ZOE in Midland, TX

Our weekend in Midland was great. Thank you to Marc Kondrup for these great pictures!

Part of the afternoon was spent teaching new music in sectionals. The basses look particularly excited here. :)

Saturday we led a night of worship for Golf Course Road

We all shared in a very powerful time of family communion. Families and friends went together to different communion stations around the sanctuary and shared the supper together in true fellowship.

Sunday morning we led worship at Golf Course Road along with their team

The ZOE Group, the team from Southwest in Amarillo and the team from Golf Course Road in Midland.

Thank you again to all who made our weekend such a blessing!

Midland, TX

ZOE is heading to Midland, TX tomorrow to sing. We'll be singing Saturday night at 7pm and then for both services Sunday Morning at the Golf Course Road Church of Christ. Join us if you're anywhere near.

I am looking forward to seeing all our Midland buddies! Sheryl and I are staying with Tod and Lee Ann Brown--long time friends (Lee Ann is Stephen Bailey's sister). We'll hopefully get to see Alan and Holly Brown too. A big thanks goes out to Kent Rogers, Marc Kondrup and Charlton Taylor for all the pre-planning and leg work. We're really looking forward to being with you all.

Nuggets

There've been a few nuggets over the past few days...

Recently I've had the sweetest series of bed time discussions with my 7 year old daughter Ella.
She was struggling with some things and I told her the other night..."Ella, God loves you. And you know what? He doesn't love you because you're mine...when He looks at you He says-'See that girl? I am CRAZY about her because she belongs to me.' He knows exactly how your brain works. He knows exactly how your heart is put together and how you think and every feeling you have and He's crazy about you. He knows what makes you tick. He knows what makes you mad. He loves you when you mess up. He loves you when you do great things. He loves you and feels jealous and protective of you. You are uniquely created and He loves every part--inside and out."

She beamed. Then she began asking questions like, "How can God be so many different places at once? How can He be in your heart, mommy's heart, my heart...? Is it sort of like a reflection? Like God's reflection in all of us?"

I took a second to gather my jaw off the ground and then I told her that was a very, VERY good question. I did my best to explain omnipresence and we talked a lot about the Holy Spirit. Very precious discussion.

Then Ella asked, "Daddy, how do we know the Bible is from God? I mean it's not like he just rained down Bibles on everyone."

Wow. I told her what I believe about it and about the Holy Spirit's involvement.

Ella said, "Daddy, how do you know when God is speaking to your heart?"

I told her that it's something that we work on our entire lives. Sometimes for me it means being still and meditating or dedicating time to listen or journal. Ultimately, the best teacher of how to hear God is God himself. We agreed to pray together every day that God would teach us how to hear His voice and listen for Him. Needless to say...I walked out of her room that night and went back to my bed and quietly sobbed. Precious, precious moments that last a lifetime.

I don't want my kids to think there's an answer for everything. There's not. I say, "I don't know" a LOT. We talk about stuff and agree to think about it pray about it. I think God works in that open space...much more than he does our black and white theological safety nets.

In other Thomas news, Sam got a Webkinz dinosaur for Christmas which he as now appropriately named "Dino"..."Dino Scott Thomas". Sam is a little bundle of joy. Somehow he wakes up every morning and springs out of a bed with his classic smile. WHOSE CHILD ARE YOU??

We had a major ZOE Group meeting yesterday. Visioning, future, trouble-shooting, relationship building...it was a long day but needed and very valuable. We've all been on this journey together since 1996. That's a long time. God has blessed us and we pray that our vision and plans be lost in His will.

The ZOE team will be doing several worship weekends this year. If you're interested in booking us to come, please contact me at zoebst@gmail.com . So far we have Midland, Malibu, Athens Alabama, Houston, and Tyler on the books.

I haven't said it in a while, but I want you to know I'm thankful for you. Thank you for stopping by my blog and reading. I pray that today you would feel refreshed by the Lord's presence.

ZOE Conference 2009 "Inside Out"

I made it home from the NCL Spirit (I will post some pics and video later from that trip). I came back just in time to finish out the 2009 ZOE Conference. Friday night we had several families over for dinner. It's always such a great time to see special friends.


Two of my very best friends and our sons...Peter and Brayden, Sam and me, and Josh and Noah.

Baby Brayden and Lindsey

Pete and Sam

Maddie and Brayden (the kids were enthralled with Brayden)

Philp Organ, Kevin Penna and Peter Wilson...waiting to sing with ZOE at the conference

Amy Westerman and Karin Hensley preparing to sing with ZOE

Greg Taylor served as the MC for the weekend at ZOE

Josh captivated the audience yesterday afternoon. I love his heart. He's a good man and a good friend. I've learned a lot from Josh.

Rich Smith teaching at the ZOE conference

After the conference, we went out to celebrate. There's a new Texas BBQ place in Brentwood called Judge Beans. INCREDIBLE!! It was like a little piece of home in Tennessee. I've lived here 14 years but still consider TX home.

Family! Zach, Peter and Lindsey, Sheryl and me, Taylor and Bruce

Ella really loved holding Brayden. She loves babies but really LOVED Brayden.

Peter and Sam.

Bruce and Taylor stayed with us for the weekend along with Sam and Scott Souder. I didn't get any pictures with Sam and Scott. It was so awesome having all of them in our home.

This morning we stayed in and had our own devotional here with The Morgans, Wilsons, and Souders. It was a very special time. Afterwards, Taylor made the most incredible breakfast. I am so grateful for them and how they've blessed our lives over the years.




Bruce and Taylor are so great with our kids. Bruce won them over a couple of years ago when we were all at the beach together in Malibu. Bruce helped them rehearse for an afternoon "show". The kids ate up every second of it.

Sam made up the words to this one. He likes to sing it...a LOT. It is the song that never ends....yes it goes on and on my friends...!

Though I missed most of the weekend, I was so thrilled to get some time with all those who were here for ZOE and to get to worship with everyone at in the Saturday sessions. It was a great day! I am exhausted this afternoon and ready for a looooooong nap. I have a lot to process from the weekend and a LOT to be thankful for!

To everyone who came to the conference--God bless your travels home. Hope to see you next year!

ZOE Inside Out

The countdown to the 2009 Nashville ZOE Conference is underway...just one week from today! How many of you are coming? The CD released this week. I am anxious to hear feedback from those of you who are blog readers. Please let us know what you think!

I leave in the morning for the Norwegian Spirit...taking out a brand new cast and 2 new shows along with Robert Hertenstein from NCL and Angi Weis (production mngr from Gary Musick). The cast has worked very hard to be ready for their debut. It will be a tough week. Please keep all of us in your prayers.

I am looking forward to seeing some of you next weekend at ZOE. I will be late, but I'll be there.

Eventful Weekend

It's been a very full and good weekend. We spent time today with ZOE refreshing our minds on all the new music we recorded over the summer in preparation for the ZOE conference in 2 weeks. We're looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible!



Ella captured this picture as we were singing downstairs. If you'll notice...Sam is curled up in a ball of remorse. He had just confessed to Sheryl that he had dumped his chicken fingers in the trash and grabbed a fruit roll up. ;)

Friday night we went over to the Penna's house for dinner (thank you, Kiki and Kevin!) and the kids were all over Gracie. She's such a cutie!

Love this of Gracie. And of course...I am sporting my Texas shirt. The game was INCRDIBLE last night! Both QB's were from Abilene...Potts and McCoy. Colt's uncle was my roommate for a bit here in Nashville. His grandmother and my mom pledged together back in the day. Love that family. It was cool to hear the announcer on ABC talk about how both QB's grew up in Abilene and went to church together. It was an awesome game! Hook 'em HORNS!

This morning we continued through our Discovery 1 & 2 classes at Fellowship (2 Sundays left!). It has been really amazing. This morning Doug said, "Community is a lot like life on Noah's Ark...it can get pretty messy at times but the alternative is to jump overboard and drown." Love it. So true! After class we went to the worship segment of 3rd service and then went home to get ready for the ZOE's who were coming over for rehearsal. We sang "No Sweeter Name" and "It's All Because of Jesus" this morning. Both of those are on the upcoming ZOE CD which should release this Tuesday! I love both of those songs!

After ZOE left we gathered up the family and drove over to the rehearsal studio for a run of the Spirit Broadway show. I have been working with this cast for several weeks. We leave Friday.

John and Jenna sing "The Winner Takes it All" from Mama Mia

Jenna and Becca sing "One Short Day" from Wicked

Claire Williams who I have worked with for a couple of years was there with her son, Jack. Claire has been a dear friend. She's one of our choreographers and is awesome. For Ella's birthday she came and taught all the 6 yr old ballerinas some movement to "The Nutcracker". Claire is from the UK and has a proper British accent. Ella loved having her at her party. She brought Claire some original art that she had made for her today.

"No One Mourns the Wicked" from Wicked

"One Short Day" from Wicked

"Popular" from Wicked

"Defying Gravity" from Wicked

And...over the weekend, my kids pulled out an old video of one of my shows at Six Flags Over Texas from 100 years ago. CRAZY! It was fun seeing all those old friends and re-living those memories. I'm ready for Christmas!

Have a great week Blog family!

ZOE Project Almost Complete!

Here's a picture of ZOE with Randy Gill out at First Avenue Sound in Franklin. It's been a good recording process and I am looking forward to the mixing process so I can hear everything we've done and start mixing it!

Sheryl and Randy ended up co-writing a song together. It's great too! YAY, Sheryl!!

This is a Chris Lindsey original..."We Believe". I love Chris and really appreciate his gifts. I'm so glad his song is on this project!

11 Songs MOSTLY Done

Last night we had a great but LONG night in the studio. We did the "re-do" on "Hallelujah, We Will Sing" and recorded most of "Amazed". I absolutely LOVE this song. I've been wanting to put it on a ZOE record for a couple of years. Thanks to D.J. Bulls, we finally got an arrangement that I liked and that works really well for us. Sheryl has a solo at the beginning but for last night I laid down the scratch pass. So, what you'll hear in this first one is a faint scratch vocal solo and then the group. The second video clip is after we added the trio on top of the group vocals. Seriously, I cannot express how much I love this song. It's probably my new favorite. I have always loved the lyric and I love the soothing nature of the melody. It's one of those songs that just takes me there in heart.

beginning with scratch vocals

with added trio vocals....

I was holding up the phone to let DJ hear how his arrangement turned out. He really did a great job! Thanks, DJ!

Tonight we will record "Breath of Grace" and a song that Sheryl and Randy co-wrote. :)

10 Songs Done

Well...we're now 10 songs into our recording project and sufficiently exhausted. Last night was a bit rough. But, we recovered tonight and are back on track! We also celebrated Peter and Lindsey's baby...only a few weeks from being born. I like to call him "Foncho" Wilson. :)

"I Will Rise"

"Hallelujah, We Will Sing"

8 Songs Down

We had a good night in the studio again tonight. We got two more songs MOSTLY done. Later this week we are adding all the ZOE kids to one of the songs we've done. We're probably insane for even considering it, but it will be fun!

Here are a couple of samples...

Jesus Messiah

All Because of Jesus

Inside Out

We've gotten 6 songs MOSTLY completed on the new ZOE record. Tonight Jason McArthur was back with us (seen being his goofy self in the second video down there). It was old home night. Loved it! I tweaked my back a month or so ago and have gotten to a place of incredible pain this week. Tonight was almost unbearable...but having Jason there made me laugh and helped me not think about it as much. Jason and I go back to ACU days. Waaaay before he was a big-wig Vice President of A&R for a record label. I have stories. But, in the interest of friendship and time, I'll save those. :)

Here's a little sample of the latest...



Michael W. Smith's "A New Hallelujah"

"From the Inside Out" (the title cut from this CD)