ChrisMoncus.com

WUTS went great. There seemed to be an intense spirit of worship in the place and I believe it was a great experience for people from all across the southeast US and from all kinds of Christian traditions to get together and worship God together. Again, we held Worship Under the Stars under a roof in the Jekyll Island Convention Center. But who’s counting when ultimately, regardless of the name, God was worshiped. I do selfishly wish for WUTS to be held under the stars next year though. Hint hint Fred.

It was good to once again be a part of the use of AV and media to be a part of the worship. Adam Ogden, our Production Director, did a fantastic job leading our team and producing the show. I was the Media Director which put me in charge of photography, designing the website, creating the opening video, creating pre-show graphics, converting other videos for use within Easy Worship, lyrics presentation, and training our volunteers involved with media. It was great.

I had a great couple of volunteers helping me - my wife Amanda and Justin Nazzare. Justin ran the lyrics and video during show and did a ton to help get it all set up. Amanda was faithful in transferring pictures from my 1 and 2 GB cards to my computer so I could keep shooting and not have to stop to transfer from the cards when they got full. Thank you both.

About the pictures. I ended up taking about 3,100 pictures between the two nights. Yeah. 3,100. “Why that many?”, you may ask. Mostly because getting the perfect picture of someone while they are moving, the lights are moving, and the light levels are changing is a daunting task. Getting to my computer and looking at the photos made me glad I shot so many of them. I got so many unpublishable pictures of people with awkward faces, bad lighting, and moving so much that my 1/40-1/100 sec range of shutter speeds couldn’t catch without a blur. I will say that out of the 3,100 photos I did get about 80 unique shots worth posting. I say unique because a lot of the photos I took were 10-30 shot bursts trying to capture the subject in good light, without an awkward facial expression, while not moving too fast, and while they were doing something interesting enough. Using that math, I only took about 100-300 unique shots with 80 coming out publishable. I’d say those were good odds. Fifteen hours in PhotoShop later, I had my pictures.

Below are the links to the final product. The sizes I uploaded aren’t printable so if you want any printed, contact me through this website or call or email me if you wish and we can get that arranged.

View my favorites here on my site.

More are available on the Worship Under the Stars website.

And a side note: I took my 10,000th photo with my Digital Rebel XT during WUTS. Wow. That’s over 10,000 photos with this camera since June 4th, 2006! That’s an average of 74 pictures a day!

It’s official. FedEx dropped off Vertical Window’s new CD this morning at 10am. We hoped to have them in yesterday, but between the holiday rush and the hundred other things that could have slowed them down, a day late isn’t bad.

I have it sitting right beside me and it looks awesome.

So I present to you… Angels Cry. You can buy it for $10 from any band member, FBC Brunswick office, WECC, or our website. Beginning Monday, December 26, WECC will be giving away several copies of our CD on air. Keep your dial on 89.3FM for your chance to win. Don’t forget to request ‘Angels Cry’ to be played on the air. 1-800-577-WECC.

Have a blessed and merry Christmas from myself and Vertical Window.

There is a longer story on VerticalWindow.com about the release. Read it.

As of this weekend, our new website for Vertical Window is up and running. Please drop by and say hey, listen to a few songs, grab some wallpapers, and make the world a better place.

This website release comes in on the coat-tails of the news that we have a release date of December 22nd for our new CD, Angels Cry.

There are a couple of things you can do to make this release even better.
1) Call WECC - 89.3 - and request for a song to be played from our new CD. 800-577-WECC
2) Pre-order the CD and it will be mailed to you as soon as we get it in. In fact, you may even get it before the release date.

Thank you all for your continual support. I heart you all.

VerticalWindow.com

Ok, so I watch MTV. Specifically, Pimp My Ride and Cribs. What’s amazing is that MTV has embraced Christian music as viable music to air.

I remember about 7 or 8 years ago a show called Oddville was on MTV. One episode featured the O.C. Supertones as the guest band. Also about this time they would occasionally play the video of Jars of Clay’s song “Flood”.

More recently, POD has had several videos make it to TRL and they also scored a soundtrack spot on the albums for Little Nicky, The Longest Yard, Any Given Sunday, and Matrix Revolutions. Even more recently, like 2 seconds ago, their song “Boom” was used in the show Cribs. The episode right before this played four O.C. Supertones songs, one Anberlin, and one MxPx.

One episode of Pimp My Ride that aired earlier this year played Relient K almost exclusively. They have two videos on MTV being played right now.

Just amazing. Christians are finally playing good music and the world is taking notice. I love hearing kids that I know don’t know Jesus singing “Be My Escape” by Relient K. They are proclaiming the “way out” of the funk they are in is the freedom and salvation that Christ offers. Isaiah 55:10-11 (NIV) says:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Kids are telling themselves “Jesus loves me” and don’t know it. I can only trust that His words will not return void, but will see fruition with these kids coming to know a loving God.

Some other recent things that have occoured have been Bizzy Bone’s conversion to Christianity (story) as well as Head’s from Korn (story). Even some major secular bands sport Christian members who didn’t leave and their influence translates through the lyrics. Killswitch Engage has several songs with Christian messages such as “Rose of Sharyn”.

Even the largest metal festival ever, Ozzfest, has had several proclaiming Christian bands on it’s lineup including Chevelle, As I Lay Dying, and POD sharing the stage with Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, and Ozzy Ozbourne.

The Vans Warped Tour has also carried such names as Relient K, MxPx, Mae, Noise Ratchet, Letter Kills, and Underoath.

Guys, pray pray pray for these artists as they minister to the masses. Pray that they will in no way compromise. Pray that they won’t come off preachy but sincere and hold firm to their beliefs.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think about this recent flood of Christian music on the market. If I missed anything you think I should have mentioned, also leave a comment. Gosh, just leave something!

Here are the links to some of my favorite albums by these artists.
P.O.D. - The Fundamental Elements of Southtown
P.O.D. - Satellite
Relient K - Relient K
Relient K - MMHMM
String Quartet Tribute to Relient K
Supertones - Unite
MxPx - Life in General
MxPx - Teenage Politics
MxPx - Pokinatcha
MxPx - On the Cover
Anberlin - Blueprints for the Black Market
Anberlin - Never Take Friendship Personal
mae - Destination: Beautiful
mae - The Everglow
Underoath - They’re Only Chasing Safety
Letter Kills - The Bridge

I just saw a post on FredMcKinnon.com that reminded me how much I love John Wesley. Among the many awesome things he said, below are his “Directions for Singing”. Oh, that the church would read this and put it into practice. Thanks Fred for reminding me of this writing.

“For those who are Methodists, you may recognize this immediately. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve taken this from the inside pages of the Methodist Hymnal ?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ and it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s quoted from John Wesley?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSelect Hymns?¢‚Ǩ¬ù of 1761. John Wesley thought these were the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìbest of the best?¢‚Ǩ¬ù and had specific instructions on singing praises to God ?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ and although we sing a lot more than these ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSelect Hymns?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, I think that his challenge is fitting for us all.”

?¢‚Ǩ?ìDirections for Singing?¢‚Ǩ¬ù from John Wesley?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Select Hymns, 1761

1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.
5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the hamorny; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before or stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.