Thursday, October 28, 2004

The family is sick today

Just when I thought I was about caught up on sleep, my son Micah decided to get sick and spill the beans for most of the night. He came in to sleep in our bed once everything was cleaned up. I decided it would be better for me to sleep on the couch instead of making the bed too crowded. He ended up spilling the beans several more times including on our bed as well, so Summer and Micah ended up sleeping in the chair. I woke up not very rested. The good thing is this morning everyone is sleeping which means Summer might possibly get a little sleep. She hasn't been feeling well the past couple of days. I just hope I don't catch it. Anna had it last week.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I don't have anything planned at all. Yeah! That means relaxation. (I hope)

What happened to St. Louis. They didn't even show up for the World Series. Oh, well. They get the off season to get back in gear. I'm happy for the Red Soxs. Not winning in 86 years, they deserve to win a little.

Well, back to work on worship. Have a great and blessed day.

Bret

Monday, October 25, 2004

What a Weekend!

I haven't competed in a barbershop contest in 12 years. The last time was an international competition with my dad in New Orleans. This past weekend I competed with a quartet in the Southwestern District quartet competition. Last year this quartet with another lead got 17th place. I've only been in the quartet for 4 months so we were only hoping to make top 10 if we were lucky. There were 30 quartets in the contest. We came in 3rd place. My mom, sister, brother-in-law, and their kids were able to be here and see us perform. We are so excited. The scores were fairly close between 1st and 3rd. We have a shot at competing in the international competition in 2005. I got home from the competition at 2:30 Sunday morning. I barely made it on Sunday.

Sunday went well. I led the 8:00 and the 10:40 service and everything went smoothly. We had a video testimony of one of our ladies in the church. It went over well.

I got lots of rest last night and I'm starting to recover from lack of sleep. It is time to get off of cloud nine and focus on my ministry. May God bless your day today.

Here is my quartet "Makin Waves" competing at the contest. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Yeah

I think my family is coming to Dallas this weekend. I'm so excited. They are coming to see me compete in the district competition. They will be here on Thursday night and leave on Monday. By the way, my brother-in-law will be coming as well. This is the brother-in-law whose plant is closing. If you know of any IT jobs in the Dallas area or where ever you live, please let me know. He may end up going to NC, but I'd like to see if it is possible to have him around here. Well, sorry for the short post. I had made a long one that ranted about churches in America, but it wouldn't post. Maybe it wasn't meant to be. Maybe tomorrow. (I just saw that it is posted below, so I guess it did post.) Have a blessed day.

Bret

A World of Confusion

I've been thinking about the church and the world lately. Satan has us right where he wants us. We are such a busy people. We have more things to do than we know how to fit in a day's time. I see kids getting involved in 2-3 sports and that is on top of thier academics, music, and dance lessons. Parents generally both have full time jobs which with travel and extra meetings can take upwards of 50-60 hours a week. Families spend less time together. People are having less and less time to be a part of a community for Christ. On top of that the economy is not the greatest. Gas prices are sky rocketing. And if that wasn't enough we are a very selfish nation that is about choosing what we want because it is the mood I'm in or it is the way I like it. All of this is seriously affecting the church. Churches around the nation are shrinking and budgets are shrinking. True evangelistic growth in most churches is little to none.

Why do I rant?

We need to do something. The power of Jesus can rock the nation, but it takes us stepping out of our comfort zones and being Jesus to the world. I'm not sure what that means for everyone. It is different in different places. But I do know that what we have been doing is not working. That means that we need to change some things if we are going to reach the world. I'm not coming to the discussion with answers, but with conviction that Satan is hitting our country hard and we are not resisting very well.

Churches need to unite, but all we do is divide. We are a country of convenience and churches have become ones of convenience. "I'll just go to a church where I feel comfortable" Church is not about being comfortable. It is about serving God in your community.

THere is my rant for the week. Sorry I don't have any definate answers. If I did, I'd be scheduling seminars at church for a living. I do know what I can do though and that is be Jesus to my family and those around me and whereever I go. So can you.

May you be Jesus where ever you walk this week and may God's blessings be with you.

Bret

Monday, October 18, 2004

The Drama Continues

The weekend was good. Glen and Vicki Anderson,some friends of mine from Paducah, were visiting their daughter this weekend and we got to spend some time witht them. Glen was one of my elders at Reidland C of C where I was before Preston Road. I grew up singing barbershop with Glen. He is the best of the best. You too Vicki.

Well, have I told you the drama in my family over the past 6-7 months? It all started when we got the call to come to Dallas. Soon after we got here, my oldest sister had to go to the hospital and found out that she had a mini-stroke. We would later find out that it may very well be a brain tumor. The doctors are still unsure about many things, but are still thinking it might be a brain tumor. Thankfully, the recent catscans show that there is no growth. Next, my youngest sister Christy and her husband Clint sell thier house, so they are going to be moving to Paducah in a small apartment that my oldest sister Cindy owns. Well, it ends up that the previous renters of the apt. left a huge infestation of fleas. The clean up was nasty. They are finally in the apt. Soon after that, my oldest sister Cindy sells her house. One day before closing the buyer backs out after they have put a pending contract on another house and started to move stuff. They finally sold their house and are now close to being in their new place. Meanwhile my middle sister Pam finds out that she has an 80% blockage in her heart and needs a stint. This is a couple of weeks after her daughter, my niece, was in a bad car accident and totaled her car. After the stint was put in she was still having heart pains, so she goes back and they find 4 more blockages ranging from 50-80%. She is now on medication. Clint, Christy's husband's plant is closing down, so this past weekend they went to NC to look at the other plant for a job. It is very likely they will be moving 10 hours in the opposite direction of Paducah than us at the beginning of the year. All of this has been going on while we have gotten pregnant with a new baby girl and of course our problems selling our house in Paducah. It is still on the market and so far no bites. When Satan attacks, he attacks hard. The person I feel sorry for is my mom. She is in the middle of all of it, feeling helpless. Her 6 youngest grandchildren (including our new one in Feb.) have or are moving 10 hours away from her. I can't imagine what I'd feel. My mom is single. My dad passed away 12 years ago. All she has left is my oldest sister in Paducah and her church family. It will be tough for her.

Doesn't all that sound like a big soap opera? Welcome to the Morris family. There is always some drama going on. Did I mention I've left out some details so I didn't have to take up so much space?

This weekend is the district competition for babershop. I will be competing in a quartet. I'm doing everything I can to keep my voice in good shape which means lots of water.

Well, time to get some work done. Have a blessed day.

Bret

Thursday, October 14, 2004


Anna is all girl with attitude. Posted by Hello

Anna, a dress and Bob the Builder. That figures. Posted by Hello

The Spirit Moves!

Last night rocked. We have a "Peak of the Week" service on Wednesday nights. We don't want it to be a repeat of Sunday morning so we letting people share their story. Last night Ire Session, a black lady that is a member of our church and also a huge part of our New Friends New Life Program, gave her testimony. It was one of the most powerful testimonies I've heard. She requested that I lead all spirituals, so I did. Those were so fun. I really feel in my element when I sing spirituals. I always enjoyed having the opportunity to worship with the predominately black Church of Christ in Paducah growing up. Last night we sang "Said I Wasn't," "Get Right Church," "I Said It's Alright (Just a Little Talk with Jesus)," and "Don't You Want to Go to that Land." I think it was the best Wednesday night singing we have had yet. I'm hoping to mix a few spirituals on Sunday mornings occasionally.

I'm excited about the next few weeks of worship because our worship team gets to debut some of the new Zoe songs. The first few weeks we are teaching "Blessed Be Your Name" in our "pre-songs." The worship team starts singing before we have Announcements and Call to Worship. It is my time to fit in songs I want us to learn and I might put a song in there a few weeks in a row and then integrate it into worship. This will be my second week with "Blessed Be Your Name."

It is a beautiful day here in Dallas. Actually, it has been a beautiful week. There has hardly any clouds and temps have been in the 70's. Perfect. I've always loved the fall because of the changing leaves and the cool weather, but I wonder how much trees are going to change around the Dallas area.

Tonight is my night at Vocal Majority to have my final review to be a part of the performing chorus. I'm excited about being on stage with them.

Did I mention that my house is still for sell? Please pray about that.

May you have a blessed day,

Bret

Tuesday, October 12, 2004


Micah at church Posted by Hello

Worship Planning Day

Tuesdays are worship planning days. My morning starts out with a worship planning meeting at 8:30 with a few people from our church. We try to plan a week and a half out at this point. Maybe in the future we can do more, but right now it seems to work ok. If we see something that will take a while longer to plan we will plan further out. Right now we have 6 of us and I want to double that group so there are more ideas and a better representation of our congregation.

I also had the treat of leading worship for our ladies Bible class that Summer was teaching today. They are doing a Beth Moore study and I offered to bring my gutiar and lead 2-3 praise songs to get things going. It went extremely well. I'm so proud of my wife. She is such a good teacher and a humble one. I'm so lucky to have her as my wife.

The first day of Atkins went well and I'm going strong today. Summer purchased some multivitamins that are designed for people on low carb diets to give them all the nutrients they need. Yes, I said I hate exercise, but I have plans to exercise. I go walking with a guy on our praise team when we can get our schedules worked out. Summer and I are also thinking about joinging the YMCA down the street. Childcare is $3 a kid an hour, so Summer and I can exercise together.

I have some friends, Ryan and Leslie, that live in the metroplex area. They grew up with me in KY. I ended up performing their wedding ceremony. Ryan is in the reserves and is in Kuwait. Please pray for him as he will be there until March or so. Leslie spent the day with Summer yesterday and last night since our elders meeting was cancelled, I went and enjoyed my hobby. Have you heard about my hobby?

I love strategy games. I always have. The hobby I have been getting into over the past couple of years is Warhammer 40K. It is a table top war game. In short, you have little minitures of soldiers and tanks and other cool stuff and you paint them. They represent your army and then there is a game that you play that is awesome. There are many armies you (10-12) and within those armies there are different chapters that have different rules as well. Because of this every army is different and everytime you play it is different. If you are interested in this kind of thing, let me know and I'll hook you up with more info or if you are in the Dallas area, you can come over and I'll show you how to play.

Ok, here is a question that you can repond to in the comments section. In worship, what do you prefer, words on the screen with backgrounds or music on the screen?

This seems to be an ongoing debate in many churches. Let me know what you think.

Blessings,

Bret

Monday, October 11, 2004

Atkins, here I come

Well, for me, Monday starts my new week. Sunday seems like the end of the past week. I'm starting Atkins today, again. Last year I lost 40 pounds on Atkins. I dropped 5 inches off my waist. When I did, I got rid of my big clothes so I would I would be motivated to keep at it if my new smaller clothes started to get tight. I've let my clothes get about as tight as I can and still fit so it is time to do Atkins. That means eating no carbs. It will be a tough couple of weeks cause it is the induction phase. Food is my biggest weakness. I love to eat. My next weakness is exercise. I hate it. We'll see what happens. Well it is time for weekly staff meeting. Sorry for the short post. I'll post later.

Blessings,

Bret

Friday, October 08, 2004


Anna Posted by Hello

I Love Fridays

I love Fridays. I have very few things to do today which is great. My daughter Anna woke me up this morning. She came and got in bed with us. She is so cute at this age. She is extremely talkative, but you don't understand everything she says. She has quite a vocabulary for her age though. She is able to to count to 10 and she loves to sing. Praise the Lord. As I type, she is sitting in her little rocking chair holding her Care Bear singing to it as she rocks. A couple of Sundays ago she came up to me during our sound check. While I was blowing my pitchpipe she matched the pitch. This is at 19 months. I'm so glad our children love music. You can see it in everything they do. Yes, I encourage it, but it is God given. Thank you God for gifting us.

Well I guess it is time to talk about a group that I am a part of. I grew up singing barbershop music with my dad. I was singing in a quartet with him by the time I was 7 and continued competing in that quartet until his death my senior year in high school. I've always loved that music because it was the music my dad and I shared together. I'm now a part of the Vocal Majority chorus here in Dallas. They are known as America's Premire Pop Chorus. They have about 15 CD's out, the most current one of which is possibly going to be nominated for a grammy.

I just passed my choreography last night. Many of the up tempo songs they do have lots of choreography and to sing on stage with them you have to learn it and be tested on it. You have to learn 14 songs and test on those and then the music staff will look at you with the chorus one practice. This is all after passing a tough audition to even get in the chorus. Next week is my performance qualification. That means I can perform on stage with them. If you want to know more about the chorus, I have a link on my sidebar that tells you about the chorus.

I'm also in a quartet. We are competing in district competition in 2 weeks. I'm excited. I think we have a shot at getting a medal. I think there are over 30 quartets competing.

Well it is time to enjoy my Friday with my family. May all of you find time to spend with your family this weekend and my the blessings of God be upon you.

Bret

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Sigh!!!

I'm always glad when Thursday gets here because I love my weekends. I take Fridays off and have the weekend with my family. It is great to be with family. On Fridays we don't have any trains to catch and we can just enjoy being with each other. Though we have some things to do on Saturdays, it is still a relaxing day for the most part. When you're in ministry, having some days to not think about ministry is essential. My life and my family's life revolves around the church. Because of that there needs to be some Sabbath rest from church life so we can keep our energy in ministry and prevent burnout.

It is hard to believe that I've been in ministry for 8 years this month not including any internships. I've learned so much in 8 years and discovered that I have so much more to figure out than what I've already learned. Ministry is a life long learning process.

Some of the things I've learned in ministry:

1. Organization is a good thing. My strength has never been organization. It is not in my personality, but I've learned to organize when I need to. It will never be my strength, but I believe that people can learn how to effectively do things they are not good at. I still have a ways to go, but I'm getting there.

2. God is so in control- There have been times when things didn't go as planned and God steps in and does incredible things. An example of this was at a youth camp that I've been a part of for 15 years, Palmetto Bible Camp (PBC). We had planned a "Spirit Jam" which was pretty much a concert of great Christian music. We brought in instruments and was well planned and rehearsed. That evening before we were to perform a huge storm came and knocked out the power as we were assembled in the "ark." (Our big pavilion that we have our assemblies) We lit candles and sang over the rain pouring down on the aluminum ceiling. To this day, youth will tell you that it is the most incredible worship experience they have ever experienced. When God steps in, there is no doubt it is Him, and He generally works when it can only be a God thing.

3. Churches have problems wherever you go- I learned early on that you don't escape church problems. Every church has its quirks. I will never move because I think I've found a church with little to no problems. Actually if there were such thing as a perfect church they wouldn't want me anyways. I'd mess it up for them.

4. You can't give what you don't have- There have been to many times in my life where I've tried to give spiritually when I wasn't filling myself spiritually. I was giving dry heaves. I've learned that a big part of my ministry, especially in worship ministry, is keeping spiritually filled. I have to be intentional about that or I end up empty.

Ok, I've learned much more than that, but those are some of the first things that come to mind. I pray that I am daily feeding so I am daily able to give.

Be praying for a friend of mine that hasn't been to church in years. He is frustrated with Christians and what they profess and then what they do. I'll be talking more about him later.

My God's blessings be on you all.

Bret

Wednesday, October 06, 2004


Micah and Anna out on our sidewalk. Posted by Hello

Wednesday, here I come!


Wednesdays are long days. The good news is I go into work late. That gives me time to spend with my family. This morning Summer woke me up with the smell of buiscuts and gravy, homeade gravy :) Micah has a terrible cough this morning. Summer is going to make a trip to Walmart with the kids to get medicine. God bless moms who go alone with two or more kids anywhere. Can I here an amen from the moms of multiple children out there?

I've been reading 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings. Now that I'm in Kings, I'm reading the prophets as I get to the king they ruled under. I've never tried doing that kind of study through the prophets. I'm up to 1 Kings 19. That is after Elijah has faced Ahab and Obadiah was a God fearing believer during the time of Ahab. Actually he was in charge of Ahab's palace. I don't think this is Obadiah the prophet though, but I'm not for sure. I've been trying to come up with a parallel. Maybe that would be like being in charge of Sadam's palace or in charge of Osama's quarters. Obadiah was a believer in the reign of a terrible king that worshipped Baal. Not only that, but his wife Jezabel had put to death hundreds of prophets. Imagine being in Obadiah's shoes.

Well, things that have to be done on Wednesdays are having worship team handouts ready to print for rehearsal tonight. We also have a "Peak of the Week" service that I have to be prepared for as well. We have a church wide dinner at 5:30, "Peak of the Week" at 6:45, and worship team rehearsal at 7:45. I will be lucky to get home by 9:30.

I will post a recent picture of my children. They are the most beautiful children in the world. Do you hear any bias there?

Everyone have a blessed day!

Bret

Tuesday, October 05, 2004


Posted by Hello

Hello All


Well, this is my first blog. I don't know how good I'll be at this, but it is worth a try.

My name is Bret Morris. I'm the worship minister at Preston Road Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. My wife of 7 years is Summer. She is awesome. I consider myself a lucky man to have found her. I have 2 children and one on the way. Micah Thomas is 3 and Anna Grace is 19 months. We have a girl due in February. So far, we kind of like Esther London but we are not sure yet.

I just got back from Zoe confrerence in Nashville, Tn. It was wonderful. I will be posting about that later I'm sure. We went to Paducah, KY where I used to live and also grew up to hopefully sign the papers for selling my house. Unfortunately, the potential buyers backed out before we signed. Though I'm very frustrated, I have a peace about it. I know that God has always taken care of us and will continue to. If that means having the house for another couple of months or more, He will provide. I'm just thankful that I have food on the table every day. I consider myself blessed.

Well, there it is, my first post. I hope your day is full of God's blessings.

Bret