Just the Drums!

October 17, 2008 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Journal, Random/Comical

Here’s for a student worship leader’s tale of an interesting pair of services:

So we didn’t have practice on Sunday because several members of the band couldn’t make it since the choir and orchestra went to Vilonia Sunday night.  It was actually a last minute decision to cancel, in which I can’t decide if I regret or not.

So I changed a song in the 2nd set of worship, so that practice would go by a little less hectically, if you will.

JH started and it was okay at first, until, as the 1st set progressed, I noticed that the sound wasn’t very good and that the band didn’t seem to be as together as usual.  So I kept going until finally towards the end of the 2nd song, I jumped over to the piano (which, thankfully was conveniently at the front of the stage) and played the rest of the way through, honestly hoping that the song would hurry and finish already!  Sounds terrible, right?  Well, the truth is – that’s what I was thinking….

So I went up to the sound booth and tweaked a few things, but not a lot, hoping that the Lord would work a miracle in our sound booth and on our stage.

Then for 2nd set of JH, we went back up and did a song that we didn’t practice for lack of time, but only required a few instruments.  It went well – very well.  And so did the next song.  I really love the participation in the JH crowd!  They are so energetic!  I just love the shamelessness in their worship!

I left stage, thankful for some interesting turn-around in sound or band-gelling or whatever.  Thank the Lord.

But then there was Senior High.

And the band and sound was AWESOME!  In fact, I didn’t get on the keys and play once during that first set!  They were on top of it!  So much so, that I just kept repeating things and actually had the crowd spinning in circles – literally (the song said, “Lift my hands and spin around” on the bridge, so we did)!  I was proud of the band (especially Kevin, our new drummer) for being on their toes and being creative on the spot.

Second set, was just as good!  Very powerful worship, 1st song and 2nd!  That is, until I threw EVERYONE off!

During the the bridge of “My All” everyone was getting pretty passionate and so I turned around and shouted out to Kevin and the band, “Just the drums!” – not realizing the mic picked me up until it was said.  But that wasn’t the issue.  In fact, that was a very typical thing to do, depending on the song.  

The issue was that when I said, “Just the drums,” I responded to my instructions as well as everyone else – by completely not singing a word or playing a note or hitting a drum head.  The whole room was SILENT for at least 5-10 seconds.  I guess it took me that long to decide how to fix my problem, and being that 5 seconds isn’t long enough to rationally solve problems, I came in strong in the middle of one of the phrases of that bridge:  “Praise Your name!  Praise Your holy name!”  The band, I think, was as clueless as me and came in – sort of.  

So I decided to make the just-the-drums intensity-level a just-the-voices moment.  My next move was the same move I used 1st set-JH, when I needed help.  I played the piano.  We ended the song just like that and prayed as well as I could under such circumstances.

Then as we exited the stage I, got past the students’ chairs and noticed the last person I would ever want to see me in those circumstances.  I knew he’d make fun of me for as many months as it takes for me to do something even more awkward.

And yep, that’s what happened.  Pastor Rod told everyone on the Sanctuary team, Wednesday night, about my “Just the Drums” experience, just as he witnessed it.

So I would like to end this blog by dedicating it to Pastor Rod.

Thanks, P.Rod!  You’re the best!  I’m blessed to serve on your team!

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