From the Mind of MandoRon

I’m a little late to the party, but hopefully there is still some fun to be had…  This week’s installment in the Fred McKinnon Sunday Setlist extravaganza is tardy due to some serious birthday party fun on Sunday followed up by Jett’s actual birthday yesterday…

So without further ado, the setlist from GracePoint:

• Joy to the World by Family Wise Music (Jingle Jam CD)
• Repeat the Sounding Joy by Family Wise Music (Jingle Jam CD)
• Wholly Yours by David Crowder Band
• My Savior My God by Aaron Shust
• Yesterday by The Beatles
• Let It Be by The Beatles (offering)

All in all, a pretty fun Sunday.

Joy to the World was a rocked up version.  All of the K-5 kids came up on stage and danced for the first two songs.  They were hilarious to watch. Ed has posted a video on Facebook, but you may have to be Ed’s friend to see it…  I’ll try to prod him into putting one out in the public domain.  It’s a cool version.  I like it. 

Repeat the Sounding Joy was another amped up song that the kids danced to.  Rod had to do some heavy sampling on the keys to pull this one off, but it was solid.

Wholly Yours is one of my favorite DCB songs.  We always play the ending like it is on the radio version, and not the longer ending off the album.  It was perhaps a little mellow to start the off the abbreviated worship set with.

My Savior My God is another good one.  I love the dynamics of the song.  Apparently I enjoyed it a little too much because I broke a string on this song during the second service.  The remaining three strings didn’t leave me much to work with…  I was late getting in to listen to the sermon in order to replace the string.  (Thanks for letting me borrow your wire cutters Bruce!)

Yesterday continued in the Beatles-themed series “Let It Be Christmas”.   In the original recording, the guitars are detuned a whole step, so we played it a step higher, in G, to avoid detuning… 

Let It Be was used for the offering.  It was pretty solid.  Rod’s Hammond came in handy.  And Bruce nailed the guitar solo.  This was my first time to actually play with Bruce.  Very cool guy.

Today, is my son Jett’s 5th birthday.  (It’s also Uncle Mike’s birthday, so we’ll wish him Happy Birthday too…)

We threw a birthday party for him at the Northwest YMCA yesterday.  It was a blast.  Jett scored a good assortment of toys for boys… Batman, Transformers, and Nerf guns.  Unfortunately the electronic drum pad that we gave him doesn’t work and needs to be replaced.

After opening presents, the kids spent 45 minutes on the climbing wall and boulders.  Then 45 minutes swimming in the indoor pool.

Here you can see the kids receiving climbing instructions.  Only 5 of them braved the wall, but they all did great!

The kids who were intimidated by the wall, climbed all over the boulders.  Here is Jett conquering the boulders.

 Yes, I realize it’s Jett’s birthday, but I have to brag on Jada too.  She made two attempts at the wall.  The first time, she raced halfway up, and then got stuck because she couldn’t make the stretch to the next handhold.  She spent at least 5 minutes trying though…  I’ll share the video later this week.

The second ascent (different line) she had the same trouble.  She got halfway up, and then had to spend several minutes figuring out how to make the transition to the top section of the wall.  But she did it.  She then went all the way up and rang the bell.  She’s the one in the middle.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a little “Happy Birthday” and Jett blowing out the candles.

Just wanted to take a moment to point you to some new links on the MandoRon blogroll…

In “Links of Interest”… Douglas and Main is a blog run by Bobby Rozzell. He appears to be trying to compile all things Wichita.  Cool idea.

In “GracePoint Friends”… Andy Williamson’s myspace page is where you can listen to some of his original songs.

And in “Worship”… Kim Bontrager’s blog has been added.  Kim is Worship Director at First Mennonite Brethren just a few miles from me here in Wichita.  We know some of the same people, but ironically met through Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlist.  It is a small world after all.

Seriously???

Andrea bought this by accident yesterday.  Honey-flavored syrup?  What is the world coming to? 

Maybe it’s a sign that the rapture is near…

I just came across a video of Sing to the King from this Sunday.  Kelly (wife of lead guitar player Jeff in the video) recorded it.

Good stuff!