This year has been one of transition for us. I left my position as worship leader in May, a God-assignment I had for seven years. My dad had heart surgery and came to permanently live with us in July. My brother Jon and I put dad’s house in North Carolina on the market in November. All of these changes involved faith.

The opportunity to exercise faith is a two-edged sword: on one side, it’s a chance to grow and go places spiritually that I’ve never been; on the other side, life can get tough and uncomfortable when you decide to walk out on a faith-limb. Everything–finances, timing, ministry assignments, career–is left there in the hands of God.

The decision to trust God means I cannot depend on my own sight, intuition, experience, common sense, etc.. The process is one that I wouldn’t recommend to the faint of heart. The Scripture passage in Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him. (NIV)”

Something comes to mind when I think of walking in faith–a scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In order to reach the Holy Grail, Indy must traverse a deep chasm. There are no stairs, no suspension bridge or ropes to help him across. His father’s diary–the source from which he gathers the information on how to cross the impossible breach–requires him to take a leap of faith.

“Impossible,” Indy says. “Nobody can jump this! It’s a leap of Faith.” “You must believe, boy!” cries Dad from his
deathbed. “You must believe!”

Indy stepped forward onto an invisible walkway. Through faith, he made it across. Like Indy, God will make a way for us where there seems to be no way. Isaiah 43:19 says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (NIV)”

In 2011, God encouraged Brenda and I to take steps toward the impossible–to places we never would have gone on our own. We have likened this adventure to packing up and taking a ship to another land. We have to believe that, as God calls, He wants us to trust. Joshua 1:9 says: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you  go. (NIV)”

With this encouragement, we will continue to walk in faith. We have seen many miracles appear before our eyes in 2011. 2012 looks to be a landmark year for us, too. Keep reading these posts in the coming year and you can keep up with our exciting journey.

May God richly bless and strengthen you and your loved ones in 2012.

The Christmas celebration isn’t over until all the dishes are washed and put back in their resting place. If you’re like me, you can’t even bear to go to bed with dirty dishes waiting to be dealt with in the morning. I even like the stove and counter tops to be shiny when I turn off the kitchen light. Brenda and I made a deal a long time ago: she cooks and I clean up. It has worked well for us thus far.

The problem some marriages encounter is a lack of cooperation on the husband’s part to help the wife in the kitchen. I’m not saying that I am any kind of example for other guys to follow, but a slew of marital problems would cease to exist if we dudes got off of our lazy backside to help around the house. They say that romance starts in the kitchen; it’s about time we test that adage!

Many times our high standards can be a hindrance, especially during the Holidays. We want so bad to impress our friends and family that we stress ourselves out of the joy of the season. This year Brenda and I decided that we would give each other a break and offer dinner in a casual way: serve-yourself with paper plates. It certainly saved me a boat-load of work after dinner. The clean-up was almost instantaneous; all I had left were the pots and pans, with a stove and counters to polish. Sometimes giving each other a break can remedy frustration. Our wives deserve to sit down and visit with company too.

So gentlemen, listen closely: be the first to get up from the table and carry the dishes and serving bowls to the sink–commence kitchen clean-up duty, and make it a nightly habit. If paper and plastic help to make the season bright, then so be it. I guarantee, married life will begin to improve….even before the New Year begins!

I have enjoyed a lot of concert broadcasts over the past few months on HDNet and the Audience Network (DirecTV). Just last night, while surfing the TV on Christmas Eve, my son-in-law, Adam, and I stumbled upon a live concert. We were pleasantly surprised by the Atlanta band, Blackberry Smoke (BBS).

These guys look like something out of California Jam, 1974–with their long hair, bell-bottom jeans and mutton-chops. Their sound is totally southern rock, and, as performers, song writers, singers and players, they are probably the best act of their kind touring today. I saw The Allman Brothers a few years ago; even with Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks on guitars, I think BBS gives them a run for their money! BBS even worked their way through an excellent cover of The Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider” during the concert last night.

I cut my teeth on the Charlie Daniels Band, The Outlaws, Skynyrd,  ZZ Top, The Allman Brothers, Great Southern, etc., and, in my opinion, BBS stands up to any southern rock outfit past and present; their status has yet to catch-up with their abilities.

As you know, I often like to recommend bands and singers here on my blog, but I do not–in any way–endorse their extra curricular behavior!

These guys have been cruising under the radar for over ten years now. I think it is time they make a dent in the music industry.

Hey, if Zac Brown and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top love these guys–and you love guitar rock with boogie-woogie piano, and tube-driven Hammond organ swirl, killer songs, solos and singing–you should give Blackberry Smoke a listen.

Tomorrow night is Christmas Eve. I am so happy this year to enjoy the season again. In fact, I have enjoyed the Christmas season this year more than any other time. As a musician I play at every worship celebration, and Christmas is the Church’s biggest celebration of the year–along side Easter.

I’m not complaining…I love the Lord, enjoy singing and playing my guitar, and I love people. But since Christmas Day falls on a Sunday in 2011, many churches are having a huge Christmas Eve service (even multiple options) as well as full services on Sunday. I guess this is gonna sound wrong no matter how I put it: I’m glad my church decided to give Sunday morning to families this year. You heard me, no church Sunday morning!  What a concept…

A lot of people have a difficult time with the notion of no church on Christmas Day. I understand. And even though I consider myself a very dedicated Christian–to the point of choosing a career as a worship pastor–I still am happy to wake up and spend the day with my family.

This past fall, one large church in California gave up a whole weekend of services to go into the community and help the needy, to make necessary repairs to the homes of widows, and to generally say to the community, “We care.” The greatest part of the project was that they went out into the community and didn’t ask for people to come to them.

Sometimes it’s good to give our families a rest. As a church staff, we operate on the generous strength of volunteers. Many times, without doing a quick “cost/benefit” analysis on the projects our churches undertake throughout the year, we can tax our volunteers to the point of exhaustion.

I’m glad to be home with my family on Christmas morning. Tomorrow afternoon on Christmas Eve, though, I will be playing and worshiping with my church family. All of this activity reminds me of the Mary and Martha story: there is a time to work and a time to rest. I’m sure Jesus will let me stay home…just this once!

The Harvills and Sadlers got together last night at our place for some homemade pizza and long-overdue hang time. The natural conversational divide after dinner occurs when Brenda and Debra move with their coffee into the living room and Gary and I move up to the studio and talk guitars, music and whatever else.

Gary suggested we look at a website featuring new music from the young artist Alyssa Bonagura. I was so blown away by this new song and singer that I wanted to share it with you. This incredible artistry represents what is largely missing in music today. “Killing Me” is just the tip of the iceberg for this talented lady, who has a new pop release coming out in 2012. I am a big fan of the simple musical treatment that she and co-writer/ co-performer Tyler Wilkinson use in this video.

Alyssa plays most of these instruments, engineers the recording and even does the final mix. She’s in her early twenties, for goodness sake!

Enjoy.

The first time I saw a professional songwriter at work was in the 1961 Disney animated feature, The 101 Dalmatians. Most likely I saw it at our local Fox Fullerton theater a few years after it’s original run. I watched Roger Radcliffe, the aspiring song-smith and male lead of the movie, pounding-out ideas on the upright piano in his London bachelor flat. “Could a person really make money by writing songs?” I wondered. My answer would come some thirty years later with my first published song, Ancient of Days.

(L to R) Robert, Richard and Walt

My childhood was filled with Disney music from movies like Mary Poppins, The Parent Trap and The Jungle Book. Many years later I learned that the guys behind the tunes in these three movies, as well as the indelible It’s A Small World, were brothers, Robert and Richard Sherman.

Robert, two and one-half years older than Richard, grew up the polar opposite of his brother: Richard was outgoing and Robert, very much reserved. Their push-pull personalities served them well as a creative duo, but less so when not working. I found out much more about the brothers by watching an excellent documentary, The Boys: the Sherman Brothers’ Story. I was surprised to learn that they are basically strangers these days–Richard lives in Hollywood, and Robert resides in England. Sadly, as displayed throughout the documentary, they have little in common. Other than song writing and being born to the same parents, they don’t seem to enjoy one another. As a cinematic voyeur,  one gazes through the window of this movie, never to witness a genuine exchange of warmth between the two.

The documentary starts with the Sherman boyhood days in New York City, then to their eventual re-location to Los Angeles. Richard takes the viewer on a present-day tour of a backyard garage, once owned by the family, where their collaboration started. He also scouts some of their early stomping grounds around Hollywood.

In 1958, they wrote a song called Tall Paul for Mouseketeer Judy Harriet. The song was then covered by another Mouseketeer, the popular teen sensation Annette Funicello. This caught the attention of Walt Disney. The Sherman Brothers were promptly signed as Disney staff writers. Subsequently, their first song with Disney was The Strummin’ Song. Robert and Richard quickly became a staple in the company’s movie production machine.

Walt Disney’s favorite Sherman Brothers song was Feed the Birds from the movie  Mary Poppins. Walt asked them to perform it often at his office piano, leaving their boss misty-eyed most every time. Robert and Richard also had success away from the Disney Studios with music from movies like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

With numerous awards between them, Robert and Richard Sherman continue to inspire new generations with their songs. I am grateful for their influence in my own songwriting. My prayer is that someday they make peace with each other. Fame and fortune pale in comparison to the importance of brotherhood and family.

In May of 2011 I left the position of worship leader at a church–a job I was blessed to have for almost seven years. For a year-and-a-half before that, I played guitar there as a hired gun almost every weekend. So altogether, I was blessed with over eight years at the church.

It was my decision to end it. Some smarter folks than I would probably stay-on because of the security factor, but I needed to close the curtain when the show was over. I was tired and uninspired. The drive was 40 minutes each way. Some weekends I had to travel 320 miles to complete the schedule of services, and then I was back in my cubicle on Monday morning to start it all over again. After eight years, I was thankful for the opportunity to serve these saints–to learn so much about managing a large congregation (7,000 attendees) and the resultant weekly ministry responsibilities. But I knew my position there had run it’s course, so I put in my resignation.

The tricky part was: I didn’t have any clue what was next. My greatest concern was that I get back to balance again and go from there. Because of some savings and income from songwriting and production, Brenda and I could make it through financially without the church income… for a few months, anyway. Little did we know that several months later we would still be praying for the next chapter to open up.

In the mean time, we visited churches all over the greater Nashville area, giving little thought to anything close to home. One Sunday in July, we decided to visit a church around the corner from our neighborhood. We had seen the growth of that little church from it’s inception–meeting in a high school–to it’s full-blown campus, beautifully crafted out of an empty Kroger grocery store. We walked in, loved the folks, the pastor, the worship, the vibe, and were generally blown away. Could a wonderful place like this be so close to home?

Since that day, Brenda, my dad and I have called The People’s Church of Spring Hill home. Like all ministers, I needed a break and, for months, sat with the congregation to regain my strength. Just a month-or-so ago I started playing and singing on the worship team. I feel refreshed and energized, and am grateful to be back in the game!

Every minister needs a break. It’s dangerous for our families, churches and our health to keep plodding-through without a time of refreshing. I am thankful for the break I’ve had, and I’m excited about 2012 and all that God is doing.

A string of R&B hits by such artists as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Clarence Carter were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in the early 1960s, and helped launch a phenomenon that would become the “Muscle Shoals sound.” Detroit had  Motown, Nashville had country, Memphis had Stax, L.A. and New York had their signature sounds, but Muscle Shoals had a rock, R&B and soul-sound all of it’s own.

Among those drawn to the Shoals was Paul Simon, who came in search of the band behind the recording that many call the essence of the Muscle Shoals sound: “I’ll Take You There” by the Staple Singers. Simon’s collaboration with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section produced the hits “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like a Rock.”*

I was recording a project with my friend Lenny LeBlanc several years ago in his studio, just outside of Muscle Shoals. Between sessions, the late-great Ava Aldridge, writer of Dr. Hook’s “Sharing the Night Together”–who was also singing on the session–took me on a tour of the Shoals in her great-big Cadillac. I saw the studios like FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound, where great misc was made–and still is to this day. She then drove me to a small, nondescript store-front, with no more than 800 feet of space inside, and told me that the Rolling Stones recorded “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses” for the Sticky Fingers album there in December of 1969. As we peeped through the dusty window into the shadows of the abandoned store, she pointed to the back restroom area. There, Ava told me, the signatures and notes of many famous artists most likely still cover the walls. Wow–I had to stop for a moment to take it all in!

The Osmonds recorded “One Bad Apple” in  Muscle Shoals. Mac Davis recorded “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” and Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves a Woman” was recorded there, too.

When I think back to that little impromptu tour Ava gave me more than twenty years ago, I am amazed that so few people know about the city of Muscle Shoals. Just like Bethlehem–considered insignificant, yet chosen as the birthplace of the King of Kings–Muscle Shoals, though diminutive in stature. was chosen to give birth to incredible music; it’s greatness is profound.

Rest in peace, Ava Aldridge. Although you’ve been gone for several years now, your influence will be felt for generations to come.

*Excerpts from an article by Debbie Elliott: The Legendary Muscle Shoals Sound.