Greg Adkins

The End of You and Me

Here's a video my friend Dave Potts just sent to me... this is Dave performing my song "The End of You and Me" at a really cool coffeehouse called The Electric Brew up in Goshen, Indiana. Dave and I did a 5 show tour last year and had a really great time out on the road... Dave's a great friend and he did an awesome job with this song. I actually like his take on it better than mine... he makes it sound all professional. Of course, for Dave, it ain't a hobby. He's the real deal. Thanks for doing the song Dave... I'll be anxiously awaiting my royalty check.

The Moment I Have Been Waiting For

After three years, four CDs, over 150 concerts, and over 200 songs, it finally happened. The day I thought would never come has arrived.

See for yourself.

My New Job

So I've kind of hinted around that my job has changed a little bit... I've obviously been leading worship a lot lately which has been a change from what I've been doing for the past couple of years. This week, that new part of my job became official.

For the time being, I am going to be supervising and leading the worship in our contemporary service at Powell while I continue to lead all of the technical ministries I was doing before. If that sounds like I'm now doing two jobs... well, kind of. Yes, I have more to do but our tech and worship teams have been nothing short of amazing. We've got a lot of people with a "I'll serve wherever you need me" attitude which has really made the transition pretty great. I've already trained a handful of new tech volunteers to cover some of the things I was doing and that has allowed me to move to being on stage every week without anything we were doing falling through the cracks. They have stepped up huge and kept the workload manageable for me. It's been fun.

However, part of my new job is that I've been given the directive to find some help. Our leadership recognizes that I'm no good if I'm burned out and my family is mad at me because I'm gone all the time. Praise God for wise leaders! So... I'm looking for someone. I don't know who and I'm not totally sure what it is they will do, I just know that I'm looking for the right person to come join the team. I've been given a lot of freedom in seeking this person out. Here is what I'm looking for in the ideal person:

They would be able to help lead worship (especially when we launch our Wednesday night service probably sometime in 2009).
They are comfortable behind a sound board.
They know a little bit about stage lighting and can run a lighting console.
They are proficient with computers and web savvy.
They can edit video and are familiar with Final Cut Pro / Motion.
They have graphic design skills.
They are highly passionate and creative.
They love Jesus.

Now, I realize something... that person might not exist! That's a pretty broad set of skills... still, I thought I'd put that out there. Obviously a person need not have every skill listed but the more the better! So... if you know a passionate, Jesus loving, video editing, sound mixing, light board running, Mac using, worship leading, unemployed person, send them my way! We're hiring for real and I hope to start interviewing people within the next few weeks.

What's Going On

I led worship this morning for the first time in a couple of months. It was a lot of fun for the most part, although I am definitely out of the habit of leading every week. My voice didn't do real well going through a Thursday rehearsal, early Sunday AM run-through, and then the service. I was fried by the time it was over. I also forgot my capo on one song and forgot to un-mute my tuner pedal on another. Rookie mistakes I shouldn't be making but what can I say. I went from doing this 3 times a week for 8 years to doing it maybe 4 times a year over the past couple of years.

As many of you might already know, Allison Randolph who has been the worship pastor at Powell for about the last year resigned this past week. I'm really sad to see Allison go... she has a great heart for the Lord and just ridiculous amounts of talent. I can't wait to see where God is going to use her next.

Anyway, with Allison no longer with us, it looks like I'm going to be leading worship for at least the next little bit until we figure out what comes next. You'll probably see me blog a bit about that in the coming weeks. I'll try to post each week's setlist. I've read a few worship leader blogs lately where they do that and I've enjoyed reading what other folks are doing. Here are the songs we did this week:

Wasted (Carrie Underwood) - this was our opener / walk-in music
All Because of Jesus (Steve Fee)
I am Free (not sure who wrote this one... lots of people have recorded it)
Fire Fall Down (Hillsong United)
Happy Day (Tim Hughes)
You Never Let Go (Matt Redman)

Notice the absence of Chris Tomlin songs... didn't think I could do it did ya? Well, wait until next week... I'm sure we'll do a couple then.

Everything Must Go

I haven't really officially announced this and I'm not really sure that it needs a formal announcement but I have for the most part ended my career as a traveling singer-songwriter.   The word career there is supposed to be funny.   Perhaps a better way to say it is that this will now be a hobby that I spend less time on.   

I had a great go at it really... I started working hard on it in the summer of 2005 when I recorded "Lower than the Angels".   Between October of 2005 and now I have played over 100 concerts, put out 3 more CDs (The Bluegrass Service, Chase the Western Sky, and Thirty-Three), had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends, and come out just a little bit ahead financially.  Fame and fortune never happened much to the chagrin of my wife and parents but honestly, that was never the point.   I was just trying to be faithful with the gifts God gave me and I know that sounds trite but it's pretty much exactly how I felt and still feel.   

I'm not hanging it up entirely... I'll still play shows if I'm invited.  I'm just done inviting myself.   Booking your own shows is really hard work, mostly consisting of calling up strangers or people you barely know and asking if you can come play at their church.   Sometimes they are gracious and say yes... sometimes they are gracious and say no... sometimes they are... well, sometimes they just say no.   Self-promotion is really, really hard for me and I was never any good at it at all.  So, I'm letting that go.   I'll still play a little bit from time to time I'm sure but my days of playing 3 or 4 shows a month are over.   

With that said, I still have a garage full of CDs!  I'd love to get rid of some of them so if you haven't picked up any of my Cds yet, now's a great time.  I've cut the prices on my music website  to only $8.00 per CD or all 4 for $25.00.  You can also get both "Chase the Western Sky" and "Thirty-Three" for only $12.00 with an immediate download of 'Chase the Western Sky".   

Here's a free MP3 of my favorite track from "Chase the Western Sky" for you.  It's called "Further Up and Further In" and was inspired by the C.S. Lewis book "The Last Battle". 

Download "Further up and Further in".mp3