tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85974187593788691112012-01-20T08:58:17.586-06:00a blog from worship artist Mark RoachMark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.comBlogger971100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-80094082821475896632011-08-04T01:56:00.010-05:002011-08-04T23:08:35.311-05:00

Last Friday I had the opportunity to be a part of Restore Fest in Joplin, MO alongside Mercy Me, Mandisa, Hawk Nelson and several others. Almost a dozen bands/artists gathered on two stages in Landreth Park to love on this community in the best way we know how--through music. In response to the countless people who've asked or may be curious as to how it went:Several weeks ago, I stood before the

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-56830141370333626802010-01-12T16:17:00.005-06:002010-01-12T16:56:50.162-06:00

Just left Temecula, CA this a.m. after a great Sunday at Sunridge Community Church. The Worship Leader there, Rich Kirkpatrick (@rkweblog) and I met a few years ago at a conference in Nashville and have had many a compelling conversation about church, leading worship, pastors, philosophy, theology and so on. He's the real deal and he asked me to come out and lead at his church yesterday... so I

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-3967391430216293252009-11-21T17:00:00.008-06:002009-11-21T18:20:57.852-06:00

sorry about the delay in posting. as it turns out, of all the things I could have contracted in Peru, I came home with what my doctor thinks is strep. Not sure how or where I got that, but I'm already feeling better than I was last night, so hopefully it's short-lived.On Thursday, we got the opportunity to bookend the day with the bookends of the programs offered by Compassion International. We

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-86490361695106586092009-11-19T22:09:00.002-06:002009-11-19T22:17:23.946-06:00

ok, so I'm way excited to unpack this final day here in Peru for you all... I have more stories, more pics, more thoughts. Unfortunately, it takes a while for me to process stuff and get it into presentable form, not to much the import/upload of photos. We have to be leaving the hotel no later than 4:30a.m. tomorrow so I absolutely have to get some rest. I promise to blog soon, if not tomorrow

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-87655948064940514392009-11-18T23:52:00.000-06:002009-11-19T02:48:19.718-06:00

So today can be prettily easily summed up by two things: an eye-opening home visit and lots of time with the kids at another Compassion Project. We arrived to the church and were welcomed with a full out concert from the students. The kids absolutely cling to you, and you'll be able to see that in a few of the pics below. We visited a home on the hillside, visited some classrooms and then had

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-34295363252931814512009-11-17T22:03:00.013-06:002009-11-17T23:39:38.557-06:00

ok, so getting to Peru was certainly a bit more of a challenge--at least in terms of time--than we thought. After waking up at 3:30am, an early flight to Miami, an extended layover (7 hours) and then maintenance-induced delays, the 5.5 hour flight and 45-minute drive to the hotel landed heads on pillows around 3am. I'm certainly not complaining, though, as the hotel is clean and comfy, much

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-23261603677703348182009-04-21T02:24:00.001-05:002009-04-21T02:24:37.296-05:00

(just curious) :)

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-81722121233023851482009-02-07T23:27:00.005-06:002009-02-08T00:29:20.572-06:00

I just got back yesterday from an amazing week at a think-tank unconference called re:create in Nashville, TN. This is my 3rd year attending and it's been great every year. This year was certainly no exception... I don't wanna bore you, so I'll fly through what the week looked like for me.Monday - day 15 hour drive followed by an initially awkward (not a socialite) but eventually awesome time

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-7178118887310236722009-02-03T00:56:00.003-06:002009-02-03T01:47:56.304-06:00

This weekend was the first in our new series 'Bringing Sexy Back' ... no, the band won't be playing the Justin Timberlake tune, but the intro does make a cameo right before the message :) Anyway, the series is about sexuality and this weekend our pastor delivered a great message to kick it off.The front setlist was back to three songs this week... Here's the setlist:As Long As I Have You - (M.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-84450785781197529692009-01-20T00:50:00.002-06:002009-01-20T01:40:05.297-06:00

Ok, so services went great this weekend overall, but I did have my most embarrassing worship moment of 2009 (so far) ... I'm wondering has anyone else ever done this? We were singing Matt Redman's 'You Never Let Go' and you know how the bridge lyric is kinda borrowed from the second verse lyric? Well... I was singing the second verse--my mind was really resonating with the truth in the words,

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-30740920873874494382009-01-13T00:59:00.003-06:002009-01-13T01:39:47.197-06:00

2009. seriously.anyway... I've been back into 4-song sets again recently, so that's what we did this weekend. The set felt great, but as it turned out I pro'ly should have done a 3-song set... we went über long (is that geeky to include the umlaut? hmmm.) at any rate... setlist looked like this:Happy Day (Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon)From the Inside Out (Joel Houston)You Are (M. Roach)You Gave

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-77307557390977515032009-01-10T11:00:00.003-06:002009-01-10T20:47:55.944-06:00

ok... this is simply too much for me to handle :) hope you enjoy! Make sure to watch 'til the end as you'll see the 5 year-old in him really show :)

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-917412590700642972009-01-07T07:14:00.003-06:002009-01-07T07:38:24.460-06:00

well, after after a Christmas season littered with music and media galore, our first weekend of '09 started off with a fairly simple, straight-forward service. We kicked off a brand new message series about money, of all things. As odd as that seemed to myself, our Worship Design Team and much of the congregation I'm sure, I have to give plenty of kudos to our pastors who prayed diligently

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-83952644018442073352009-01-02T00:05:00.002-06:002009-01-02T02:00:21.282-06:00

ok, so I got just buried enough in the craziness of the Christmas season at the church, making sure that I was able to spend time with my family and, of course, my outward ministry that I completely defaulted on like, three straight weeks of worship confessionals. So, I'm just gonna recap some of my thoughts on the end of the holiday season with you in one big 'ol Christmas confessional.December

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-76266579796287081702008-12-29T08:51:00.004-06:002008-12-29T08:58:55.791-06:00

Hey all, just a quick invite to anyone who hasn't already heard... this Wednesday (New Year's Eve) I'll be opening for Mandisa (of American Idol fame) at a brand-new nightspot in Wentzville, MO called Exodus.Tickets include the entertainment, food, party favors (not sure what that means, but hey) and a non-alcoholic champagne toast to ring in the new year! Hope to see you all there!Ticket prices

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-28387560511416903552008-12-12T00:42:00.002-06:002008-12-12T01:19:31.752-06:00

second weekend of the advent season... I'm probably as excited about the worship sets this Christmas season as I've been in the 9+ years (this is actually the 10th Christmas) I've been leading worship here at MSC. It's kinda funny 'cause I have this odd reputation of hating Christmas music, which couldn't be further from the truth. The thing is, I feel like my job is to help facilitate an

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-28273123683903173242008-12-09T00:47:00.011-06:002008-12-09T01:38:50.991-06:00

yeah... this year was very cool 'cause, while we always go pick out a real tree at a Christmas tree lot, this year we got to pick out a tree at the new Christmas tree lot at our own church! And at the tree lot we're treated to roasted chesnuts, cookies, cocoa and coffee... very cool. so here are the time-lapse photos, from yesterday's arrival into our home to the final touches today... come on,

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-61887955664533449632008-12-05T12:39:00.002-06:002008-12-05T12:41:59.357-06:00

are blogs supposed to be short? Someone just eluded to that in an e-mail to me. ooops.then why twitter? :)hmmm.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-86629723656716058192008-12-03T22:21:00.003-06:002008-12-03T22:55:03.038-06:00

This past weekend was one of those odd first-sunday-of-advent weekends to me 'cause it was still November. We had just celebrated Thanksgiving, and we're not even in December yet, but we roll out the Christmas message series and start lacing the worship sets with Christmas tunes... good stuff, though. It was cold and a little bit snowy (not saturday, but it was on sunday) so it was, as they say

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-27466714946235523552008-11-28T12:59:00.004-06:002008-11-28T22:28:39.346-06:00

ok, so Thanksgiving Day has officially expired and, especially for those of you who are like me, that means that Christmas tunes are now officially part of our worship sets for the next several weeks. Here's what I'm wondering:Which Christmas tunes have provided particularly special moments at YOUR church?

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-67902433876688200782008-11-24T19:03:00.002-06:002008-11-24T19:52:55.916-06:00

Hey... it's been a few weeks, I know. I didn't lead at MSC last week, and the week before, well... I had this 'Wide Open' event and time to blog was way down the priority list apparently :)This week was interesting to say the least... I've been trying to really improve transitions inside our worship sets. This week I really tackled 'em head on and we went back and forth quite a bit, throwing

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-70021966767480306592008-11-21T23:35:00.001-06:002008-11-21T23:36:25.487-06:00

seriously, seeing this kind of thing is wild to me. Praise God.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-81098922283202104612008-11-03T23:26:00.002-06:002008-11-04T00:07:21.694-06:00

are you kidding me? November? wow.That said, we had a great weekend at MSC, as I'm hoping you all did as well. Just got some hi-tech sound baffling installed this past week and it totally tweak us out up on stage--in a good way, mostly. We're in a multi-purpose type facility, so our stage is surrounded by painted drywall. Sound (sound = drums for the most part) just bounces all around us and

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-46386550432375499402008-11-03T09:36:00.005-06:002008-11-03T10:04:51.017-06:00

Hey all... wanted to take a moment to let everyone know about an event I'm involved in that's taking place in a few weeks. It's a concert, yes, but it's more than that... in addition to the concert involving myself, Monty Hobson and Christopher Kai, artists Renee Scott, Kathee Biaggne & Bert Vandermark will be joining us as well to add media, photography, and visual art touches.Why?We believe

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-33549522429285721012008-10-30T01:27:00.002-05:002008-10-30T01:58:00.536-05:00

hey all. I'm not even going to mention my lack of punctuality on the confessional front as I know you've all come to expect such behavior from me... crud, I just mentioned it. nevermind.Let's switch things up and start with the setlist:Transformed - (M. Roach, Matthew West)Give It All Away - (Aaron Shust)Here I Am, Lord - (Dan Schutte)feature tune - Give Me Your Eyes (Brandon Heath)How Can I

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-63059053058174102922008-10-23T21:14:00.003-05:002008-10-23T22:26:19.508-05:00

man, I'm terrible at getting these written... how do all of you other worship leaders do it? I completely ignored last week--and it was a great service and setlist, too--and now this week, I'm finally getting to it on Thursday night. whew....ok, so I've been doing these 3 song sets at the beginning of service all through October, right? I've been doing that so I could assure ample time to

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-19143183663627131482008-10-07T00:18:00.005-05:002008-10-07T01:26:25.936-05:00

does anyone else feel like the very first service of the weekend comes off as more of a rehearsal than anything? we battled that for the longest time when we were a portable church--sometimes we were still making sure microphones were plugged in when the service was supposed to be starting--but we're battling it again. I think it's 'cause we're coming into church in the middle of the day on a

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-49269888404017023202008-09-30T10:15:00.003-05:002008-09-30T10:41:19.493-05:00

so I made a strange decision last week, after years of pushing for more music up front at our services, always lobbying to maintain our typical 4-song set whenever possible... I decided that I'm going to try something over the next month or so. 3 songs. 3 songs in the 20 minutes or so that I'm allotted in each service. why? well, lately I've felt... I don't know... trapped. constricted. have

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-52775743503970191792008-09-25T15:27:00.005-05:002008-09-25T15:51:20.008-05:00

Wow... it's been a tough several weeks here at MSC as we had another untimely death in our congregation, this time a sister of one of the praise team members. To add to the discomfort, we're right in the middle of series called 'Inheritance' and were all set to discuss whether or not we would recognize our earthly relationships in heaven. Once again, I think we pulled through and honored the

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-83924280770904665812008-09-20T11:25:00.009-05:002008-09-20T12:35:16.112-05:00

Hey all... wow, what a week! This is sort of a strange confessional, as it comes from a string of small shows/services I did this week. My week started early on Saturday as I headed out to New Life Fellowship church in Topeka, IN. It's about 7 hours from my house in St. Charles, MO. I, of course, forgot about the 1 hour time difference and did my best to make some time up on the road. The first

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-5871127505608368692008-09-11T15:52:00.005-05:002008-09-11T16:18:47.818-05:00

One thing that's been weird the last year or so for me while leading worship at church has been getting used to in-ear monitors. I like 'em a lot for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that (I think) my tuning improves with them as opposed wedges... the biggest flaw I've encountered is the lack of connection with a congregation--and really, I mean an emotional, internal connection

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-80359807467494434352008-09-04T00:53:00.003-05:002008-09-04T01:25:57.406-05:00

Man, I'm bad at doing these right after the weekend, huh? Gary Durbin's was practically up before our last service was over... :) oh, well... way to stay on top of things, Gary! :)This weekend was one of those that started out brutally, but ended well. Ever have those? Well, mine was self-inflicted as I committed the cardinal sin of wireless in-ear usage on Saturday and neglected to change

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-34648722959171985402008-08-30T11:01:00.004-05:002008-08-30T11:27:29.894-05:00

ok, so this happened almost two months ago, so I'm a bit late in blogging about it. That said, I took some pretty funny video that day to go along with the story, and friends and family have been bugging me to get it up online, so...Here's the thing... my son Conner had been riding this thing called a Rolli-Rider since summer of last year. It's an old-school looking, hand-made bicycle of sorts

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-11267798539958472082008-08-28T18:58:00.005-05:002008-08-28T19:06:33.611-05:00

Boy, I wish I were on compilations with this kind of company in America :) ... check out the names here with me on the front cover of this record! (you may have to click on it to see a larger image)The funniest part? That my name is actually listed before Sarah McLachlan... awesome. :)

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-45767906998135882062008-08-26T00:27:00.004-05:002008-08-26T01:14:20.265-05:00

this weekend was one of those crazy weekends for me when I have an engagement out of town on Saturday, but I drive back Saturday night for Sunday a.m. services. Of course, we have Saturday night service as well, so it makes for an odd weekend for the whole team in many ways. Ryan, the Associate Music Director at MSC, takes over as worship leader in my absence. This weekend I was in Urbana, IL

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-54590493488124445522008-08-20T21:31:00.004-05:002008-08-20T22:33:09.857-05:00

Tough weekend at MSC, as we lost a special young nineteen-year-old girl to a fatal single-car accident on Friday. She was to turn 20 on Saturday, and our church--young as it is--had literally watched her grow up as her and her family have attended for virtually the entire nine-year life of our ministry. Couple that with the elation that comes with the 30+ baptisms we were celebrating at our

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-29549908042468425402008-08-11T16:32:00.004-05:002008-08-11T16:42:49.823-05:00

We got the refreshing opportunity to attend a small start-up church here in Belgrade, MT yesterday. It was called 'Connect Church' and has only been meeting for about 6 months. Solid music, good teaching and a warm, welcoming congregation. Kinda reminded me of our early start-up days back in '99 although their meeting space was quite a bit more intimate than what we had... those were the days!

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-36868220325779094312008-08-10T16:57:00.005-05:002008-08-10T17:40:01.802-05:00

wow... a city boy like me spends a couple days at Yellowstone National Park and is left speechless... I've been absolutely overwhelmed by the vastness, mystery and beauty of His creation over the last couple of days. Here's some video I took at the brink of the Upper falls... also check out the photos I posted on my myspace page.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-71490163825952683472008-08-08T00:24:00.006-05:002008-08-08T01:46:32.092-05:00

So you may have already seen my post regarding my Alaska trip... as much as I enjoyed the trip, I was actually not even on vacation. I was brought into Cordova by the folks at Cordova Community Baptist Church as the featured guest of a small worship conference. The conference consisted of several evenings of worship, teaching, etc. in addition to some songwriting workshops and culminating in

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-8328601105769937112008-08-06T02:22:00.004-05:002008-08-06T02:58:14.572-05:00

... that's what they call it in Alaska. The lower 48... makes enough sense, I guess, but I'd admittedly never heard it before. In fact, I've come up with an entire mini-dictionary of terms and phrases--some of them Cordova specific--that I learned for the first time in Alaska. Just to give you a little background, Cordova is remote... far more than I thought it would be when I left St. Louis

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-47495749615926011542008-07-31T14:18:00.003-05:002008-07-31T14:52:45.204-05:00

This past weekend was the 3rd in our 4-part series called "Any Questions?" It's been a great series so far, taking spiritual questions from our congregation and building messages around biblical answers to them. This week our new Youth Pastor, Matthew Skroblus, tackled the oft asked question: Why Do I Still Feel Guilty? He did a great job up there and the Worship Design Team was certainly

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-54260883132488177302008-07-25T21:50:00.004-05:002008-07-25T22:17:56.958-05:00

Ok, so last week we set out on a typical Saturday morning... headed to Windsor Christian Church in Windsor, IL. The stuff you hear about from every band that's ever hit the road was about to become our reality... a seemingly harmless blown tire on our trailer started it all...Come to find out that 12:30pm on a Saturday afternoon is absolutely unheardof in terms of blowing tires--at least

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-36261010635169526432008-07-10T00:20:00.003-05:002008-07-10T00:57:17.804-05:00

It was a good weekend overall... must admit, though, I didn't really feel 100% back in the swing of things--two weekends playing out of state, I come back and it's the first weekend of our Lead Pastor's summer vacation (he's basically gone all of July) and on top of that we did this kinda Family Service type of thing. So, I guess it just didn't feel as much like 'home' as it usually does coming

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-56961250481534407372008-07-06T06:27:00.005-05:002008-08-08T00:31:36.887-05:00

Wow... it's been a while since I've penned one of these, and now I'm a week late on this one. Time just seems to slip through my fingertips. Hey last week we found ourselves in Little Rock, AR at The Church at Rock Creek. Richard Wentz is the worship Pastor over there and we met at this cool conference called re:create that I've been to for a couple years in Nashville. Anyway, the ministry

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-83495315032816126712008-06-09T17:32:00.005-05:002008-06-09T17:51:02.859-05:00

I'm headed out to the East Coast Worship Summit right now... in fact, I'm stuck in the airport as a result of a flight delay as I type... no better time to blog! :)So, I get the distinct honor and privilege of leading the morning worship session on Wednesday at the Summit in addition to teaching several workshops all week. I absolutely love leading fellow worship leaders into the presence of God

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-42471727109547062792008-05-22T21:53:00.004-05:002008-05-22T22:06:38.706-05:00

I was horrified to hear the news today. 5-year old Maria Sue Chapman tragically killed yesterday in an unthinkable accident in her own driveway.I have a 4-year old son myself. He'll be five in September. I can't even articulate how I think I might feel in Steven's shoes right now. If you haven't seen it already, there's a very sweet video of Maria Sue and Steven on her memorial page... click

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-47057679644849144822008-05-22T10:57:00.012-05:002008-05-22T11:37:12.061-05:00

Ok, so just before I recorded 'Every Reason Why' I sat down with a few other writers to see if we could co-write something for the record. Matthew West and I have been friends since college, and though we hadn't written much together at all, it was a no-brainer to see what would happen if we put our heads together.The product of that co-write was a tune that you may have heard if you've seen me

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-69753621565920929262008-05-22T00:19:00.002-05:002008-05-22T00:35:54.281-05:00

this past weekend was a crazy one... big weekend in the life of our church, honestly. The numbers came in a few weeks ago regarding the financial commitments for our building initiative Love. Loud. and while it was a lot of money--and represented significant sacrifices from many families in our congregation--it fell substantially short of the figure we needed in order to actually build.We stood

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-17024506959663268422008-05-15T11:17:00.002-05:002008-05-15T11:59:43.889-05:00

This past weekend was, of course, Mom's Day. Usually, we get a packed house on Mother's Day weekend, but for whatever reason (maybe the ridiculously dismal weather) we were not only light on attendance, but a bit blah as well. Now, my friend Gary Durbin in Florida points out in his most recent WorshipSource confessional the importance of not measuring worship by the congregation's response, but

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-49559069423223422402008-05-15T10:49:00.005-05:002008-05-15T11:14:02.253-05:00

Ok, this one's really late, I know, but I have to mention this... we had Mike Lewis, also known as the Jesus Painter, come and be a part of our Celebration services--the culmination of our Love. Loud. initiative. He is truly an awesome guy, and what he does in worship should be incorporated into every church across America and beyond if you ask me. If your church doesn't incorporate visual art

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-61549256072552573692008-05-02T11:36:00.002-05:002008-05-02T11:39:35.744-05:00

yeah... so he's now 4 years old. The video was shot about a year ago. He likes to tell people about how he's on YouTube. But honestly, 15,000 views! That's awesome. So here's a reprise:

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-87115058333131782732008-04-27T20:19:00.003-05:002008-04-27T20:46:42.486-05:00

Last week, I got the not-as-rare-as-it-used-to-be privilege of coming to my own church as an attender. Ryan, our Associate Music Director, led worship and I was out in the congregation holding my son in my arms and singing to my Creator--my son singing gently in my ear throughout the worship set... it doesn't get a whole lot sweeter than that.This week was our last weekend of our Love. Loud.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-49911931318087915402008-04-01T12:33:00.001-05:002008-04-01T12:34:37.249-05:00

as posted at www.worshipsource.com/markroachOk, so it was the weekend after Easter… if your church is anything like our church, the staff is all in recovery mode for most of the week, trying to catch up on sleep, time with family, and anything else that was virtually ignored during the weeks prior to Easter. We were no different, and while Saturday seemed much like a normal service, when we all

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-83134861601470674262008-03-25T00:19:00.010-05:002008-03-25T00:58:33.692-05:00

Horatio Spafford articulated it so well in the classic Hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" when he penned the beautiful stream-of-conciousness lyric:My sin--O the bliss of this glorious thought--my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more... Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!At our Good Friday services this past week, those in attendance were invited to

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-78547596029106818562008-03-13T12:55:00.003-05:002008-03-13T13:01:43.349-05:00

seriously... is there anything in the world cuter than this? Conner's getting pretty good with letters, and that's a balloon in the top right--with a heart on it.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-56150244484760463682008-03-03T03:02:00.005-06:002008-03-03T03:24:23.170-06:00

Ok, so I just wanted to remind you all of my profile page on a great new site called WorshipSource.com. It's an awesome site--especially for worship leaders and songwriters--and it's getting better all the time. It's in BETA right now, so they're still adding features and you can help them continue to make the site even cooler. There's already a ton of people on there, so check it out.One of

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-25342669503086508972008-03-02T00:21:00.003-06:002008-03-02T00:24:13.532-06:00

yeah, so I just played guitar hero (the Wii version) for the first time at a friend's house. I'm terrible. absolutely terrible.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-40512305376937755952008-02-26T00:45:00.002-06:002008-02-26T00:53:08.136-06:00

Ok, so this weekend we did a message at MSC about how the word 'money' is taboo at church. We had a little fun with it, and made a fake Taboo card (from the board game) and told the pastor he had to deliver the entire message without saying any of the words on the card. He obliged, but also counter-challenged me to write a song...Now, obviously, I wrote this not from my own perspective, but

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-57241567939402868492008-02-09T11:45:00.001-06:002008-02-11T10:32:31.884-06:00

Ok, so one of the reasons I've found myself behind in my daily Bible reading this past week is this amazing conference I was at called re:create. A thinktank for church arts staff of all shapes and sizes, this conference is truly one of a kind. Some of the highlights:- Vicki Beeching led worship for us on Tuesday morning -- great songwriter/worship leader- Jon Tyson, pastor of a church in New

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-24178817793077704972008-02-09T11:26:00.000-06:002008-02-09T11:41:40.490-06:00

Hey, everyone... so sorry that it's been so long since the last blog. I have several reasons/excuses, most of which are highly unimportant, but the one main reason I do want to share with you all... I've decided to tackle the task of reading the entire Bible all the way through in '08. Some of you probably think that's not even worth mentioning, since you've done it 7 times already in your life

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-67252732109575759802007-12-29T10:06:00.000-06:002007-12-29T10:10:56.392-06:00

...so this Christmas Eve service was my four year-old's debut on the platform playing with the praise band! He was our very own 'little drummer boy' and he had an absolute blast. Take a look!

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-5682629334054863082007-12-23T06:48:00.000-06:002007-12-23T07:07:16.343-06:00

It's Sunday morning, 6:47a.m. as I begin typing... the rare occasion of having a 10 or 15 minute surplus before I leave for church is at hand, and I thought I'd take advantage by putting some of my thoughts down here. We're rapidly approaching the day on which we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the words we sang last night--and will again this morning--are resonating in my

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-54474601497895619982007-12-14T22:43:00.000-06:002007-12-14T22:50:42.534-06:00

Ok, so how fun is this? A friend of mine just told me yesterday that there was a video of me from my recent tour on her myspace profile... I hadn't seen any videos floating around, but when I went and checked it out... sure enough. So thanks Lisa, for showing me! And thanks to Heather in Colorado for shooting and posting a little slice of the tour.Check it out, tell your friends, blog it, post

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-52229852315853360812007-12-11T01:33:00.000-06:002007-12-11T01:55:01.940-06:00

so... have you ever run across a new song that you were amped about and you just had to tell the world? Worship leaders--you especially? Well, I ran into one such song the other day... it's called "You Gave Your Life Away" by Paul Baloche and Kathryn Scott. Wow.Now, if you know me at all, you know that I listen and write through a congregational filter of sorts. In other words, I'm constantly

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-54447189307136973332007-12-05T23:46:00.000-06:002007-12-05T23:50:54.346-06:00

well, even if you don't, I've missed blogging--especially after doing so nearly every day while on tour. I'll be back soon, I promise. Meanwhile, remember that you can catch my weekend service reflections on my blog at www.worshipsource.com/markroach -- I kinda moved 'em over there instead of here.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-16226147922153387782007-11-26T10:47:00.000-06:002007-11-26T10:54:20.403-06:00

Hey... many of you may have seen that I've been regularly posting a 'weekend services' blog -- a setlist, a run-down of how things went, and maybe some spiritual fodder to go along with...Well, I'm still doing that, but the long-awaited site worshipsource.com is finally up, and I've moved those particular weekly entries to the 'blog' section on my worshipsource site!Worshipsource is a very cool

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-62514133789870247742007-11-18T22:41:00.000-06:002007-11-18T23:26:03.582-06:00

Great night to close out a great tour... I ran out of CD's which is good--and also a bummer. We took a group picture of all the guys in Building 429, Aaron Shust and his band, Meredith, myself and the crew... check it out.The highlight of the night definitely did end up being the pranks... here's a run down:Meredith went on first. She was nervous through her whole 3-song set, but nothing

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-87065857008089283762007-11-18T02:26:00.000-06:002007-11-18T02:44:07.809-06:00

one of our biggest crowds yet at around 1000, Niwot, CO proved to be an awesome penultimate gig... oops, I just used a big word for no reason, didn't I? Ok, I went ahead and made it clickable. Anyway, I've been asking folks just before the last song to come by my table, tell me their stories, you know? Wow... it's been really awesome to hear people's hearts after these shows. On a complete

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-82968510237613454492007-11-17T17:29:00.000-06:002007-11-17T17:44:07.486-06:00

... yesterday was awesome. Albuquerque, NM. I'd never been there, but I'd sure love to go back. Incredible people--not a big crowd, but a very responsive one--I've never run into more people with unique and beautiful names in my life! I'd try to recall (and spell) them for you, but I'd surely butcher one or all of them.I'm attaching a simple picture taken with my phone from the parking lot of

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-15361007359944515352007-11-16T14:51:00.001-06:002007-11-16T14:56:03.125-06:00

... so I'm trying to keep up with this blog, but some days are more difficult than others. Not much to say today other than this: I'm having a great time, missing my family like crazy, learning to deal with the road while anxious to sleep in my own bed. I love playing my songs for 600-800 new people every night, but relish the idea of leading worship on my familiar home church platform in just

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-42856710733381785872007-11-15T04:52:00.000-06:002007-11-15T05:15:27.771-06:00

Ok, so two things:First of all, I made the lamest error possible as a Worship Artist tonight on stage... when thanking the crowd for coming to the show I boldly exclaimed, "Thanks for being here this evening, thanks for worshiping me--" AAAAHH! I stopped, laughed, and made sure it was clear that they should never do that--"thanks for worshiping WITH me..." Practically unrecoverable, and I got

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-2982048904292752602007-11-13T18:26:00.000-06:002007-11-13T18:52:51.480-06:00

Bend, OR - another great church--amazingly cool people, great hospitality, fun concert, right? But tonight, at least for me, the highlight had to have been 'Crazy Tony'... I'd love to say that he heard my music and I somehow was able to change his life with the divine truths contained in the songs that God has giv---yeah, the truth is, God's been working on this guy for a long time and two weeks

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-15898961406810293732007-11-13T18:14:00.002-06:002007-11-13T18:25:00.074-06:00

Jason Roy (Building 429), Me, Meredith, Aaron in Bend, ORme sound-checking in Tualatin (Portland), ORScottie (Guitar), Meredith and me on the bus...Duffy (Bass), Sara (Aaron's wife), and Josh (Drums) on the bus...

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-28023181858284597822007-11-12T00:17:00.000-06:002007-11-12T00:35:53.846-06:00

Ok, so I thought I was done posting for the day, but as the first 'day off' of the tour draws to a close, I've found myself sitting calmly on the bus with my in-ear-monitors in my ears reading some blogs and listening to Glen Phillips on my iPod... his voice and songs are like a rare late night conversation with old friend. I miss my family so much it hurts--even after only 5 days on the road--

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-1870097494384111562007-11-11T22:19:00.000-06:002007-11-11T22:54:33.040-06:00

ok, so the Tualatin (Portland, OR) show was last night... I know I sound like a broken record, but it was a great time. I've included a pic to the right there. From l to r, that's Aaron, Jason Roy (Building), Meredith, Josh, Scottie, Duffy (Aaron's band) and myself. I've gotten the opportunity to sit in and watch the entire sets of both Building 429 & Aaron the past few nights and they've been

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-54008318738121371852007-11-10T03:57:00.000-06:002007-11-10T04:37:22.964-06:00

today was Spokane, WA. The venue was called 'The Service Station'--a coffee house & concert venue all wrapped up in one... the room was great, the people were great, and the worship was great. I pray that God was pleased with what happened in Spokane tonight.You know, it's funny... the first few days of this tour have been tough for me in some ways. I stand up there in front of hundreds every

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-53706492997873169342007-11-09T12:54:00.001-06:002007-11-09T13:14:50.385-06:00

Ok, so I'm quickly getting used to my short-term home (see picture) and the way things are rolling on this tour. We're pretty well under a set schedule of driving/sleeping after midnight, showing up at the next day's venue sometime by early morning. The crew gets up before Aaron, Building, Meredith and myself and the bands... they load up the whole sound system, merch tables, etc. and we stroll

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-18427179116821393892007-11-08T01:54:00.000-06:002007-11-08T01:57:39.566-06:00

Well, first day's behind us... had a great show here in Redmond. Learning to deal with in-ear monitors, soaking in tour-bus etiquette... right now, I'm incredibly tired, so I'm going to bed. I'll keep you all posted.Mark

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-37688024445606329682007-11-07T01:13:00.000-06:002007-11-07T01:23:25.463-06:00

November 3 & 4, 2007Worship Setlist:Beautiful One (Tim Hughes)May the Words of My Mouth (Tim Hughes)Amazing (John Newton, John P. Rees, Mark Roach)I Stand Amazed (Charles Hutchison Gabriel)Holy Is The Lord (Chris Tomlin)Hey all... long weekend for us at MSC--the services on Saturday and Sunday were followed by a baptism service Sunday night @6pm. All I can say is... that's why we do what do...

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-71084708858376088372007-10-29T23:39:00.000-05:002007-10-29T23:57:24.605-05:00

October 27 & 28, 2007Worship Setlist:Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman, Beth Redman)All I Can Do is Surrender (M. Roach)Let My Words Be Few (Matt Redman, Beth Redman)How Great is Our God (Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash)The Noise (Ian Eskelin, Scott Davis, Jesse Daniels)Forever (Chris Tomlin)yeah... so as I look at the songs we did this week... I guess it was like 'Passion Weekend' with a

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-82561604467042388252007-10-26T12:36:00.000-05:002007-10-26T12:38:42.625-05:00

Hey all... I just posted a brand new poll--an opportunity for you all to help me decide what tunes I'll play for my upcoming tour! You can vote all the way up until the morning I leave! Please pick four (4) tunes, then head to my myspace page to check out if the tour will hit your city!!!

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-35555900107239648782007-10-24T00:52:00.000-05:002007-10-26T12:34:22.353-05:00

especially if you're one of the eight of you who have five or more TV's (according to my exceedingly non-scientific poll)I'll bring chips. :)

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-4175464395705815352007-10-23T13:29:00.000-05:002007-10-29T23:44:22.507-05:00

October 20 & 21, 2007Worship Setlist:You Are Good (Israel Houghton)Indescribable (Laura Story)You Are (M. Roach)Adding to the Noise (Switchfoot)Breathe (Marie Barnett)Ok, so this weekend, only our second ever with services on Saturday and Sunday, was full of excitement to say the least... We continued a great series called 'Noise' that just deals with the noise and distractions in our lives.

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-53561338149555644252007-10-15T22:31:00.000-05:002007-10-16T00:26:54.098-05:00

ok, so my son has a new favorite cartoon--and when I say new, I'm definitely referring to the favorite, not the cartoon. That's right, Conner's gone old school, and he can't get enough of Tom & Jerry! Oh, and I'm talkin' the vintage episodes, too--not the new stuff.I'm lovin' it, too, 'cause I grew up on that stuff... those cartoons are great, and they're packed with references to music and the

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-50852717428537847382007-10-15T00:45:00.000-05:002007-10-15T01:03:27.921-05:00

Worship Setlist:Here For the King (Mark White)Forever (Chris Tomlin)Change Me (Gary Shoemaker, Rebecca Shoemaker)The Heart of Worship (Matt Redman)Still (Christy Nockels, Nathan Nockels)Enough (Chris Tomlin)we had an amazing weekend at MSC this last few days. It started with our first ever Saturday night service--ok, so 4:30pm isn't exactly night, but we all still seem to call it that--and it

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-47399166718111704622007-10-09T01:11:00.000-05:002007-10-09T01:29:26.575-05:00

Worship Setlist:Everlasting God (Brenton Brown, Ken Riley)Happy Day (Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon)You Never Let Go (Matt Redman, Beth Redman)All Who Are Thirsty (Brenton Brown, Glen Robertson)Here I Am, Lord (Dan Schutte)We wrapped up our series called 'Just Walk Across the Room' yesterday with a message entitled 'The Big Fish'... Nothing spectacular happened from a musical standpoint at the service,

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-82697365026355390922007-10-01T23:10:00.000-05:002007-10-01T23:37:47.803-05:00

Worship Setlist:A Thousand Hallelujahs (M. Roach)Sweet Mercies (David Ruis)Lord On High (Matt Boswell)How Can I Keep from Singing (Tomlin/Cash/Redman)Special Music:Something to Say (Toad the Wet Sprocket)Next Thing You Know (Matthew West)yeah, so worship was great this week. We did something we don't do incredibly often, we had two 'special music' tunes... I despise that term--it makes no sense-

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-2629917842461365272007-09-30T15:29:00.000-05:002007-09-30T15:40:22.541-05:00

ok, so it just plain doesn't get any better than this... the other night, my son Conner and I went to his second ever St. Louis Blues game! I've been a Blues fan since before I was his age, and there's nothing better than taking this boy to see our team.Ryan and his girlfriend Abby invited us--mucho thanks again to them--and little did we know we were going to sit 6 rows from the ice! The seats

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-69700820599992102852007-09-28T01:02:00.000-05:002007-09-28T01:33:55.885-05:00

Ok, so I got a question in a blog comment yesterday, and it's actually a question I've gotten several times at conferences and such as well, so I thought it kinda typified blogworthiness. I'm all about the non-words these days, aren't I?So the question was basically how much do I do my own songs in church--and then how often do I use songs in general... SO... I thought I'd answer that question

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-63763479381610917772007-09-25T00:29:00.000-05:002007-09-25T00:50:57.227-05:00

ok, so this week I did something I literally haven't done once in the 8 years I've been leading worship at Morning Star Church... I overslept--not just overslept, like a half hour or something, I have done that before--no, I overslept big. Like the King of Glory was Jesus this Sunday and Mark was the king of oversleptedness. Look that one up.So, yeah, I woke up 3 minutes before the band call on

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-32889946290239905132007-09-21T00:03:00.000-05:002007-09-21T00:36:00.626-05:00

ok... my wife has been wanting a dog for as long as I've known her. Lately my just-turned-four-year-old son has been itching to get one, too... (really that's been for about... since he could talk.)The thing is, Carolyn--that's my wife--has never wanted a puppy. Don't get me wrong, she'd LOVE a puppy. But she's always wanted to adopt a stray who needed a home in spite of the fact that he/she

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-67906697358452564812007-09-18T00:59:00.000-05:002007-10-14T06:14:52.598-05:00

So this Sunday may have literally been the very first time in eight years that I actually came to my own church for just one service, with my family, mid-morning, parked in the lot while it was full, entered the front doors, etc. It was crazy... crazy cool, though.I love doing that, to be honest. I love to come to my own church, sit in the congregation and just take it in, you know? It's an

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-74125390467885535442007-09-08T15:34:00.001-05:002007-09-25T09:49:26.777-05:00

Ok, so it all started with the word 'intrinsic'... it's found in the song "All I Can Do is Surrender." Questions at church, in e-mails, even on myspace... what's that word 'intrinsic' mean?Shortly after that came 'manifest'... then 'typify'... I started to get a reputation among some of the band members at Morning Star... if we were doing a new song and there was a 'fancy' word in the lyric,

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-40312850084077432752007-09-02T23:19:00.000-05:002007-09-02T23:31:38.840-05:00

We had kind of a schizophrenic worship set as it turned out this Sunday... little did I know it would work out the way it did.It's truly amazing--and humbling, to say the least--to see how God works week after week in the midst of our services. I chose our worship setlist for this Sunday several weeks ago, and picked the tunes for my usual various and sundry reasons. When we did run-through

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-2848090366002328842007-08-31T22:58:00.000-05:002007-09-01T22:22:46.156-05:00

well, it's been over a month now since my CD release concert at Morning Star Church, my home church in St. Louis, MO... the concert was a benefit for an awesome charity called 'Nothing But Nets', a grass-roots malaria prevention charity tackling the staggering disease's death tolls with a simple $10 bed net.Anyway, at the concert, we raised over $3200 for Jacob's Ladder, a 'netraiser team' formed

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-25920928482679711392007-08-27T21:19:00.000-05:002007-09-01T22:24:18.398-05:00

ok, so all who are reading this... I'll likely be posting a new blog here every Sunday or Monday just reflecting on our weekend services at MSC--you know, just 'cause that's what I do, and I thought maybe some of you would be mildly interested in such a thing. There's a little 'comment' button around here somewhere that you can click if you disagree, I'd love to know! :)Anyway, so this Sunday we

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597418759378869111.post-74660171817650937512007-08-24T22:09:00.000-05:002007-08-24T22:45:46.530-05:00

Well, I've decided that I need--at least for now--my own, dedicated blog... so I can better communicate with anyone out there who'd actually enjoy doing so, and so I can post videos of my ridiculously amazing 3-year-old son playing the drums much better than he should be able to...yeah, so that was really more of a test than anything, but seriously, he's not messin' around, is he?!? Love it.Well

Mark Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09600894810887570243noreply@blogger.com18