scottkeller.org

Check it out!

Labels: Sheri Carr, Varietal Records

Here's a few photos of our night at Augusta Vineyard Church!!

Reese LeRoy and Chad Nichols (pastor and worship pastor) were our gracious hosts for the evening. The whole night was just great, and the people in Augusta like to get up and dance!!













View the entire photo set on Flickr here.

Labels: Events

Fearless Now, my sister's solo project on Varietal Records, dropped this morning on iTunes.

Christianity Today also reviewed the album here.

Nice.

Labels: Music, Varietal Records

Melisa and I are in the Peach State this weekend, playing guitar and keyboard for my sister's CD release weekend, and we are having a blast. The west coast contingency of the band took the red eye out of Seatac and LAX on Friday night to make it out for the weekend.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

It was a fun trip, because the Californians got to meet up with Rhett(who flew from Seattle) on a connection in Phoenix. We all had to work on Friday, so it was a long day. Thankfully Drew (bass) brought a bag of those sugar-coated orange slices (see picture), which kept us sugar-loaded and chatty. Melisa totally loved the flight from Phoenix to Atlanta, because US Airways showed "27 Dresses", which is that Katherine Heigl movie that she's been so wanting to see.

We got into Alanta airport about 1:15 ET, and we were all hungry. My sis and my parents trucked a couple of their cars down to the airport to pick up four hungry west-coasters and a bunch-o-gear. By this time it was 2AM, and nothing was open. We tried to find a McDonalds or Wendy's that was open to grab a burger, but nothing was open. After a half-an-hour of trying, we gave up and went to Mom & Dad's place in Buford. We were all excited to get home and chatted and ate ham sandwiches until about 3:30 AM. I think I fell asleep at 3:45! Wow, what a long day.

The alarms started ringing at 8:15 AM or so, and the house was bustling with people hooking up their gear, restringing guitars, and sucking down bagels and coffee. We were off early to Sheri's place to meet her and Joshua, pack some more gear and merch, and head on down the road to make a stop at a lunch-party that Melisa's cousins, aunts, and uncles threw for us. It was a blast to see all the Barrett folks again.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

The party was cut short when the road manager (that's me) put his foot down and said we had to leave or we were going to get behind schedule for the sound check. After about 23 hugs and 12 pictures, we left for the Marietta Vineyard.

The soundcheck was a little bit of a process. We were a lot louder than their usual worship team, but Chris, their soundman, is a total pro and dialed the stage in for us. We all felt comfortable and ready for a great night of music, worship, and prayer.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

The Marietta Vineyard folks were just so wonderful to us. Dian Thiel is their worship pastor, and for the Live Oak folks that read my blog, we sing one of her songs a lot, it's titled, "If You Say Go". Yep, I knew you knew it. A special thanks to Cathy, Chris, Diane and Tom for all of their effort to make the event go well, and to take special care of the entire band.

The evening was so wonderful, and God really blessed our nite. The high points for me were "Shout Aloud", "Fearless Now", and the ending song, "Sing Your Praise" where we were joined on stage by about a dozen group-vocalists that recorded the group-vocal tracks on Sheri's CD. I hope someone got some pictures of that, because it was really cool.

After the concert, the folks at Marietta sang "Happy Birthday" to Drew (May 1st) and I (May 6th) because we are near our birthdays. Sheri's record officially drops in the US on May 6th, which I think is really cool.

This morning Melisa and I are going to the Methodist church where my parents are pastoring. We are going to lead a few songs for them this morning. Then we are meeting up with the rest of the band for the two-hour journey to Augusta for another worship concert! Phew! I hope Drew has more of those candy-coated orange slices in his backpack!

More pictures and info about August coming up on Monday. Please do check back in!

Labels: Events, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music, Worship Leading

The biggest, most anticipated Indie-rock release of the year is out and Robert Ham of Relevant sat down with Ben Gibbard to talk about the new record. The interview talked about the early days of the band in Bellingham, WA which made me sigh a little bit and reminisce about living in Washington, and my wanna-be-indie-rock days.




If you haven't heard the single for the new record, you probably haven't been listening to KROQ or your local Alterna-rock station. The new song is amazing, and gives me confidence that the new record "Narrow Stairs", will be amazing.

Labels: Music

Did anybody out there see this week's American Home Makeover? It was a 2-hour episode chronicaling the new home, group living area, and community meeting space for a Vineyard pastor who is ministering in the worst parts of Albuquerque, NM.

It was pretty awesome, although they definitely were careful not to use the name of Jesus anywhere in the episode. But still, the amazing things the the Martinez family are doing there is totally "Kingdom" stuff.

Great episode, I kept getting choked up, knowing how blessed the Martinez family must have felt to finally have their own dream house. Amazing stuff.

Labels: Leisure

THEMATIC WORSHIP
is a service where a single aspect
of God’s nature or work
is focused on and celebrated,
with the various elements of the service
chosen to support and develop that theme.
-Ron Man, worship.com

Ron Man has a detailed article that gives some great insight on "Thematic Worship", which he describes as tailoring our liturgy, specifically in songs, that highlight a single theme or characteristic of God.

It can be difficult, as a worship leader, to carry a theme throughout a set of songs that flows not only musically, but has a consistent theme or message. However, Ron challenges worship leaders to choose songs that, combined, express a single, cohesive theme.

You can check out the article at blog.worship.com.

Labels: Worship Leading

Northpoint Church has a helpful video on how to join the worship team at your local church. I think I may incorporate some of these ideas into our evaluation of new band candidates in the future at our church.

David, pay close attention!

Labels: Worship Leading

My friend, Jonathan, taught this morning at Live Oak Vineyard on Psalm 23, and truly trusting in the Lord. It really made me think a lot about my "faith" in God versus my "faith" in my job, my apartment, my family, my country, and myself. And on the average, I honestly think I put most of my faith in temporary things. In America, we have so much "security", or should I say "the feeling of security" in our affluence and resources.

My wife, who is much wiser and more in tune with God than I am, often tells me to "Trust God". It's a theme I hear over and over. I am a worrier. I admit that. It's hard for me not to . And I find that I worry more when the bank account is empty, or the future seems uncertain.

Jonathan's message and the message of Psalm 23 hits home for me today. It challenges me to trust God with everything. I hope to rise to that challenge.

Labels: Christian Life

It must be the weekend, because my brain is worked. I had a big, multi-tasking week at work, and I rewarded my hard work with a quick nap on the couch when I got home. I need to recharge a bit before heading out on the town with the unofficial "Three Saints And A Sinner" fan club tonight. The cool cats are playing at "the Gem" tonite, and it should be a good time.

Tomorrow my wifey comes home, and I'm sure she has a lot of great stories to tell me of her trip. I'm pretty sure all she will need her blanket and the Tivo remote on Saturday night. She's got a lot of American Idol and The Bachelor to catch up on.

I finally got a listen to "God Of This City", the latest cd from Passion/Six Steps Records. It was a solid record, but not the best they've ever done. But wow, "Let God Arise" and "God Of This City" are two amazing songs, and I hope to put these into my rotation of songs at Live Oak.



I've also been listening to Bloc Party's latest disc. Good stuff. Lots of energy, and I love the guitar sounds. The next thing I'm going to demo is Leeland's latest.

The weather was HOT today. I stepped out of my office at about 11 AM today, and it was like a furnace blast! Earlier in the week I was awakened by cold air blowing in the window, and now it's about 85 in my room. It finally felt like summer is right around the corner.

I had better get ready to head out to the rock show. I'll be live from the Gem on my twitter feed. You can check out updates here.

Labels: Life, Music

Wow, did The Office return from the writer's strike with a good episode, or what? My buddy, Steve, described it as "the most awkward episode ever", and I'd have to agree.



I don't want to spoil it for everyone, but the episode revolves around a dinner party at Michael and Jan's condo, and it was all seriously "over-the-top".

Now Grey's Anatomy returns in a week!

Labels: Leisure

Labels: Music, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music

The Dodgers are sputtering early in the season at 4-5. The skipper has got some work to do!

Labels: Sports

While Melisa has been out in New Orleans this week, I've done a few projects. As you can see, I changed my blog layout. I was kind of bored with the narrow, minimalist look. Now I'm overloading everyone with info, including my Twitter feed on the right side. I did that especially for my buddy, Steve, who is a huge fan of tweets! Ha, just kidding.

I've kept myself busy working a few late nights at work. Monday I pretty much was worthless after work, and just was a couch potato. Tuesday I gathered up a couple of guys from my home group to hang out, and had some good times talking about "The Vineyard", worship, marriage, not being married, church planting, and stuff like that. We didn't solve anything, but that's ok.

Tonight, a couple from the church took me in and fed me. It was the first time I ate any vegetables in the last 48 hours so that is good.

Melisa called, and she is excited about what God is doing on her trip. She said that her body is tuckered out from all of the hard work. She's been working with pastor Floyd and the team to put in a bunch of flooring in New Orleans at a house that is being remodeled after Katrina. Anyway, I've mentioned her blog, but if you haven't read it yet, go see it at http://melisakeller.tumblr.com.



Big plans for Friday. Three Saints and a Sinner are playing a show at Gem City in Monrovia. Join us!

Labels: Christian Life

This is my beautiful wife, Melisa, installing flooring at a house in the New Orleans area. I'm totally plugging her weblog of her trip and work there.

Check out her blog here.

Check out here photos of the ninth ward here. They are unbelievable. The damage is still not repaired in so many places.

Labels: Christian Life

I got a call tonight from our guest worship leaders, Daniel and Nicole. They are having some car trouble tonite, and may not be able to make it to church tomorrow. I'm not sure what to do right now.



Our set was supposed to be:

• Hosanna (Beloche/Brown)
• Mercy Is Falling (Ruis)
• He Reigns (Newsboys)
• Something Happens (Vineyard Music S. Africa)
• God Of All Splendor (Brent Helming)

Danial and Nicole were supposed to lead three of these songs, so I'm not sure which ones to replace right now. Something Happens is a song I've never led, so I'd probably need to do something different.

I guess I'll pray about it in the morning after I take Melisa to the airport at some awful early-morning hour.

Labels: Worship Leading

My beautiful wife, Melisa, will be taking a trip to Kenner, LA to help out with Katrina relief tomorrow. You can follow her blog about the trip at http://melisakeller.tumblr.com.

Labels: Christian Life

Yesterday I got busy at work, and didn't take a proper lunch break. It was almost 2PM, and I was tired and hungry. I wanted something cheap and fast, so I headed over to McDonald's to take a couple of hits off of their $1 menu.

As I pulled up to the Drive-Thru, I was greeted by the nice gentleman who asked me if I would like to try an iced coffee. I paused, and said yes! Then he asked me several questions, and I just couldn't understand the fellow. His accent sounded like he was maybe Pakistani, I'm not sure. Once I figured out that he was asking me if I wanted Regular, Vanilla, or Caramel. I asked for Regular and pulled up to the next window. The nice guy with the headset took my money, and seemed kind of angry at me that I couldn't understand his English. Sorry buddy, I tried my best.

I pulled up to the second window, and peered in to see how they were making my beverage. It looked like it was pre-mix. Hmmm, I couldn't really tell. But I expected that "instant" flavor. I slammed my $1 fries and double-cheese burger. That's a $2 deal that is an unbeatable deal. I then unwrapped the straw and got ready to drink my $1.89 iced coffee.

I expected the worst, but my first sip was somewhat surprising. Hmm, I doesn't have that horrible 7-11 instant flavor. Not bad. Ok, I know it's not a Starbucks Americano with four onces of half-n-half, but it wasn't bad. It's about half the price of a Starbucks iced latte, and probably at least half as good. The coffee flavor was a little bit on the light side. If it had a stronger coffee flavor, it would be even better.

All in all, I won't be driving to McDonald's specifically to get iced coffee, but if I happen to be at McDonald's, I might try it again.

Labels: Life

The Internet must be open during the Beijing Olympics. That was the message a top-ranking International Olympic Committee official delivered Tuesday to Beijing organizers during the first of three days of meetings - the last official sessions between IOC inspectors and the Chinese hosts before the games begin in just over four months.

Beijing routinely blocks Chinese access to some foreign news Web sites and blogs, a practice it has stepped up since rioting broke out over two weeks ago in Tibet.

-AP Sports Writer, Stephen Wade

China's cramping on NBC's television coverage seems to have the International Olympic Committee worried that their communications will be hampered by the Communist government. I guess they want to make sure their twitter tweets aren't going to be censored!

Labels: News

Que bella!

Labels: Whips

Saturday night's Coliseum crowd of 115,300 to see the exhibition between the Red Sox and the Dodgers is now listed under the heading 'Largest Attendance At A Baseball Game'.
-Tom Singer / MLB.com

Labels: News