More Rain - Acoustic Worship

This is Freedom

dan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:21:00 -0400

Finding freedom, not in the gifts we receive, but in those that we are able to give.^

Rise

dan — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:42:00 -0400

This is a re-recording of this song. I recorded it again in a little simpler manner. The idea behind the song is that everything great that is in this world will eventually come to an end, but the love and power of God always remains and even seems to increase with time. - Dan

File Download (4:06 min / 3 MB)

What I Need

dan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:59:00 -0400

When you boil it all down, what we really need to know and experience the love of God. The deep peace that comes from God’s spirit is amazing, it’s freeing.

“Father, your love is what we need”

File Download (7:12 min / 10 MB)

Chord Chart

dan — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:21:27 -0400

Here are the charts to the songs in this podcast and a few more.

File Download (0:00 min / 0 MB)

Every Breath

dan — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:40:00 -0500

It’s amazing to think about how amazing God is. Creator of everything and friend of sinners. It’s no wonder that everyone will worship Him when they His glory and love.

File Download (4:46 min / 7 MB)

This is Freedom (Remix)

dan — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:43:00 -0500

This is a remix brought to you by tsmithco. Thanks Tim for putting this together. – Dan

File Download (5:19 min / 7 MB)

Kingdom Tunes - www.kingdomtunes.com

dan — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:49:00 -0500

I decided to create a website community called ‘Kingdom Tunes’[www.kingdomtunes.com]. Basically just a community of artists that would like to offer their music for free in a similar way to More Rain.

There will be a regular podcast specifically just for the Kingdom Tunes site that will feature the submitted songs. And if an artist submits 5 or more songs then a unique podcast will be created for that artist.

There are two primary purposes for Kingdom Tunes.

1. To facilitate a community of servant artist who choose to offer their music as a free service to lift us others and build up the body of Christ [the Church] 2. To encourage each other in helping those in need of fresh water, food, and shelter in the world. The goal is to build up website traffic and leverage that traffic 100% to provide aid to those that need it.

Things are still in the makings, but the more artists we can get involved the faster we can make this dream a reality.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to not only share our songs of worship freely, but also to provide help for the less fortunate in the same effort?

Help spread the word.

www.kingdomtunes.com

Today

dan — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:18:00 -0400

This song was inspired by psalms 95.

File Download (6:30 min / 9 MB)

When the Music Fails…

dan — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:38:00 -0400

For a period of about 5 years I was the worship leader for my churches youth group. I remember having my first opportunity to lead for that group. I was so excited and passionate about experiencing God’s presence through worship. God’s presence was very real and very clear to me in the first year of leading. I remember instances where students would just come to the front as a sign of their devotion to God. I also remember seeing the hunger in those students’ lives to experience a relationship with God that was deeper than any program or religion could fill. They were hungry for intimacy with God, and it showed in the way they worshipped God at those meetings. They sang their hearts out.

After that year passed it seemed like every following year I was striving to recapture the passion and expressions of that first year. It’s funny because during that first year I remember wishing that I could make changes to the band and to the style of music we played. Then when the second and following years came I was able to implement some of those changes, but things felt like they got off center. So I tried to change back and still nothing was quite like the expression and passion of the first year.

Looking back after those 5 years I see now how even though our expression in music was never the same as that first year, God’s presence was increasingly with us. More and more students began to reach out to each other and to the community. There was a passion for God, but the students just weren’t as excited about the music. I wish I would have realized this in those last 4 years. Too much stress and wasted energy went into trying to re manufacture God’s presence through music.

It wasn’t until the last year that it started to sink into me. Before I was teaching and reinforcing that worship isn’t about the music, but I was still chasing that expression and I wanted other to chase it as well. Then that last year I remember a weight lifting off my shoulders as I realized that chasing God is more valuable than chasing the expressions and experiences of worshiping Him.

Expressions will fail, but a relationship with God endures. Seek God.
——————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for reading. Let me know what your thoughts are. – Dan

Beautiful Maker

dan — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:51:00 -0400

Sorry it’s been so long…

This song is about all the amazing things God does for us that we may never know about.

File Download (4:26 min / 6 MB)

Waiting for more rain...and a "Servant Artist"

dan — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:27:00 -0400

It has been a while since I’ve had a chance to record anything. This podcast is still on my heart in a big way, life has just been really busy lately with new additions to the family among a lot of other things that are going on. But I assure you that More Rain will come soon. (enough with the puns)

But for now, here’s a thought…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a “Servant Artists”. When you take those two words and put them together it’s almost an oxymoron. Yet I feel like this is something that God is wrenching in my heart. Here what I mean…

“Servant”. Servants are concerned with one thing, their master. Everything the servant says and does is in service. That is, they do not think about how something will affect them, or to what loss it would be for them to serve. A servant’s actions point to and honor those they serve. They are not concerned with fame or fortune, because that is not the fuel behind their deeds. They are driven by a heart of humility, debt, and gratefulness. They don’t treat others as beneath them, but rather they lift them up. Self promotion is not in their vocabulary. They serve with confidence, not in their own gifts to serve but in the freedom of service they have been given.

“Artist”. In a commercial sense, artists strive to be noticed. Being seen and heard is what makes them important. Humility is just another label that is used for promotion. In this sense artists must always be selling themselves. This is a common perspective on an artist in this culture.

In a more generic sense, artists create attraction to and inspire thought on the subject of their art. This is the definition of “artist” that I would like to marry to the word “servant”.

So what is a “Servant Artist”? What does their art look like?

A servant artists are artists whose art is created in such a way that it points to and honors the one it was created for. Their desire to create is not driven by attention or wealth, but rather it is moved by a humble, indebted, and grateful heart. They want the spotlight to be moved to the one they serves, the subject of their art. Their art drawls attention to the beauty of the subject. their hope is to be a highlighter on the beauty of their master (the salt on the table, not the centerpiece).

The best example of this is seen the life of Christ. He humbled himself for our sake. He turned down earthly riches and power for our eternal hope. He came to serve not to be served. He is exalted of God, not of himself. That is the image of a true servant artist.

God, give us the grace to follow your lead and live as servant artists; using artistic expression to bring your beauty and splendor to the forefront.

-Dan

Thanks for reading. Let me know what your thoughts are on this subject.

General Usage

dan — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:30:00 -0400

I just wanted to let anyone and everyone know that they are free to use this music in whatever way they would like.

On the last post I attached the chord charts for anyone with interest.

The point of this whole podcast thing is really for me to give this stuff out freely. I don’t begrudge anyone for selling their music (whether it be for music or for art (if there is a difference)). It is just where God has me right now.

If anyone would like to for whatever reason put these songs onto a CD for resell, then I would like to discuss this before hand.

That’s pretty much it.

God Bless,

Dan

More to Come

dan — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:53:00 -0400

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who subscribes. I hope that you are able to pull something out of what I’ve put up here.

I would love to hear your comments. Sometimes it’s just good to know that someone is listening. So please don’t be shy.

I hope to have more to put up here in the near future. I have been very busy lately but I am compelled to share a more of these songs.

Thanks,

Dan

Oh Lord, How We Love You

dan — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:07:00 -0500

a simple song of love and adoration to God

File Download (4:41 min / 7 MB)

Prince of Peace

dan — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 21:00:00 -0500

Here’s another song that was recorded a couple years ago. God Bless…

File Download (3:40 min / 4 MB)

You're So Beautiful

dan — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:21:00 -0500

I recorded this song a couple years ago. Thanks for listening.

File Download (5:13 min / 7 MB)

Nothing Compares

dan — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 13:59:00 -0500

Not even the vastness of creation can come close to who G-D is.

File Download (6:07 min / 9 MB)

Home

dan — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:54:00 -0500

Life is only worth it with God as our Home

File Download (5:06 min / 7 MB)

I am Yours

dan — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:07:00 -0500

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves who we really belong to..how quickly we forget.

File Download (4:49 min / 7 MB)

Come Near

dan — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:02:00 -0500

this is a simple song that was written in college.

File Download (3:51 min / 5 MB)

The Beating of My Heart

dan — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:35:00 -0500

I wrote the chorus of this song about 7 years ago at College. I never liked the verses. I am finally satisfied with the verse/chorus. I had a bridge at one point but I tossed it due to the “Less is More” theory.

File Download (2:42 min / 4 MB)

Still Worthy

dan — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:13:00 -0500

This is just a simple acoustic worship song to Jesus, Reinforcing that the name of Jesus is still worthy, even as so many use that name for selfish gain

File Download (3:39 min / 5 MB)