Please keep our church and staff in prayer this month. Our pastor goes in for hip replacement surgery in the morning, and he'll be restricted to staying at home for the next month or so. Because of this, I'll be teaching a couple of extra Bible studies each week and adding a few other extra responsibilities. So don't look for the month of July into August to have much of my presence present on the internet.

Here's a quick recap of the last three week's worth of music set lists.

June 21

• At Calvary // Newell & Towner
• Because He Lives // William & Gloria Gaither
• I Am Yours // Michael Neale
• Here I Am to Worship // Tim Hughes

June 28

• O How I Love Jesus // Frederick Whitfield
• Cannons // Phil Wickham
• There is None Like You // Lenny LeBlanc
• Holy, Holy, Holy // Heber & Dykes
• Before the Throne of God Above // Bancroft & Cook

July 5

• In Christ Alone // Getty & Townend
• Before the Throne of God Above // Bancroft & Cook
• Day by Day // Berg & Ahnfelt (modern style)

This post is a part of Sunday Setlists at FredMcKinnon.com.

I need to take some time off, step back and prioritize. I'll still be available via email if you'd like to get in touch: j [dot] joymark [at] gmail [dot] com. I would, as always, appreciate any prayers you choose to throw my way.

See you on the flip side.

We held our annual music camp for area children last week. Basically, music camp is something like a VBS—crafts, Bible stories, recreation, etc. The major difference is that the kids learn a complete children's musical in five days, complete with speaking parts, choreography and solos. The performance of the musical always follows on the next Sunday, and it's always a great draw to get families in the door that might not have a connection with any church.

This was the last true testing of our new-ish sound system. Reinforcing the sound for a children's musical is usually a small nightmare, but this time around things went really well. I have ideas on how to make things even better, but for the most part everything could be heard clearly. In fact, I only had to supplement the children's choir with track voices once. In reality, the worst part about the sound was the two mic cues I was a little late on.

After the musical, our deacons did a great thing and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone who would stick around. I don't know a head count, but our auditorium was full of people, and most of them stayed. I hope the love of Christ was imparted to them by our members.

For this set of chords, start with your basic E chord fingering.

Now we're going to keep that fingering and slide up five frets. You're now playing an A add9 chord. The chord chart below doesn't show it, but you can leave the sixth string (low E) open. Alternately, you could throw your index finger down on the low E string at the fifth fret, giving you a root of A.

As we did on the slide in the last post in the series, keep your basic E chord fingering and slide up two more frets. This gives you a B add4. As above, the chart doesn't show it but you can leave the low E string open. Also as with the A add9, you can put the index finger down on the seventh fret, giving you a root of B.

I'd encourage any of you reading this who feel you need help increasing your skills to find a reputable guitar teacher and begin taking lessons. No matter how good you are, you can still learn something from a teacher. Trust me, if I could afford it right now, I'd be taking lessons myself.

Another great thing to do is watch other players. Buy or borrow as many music DVDs as you can and watch their fingers. I've probably watched my Shane & Shane DVD a hundred times trying to pick out one chord voicing or another. Also take a look at many of the worship resources out there such as New Song Cafe, and Vertical Music's worship tools.

Ask your worship leader is they have any resources available you can borrow, and ask if they know of any other good online resources.

To wrap things up, here's what some of my tweeps on Twitter had to say about what they look for in a rhythm guitarist for their own bands:

@leadworship: "I love a confident player whose not afraid to worship"

@kimbontrager: "confident enough to start a song. able to learn rhythm patterns quickly. good instincts re:when to stand out & when to blend in."

@dwpoyner: "Able to carry a song alone, good steady rhythmic strumming, a good guitar playing face…"

@mandoron: "Predictable strum patterns. We've had guitarists who never play the same thing twice. Correct and steady tempos."

@stephenulangca: "consistency, comping, strum patterns, chord library. Haven't found one yet. Hope you will."

@janakid: "versatility in style, consistency, some knowledge about theory, show up on time"

@mikeymo1741: "Rhythm. (seriously… ) Humility. And of course, good tone."

I hope you've learned from and enjoyed this series. As always, if any of you out there have any other suggestions, tips, or tricks to share, please comment.

Thanks to Guitar.to for the chord fingerings.

As with Six Prayers, this new book, Nine Ways God Always Speaks deals with the hearts and minds of people just like you and me, presenting some of the best testimonial evidence of the work of God—that of personal experience.

I think the big take-away for me in this volume is to ask myself, "When does God NOT speak?" Is there really anytime that the God of heaven is not striving mightily to communicate with us? Without giving away the nine ways, God uses creation itself to cry out to us, pointing the way to His heart. Beauty itself speaks of His love for us. His Word is clear and applicable to our struggle to hear His voice via other avenues.

God also speaks through the human experience. While not always so clear, and often slanted by personality quirks, our conscience, our emotions, our make-up all express facets of Him—methods He has chosen to interact with us. Even our very history reveals His plan of the ages, and where we've jumped the shark.

I love the ending sentiments of the book, where the authors reveal the ninth way God speaks.

"Our goal in this book has never been to present you with a formula to replicate. Rather, we've tried to expose you to the various ways God communicates. God can use anything, anywhere, and anytime, but He doesn't always use the same thing, in the same place, all the time."

I won't give it away, but the first eight ways are somewhat passive on our part, while the last way requires action from us. While God wants us to listen for His voice—in all it's myriad forms—He also wants us to obey His voice when we hear it.

As with Six Ways, I highly recommend this book, for both the Christ-follower who hears God's voice on a regular basis, and for the sincere searcher who wants to hear, but is not quite sure what to listen for.

Commenter number three (3) was Alice Berger. Congratulations!

Thanks for participating everyone. Look for my own review of this book tomorrow on the blog.

My "review" is going to take a little different tack today. While I'm sure most of the other reviewers will post about the main content of the book, I want to focus on a section rarely accentuated in such a review—the Afterward. Before I do that, however, I will speak to the meat of the volume.

From Eternity to Here is actually formulated as three books in one volume, each section dealing with a separated but intimately related topic concerning the purpose of God. Personally, I was most captivated by the opening part, dealing with the Bride of Christ. The typology Viola uses—while not new or unique—is portrayed from a perspective to which I am unaccustomed. So much of what we talk about in church circles concerning Christ is His grace, and rightly so. But Viola's presentation of a Christ who is passionate about His bride, and Who will stop at nothing in pursuing and winning her takes the idea of the work of salvation to new heights for me.

I don't think we really understand just how much God—through Christ—loves us.

The other two sections, speaking on the house of God, and the body of Christ/family of God take this passionate pursuit to their final conclusion, which is just the beginning of the story.

In the forward, Viola intimates that much of what he's written before is an outgrowth of his personal theology presented in From Eternity to Here. While I've not read any of his other works, I understand some of them have been somewhat controversial at times. I can't speak to that issue other than to say maybe some wouldn't be so critical if they read this book, and read the heart of the man who wrote the previous volumes.

Now, for my thoughts on the Afterward. I may be wrong here, but I think the theology presented in the Afterward might be the centerpiece of Viola's thoughts woven throughout the book. He speaks on what is being termed "deep ecclesiology," an idea shared with fellow emerging church friends Andrew Jones and Brian McLaren. "Deep ecclesiology" may be understood as "underneath our varying models of church is a basic underlying reality that should be manifested in our historical and social settings." Basically, what is it at the heart of our churches that make them Ekklesia?

I find myself relating to much of what he shares as personal history when he tells of his background in evangelical revivalist theology. I grew up in that camp that taught that the only reason God leaves you around after salvation is for you to be a witness. Like Viola, I don't disagree that we should live and act as Christ's messengers to the world, but I always felt that there was more to my relationship with Christ than being a witnessing drone.

Viola goes on to speak about his further experiences with the "signs and wonders" camp, and his further disillusionment after finding so many servants of God filled up with themselves. Eventually he learned that "those who have genuine power with God do not talk much about it. And they certainly don't talk about themselves a whole lot either."

Ironically, Viola's next camping experience was with another group I'm very familiar with, the eschatology camp. I resonate so much with his statement, "But I made a discovery. That all of those hours I spent pouring over Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation, trying to put the end-time puzzle together, did not help me one iota to come to know my Lord better. It was largely an academic, intellectual exercise. And a sterile one at that." Ouch! I've lived that one.

Long story short, after moving from one camp to another, and another and another, Viola came to realize that, while all those facets within Christianity and Biblical theology are worthy and have their place, what he really needed more than any study or movement or doctrine was Jesus. He found he needed Him.

"Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all divine things. My eyes were opened to see that Jesus Christ is salvation. Jesus Christ is the power of God. Jesus Christ is holiness. Jesus Christ is doctrine. Jesus Christ is the living incarnation of everything that is spiritual."

See, this is what I'm talking about when I stated earlier that the critics might be less critical if they were to read this work. Regardless of whatever our feelings or personal "convictions" or beliefs about the how of church should take a far back seat to the Who of church. Gathering around Jesus Christ—Savior, Lord, Master, Healer, God, Friend, Husband—is the central purpose of why we gather. To make this Christ known to one another and to those outside the physical walls of the buildings in which we gather is to not only be a witness to the world, but it is to share a deep mystery beyond comprehension, a treasure beyond worth, and a God beyond compare.

_______________________

OTHER BLOGS PARTICIPATING IN THE "FROM ETERNITY TO HERE" BLOG CIRCUIT

Today (June 9^th), the following blogs are discussing Frank Viola's new bestselling book "From Eternity to Here" (David C. Cook, 2009). The book just hit the May CBA Bestseller List. Some are posting Q & A with Frank; others are posting full reviews of the book. To read more reviews and order a copy at a 33% discount, go to Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Rediscovering-Ageless-Purpose/dp/1434768708/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233609867&sr=1-4

For more resources, such as downloadable audios, the free Discussion Guide, the Facebook Group page, etc. go to the official website: http://www.FromEternitytoHere.org

Enjoy the reviews and the Q and A:

—–

Out of Ur - http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/05/viola.html

Shapevine - www.Shapevine.com (June newsletter)

Brian Eberly - http://www.brianeberly.com

DashHouse.com - http://www.DashHouse.com/

Greg Boyd - http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/

Vision Advance - http://vision2advance.blogspot.com/

David Flowers - http://ddflowers.wordpress.com

Kingdom Grace - http://kingdomgrace.wordpress.com

Captain's Blog - http://www.captainestes.blogspot.com/

Christine Sine - http://godspace.wordpress.com

Darin Hufford - The Free Believers Network - www.freebelievers.com

Zoecarnate - http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com

Church Planting Novice - www.churchplantingnovice.wordpress.com

Staying Focused - http://kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com/

Take Your Vitamin Z - www.takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com

Jeff Goins - http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org

Bunny Trails - http://bunny-trails.blogspot.com

Matt Cleaver - http://mattcleaver.com

Jason T. Berggren - http://blog.jasonberggren.com/

Simple Church - http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/

Emerging from Montana - http://wordofmouthministries.blogspot.com/

Parable Life - http://www.theparablelife.blogspot.com

Oikos Australia - http://www.oikos.org.au/blog/

West Coast Witness - www.WestCoastWitness.com

Keith Giles - http://www.Keith.Giles.com

Consuming Worship - http://www.consumingworship.org

Tasha Via - www.tashavia.blogspot.com

Andrew Courtright - www.andrewcourtright.blogspot.com

ShowMeTheMooneys! - http://www.showmethemooneys.com/

Leaving Salem, Blog of Ronnie McBrayer - http://leavingsalem.wordpress.com/

Jason Coker - pastoralia.missionaltribe.org

From Knowledge to Wisdom - http://isthistheway.typepad.com/

Home Brewed Christianity - http://www.homebrewedchristianity.com

Dispossessed - http://kblog.kevinjbowman.com

Dandelion Seeds - http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Dandelionseeds

David Brodsky's Blog- "Flip the tape Deck" - http://flipthetapedeck.blogspot.com/

Chaordic Journey - http://jeffrhodes.wordpress.com

Renee Martin - http://www.reneemartinmusic.com/profiles/blog/list

Bob Kuhn - http://organicchurchnola.wordpress.com/

Living with Freaks: www.livingwithfreaks.com

Real Worship - http://therealworshipleader.com

Fervent Worship - http://ferventworship.blogspot.com

Julie Ferwerda Blog - www.JulieFerwerda.com / www.OneMillionArrows.com

What's With Christina?! - http://w2christina.blogspot.com

Irreligious Canuck - http://www.irreligiouscanuck.com

This day on the journey - http://guychmieleski.blogspot.com

Live and Move: Thoughts on Authentic Christianity - http://liveandmove.blogspot.com/

Spiritual Journey With God - http://www.elvineve.blogspot.com/

Dries Conje - http://www.echurch.co.za / http://www.thejesusfeed.com / http://www.bookdisciple.com.

Journey with Others - http://journeywithothers.blogspot.com

On Now to the Third Level - www.080808onnowto.blogspot.com

Christine Moers - www.welcometomybrain.net

Breaking Point - http://marybethstockdale.wordpress.com

Hand to the Plough - http://www.handtotheplough.com.au

Jon Reid - http://jonreid.blogs.com/oneanother/welcome-pilgrim.html

Weblight - www.blog.worldwidewebservices.se

D. L. Webster - http://gzmproductions.com/dlwebster

Searching for the Whole-Hearted Life - wholeheartedlife.blogspot.com

Follow the leader. You've been doing this one since your were a little kid. There's a reason your band has a leader. In order to keep everything from flying apart, there has to be one person who decides arrangement, tempo, voicings, etc. If you can't follow your leader, find another band to play with, or start your own.

Listen to the drums. Assuming your drummer is following the leader, set yourself in sync with the drums. Your strumming pattern should be complementary to the drummer's beat, and your tempo should match theirs exactly. At times the basic rhythmic feel of the song is set by the rhythm guitar and the drums will complement you. In this case, make sure you know what you're supposed to be playing. One of the best things you can do to help your build your rhythm and tempo control is learn the basics of drumming yourself.

Less is more. This is not originally my idea, but think of the band a pie, and each of you have a piece of it. Fit yourself into the pie, and don't take more than your fair share. This doesn't mean you will always have equal parts. Sometimes the keys will be dominant, sometimes the lead, sometimes you. Know what your portion is and share it with the band. Also, don't think you need to play all the time. Sometimes the best thing you can do as a rhythm guitarist is drop out of a section, or even an entire song. Similarly, always remember that in in a worship band scenario, the instruments are there to carry—not bury—the vocal line. There's a reason we call it congregational singing.

Learn to make dynamic contrasts. One of the biggest skills that will help you sound musical is to learn how to play loud, soft and everywhere in between. Anybody can learn three chords and bang away on the guitar, but it takes a special touch to continue to play with a consistent strum pattern and tempo while playing softly. Learn how to control your strumming so you can alternate between loud and soft on the turn of a dime.

Learn some "fake" chords. One of the first things that helped me break through the initial chore of playing guitar was a friend showing me some easy alternates to some basic chords. I'm not advocating never learning the proper fingering of chords, but sometimes learning the easy alternate can give you the confidence boost and the quick ability to play along. You will also notice that many of the modern worship songs don't use textbook chord structures anyway. There's a whole lot of inversions and "2" chords thrown around. See if you can learn these alternate voicings, not just for making your playing easier, but to also broaden the sound you can contribute to the band.

For example, my favorite set of "fake" chords is what I call The Slide. My friend showed me this cheat during my first couple of weeks of playing, and I can say I still use it on nearly a weekly basis. Nearly any song that can be played in E (capoed or not) can be played with this sliding set of chords.

You can play an "A2" with just two fingers instead of three. Personally, I actually like this sound more than the regular A voicing. From there, you can just slide up a couple of frets, throw down your index finger on the fifth string on the second fret and you've got a variation of "Bsus."

Now, keep that finger orientation, slide up two more frets and you've got a variation on "C#m7." Keep that same fingering yet again, slide up three frets, and you're back to an "E5" chord. One more addition. Go back down to the "A2" chord, wrap your thumb around to hold down the E string and mute the A string. This is a variation on "F#m7."

Next—not tomorrow—I'll share a bit more about this slide, and show you one of my other favorite chord sets. Also, I share with you what some of my tweeps on Twitter had to say when I asked them what they looked for in a rhythm guitarist for their own worship bands.

If you have any tips or tricks you'd like to add, please feel free to comment.

Overall, I thought the day was a good day. The band did very well, in that we seemed to flow together really easily. The crowd response was good, especiall to our repeat of the new I Am Yours.

And, I know I still owe you part two of my rhythm guitar post. Don't worry, it's coming, just not as quickly as I had hoped. Lots going on here on the blog this week. There's still time to enter the book giveaway, and I'll be reviewing two book in the next couple of days. Here's the list:

• At the Cross // Watts & Hudson (traditional)
• You Are So Good to Me // Pasley, Pasley, Chaffer, & Chaffer (Third Day style)
• I Am Yours // Michael Neale
• All of My Days // Mark Stevens
• My Savior's Love // Charles H. Gabriel (modern worship style)

This post is part of Sunday Setlists at FredMcKinnon.com.

Instead, I want for you to all go over to my friend Brent's blog and read his fantastic post. Even wondered what it's like for most music ministers/worship leaders out there? Go read this post, and all the comments that follow. Brent wrote what's in my heart. Click the graphic above to visit his blog.

I'll see about getting part 2 on rhythm guitar up tomorrow.