It's Aint Easy Being Green

Due to a recent accident Terri and I have been in the market for a new car. Given the rising gas prices we have been considering going "green" by buying a hybrid car. Hybrid cars are an economical approach to rising gas prices and have the advantage of reduced emissions and impact on the environment (Note: A simple Internet search will provide a variety of opinions on this).

Like many Hybrid buyers we fit into the category of economic-environmentalists. Meaning we will consider a low-emissions, gas-sipping vehicle as long as it lowers our monthly gas bills. An economic environmentalist is one of those hyphenated labels similar to fiscal-conservative or social-conservative. Conservation is a good thing. It is even better if it is economically viable. When I was a teenager our church youth group did paper drives as a fund-raiser. It was never done as a green activity.

Unfortunately I have to declare hybrid vehicles an endangered species. I have searched the inventory of every Honda and Toyota dealer in a 150-mile radius and there are very few cars for sale. We missed buying a Honda Civic hybrid by about an hour this morning. We can get on a month/month-and-a-half waiting list with a $500 deposit. There is also a very small secondary market. I did find a used Prius at Carmax in Laurel, MD. Also, don't expect a lot of room to negotiate. Most hybrids sell at the sticker price.

Every hybrid owner we have talked to raves about the gas mileage and how pleasantly surprised they have been by the durability and performance of their vehicles. These folks are HEs (hybrid-evangelists) Our experience has been similar, we have driven hybrids that drive just as well as some gas-only cars. I have refused various cross-selling options where a dealer suggests a high-mileage gas-only car simply because I am interested in hybrids.

So, since Terri and I are actively shopping for hybrid cars, I suggest that you enact a personal "Save the Hybrids" campaign. Please delay your purchase of a hybrid vehicle until we have gotten one. Afterwards we'll be glad to let you borrow ours for a test drive. Also if you have a gas-guzzling vehicle that we can "borrow" for 30-45 days, we'd be very appreciative. We'd even return it will a full tank of gas and freshly washed and detailed.

Grace and peace
Dave

Thermometer or Thermostat?

Last night I was sitting in choir practice as the lone tenor for the entire practice. Our other tenors were out and about doing various other things so it was up to me to carry the tenor line during practice. My normal strategy is to sit next to Pete. If I sing what Pete is singing I'm generally going to be OK. Otherwise it will always be an adventure. I have the ability to match what I hear singing around me but if you pointed me at a sheet of music and said "sing this note". I would probably not hit it. Fortunately John helps by occasionally singing the tenor line to get me in the proper range.

The difference between a thermometer and a thermostat is in how they react to the environment in which they are placed. A thermometer always adjusts it's reading to match the ambient temperature of the room it is placed in. Meaning it always displays "room temperature". A thermostat measures the temperature in the room and makes adjustments to the temperature to achieve a desired goal.

In the choir I am still in thermometer mode. Place me in the middle of a group of tenors and I will sing the right note. In thermostat mode the tenor line will start to sound a lot like the main melody of the piece of music (even if the tenor line is not the main melody)

Being a thermometer is not bad. Being a thermostat is not bad. I think we will shift between the two modes of operating depending on the situation.

The key idea is the following:

• If I am reacting to a situation (thermometer mode) is my reaction appropriate?
• If I am influencing a situation (thermostat mode) is my influence appropriate?

Appropriateness is context-sensitive. This is why folks generally try to evaluate their course of action is by asking themselves. "What would Jesus do?" When we look at a situation through the eyes of Jesus it often will become clear how we should be involved. To use the example of choir practice, Jesus will help us to get into the proper key and to sing in tune.

As a closing thought I think Jesus was probably an excellent tenor.

We are now available on iTunes

Our sermon podcast is now listed in the iTunes store. If you have iTunes you can subscribe to our sermons using the following procedure.

1. Start iTunes



2. In the search field in the top right corner, type WHBC



3. Click on the Subscribe next to the WHBC Sermon Podcast
4. If you want to see the details, click on the arrow to the right of the WHBC Sermon Podcast.



5. Once you have subscribed the podcast will download yo your PC. You can then add it to the playlist for your IPOD.

Acoustic vs. Electric Guitar

After leading worship last week on the Spring Break trip I thought I'd add a post on the different roles for acoustic and electric guitar in a worship band setting. Both types of guitars are similar in that they share the same tuning, and chord fingerings but they are also different in terms of style of play and length of sustain. One way of looking at it is a balance between a rhythmic role and melodic role.

In a worship band an acoustic guitar has a primary rhythmic role and a secondary melodic role. Since an acoustic guitar has limited sustain, it must be strummed more frequently (and harder) than an electric guitar. So primarily it is driving the rhythm of the music and secondarily in terms of the chord changes. As a result an acoustic guitarist is pretty much playing 80-90% of the time during a song and the primary melodic contribution is via a change of chords or a finger picked section. A good example of this would be Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin.

An electric guitar is more balanced in terms of rhythmic/melodic roles. The guitar has greater sustain (the length of time that sound will ring out on a given strum) due to the pickups and amplification so it has to be strummed less often (and easier) than a acoustic guitar. The guitar is often used for single-note runs, partial chords, and arpeggios to add a melodic contribution to the song. In contemporary music the electric guitar may be played sparingly during the verse and then in a rhythmic way during the chorus. This often gives the chorus a sense of power due to the extra rhythmic content. A good example of the melodic contribution of an electric can be found in almost any U2 recording. For example, Pride, In the Name of Love illustrates a heavy melodic/rhythmic contribution mixed with some air-filled arpeggios that give the music a sense of space.

When leading worship in a solo environment the worship leader almost always either plays piano or acoustic guitar. An electric guitar only works if it has a sonic foundation of bass, drums and keys.

Keyboard instruments have this same type of split. A piano is similar to an acoustic guitar in that there is some sustain after the key is struck. An organ will produce sound for as long as the key is held down. It will stop as soon as the key is released.

Instruments are like spiritual gifts. Turn them loose, in the right combination and some beautiful music happens.

Taking the band on the road

Last week we took 32 students and adults to Garden City Beach, SC for a spring break retreat on the theme Faith - It's what you do!. We stayed at the Garden City Retreat Center and Chapel. It is a great place to host a retreat.

We took our youth worship band, The Exit, on the road as part of the retreat and I really want to thank Karen, Casey, Drew, Brianna and Kathy for their hard work in leading worship. I'd also like to thank one of our adult leaders John Harvey for his efforts as a band roadie and for leading us through some fun songs on the keyboard.

It takes a lot to take a band on the road. I thought I'd give you a quick listing of the items that we took with us for a couple of reasons:

1. The list of gear gives you an appreciation for the equipment needed by a praise band to do it's work. As WHBC restarts contemporary worship this list is indicative of equipment we will need
2. To demonstrate the amount of planning that is required to conduct a youth retreat and how it is a team effort.

So, here the list - in no particular order:

• Roland electronic drum kit
• Drum throne
• Drum sticks
• Drum foot pedal
• 16 channel powered mixer
• Two speakers
• Two speaker stands
• Two 50' speaker cables
• Two 25' speaker cables (as a backup)
• Bass guitar
• Bass guitar Amp
• Three guitar stands
• Electric guitar
• Acoustic/Electric guitar
• Keyboard
• Keyboard stand
• Keyboard foot pedal
• 100' stage snake
• Three microphones
• Five direct boxes plus two spares
• Six 1/4" instrument cables
• Three 1/4" patch cables
• Eight 25' XLR microphone cables plus three spares
• Three mic stands (including one boom stand)
• DVD player
• Guitar effects pedal board
• One RCA to 1/4" adapter
• One 1/8" to RCA adapter
• Six RCA patch cables
• Two VGA cables
• Video Projector
  
• One wireless remote for laptop
• Two laptop computers
• Eight pieces of poster board (for a makeshift video screen)
• Double sided tape
• Screwdrivers
• Sheet music
• One guitar A/B foot switch
• Video camera and blank media
• Copies of slides with song lyrics, etc.
• Four music stands
  

Things we wish we had had with us

• Monitor speakers to help singers hear themselves so we could play/sing in tune.
• An amp with more inputs

Later this week I will have some posts on my approach to picking music for worship.

Here's your brush, make your stroke

A few weeks ago Terri and I attended the CBF-Virginia general assembly in Waynesboro. As part of the closing worship we had a communion service that I have thought about several times since that weekend. FBC Waynesboro has a middle aisle in their sanctuary which we all used as we came forward to participate in communion. At the front of the sanctuary there was a canvas that was attended to by CBF missionaries Jonathon and Tina Bailey.


The handed each of us a brush that they had dipped in paint and we were invited to add a stroke to the painting. As we moved forward each participant added their individual expression to the art work.Once everyone had completed communion, Tina used a blending brush to blend each of the individual contributions together and then she and Jonathon removed some painter's masking tape that had masked part of the image revealing the cross, circle and communion cup layers of the painting.


When we attend corporate worship each of us plays a role: some teach, some sing, some play instruments, some hand out bulletins, some doodle, and some run the sound board. It is in the combinations of all of our participation that God can do something amazing. We might not see the design or master plan during the process, but there are those occasional, unexpected moments when we can see God at work.

We all come to worship from different places: some of us have the flair of an accomplished artist, some of us have a brush but no paint, some of us have paint on our fingers but brush. In our culture people choose churches based on what they "get out of it". I 'm encouraging you to consider what you can "bring to it". The world is an awfully big canvas and we're going to need some help decorating. Here's your brush

I hope to post some blog posts this week during the Spring Break trip. Check back Mon-Thur for updates.

Dave

You've got spam!

SPAM email seems to be on the rise. It is rare for a week to go buy without a church member asking me why they are receiving emails that are less than desirable. Most of the time their question is accompanied with a caveat that they have never sent emails to these folks, browsed their web sites, etc. I can understand. I get those emails too.

So, why is their SPAM in your inbox? Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. The same technology that makes email great also makes it weak
2. Combatting spam is an arms-race and we're living in Berlin
3. SPAM costs the spammer almost nothing, so they will make money.

The same technology that makes email great also makes it weak
Email is a great communication medium because of interoperability. In simple terms, you can send email to any person on the planet as long as you have their correct email address. Assuming there are no problems such as a full mailbox, they will get your message. There is no advanced configuration or pre-coordination required. You type your message, hit send, and as a benefit of globally accepted standards, your message will show up in a few minutes. Every time you buy a stamp at the post office you can see the global success of email.

The global standards for email are weak in several ways. For example it is easy to create an email message that appears it came from someone else (just using Outlook Express). There is no reliable way to determine where an email came from. This is why you should never respond to an email with bank account information, etc. Spammers take advantage of these holes.

Various approaches are in the works for beefing up to standards for email to overcome these issues. We will probably have to go through a global upgrade to fix it. It will become one more of those technology-driven upgrades that will impact consumers (see HDTV, underground utilities, alternative fuels, etc). You might have to upgrade or replace that Windows 95 machine for your email to continue to function.

Combatting spam is an arms-race and we're living in Berlin
SPAM email comes to you through a sophisticated decentralized ecosystem. First of all the spammer does not maintain a huge data center to send millions of emails. They do not maintain a list of email addresses. They do not even maintain the systems that sell their wares. They lease these assets from other folks on the Internet who have gained control of these assets through a mix of ingenuity and illegal activity. In general we have multiple people or organizations in the ecosystem. The spammer, the email address harvester, the bot herder, and the vendor.

• The vendor has a product to sell.

  He hires the spammer to send out the messages and processes orders that come through the spammer.

• The email address harvester works to develop a list of known-good email addresses which are for sale.

  They use brute-force approaches and other techniques to locate email addresses. For example they might concatenate various combinations of initials with first and last names to build candidate email addresses. They then use the spamming network to send out sacrificial email messages. These messages are specially formatted so that if you open the message it will send a signal home to the harvester that the email address is "good". For example they might download an image in the email message from one of their servers. When you open the email, a request goes to their server for the very small (1 pixel by 1 pixel) image at a unique address that is based on the email. This is a simple description of the very elaborate techniques that the harvester uses to obtain, validate, and characterize email addresses.

• The botnet herder has a decentralized network of computers with high-speed Internet connections that can send millions of email messages and process incoming orders.

  A botnet is essentially a transportation system utility. A good analogy would be a railroad. The railrood maintains the tracks, engines, and freight cars and rents them at market rates to move goods from point A to point B. The railroad does not own the freight that it carries. The difference between the botnet herder and a railroad is that the botnet herder does not own all of the computers and internet connections that he is using. He has stolen them. Typically a botnet herder uses viruses and security vulnerabilities to compromise computers on the Internet. Once the machines are compromised the botnet herder adds them to his distribution network. The header carefully balances the workload that he assigns to each computer so that he can keep using them for as long as possible. Many users are unaware that their computer is controlled by others and has a devious alter-ego. This is why you should run up-to-date firewall and virus scanning software.

• The spammer brings all of these folks together and bingo! You've got spam.

SPAM costs the spammer almost nothing, so they will make money
Spammers send out millions of emails at once. They have very little overhead. If just a tenth of 1 percent of the emails result in a purchase, they make money. As a long as they make money, SPAM will continue.