It's A Long Walk From The Street
A journey with a guy named "Joe" - part 3

Our church does wonderful things in the community. For Thanksgiving, like many other churches, we provide food for persons in need. Joe came to the church on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to receive the gifts we were giving and to share in the Thanksgiving service that we held. It was a GREAT service. Afterward, I got a chance to sit and talk with Joe. He shared with me that he was going to give the food he was receiving to a couple of households that help him out so that they could cook the food and give him some of it. He knew that he didn’t have any way of preparing the food himself so he needed to share it if he was going to eat any of it.

Finally, I felt comfortable enough to ask him the one question that had been bouncing around in my head. “Why aren’t you staying in a shelter?” Joe began to explain to me that all of his ID had been lost or stolen and you can’t stay in a shelter without ID. He said he tried to get his ID but found out he needed his birth certificate – and he lost that as well. So he just gave up.

This was the moment for me. This was when it became clear that I was changing. I didn’t feel a hope or wish that someone would help Joe. I felt like this man was now my responsibility. Having worked in a homeless shelter and recovery center before, I had an idea of what I was getting into. I knew that there would be a chance that I could get this guy all the help he needed and get him into a nice residence – and he would end up back on the streets. But, I also knew that this was what I had prayed for. I wanted to be the hands and feet of Jesus and reach out to someone in need. Joe was my man at that pool of Bethesda and I needed to be Jesus, motivating him to rise up and walk.

It's A Long Walk From The Street
A journey with a guy named "Joe" - pt 2

This older gentleman unwrapped himself from the bedding and came toward me, clothed in his hat and coat. I told him that my wife and I wanted to bless him with some food. Yes, I admit, I probably didn’t deserve any credit whatsoever. By this time, I heard the dinging of the car. Looking over my shoulder, I saw my wife coming into the clearing where this gentleman and me were standing. I introduced myself and my wife to him. He told us that his name was “Joe”. We told him that we were from the church on the corner. He said that he’d been there several times and knew our pastor. Joe gave us big hugs, showing obvious gratitude for the food we had given him. We invited him to church and he agreed to come.

The following Sunday, sure enough, he was there – sitting in the back. My wife and I got to speak with him after service. He seemed surprised that we remembered his name. I was certainly surprised that he remembered ours.

Ever since then, we couldn’t pass that spot without looking for Joe.

Not long after, I found myself reminiscing on a recent self-evaluation where I cited that I needed to become better at caring for people not only in the immediate moment but carrying their plight to completion – helping them get to that point that things actually get better. I remembered the revelation of how easy it is for me to pray for someone in the immediate moment – then forget about their pain the next day. I wanted God to work on my heart and help me to care enough to carry people in my heart.

Every few weeks I’d see Joe at service. We stayed acquainted. I made sure he didn’t forget me and my wife’s names. I prayed for him often – that God would protect him and provide for him. Several times I wondered what his story was… what brought him to this stage of life. Yeah, this guy was actually on my heart.

To be continued…

It's A Long Walk From The Street
A journey with a guy named "Joe"

This is a long story that is still in the making. So, I’m going to have to tell it to you in pieces.

Part 1

It all started one night as we were leaving church. My wonderful wife has a tremendous heart, which I covet. She is a giver to the core. She’s the kind of person who literally gives the clothes off her back, takes jewelry off her neck and wrists and food from our refrigerator. Every time I’ve wanted to get upset at how much she gives I have to consider how little I give and it makes me repentant. Having had her brother live homeless for a while caused her to become particularly sensitive to homelessness.

We were pulling into the church one evening, headed to the back parking lot and my wife noticed a person lying in a makeshift bed on the ground in the bushes near the church. Brought nearly to tears, she couldn’t dismiss the image from her mind. All that evening, she kept mentioning the person in the bushes. After service, we got in our car and she said to me, “Let’s drive around again and see if the person in the bushes is still there. If he or she is, I want to take them something to eat.” At that time, we were distributing some food from the church’s pantry to persons who were in need of immediate assistance. We circled the block and found the person still there. We didn’t stop because we didn’t want to make the person suspicious or self-conscious. Immediately returning to the church, my wife gathered a bag full of food from the pantry that could sustain this person for a few days. We got back in the car and headed back to the bushes.

Not knowing how this person would respond, I told my wife, “You stay in the car and I’ll go out.” I stepped out of the car, walked toward to makeshift bed and called out, “Excuse me. Excuse me.”

Coming Down The Home Stretch

The year 2008 is coming to a close. I was talking with one of my friends who is a business owner and he was telling me that he is now evaluating his business and looking at the ventures of 2008 and determining what worked, what didn’t, what needs to be cut and what will continue on into 2009. I jokingly said to him that I need to do the same thing about my business. And, yes, I was referring to the music business. Then it dawned on me… I really do need to see this as a business.

Okay… before anyone misunderstands what I’m saying, let me clarify. There is ministry at the heart of what I do. I am a worship leader, a minister (deacon, if you will) of music, recording artist, songwriter and a producer. But I run a music production company called Hayah Sounds. This company exists to handle the creation and sale of the music I write or produce. It’s very easy to be so focused on the ministry aspect of what I do that I fail to be a good steward over the business aspect.

The Lord provides us with gifts and talents with which to provide for the needs of our families. I know that music is my gift from God by which to provide for my family. But because I work with churches and Christians, sometimes I draw back from making sure that the business is negotiated fairly so that my family’s needs are taken care of. But the bible teaches us to be mature when it comes to handling business. That’s a lesson that I can more readily apply to negotiating with non-Christians than with Christians. But God is helping me.

So, for 2009, things will be a bit different. I’ve got to use the gift that God has provided and do all that God has designed it to be used for. I’ve got to take care of the business that God has made me steward over. One thing is certain… It’s time for me to take the music God has given me into the churches across this great country. This takes me to my big question.

I need your help with this. What are some of the best ways for an independent Christian artist to get engagements to minister at churches? You can even make it more personal… What do I need to do to come and minister at your local church? Please take a moment and reply to this blog and let me know what you think.

The Starving Church Musician

It’s challenging for professional musicians. Very few of us are able to make a decent living in Gospel music. Very few churches are willing to pay the kind of salary that allows you to be focused on that one ministry. As a result, you have to take on multiple responsibilities – often you end up playing for more than one church as well as in the band for a few groups, choirs or artists. This way, you can make the ends meet.

It is always interesting how many people say, “you should just give your gift to God as an offering – and not do it for the money.” My response is this… the next time your automobile needs repair, take it to a Christian auto mechanic that attends your church and ask him/her to repair your car with his/her tools and not do it for the money… just use their gift to bless you. What do you think they’d say?

Does everyone that picks up an instrument to play at church need to be paid? I don’t believe that they do. But the people that do more than come to a rehearsal and play in one or two services on the weekend… the people that put lots of time and effort in planning the music for the services… the people that develop the music ministry… the people that train and mentor the younger musicians in the church and cultivate their gifts and talents… the musicians that invest 2-3 hours per week in preparation, 6-10 hours per week in rehearsals, and 5-8 hours per week playing in church services… those kind of musicians should be compensated. That’s what I believe. Those are more hours than most of the other volunteers who serve in ministry at the church. These persons who take their gifts and use them to bless the people that congregate at a church for worship shouldn’t be ignored.

Besides… doesn’t scripture teach that you shouldn’t muzzle the ox that treads the corn? Trust me when I say… the music ministry does a lot of treading – every Sunday.

Enough for now… more to come next week.

So… here’s what’s been going on

I haven’t said much lately… no blogs… no newsletters… no engagements… not much of anything. There’s a reason. I needed to, as a former bishop of mine would say, “walk softly before the Lord” so that I could hear His voice clearly. Now, I can let you in on what’s been happening.

After my recording session in April, I took some time away from production on my new project. During that time, I made contact with an independent record label in New Jersey that was interested in re-releasing my first project and investing in the completion of my second project. After a few conversations with the label owner, I developed a budget for the completion of the project to help them make their decision. We planned for the label owner and his family to come and visit with me and worship one Sunday at my home church. Things were looking pretty good. So, I decided not to do anything until I saw how things were going to pan out.

Well, last week I spoke with the label owner. He informed me that he had taken a beating in the stock market and, as a result, wouldn’t be investing in my project. As disappointing as this could be, for me it brought peace. My prayer had always been that only the will of God would be done. When the door closed, it made the answer very clear.

One of biggest blessings in it all for me is the fact that my band and singers are so tremendously supportive. They all have said that they are ready to work and complete the project, whether I have the dollars I want to pay them or not. They are committed to helping me. I feel so blessed and humbled that singers and musicians of this caliber are willing to work with me. This is the favor of God. I also believe that another contributing factor is that I always try to compensate them when they minister with me. I respect each of them as singers and musicians. I respect that they have lives, and bills, and amazing talent. I respect the fact that they do not have to share their gifts and talents with me. When we do work together, I respect their time as well as their other commitments.

And I understand the challenge of professional musicians in the Gospel music arena. I’ll talk more about that later this week.

August 17, 2008 Testimony Time!

Okay… I feel like taking it way back for a moment. Go with me to a little old church down a dirt road in a country town in the summer time in the state of South Carolina. This is how my very true testimony would sound…

Praise the Lord, everybody! I said praise the Lord, everybody! Giving honor to God who truly is the head of my life. I give honor to my pastor, my first lady, to all the ministers on the rostrum, to all the saints and friends. You know, saints, God really is good! You know, he may not come when you want Him but – Hallelujah! – He’s always right on time!

You know, saints, my wife and I had been getting along with one car for the last several years. And God’s been good. Our car has been very reliable. And it was a blessing – we didn’t have to pay a dime for it. But you know, saints, as my wife and I started getting busier in ministry work, it started getting harder and harder to get along with one car. Then lately we’ve taken on an additional family responsibility that made it very tough. So, we talked about getting another car – but knew that we weren’t in the position to make the purchase right now. So, we prayed about it and left it in God’s hands. And, saints – Hallelujah! – we got a call that a family member was giving us a car. Yes, God blessed us with another car – and we didn’t have to pay a dime! Glory!!

But, that ain’t all, saints! Oh – God is so good to us.

When we had our first car inspected a few months ago, they told me about some repair work that needed to be done soon. This weekend, the part that I was told about – the lower ball joint – gave out on the car. Saints, if you’ve never seen a car with a broken lower ball joint – let me tell you, it’s a scary sight. But, thank God for AAA. We had the car towed to the shop. The next morning, the mechanic called to tell me what the total cost would be. About the same minute I told the mechanic to go forward with fixing the car, my business phone began to ring. It was a call to come and sing for a gospel cruise on the Spirit of Norfolk that very day. The pay check for singing on the cruise plus the CD sales essentially paid for the repairs of the car.

Tell me God ain’t good! He’ll come through for you right on time. Hallelujah!!

Y’all pray much for my strength in the Lord!

Then, the BIG question…

I remember my visions of grandeur. We were working on Worship Of A Redeemed Man, my first album. I thought that some major record label would hear my project and just leap for joy, then come running to me with a contract. I could just see myself traveling all around the globe, singing on the big stage with the big names, leading countless thousands in worship through song. I could see it so clearly. Boy, was I wrong.

I remember my days of realization. After researching the trends in the recording industry… seeing that as many or more artists were being dropped from major labels than artists were being signed… seeing that many Gospel music labels were folding or being sold off as commodity… seeing how much more stability independent artists had… and after attending GMA Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee… I decided that it was better for me to remain independent and just rough it on my own.

I remember my days of frustration as I determined that I really couldn’t do all of this by myself. I sent out a mass text message to people I knew, asking if anyone had recommendations for a booking agent. I needed some help getting engagements. As an artist, you have to keep working if you are going to make any kind of a living. Independent artists don’t try to get rich – well the smart ones don’t – because we know that it’s an illusion. Most signed artists on major labels aren’t rich. The videos and wardrobe create the illusion. But the reality is that these artists are struggling – just like the indie artists. No… independent artists just try to keep the lights on and the bills paid. And the bills get paid a lot faster when you are working. So I started looking for a booking agent.

Then one day I get a contact from an independent record label. They are interested in releasing my second project. I’ve spoken with the owner. He seems to be a wonderful Christian family man. So, we talked about a way to make this thing work. It sounds really good. I’d been praying about how I would be able to afford the post-production work on this new project. Perhaps this is God’s plan – a partnership with an independent label that will allow me to maintain ownership of my project and control of my career… a partnership with someone that will handle much of the business that I’m trying to maintain so that I can spend more time being creative and writing the music that God is placing on my heart… a partnership with a company that will be able to help me reach the kind of audience that I believe I’m destined to reach.

But these moments are so tricky and prompt lots of questions: Is this God’s plan? Is this a test? Is it a distraction? Is it a diversion? Is it God’s answer to my prayer? Is this my destiny? Then, the BIG question… Should I SIGN?

So many questions!

I’ve been praying about it. I believe that partnering with this label is the will of the Lord. I feel peace about connecting with this company. We’ve started talking figures and logistics. I’ll be meeting with the owner in person next month. My prayer is that God will confirm His will to me by then so that when we meet I will know whether or not to proceed.

Please pray with me.

Painful Peace?

I’m sure that almost sounds like an oxymoron. Let me try to explain…

I clearly remember that evening. I had just arrived home from church. This was 1995, just as cell phones were becoming a popular item but before they had become the permanent appendage they are today. I had a message on the answering machine at home to call my sisters. When I called, they told me that my father had just passed that evening. That was the moment I first experienced what I call “painful peace.”

This was a feeling of calm helplessness coupled with restrained security. This was “peace” because at that moment I knew that the perfect will of God had been done. This was “painful” because the perfect will of God was very different from the will of Michael. I wanted God to heal my dad. He had suffered enough and deserved, in my opinion, to be healed of the cancer that was destroying his body. But, God chose to take my father home with Him and let him enter his eternal reward for all the work he had done for God’s kingdom. Besides, God and I had agreed that my father had suffered enough. So, although realizing that my father had gone on to be with God was painful, knowing that my father was no longer suffering was peaceful. That was a moment of painful peace.

Recently, I was reacquainted with “Painful Peace.” It has been my hearts desire for the past decade to travel to the continent of Africa to minister – either through serving in missions, ministering through the preached word or ministering through music. Well, my BIG CHANCE came!

I was at home talking with one of the neighborhood kids that I’d been mentoring when my cell phone (my permanent appendage) rang. It was a local pastor who had allowed me to minister at his church. He was about to head to Kenya this month for a conference with several pastors and churches in the region. There was a well-known international artist scheduled to travel with him who had to cancel on the trip. As he considered a replacement, he thought I’d be a great fit and asked if I’d accompany him to minister in music nightly before he ministered the preached word.

My heart started racing!! In my mind I was already seeing my brothers and sisters in Africa singing and dancing to “Dance In My Feet.” I could see them rejoicing to the words of “Fight For Me.” This was it! I was headed to Africa to minister.

Then reality set in. It became clear that my life wasn’t only about my personal ministry. As I sat with the calendar at my church, I saw that my sudden unplanned absence would affect several events for which I was responsible; and shifting things around wasn’t as easy as I thought. It came down to a decision. Everyone was willing to work with me so that I could go – but was it the right thing to do? Would it be God’s perfect will for me to leave this abruptly (the trip would have been three weeks away) and throw this many things off balance? Would it be good leadership for me to create this great a challenge for my leadership team?

As much as I wanted to justify it all in my head, the answer was clear to me. I couldn’t take this engagement. It wasn’t God’s perfect will. His will was that I deny my desire and decline the opportunity. It was so painful to call that pastor back and say, “I’m sorry but I won’t be able to take that trip with you.” But, as soon as I said it, I felt that “Painful Peace.” I knew that I was doing the perfect will of God.

God’s plan for my life doesn’t always mesh well with my plan. It’s hard to build a house with two different designs. One has to be abandoned so that the other one can be embraced. I have to abandon my plan for my life – my blueprint – so that God’s plan can be fully embraced. And, He usually doesn’t reveal His plan. But He does reveal His face to those who seek Him. And in His face, I always find peace.

So, what is FAITH anyway? (Part 3)

I believe that when we try to define faith as “the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen,” then we are taking a scripture written as a description and making it a definition. Yet, I do believe that the description is accurate. Faith is firm belief or conviction in something for which there may not be any tangible proof.

The challenge for Christians is to have faith in the right thing. We are often persuaded to have faith in God’s miracle working power; to have faith in God’s compassion and mercy; to have faith that God will deliver us out of our situations; to have faith for our healing; to have faith for our child’s conversion; to have faith in God’s stuff. But the bible clearly says, “Have faith in GOD.” (Mark 11:22) Faith in GOD is a lot deeper than faith in God’s stuff.

We live in a time when the prevailing culture is one of self-centeredness. This is the “I’ve gotta get mine right now” generation. When that kind of mentality influences one’s faith, it becomes easy to see God as Provider more than Father.

I’m a dad. I have a wonderful daughter. She’s an adult, working her way through college. I’m very proud of her. But if she was still a child… and only came around me when she needed something… or only told me how great a father I was when she wanted me to do something for her… or never sought to spend time with me but wanted to get my credit card every weekend, I would have a real problem with that. I would feel like she saw me as a provider, a genie in a bottle on her shelf… and the only time I was being “stroked” was when she wanted something. I doubt very seriously that God appreciates being stroked only when we want Him to grant a wish.

So, if my daughter was to call me up on the phone and I answer the call and she asks, “Hey, Dad, could you send me $4,000 so me and my boyfriend can take a road trip through Mexico?” and I respond, “Baby, I don’t think that’s a good idea, so I’m not going to give you $4,000 for the trip,” would my daughter be accurate to accuse me of not answering her call? No. She can honestly say that I didn’t grant her request, but I did answer her call. I believe that many times we get “answering our prayer” confused with “granting our request.” If we pray and ask God for something, even if we believe that we will get it with all of our heart, but God knows that it isn’t good for us and decides to not grant the request, it doesn’t mean that He didn’t answer our prayer. He just answered with a “No” instead of a “Yes.”

In a few weeks, I will be 44-years old. After all these years, I’ve learned that my faith is most productive when, rather than putting it in receiving what I want or what I think is the right thing, I put it in God. I accomplish much more when I wholeheartedly believe that God knows exactly what’s best for me. I have decided that Faith for me is believing IN God and trusting His decisions, and committing all that I have to obeying His voice and following His directions. I no longer speak to mountains that I want to see moved. I do, however, speak to mountains that God tells me to speak to… and they do move. I no longer speak things into existence that I want to see happen, but I do speak things into existence that God tells me will happen. If God says it, I will commit my life to the completion of it. All that I am is because of God’s word. He never fails. I’ve learned to stop believing in the stuff, but to have faith in God.

So, what is FAITH anyway? (Part 2)

I believe that the truly faithful Christian is one that fully embraces the fact that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Tears were flowing down from my eyes as I commanded that the tree be moved to the other side of the yard. I read the scriptures. If I could command a mountain to be removed then surely a tree wouldn’t be a problem. When my prayer for tree moving didn’t work, I started praying that the house move – even a few inches. I just wanted to prove that I had faith… at least as a grain of mustard seed. But nothing was moving. I felt weak and powerless. Something was wrong with my faith. Then I started playing with my dog and forgot all about the need for faith. You do strange things when you’re 10-12 years old.

Still I remember that day. I remember challenging the scriptures and testing to see if things would happen according to my reading of the text and my accepting the literal translation. When it didn’t happen, I had a question in my mind that lasted for several years.

I remember needing a job. I found out that this one place was hiring. I decided that I wanted to work there. I didn’t go looking anywhere else. I filled out only that one application. I didn’t need to look for an alternative. And, yes, I got that job.

I remember praying for my father who was an amazing man of God. He had served God faithfully for more than 30 years. He’d been a deacon turned elder in the church. He had built houses of worship with his bare hands. He had mentored pastors and preachers. Then, in the twilight of his life, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer disease, and more. He was beginning to suffer. This was no way for a diligent Christian to die. My dad had more to do for God. He shouldn’t be facing death yet… and definitely not like this. I prayed and prayed. Several Christians prayed and prayed. But my dad died a painful death, eventually succumbing to the grip of cancer. I could dress it up and say that he slipped away, he fell asleep, he was taken away on the sweet chariot. But the truth is, my dad suffered. He was in pain, and then he died.

I remember God saying that He was going to give my wife and me our home. We didn’t have money for a down payment for a house. We had horrible credit. We didn’t think we were ready. But God spoke to our hearts and told us to look for a house. God then connected us with a mortgage broker that was able to get us approved. Then we found a house that we liked and put in a bid. We loved it! We lost the bid. Feeling very disappointed, of course I wondered if I was hearing God correctly. But, He told us to find a home. So we looked again. Then we found another home, being sold by the owner. We were dissatisfied with our realtor and the homeowners were dissatisfied with their realtor. As we sat and talked we discovered that we were all Christians and we could feel God at work. The homeowners told us later that night that after we left, they talked and felt God telling them to put us in their home. So, they drew up the contract for us. We didn’t know how. They had offers for more than their selling price but they sold it to us for the selling price. The mortgage came through. God blessed us to get the down-payment. We moved in and are living in that house today.

So, what’s the deal? Did I have more faith for my house than I did for my father’s healing? Did I have more faith for that job than I did for moving the tree? What did Jesus mean when He said that we could have whatsoever we say? Why are so many people claiming that they are millionaires in Jesus’ name but are still in the same economic position, if not worse?

I believe that it comes down to three major factors: Motive, Greed and Purpose.

So, what is FAITH anyway?

Every now and then I go on personal theological journeys to deepen my understanding of my own beliefs. There are few things more embarrassing to me than to be asked to explain my Christian beliefs and not be able to articulate them. It has been said several times that persons of other religions study their faith and can articulate their beliefs well. But… us Christians… we tend to just accept the Sunday sermon and call it a belief. So, when someone asks s to explain it, we get stuck trying to remember what the preacher said.

One of the pillars of Christianity is the doctrine of FAITH. The bible lays vital importance upon faith in that it says that it is impossible to please the Lord without it. It also teaches us that the shield of faith should be cherished “above all” so that we can quench the fiery darts of the devil. We are “saved” through faith. But what is faith?

Now, I could take you through the definitions and explanations that I read in my bible dictionaries and commentaries. I could take you through the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. I could load you with scripture. But, I want to share my life experience. Besides, isn’t that what blogging is all about?

Be careful… this is about to become graphic… not for the weak of stomach…

I remember when I was 10 years old and had a nosebleed. This wasn’t uncommon because I was a “bleeder.” But this particular night it was severe – both nostrils, plus coughing up some blood. My mother – ever the prayer warrior – and others of our church, who all happened to be gathered at our home for a wedding reception, began to lay hands on me and pray for my healing from the bleeding. This lasted for hours – until about 2am when the blood finally clotted and the bleeding appeared to have stopped. Our faith worked… so we thought. I had lost pints of blood from my little body and was very weak from the experience.

After few days of V8 juice and plenty of rest, I was finally strong enough to go to back to school. But I had noticed over those few days that my eyes had become bloodshot – like I’d been hit with a baseball bat – and when I turned my head it sounded like I was under water. Cool… built-in sound effects! As I was getting dressed to go to school my nose started bleeding again… first one nostril, then both, then the coughing. This time, my parents rushed me to the ER. Upon thorough examination, the doctors found that I had a hairline fracture on my skull (I wrestled a lot and had been slammed on the floor on my head. I shook it off at the time but the results were obviously quite severe) which seemed to be related to a ruptured artery in my head that was causing all the bleeding. My brain was sitting in a pool of blood, my eardrums were semi-submerged, I had bled into my eyes, and it was coming out through the nose. I was coughing blood because I was swallowing so much of it. They packed my sinus cavity with gauze and were planning to do a procedure the next morning – I think it was a spinal tap but I really can’t remember why.

That night as my mother and I were praying for God to heal me and to carry me through the procedure, I saw a vision of the finger of God coming down through the sky, right over the hospital and then stopping over my room. Then I saw surgical tools coming out of the tip of His finger and operating on me.

When we got up the next morning, my eyes were clear and I didn’t hear any more liquid in my ears. When the doctors came in and saw me, they were stumped and could not explain what had happened. They kept me for two more days to run tests but couldn’t find any of what they had found before. They couldn’t even find a trace of the blood that they had seen before. Yeah – this was a miracle!

But was this about faith? Why was it that the saints prayed all night at my bedside at home and I still bled, but when my mother and I prayed at my bedside in the hospital, God healed me? Was there more faith with just my mom and me than with all the saints gathered in the room? How do the scriptures justify this outcome?

This is gonna take more than one blog to cover so tune in for the next installment.

April 25th, 2008 finally arrived. There was intense excitement in the air an hour before the concert began. Worshippers started gathering early to share the experience. When my pastor, Dr. Kirk T. Houston Sr. took the microphone for the opening prayer, you knew that the night was going to be special. The presence and power of God quickly filled the room. Yeah… God came to the recording session.

As we got into the first half I knew I needed to pace myself. I had been struggling with my voice over the previous 3 months. At one point I thought I would need to cancel the session. Then I decided that I would overdub the lead vocals later if I needed to – but I wasn’t going to kill the momentum and excitement that was already built about this recording. No… whatever it took, we were going to have that worship experience. We were going to keep our appointment with God.

Once we got into the second song of the session, I noticed that my voice had cleared up. It was on… like popcorn! Things were moving very smoothly. The audience was right there with us. I took my time and introduced nearly every song. This gave my voice a little cool down between songs so that I would be smooth going into the next song. I had to use wisdom to get through the night.

It was my desire for the night to be much more than a recording session where people sit and observe or stand and applaud. My goal was for worshippers to join me in pressing into the very face of God so that we could experience His glory together. But the night went exceeding abundantly above what I had asked or thought. So many moments occurred that were not planned or rehearsed. I can’t wait for you to hear some of these moments that we were able to capture… such as what happened as we concluded “Hallelujah Chant” and all got caught up in the presence and glory of God. Then Pastor Houston came to the mic and led us even deeper in the worship. There was even a moment in the second half when God gave us a song right on stage in the midst of the worship. There is nothing in this world like the presence of the Lord!

The evening would not have happened without the love and support of my fans and friends. There was great generosity expressed by my home church – Gethsemane Community Fellowship Baptist Church. I was also blessed with wonderful sponsors who poured into my music ministry. I am particularly grateful to my corporate sponsor – Dr. Jerome Barber and Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Temple of Hampton, Virginia. Pastor Barber was there with us from the opening to the benediction. It was so cool seeing him and my pastor there on the front row praying for us and worshipping with us through the entire session. What an honor!

The night was a leap of faith. But I can say that God used my sponsors, my fans and supporters to help us cover all of the expenses of the evening. We were able to walk away from the night with professional audio and video recording as well as digital photography. Some of the photos are already on my Myspace page. Stop by and check it out.

I am targeting early December for the release of this project. I’m open to suggestions for the title of the project. If you were at the session and have a recommendation, I’d love to hear it!

Please stop by our corporate sponsor’s webpage and see the great things God is doing at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Temple – affectionately called SMZBT (“Smizzbit”).

O For A Voice To Sing

I’ve heard of athlete’s insuring their limbs. I’ve heard of musicians insuring their fingers. I’ve even heard of singers insuring their voices. I used to think of it as vanity. Now, I kinda understand why.

Last year I caught a cold – well actually, the flu. But it was right before I had a few important engagements. And there were lots of things going on at church as well. So, I had to sing through it. When I got over the virus, my voice didn’t fully recover. Eventually, I had this “popping” that was going on in my voice. It was a bit frightening. It lasted for months. I remembered that a former pastor of mine had those symptoms and found that he had a growth on his vocal chords, which required surgery. So, I went to an E.N.T. (Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist). He put a probe down my throat and looked at my vocal chords and reported that things looked normal. Then, he put me on Prilosec (for what he suspected might be acid reflux) and Prednisone (steroids). In a week, my voice was as clear as a bell.

Well, when I got back from my European tour on New Years Eve, I was quite hoarse. I think it was from the frigid ride on the van from Treia to Milan… or maybe it was the fact that I had only gotten about 5 hours sleep in that 48-hour span. Fatigue will affect your voice – especially after you’ve been using it heavily. Whatever the reason, I was very hoarse. But, I had to lead worship that night – for the New Years Eve service. Then I had to get right back into my schedule of rehearsals and my rotation for leading worship. It took several weeks for my voice to clear up. But about late February, it was starting to sound good again.

Then… of course… I got the flu. Yeah, this was that ugly, nasty strain of the virus that went around this winter. But, it happened right when I was scheduled to do a couple of high profile, very important events. So, I sang through it.

Eventually, I got over the flu. But my voice didn’t clear up. And then I started hearing that “popping” noise again. Here I was at the beginning of March, with a live recording session coming up on April 25th, and my voice sounded like the creature from the movie “Signs.” I started trying everything I knew. I did the lemon tea. I did vocal rest. I did lots of sleeping – well, not lots… just more than usual. I tried vocal workouts from my favorite vocal people – Vocal Coach. Nothing was working! I then started getting nervous. What was I going to do? I couldn’t record a live session with my voice sounding like that.

Then, I remembered last year. I remembered that it happened before. I thought about the medication I was prescribed and took a trip to the pharmacy. I got the sinus meds and the acid reflux meds. But they didn’t bring any change. Finally, I broke down and went to my doctor. Thank God for Dr. Eric Lipton!! He reviewed my case from last year and wrote me a prescription for prednisone. Two days into treatment, my voice was 300% better.

But it’s not as clear as I want it to be right now. I really think that’s because I’m tired. My body is tired. But, we’re in the grind right now. We have 7 days until the recording and there is a list of things that need to happen between now and then. So, I can’t really rest yet. I’ve got to hump it out.

Pray for me. I need a voice to sing. A clear voice.

You know what…

It’s going to be just fine.

God is in control!

Just Like You

This is the song that I was referring to in my latest blog. Take a listen and feel free to tell me what you think. This is the demo version of the song. Come to the live recording on April 25th to hear what it becomes through the production process.

Just Like You - MP3.mp3

The Michael M. Smith Songwriting and Production Process

When I wrote my first song I was about 12 or 13 years old. I remember the song. It was a basic chorus, verse and hook. Come to think of it, the structure was pretty solid. Classic. The title was, “I Love Him.” I taught it to my little group – “Representatives of Divine Love.” It consisted of my best friend on drums, my cousin singing alto, my best friend’s two sisters singing 1st and 2nd soprano and me singing tenor and playing keys. Those were such innocent, fun days. We rehearsed all the time and sang anywhere we could. We weren’t thinking about making records or making money. We just wanted to make melody that would please God and bless the people.

Here we are, some 30 years later and that is still the cry of my heart. I have concluded that God did not put me in this field to try to make a lot of money. He put me here to write and sing songs that would bless Him and bless His people. When the focus becomes the money, the songwriting becomes about making the next “hit,” rather than telling the truth through song. I want to tell the truth. I want to make God smile.

So, how do I write a song? My process has really changed over the years. I used to wait for inspiration to hit me… or for a few lyrics to drop on me. There have been some times when God just dropped a song in my spirit. But I believe that I am at that point where God entrusts me with the gift and responsibility to craft music that I know will please Him. It’s like… He used to pick me up and drive me everywhere. Then He started teaching me how to drive – with Him in the car. Now, He’s given me the keys and says, “Don’t wreck my car. And don’t go anywhere else but where I told you to go.” This project is that kind of graduation.

Okay… back to the process. It starts with an idea. There has to be something that I want to say… either to God or to His people, or there has to be something that God wants to say. My songs take one of three directions: from the mouth of God to me/us; from our mouths to the ears of God; or from us to one another. Lately, most of my songs are “prayer songs,” songs that speak our heart to the ears of God. They are sung directly to Him. I believe that is the proper direction of a good worship song. It should be sung directly to God.

Once I know what direction the song should take and what the message is, I now like to start with the hook. The hook carries the real message of the song. Like the song I just wrote for my new project, “Just Like You”… it started with the hook… “I wanna be just like you, just like you.” That’s the real message. From there, I start crafting the verses. They have to answer a few questions, like “who’s doing the talking?” “Who is being addressed in the song?” “What makes the hook relevant?” The verses are all about getting me to the hook. Since attending GMA Academy I have changed my song structure approach. And co-writing with Beth Champion-Mason had a great impact on me as well. Now, I like going verse 1 & 2, pre-chorus, hook, vamp. It’s a smooth pattern that works for most songs. Sometimes you don’t even need a vamp if the hook is strong enough. But a vamp can be a great addition.

Then I get to work on the music. Most of the time I have the tune for the hook in my head when I create it. The verses all build to the hook in their construction. The pre-chorus should be a musical buildup that lets you know something big is on the way. That big thing is… the hook! So, the pre-chorus often ends with some suspended chord.

Once I’ve got the tune roughly formed, I turn to one of my new best friends… LOGIC! It’s a wonderful software program for songwriting. I decide on my tempo and create a tempo loop – usually 4-5 tracks for a nice, wet loop lasting 4 or 8 measures. Then I loop it out over far more measures than I think the song will last. Then I play out the entire song over the loop using a basic piano patch with a rough rendition of the song. Then I crop back the tempo loop to the actual length of the song. After that, I play a solid bass line through the entire song. I come back and add strings or some atmosphere or background to the song. Then I come back and replace the piano with a really good piano track. If the song is one that I know I’m going to want guitar on, I’ll do a guitar track before the piano track – using one of the wonderful guitar patches. By the way, I have a Motif ES7, which I love. I used to swear by the Motif patches. But for the last couple of songs, I’ve just used the Logic patches. They sound great – and I can modify them pretty easily. Except, I love the Motif organ – which I used on “Just Like You.”

So, now that my music is set, I start tracking my sample vocals. I have to use my falsetto voice to record the soprano and alto parts and sometimes even the tenor parts. This is the most tedious part for me. I hate it when I’m “pitchy” or inarticulate. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m making a demo – not a final product. Finally, I’ll track a demo lead. This is the fun part for me. This is when I get to really get into the song and see what comes out of me. Sometimes the song will move me in ways I didn’t expect. I’ll find myself crying out to God or worshiping more intensely that I predicted. Sometimes a phrase will grab me harder than it did when I wrote it. It’s often a fun, revelatory experience.

Then, I start mixing the song. This is lots of fun for me. I get to use some of the things that I learned from Rob Ulsh at MasterSound Studios and Dwayne Valentine at DVal Studios.

Once I do all of that, I give the song to my co-producer, Kasey Square. He will often ask, “How much room do I have?” I then tell him what I’m married to in the song and what I’m open to. That lets him know how much he can change. We have a great relationship. The guy is a BEAST!! While he’s tweaking the musical arrangement and teaching it to the band, I’m teaching the singers the music and listening to them to hear anything that I want to go back and change. As I listen in on the band rehearsals I’m always looking for any place where we may develop a rub between the band and the vocals so we can fix it right then. Finally, we will bring the two together – vocals and instrumentation. Then we do final tweaking and polishing.

So, the track that came with this blog is what I gave Kasey and the singers. What you will hear on April 25th will be what we all came up with together. It’s going to be quite different.

This blank page can look so intimidating when it’s time to write a blog.

Okay… what’s on my mind? What can I talk about today?

I could talk about the long recovery process of the human voice. My vocal recovery process has been very dramatic since the tour in Europe. I became very hoarse after the tour. I think the 7-hour road-trip to the Milan airport in the van all that night at about what felt like 20 below zero degrees had something to do with it. Or, perhaps, the fact that I could only sleep about 1.5 hours on the 9-hour flight back to the states because I had a painful case of... well, that’s kinda’ embarrassing. Well, let’s just say that I wasn’t about to make everyone on the plane uncomfortable so I kept running to the bathroom… trying to find relief. And when I say painful... I really do mean painful. That bad boy had my stomach screaming! So, needless to say, I couldn’t sleep much on that flight. So, the frigid, sleepless trip to the airport, the sleepless flight back to the states, the time adjustment, and the fact that we had just done 11 concerts, all took a heavy toll on my voice. Then, of course, I was asked to sing for our New Years Eve service. So, having no mid range left to speak of, I had to sing in falsetto. Now, Gethsemane is a funny place filled with funny people. Of course, they started calling me “Prince” for the next month or so. It took several weeks to get my voice back to full strength. And, just as I was getting there… here comes the flu! And, of course, I had to sing while I was sick. So, now, here I am again, trying to rehabilitate my voice. Saints, please pray for me!

Okay… what else can I talk about? Oh yeah! My MAC!!

When I got back from Italy, I invested in a MacBook Pro. Church, let me tell you! I understand why all the REAL musicians work with a Mac. This machine is wonderful! I also got Logic Studio 8. My God! I’m about to shout right now!! People, Logic is a wonderful piece of software. I am loving this studio hookup!. I already had CuBase Studio 4. I’ve stopped using it. I had CuBase LE. NO COMPARISON!! Logic is a BEAST!! And the MacBook Pro is just a fantastic machine all on it’s own. It operates so smoothly… so efficiently. It blows my ThinkPad away.

But the relevant question is, “What’s really going on?” Well, we are preparing for the live recording. God is quickly moving and so are we. April 25, 2008 is the big day. We have people coming from as far away as Tennessee and Georgia for this session. The concert will begin at 7:30PM. The doors will open at 6:30. We know that the building is going to be packed. It only holds 500 in the sanctuary and another 100 in overflow. So, only the first 600 people will be able to get in. We will officially release the announcement of the event on Wednesday. We are asking for a donation of $20 at the door. This will be a huge blessing and will enable us to cover a lot of the expenses of the recording.

Wow, what do you know… the page isn’t blank anymore.

Making The Way Clear

I was doing well. Had the first band rehearsal for the new project. It went really well. I had plans rolling in my head. It was looking pretty nice. Then, I asked someone to give me some advice on something that I’d written. The advice he gave me was excellent advice and direction. But I got his advice just as I was in the midst of fighting with the flu. Yeah… I caught that nasty bug that’s been going around. So, feeling yucky already, I found my emotions totally out of whack. At the same time, my wife was out of town tending to some family business. So, I was home alone, feeling physically miserable, emotionally vulnerable… and I got sucker punched by the enemy.

Lemme tellya… it’s been quite some years since I’d faced that kind of crisis of faith. I was suddenly fearful… nervous… leery… just downright scared. I was praying, “God, what am I dong here? Why am I trying to record another project? I know I don’t have the money. I know I can’t pull this off. I’m going to wind up with egg in my face… and I know that won’t bring you any glory.” I was ready to throw my hands in.

The next morning, I woke up, still sick. I got myself into the mood for writing. I figured, whether I was recording the project or not, I needed to finish the songs that I was working on. So, I started working on this song, “Bigger Than I Imagined.” The song was inspired by our Europe tour. We were in Potenza visiting Father Don Franco’s office, seeing the figurines he had acquired from countries all over the world… all celebrating the birth of our Lord. Seeing this clear representation of the global reach of the Gospel I gained a new perspective of how big God is. I just started telling God, “I thought I knew how great You were but You are much bigger than I imagined.” As we traveled to the next city, I started writing the chorus of the song.

So, as I’m thinking about this experience, and about the amazing view of the Alps as we were flying into Milan, Italy… and the snow-capped mountains, and the flight over to the island of Sardinia… the lyrics started to flow… “Even if I climb the highest mountain peak… or sail to an island – far out in the deep… no matter where I am, I’ll find You right there – answering prayer. You are so much bigger – bigger than I imagined. You are so much greater than my mind can see…”

Once I finished writing the song, I called up one of my songwriter friends, Beth Champion-Mason, to bounce the lyrics and tune off her for her critical ear. She shared a few great suggestions and gave her approval. That felt great!

Then out of the clear blue, I got a call from Jonathan DuBose, Jr… yes, THE Jonathan DuBose, Jr. He was responding to a call I’d placed to him a couple weeks earlier. I’d left a voicemail with him asking that he pray with me that God will provide what I needed to do this recording. Jonathan called just to tell me that my prayers had been answered and that every thing that I needed for this project was already in place… and all I needed to do was to step out and watch God fulfill his promise. I felt my courage coming back!

Saturday was our first vocal rehearsal for the project. It was so wonderful hearing Bethany, Neketa, Felicia and Jene singing the harmonies on “I Give You Everything.” During one of the breaks in the rehearsal they were talking about all the friends and family members they were bringing to the recording and how big a crowd they are anticipating for that night. As they were talking I was thinking, “Well, I guess I can’t call it off now. It’s already too big. And these girls would strangle me.” I later sang “Bigger Than I Imagined” for them. After singing it, I realized that those were the words that God was requiring me to live out. If I am going to record it, I need to live it. I need to realize and embrace the fact that God is HUGE… much bigger than a recording budget.

So, Monday I’m thinking through my plan and looking at possible means of generating a considerable amount of the revenue I need for the project. But, I was thinking I couldn’t act on my idea. Then, out of the clear blue… here we go again… I got a completely unexpected word from the Lord through a former piano student. She sent it via MySpace. She said… “just hitting your page to remind you that the Lord will fulfill His purpose in you.” That thing reverberated in the chambers of my spirit. Soon after, I felt led to call my pastor and talk my idea over with him. And the advice, wisdom and support that he gave me just changed everything! Now, I can see my way clearly. My confidence is back. My health is back, too.

But, I feel humbled by the fact that I acted so faithless last week. I got sucker punched and I wasn’t ready for the fight. God brought me through and proved himself. But now I know I need to prepare myself for the next test. I know it’s coming.

Inspire Me!

I believe we all have those moments when we need inspiration. Not just generic inspiration – but specific inspiration for a specific task. I’m having one of those moments right now. April 25th, I will be recording my next project. It will be a live recording at my home church, Gethsemane Community Fellowship Baptist Church in Norfolk, VA. The task seems HUGE this time. Perhaps because the last time I recorded I had no idea going in just how much it was actually going to cost me – financially, emotionally and time-wise. But this time, I know that it can easily cost me $XX,000 and an entire year to produce a project with the quality of my last one. Mediocrity is often inexpensive. Excellence, on the other hand, is seldom cheap. God has put excellence in me. I have disdain for mediocrity. But when you don’t have $XX,000 at your disposal, it can become a bit overwhelming.

Last week I was sitting in a group session for a leadership institute that I’m attending at my church. The group mentor asked a question, “How do you know that a plan is of God?” We all tossed around various answers. But the mentor gave us an answer that trembled the core of my heart. He said, “You know it’s a plan from God when it requires an act of trust.” Then he went to the scriptures and read from Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy path.” At that very moment I heard God speaking these scriptures into me – like a song being played into my consciousness. I saw that I was being required to trust God. I was already facing financial challenges and trusting God to provide in other areas of my life. Now, in the middle of all of that, God was saying – “Launch out.” Yeah, this definitely required an act of trust.

Leaving that session, I was excited… feeling like the vision was confirmed. But this morning I woke up, exhausted from a very long weekend. The words of my wife are still ringing in my head, “Get some rest!” But, of course I woke up at 8:15 this morning and once I’m up, I’m up.
So, I opened my bible to have some devotional time with the Lord as I ate breakfast. Reading in Isaiah 11, I saw that the kingdom of God will be established in the earth and violence will cease. Even the lion will lay down with the lamb. I saw how Christ, the Branch from the stem of Jesse, would come demonstrating the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and the fear of God. Then I went to verse 13 where it speaks of a cessation of the rivalry between Ephraim and Judah. I had to go back to the story of Ephraim’s blessing given by Jacob. Here, I was touched by the fact that Ephraim, the youngest son (I can relate to that. I’m the baby of my family), would receive the blessing of the eldest son.

That was good for the soul… but I still felt like I needed inspiration.

Over a week ago, one of the drummers at my church loaned me three DVDs to watch. Israel & New Breed, “Live in South Africa” was one of them. Now I’m fan of Israel & New Breed. But I hadn’t had time to watch the video until this morning. The entire DVD is a treat! But there were two things that really spoke to me.

There was a moment when Israel began to quote Zephaniah 3:17. That scripture resonated in my heart. Then Israel began singing prophetically, “Take The Limits Off.” I’d heard the song before on the CD. But, this time, God was speaking to me… “Release me to accomplish what I promised you.” I am very leery of anything resembling this “prosperity Gospel” that’s being preached in many pulpits today. But this morning, I saw a completely different revelation of the words, “No limit. No boundaries. I see increase all around me. Stretch forth. Break forth. Release me. Enlarge my territory.” This wasn’t about ME having stuff. This was about me accomplishing what God has poured into me. As I thought about it, I considered the fact that God wouldn’t be giving me these incredible songs like, “Bigger Than I Imagined” if He didn’t intend for these songs to bless the body of Christ. I can sing them at my home church… but that’s not the way He’s giving them to me. He’s given me songs for the home church before. But these songs are coming with production and arrangements that are beyond the scope of a “home church.” Then, Bishop Tudor Bismark took the mic and began to minister. Oh my God! I had a moment.

The other things that grabbed me was when Israel was singing “Alpha and Omega” and the glory of the Lord was so strong in the room that Israel could no longer stand on his feet. But right before this was the clip of his wife weeping in worship before the Lord. Then, when Israel fell to his knees on the stage, his wife came to the edge of the stage… just to worship with him. There, they wept and worshipped together. Then I thought about my wife, Sharon. And I thought about the moments that God uses me to lead worship and I can see the tears flowing from Sharon’s face as she worships with me. And I thought about the times we spend in prayer together and tears flow from her face as she lifts me up before God. I remembered the fact that she gave me complete support with the last project and has already given me total support with this venture. There is no limit to what God will do with a husband and wife connected in spirit, submitted to the will of God, courageous enough to launch out into the deep water and work for God’s kingdom.

As I’m writing this, I’m reminded about the moments on the stage in Italy, particularly in Sassari on the island of Sardinia. The moments when the worship became so intense that we couldn’t move to the next song… moments when the Holy Spirit translated the language for those sitting in the audience who didn’t know English but knew our Savior. After seeing God move like that, why am I letting this thing bother me? There is something that God dropped on me a little while ago. The project is His. It is for His glory. Everything that it takes to complete the project belongs to Him. He has it in all the right places. He will put it all where it needs to be when it needs to be there. God’s kingdom has the resources for a CD recording. It’s not about me anyway. It’s about God accomplishing something through me for His glory. So, I will trust Him.

Then, to top it off, I am reminded about the fact that the thing that woke me up at 8:15 this morning is that I heard “Join In This Praise” playing on the Contemporary Christian channel of Music Choice this morning. Music Choice is the cable and satellite radio network that Cox Cable and others use to play music. This means that the song is getting national play.

Thank you, Lord! I am inspired.

Settling Back Into The Grind

When I got back from Europe I figured it would take my body a couple of days to adjust to the 6-hour time difference. I got off the plane running! We had our church’s New Years Eve service to execute. Because of the tremendous growth of Gethsemane Community Fellowship, we held our New Years Eve service off-site at Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium. We had to contract sound reinforcement for the event. We had a guest artist coming in to do a concert that night. So, I had a lot of work to do that day to make sure that things went smoothly that night. And, yes, it was a wonderful night!

Since we were headed into a new year… and our church was beginning a new service schedule – going from two services per Sunday to three services – there was a lot to do before the first Sunday of the year. I had lots of meetings and planning. We had to redesign how we would execute things to accommodate these services. As “Minister of Worship and Arts” I am responsible for the ushers, greeters, media, parking & security, dancers, mime, drama and music ministries. And the change in service schedule was going to directly impact my ministries. To make things even more challenging, I had a ministry leader who was going out on sick leave for a couple of months with another young lady covering her ministry and I had another ministry that had just changed leaders. So, I had to be hands-on with both of these ministries. There was a lot to do!

My plan, getting back home, was to get to work on my next recording project. I had planned to do another live recording on February 29th. But I had to look at my whole picture and see if my timetable was realistic… and it wasn’t. I needed to spend the month of January working out the kinks of the new service schedule and working with my leaders. In other words, I needed to concentrate on things at my home church first. So I pushed the recording date to April 25th.

Before I knew it, three weeks had gone by and I hadn’t done any work on my new music. But I also sensed a longing in my heart. God sent a word through the church on Sunday about the parable of the wise and the foolish homebuilders. In that message, I felt the Holy Spirit convicting me. I realized that in the three weeks that I’ve been home I had not spent any quality time in prayer or in reading God’s word. I was working very hard on the things of God but wasn’t spending quality private time with God. WORSHIP LEADERS: BEWARE!!

So, I put everything on hold on Monday and spent time with God. Of course, he took me to a scripture that spoke directly to me. Isaiah 2:8 says, “Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.” The word of God here reminded me of how easy it is for leaders to begin to worship the leadership position… for singers to worship the songs… for musicians to worship the music… for worship leaders to begin to worship the worship! It sneaks up on you. Before you know it, the private time with God is replaced with doing “kingdom work.” IT’S NOT THE SAME! God requires that I spend time with Him… not busy time but quiet time.

After my time with God, I was able to finally finish a song that was being birthed in my heart for quite some time, “I Give You Everything.” It’s going to be on my next project. I believe it will bless you. It’s a song of worship and surrenderance.