Recently added links

Good morning and Happy Friday!

I just wanted to point out a few new links in the blogroll on the right…

• One Moment – Steffanie Oltmans — check out Steff’s Sunday Setlist each week
• The Life of  a Worshipper – Johnny Sierra –  Johnny has some interesting things to say and is also a regular participant in Sunday Setlists
• Between Nut and Saddle – Keith Barger — I like this guy because we have the same red One-Star’s and he says some something challenging things
• Cries of the Heart – Paul Joseph — another Sunday Setlist guy with interesting perspectives

Funeral Songs

As I mentioned a few days ago, Andrea and I went to a funeral last week.  It reminded me that Andrea and I have had several conversations about funeral songs over the years.

There are good ones, bad ones, and overused ones. 

Andrea wants Kimberly Hoy to sing I Can Only Imagine at her funeral, and she wants Amazing Grace played on the bagpipes.  I’m not sure what I want.  Nothing overused.  No canned karaoke music.  No organ.

So, I’ve compiled a list of funeral songs that I’ve seen or heard about or that I’m merely suggesting.  There are some good ones and some less stellar ones, so I’ve also added my comments for your reading pleasure. 

Please chime in with your ideas or thoughts.

The list got kind of long as I worked on it for several days and asked a few people for suggestions…

• I Can Only Imagine – Mercy Me (Getting to be overused?)
• In Better Hands – Natalie Grant (Not my style, but a great funeral song.)
• Thank You – Ray Boltz (So 1980’s…  I would strongly advise against not using it.)
• The Dance – Garth Brooks (If you’re into that sort of thing; I’m not.)
• Hello Again – Petra (This song could be pretty appropriate.  I only want it at my funeral if John Schlitt will come and sing it!)
• See You In Heaven – Guardian (I played this at a funeral last year.  Great song!)
• Wind Beneath My Wings – Bette Midler (I’ve threatened to come back and haunt my wife as a poltergeist for the rest of her life if she has someone sing this at my funeral.  I loathe Bette Midler!)
• Born to Be Wild – Steppenwolf (Only appropriate at biker funerals.)
• Amazing Grace (It’s a classic.  Bagpipes get bonus points.)
• Because He Lives (This hymn is used a lot, but I wouldn’t vote for it.)
• Home – Daughtry (Andrea’s vote for the perfect funeral song.)
• Love You ‘Til the End – The Pogues (Andrea wants this one at my funeral.  Nice touch!  I’d be okay with that.)
• In the Garden (A classic hymn.  I think my grandmother once told me that my grandfather wants this at his funeral.)
• Candle In the Wind – Elton John (Only if you’re a princess…)
• Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Greenday (An excellent choice!)
• Who Wants to Live Forever – Queen  (Hmmm… Not sure if it would work or not.)
• In the Blink of an Eye – Mercy Me (My wife’s suggestion; I can’t stand the song personally.)
• Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton (That would be a tough one to pull off…)
• Come to Jesus – Chris Rice  (My wife’s suggestion.)
• Go Rest High on That Mountain - Vince Gill (A good one for you country fans.)
• Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) – Cinderella (My friend Dawn says this was used in her brother’s funeral.)
• Always Look on the Bright Side of Life – Monty Python (Hmmm…  Probably not.)
• There Will Be a Day – Jeremy Camp (Not a big Jeremy Camp fan, but this could work…)

For more funeral song ideas… check out MyFunkyFuneral.com, this article about an Australian funeral provider, and this post on The Best and Worst Funeral Songs.

And finally, thanks go out to Andrea, Heather, Dawn, and Clara for their suggestions.

Please add a comment with your thoughts on the list or any other funeral song ideas you have!

GracePoint Video

The multi-talented Eron Rawson shot this video at GracePoint yesterday, and then edited it that afternoon.

It came out really cool.  I suck at embedding video so you’ll have to click on the link to check it out.

http://www.vimeo.com/2722011

Sunday Setlist … January 4, 2009

 Hola!  Welcome to the first Sunday Setlist of 2009.  In case this is your first time, my blog post is part of Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlist party that he throws every Sunday.  You can find links to many other Sunday Setlists on Fred’s blog.

This morning at GracePoint, I was on the sound board once again.  Here’s the view from the board (I apologize for the crappy quality.)

The Setlist:

• Elevation by U2 (walk-in)
• One Way by Hillsong United
• Hold You High by By the Tree
• Mighty to Save by Hillsong
• Word of God Speak by Kutless
• Rise Above This by Seether (offering)

Elevation – This was the first time for Elevation.  I was a little concerned about the complexity of this one, but it turned out phenomonal.  I took some video of the second service, but discovered when I got home that my camera was set on “compact video” for some stupid reason.  It’s not worth posting at postage stamp resolution…  Awesome job guys!

One Way – I think this was the first time that Christina had ever sang One Way.  She did a great job.  Fun song.  I love the bridge!

Hold You High – A great song.  Mike does a great job singing this one.

Mighty to Save – We play it more like the original Hillsong version on the “Mighty to Save” album, rather than Hillsong United on ” The I Heart Revolution” album that came out last year.  The guitar parts are cooler, although Rod usually covers the beginning guitar riff on keys.  Good song.  I really like the dynamics.  Mike got everyone singing a capella at the end.  Very nice.

Word of God Speak – The Kutless version is way cooler than the Mercy me version, so that’s what we have alway used.  Deric is awesome on this song with all of the tom-tom work, and his patent-pending “trash can” cymbal sounds awesome at the begginning.  Especially after I added a lot of delay and reverb to it.  Another great song.

Rise Above This – This song is perfectly suited to Gil’s voice.  Great dynamics as it goes from calm to screamo in the chorus.  This song is becoming a bit of a staple.  And that’s a good thing.  (I got some very low resolution video during sound check on this one too…)

As an added bonus… here is the pre-service playlist from my ipod.  I was going for sort of a sort of a 2002 rap-rock thing (well, mostly).  I also had a mostly acoustic playlist ready to go, but scrapped the idea…

• I’ll Rise by All Together Seperate (featuring PAX217)
• Higher Ground by 38th Parallel
• Unbelievable by Thousand Foot Krutch
• Old School by Inhabited
• Wake Up by KJ-52 (featuring Toby Morrell of Emery)
• Go by Forty Days Tempted
• Who Am I? by 38th Parallel
• Voices by PAX217
• Schizophreniac by Earthsuit
• Mary’s Song by Molly Williams

What’s rattling around in my head right now…

Happy December 29th!  I’m sure it’s a holiday somewhere.

The UPS truck pulled up to the house today while I was playing Tiger Woods golf on the Wii.  I was surprised because we weren’t expecting anything.  It was a CD called Adrienna Valentine by Trent Wagler and Jay Lapp.  It was a gift from a guy at work.  I had never heard of these guys before but they’re very good.  They play Americana Roots stuff.  I’ve only been able to listen to a few songs, but I really like it so far.  Jay is a mean mandolin player. 

My favorite Christmas present this year was from my brother Jason.  He was the only person that used my Christmas Wishlist post in selecting a gift for me.  He is hooking me up with a new WordPress blog that he is going to host on his server.  And he bought me my own domain – www.mandoron.com!  I’ve got some work to do to get things up and running over there, so look for the big switch in the next week or two.

We are looking forward to watching the OSU Cowboys play Oregon tomorrow in the Holiday Bowl.  Unfortunately, a trip to San Diego wasn’t in the Burgess budget.  Did you know that the Oregon ducks have 384 possible uniform variations?  That’s crazy!

On Wednesday, Andrea and I will be celebrating our 14th Anniversary.  I’m trying to figure out where to take her for dinner. 

On Friday, we’ll be attending a funeral.  We got a call on the day after Christmas that my step-mother’s middle son, Jay, had passed away in the night.  He was only 24.  It was unexpected and they still aren’t sure what happened.  As you can imagine, the family is in a great deal of shock.  Please pray for my step-mom Jana, and the rest of the family.

Please also pray for my brother Jason and his wife Chevy.  Chevy had a miscarriage the same day that Jay passed away.  That’s really got to suck…  It was a sad day.