Hey Guys,
Just to let you know, iTunes just released a new update that incorporates podcasting directly into the software. When the Emerging Show starts up again you will be able to get all the podcasts directly loaded to your iTunes and/or to your iPod (if you have one). Go ahead and go to the iTunes music store if you have the new version and subscribe for free to the Emerging Show! God bless!
Tommy
Well, it has been far to long since I have posted. I am sorry.
Today is my birthday, and I woke up to breakfast and a new digital camera from my girlfriend. Could it get any better?
I promise I will start updating again soon, the summer is almost over. God bless.
Tommy
This summer is proving to be one of the fullest summers ever. Life is speeding by at the speed of sound.
Due to my hectic schedule during the summer, The Emerging Show with be postponed until the end of this summer season. I will try to post a few podcast between now and then, but there will be no schedule until the end. I know you understand. God bless!!
p.s. I will still post to this blog as much as I can.
Tommy Bailey
Just a reminder that The Emerging Show does still exist, but it has not been on an active schedule for the last 2 weeks. It will resume shortly. I know you all understand (around 2500 hundred individual listeners to the last podcast) that life gets busy sometimes. God bless!
p.s. be sure to check out the "Make Poverty History" website. Click on the banner at the top of this page. So many good things are being done through this orginization, and others like it trying to clear poverty in the worlds poorest countries. Did you reallize that 30,000 (that's 3 a second) people die every single day because of poverty. Check out the website, and get involved.
Tommy
Life the past 2 weeks have been a buzz of activity. Last week, I was asked to lead Northview in worship and teaching all by myself (with violin help from the mast violinist Houston). I had a wonderful time, and I think I learned more than I taught. It was a fun week, and a great weekend of worshp with my church family.
Before the weekend my sister had her 18th birthday party. I got her cigarettes and an iTunes gift card. Pretty good brother, huh.
This week I am having a great time creating and dreaming, but am having a difficult time picking out songs (usually a long process for me, but this week has been unusually long. Most of the time I have to take a whole day to process the flow of worship through music.)
This is a quick glance at life so far, I will update you with some more creative pics. God bless.
Tommy
I was almost wrong with my leanings toward Bo Bice. I am not
concerned whatsoever with the career of Bo, he will be a star. I am
so happy for Carrie, and I have to be honest that I am proud that she
is from Oklahoma (except for the fact that when they talk about her
hometown they seem to show only the biggest of "hicks". To the rest
of the world--Not all Oklahomans are hicks!) God bless.
Tommy
I have to be honest, I really didn't think any of them did their best yesterday. I have to admit that as a musician I must empathize with the fact that it is impossible to do your best after tirelessly singing and learning songs at the rapid pace that they are forced to. So, with that said, I have to say I favor Bo, although, I think he only has a slight edge (he performed "Vehicle" brilliantly). I guess we will see what happens tonight.
Tommy
Tonight Bo and Carrie have their final performance before American Idol 2005 finally ends (didn't it seem like it was longer this year?). I have a personal favorite, but I think they both have a shot. It will be an interesting night.
Of all the performances I have seen, I believe Bo is a much better showman, and he did prove that he can sing last week when he did an a capella tune. Carrie does have a star quality about her, and she has an excellent voice, and she is from Oklahoma...
p.s. my favorite is Bo (although, I'm not sure how he will have any credibility in the rock and roll world if he wins, I mean come on, Mick Jagger wouldn't be Mick Jagger if he would have won American Bandstand, but we shall see)
Tommy
Here are some photos from part of my weekend in Nashville (click on the title of the post). On Sunday afternoon we took a trip to Nachez Trace and found trail tucked away in the woods. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and the photos don't do it justice. God bless.
Tommy
I just walked into the men's restroom at Northview and saw this. If
you don't know me well let me inform you that I am more afraid of
spiders than any other creature on this earth. The picture doesn't
really give much perspective, but it is aprox. 2.5-3 inches long (no
exaggeration)
I am leaving tomorrow morning to head back home to Oklahoma City. I will soon post photos from the conference, and also talk about some of the conversations that arising in the "emerging" church arena. In the meantime (sorry I always promise pictures and nevery deliver) I have posted some creative pictures that I took randomly, click on the title of this post to go there. God bless.
Tommy
If you click on the title of this post you can look at some random shots from the Emerging Church conference and random shots from Nashville. I've had an aboslutely wonderful/refreshing/renewing/insightful/exciting time at this conference. Today I went to a seminar with Brian McLaren on scripture, and let me tell you, it made me see the scriptures in an absolutely fresh way. I am excited. Now I realize that it's always easy to get pumped up at a conference because of the excitement in the air and the energy of having everyone there for one purpose (like youth camps, hehe), but I can honestly say that this week has had a great impact on me, and the faith community I am a part of that will be added to the story of my life.
On a side note, I was able to meet Richard Foster, and Brian McLaren today...my 2 favorites, they seemed very genuine. Also, the prayer chapel, labyrith, and various worship experiences were probably the most beautiful part of my weekend. I will have plenty of photographs from all those. All the photos I have so far are all from my cameraphone. There will be better photos from my friend who has a professional grade camera. Thanks Thad.
God bless.
I am sorry it is taking so long to post all my pics. I will do it as soon as I get them all in order (there are hundreds. Peace.
Tommy
Amazing. That's the best word I can come up with for my experience so far. I will post tons of pictures tonight for you. I will also go into more depth about the seminars I attended. I am going to a Richard Foster seminar in about 20 minutes (probably the writer that has helped me grow the most). Yesterday I had 2 seminars, one with Brian McLaren (I can't explain how wonderful this seminar was), and LeRon Shultz (not exageratting...probably the most intelligent man I ever heard speak, but it wasn't so "heady" that is wasn't understandable).
Every night at around 7:00pm there is a general session, and instead of bringing in another lecturer, the staff of Emergent thought it would be more beneficial to have a message of blessing at the end of each day to decompress from the days seminars and workshops. The "blesser" was a lady by the name of Phyllis Tickle. I have to admit when she got up I instantly put a stereotype around her (she's probably around 85 years old), but when she started speaking it was like listening the words of Christ from Christ in person. I will talk more about her later. Amazing.
At the end of each general session you are able to go to 1 of 3 worship experiences off campus. Last night I went to a Taize worship experience at Christ Cathedral Church (one of the most beautiful churches you have ever seen). It was so intensly beautiful words can't describe it. You can click on the title of this post for a link to the Taize community in France. Refreshing would be a good adjective, but that is only one slice of the pie. Tonight I will be going to a liturgical/postmodern worship experience at a Presbyterian church downtown, I'm very excited. I wish you all could be here. I will post pictures tonight. God bless.
This morning we finished our Critical Concerns course on "emerging" worship, and what that means to the body of Christ. We looked at practicle examples of how different methodologies are being used to express worship (I have many ideas to use back home). We looked at practicle ways of growing a church that expresses worship in a variety of ways.
One of the things I enjoyed about Dan Kimball was his experiential attitude toward teaching. There were many times when he had us draw, sculpt, listen, and see differnet ideas that he was talking about. It was a great course. The ironic thing was that a lot of the practics that he was talking about are already being implemented at my church (not all--I hope to add some), but it seemed that he put into words what I have been reading, thinking, and praying about myself. I said this ever since I moved to OKC and started working in a church plant, I believe many of us are seing that God is moving in the hearts of those all around the world in new and fresh ways, and I am excited about what is to come. I'll post later on today. God bless!
Tommy
I arrived at the Emerging Church conference at the beautiful Renaissance Hotel in downtown Nashville. It is an absolutely gorgeous day down here, and the people are as nice as ever. After registration you had the option of perusing the bookstore (pictures to come soon) or visit the labyrinth (which I was really looking forward to). I have never experienced a labyrinth before, only read about them, they are very similar to something we already do at Northview Community Church in OKC called Dwell. The labyrinth is very hard to explain and the picture I have posted doesn't do it justice. I have linked the title of this post to a website that presents an online version of the same labyrinth that I experienced this morning. I have to say that it was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever done.
When you walk into the room you are handed an iPod-type of device. When you put the headphones on a speaker guides you with scripture and various other readings as you walk through the stations of the labyrinth. Like I said before, I can't really explain it, you have to experience it. Go to the website and check it out, make sure you have about an hour of time to spend with God---without any distractions. I will post again tonight. God bless!
Tommy
This week I will be in Nashville, TN for the annual Emerging Church convention. Rather than producing a show I am going to upload pictures and a synopsis every evening of the topics we discussed at the conference. God bless!
Click on the title of this post to see some new photos that I took over that last few weeks. I am not a photographer, just a creative eye. You'll know who I am if you are driving around OKC because I'm the guy that pulls over to take a picture of just about anything (including trash cans, cool colored barrels, etc.). I hope you enjoy them.
