Moving To New Site

Hello all, just wanted to let you know that I am officially moving my blog to my own web domain. Give it a look and let me know your thoughts.

http://www.timyates.com

Tim

For Sale: Comfortable Bobsled $400

Here's my two cents regarding all of the health care debate that is going on within the U.S. these days. Now granted, I know that this is an extremely difficult problem and there are many sides both pro and con for providing insurance, but it seems to me that the true problem is that the COST of healthcare has grown so out of place with reality, that it is now untouchable for some people. In saying that I don't really understand the logic in trying to provide insurance to the masses, thinking that this will help "control" the costs of healthcare. In fact I think that this will grow the problem of rising healthcare costs. It's almost like the insurance industry has created the same kind of environment that we find in Casinos using chips instead of actual money. The reason being that people are more apt to gamble their "chips" away, because there is not the connection between chips and real money. That is until your down a couple of hundred bucks then it all becomes too real. The out of control spiral between the medical industry and the insurance industry has grown so much that the actual "dollar" that insurance spends has no real value to the customers. Prices have been so inflated, and those of us with insurance know that the insurance companies magically pay the difference regardless of the inflated costs. The real problem is where the insurance companies magically get the money they use to then pay the inflated prices.

So what does a bobsled have to do with this subject. In 1998 my daughter was born through a rather complicated birth. My wife and I were at the hospital two full nights while waiting for her to arrive into this world. Those two nights I was told I could sleep in this chair that laid down into what the nurse said was a bed. I would have to take her word for it, because the evidence while trying to sleep on it for those two night proved the contrary. I told my wife later it felt like I was trying to sleep in a bobsled. It wasn't until about a month later, when we received the statement from the insurance company, that we found that I and our insurance company paid $400 dollars a night for me to sleep in a bobsled. Yep $800 dollars, two nights in a fold away chair/bobsled. Priceless. And so goes the circle of insured healthcare...maybe unless something else happens, like... I don't know...regulation?

Easter At Valley Church, West Des Moines 09

Easter at Valley this weekend was awesome. The worship team did a fantastic job, and I've been told that it was the largest attended weekend in the history or Valley Church. Awesome!

The New iPod Shuffle.

Is it just me or is the new iPod shuffle getting too small?

Buyers Remorse.

The first time I felt buyers remorse was when I was 16 and for the first time had to actually work for the money that I was spending. It was 1983 and I was dying for a pair of the latest black Reebok high-top shoes that everyone who was anyone was wearing. The only problem is they were $78.00 dollars. A lot of money in 1983 to this young man. I begged my parents to buy me some and they informed me that I was free to spend my OWN money and purchase the shoes of my dreams. So at the first opportunity I ran to the nearest Foot Locker, pulled the plug and bought these wonderful shoes. It was as I walked out of the Foot Locker that I started to get that feeling of "What did I just do? $78.00 dollars for a pair of shoes? Am I insane?" I experienced the feeling of getting what I thought I wanted, but then realizing the consequences of what I just did.

Tonight our elected officials are walking out and heading home after approving one of the largest bills ever to pass through congress. And from what I've read many of them haven't even had the chance to view the bill they are voting for. I wonder if they too are having that same feeling that I once felt while leaving Foot Locker.

Throwing Shoes

I'm sure you've all seen the video of President Bush have a shoe thrown at him, well my friend Eric Bramlett found the video to go along with it. You can see it here.

If they guy actually did hit the President, it would have been hilarious if he said, "That really hurt! I'm going to have a lump you idiot! I mean really, who throws a shoe?"

Too funny!

The Missing Piece

Remember in "It's A Wonderful Life," Jimmy Stewart was granted the opportunity to see what life would be like if he never existed. Do you ever wonder what this world would be like if you never existed? No not in the suicidal way that George Bailey was, but in the positive. What kind of impact have you had on those you walk day to day with? Earlier this evening I was looking at some friends family pictures on Facebook. This is a family that in one way or another, direct or indirect, I have played a role in bringing together. Two friends joined together and then they have created entirely new individuals, their children. Do you ever think about stuff like this? I guess it's just nice to think that the world wouldn't be the same, well without...me.

Christmas With Friends

This past weekend was Valley Churches large Christmas event, Christmas With Friends and what a great time as well as a privilege it is to work with such wonderful people. This year consisted of a small , 4 peice, rhythm section, 7 brass players, plus a string quartet. I also got to sing a very moving song, Born On Christmas Day, with just piano and strings, it was very nice and overall a great experience for me. I thought I would post what our service order was for all to see. The service looked like this:

> Jingle Bells - Diana Krall
> Let It Snow - Michael Buble
> Sleigh Ride - Brian Setzer
> Joy To The World - PraiseCharts.com
> Oh Come All Ye Faithful - PraiseCharts.com
> Silent Night - Mercy Me
> How Can I Keep From Singing - SheDaisy
> Born On Christmas Day - Peabo Bryson
> Hark The Herald - PraiseCharts.com

It turned out to be a really nice mix of music and a very moving service. Props to Kevin David and his leadership at Valley! Good job Kevin!

Dry Ground

Earlier this evening I was reading a blog post from a friend and was moved by how insightful his writings were. This got me to think about my own blog and the lack of writing that I've been doing as of late. (Yes I've known, it's almost like I've been avoiding this blog for a while.) Why is that? I thought about it for a while, and discovered the answer I've known within myself for a while now. I am dry.
Writing just like anything else that has potential to inspire others, should come from an overflow from our daily walk. From those times where we have thoughts and wishes welling up within us that we just can't not share with others.
Tonight I realized once again, this has been a hard year and as much as I've tried to hold my head up and confirm that God is in control, it has been a challenge. Confirming this once again, just a few minutes ago I read my journal post from this year. For the first time ever in my life I began to journal my walk with Christ this year. Marking the highs and the lows, the joys and sorrows, (long guitar solos :) the times of assurance as well as utter confusion when trying to follow Christ.
Change of life, job, dealing with pneumonia, making new friends, dealing with pneumonia a second time, as well as the constant struggle to make ends meet and keep our heads above water all the while doing our best to live right and not be judgmental of others.
When I thought about just how dry I am, I saw a mental image much like the picture I've posted here. Growing up in the deserts of Arizona I'm no stranger to dry, cracked ground, and even if you took water and poured it onto that ground, although the water would instantly soak in, it would still show the scars of being dry. It takes time and regular amounts of water for those scars to disappear. So I'm OK now with the dry, if it's something that my family and I needed to go through. Why? I have no idea. But all I can do it trust that God knows what's happening in our life and will continue to guide us and direct us.
There's a song I grew up singing in my home church that has been going through my mind as of late, "He didn't bring us this far to leave us. He didn't teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn't put this hope in us, to move away. He didn't lift us up, to let us down."

Proverbs 16: 20 "It pays to take life seriously; things work out when you trust in God"

If you are reading this and you're dry too, let's pray for rain.

Technology And The Way Jesus Did It.

Sometimes I wonder if we really make this whole "church" thing to complicated. As you know I'm new to Valley Church and one of the things I'm responsible for is maintaining and creating the "loops" used during the Sunday Services. It's something that I really enjoy doing, but sometimes wonder why do we do it? It's actually quite the process. I create the loops, which aren't really loops but full blown sequences, in Logic Audio. I then bump the sequences down into 8 separate tracks and then load them into Ableton Live. From here they are routed out via an M-Audio interface through ADAT to our Yamaha automated sound console, where the "loops" can then be mixed as needed for our live settings. Easy enough?? When it works, but this week I had to go and screw it up.
Earlier this past week I sent out and email and of course it went out as sent from dburggraaf, the previous owner of the laptop I'm now using, and a couple of my friends gave me some crap for not having changed the owner of the laptop yet. So I proceeded to change the name of the computer and the home screen name to tyates. Which was great until I rebooted my MacBook Pro the next day to find an entirely new desktop and screenset. Then when I went to go open the software I use on a weekly basis it began asking for all of the serial numbers and wanted to authenticate all of the software again. Which is fine...if you know where all of that stuff is. Did I mention that I am new here!! So after a fun (not really) week of trying to get this all figured out, I thought I had it. Until I booted up this morning to realize that I hadn't re-figured out the ADAT thing. So for the first time since I've been here at Valley we went the entire morning with no loops, and you know who noticed...the band. Yeah that's it! Everyone else said the worship, "rocked, sounded great, inspiring." So I come back to my initial thought, do we make this harder than it needs to be?? Would Jesus use loops?

Tim

The Worship We Knew...

Ok, so I haven't written much on here lately and for that I apologize. I actually had a request to write more from my one apparent fan, so thanks Sean. I ran across this blog post, which you need to read, and I too miss those things. Worship in the 80's and 90's, brought us for the first time actually having something to sing other than those old familiar hymns written by people named Fanny. :) The ginormous color coded wind screens, the over-head projectors or even better lyric slides from multiple trays, tons of church drama (good and bad) and for me it wouldn't be church if you didn't play at least one Ron Kenoly song. Give this a read, enjoy and then let me know what you miss.

I grew up on late 80s and 90s worship music. My father was a worship leader and later pastor at a Vineyard which was cutting edge worship music in those decades. I remember those years fondly and here's what I miss:

1. Wind instruments - There are a lot of flute and saxophone players out of work in ministry. I mean there has to be a line around the block for those guys collecting worship band unemployment checks. I really do miss those soft flute intros and funky white boy sax solos that just took the songs to a whole new power pop level. I think it was every worship pastor's holy dream to get Kenny G saved. Can you imagine how powerfully the spirit would have moved? Unfathomable.
2. Streamers and Banners - At its peak churches were removing rows of chairs just to make room for this tornado of twirling silk. They should have been surrounded in caution tape cause they were dangerous. Those wooden dowels were like holy swords waiting to impale you or gouge your eye out in accordance with scripture. I dunno about you guys, but you give me a banner team and a hard core sax solo and that's heaven on earth. I never could get a beat on the males who joined the banner wavers though...that always gave me cause for concern.
3. Transparencies - Who can forget the giant glowing box sometimes strategically placed smack in the middle of the stage for the backup singers to operate. I honestly miss the feel and even smell of those transparencies, shuffling through the accordion folder to find the songs and get them all lined up. Was there ever a professional way of handling these? I certainly am familiar with the bad way, the blank transparency with dry-erase handwritten words and the operator who seems to always make the slide appear upside down no matter how many times you try to explain mirrors to them.
4. Percussion - Rain sticks, triangles, cowbell, congas...what isn't appropriate for a worship song? Even the rocks will cry out, and Lord knows we tried to see what beating a rock with different sized sticks would sound like. The big churches share in culpability for this pandemic, but the smaller churches took it to a new level. I mean really, who isn't qualified to play percussion? As long as you have a heartbeat and 2 hands you can beat things with, you should be on stage right?
5. Constant 3 part Harmonies - Picture with me if you will, vocal arrangements as a mixing board with sliders for each singer. Usually you'd think of these sliders moving up and down as the song progresses through the arrangement, layering nicely in parts, muted in others. Well back in the day this picture was more of a giant switch. Vocals are either all on or all off. Hey those words on the transparency aren't for looking at, if you got a mic and there are words up, sang those things sister! Oh and you know your part, it's the same harmony you do on every song, it's easier that way and we also took the liberty of color coding the windscreens so you know which mic is yours.

Copyright 2008 Kyle Campos @ Our Rising Sound

Obama Boy

Seeing Obama try to explain the lipstick gaff the other day reminded me of a scene from Tommy Boy. So I hope you enjoy Obama Boy.

MSNBC has "LEFT" The Building.

Ok, so the past two nights I thought I would watch "the other side" of the news to see how they handled their coverage of the Republican convention, as well as their pre and post commentary. A few observations:

Observation Number 1
When did Keith Olbermann become the freakin' grammar and quote cop of the tv media. Last night he corrected J. Lieberman, not face to face of course, but later of his misuse of a George Washington quote, as well as "in the act of fairness" made sure that Barack Obama's words were used in the right context. Tonight he's correcting the delagates on the use of the word "pundit" and not "pundint." Thanks Keith for the continued education.

Observation Number 2
As a fellow videographer, the shot you set up and capture means everything. If a picture shows a thousand words, then how many words make up 29.97 frames per second. From previous work that I've done, a great way to show that your words are staged or not really from the heart is to actually show the teleprompter as a speaker is talking. This reminds the audience that they are just acting, and not really speaking from the heart. Twice tonight during Sarah Palin's speech MSNBC showed a back shot fully showing her reading a teleprompter. I suppose to remind the audience that she was "reading" her speech, one that was written for her. Now I didn't watch the DNC convention on MSNBC, but I would almost bet some serious bucks that they didn't use the teleprompter shot with Barack Obama. Tell me if I'm wrong though.

Observation Number 3
Andrea Mitchell just cracks me up. Last night she was just stunned that J. Lieberman spoke out against Obama. Stunned! She knew he was obviously going to support McCain, he was speaking at the RNC convention, but it was like she was just shocked that anyone would dare to actually speak against Barack Obama. Then tonight she just looked pissed when interviewing Rudy G., who knocked it out of the park with his keynote speech, and asked him if he "had any pause going after him [Obama] this hard and belittleing him the way you did?" Rudy's response, "No." Love it!

Ok, so there goes my first "political" blog entry.

Tim

Getting Old!

Ok, so I am now officially old. Last night I had my first rehearsal with the band at Valley Church. I may not have been the oldest guy there, but I'm getting close. Most of the rhythm players are probably in their early twenties. Anyway at one point while rehearsing "Only A God Like You" by Tommy Walker, during the instrumental break after the second chorus, I asked the keyboard player if he could give me some Bruce Hornsby action over the top. He just looked at me with a blank look and said "I have no idea what you're saying to me?" I then had to explain who Bruce Hornsby is, so finally I'm like, "you know...(singing) 'That's just the way it is. Some things will never change." When the electric guitar player, another twenty something, says..."Oh! You mean Tupac! I didn't know Bruce Hornsby did it too?"

If you're curious I had to dig it up and found it here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBAZfgMK5TQ)

Yeesh!

The old man.

A Vote For Me Is A Vote For...

Chapter ??

Trying to figure out God and his ways is a lot like trying to master the game of golf. Right when you think you have that slice in your drive figured out, your short game goes down the tubes. Then you work and work to correct your short game only to see that you can't putt to save your life. And around and around it goes. I have spend a good portion of this year trying to figure out, for my family and I, just what God is up to. And it's from this search that I can honestly say, "I HAVE NO IDEA!" I do know this. Earlier this I year I was asking God to restore within me that sense of adventure back into my daily walk with him...well you get what you ask for.

In October of last year I left the church I had poured myself into for almost 7 years without really knowing what was ahead of me. The afternoon I left, is when I received the first phone call from Westview Church, where I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of. I left Point Of Grace, completely burnt out, hurt and thinking maybe, that after almost 20 years of working in ministry, that I was done. But in just a short time, 8 months working part-time at Westview, I've rediscovered that I still love seeing lives changed and watching people utilize their gifts when giving back to God. This summer has been a much needed time of rest and renewal. So now the adventure continues, back to full-time ministry.

Really kind of out of nowhere, I was presented with an opportunity to join the staff at Valley Church located in West Des Moines, and after talking back and forth for a week or so, I accepted the position of Director Of Programming at www.valley-church.com. Now I've only been on staff for 4 days now, but I have to say I'm really enjoying it and looking forward to what God had in store.

I will miss seeing the new friends we made at Westview on a weekly basis, but as always hope that we can continue to remain friends. You can never have enough friends.

So to Westview we say thank you and you have been a blessing from God to my family and I, and to Valley Church we are extremely excited to dig in and get involved.

Tim

Change

Change. Some hate it, some love it, others thrive on it. No matter how much we try to avoid it, it's inevitable, we can't escape it. Change is part of our human existence.

But to quote my good friend Tom Clegg, "the only ones who like change are wet babies!" So how do we deal with it?

A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to speak at Lutheran Church of Hope on the topic of Creativity. To summarize what I spoke on was this:

God calls us to be creative. Creativity equals change.
Change brings fear. Fear requires trust.
Trust requires faith. Faith requires God.

For the past three weeks we've had the opportunity to have Dr. Tom Clegg speak at Westview for our current series, titled after his seventh book, "Missing In America." This past Sunday he used a quote in his message that reminded me of what I've been thinking on over the past few weeks. The quote he used was this:

"Healthy things grow. Growing things change. Change challenges us. Challenges cause us to trust God. Trust leads to obedience. Obedience makes us healthy. And healthy things grow."

So repeat after me... change is good. Change is good. Change is...

This Is The Year!

Ok, so every year for the past 20 years I have tried to become an Arizona Cardinals fan, and every year they start great and then putter out about game 2. But....this is the year, this is going to be the year they turn the whole thing around. (Speaking in faith here. ;) So tonight they begin their journey. The Yates family loves the NFL and when Pre-Season kicks off it's like opening a new chapter each year. So I say once again, this just might become the year that I become a fan of the Arizona Cardinals. I'll let you know how it's going after about game 3.

More Than Music Seminar

Had a great time today at the More Than Music Seminar at Lutheran Church Of Hope. Again it was sort of a fist step in a new direction for me. For quite a while I've been wanting to put together a session about creativity and this gave me the opportunity to get it all written out and try it out. If you attended to today, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to post the resources I noted during the breakout session. I do know this, I met some great people that I hope to connect with in the near future, and it was great to see our good friend Jonathan Martin, always enjoy hangin' with him.

Tim

New Series @ Westview

Just thought I would give you a heads up on the new series we have coming up at Westview. Beginning this weekend we not only are starting "Missing In America," but also have the opportunity to have the author of the book speak at Westview for the next three weeks. Tom Clegg is a good friend and a great speaker, I look forward to hearing him teach again. Then following this 5 week series on how to reach our neighbors, we want to give you an opportunity to do just that. Begining this fall at Westview you will want to invite your friends and neighbors to "Live Healthy."