New Ministry-M3

I know that I have been plugging a new ministry on FB and Twitter the last two weeks and tonight we are going to launch it. It is going to be a lo fi production when we start but what we as a team want to do is to simply be available for God to grow us and this ministry into so much more.

I think with ministry, it starts out as a idea and then we tend to dream so big that the task at hand seems to get too overwhelming that we get discouraged and then lose sight of what we have dreamed of in the first place.

With M3 Ministries - it started as a thought that was dreamed about for a few years until now. It got overwhelming at times and I really felt God tugging at me to continue to dream, but keep it within my capabilities. He also made it clear to me that He wanted other people involved working closely as a team.

Life took some twists and turns along the way and six months ago instead of turning left into the ministry that I have been very comfortably involved in for over 10 years - I felt God telling me to turn right into a ministry that I never thought I would be involved in or that I would want to be involved in ... YOUTH!

The people God has put into my life since serving with the youth are amazing! Right now, serving with me to get this started are two incredibly gifted and talented young guys that don't seem to mind this old guy hanging around. They have amazing ideas that I couldn't even dream up.

Sean Sidders, aka Sean Sid, will be heading up the media side of things - which includes everything from video, presentation, graphics, photoshop, etc, etc. He will be taking care of all the tech stuff that I have no idea on how to do. Oh yeah, BTW (a term I learned from them too) he is 17 yrs old.

The other person that God has put on this team is Kyle Kaliher. I have been in ministry with Kyle for 4 yrs and he is a great leader and also one of the most gifted drummers I have ever been around or played with. Kyle also has a gift of connecting generations with his personality and the way he conducts himself. He will be heading up the music side of things - showing how to do drum grooves, "feel" with music, and how to work with a band to make it sound amazing regardless of the talent level. Oh yeah, BTW, Kyle is 18 yrs old.

For me and my role? I will be heading up the production side of things - walking through the "how to" part of ministry. After spending 11 years in the music and planning side of the worship ministry at Sunridge Community Church and playing at many other local churches - my hope is to share everything from service planning, to scheduling volunteers, to set/stage design, to music flow, to leading a team both on and off stage, and whatever else pops up.

This is a new adventure for all of us, so as we launch into this, join in and grow with us in bringing up the next and new generation of leaders in THE CHURCH!!!

If you have a passion for music and/or media - whether as a musician, a techie, a photographer, or just a lover of music in general ... please join us in praying for this ministry and telling others about it.

Sunday Look Back on Monday (Sunday Night!)

I will say it right now, it's amazing what can happen when we get out of God's way and let him do His work.

This week Rich was celebrating his 20 years of marriage (congrats to Rich and Tammy). We went with multiple worship leaders today which is always cool when you can do it. Bob lead 3 songs, Emilie led 1 song and Brent led 1 song. Truly a team effort here and we were blessed by it.

Did a new one for us with Hosanna with Emilie leading and a great job she did and we also did a new one for us with O Praise Him from Crowder.

One more thing I will share here, I have to give it up for our Tech team, these guys serve day in and day out, not just week in and week out. If you don't rock we don't roll! Great job.

Set list-

O Praise Him- David Crowder Band
Here Is Our King- David Crowder Band
Hosanna- Hillsong United
Blessed Be Your Name- Matt Redman
Mighty To Save- Hillsong

Britt Sipe gave a great but convicting message on The Swear Jar, I owe a few bucks for the week, just being honest here and I figured out I will pay off our building at this rate so I better clean up my act.

Word,

Mike Dalton(bouncybassplayer)

The Importance of Music by Don Chapman from Worshipideas.com

I don't know if this is BPC (Blog Political Correct) but Don Chapman shows one of the reasons that churches are struggling here.


WorshipIdea: The Importance of Music
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by Don Chapman
Last week Brookwood Church worship leader Steve Smith and I hung out at an SBC worship leader luncheon in Columbia, SC. Read about how I met the director for the famous senior adult hip hop choir and watch their video.

We heard some alarming statistics that, while specifically Southern Baptist, I'm sure would apply to most churches. A poll of church leadership revealed that music is at the very bottom of priorities. At the top of the list is children's ministries.

Another statistic showed a drastic decline in church attendance in the 20-40 age bracket.

Churches are in a panic as to why their congregations are shrinking. The answer is painfully obvious: this culture is so tuned into music that it simply makes sense to make music a priority in our churches.

You'll hear people downplay the importance of music, and argue that it's not all there is to worship, and that's true to an extent. But it is a BIG part of worship.

If we look to Scripture for guidance our priorities will be in order. You read... a lot... in Scripture about music. An entire book of the Bible is devoted to it. Do you read much about children's ministries?

I've said in the past that I now believe good preaching is what draws the crowds, not music, and I still believe that. However, I think strong music goes hand in hand with strong preaching. Have both and you'll hit a home run. Have one of the two and you'll still have a healthy ministry. I'm afraid a bunch of churches have neither.

If the Scriptural emphasis on music isn't enough to convince you, how about real life examples? Mega ministries are known for their mega music: LifeChurch... Lakewood... Hillsong... NewSpring...

Here's a good example in my own backyard: Brookwood Church was built in the 90's on the Willow Creek paradigm - lots of secular performance songs with little to no congregational singing. Then, in the early 2000's as the seeker driven model started to die out, the church was in a lull for a time without musical leadership. Brookwood was still huge with 3,000-4,000 weekly - due, no doubt, to the great preaching. But now, after a year or two of worship-driven music Brookwood has mushroomed like crazy, officially breaking the 10,000 mark at Easter - and the demographic is leaning into that 20-40 age group more and more.

Is music the sole catalyst for this growth? I can't say for sure, but it is curious that this super growth has been hand in hand with an emphasis on worship-driven music.

What does it mean to have an emphasis on music? Let me spell it out for any elders/deacons:

1. Put money into the music. Get a good sound system and make sure the room is acoustically treated to sound great. Buy instruments. Have a budget for charts and sheet music. Pay musicians if need be.

2. Plan ahead. Good worship doesn't happen by throwing a few songs together 30 minutes before the service.

3. Practice makes perfect. When I had the opportunity to play at NewSpring Church I learned the secret of their tight, hot band: they rehearse their heads off. Their rehearsal is 2-3 hours on Monday nights and you had better be familiar with the music when you walk in the door. They meet early Sunday morning for a refresher rehearsal, then have a complete run through before the first service. Good rehearsals can turn ordinary players into terrific players - don't be afraid to get your music right.

4. Empower the gifted. This is the hard one: too much drama in the music ministry centers around people with no talent, who firmly believe they have talent, who demand to be a part of the praise team. If you watch the audition weeks of American Idol you know this isn't just a church issue. Have the leadership guts to just say no. It's really not that hard if you think about it - if someone can adequately sing or play an instrument, they should be a part of the praise team. If someone can't adequately sing or play an instrument, they should find another ministry.

What's adequate is relative to your location and you have to make that decision. If you live out in the country with a small population area, adequate does not mean the same as if your ministry is in a large urban center with a big talent pool.

Let's spend less time worrying that off-pitch Aunt Sally's feelings will be hurt if she doesn't get to sing a solo, and more time training, equipping and encouraging those who do have talent.

5. Find a quality worship leader. If your church is blessed to have a quality worship leader with music standards as well as a heart for ministry (they're hard to find), hold on to him/her, appreciate and pay them well as they'll most likely be hired away by a larger ministry. I know of one top-notch worship leader who is continually pestered by the largest megachurches in the country (to the point where it's almost humorous) - they're trying to hire him away from his current church.

If you, yourself are a quality worship leader and are neither appreciated, supported or paid by your church, have a little self respect and move on ASAP - life is too short to be spinning your wheels.

6. Heart-felt worship. Performance songs and "specials" are nice additions to your music ministry, but keep your focus on your praise set: spend time and effort each week to prayerfully choose songs and hymns that will connect your congregation's hearts to God every Sunday. That's what will keep bringing them back and that's what will change lives.

Bottom line: It appears a well run worship-driven ministry in a pop/rock Chris Tomlinesque style is what reaches the masses and helps grow churches. What can you do to make music more of a priority in your church?

Are You Keeping Up With How You Do Ministry/Business?

Are you keeping up with how you do ministry?

This question/thought was brought up last night in our Life Group/Small Group on a personal level and how Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networks are connecting people and bringing them closer and knowing what makes them tick.

After switching gears and moving over to help our Youth Worship Team I am finding out that email and online social networks might not be enough to make connecting the “kids” and keeping them up to date on set list and rehearsal times.

Here is where I am going with this- I have bought into the social networking world! I think it works to bring people closer together BUT- as a leader of anything you need to always be looking and using new ways to connect, especially to the next generation.

With the youth worship team, they are all in school (and I will get blasted later in this blog for what I am going to say) most of the day, they don’t have access to a computer there or at home sometimes, one thing they do have is a cell phone. SO HOW DO THEY COMMUNICATE? Through texting! Our youth worship leaders Kyle and Chris text out the set list when they get it done and they go off of that. No you don’t have charts available all the time but most cell phones have mp3 players on them and that is how they roll. My wife takes her group of kids she lead prayer request on her cell and then text them out right then and there and they can read and pray for each other where ever they are when they look at their text.

I am scrambling to catch up and do this and I can’t believe that there are churches, leaders in ministry and business who still snail mail out post cards for events, meetings, gatherings and every things else. The world is passing you by like a car going 100 mph and you are standing on the side of the road in a dust cloud. (and your wasting money).

Prayer request, set list, schedules, emergencies, birthday wishes and kind gestures can be all done through online networking. For those who will say that you lose personal touch by doing it this way, that is what meeting your team members for coffee and lunch is for, but in between those times they don’t feel forgotten when they don’t get a phone call or a letter in the mail.

Just a thought.

PS… Yes, I know kids aren’t suppose to be on their cell phones at school, BUT THIS IS MINISTRY PEOPLE!!!

Heard Anything New Lately? It's A Good Time

Before you read on this is the best thing for me to do right now:


To the Family at Sunridge (and those who are extended family at other churches and other places),

After five plus years as the music director at Sunridge, I believe it is time to step away from that role in the Worship Ministry.

I feel, see, and hear God moving me into a different direction in ministry.

My hope is that I will still be able to play bass, acoustic, electric guitar as much as I am able and invited to play. I would like to be just a bass/guitar player … period – no more production meetings or involvement with scheduling, etc. In other words, I want to be able to worship God without the distractions of being “in charge”.

I cherish all the blessings that the worship ministry has provided to me and my family through friendship, encouragement and the ability to reach others to find and follow Jesus.

In Christ,

Mike Dalton


PS... I'm not going anywhere unless God chooses for me to.

Sunday Look Back On Monday

I love Sunday’s!
I didn’t play any where on Saturday night and I felt like I missed something.
I need to go to bed on Saturday night’s earlier.
7 am rehearsals are still odd to me, even after all these years.
First service for the last couple of weeks is rocking, second service seems less connected, need to think about it.
The Kyle blows my mind on the drums pretty much every week, the guy rocks!
Pre service music, it doesn’t need to be a join in song, it just needs to be a song that rocks! Lesson learned I hope.
The outro of Beautiful The Blood says it all and always moves me to tears, it doesn’t have to be quiet to be emotional.
I decided to not have a HUGE bday party, I looked back at the last 6 years and made a guest list of who are my CLOSET friends who have been at my side through it all and had a party.
Danny’s BBQ was as good as any place we could have gone to! I ate so much I couldn’t suck in my gut.
Sat and listened to a ton of Hillsong United stuff with Bob, Jason, The Kyle and Wible- NEED TO DO MORE HILLSONG UNITED!
Refocusing on simpler things and not over thinking about stuff I don’t need to think about.
Corn on the cob with butter, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese and hot sauce is just love from God.
Combining Life Group’s was a great idea, thanks David for leading last night, and thanks Jeremy for being the human Bible, you freak!!! Awesome.
I feel every bit as old as I am- 43 years of torturing my body with so much fun and sports is catching up, need to quit a few things and start working out, I don’t want to as if I look fat in these pants any more
High school worship team is turning a corner.

See ya

Volunteerism Part Two from a Volunteer Hero

This is straight from one of our "Superstar Volunteer Leaders" here at Sunridge Community Church. The only edit I did was take out names. This person rocks beyond belief in my opinion, most effective in bringing up the future of our church- YOUTH!!! If you don't raise up the youth then your church will die of old age. We know we don't live forever here on Earth.


Three points below: Time, Effectiveness and Letting Go.

Time: I think TIME is a big consideration for volunteers. For some
volunteers, I try to accommodate them by letting them come in a few
minutes before the service rather than coming early and then standing
around. When kids are involved, asking them to come early means asking
their parents to come early too.

Consider the irony of showing appreciation for a volunteer's time by
requesting more of their time.

Effectiveness: I think many people would serve willingly if they felt
they were contributing something worthwhile. Sunridge does a great job
of expressing verbal appreciation to volunteers which provides
volunteers with a sense of effective contribution. Idleness and
standing-around has an adverse impact on a sense of worth.

Letting go: It's usually easier to do work than to let go and
encourage somebody else to get involved. Two helpful mantras: [1] If
I'm touching a piece of equipment, I'm depriving somebody of the
opportunity to get involved. [2] If I'm worried about something
(including 'perfection) then I'm not relying enough on others to help.
I love the fact that Sunridge values involvement over perfection.

Here's a Tweet- I don't Give a CR**

This is from a guy I know and think that he is one of the best writers (well honest at least) out there. His name is David Pingree and he pretty much hit it right on the head about some of you Twitters out there. I don't give a rip about your meal, what you are drinking (unless you are recommending an ale of some kind) or that you are watching a movie with your main squeeze. All of the above I am guilty of in the past and most likely will be guilty of in the future BUT, I don't care about the last dump you took so don't Twitter about it (even tho I did 2 bathroom Twitters in the past- one during an earthquake and one when I had to use single ply toilet paper). Go ahead and keep it up but I will most likely get rid of you on my Twitter account.
Here's the link to the original post and I copied and pasted the one post below.


http://www.racerxonline.com/article/ask-ping-5-1.aspx




Ping,
How’s it going? Dude, r u as sick of hearing about twitter as I am? Where in the he** did this crap come from?! Like anyone cares what people are doing every hour on the hour. I can see how it may be beneficial for traveling buddies, certain business issues, etc., but give me an effing break. 2 months ago I had never heard of it. Now, Larry King, Ashton Kutcher, Mario Lopez, and everyone else in the free worldacts like it's the Holy Grail. I'm so burned out on hearingthe word twitter! Overkill is an understatement.
Anyway, I just wanted to vent a little and I'm hoping u'll go off on this as I'm sure ur as clueless as to what the actual point is of twitter as i am.
By the way, I'm impressed with u and ur team. It seems ur doing a great job.Keep up the good work!
jimmy
p.s. free j-law



Hey, here's a Tweet! ... I don't give a crap.

Dear Jimmy,
Thanks for the compliment on the team. We have an amazing group of people working in our race shop and I think we are going to continue to impress people. It’s funny that you mention Twitter because I was just listening to Ryan Seacrest go on and on about it the other day on the radio and I couldn’t understand the point of it. Apparently, from what I gather, it’s just a bunch of verbal diarrhea about any and everything that happens to a person throughout the day. And each of these pointless expressions are called “Tweets.” Wow. That is the most obtuse, self-serving bunch of horse crap I have ever heard of. Could this collective society be any more in love with itself? We already have Facebook and MySpace pages so we can show photos and videos of ourselves doing all kinds of cool things to impress whomever it is we try to impress. Now we can follow any person’s journey through each and every single day. Guess what? I really don’t give a crap. I’m not interested in my own life enough to spend the time to set up these self-worship websites and there’s no way I’m taking the time to tell the few nut-jobs that are crazy enough to sit around and read about every single detail of my day, every single detail of my day. These people spend so much time telling and showing everyone what they are doing that they don’t have any time to go out and actually do anything. Look, folks, this crazy train has officially derailed. I don’t give two squirts of piss what Oprah did last weekend at home with her live-in boyfriend. I don’t care what cool new restaurant Ryan Seacrest ate at over the weekend. And when James Stewart “tweets” that he just got back to his hotel after the race and gives his two cents about how his night was… you guessed it- I don’t care. Just because we have the technology to do something dumb like Twitter, doesn’t always mean we should.
P.S. They’ll free your precious J-Law when he stops breaking the law. Pretty simple, really.
PING

Sunday Look Back On Monday (or Wed)

The week got away from me and my blog is not my #1 priority so I will get to it when ever I can.

Saturday night I played at Life Church here in Temecula and what a blessing that church has in Karl Verkade as their worship pastor, the dude flat out is amazing with his guitar loops and his tone is incredible, he would fit right in on our team with that tone. Hope to play with the team up there again soon.

Sunday was another stellar time. Here is the quick hit style:

Alex McLean played drums for us (you can find his blog at http://betterthanblank.org/)
Alex has the heart that I want, one church is ONE CHURCH, jump in if anyone needs help, we needed he provided, thanks Alex.

Greg’s message on HELL was what I was needing, (yes I said needing). Think about the people you most love who don’t believe in Jesus and what He did for us and think of them spending eternity in a place of solitude, torture, torment, does that break your heart? It does mine and I don’t want or wish that on anyone.

We (my family) took this week off from The Brook, sometimes you just need to step away to see how God provides.http://www.sunridgefamily.org/users/thebrook/index.php?mode=view

On Sunday afternoon the staff of Sunridge served the volunteers who run the church at a picnic. It was well attended and great to see how many people it takes to do one Sunday for 52 weeks a year.

On a special note:

For the volunteers in the worship ministry,

Each and every one of you play a role in the Body of Christ, without you all this would be nearly impossible.

I can’t thank the team enough for the 9 ½ years that I have been a part of this, you truly are super heroes in my opinion. A simple thanks isn’t enough to me, I love you all, and thank you for being a part of my family, because you are. (even Don, I knew I could get you back for the marketing comment )

When we didn’t have a worship pastor we all joined together and made it happen every single week and event. God controlled it and we followed, lets keep that focus, GOD CONTROLLED AND WE FOLLOWED!!!

See ya next week…

Sunday Look Back On Monday (or should I say Saturday)

For me this was a week to enjoy and hang with my family. I played at Lamb's Fellowship on Saturday night and I just love playing with that team. If I weren't at Sunridge I would most likely be there, (and don't try to pray me over, I am happy at Sunridge).

Playing new music is one of my favorite things to do and playing in the band with Tyler every week I have played something new, this week it was The Stand(Hillsong United) and also I Adore You(Phil Wickham). These songs just speak the truth about our relationships with Christ(at least to me) and I think this is going to influence me in the near future with our HS worship guys.

So I got to ride to church for the first time in three years with the whole family, the last time we fought the whole way there(satan doesn't like it when we love on each other) but this time we had a great morning drive and got there on time and enjoyed our time.

I enjoyed sitting and watching the team, man, ask me six years ago if this would be what it was like and I would have said "no way". I can't tell you how much I appreciate the team that has been around for the last 5 years, we have been through so much and I wouldn't have been here if it weren't for your efforts and this team wouldn't have been what it is without you.

I think it is time to kick things into high gear personally, need a job so I can know what I can and can not do with the worship teams here, God has a plan.

The Brook was awesome and got to hang with some movers and shakers in the community who are doing things that help people out and if you do read my blog, great hanging with you.

Life groups rock!!! It was great joining with The Mathis group and if you guys want to do that again the door is open and David and I can help take the pressure off each other.

Ready to go for the week and let God arise