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I'm the Schoeneblogger. Come on in, and have a look around. While you're here, you should join in the conversation. If you want to find out a little more about me click that tab below that says "about me." If you like what you read or want some of your friends to join the conversation, click the "share on facebook" below the blog. (same goes for twitter or google+)

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

That's What I Get

I've been learning the craft of piano tuning and repair from my grandfather. Both for the heritage value and to fulfill my current desire to do something new and challenging. It's been fun. I'm learning a lot but, it takes a lot of practice. I must be catching on because me Papa told me "Now when anything goes wrong you can just say 'That's what I get for being a piano tuner!'"

Friday, June 02, 2006

A Thing of Beauty


I've been looking for a new guitar over the last several years. Unfortunately I haven't set aside the money to actually get serious about purchasing. That doesn't stop me from shopping. Recently I found this guitar at the local music store downtown. I must say, I'm smitten!! Not only does it look amazing, it sounds even better. Walnut has always attracted my attention. This Grand Auditorium guitar sounds great on the low end and briliant on the high end when supplied with Elixer light strings.

Now I'm in a pickle because I've found the guitar of my dreams and all I can do is window shop. I'm available for odd jobs, love offering concerts and just about anything that pays.

If you see a vagrant on the side of the road with a sign that reads "Will work for W14-CE," It's me, so just put a 20 in the empty guitar case and start whistling your favorite James Taylor tune.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Revolutionary

I just finished a book by George Barna and I have to say it is one of the most inspiring reads I have come across in a long time. I want to be a Revolutionary Christian!

This is the statement of the common Revolutionary (according to Barna);

"I am a Revolutionary in the service of God Almighty. My life is not my own; I exist as a free person but have voluntarily become a slave to God. My role on earth is to live as a Revolutionary, committed to love, holiness, and advancing God's Kingdom. My life is not about me and my natural desires; it is all about knowing, loving, and serving God with all my heart, mind strength, and soul."

I pray that I will so live.




Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Successful Weekend

The Maximum Impact Simulcast was a success! As was the Worship Team Choirs Spring Concert. I'm so proud of the work our choir and praise band put into this concert. They sang with great passion and conviction. I could tell that Worshiping God was primary for the singers as we progressed through the hour. I like that about them. It makes me feel like our focus is right and that we are truly using musical expression for the reason God created.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Maximum Impact Simulcast

This year our church auditorium is playing host to an awesome leadership event. This is our second year to host the Maximum Impact Simulcast (A Leadership Event)

As you can see there are some great speakers in the line-up. This is a great event and will be an unforgettable day to all who attend. My prayer is that our church and community prosper as a direct result of this event.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Quote of the Day!


"MacDougal has overcome his early-career tendency to treat the strike zone like a foreign object."

LOL

I love baseball!

Friday, February 17, 2006

My Favorite Time


Chilling single digit temperatures in the Kansas City area this morning, but my blood is warmed by the fact that Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring Training today. No, it's not the first ballgame, or even the first Spring training game. But, it is the first step. That first step to the season is one step closer to my hometown Royals closing the book on a 106 loss season. I can't wait 'til the first home game!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

10 Mistakes Conservatives Make In Art And Entertainment...

Found on Ethos
"Are we to be destroyed by ideas, mischievous, wrongheaded, debilitating, yet seductive because they are fashionable and promise so much on the cheap?” – Sir Keith Joseph
BeautyConservatives, by definition but not always by practice, are curators of the good, the true, and the beautiful. In the popular arts, however, we have become champions of the tame, the trite, and the temporal. (See “safe for the whole family” radio stations, movie reviews that count body parts and swear words, and paintings of nostalgic sugarplum cottages.) Wrong-headed in our approach, seduced by fashionable (and profitable) trends, debilitated by our passion for the cheap and comfortable, our “vision” for popular art and entertainment – if one can call protests and boycotts a vision – is doing more harm than good in the culture.
The remedy is easier than one might think. It begins by identifying and admitting our errors. Here are ten to start us off, no doubt there are dozens more:
Mistake #1: We try to improve art and entertainment from the top-down and the outside-in. For example, when well-meaning people, flush with cash but bankrupt on talent, attempt to “show Hollywood” by creating films that go around proven creative methods, the result is always the same: direct to video, a waste of time and money. Enduring change, meanwhile, comes from the bottom-up (working your way up from the mailroom) and the inside-out (working within the creative industries).
Mistake #2: We don't quite understand common grace – the idea that the good, the true, and the beautiful can be found in the most “unlikely” of places (Broadway) and people (liberal artists). Without a strong belief in common grace, we will either get angry at the culture or withdraw from it entirely.
Mistake #3: We discourage our children from pursuing careers in the creative spheres. Fashion designer or film editor, stage actor or singer-songwriter, these are not safe or stable careers. Then again, these days neither is business, politics, medicine, or any other traditional career. Be bold: fan your teenager’s creativity.
Mistake #4: We don't give money to artists. Focus on the Family? Fine. A high-profile U.S. Senate race? Of course. Helping a singer-songwriter finish her album? A filmmaker complete post-production? A magazine get off the ground? Forget about it. A lot of great art – the kind that offers the culture recreation and re-creation – remains underground, stuck in studios, floundering in film editing rooms, gathering dust in garages because the artist has no money to finish the work or get it noticed. Millions of dollars go to bloated organizations that do little more than send out chest-thumping and finger-pointing press releases condemning popular culture. Instead, fund the redemptive artist and we will change the world.
Mistake #5: We champion prescriptive art. In other words, conservatives prefer art that shows the world as it should be, not as it really is. Curing rather than diagnosing. Descriptive art, on the other hand, tells the truth about the human condition, while offering the audience glimpses into a “world that should have been otherwise.”
Mistake #6: We do not support established cultural institutions like we should. From fundraisers at art galleries to opening nights at community theaters, conservatives are hard to find at mainstream cultural happenings. As a result, we have no impact on the shows produced, the art exhibited, or the people who run these culture-shaping institutions.
Mistake #7: We use the arts to save souls and sway elections. True artists enter their work with a sense of mystery, wonderment, always uncertain what may finally appear on the canvas or film or pages. Children’s author Madeleine L’Engle speaks of her surprise when a certain character appeared unexpectedly in the plot of the novel she was writing. She says, “I cannot imagine the book without [the character], and I know that it is a much better book because of him. But where he came from I cannot say. He was a sheer gift of grace.” A sermon can be artful, and Lord knows campaign ads could use some imagination. Mixing art and agenda, however, is propaganda, whether it comes from the left or the right. If you want to send a message, Samuel Goldwyn rightly said, call Western Union.
Mistake #8: We do not see good movies when it really matters. Opening weekend is our only chance to "vote" on a film. Going two weeks later, getting it from Netflix, or buying a DVD version does not count; the first weekend is election day. A big turnout will not go unnoticed in Hollywood. Remember, this is show business.
Mistake #9: We protest and boycott bad art and entertainment. Type the words "conservative" and "protest" into Google's search engine and more than fifteen million hits appear. Writing angry letters, filing FCC complaints, and boycotting advertisers are rarely, if ever, effective. Here’s the answer: ignore the bad, praise the good. When you see something you like, write a thank you letter to the author, television network, record label, or magazine editor.
Mistake #10: We like safe art. Soggy may be a better term. Easy to digest. Nothing that causes heartburn. Do we really want art that never challenges our convictions, wrestles with our beliefs, or questions our faith? Let’s not forget: beauty is hardly safe, truth is never tame, goodness is anything but trite. Author Franky Schaeffer said it best : “The arts ask hard questions. Art incinerates polyester/velvet dreams of inner healing and cheap grace. Art hurts, slaps, and defines. Art is interested in truth: in bad words spoken by bad people, in good words spoken by good people, in sin and goodness, in life, sex, birth, color, texture, death, love, hate, nature, man, religion, music, God, fire, water, and air. Art tears down, builds up, and redefines. Art is uncomfortable” Finally, and most profoundly, he writes: “Good art (which, among other things, means truth-telling art) is good in itself, even when it is about bad things.”
Mistakes are bound to happen, but we don’t have to be bound by our mistakes. Let’s admit that we have let the culture down and then let’s move on. A new vision for art and entertainment is needed. I have my own ideas. What are yours?
Erik Lokkesmoe is an author, speechwriter, and the founder of Brewing Culture, an arts and media non-profit.
(HT: This Guy Falls Down)

Monday, February 13, 2006

A New Color

On my drive to church Sunday to prepare for the morning worship service I witnessed the most beautiful sunrise. It was as if God invented a brand new color just for me that morning. Some perfect combination of purple, red and orange fused together to make one original color all its own, never seen by human eyes until this moment. If this new color had a flavor, I'm sure it would have tasted like nothing you've ever had but something you knew you'd been craving. I could have tasted this sunset and it would have been as though joy and contentment were flavors to be experienced and savored through the taste buds. I pictured it in my mind as a hot beverage. First I would have waved my hand through the steam rising from this new color and the aroma of contentment fills my sinuses. My initial sip would have been the perfect temperature and would have transferred a flavor to my pallet that could only be interpreted as joy. This was going to be a good day.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we later learn that God makes the sunrise by simply blowing the steam from heavens version of a hot cup of java?

Friday, February 10, 2006

MY NEW CAR...


A few months ago I bought a new (to me) car. A great little gold VW passat wagon, 2001 with 58,000 miles, 4 cylinder, turbo. This purchase was not done on a whim. I researched it for nearly 2 months. I was tired of my old beat up van with all the paint chipping off and the passenger door stuck shut, no AC and usually no radio. It was time for a change.

Edmunds was a great resource as was Cars.com. Most important to me was #1 affordability, #2 fuel economy, #3 reliability, #4 storage. And I wanted the passenger door to open. Is that too much to ask? The passat showed great reliability ratings and very good fuel economy. I looked at a lot of wagons because I just didn't want to buy an SUV. Everybody has one and I have to be different. The wagon is great for loading up a lot of things including my guitar. It has a lot of room, I love it!