Mighty River Music: News

Did some tracking on 'Mercy is the Name' tonight. I am very much looking forward to this song becoming. Creating something that has never been before is really a cool experience. We all do this multiple times a day, in almost everything we do. It seems we overlook the event unless we are focused on creating, like creating a song or painting. Even writing this journal is a creative work. This creativity and flowing in it is something deep within us. It comes from us like rivers. Question is, will our rivers pollute and cause sickness or will they be pure and nourishing?

Will keep you all posted on the development of "Mercy is the Name"

Blessings....

Well here is a plug for one of my favorite groups... The Lost Dogs. They'll be doing a concert at our church, Christ Community Church, in Camp Hill, PA, on May 18th at 7PM. It will be a really nice setting where you are close to the band.  The atmosphere will be relaxed with lots of interaction with the band.  The Lost Dogs are made up of Terry Taylor (Daniel Amos), Mike Rowe (The 77's), Derri Daughtery (The Choir) and Steve Hindalong (The Choir) who are some of the founders of contemporary Christian music.

Just a reminder, we'll be playing at Warm Hearts this Friday night.  Join us for a nice time!

 

A couple of quick dates that came up.......

We'll be leading a worship night at Yocumtown COG on Sunday night, March 21st, at 7pm. On Friday, March 26th, we'll be back at Warm Hearts, in Mechanicsburg, at 8pm.

Today, we put an old Silvertone banjo back together. With lots of Glenn's help and lots of polish, an old banjo got its voice back and also looks pretty nice! Thanks, Glenn!

See you tonight! 8:30pm @ Cornerstone Coffee House, Market St in Camp Hill, PA

As the news reporters abandon Haiti and run to the latest world happening, please don't forget the people of Haiti.  They are close neighbors, sisters and brothers.  Please pray for them and give to organizations like Compassion and Samaritan's Purse who are working in the devastated areas.  Compassion's website has some incredible stories on their blog from their relief workers and people who work at their project sites.    

Thanks to everyone who came to Warm Hearts on Friday night! On Friday, Feb 12th, we are looking forward to a time at Cornerstone Coffee House in Camp Hill, PA. It would be a nice evening to bring your sweetie out for a treat! Hope to see you there!

Please give to the Compassion Projects in Haiti.....

The band will be back at Warm Hearts Cafe, in Mechanicsburg, PA, this Friday night. Please come and join us in friendship and music, not to mention the good stuff to eat and drink.

Well, here we are post-Christmas and post-New Year. It is a day of new beginning!

In November, at the Virginia Beach Power and Love conference, I met a little brother named Christopher. I promised his parents some healing music on the website. Sorry it is taking so long but this is the first installment of it! Hopefully, it is ok to share the song dedication with my little sister, Elena, too!

Last week or so, I started on a new song and while it is not settled yet, my understanding is getting stretched a bit by the concept. Central to the song is that Jesus' work reigns over anything and everything. Nothing about us can't be reconciled to God by Jesus' work. His work of the cross and His resurrection subjugate sin and death. Jesus is supreme over all - Col 1:15-23. My foundation in healing prayer is that Jesus is supreme over sickness and infirmity. They are subjugated to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They are subjugated to the Christ in us.

With the second verse purposefully written in the present, this song also hints at the Paschal Mystery. As we remember and ponder the Passion of Christ, we take in the healing and resurrection. We take it into our own bodies. The power of Christ's work in us, revealing the glory of God. From the moment we receive the Gospel, we are given new life - one that starts now and continues into eternity, forever, with God. Hallelujah, Jesus. Your blood reigns over us.

Here are the words, so far.... (will post recording soon!)

I was lost.
My body broken.
I knew no peace,
knew no peace.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Your blood reigns over me.

On the cross,
Your body's broken
From the grave,
You arise,
Arise as King

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Your blood reigns over me.

I just am finishing up my second course this fall. The class is Essentials Red, from worshiptraining.com. My final project for the class is a video based on my Matthew 5 Project and it can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NE4z5Rb15s
Blessings!

Thanks to Mark Ettinger for some nice pictures from our July 9th Warm Hearts outing! Check em out on the Photo Gallery page.

This Friday, Jeff and I will be doing a final mix for Revealed that contains the studio drum and vocal tracks. Will be posting it soon!

Enjoy the beautiful summer day in Pennslyvania or wherever you are!

On Saturday, Alan offered to put a real drum track down for Revealed. That is really exciting and will definitely add powerfully to the song and take it to another level. We hope to get the session in this week or next.

Thanks so much to my worship family for adding their voices and instruments to the song! Our friends and family are truly a great gift to us. It is so much better to do things together.

Friday is a big day! We have a session for Erika to record her vocals for Revealed in the studio with the great mic's and Jeff's engineering, at Cape Sound Productions!

Then Friday night, Erika is joining us at Warm Hearts to sing Revealed for you! That's about as fresh as a song gets!

Stay cool everyone. I am hoping for a nice, cool, fruit smoothie on Friday night!

Bless!

Today was an awesome day! I took the tracks from the home studio to the real studio and dropped them into Jeff's gear at Cape Sound Productions. Jeff did an initial mix that sounds really good. Next Friday, Erika will record the vocals in the studio. We'll probably do a final mix and master session shortly after. What a fun day! I'm really excited to hear the final product. We'll let folks know how they can get a copy when it's ready!

I put up the latest version/mix of Revealed in the Music section. It features Erika Mussleman on vocals and Zach Garretson on lead guitar. There will be another bass track recorded from Mike Keefer and then we will be taking it into the studio to record the vocals with Jeff's great mic's and have him do the mix and master. Hope to have a single ready by Mid-August! Enjoy the pre-studio version!

Please don't forget The Matthew 5 Project, Praying the Kindom of Heaven. I will be updating my blog page with the latest copy soon. Please use it for prayer and meditation, and please forward suggestions and prayer inclusions, ideas for media to add to it. At this point, I am adding pictures, text, and soon mp3 to go along with each verse of the Beatitudes.

Please join me in praying and asking God for these points of Christlike character and lets see the fruit of those prayers bring the Kingdom of God, in some measure, through each of our lives.

Http://mightyrivermusic.wordpress.com is my blogsite where you can download The Matthew 5 Project - a personal liturgy to help with praying the Beatitudes.

Bless!

Wow, I can't believe its been so long since I wrote an update. Life is busy and the days are so nice out. I am also working on a batch of new songs. It looks like I will be heading back to the studio to add the polish to "Revealed". I added a few other parts since the version in the Music section and it is turning out really nice. Jeff Meglio (Cape Sound Productions) will be doing the final recording, mixing and mastering again. I am very much looking forward to working with Jeff again.

Home studio is coming together equipment wise and it is a dream for a songwriter. I just purchased a Line 6 POD X3 to use both live and as a recording interface. It is an amazing piece of gear. The new adds to Revealed also include a very nice Fender Telecaster I recently purchased from Guitar Center. It has a great sound and plays beautifully - as well as looking nice.

I am working towards some additional dates over the summer and will post them when they come in.

Happy Summer everyone!

A recent class moved me to start praying the Beatitudes and I couldn't find a person prayer or meditation tool to help me so I started to write one. The work is still in an early stage but you can view it at http://mightyrivermusic.wordpress.com
Please let me know ideas and comments so I can include them as the project develops.

Most importantly, please join me in praying and meditating on the coming of God's Kingdom as expressed in Jesus' words to us from Matthew 5.

Bless....

At a School of Worship with Steve Swanson, we learned to 'lean' in to the word and impulse from the Holy Spirit. We also learned to express what that would sound like. Steve also taught us to use Scripture as a launch pad, to express in sound as the Scripture set us in motion. I'd highly recommend attending any of Steve's sessions.

Last night, I felt moved to use the Cedar Flute to express from Isaiah 35:3-4. I also felt I was to record and share it. It is not fancy playing but simply releasing my spirit to play my prayer, as the Scripture moved me to pray. You may hear, "Strengthen, strengthen, our hands" in the melody. The spaces in between the flute lines are where you can listen for God's voice back to you. There are a couple of long spaces. Please don't stop listening but really press into the silence. The space is not empty but filled with God's voice speaking and singing to you.

Even when God moves, there is a sound that goes out. See if you can hear it. I pray your ears be opened to the sound of heaven. Can you hear it?

Blessings!
Mark

The latest song is called "Revealed". Please have a listen.

On the technical side, I am using a new interface to record to my mac. It is a TASCAM US-144.

Blessings!

I finished my final project for the Essentials Green course. The song is about the worship value of intimacy. It is God who first self-discloses and self reveals to us. He takes the risk that we will receive Him and not reject Him. He shows us His heart of deep love for us. While he knows everything about us, I think it pleases God when we choose to be unveiled and unhidden before Him.

The song needs some more parts added eventually. Hope you enjoy it. It is at the top, in the Music section of the site!
Blessings!

I haven't updated the site for a bit. I am decompressing from the classes and have some song ideas to work on shortly. With a wedding coming up shortly, I am taking a little break for family so our next date to play out is May 8th.

Wishing you all a very lovely Spring! It started today! Yeah!

I just put up a new song tonight called Creation's Song. It is the final project for my Essentials Blue class from ICEWS at St. Stephens University. You can grab the chart and the song's theology on my blog site at http://mightyrivermusic.wordpress.com
The e*b class is really great experience and a deepening of my relationship with God. At the same time, I am in another Rockbridge class - NT Survey. The scripture reading at the end of the song actually came from classwork from the Rockbridge Seminary class.

God as Creator, God as King, God as Trinity, God as Savior

Kingdom of God

New Creation

Eschaton

God is Amazing....

Hello! I guess in the midst of the coldest days yet this year, my thoughts are drifting back to and my heart is longing for the woods and some hiking again. So I changed the website back to that Appalachian Mountains kind of look! Wishful thinking, I am afraid.