Pitch Pipecast Episode 6

The new Pipecast is up! This week I interviewed Wes McKinzie, former bass for AVB and current director of New Reign at Oklahoma Christian University. You can take a look at this Pipecast and previous Pipes at PitchPipePro.com. Or as always, you can download the episode direct from this link. Enjoy!

Acafest Podcast

Acafest is almost upon us. I am looking forward to seeing many old friends. I had intended to take a little handheld recorder with me and do some interviewing for the Pitch Pipecast. While that will still happen, another opportunity has presented itself.

I mentioned to Byron (the director) how fun it would be to host and record a round table discussion at Acafest. Before I knew what had happened, I find out it's happening. Twice.

On Thursday and Friday night at 10:00 P.M. I will host an open mike roundtable discussion with many of the artists who will be present at Acafest. This will be considered a late-night event (read: post-schedule printing and after the last event of the night) and each evening will be recorded for broadcast on the Pitch Pipecast. It will happen onstage in the Allen Arena where the evening's concert will have just concluded.

So if you are going to Acafest, mark this down on your schedule. If not, look for it in the coming weeks on the Pipecast. Should be a lot of fun.

Real Passion

This past Sunday, our Pulpit Minister delivered one of those sermons that just leaves you saying, "wow." We had initially planned this Sunday's theme around the idea that God has given us our passion and we should return it to him, or at least honor him with our passions. The text came from Col. 3:23-24, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

About Thursday afternoon, I found out that Ronnie had taken a slightly different direction with this idea. What came out of it was a barn-burner of a sermon. If you have 20 minutes, I would suggest giving it a listen. This is one of those sermons every preacher wished he could preach and not have to worry about repercussions. You can hear it by clicking this link. Enjoy...

Pitch Pipecast Episode 5

The newest Pipecast is now available. It is an interview with Gary Miller of the Vocal Union as we preview their new release, Just Like the Old Days. The album will be available in late June, but you get to hear six songs from the album early... and only on the Pipecast!

You can find the Pipecast (and previous post as well) at PitchPipePro.com, or you can download the file directly from this link. I hope you enjoy this sneak peak preview of the new VU album.

Miscellaneous Ramblings & Tony Brown

Today is Friday and I am at work. I am the Friday MOD (Minister on Duty) for this week. That means I had yesterday off. I spent the day setting up our new above-ground Intex swimming pool. I am amazed at the quality of these pools. We had an in-ground pool back in Corpus and the kids took serious advantage of it. But here in Midland we have nada.

Anyway, this is a 12x24 above ground with ladder, pump and all the accoutrement. My kids were so excited about it that they were in the pool when it had about an inch of water in it. They spent the next 5 hours in the pool as it filled (it took 10 hours, but they were worn out). And today my son proudly wears the trophy his marathon swim earned... he is red as a brick and can hardly move. That's two weeks in a row he's had a bad burn. Last week he got lobsterfied in the mountains. I think he's learned a painful lesson.

I just received an advance pre-release copy of Vocal Union's new album Just Like the Old Days. This is good stuff. I will be doing a Pipecast very soon featuring the music from the album with Gary Miller adding color commentary. I'll save my comments for then.

I've heard from Tony Brown of AVB and Watershed fame. He is currently searching for a position as a worship minister. I know the feeling of needing a job and not knowing where to look. If anyone reading this blog can point Tony toward a ministry position, please drop him a line at "tonybrown3 at mac dot com" (I printed out the email instead of writing it in normal form so spambots won't pick it up, hopefully).

Speaking of Worship Ministers, I've read on Keith Lancaster's blog that he and his son Anthony are now co-leaders at Farragut Church of Christ in Knoxville, TN. I think that's fabulous. I only hope that I can someday give my son on-the-job ministry training like that.

Enough for today. Have a good one...

Of Water and Reunions

I am back from vacation. My family spent the week in Glorieta, NM at the Glorieta Conference Center. We had a family reunion scheduled for the last half of the week, so we went in a few days early and had some fun family time.

It was not overly restful. As most family reunions go, this one was packed with stuff and very little sleep. We came home from our vacation needing a vacation to recover. Such is life.

Ashley, my 13-yr old daughter, was baptized on Saturday, June 9, in Glorieta. We knew this was going to happen, but I did not contact the conference center until Friday night to find out about using their baptistery. Here's is the actual conversation as best I remember it...

"Hi, one of the people in our group would like to be baptized tomorrow and I need to see about using your baptistery. Who do I need to see about that?"

"I"m sorry sir, we don't have one."

"Excuse me?"

"We don't have a baptistery on campus."

*pause*

"You mean this is the largest Baptist encampment in the southwestern United States and you don't have a baptistery?"

"No sir..." pause... "I guess I ought to put that on the suggestion list."

"I would think so..."

So I spent Saturday morning driving around Glorieta and Pecos looking for a church that might be open and allow us to use their baptistery. We ended up just down the road at a little church building that seats about 100 if they all hold their breath, the Glorieta Baptist Church. The water was pumped in that afternoon at our request and was straight out of the mountain. It was so cold we walked in and lost our breath. Ashley will never forget her baptism. She came out white as snow and blue as ice.

Speaking of reunions, for those of you still reading, I have another one coming up soon. July 5-7 are the dates for Acafest 2007, the International Acappella Christian Music Festival. I will be teaching a few classes during this week. The event will culminate on Saturday evening with the 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert of the group Acappella.

For those of you unaware, Acappella is a singing group I used to travel with. For eleven years.

Anyway, I am not completely sure of the entire line-up, but I do know who I'll be singing with. Keith Lancaster and Rodney Britt will certainly sing together, and I will get to sing with my brothers, Wayburn Dean, George Pendergrass and Duane Adams. I'm looking forward to it, although at this point I have absolutely no idea what we are singing. That should be interesting...

Connor Brown

This has been a tough week. I have not posted anything mainly because I did not know what to say about it all. Many of you may already be familiar with this story, but for those who are not... Tod Brown is the Executive Minister at Golf Course Rd Church where I am the Worship Minister. This past Monday, Memorial Day, he and his family were heading back from Brownwood where they had spent the holiday. No one is quite sure how it happened, but somehow the suburban hit the culvert and flipped and rolled.

Their oldest daughter, Bailey, was severely injured and has since undergone several surgical procedures. She has a very long way to go in recovery. The saddest part is that their 13-year old middle son, Connor, did not survive the wreck. He was thrown from the car when it started flipping and then was hit by the car itself. I will not go into details here.

The family has not been able to return to Midland until Bailey could travel. This evening (Sunday) they held visitation at the church gym for everyone to express their love. Hundreds of people lined up to love on the Browns. Not only Golf Course folks, but people from all over the country. I met a man from Focus on the Family. Several folks from Nashville have come down. And tomorrow at the funeral we expect many more people from outside of Midland. The Brown family has touched many people.

I will share more later about this amazing family. I even wrote a song for them. I hope to share that with you sometime soon as well. Keep Tod and Lee Ann Brown in your prayers along with their children Bailey, Hutton, and Reagan as they continue to deal with the loss of Connor.

Pitch Pipecast: Episode 4

Episode 4 of the Pipecast is now online. I had a great conversation with Jordan House of Acappella. You can find the Pitch Pipecast at pitchpipepro.com, or you can download the file directly from this link.