Mighty River Music: News

Seems a little crazy, with all the upheaval going on in the world, our pastor was teaching about rest.... specifically, God's rest or resting in God.  For myself, there are different ways I can find rest or a place of rest in the storm.  Sometimes, reading will help, sometimes being still with some worship music on, sometimes a bike ride with God focused thoughts.  

Let's help each other find this peace.  Let me know what you use to find the un-understandable peace in the midst of everyday life.  Send me a note!  

Hope to see you at Warm Hearts Cafe on March 11th!

Bless!

Tonight, many of us will have our eyes and ears on the content of President Obama's State of the Union Address.  In what seems the usual response, we have come to expect manipulative, bitter and angry words from other politicians and from the talking heads and various analysts on the news shows.  While some politicians are mixing it up and sitting with each other as a show of civility, there will probably be the usual political posturing and shrewdly placed words meant to cause the most damage to the opposing party's agenda, maybe in very personal ways.

In the wake of the shootings in Tucson, a discussion about the effects of hateful and malicious political discourse has arose.  Some are calling for the return of civility, at least in some measure, in our politics.  Still, there are those who say un-civility, especially in our words, is useful, normal and there is nothing wrong with it.  

Jesus had some interesting comments about our words.  He taught us about what our words can do and how we are eternally accountable for what we say.  He said our words have the power to kill.  The hatred and lies contained in our words has the power to kill and maim.  Certainly, we see this in our present day with the sad images from Moscow and many other places worldwide.  The words of hate seem to be easily spoken by people of all faiths and nations.  Words of hatred from the mouths of fundamentalist Muslim clerics are causing young people to destroy themselves and as many innocents as they can.  Christian leaders are not so different, maybe the words not so obviously hateful.  Whether a minaret or a pulpit, words of hatred, violence shrouded in speak is a problem.  Not only our leaders but all peoples speak words full of violence.  This my friends is wrong and like C.S Lewis say, we all know it is wrong.  Deep inside we know, yet all ignore the call to speak peace and goodness.  Jesus said that to hate is the same as murder.  If our speech contains hateful words, they contain murder.  We should need no social discourse on the wrongness.  Our social discourse to rationalize words of hate and anger will not change the rightness or wrongness of it.     

The problem is that, just like us, our words are broken.  They don't hold what God intended for them to carry.  Each of us, God says, is accountable for all the words, good and bad, that we speak during our lives.

The mission of our lives is to heal and restore that which is broken in this world.  Our very words can be part of our work.  We need God's help to do so but I very much want the fruit of my words to be life and peace rather than hate and death.

So, for all of us tonight, our words and what they are loaded with matter very much to this world, to our families and to all the people around us.  Our words should be civil.  They should contain peace and truth.  Lord Jesus, help us heal and restore our words to what you created them to be.  Let our words be full of peace, truth and goodness.

So, some lyrics I am working on:

Give our words freedom from all hate, all lies

Cleanse the murder from our lips.

War and death, our tongues should give you no home

All peoples, you know this is right

 

O peace, fill our words

Peace, fill our world

 

Broken words

Be restored

Brokenness, be healed

Be words of peace and truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can make a nice pedalboard out of a garage organizer system wall mount.  Gladiator GearTrack Channels work great for a nice pedalboard with nice channels in place for routing power and audio cords.  Get organized for quick setup and tear down!  Here is the URL for the How-to PDF.

How to Build Your Own PedalBoard

Right before leaving for healing prayer soaking worship last night, a revelation started to come to me. Many songs ask God for His glory to fall on us and many imagine that to be this flashy, astounding, moment or event. As is it Wednesday, when I spend time praying the Beatitudes, I felt impressed that maybe God's glory may also be about Jesus Christ and the character of Christ being evident in His disciples (yes, that is us....). Is God's glory humbleness, agape love, mercy, compassion.... all the characteristics of those who are called by His Name and who are His children.

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Touch us Lord, Glory fall on us.
Touch us Lord, Mercy rain on us.
Touch us Lord, God's love in us.

King of Glorious,
Your will is over all.
King of Holiness,
Send your Kingdom Come to us.
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Simple words, God's intent for His children. Character of Christ fall on us. Glory of the Lord come upon us and be expressed through us!

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 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....

This morning, I worshipped the Lord with a fairly new song - about the blessing of being able to come into the Lord's presence because of Christ tearing the curtain in two, giving us entrance into the Holy of Holies - through His blood. That led me directly to an old song from maybe seven or eight years ago (or maybe longer...). The song is called Lord of All. I will have to record it sometime but in the meantime, the lyrics are:

Lord, You are Lord of all, Lord of all.
Lord, You are Lord of all, Lord of all.

Lord, You are Lord of all creation,
Master of the universe, and more.
All that I can see,
And all that I cannot,
Will bow down,
and sing praises to the King of kings.

Lord, You are King of kings.
Your royalty flies high above the earth and sky.
Around Your mighty throne,
All heaven shouts, Hosanna!"
Your earthly children lift their hearts, "Come, Lord, Come, Lord!"

Lord, You are Lord of all, Lord of all.
Lord, You are Lord of all, Lord of all.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my friends! Take your strength and peace from the Lord of all! Be encouraged by knowing Him, who He is, and whose you are.
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My Loving God is starting to take shape with the couple more tracks added. We added a couple nice electric guitar tracks over the weekend. Take a listen and see how the song is developing. The mix is rough but hopefully you can hear all the pieces starting to come together. Blessings!

I picked up a book to learn about Logic Express 8 and this is the first project from that work. My little sheltie, Caelie, debuts on this song. She's had many way in the background parts on other songs on the site but this her first song where she is the lead vocalist! Just imagine Lassie taking a little hike through the woods on her way to the ranger station to deliver a lunch bucket. Many are the adventures full of cougar cubs, wacky racoons and otters along with all the other forest critters she's friends with. It's quite a story, as you will hear! For those of you who know her. This one is for her fans! Check it out on the Music page!

If anyone out there is following a song becoming... I re-recorded the vocal track tonight. Go to the music section to find the latest version of My Loving God.

I spent some time learning about the Loops on Logic 8 and they are pretty cool to work with. I purchased some 6/8 drum loops and started working with them for My Loving God. At the last cut, I just had a basic 6/8 loop going for the whole song. Today, I broke that up and used 3 separate groove loops with additional break and cymbal hits. I need to run it by a good drummer to get some thoughts but I am pretty satisfied with the results. Check it out in the latest music section! There are a lot more tracks to put down on the song yet but the foundation is really shaping up nicely. Note... the songs intro will really start where the cymbal swell is. The measure before is so we can find the beginning when recording all the other tracks!