so much has happened in the last month, but my OCD won’t let me post out of order, stuff! so, please bear with me. decided to skip over some other events, and jump to May, mostly cause I have a picture here. this was taken by BHM’s photographer while I was onstage in Stuttgart, Germany. posted here mostly for myself to remember, hope you don’t mind…

my point-of-view, plus me, Ross Walters and Terry Peoples

is it just me, or do I look like I’m concentrating REALLY hard! <hehe>

okay, some of you reading this on the web site will see a nice little Google Calendar on the right, immediately below the “Subscribe Me” button, and above the “Pages”. for a long time now, I had this setup so folks can check out what is on my plate coming up, etc.

for some reason, certain browsers just don’t show it at all, but my normal browser (Firefox) sees it fine. I am just now realizing how many folks are NOT seeing the calendar, but worse, not even realizing they were missing it! <a rrgghh>

SO, the “My other Websites” section on the right-sidebar now includes a link “My Google Calendar” which will take you to an HTML version. this is updated pretty regularly, BTW.

my apologies to all of those people I thought were “knowing” about my calendar, weren’t seeing it, and making my think bad things about them! (just kidding).. anyway, feel free to click or bookmark that calendar. it shouldn’t change anytime soon….

my kingdom (such as it is) for web development help that I can afford…

signed,  HTML dummie

ooops. forgot to include the pic below. i did an interview for Russian-language television, and this vidcap still i found kinda funny, from my USA-centric Anglo-self…

in addition to New York and London England with BHM, late march brought me to Riga, Latvia. this was one of the most fulfilling times of my life! despite fighting serious sickness the entire trip, the Lord used me to teach a couple of classes and minister in worship during this yearly worship conference. hosted by the worship ministry of “Return” led by Viktors Isajevs -

many hundreds of musicians and worship leaders from Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania and the entire Baltic region came together to worship, to learn, to grow. I was so excited to be able to teach these folks from this part of the world. I was told that in Latvia, 3 out of 5 persons are musicians or artists, and the potential for what God can do with these people is enormous! they were so hungry for moving the next step, that it made me feel embarrassed, comparing it to the apathy I see in many American church musicians.

i taught two classes: The Calling of the Musician, and Creativity and Art in Worship, and I was amazed at the response. speaking while being translated into two languages at once (Russian and Latvian) was a new thing for me, but they really connected with the heart of the message. i spoke to several individuals throughout the conference, including some missionaries from YWAM Latvia
and musicians throughout the Baltic region.

during one of the evening sessions, I was asked to lead some worship, and though I felt sick as a dog, God touched my voice and allowed me to minister what was in my heart musically. in the context of a lot of typical “American” pop/rock worship, my jazzier vocabulary really stood out, and there was a definite heavy presence of God.

other notable teachers and ministers for the conference from the USA were (from L to R) David Baroni, Kerry Godwin, and Jerrel Gilliam

so many people from all over the Baltic region. below is Alexsander, from Kiev, Ukraine, who told me later how much he was touched by what God spoke through me.

at the end of the final session the Lord used us to pray over the attendees. this one fellow fell like an accordion when I went to pray for him

can’t wait to go back, as I feel a definite connection to this region, to see what God has in store for these people, and the art in worship He wants to birth there…

i was SO privileged to help the ministry of CFAN and Reinhard Bonnke, providing worship for their recent Impartation Breakfast in Houston. this ministry is the only other ministry in the world, besides BHM, to reach the globe in a substantial way. his style is VERY different than Benny’s, but the Spirit is still the same. typically my friend Daniel Kolenda of CTE does it, but he was double-booked and I was able to help out: what a privilege this was!

got to go back to absolute FAVORITE place- New Zealand in February

below is BHM’s sax player Ross Walters (on left) and drummer Russell DeShields (on right) - if you click on Russell’s name, it will go to his new video company, and you will hear the music I composed for the company logo - enjoy!

the bass player, Don Channell had to goto the hospital during the trip, so I did my keyboard/bass thing below. people make a big deal of the “two instruments at once” thing, but really it isn’t so hard if you play both instruments…

and finally, I wanted to put this pic up of my good friend, David Shimer. David is BHM’s monitor guy and is such a professional, but also a really great guy. we’ve had a connection since he started traveling and I just dig his approach, his attitude, everything….

starting in January, my home church Covenant Community Fellowship has been undergoing a season of change. first, we moved into a new building that is the prayer room for the One Thing Prayer Center (IHOP-Tampa) and joined in a greater partnership with that ministry. after a short while, this facility has grown into a ministry campus, with NINE churches and several ministries holding services, maintaining offices, fellowshipping; it’s truly a cool unity-of-the-body thing, & I have been so blessed to be a part of it.

in addition, our church merged with another body that was named “The Sanctuary Ministries”, pastored by John Garcia. since the merge, John has become our lead pastor, I have remained the worship pastor, and it has been an incredible blessing to me. let me strongly encourage you to go his MySpace page and read his blog postings on revival.

met Wayne & Jennifer Lee shortly after moving to Florida. awesome worship leaders and they run the Student Worship activities at Southeastern University. we have have discovered that our hearts for teaching and for worship are very similar and they have invited to help with several things they have going on. this week I will be ministering at their Worship Leaders Camp…
Jennifer & Wayne Lee, Jr

they asked me to co-produce with them for Fire Fall records the “Genesis Project”. this was a live, multi-camera DVD shoot, and I helped with several aspects of the recording side.

the project is currently (summer 2008) finishing overdubs and beginning mixing. i’ll let you know here when it is released. it features the Josh Hiers Band (below):

AND the Southeastern Singers

the band guys from the singers (LtoR): Rick Hogan (electric guitar), Jonathan Swindal (keys), Amos Pierre (keys), Bryan Mohr (drums), Ralph Serrapica (acoustic guitar), Ralph Garcia (bass) and seated is Mikel Larrinaga (saxophone), and Justin Santos (percussion)

early January found me in Miami to minister with Ingrid Rosario and her team. what a great band; it was a privilege getting to know them. here is a picture of Ingrid and I in Rome from Nov 2006:


this is Ingrid’s guitar player Henry Arias and I- totally has the Steve Lukather-vibe happenin’

my OCD is whining because I’m jumping ahead when I haven’t finished behind, but I wanted to let you know about the upcoming worship concert I’ll be doing with full band on June 6 in Katy (west Houston). I would love it if you could come and also if you might be able to tell some other folks about, bring your friends, etc.

You can contact me or the church, which would be:  Stephanie Ballard worship assistant 281.646.1903 ext. 171 – sballard AT whatisgrace.org

Bless you, and hope to see you then!