Tag: Jimmy Savage

  • God of our Fathers

    It was very hard to leave Jimmy and Ashley behind in Romeo when we moved to San Diego two years ago. In the last year he transitioned from Michigan to the Houston area and is working full-time for a church plant called, Thrive.

    There are probably a lot of very intelligent people who know how to judge a worship leader better than me. But Jimmy exhibits all the qualities I’m looking for.

    • Vocally and musically talented. (This is actually the easy part, dime a dozen)
    • Fun to be around. Jimmy has a smile that can light up a room.
    • Versatile. Jimmy is good in darn near any setting. Kids, students, camps, adults, bars, inside, outside… he’s ready to roll.
    • Fun to work with.
    • Listens to God. When you are over the top talented its easy to listen to yourself or to what has worked for you. That’s not how Jimmy rolls.
    • Creative. He’s good enough to push past imitation to find creativity.

    So, that’s why I like Jimmy. He’s a good dude. I’m stoked for his album to [finally] come out. I hope a bagillion people book him for shows, camps, and stuff like that. And one day he will be such a big deal that he’ll finish a song and his guitar guy will walk onto stage and hand him a new one.

  • Saturday Tunes

    Saturday TunesFully in life’s rhythms now. I can’t think of another period of my adult life where I’ve been in such a looonnngggg stand of just doing normal things. Going to the office and coming home at the same times. I have a morning routine, an evening routine, and a firmly established weekend routine. It won’t last much longer… so I’m soaking up the final few weeks. (The travel part of my year kicks back in soon.)

    bates-nut-farmToday, we’re going to take Stoney to the beach so he can run, play, and swim. Low tide is in a couple of hours and we totally look forward to playing with him the tide pools. Each time the kids claim they don’t want to go and they won’t have fun… then we have to drag them home. After that we’re meeting my mom at the nut farm. No really, we’re meeting her at Bates Nut Farm near Escondido. Let the nut jokes and innuendo begin. When we told Paul (5) where we were going he whispered to Megan (8), “When we get there I can say, ‘Oh my nuts.”

    Later tonight, we may be getting a houseguest for one night. More on that later.

    Right now, I am just chilling out and listening to music. Here are the next 10 tunes streaming from my iPod to my brain. I’m sharing them with you since we’re such great web-friends. As always, these are completely random and my ratings are included.

    #1 Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade ****

    #2 Oh the Glory of It All by David Crowder Band ****

    #3 Disco Inferno by Bee Gees *****

    #4 Seven Days of Lonely by I Nine ***

    #5 Amazing Grace by Jadon Lavik ***

    #6 Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve *****

    #7 The Saints Are Coming by U2 & Green Day *****

    #8 God of Wrath by David Crowder ****

    #9 Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows *****

    #10 Tonight by High Five ***** (Seriously, but this song.)

  • Saturday Tunes

    Saturday TunesIt was a loco week. Not in a bad way, either. My head is spinning this weekend with all the fun stuff that happened in the previous 7 days. But today is Saturday and I am trying hard to put all of that aside so I can recoup for the week to come. This morning I am off to dog beach to let Stoney run. It’s going to be a fantastic weekend weather-wise, so I am guessing this won’t be our only trip to the beach. (Actually, Kristen and I snuck in an afternoon date yesterday where we went to the beach and walked along the surf.)

    Here are the next 10 tunes I’m jamming to right now. As always, completely random and my ratings are included.

    #1 How Great in Our God by Chris Tomlin ****

    #2 Down to My Last by Alter Bridge ****

    #3 Take My Life (and let it be) by Chris Tomlin ***

    #4 Broken Wing by Thousand Foot Krutch ***

    #5 A Distant Episode by Till Bronner ****

    #6 Rain Down by David Crowder Band ***

    #7 My Hope by David Crowder Band ****

    #8 Tonight by High Five aka Jimmy Savage *****

    #9 Amazing Because it Is by The Almost ****

    #10 Syndicate by The Fray ****

  • Saturday Tunes

    Just another lazy Saturday in McLane land. Other than taking Stoney over to dog beach to let him sniff butts and chase tennis balls, I don’t have plans for today. It’s kind of cold and wet here, so it’s not as if we’ll want to do much else.

    Just like a typical Saturday morning, I’m getting it started with some Java (last of the Starbucks Christmas blend) and some headphone time. Here are the next 10 songs playing on my ipod. As always, totally random and my rating is included.

    #1 Life is a Highway by Rascall Flatts ****

    #2 Tell Me Something Good by P!nk ****

    #3 God of this City by Chris Tomlin ****

    #4 Head Over Heel by Sandra McCracken ***

    #5 Georgia on my Mind by Ray Charles ****

    #6 Hard Sun by Eddie Vedder *****

    #7 Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill *****

    #8 Here With You by 3 Doors Down *****

    #9 Obsession by Starfield ****

    #10 Seven Bridges Road by The Eagles ****

    Bonus! My buddy and worship leader at Stoneridge in Romeo, Jimmy Savage, has a song on iTunes. It’s a single off his upcoming album. I really like it, its called “Tonight.”

  • Leaving Romeo: Jimmy

    Last week I talked about leaving Romeo and my relationship with our senior pastor, Bob. Next, I want to talk about our music dude Jimmy. Jimmy, like Jason before him, has been an awesome friend to me. There is something about being in that “associate” role at a church that I’ve always found kinship with. 

    Jimmy joined us in November 2007. Like the rest of the staff Jimmy came from “big church land.” Jimmy and Ashley have an amazing personal story. Not only do they have an amazing story, they love talking about it as they realize their pain… ultimately… can and should be used for glorifying God. If you don’t know their story, take them out for a steak dinner and have them tell you!

    It goes without saying that Jimmy is talented. Even if you don’t care for his style of music you have to recognize the gifts God has given him. (Of course, his dad is a musician and music is part of what it means to be in his family.) But in the last 6 months I’ve learned that there is so much more to “The Savage” than just musical talent. 

    In my post about Bob I pointed to two qualities I’ve always looked for in a staff member at the church. Does this person passionately love Jesus? Is he wild eyed enough to follow God and not man? If you’ve ever talked to Jimmy for more than 5 minutes you’ll know the answer to those questions. It’s a scary combination when a man is both talented and passionate about Jesus. As I told his mom a couple weeks ago… that a combination she must be proud of. 

    Jimmy is game for silliness. At his very first staff meeting he jumped on board with the Elf videos we used. I knew right there we’d get along!  There’s nothing worse than a guy who is super talented and “too cool” for silliness. Not the case with Jimmy. (I really was worried about that.) Jimmy is a gamer.

    Jimmy is game for leading Romeo’s worship to the finish line. As I think back on the music at our church over the last 5 years I can think of a single description: Liquid. I liked the music when we first arrived… super vibrant and fun. Then we went through some dark times musically, the people were fine, it was just an issue of preference. From there we went through a steady embrace and transition to where we are now. Music is a big part of what Romeo is now all about as we try to reach Romeo for Christ. The goal is worship excellence. (High quality musically, high quality worship experience) I look forward to coming back to Romeo often and telling him, “the music is solid.”

    Leaving now stinks. After years of toil, snares, and bumps… things are just getting good! And Jimmy is a big part of that. He adds an element to the staff that was missing. 

    Beyond work, Jimmy and Ashley are awesome people. Kristen and I are looking for opportunities to be in Romeo so we can hang out with our new friends. Their daughter cracks me up as she is a synthesis of both of them. She is a little bit wild like Jimmy yet sweet like her mommy. The bad thing is that she has one of those smiles that’s going to cost mom and dad a lot of money! She’s going to get whatever she wants. 

  • Live Stream of Light Force Concert

    Tonight if the night. We’ve got the Jimmy Savage Band and Nowhere Found. The show starts at 7:00 PM EST. Live broadcast will kick off about 6:45 PM.

    UPDATE: Here’s the video from the event.

  • Pre-concert thoughts

    Light Force ConcertWith just a few days left before the Light Force concert (Sunday @ 7) I’ve got a lot of dreams for the thing. This is the first time we’ve tried this… and I’ve got a lot of thoughts floating around my head.

    Most importantly, I hope the event is well-attended and fun for everyone who comes.

    Second, I hope its a great stepping stone for some students who may want to learn more about Light Force. I had the guys over from Nowhere Found today… they were super excited to play our show. In fact, they were more excited than I was about the show! One of the band members even asked if he could help us move chairs. Awesome.

    Third, I’m really excited about the team of adults who is coming to help. It’s awesome to know that I probably have too many adults. How cool is that? It shows that the adults in our church are just as passionate about the mission as I am.

    Fourth, I am hopeful that our youth group embraces the event. This thing is WAY outside of their comfort zones. And it’s going to rock their world in an awesome way.

    Fifth, I hope it is crazy fun.

  • Light Force Concert

    Light Force ConcertOn April 20th, 2008 Light Force is hosting a great concert. Jimmy and his band will be joined by local band, Nowhere Found.

    I’ve been thinking and dreaming about this event for a long time. We know that in Romeo 4% or less of 6-12 graders regularly attend a youth group… but we also know that some local music clubs are filled to capacity 3-4 nights per week! So our method here is really simple and really obvious. We want to introduce people to our student ministry in a very non-threatening way… so we’re simply doing what they already enjoy in our environment to introduce students to our student ministry.

    Here’s the official announcement. Here’s the myspace page. Here’s the facebook page.

  • Easter Egg Hunt Video

    This is pretty raw. But it shows what we were up to and how much fun it was. Again, thanks to all that helped pull this one off. I think there were about 25 volunteers… awesome!

  • Easter Egg Hunt | Slam Dunk

    Gosh, I just got home and I’m having a hard time controlling my excitement. Today was a blast!

    The teams were all awesome. Set-up/Tear-down team… excellent. Band team… excellent. Hospitality team… excellent. We had never been a part of an event quite like this one.  Joyce from Park & Rec and her team seemed very pleased with how we complimented the event. She told one of our team, “I wasn’t sure what to expect with the band… they were great.”

    As parents and kids filtered in, the weather was perfect for what we had planned. (Sunny and mid-30s) Our hospitality tent was ready [big thanks to the folks at Caribou for all their help!] and people were thirsty for great coffee, hot cider, and hot chocolate. Oh my… we went through a lot of hot chocolate. (150 cups!) We had just enough as the last cups were poured with only 2 packets left in the box.  Autumn and Bob (our senior pastor) had a hard time keeping up with demand. Bravo to them for keeping their cool! They had a constant line the entire time… amazing job.

    What was today all about? It was all about changing minds. Forever we’ve been the “old baptist church” in town. Those who have lived in Romeo a long time think they know who we are, what we’re about… in marketing language the typical person in our community thinks they know our story and they’ve made up their mind. This was about us partnering with the community and showing them that we aren’t who people think we are. We aren’t fuddy-duddy. We aren’t old-fashioned. We don’t wear skirts and ties or are stuffy. We aren’t “against the world” and judgmental. Basically… we want to tell people the truth… we’re just like you. We’re parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends you know from school. We like the music you like, we have the same dreams you have, and we like to give back to the community as much as everyone else.

    I loved the way we came alongside of the Parks & Rec department and worked with them. I hope we made them look good!

    I loved the songs that the band selected. They did music right off the radio. Switchfoot, Rascal Flatts, John Mellencamp, Daughtry, etc. I kept hearing people ask, “Is that the band from the church?” Yup. Jimmy and his gang are really, really good. I loved seeing people smile as they sang along to the music.
    Over at Romeo, we’re entering into this new phase we’re calling “God of this City.” It’s not about us and serving ourselves. It’s about bringing God to the city.  And we’re doing that in fun, unexpected ways. Today was one of them. Awesome job to all who helped. Thanks!

    I’m working on a video. It should be up later today.

    For now… rest.