Happy Spring Break and St. Patrick's Day!

Well, it is that time of year again. The weather is absolutely beautiful, the yard needs mowing, kids get out of school for a week, and you get pinched for not wearing green. Oh yeah and let’s not forget the NCAA Tournament.
Summer and I took the kids to Sea World with the Clarks. We had a blast. Summer and the kids have never been to Sea World. The shows were awesome. I even got to touch a dolphin. It has actually been around 20 years since I’ve been. It is amazing what they can train those dolphins and whales to do.
In one of the shows a sea lion jumped a little too far and went over the wall in front of the audience. He was ok, but you could tell it wasn’t supposed to happen by looking at the trainer’s reaction.
It’s also a time for spring cleaning. Summer just put a ton of stuff in a consignment sale last weekend. It is a time to weed out old toys, clothes you can’t wear anymore, and decorations that you’ll never use again.
Maybe spring time is a great time to do some spiritual cleaning as well. I challenge each of you to take an inventory of your spiritual temple and clean the cob webs out of that dark corner of your soul. Take out the trash. Open the windows of your heart so that the Son can shine in and you can breath in the fresh wind of the Spirit.
But remember that the only way to clean your temple is to ask God. Remember the words of David:
“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow...Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:7. 10

Picture of the competition

International Competitors

15 years ago in 1992, I had the honor of competing internationally in a quartet with my dad. It was a dream of my dad to be able to do that. It was special that we were able to do that together. He passed away 6 months after competing in that competition. I've had a dream to be competing again on that level and hopefully one day winning an international quartet gold medal.

The only problem is that the standards and quality of quartets since 1992 have gone up. It is very difficult to make it to an international level. You are scored in 3 different categories, which is music, singing, and presentation. All are closely related, but have different focuses in their judging. You have to get a 76% average to compete at the international level. Most gold medal quartets sing around the 90% level.

This past weekend we scored at 78.7%. That has earned us the right to compete internationally this summer in Denver, CO. Though we have a lot of work to do we are excited about getting to compete against the best 50 quartets in the world. (in our style of music of course)

3 Years

Today is my 3 year anniversary at Preston Road. It is hard to believe it has already been 3 years. In that time, my family and I have lived in 3 different places. Micah has started school. Rebekah was born. I went out of country for my first time. I've won a gold medal. In the next few months several other things are about to happen. My wife and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage. The worship team will be singing at Pepperdine. My quartet should be competing internationally this summer. Alot can sure happen in 3 years.

I was encouraged and challenged by a passage yesterday. Acts 17:24-28 says:

24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28`For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.' NIV

God has put us here for a purpose and where we live and where we are in life was planned by God long before we were concieved in the womb. Read Psalm 139 sometime. Yet He still planned our life with our free will in mind. Will I decide to live for God's purpose where He has planted me?

We should all seek to live out God's purposes where we are now, because God has you now exactly where He intends you to be.

Just about gone

My bronchitis is all but done. I still have a cough here and there, but all the congestion has pretty much broken up. It was the worst case I've ever had.

Sunday night we had our talent show. It was a great success. Two of our youth brought their band and rocked the house. We had about 20 acts and all of them were great.

There was even a funny surprise when two teenage girls did a cannonball into the baptistry. Afterwards their moms had made signs with 9.7 and 10 on them. It totally shocked me. It was funny though.

Anna sang up on stage and was adorable.

Her birthday was yesterday. She lost her voice and it is the cutest thing to hear her talk. She was cute before, but with a raspy voice, I just crack up everytime she talks.

Time for Staff Prayer Time. Blessings.

Bronchitis

I have been struggling through my roughest round of Bronchitis ever. The doctor gave me an antibiotic shot in one hip and a steroid shot in the other. On top of that he prescribed me a Z-pack, steroid medicine, Allegra D, and a cough syrup with codeine. He also said for me to keep taking my Mucinex DM on top of that. As long as I get better, I guess I'll take whatever he says, but it has been a miserable couple of days.

I'm back at work today. I'm a little on the tired and lightheaded side, but I've got work to do, so I'm going after it.

We had our first week with our new wireless microphones. Most everything went well. There may be one frequency I have to fix, but I think we are in good shape.

This Sunday night is our annual talent show. It is going to be great. We have the most participation since I've been here. I can't wait. it will be a blast.

Chris Tomlin Concert

Friday night a few of us from church went to the "How Great Is Our God" Tour. It featured Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Louie Gigglio. It was a powerful worship experience. It was my first time to see Chris Tomlin or Matt Redman live. It was awesome. I've been listening to his CD's on iTunes today. I think he has a new CD out. I'm going to have to pick it up.

Saturday night, Summer and I had a date night because our church hosted a babysitting night for all the parents. We ate at Mi Cosinos (i think that is how you spell it) It was very good. We had recieved a gift card for there over the holidays. We then went walked around a couple of stores including Rooms to Go. We've been wanting to replace the chairs we have in our living room. I still have my late father's reliner in my living room. It is very comfortable, but it has seen its better days. Our other chair is the same way. We've had it for almost 10 years and it has seen its share of abuse from our kids, former pets, and youth group members. We found only one chair we liked in the whole place, but think that it might work. I'm sure we'll look around some more before we committ to anything.

Sunday was as ususal 100mph. It goes a little something like this:

6:30am- Get ready for church
8:00am- Praise Team tech Rehearsal
9:30am-Help lead worship in Children's Class
10:45am-Worship
12:30-Help babysit kids for a children's ministry meeting
2:30-Karate at church with Micah
4:30- Superbowl party at the Wheelers
9:30-Get home and put the kids to bed.

It was all good though. The party was great. Ed, one of our sound techs said he would dress in a former halloween costume (a woman's dress complete with long blong wig) and sing "I'm a Little Teapot" at our church Talent show if the Colts beat the Bears....

Did I mention that the Colts won? Yipee.

Congrats to Peyton Manning and Coach Dungy on a well deserved victory. I'm also happy about the credit they gave to God. What a classy bunch of guys.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl Rebekah. She is 2 today. We got up this morning and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. We will have a family dinner tonight for her and then we will celebrate on Saturday afternoon.

This past weekend we had a worship team retreat. It was awesome. We even recorded a few songs while we were there. We spent alot of time dwelling in the word together. We focused all weekend on Psalm 29. If you have a few minutes today please read this Psalm and see what God reveals about himself to you. I will include the text below.

Ps 29

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;the God of glory thunders,the LORD thunders over the mighty waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;the voice of the LORD is majestic. 5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning. 8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"
10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;the LORD is enthroned as King forever. 11 The LORD gives strength to his people;the LORD blesses his people with peace. NIV

Word of God

This Sunday we are focusing on the importance of the Word of God, especially in community. Scott our minister has a powerful lesson planned about how we not only hurt ourselves when we don't spend time in the Word of God, but we also are hurting our community of faith when we don't spend time in the Word of God.

I've been thinking alot about my days in Nashville at Riverwood. We had some kids in some tough places in that youth group. Some of them were in very broken families. Some were deep into drugs and drinking. A few went to one of the scariest schools in Nashville. Yet the Word of God transformed them.

Here are some lyrics that have been running through my head all week.

"Word of God speak, would you pour down like rain washing my eyes to see your majesty? To be still and know that You're in this place, please let me stay and rest in Your holiness"

--
Word of God Speak
Bart Millard


"Your words are life to me
Your Ways are all I seek
Your truth is everything I need
Your words are life to me
For every breath I breath
Your words are life to me...."

"Your words bring life to my being, but now I'm seeing it, singing it, living it, breathing it. You're the way, the truth, the light, the door. The King who grants wisdom, the One you're searching for. I love Him, I praise Him, Yeah, I give Him all the glory, His words are life to me."

--
Your Words are Life to Me
Jeffrey B. Scott/Reggie Joiner

It has been a while!

Xmas and the New Year consistantly bring lots of excitement. During Xmas, my wife got sick, I got sick, and my dear Anna got sick. Unfortuately, Anna getting sick left Summer and I cleaning carpet at my sister's house on Xmas eve night.

Last week we got a new dog. We got him from the animal shelter. I've always wanted a chocolate lab. Unfortunately he died on Thursday night of Parvo. It was especially hard on my wife and Micah. Micah cried for 20 minutes straight after telling him about it. Now I have to bleach my house and yard before we can think about another dog because Parvo can hang around for 9 months in a yard. Somehow, I don't think we will get a new dog for a while after this incident.

I'll post some pictures in a little while of recent events.

Today I've been watching the construction crew tearing down the houses next to our church as we are starting our building project. It is cool to see how quickly they can tear them down. I've got a video camera taping it so we can do a play back in fast motion of it going down.

Let me know if anyone still checks this occasionally.

Mike Cope

Quartet at Contest

  

Contest

This past weekend, my quartet, Makin' Waves, competed in the District competition in Corpus Christi. We had a blast. We got 2nd place out of 24 quartets. We scored a 78.4 which is very good for us. Not bad for 2.5 months of work with a new bass.

Our new bass is a past international champion in the barbershop society. He sang with a quartet called the Dealer's Choice. The judges seemed to think we could end up in the medals at international if we can keep working like we have and work out some of the sync and matching problems that comes with a new quartet. That would be a dream come true.

The last time I sang in a quartet on international stage was with my dad in 1992. It was 6 months before he died. I always said that I was going to win a gold with a quartet after that. Maybe I've found a quartet that can go all the way. We'll see.

I really missed being at church on Sunday morning. I always miss being with the praise team and leading worship. Jeff always does a great job though. I know he had fun.

My Allergy to October

I seem to have developed in recent years an allergy to October. It seems around October, I get tonsilitis or bronchitis, or something else itis. This year it is acute sinusitus. I always develop the symptoms close to a major singing event which is this coming weekend. Last year it was a Fall show for the VM. This year it is contest with the quartet.

So, as of today I'm on Z-pak, Mucinez DM, a nasacort spray, and a sinus rinse kit. If this doesn't work, then I don't know what will. I thought I was getting better and was in fairly good voice yesterday for worship, but during the Pepperdine rehearsal yesterday afternoon, my voice went downhill in a hurry.

The rehearsal was great though. The group is starting to sound great. We rehearsed with no music just to see how much they knew of our material. They did surprisingly well.

After the rehearsal I had a couple of hours of silence. It was funny trying to communicate to my wife without saying things. You should try it sometime. You will get a kick out what the other person thinks you are trying to say.

Have a blessed day.

Saturday Night

On Saturday night our praise team will be involved in a progressive dinner at the elder's houses. This will be a great opportunity for our elders and praise team members to better get to know one another.

Last night the praise team rehearsed at the Wiggins house. We go to their house once a month and rehearse and then they feed us like kings and queens. Last night was Seafood Gumbo, Salad, and gourmet bread. Deborah Wiggins has to be one of the better cooks on the planet along with my wife of course.

My wife prepared enough chili to feed an army for the New Friends New Life meeting last night. My wife makes excellent chili.

Well, time to go run cables for some wireless mics. Have a blessed day.

Do I look like someone famous?

Have you ever wondered what famous people you look like. Here is a site I saw on another blog and thought I'd give it a try.




Here is my beautiful wife.



My kids. Just look at who comes up for them. should have known.




I have no clue why Micah came out with all girl faces. I tried two different pictures. I guess he is just going to be one hot young man as he grows up. Girls are going to love him.

Colossians 3:12-17

This passage spoke to me powerfully at the Zoe conference in Nashville. Read it below:

Col 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

For me the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts has captivated my attention. I've tried to think about all the things that go on in life and try to examine to see if the peace of Christ is ruling in that part of my life. There are times when I'm frustrated with something or someone, I get sarcastic and the peace of Christ is far from my heart in that situation. What I find is that the key to the peace of Christ is the qualities that we need to put on as God's chosen people.

As God's chosen poeple, we are not to put on a critical heart or a sarcastic attitude, but compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and above all love. Oh, yeah, and we need to forgive one another.

If we could live with the peace of Christ as the body of Christ, how many things that we complain and grumble about would go away? I am the first to admit that I grumble and complain. The problem is a lack of the peace of Christ.

I want to encourage all of you to find the peace of Christ and let it rule all of your life, even the grumbling and complaining parts of your life.

I hate colds

I've had a cold for the past couple of days. I can't quite shake it. Last night I could hardly sleep. I think I ended up with about 3-4 hours of sleep the whole night. Oh, well. I've actually been surprisingly awake considering the night I had.

Zoe Conference was great. I wish I could've stayed for the whole thing, but had to get back to Dallas to lead worship. My backup was on vacation.

The family and I had a fun trip though.

My nephew, Andrew, got 4th place in the KY state golf tournament. Way to go Andrew.

Time to go blow my nose again.

I'm Here

Well, it is 11:45pm and we are here in Nashville. One great thing about our hotel (comfort Inn & Suites) is free continental breakfast and free high speed internet access. What more can you ask for in a hotel. Ok, the rooms are spacious too. That's a plus when you have a family with you. Well, I hope I have more to report as the Zoe conference starts tomorrow.

Fall Show Picture

Picutre of the Vocal Majority Show. I'm in the middle, though it will probably be hard to see me in a small picture like that.