Rice Noodles

This is a strange entry.

For the past couple of weeks, our family has been on an exclusion diet. One of those diets where you cut back down to one basic food group that cleans out your system and then you start adding things back in one thing at a time. That way you can see if there is a certain kind of food that gives you troubles.

Anyway, this past week my wife cooked rice noodles. Sort of like angel hair pasta, only made from rice. I recall eating this before when I was in Kungming, China at a restaurant called "Over Bridge Rice Noodles." Great place to eat. But I digress...

So she cooks these noodles and no one in the house likes them but me. I was out of the house at the time and they got shoved to the side before I could get at them. So they left this big pot of rice noodles sitting out for the afternoon. Dry (drained of water).

By the time I got home, they were still edible, just very cold. So they sat there for a while because we just didn't get around to throwing them away. By that evening, we assumed they would be pretty bad and starting to turn green. Not so. These noodles still seemed fresh. They also seemed rather bouncy.

Turns out rice noodles take on an elastic nature when left to the elements. They begin to look somewhat like those small rubber bands you put on your braces. Only these are long.

They are still sitting in that pot by the sink. It's turned into a family experiment now. Every time we go by, we grab a handful and drop it back into the pot to watch it bounce. Three days and still bouncing. Still looks fresh. Not gonna eat it though...

Bouncy trouncy flouncy pouncy fun fun fun fun fun.

Stream Light

As many of the readers of my blog are aware, Stream in the Desert is an annual event that Golf Course Rd Church has hosted for many years now. Due to the massive amount of construction happening on our campus, there will not be a Stream for 2007 (rather obvious, since we are past the usual date).

Fortunately, we have an opportunity to help people scratch that itch for a great worship event. On Saturday evening September 15, Golf Course Rd Church will be offering Stream Light. Ken Young will be leading this free worship event. For those of you who have been to Stream before, this will be a 2-hour mini-Stream... something like a creek. Not as big, but still flowing.

So if you live in West Texas or Eastern New Mexico, plan to join us Saturday, Sept. 15 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM. It should be a great evening of praise and worship.

GCR Day at the Ballpark

They're not going to invite us back.

Some of you may recall a post this past Easter about the snow fiasco at the Ballpark. Every year we host "Easter at the Ballpark," a city-wide worship service at the AA Midlands Rockhounds ball park. And this year it snowed on Easter. The event was canceled, as was the game.

So to make up for it, the Rockhounds set up GCR Night this past Sunday night. We sold tickets at half price to our church. About 4:00, we started getting light rain.

We made it to the bottom of the 2nd inning and then the bottom dropped out. Noah showed up. I actually saw an ark in left field.

But I bought a hat!

Pitch Pipecast: Episode 8

I have just posted #8 of the Pipecast. It's a conversation with Josh Wheeler of Legacy. They are a new-yet-not-new group out of Lubbock, TX. I included some songs from their new self-titled release which came out last week.

You can catch that podcast at pitchpipepro.com or download it directly using this link.

Enjoy!

Oxymoron

This past Sunday our minister used a few oxymorons to make a point in his sermon. Here are a few of them with my most favorite at the end.

Jumbo Shrimp.

Civil Litigation.

Fairly Accurate.

Negative Growth.

Nothing Much.

Pure Evil.

Short Sermons.

And my most favorite had to do with a bit of software many people know...

Microsoft Works.

There you go Lana, how 'bout that one?

Holy is the Lord

A friend turned me on to this YouTube video today. Someone (user name is gregmuzac) has taken the song Holy is the Lord from Andrew Peterson and set it footage taken mostly from TNT's movie about the life of Abraham. It is a fabulous video. Well worth seeing. And here it is...

Microshaft Hat Pt.2

You may have seen one of my earlier posts entitled "Microshaft Hat." I'm not supposed to hate anyone, so hat is one letter short. Anyway, I'd sworn to myself that I was not going to buy another Windows machine. I have a Mac Pro at my office and I love it.

And then my son's computer went on the fritz. Yes, it was running XP, but it was also glitchy when dual booted with Kubuntu. It's a 7 year old white box so it was time. I wanted to give him my computer and get me a Mac. But the money was just not there yet. I can't drop a grand or so.

Then I found a good deal ($330) on an Emachine at Best Buy. Running Vista of all things. I had to have something since school starts soon and my son needs a computer for his work. So, he got my 10 month old Dell and I am writing this from a new Vista Emachine.

AAAAARGH!

Now I need to start saving money for a Macbook. Everyone needs a laptop. Right? I need to start working on an angle to justify that one...

Pitch Pipecast Episode 7 (Acafest Special)

Episode 7 of the Pitch Pipecast is now available. Recorded live at Acafest 2007 in Nashville, it features a round table discussion with several artists: Brian Wiersma of Vocal Union, Danice Sweet of Revival, Lanier Stevens of Sounds of Glory, Robin Brannon of Acappella and Melissa Lancaster of Durant.

You can find it at PitchPipePro.com or as always, you can download it directly from this link.

Movie Review: Evan Almighty

The Conservative Mostly Bald Guy strikes again! This time the object of his attention is the new Steve Carrell movie Evan Almighty. If you want to skip to the end, he (me) gives it 4 out of 5 baldies. Now go watch and find out what else he says...

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.

Pitch Pipecast: Episode 3

I have posted the 2nd half of the interview with Alan Beard of True Lift Ministries. You can find it at pitchpipepro.com. You'll also hear news about Rescue Ministries, Acafest, and a preview of episode 4 (I feel like George Lucas).

Or, as always, you can download the Pipecast right now directly with this link.

Excelsior!

Pitch Pipecast: Episode 2

I have just posted episode 2 of the Pitch Pipecast. I had a great conversation with Alan Beard of True Lift Ministries in Thousand Oaks, CA. Since 2003, Alan and Jeremy Johnson have joined forces to deliver a truly excellent singing ministry. True Lift has released five albums, three of which are excellent renditions of old and cherished hymns. Our conversation was right at 30 minutes, so I decided to make this Pipecast a 2-parter.

As always, you can find the Pipecast at pitchpipepro.com. Or, you can download the podcast directly from this link. Enjoy!

~Gary

Ashley of Narnia

Here's a picture of my daughter, Ashley. We're not sure, but we think she may have been one of the Ice Queen's dwarves in the Chronicles of Narnia. Either that or maybe she's actually Stumpy or Bumpy from Snow White. Or maybe she's related to the Amish folk from central Missouri where my Mom's side of the family comes from.

Or maybe she went a little haywire with her ponytails on the last day of school.

Nah.... I vote for Stumpy.