The Money Song (that never talks about money)

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 rather from the perspective of someone who simply doesn't want to ever hear the word 'money' in church. It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, hopefully light-hearted... I went ahead and included a copy of the Taboo card in the corner... makes it a little more fun. Hope you enjoy!

re:create 2008

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 York city, challenged each and every one of us regarding the state of the church in America. Best quote of the week: "Christians are not called to change the world, but rather to create culture"

- Matthew West made a surprise visit, shared his testimony and sang a few tunes... Matthew is a great guy and a friend of mine. The story he is able to steward for God's kingdom alongside this record is incredible, so you should check it out.

- Integrity Music brought Paul Baloche, Kari Jobe, Jared Anderson and a staff writer before us and they led worship through a memorable night of song, storm and sirens!

- Mike Lewis, a.k.a. the JesusPainter, painted three full paintings for us as we all shared in communion. I had led worship for the group that morning and got the opportunity to accompanied Mike's art with a bed of acoustic music, including playing 'Communion' by Third Day along with Mark Lee, who plays guitar in Third Day. Quite humbling, and an awesome experience.

- An unexpected last-minute presentation by Ken Davis blew all of us away... laughed harder than we'd laughed in months, cried harder than we'd cried in months.

- Mark Stuart and the Hands and Feet project -- another great story of struggle and the ultimate decision of an artist to lay down his life for the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

- Honestly, the coolest part of the week for me--beyond all of this above--is coming together with like-minded artists who are passionate about doing God's work (specifically in the local church) and having an awesome, intelligent, spiritual, emotional, renewing, refreshing think-tank experience for a full week.

Unbelievable week... thanks Randy, and ALL who were involved!

Bible or Blog?

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. Some of you probably think that's a noble idea that any Worship Artist who also leads worship at his church on a weekly basis should have done years ago... and then some of you--perhaps just a few--know how a big a deal this is for me. Maybe you're there, too. I'm not well read. I don't read for pleasure, and while I've read a massive amount of scripture over the years I've been in church, bible studies, devotions, etc. I've simply never been able to commit to read the entire bible.

Anyway, this is the year... I ask for your prayers, I've officially (for the first time) fallen behind on my reading schedule and am in desperate need of catching up this next week. If you're in the same boat I'm in, by the way, you can check out the schedule I'm using online at http://bible.christianity.com -- it's cool, 'cause you can actually follow along on your computer screen if that's easier for you, or go read your bible if that's easier and check it off later. I find myself doing both. Sometimes I'll really get into the text and go get my study bible so I can find some additional commentary on what I'm reading, and sometimes I'll read it online while I'm sitting in front of the computer screen.

Anyway, as I really begin to get a handle on this newly formed habit, I know the blogging will return, but I wanted to let you all in on one of the main reasons I've been away! :) Many, many blessings! Come join me in tackling the bible in a year, if you'd like! The site above will automatically start you on schedule beginning the day you decide to commit!

the little drummer boy...

...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!

selfless...

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 mind... "It's all about You, Jesus..."

This has become a staple among the myriad of "worship phrases" that we worship leaders, songwriters and pastors will draw from when appropriate--but it struck me differently for the first time last night. The wonder of God has many layers, and perhaps I stumbled onto one I've never really encountered before last night--at least not in this way. See, I've been spending the last several years being cognizant in my writing and in my leading of pointing to Christ and only to Christ--"It's all about You, Jesus... it's not about me, God, it's all about You..." That really must be the heart of our worship to Him, but as I was bathing in that thought last night in a moment of worship, it struck me that the selfless God we serve suffered through Calvary, died a glorious death on the cross, and rose from the dead all for... us. It's not that I'd never come to that realization before, don't get me wrong. Salvation only exists inside that reality. But it's almost as if the God of all creation was singing back to me last night--not worshiping me at all--but rather a musical whisper... a message from the cross: "It's all about you... that's why I did all of this..."

Wow. The gift of baby Jesus in the manger, humbly entering a world which wouldn't accept Him. The miracles, the parables, the scriptures left behind. The death, the resurrection--all that we celebrate in this season and throughout the year--was God selflessly making it all about us... little, pathetic, sinful, undeserving souls like mine. I don't know about you, but that makes it even easier for me to give every effort to make my worship all about Him.

live video from my recent tour!

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 it, repost it, bulletin it (that's almost as poor a verb as 'Photoshop') and put it on all your profiles! :) Enjoy!

Mark Roach in Concert performing As Long As I Have You

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a great new song...

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 looking for--or trying to write--songs that will resonate in a congregational worship setting. So when I stumbled on this song, I was elated to hear each section of the song draw me further into a simple, beautiful moment of worship. We'll be worshiping with this new tune this weekend at MSC, so any of you reading this who will be there will get a chance to enter the throne room with Paul's and Kathryn's words on your lips in our services.

Funny, I was at Saddleback Church this past year at a conference, and I was teaching a session on corporate songwriting. I use Paul's song 'Offering' as an example in my class, because I believe that it's truly an amazing example of artistic worship writing. Anyway, Paul was teaching immediately after me across campus and I wanted to go check out his session--maybe say 'hello' if I could get a chance. He talked about this tune he had just been finishing with Kathryn Scott and sang a bit of the chorus. I loved the little bit that he shared, but had all but forgotten about it until I ran across it the other day.

Paul, if you read this, bro... I want to write with you sometime! You are truly anointed and I'd love to merge our minds and hearts and see if we could come up with a song together that blesses congregations around the world and pleases our Lord and Savior! For now, I thank you--and Kathryn--for coming up with this one!

...miss me?

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.

worshipsource.com

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 site, though still in its infancy, so I hope you check it out. Three of my songs are posted up there, all with multi-page chord charts with capo keys (when applicable) and chord diagrams, and a fourth with charts but no audio. Also, the blog that I just mentioned will be up there weekly as well. Stop by and check it out... www.worshipsource.com/markroach

day twelve and out...

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 happened--until she headed off stage and one of the guys from Building poured water on her from the catwalk above the stage... nice.

So I head on, and I'm playing through my set just wondering what's coming. My biggest fears were realized when I heard Jason Roy talking in my in-ear monitors. The first time was between song 2 and 3, and he was just trying to freak me out, so he said "ok, you got the stuff... sweet, let's go get him." Then, as if that wasn't enough to throw my concentration, he actually starts playing puppeteer. Immediately after song 3, Jason speaks again... "Mark, do exactly as I say... put your right hand in the air and don't make a sound." So, fearing consequences--the catwalk was directly over me--I took one step forward, raised my right hand as the applause tailed off and then, after a short pause, began speaking. Now, while I'm speaking, I'm hearing gut-level laughter at my obedience along with one last comment, "nicely done, Mark"... all while I'm trying to talk to the crowd. Yeah, I have no idea what I said, but I give kudos to Jason--well done.

Next was Building 429... they have a section of their show where they play "Sing Like the Saved" and invite kids from the audience up on stage to dance. Well, Meredith had taken Aaron's hat (the bass player) the day before, from bus and she--wearing said hat--and Scottie (Aaron Shust's guitarist) came running on stage with, yep, silly string... made a mess and danced around a bit... more good stuff. The bass player was wearing a 'backup' hat, and I think everyone had a different hat on by the time they were off stage.

Lastly, during one of Aaron's songs, the guys from Building (yeah... they were involved in just about every prank) ran on stage with various and sundry hats they found backstage, and started pulling hats off of Aaron and switching them around, adding hats to people without hats, and generally causing mayhem... it was actually very funny--sounds just like the Meredith trick, but it was to the next level or two... meanwhile, I was hiding behind a small facade wall behind and to the right of the drummer, waiting for some silence. As soon as the song ended, I waited for the most opportune moment and blew an airhorn at him. Kind of inside joke for Josh--he and the bassist Duffy both heard it and had a laugh...

Like I said, good night, good tour... I absolutely can't wait to hug my wife and son in a matter of hours. I'm finally getting used to the road, and I simultaneously want nothing more than the various and sundry blessings and burdens that await me at home. In the words of Michael Bublé:

I've had my run, baby I'm done... and I wanna go home.

With eyes welling up as I type those words, and bitter-sweet goodbyes filling the next few hours, I'm signing off for now... thanks for coming alongside me on the road via the amazing phenomenon of the blog.

Many blessings...

Mark


[phil 4.8]