Hey everybody. I'm going to take a break from the internet for a while, at the very least through the end of June, and maybe longer. I'm not really sure yet. I won't be blogging or tweeting during the hiatus, nor reading most of what comes through my feed reader and Facebook—if I read anything at all. I'll pretty much only be using internet for work and family related needs.

I need to take some time off, step back and prioritize. I'll still be available via email if you'd like to get in touch: j [dot] joymark [at] gmail [dot] com. I would, as always, appreciate any prayers you choose to throw my way.

See you on the flip side.

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I thought we had a really good day yesterday. It was something of a day off for me, not that I didn't show up and work, but it was a much welcomed change of pace. It has become my thing to operate FoH sound for the children's musicals. I really enjoy operating the board and accompanying media, even though I'm obsessive enough about it that it becomes a little nerve wracking.

We held our annual music camp for area children last week. Basically, music camp is something like a VBS—crafts, Bible stories, recreation, etc. The major difference is that the kids learn a complete children's musical in five days, complete with speaking parts, choreography and solos. The performance of the musical always follows on the next Sunday, and it's always a great draw to get families in the door that might not have a connection with any church.

This was the last true testing of our new-ish sound system. Reinforcing the sound for a children's musical is usually a small nightmare, but this time around things went really well. I have ideas on how to make things even better, but for the most part everything could be heard clearly. In fact, I only had to supplement the children's choir with track voices once. In reality, the worst part about the sound was the two mic cues I was a little late on.

After the musical, our deacons did a great thing and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone who would stick around. I don't know a head count, but our auditorium was full of people, and most of them stayed. I hope the love of Christ was imparted to them by our members.

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In this final installment of this series, I'd like to quickly share another set of "cheater" chords, and let you know what some other worship leaders say they look for in a rhythm guitarist.

For this set of chords, start with your basic E chord fingering.

Now we're going to keep that fingering and slide up five frets. You're now playing an A add9 chord. The chord chart below doesn't show it, but you can leave the sixth string (low E) open. Alternately, you could throw your index finger down on the low E string at the fifth fret, giving you a root of A.

As we did on the slide in the last post in the series, keep your basic E chord fingering and slide up two more frets. This gives you a B add4. As above, the chart doesn't show it but you can leave the low E string open. Also as with the A add9, you can put the index finger down on the seventh fret, giving you a root of B.

I'd encourage any of you reading this who feel you need help increasing your skills to find a reputable guitar teacher and begin taking lessons. No matter how good you are, you can still learn something from a teacher. Trust me, if I could afford it right now, I'd be taking lessons myself.

Another great thing to do is watch other players. Buy or borrow as many music DVDs as you can and watch their fingers. I've probably watched my Shane & Shane DVD a hundred times trying to pick out one chord voicing or another. Also take a look at many of the worship resources out there such as New Song Cafe, and Vertical Music's worship tools.

Ask your worship leader is they have any resources available you can borrow, and ask if they know of any other good online resources.

To wrap things up, here's what some of my tweeps on Twitter had to say about what they look for in a rhythm guitarist for their own bands:

@leadworship: "I love a confident player whose not afraid to worship"

@kimbontrager: "confident enough to start a song. able to learn rhythm patterns quickly. good instincts re:when to stand out & when to blend in."

@dwpoyner: "Able to carry a song alone, good steady rhythmic strumming, a good guitar playing face…"

@mandoron: "Predictable strum patterns. We've had guitarists who never play the same thing twice. Correct and steady tempos."

@stephenulangca: "consistency, comping, strum patterns, chord library. Haven't found one yet. Hope you will."

@janakid: "versatility in style, consistency, some knowledge about theory, show up on time"

@mikeymo1741: "Rhythm. (seriously… ) Humility. And of course, good tone."

I hope you've learned from and enjoyed this series. As always, if any of you out there have any other suggestions, tips, or tricks to share, please comment.

Thanks to Guitar.to for the chord fingerings.

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In what might—or might not—be considered a follow-up volume to their previous Six Prayers God Always Answers, authors Jennifer Schuchmann and Mark Herringshaw use their winning formula for communication. Personal stories + real-world situations + relatable writing style = a book you want to read.

As with Six Prayers, this new book, Nine Ways God Always Speaks deals with the hearts and minds of people just like you and me, presenting some of the best testimonial evidence of the work of God—that of personal experience.

I think the big take-away for me in this volume is to ask myself, "When does God NOT speak?" Is there really anytime that the God of heaven is not striving mightily to communicate with us? Without giving away the nine ways, God uses creation itself to cry out to us, pointing the way to His heart. Beauty itself speaks of His love for us. His Word is clear and applicable to our struggle to hear His voice via other avenues.

God also speaks through the human experience. While not always so clear, and often slanted by personality quirks, our conscience, our emotions, our make-up all express facets of Him—methods He has chosen to interact with us. Even our very history reveals His plan of the ages, and where we've jumped the shark.

I love the ending sentiments of the book, where the authors reveal the ninth way God speaks.

"Our goal in this book has never been to present you with a formula to replicate. Rather, we've tried to expose you to the various ways God communicates. God can use anything, anywhere, and anytime, but He doesn't always use the same thing, in the same place, all the time."

I won't give it away, but the first eight ways are somewhat passive on our part, while the last way requires action from us. While God wants us to listen for His voice—in all it's myriad forms—He also wants us to obey His voice when we hear it.

As with Six Ways, I highly recommend this book, for both the Christ-follower who hears God's voice on a regular basis, and for the sincere searcher who wants to hear, but is not quite sure what to listen for.

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Announcing the winner of Nine Ways God Always Speaks by authors Jennifer Schuchmann and Mark Herringshaw.

Commenter number three (3) was Alice Berger. Congratulations!

Thanks for participating everyone. Look for my own review of this book tomorrow on the blog.

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