The workouts are feeling great now!
Had a date with my daughter last night...she is growing up.
Starting orchestra rehearsals for Christmas tonight.
The next few weeks will be slammed!
Phil joined the Y
Phil is sore
Phil's not 16 anymore
Please lift up my friend, Simon and His family in England. His father just had a massive stroke.
To join him in his prayers, here is today's post.
http://shhhmusic.spaces.live.com/
My publisher, Dave sent me a link to download the musical yesterday. I was on a staff retreat so it was late when Jodie and I got to my office at the church to listen to it. The first time through I was listening to the mix and running the recording process through my mind, remembering the different parts and analyzing the details. I think I had to get that out of the way. This morning I woke up at about 4:30, talked to the Lord about it and just listened to it like I was hearing it for the first time. I let the message soak in and just worshiped with it. I wept through the whole thing. So moving, So triumphant! My heart soared. I am so grateful to You, Jesus! It all belongs to You.
Highlights of yesterday
Lunch with Sue and the Wajonians (Write About Jesus Workshop people)
Travis Cotrell's session on inter-generation worship. Travis's heart really comes across in his teaching...a lot of wisdom here.
Hearing the song competition finals...Keep an eye out for Shelly Johnson. Great writer, singer, piano player, arranger. She took 2 first places in the semi-pro division. Give it up for Christopher Kai who placed in the competition with "Truly Jesus".
I managed to write a song, and turn it in for an upcoming kids project.
Eddie DeGarmo (head of EMI CMG) did a great workshop on all the changes going on in music industry. It's amazing the statistics he can cite off the top of his head.
I played another round of miniture golf with Jubi. Her form is coming along.
The concert was great last night. A little more acoustic. Shane and Shane (love these guys), Bethany Dillon, Joy Williams and Ben Glover. Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) is now in a trio called "Fiction Family" with Shawn Walker (guitarist). Such a cool, folky, slighty bluegrassy vibe. What melodies, progressions, and lyrical crafting this guy can come up with! Such a fresh sound. Hope they put out a CD soon.
I got to meet Chris Sligh (American Idol) last night at Cafe Estes and talk with him for a while about his new recording. Tony Wood wrote a song with him on the project. He has a #7 on the charts now. He is singing in the concert tonight.
This is the fourth day of Music in the Rockies. This year has been a little more relaxed than in the past because there are fewer workshops. I have been able to spend more time with Jubi and Jodie and my writer friends. I played soccer and miniature golf with Jubi last night. She hit two amazing shots that made the group behind us cheer.
I watched a preview screening of the movie "Fireproof" which produced by the same group that put out "Facing the Giants" It is about a struggle to save a marriage. The movie was very well done...very moving and triumphant. It had great elements of humor and wisdom. You were crying and laughing sometimes at the same time. With the miriad of romantic movies out there, I was struck by how fresh and compelling it felt because of it's biblical wisdom. Finally...some real answers to healing relationships instead of the usual fare.
The workshops have been great. It doesn't matter how many times I hear Tony, Sue, and Dave, I always walk away with cool new insights into improving my writing. Adam Watts and Andy Dodd had a great workshop today on elements of contrasts in great songs...so useful. It was also great to hear Gary Rhodes talk about writing musicals after going through the process recently. So many things clicked.
I got together with Lee and Melissa Black after lunch...it was great to catch up.
Jodie, Jubi and I sat with Sue Smith and her grandaughter at the concert tonight. The highlight for me was hearing Travis Cottrell sing "In the First Light" recorded with the London Symphony...what a moving piece. Then he led us in the song "In Christ Alone".
I heard from Dave Williamson that they were mastering the musical today. I hope to hear it soon. It's like waiting for Christmas morning.
I got in on the first day of mixing the musical. So cool! We had to leave Nashville today so I could get back to Joplin to pick up my family for a trip to the "Seminar in the Rockies"
I uploaded a video of Dave Williamson listening to the final mix Randy Poole did of the opening song. To quote a friend "It blows my socks off...and I am usually in good control of my socks"
Here is the link to the video on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=25672456276
We started tracking the rhythm section of the musical Friday night at Randy Poole's brand new studio in Franklin. We literally the had the best session players in Nashville there. Dave Cleveland on guitars, Scott Williamson on Drums, Craig Nelson on Bass, and Jason Webb on keys. There is no way to describe what it feels like for musician of this caliber to play your songs.
The musical title is "Sovereign Lord" The theme focuses on Christ as the risen, exalted, and coming King. It has been a thrill watching Dave Williamson produce his arrangement. When he turned to me in the session and said "Phil, I so want these songs to get out there. I fell in love with them." Those words were so significant to me because I had been praying that exact prayer...that whoever did the arranging would fall in love with the songs like they were their own. I've never had such an intense day processing what was going on musically. The level of musicianship and creativity in that room was so inspiring and yet it wore me out trying to track everything that was going on.
One of the really fun parts was seeing the enthusiasm and smiles and hearing the comments of the musicians about the songs as they first heard them...then to see them lay them down in one take like they had played them 100 times. Dave Clark said to me after all these years this part of the process never loses the wow factor for him. I am waking up at 4 am every morning due to the adrenaline so I walk down the streets and pray about what is going on that day.
Today we recorded the string and brass parts. There were moments I fought back the tears at the beauty of what Dave has orchestrated. What a gift. I just sit there wondering when the next wave will come. I will never take this for granted! What a priviledge this is. At one time Gary Jordan who came with me to watch the process was moving to let the assistant engineer throught and said "let me get out of the way so you can work, I am just a spectator here" and Dave Clark responded "We are all spectators" meaning God is doing something here that none of us could pull off by ourselves. It is the conjunction of rivers of gifts given by the Lord. His ideas flowing into songs, arranged and copied, passing through the hands of musicians and the voices of singers, captured by an engineer under the direction of a producer. From there it will be printed, distributed to church choir directors, choirs, and orchestras and shared with worshippers who offer it to the Lord. We all watch. We all are a part of it somewhere.
I put some videos and pictures of the process on my facebook page if you would like to watch.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=664691276
With the three Sundays planned and ready, I head to Nashville tomorrow for the recording of the Easter musical.
More to come...stay tuned and keep praying.
After that we are spending a week at Estes Park for the final GMA "Seminar in the Rockies". Our family will miss the wonderful times we have spent there the last several years. Jubi will miss the horses, and I will miss the time away listening to sessions and reviewing my life with the Lord.
My first Estes was a spiritual experience for me, trying to figure out if the Lord really wanted to use my writing. It was at Estes in 2002 that James Rueger (who did my first ever song critique) said to me, "You really need to check out Write About Jesus" during the final concert. Those words changed my life. That's where I met Sue Smith, who has been such a great mentor and encourager to me and Dave Clark, whose teaching so inspires me and who is now my publisher. I wrote "Sovereign Lord" on the way home, dictating the lines to my son as I drove. It has become a kind of...life theme for me. I'm so glad I can trust that He is in charge of this whole wonderful trip.
I did some final editing of the narration for the musical while my wife and daughters picked blueberries this morning. I just love the theme and the scripture that surrounds it. I yearn to see all the things I try to picture in my head from the scripture- the cross, the tomb, heaven, and the King upon the throne.
I am praying that the Lord will pull everything together as it goes into the studio next week, that His Spirit will fill it, empower it, and use it to encourage and move people closer to Him as they listen. Please pray with me!
I love this work!
I sang a concert of original songs Sunday at God's Resort (a neighborhood that God is rebuilding in our city). Gary and Jason played with me. We went through some of the songs they hadn't heard once. They are great musicians, so on some of the others we just flew by the seat of our pants with just the charts. I love doing that. Sometimes church can be so planned out (so that nothing goes wrong...theoretically) that it can be refreshing to taste a little spontenaiety. You know...see what comes, listening to those promptings to go a different way than you expected...enjoying flowing in the Lord. He puts all kind of stuff on your heart to share in the moment. It's like being in the writing room and the rush of an idea propels you forward.
It's not that I don't like to be prepared...sometimes you just don't know what to expect and you want to be able to work with whatever opportunity the Lord sends your way. I even wonder if the Lord likes that vulnerability in us so that we don't leave Him out of the process. The experience in Alaska reminded me once again that you can't foresee all the things that will happen when you go to minister...but don't stress! The Lord has been there a long time. He knows what they need and has a reason for you being there. He will enable you to do what he asks.
My dad once told me that many of the things he strategized to do for the Lord, like going as a missionary to China or painting a picture that would reach the world...somehow didn't work out and yet the Lord used him in tremendous ways he hadn't foreseen, touching the lives of thousands.
I'm still suffering a little jet lag but we are home. After a great Vision Team meeting I spent most of the day catching up at work. I also posted a demo of a new song on Myspace today that Rick emailed me while I was in the Seattle airport. www.myspace.com/philmehrens
I fired up the grill and we had my daughter and son-in-law over to look at the Alaska pics. I also made a cherry pie for dessert with the last of the fruit off our tree. It's good to be home again.
I'm looking forward to leading worship on Sunday and the musical goes to studio at the end of this month. Can't wait to be part of that!
This morning we toured the art gallery of Rie Munoz, an artist that specializes in capturing the culture of Alaska.
After a mexican lunch (yes, in Alaska), we headed out to find some letterboxes (kind of like a treasure hunt) but alas, one of the trails was too hard to figure out and the other the box was missing from it's hiding place.
The town was buzzing with the news that Harrison Ford had flown into town for fuel and was spending the night. According to the locals, he has a large amount of acreage here for hunting. Movie star yaughts are often in the harbor here. Alas we didn't see him either.
We found a cool park for Jubi to play in...a great tire swing...she loves spinning around. It is "glorious."
Tonight we will hit the fireworks at midnight (3 AM Joplin, time). Looking forward to that.
The pastor here is in charge of finding music for a state convention in Anchorage next year. He asked me to come for that. Hope it works out.
This has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Last
Thursday we landed in Juneau, Alaska. After dinner at the Sand Bar Restaurant (Halibut...mmm), we had a get acquainted time with the church worship team in preparation for the weekend worship conference.
Friday we went to the farthest end of Alaska you can reach by road from Juneau...beautiful forests and view of the channel. Friday night I had a concert at the church.
All day Sat. I taught a worship workshop with people from different churches in the area. It was a wonderful time of talking about worship ministry and getting to know some great people. We ended the evening with a rehearsal for Sunday morning. That night we went to the Ore House in Juneau for a salmon bake.
Sunday, I led worship with the team and my brother John preached. Several came forward for prayer. It was a great morning! That afternoon, my nephew, Mark, who lives here, took us on a boat ride way out into the channel where we watched the whales play. There are no words to describe that trip. Snowy mountains all around. Glaciers, forests, ships, glassy water, beautiful blue sky...one of the most amazing places I have ever been. We were out all day and right now in Alaska, that is a long time. It is still light after 10 PM and never really gets dark. We went to Dave and Debbie's house for dinner. She coordinates the worship for the church. It was their boat we used all day.
Monday we went to see the Mendenhall Glacier, a breathtaking sight just a few minutes drive from Mark's house. Then back to Juneau for a day of shopping downtown...wonderful bagels, Russian dumplings, huge cruise ships sit in the harbor emptying their passengers on to busy streets. They all leave around 6PM, that's when we took the tram up the mountain to the restaurant at the top. I am somewhat acrophobic, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. More like a ski lift than an elevator. Bald eagles flew around as we ascended. Cruise ships went from massive to tiny. After a dinner of Dungeness Crab and chowder I even managed to look out the windows on the way down. What a view. Tuesday we went back to the glacier to hike two trails. There is a huge waterfall on the east side of the glacier. We hiked that first. It went for miles through a mossy forest hillside like I have never seen. Periodically there would be places to step out and see the panorama. After we came down from there we hiked to the bottom of the waterfall. Just amazing. The blast of mist coming off the falls was so refreshing after the hike. We were worn out after the day. We probably hiked several miles but what a day!
This morning John and Jane took off for home. After a picnic for lunch on this beautiful sunny day I will be spending the time working on the sermon and worship for next week. Tomorrow we will rehearse with the worship team and see the fireworks. They shoot them off on midnight on the 3rd (actually it will be the beginning of the 4th) . They have to do it then in order for it to be dark enough.
It was a beautiful drive to the beach yesterday. I didn't realize Washington had such a variety of fir trees. We met my sister's family there, had a picnic lunch and headed out for a day of kite flying, beach combing, and watching the kids build sand castles. There is nothing like the ocean to drain all of the tension out of you. Songwriters use the imagery a lot but how can you really describe what it is like to stand there in front of the pounding waves, feeling like a little insignificant shell on the vast shoreline. It takes me back to my childhood in Southern Cal...the sand eroding underneath your feet as the waves receed...the smell, the sunshine (I had a little too much of it), the roar, the relentless wind filling you up like a sail. Dave called me from Daytona with the crashing waves in the background a couple of weeks ago to tell me about the musical. I coudn't resist calling him back to return the "favor". We hit Baskin Robbins on the way back to the hotel.
I just got an e-mail announcing the release of Sovereign Lord on www.greatworshipsongs.com CD -"Holy is the Lord"
Here is the link. http://www.greatworshipsongs.com/song_info.asp?return=songlist.asp?bytitle=Sovereign+Lord+-+LIVE&songtype=5&SongId=720
Another perfect day!