Monday - We (Gatlin Elms and I) had a lazy day in Austin because we couldn't check in for the Worship Leader's Conference until 4:30pm. We had a late breakfast at a place called "Cinnamon's Bakery" and ate cinnamon rolls that looked like this. Then we headed out to look for a guitar store and just happened upon an unassuming, out of the way, amazing place called Guitar Rez (short for resurrection - I assume they repair and "resurrect" guitars.). They had all kinds of acoustic and electric guitars and Gatlin and I really enjoyed just hanging out there.
We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a little while before heading out to check in at the conference. We were there at 4:30 and the opening session didn't start until 7pm so we had some time to kill. We looked around the vendor tent for awhile and then headed over to go through a life-size replica of the Tabernacle. It was really neat. They give you a little mp3 player with headphones that takes you through about a 45 minute tour of each part of the Tabernacle and you participate at several "stations" (burn wood at the altar of burnt offering, washed our hands at the Laver, lit an oil lamp at the Lampstand, took a stick of incense into the holy of holies). It was a neat experience. At 7pm the opening session began and we had an amazing time of worship with Matt Redman, Paul Baloche (probably my all time favorite) and others.
Tuesday - Day 2 of conference. We skipped the morning big group session and ate a late breakfast again (cinnamon rolls!) then headed on over to the conference to attend our first break-out session. I went to a session called "Rehearsing Your Team" with one of the music staff guys from Saddleback Church in California. Then we ate lunch and went to our second session of the day which was "Transitioning Worship" by one of my favorite songwriters/worship leaders Lincoln Brewster. It was about making worship style changes in your church (which we've already done, but it was good to hear his views on this).
We skipped the large group afternoon session and went back to the hotel where I thought I would nap, but spent my time checking emails and doing some work for church. We headed back up to Riverbend Church for the evening large group session to be led in worship again by some neat leaders (Leeland, Phillips, Craig & Dean).
Wednesday - Day 3 of the conference started with breakfast of champions - Cinnamon roll again! Then we went to another break-out session. I went to a songwriting class with Tommy Walker (another one of my favorite songwriters/worship leaders). There were probably 75-100 people in the class and after talking about songwriting (for worship) he led us in writing a song! He took ideas from people for the lyrics and melody and within about 20 minutes we had a verse and chorus of a pretty good song!
After lunch I went to another songwriting class with my friend Chris Tomlin. I can say I knew Chris when he was just a punk kid at Super Summer camp in the early 1990's. Now his songs are some of the most popular worship songs sung in churches around the world (How Great is Our God, We Fall Down, Holy is the Lord, Forever - he has 4 songs in the top 20 of CCLI songs sung around the world). I'm excited for him and it's amazing how the Lord is using a little guy from Grand Saline, TX to impact the world-wide church.
We ended the evening with worship by Don Moen (Give Thanks, I Just Want to Be Where You Are among many others), Kathryn Scott (a sweet little Irish girl who writes amazing songs), Gateway Church worship team (where my friend Ed Funderburk is on staff) and then Lincoln Brewster. The picture at the top is what our evenings looked like.
Thursday - Another late breakfast - Gatlin had another Cinnamon roll but I went for the Apple Kolache this time. Then we went to a break-out session called "Creating a Culture of Worship" by Buddy Owens (son of Jimmy and Carol Owens). It was probably the most practical and inspiring session I went to all week. After lunch we went to a session called "SongDiscovery Listening Panel" because Gatlin had submitted one of his own worship songs and they listened to it and critiqued it. They really liked the song. If his song is chosen it will go on a CD compilation of worship songs that goes out to 20,000 worship leaders. Really exciting for Gatlin!
After that session we left Austin and got home about 5:30. Austin was still at Jr. High camp so Tyler and I watched a funny Will Ferrell movie (Kicking & Screaming).
Friday - I did a little work at the office in the morning and then spent the rest of the day at home with the family. We went to the Woodlands Pavillion in the evening because Gatlin won a radio contest and got to open for the Foreigner/Bryan Adams concert. This is what he looked like on stage from where I was standing.
Saturday - was a lazy day for me. Holly got up and ran 5 miles with her friend and personal trainer Erin. She amazes me. The boys and I went over and met her at the Osteen's house (Erin is house-sitting while the Osteens are in Kenya for 2.5 months) Austin fished in their pond and caught this guy. It's a large-mouth bass that weighed 3.5 lbs. Austin says his heart pounds when he hooks these guys.
Sunday - Here is my twitter post from that day: It was a good day in the house of the Lord. Now there are just two of us in the house of Ray. One kid at camp, one at a friend's house.
Tyler left for his last Pre-Teen Camp and he was excited.
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