybe even do a Christian Battle of the Bands)
3) Have a crazy worship night on the big stage. KB secured Matt Redman, Paul Baloche, Relevant Worship, and others. Put them all on in one night. I think that would be cool.
4) Don't have Reggie Dabbs speaking 6 times in 4 days
5) Put Relevant Worship in the PAC at a good time. They're a hugely popular local band

The key is to be preemptive and stay ahead of the game. If you keep the festival fresh, the people will want to come more often, more days. Right now, I think a lot of people are like me who pick one day that has one or two artists I like. But if every day looks amazing, I'd find a way to attend the whole thing. Also, I wouldn't worry about having louder bands playing all the time and offending the older generation. Once quick glance and you can see that the young people outnumber the old 10 to 1.

Oh, and bring back David Crowder.