Nope.  I’ve never auditioned.  Even if I wanted to now, I’m too old.  Living in Nashville, you actually run into lots of former American Idol finalists around town.  There’s pretty much a formula, and it goes like this…

American Idol finalist + desire to make a living in country or Christian music = move to Nashville.

But those interactions with former contestants are not even why I owe American Idol.  About a year-and-a-half ago I got asked to start leading worship for the high school students at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro.  It’s been a blast and is a part of my week that I always look forward to.  The reason they needed a new worship leader?  Because the former high school worship leader was going to Hollywood for American Idol.

Check him out here: Colton Dixon.  Colton didn’t make the finals that year – he was actually the last person cut before the finals.  But this year he did and he’s now made the cut to the top 13.  So vote for him and follow him on Twitter (@CDixonAI11). He’s the extremely talented vocalist/piano player with (quoting my daughter here) “the funny spiky hair.”

His sister (@SchylerDixon), another American Idol contestant who has also made it through to Hollywood the last 2 years, is a senior who’s still involved in our youth group on a regular basis (you know, except for when she’s on TV supporting her brother).

Anyway, that’s why I owe a thank you to American Idol – I get to lead worship for an awesome youth group every week because Colton has moved on to the national stage.  I’m looking forward to how this season of American Idol develops and how God uses Colton now that he’s been given a much larger stage!

As a worship leader, there are times when leading that I am attempting to put together songs and an atmosphere in a way that if everything goes well the people I am leading worship for will be open to God’s movement.  Then there are times where it’s obvious that I’m just the musical accompaniment for a much larger God-movement that was put into place before I ever even thought about how I would be involved in the event.  (yes, I know we can have a theological debate on whether God actually put both types of events into motion (He did) and whether both types of events were meant for his greater purposes (they are), but that’s not really what this blog is about).  This past weekend at New Vision was the latter.

The Wednesday before the retreat was the loudest I had ever heard a group of students sing.  It was obvious that God was going to do something this weekend… we just had to be open and ready for His movement.

Friday night (the first night of the retreat) was the loudest I had ever heard a group of students sing.  From the first to the last chord and all the way through the message the students were tuned in to what God had to teach them.  We were taught by Chad Norris all weekend about how God’s kingdom was to come HERE on EARTH as it is in heaven.  Our relationship with God is not just about one day being with him in heaven, but it’s about walking with him NOW and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us.

Saturday morning was the loudest I had ever heard a group of students sing (sensing a pattern here?).  Imagine an opera singer with their huge lung support combined with a metal singer who knows how to scream.  Now, after combining that somehow imagine that it’s on pitch, sounds awesome, and is multiplied by 150 people.  That’s pretty much what the room sounded like.  It was obvious that God was up to something and they we all got to be a part of it together.

Saturday night before the message was the loudest I had ever heard a group of students sing.  We started off with a cover of a Taylor Swift song (there may or may not be pictures of me in a blonde wig floating around) that the students loved.  Then we went into worship.  Even in their semi-formal attire (we had an awesome semi-formal steak dinner before the service… steak, potatoes, jazz trio, the whole 9 yards) the New Vision High Schoolers were worshiping with everything they had.  It was awesome.

Saturday night after the message IS the loudest I’ve ever heard a group of students sing.  After the message from Chad, we came up to play a song.  That song led into another song.  It led into another song.  The on-key-awesome-sounding-opera/metal-singing-times-150 had now started to sound like it was amplified.  God was all over this moment.  The one song we kind of had planned ended up leading into about 30 minutes of unrehearsed, loud, unrestrained worship.  We had a moment within worship when all of there students were literally on their faces crying out to God to allow them to be used to further His Kingdom.  A few minutes after, we had a moment within a song when simultaneously every hand in the room went up in praise.  The only other time I have seen something like this happen has been when someone specifically urged a group to raise their hands in worship.  That was not the case this time.  This was definitely a God moment that I just got to be a part of!

I can’t really describe what all went on this weekend, other than to say that God was all over this youth group and I was blessed to be a part of that movement.  Now I’m praying that God will use this youth group to impact Murfreesboro and Smyrna in a way that is very obvious that it’s a God-movement and the New Vision HSM just has the opportunity to be a part of it.  I’m really looking to forward to seeing what God does Wednesday night and hearing stories from our students about how He is using them to impact our community!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, most of it kind of boring.  I’ve learned to appreciate boring, though, because it means that there’s generally not drama in my life.  I’ll take drama-free and boring over extreme highs and lows any day of the week.  And here are some of the things going on in my life amongst the boring:

• Recently at work I was in the bathroom as a guy came in singing at full voice the classic hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  He had no idea I was in there, so I waited a little while and then as he hit the second chorus I started singing harmony with him.  Nothing quite like freaking somebody out by announcing your presence with harmonies.
• I’ve been leading worship on Wednesday nights for the high school group at New Vision for a little over a year.  To thank me, they gave me a gift card to take my wife out to eat!  Awesome!  Then I learned something… it seems like churches only say “thank you” to staff members and leaders when they’re leaving to go somewhere else (well, leaving amicably to go somewhere else).  After the Wednesday night service when I received the gift card I had 4 different students ask me why I was leaving and where I was going.
• Have I mentioned how pumped I am to record the upcoming live record?  I’ve lined up a few friends who will sing or play with me, and it is going to sound awesome!  It’s going to be a blast and I have a handful of spots left for people who’d like to attend and be a voice in the crowd.  It’s a free event!  Just email andrewadamsmusic@gmail.com with the number of people you’ll have attending and I’ll get you added to the list!
• So far I’ve lost 25 pounds since Christmas (15 since my company started Biggest Loser).  My goal is still another 30 and I’ve now plateaued, so I’m about to try to re-energize the weight loss by going on a juice diet.  I’m a little freaked out by the idea of removing solid foods from my diet for a period of time, but I’ve seen really good results from people who have done this.  If you’ve tried the juice fast/cleanse/diet, do you have any advice?
• Anybody else out there hate self-employment tax as much as I do?  Grrr…
• We’ve begun using tracks with most of the songs we sing in worship on Sundays.  It’s typically a track with some additional keyboards and “spice.”  It’s typically nothing that’s actually driving the song, but just some tracks to help fatten up the overall sound.  Anybody else out there using tracks in worship?  Do you find that it hinders or helps you connect with your congregation?
• Want to see me lead worship soon? Check out:
• New Vision Smyrna Campus on Sunday, the 12th at 11:15 am
• The Loop Nashville on Monday, the 13th at 7:30 pm
• New Vision Murfreesboro Campus on Wednesday, the 15th at 7:00 pm

On Saturday, March 17th (Yes, St Patrick’s Day) we’ll be putting together a live acoustic recording of some new songs, songs from the previous record, and some familiar worship songs and hymns.  After the record is put together I’ll be releasing it through various forms of digital distribution (spoiler alert – some, if not all, of this record will be FREE!).  It’s going to be stripped down from my previous release, with many of the songs being just my acoustic and vocal, though some friends will be involved throughout the night with additional vocals and instruments.  I’m pumped to share these new songs and new versions of older songs, as well as some relevant stories surrounding them.  But first, I have to get there…

That’s where you come in!  I need YOUR voice for the record.  We’re looking for this record to have a live, organic feel, and the voices of everyone who comes to this show will be an important part of giving the record the feel that we’re looking for.  The exact location of this house show won’t be posted online, but when you email for more info I’ll shoot you the address (to narrow it down a little – it’s in a southeast suburb of Nashville, TN – something about posting a home address for the World Wide Web to see seems a little scary).

There are only 30 spots for people who want to be a part of this recording, so please RSVP if you are interested (with the number of people you have coming) to andrewadamsmusic at gmail dot com as soon as possible (Yes, it’s a FREE show as well!).

I’ll definitely be sharing more as this project comes to fruition, and would love for you to be a part of the process!

I keep telling myself that I’m going to blog more often.  It keeps not happening.  One of the biggest barriers has been the idea that I need to think out a thought well enough to actually write an intelligent blog post about it.  So… I’m going to try posting some thoughts bullet-style so that I could possibly include info on this site more often.  We’ll see how it goes.

• At my job we’ve started a “Biggest Loser” contest.  So far, out of 17 people, I’m in second with 10 pounds lost.  Unfortunately for the contest I lost 10 pounds before we started, so I’m now down 20 pounds but only 10 pounds count.  8 weeks to go and hopefully I’ll be able to knock out another 25-35 pounds.
• On Sunday, I surprised my wife with a trip to St. Louis to see the Civil Wars.  First of all – the Civil Wars were awesome.  It’s amazing how a  guitar and 2 vocalists can fill a room and capture everyone’s attention.  Among the funny moments on this trip was handing over the keys for our 20-year-old Camry to the valet at the hotel, then the next day having to tell the valet how to open the car because only certain door locks actually work with the key.  You let things go when your car gets to be 20 because the objective becomes driving it until you drive it into the ground instead of keeping it in perfect condition.
• Took my daughter to “Dads and Doughnuts” at her school this week.  The parking lot looks significantly different for Dads and Doughnuts than it does for Moms and Muffins.  Less minivans, more trucks, and more trucks parked on the grass instead of in parking spaces.  Also, is it really wise to give your kids an unending supply of Krispy Kremes for a full hour before school?  I limited my daughter to two, but let’s just say that not all of the dads set a limit on their kids.
• My daughter calls Martin Luther King “Martha Lutin.”  Once I realized that she was speaking about Martin Luther KING and not Martin Luther (the theologian) her stories about Martha Lutin started to make more sense.  At first she was just talking about how Martha Lutin wanted to “change the rules.”  I thought it was interesting that her public school was teaching about the theologian and fully expected a synopsis of The Ninety-Five Theses out of my kindergartener until I connected the rule-changing conversation with the time of year.  “Ah… you mean Martin Luther KING.”  “That’s what I SAID, daddy.  Martha Lutin Queeng.”  Right… we’ll keep working on that.
• Our Christmas tree is still up.  Yours is, too.  Right?
• So, our winters aren’t exactly cold in Nashville, but two nights of tornado warnings this week along with LOWS in the 60′s (!) last night are just bizarre.
• Meta alert:
• Want to see me lead worship this week?  Check out:
• New Vision Smyrna Campus on Sunday, the 22nd at 11:15 am
• The Loop Nashville on Monday, the 23rd at 7:30 pm
• New Vision Murfreesboro Campus on Wednesday, the 25th at 7:00 pm
• Hey, while you’re here go “like” my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter!

As I was perusing the web today I found this video that I didn’t even know existed. It’s me and the band at Trinity Baptist in Ocala, FL, 2 1/2 years ago. This is a cell phone video (an old cell phone at that) from someone who was at the event, so please excuse the audio/video quality. Anyway, thought I’d share. This was a great group of students that I really need to follow up with about booking another event…

The video of “You Are God” is officially out and ready for public consumption!  Special thanks to Brian Smith and Josh Eldred at Cinematicfocus for help putting this together!

For the past few years I’ve been playing a Breedlove Atlas Series guitar that I picked up for $400 on Ebay. It’s a satin Cedar finish and sounds great. It’s a slightly older model, so it has a Fishman instead of the current LR Baggs electronics they use on their Atlas Series. I could definitely make the argument that it is the best $400 guitar one could find.

I’ve been extremely happy with it, but I realize that as a serious guitar player I at least have to have a backup. Once I start talking about a backup guitar, the conversation normally transitions to making my current guitar the backup and getting a higher-end acoustic as my front-line guitar. For the last 2 or so years I’ve been looking everywhere to determine what my next guitar will be. I’ve looked at McPhersons, Larivees, Martins, Gibsons, and Taylors. I’ve pretty much determined that if I was buying a guitar for the studio that I would absolutely go with a Gibson Dove. I also had settled on the Taylor 514 as my eventual live guitar of choice. As a worship leader, how a guitar sounds plugged into a sound system is actually more important than how it sounds acoustically. The 514 sounds awesome plugged in, and I’ve been saving my pennies. I’m almost there.

But as I’ve been saving my pennies I’ve wondered if I should really spend the money on the 514 or just get one or two more guitars identical to mine. After all, I’m really happy with my guitar. The intonation is great. It sounds good plugged in. Then I went to Guitar Center and tried out one of these puppies: Breedlove Cascade C25/CRE. It’s less than half the price of the 514. It’s a definitive step up from my current acoustic and has the L.R. Baggs Element Active VTC Pickup system. It sounds awesome! Once you get to certain level of guitars, I think you’re really looking at different preferences rather than difference in quality, and I definitely think this guitar reaches that level.

So… what guitars do you like? What should I look at that I haven’t? Has anybody tried the Cascade Series and come to the same conclusions as me?

This Sunday at New Vision Smyrna we got to listen to Brady Cooper preach live instead of by video.  Anyway, here’s the set from yesterday:

• Our God - Tomlin – “Our God is greater.  Our God is stronger.  God you are higher than any other.”  What better way to start off a worship service?
• O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing - Crowder’s version – We’ve trying to have at least one “traditional” hymn in Smyrna each week.  This one fills that need and is a great upbeat song for the set.  Also, a good call to worship as it hits the new chorus written by Crowder: “So come on and sing out, let our anthem grow loud”
• The Stand - Hillsong – This has become a standard for me.  I probably overuse it a little, but every group I lead worship for responds well to this song.  Until the response changes this song remains a standard.
• Overcome - Desperation Band – one of my favorite worship tunes.  Apparently I went about 3 minutes longer than this song was planned.  Oops.
• Came to My Rescue - Hillsong – We added this on the fly when an invitation time was added to the service.  Probably the most laid-back version I’ve ever done.
• Your Great Name - Natalie Grant – Casey (our female vocalist in Smyrna) killed it on this song, but that’s something she always does.