Yassas From Greece

This has been a crazy busy week in Thessoloniki, Greece with the crew from International World Changers. Teams have been scattered all over the city working, walking, play and praying in this metropolis of 1.5 million. I have learned much from new friends here and covered more miles on foot in these days than I ever have anywhere in the world. The temperature at 10 PM last night was still over 90 and somehow I have never felt more refreshed. I have seen God drawing people to Himself. It’s always a miracle to me the way God can reshape events to make sure one person, one family, knows of His love.

The worship gatherings every afternoon have been rich. To worship out of the wellspring of service always seems especially rich to me. When we come to worship to receive, as consumers, we often leave let down. But here in the midst of service and mission the worship seems always to flow from overwhelming thankfulness. In our physical weakness, we experience spiritual fullness. The voices have been loud and the message of hope and unexplainable peace has been even louder.

Early Sunday I will fly back to the states to spend a few weeks with students at Ridgecrest in North Carolina. We will dream together what Faith on the Move looks like. I have seen it here in Thess and can’t wait to share the stories and songs.

Open Hands

Many of you have asked about the song “Open Hands” we’ve been using at camp the last few weeks. It’s the first single from the new Matt Papa CD and has just been released to radio. Matt and I wrote the song as an expression of surrender. Surrender is the ultimate posture of our worship. It is a surrendering of control, a surrendering of our will to the glory and purposes of the One Most High God. If the song has helped you worship, call your local Christian radio station and let them know. Matt’s CD is rock solid and releases in August.

Camp Week 1

Chasen, David and I had a great start to the summer in North Carolina. We are working with a giant staff of creative and faith-filled leaders and it’s been fun to pretend we’re a part of their team this week. The camp pastor was RYAN FONTENOT and we really loved hanging out with this guy. A powerful communicator.

I will be here at Ridgecrest a total of 5 weeks over the summer so I’ve gotten to know the local coffee shop, The Dripolator quite well. Organic, fair-trade, and every cup is a work of art. A great place to listen, reflect, refresh.

We actually received copies of the new record this week. It’s fun to actually have it in my hand. It has showed up early on iTunes as well. CLICK HERE to open iTunes and find the record. No big New Release fanfare but if you dig the new record, leave a comment to let others know what songs they should buy. We’ll have copies of the record on the road with us all summer and a proper release will come later. *NOTE* If you buy a physical copy of the new record you actually get 2 records and some other bonus features too. Inside the packaging is a promo code to download the worship record “Make It Loud” from my site as well as other random bonus features (for example a weird remix is posting before the end of July).

Folks were asking this week for some of the songs we’re using in worship and so I put together an iMix in iTunes with most of them. Some of the songs (ie “Open hands”) are too new to be on there but most are HERE: James Tealy’s Worship iMix 09
. We’ll keep live streaming worship whenever and wherever we can so check back here often to join us over the summer.

See ya along the road,
James

New Tunes

I just added some new songs to THE MYSPACE PAGE. This record is WAY more pop than I’ve done in the past. I’m extremely proud of it but nervous too. I kept it cheap and did most the production, engineering and mixing myself. That leaves me feeling a bit self-conscious about “The Hardest Step to Land.” There’s no one to blame but me! The lyrics on this record are really important to me and I’m stoked to share them with you.

“Known” is a challenge to the way we posture and pretend. It’s a call to shine some light on “all the hurt and shame you carry, all the tears and pain you’ve buried, every broken dream and every doubt.”

“Hands” is a response to some quotes that stunned me. Oswald J Smith said “We talk of the Second Coming; half the world hasn’t heard of the first.” Currently more than 56% of the world’s population has little or no access to the story of Jesus. Crazy! Jim Elliot said “He is no fool who gives up what he can not keep to gain that which he can not lose.” Love is the language the whole world speaks!

“Teach Me How to Pray” is one of my favorites on the new record. As a professional wordsmith, I am so often left wordless when I pray. I think I’m learning how to listen.

“To The Nations” is a rich worship tune I’ve been using for the last few years. My friends, the Espy brothers gave birth to this simple gem a few years back and it remains my anthem. “Send us to the nations, to the broken. Lead us to surrender. We will go.”

So I may rotate out the songs as I get a clearer sense of what you want to hear but I at least have started with a few of my favorites. I’m still aiming to have product at shows by June 2nd. That seems less and less likely with each passing day but I’m still trying! HERE’S THE LINK AGAIN.Enjoy the new tunes and spread the word.

HANDS Video Shoot

Monday night was a long exhausting night and some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Some friends with cinematographic skillz decided we should shoot a video for one of the songs on the new record. The generous folks at THE STANDARD let us use one of their sweet old buildings to rock star up a bit. So David, Jacob, Toby and I strapped on some rawkstah clothes and played through the song 20 times while videographers Sarin and Andy found the right angles, the right balance of shadow and light.

I’m sure it will be a while before the video shows up on a youtube page near you, but in the meantime I thought you guys might get a kick out seeing some pix from the shoot. I wrote the song this past year with Aaron Blanton and Nate Sousa. It’s a call to get off our lazy butts and get to work practicing resurrection around us. “We are the hands, we are the feet, we are the face of love for the least of these.” It’s Easter, hope you are finding some meaningful way to remember God’s gift of bringing life out of death. I, of course, am all for bunnies and peeps but there must be something more.