A Conference to Remember
WOW what a weekend!!! We were part of the worship at the Amplifier 2005 Conference in Baton Rouge, LA.( Swiftfire Ministries Website ) These were our guests for the conference. I play drums for the worship team at my church and we were invited to be the backing band for Steve Swanson. (see below) Honestly I didn't know who Steve Swanson was, but I was excited about playing for this conference. The schedule had us playing Thursday Night @ 7PM, Friday @ 9:30 am, 2:30 pm, & 7PM, Saturday @ 9:30 am, 2:30 pm, & 7PM. 7 Sets... doesn't seem too bad except that the worship sets went for at least an hour each, plus we had practice before each set for 30-minutes or so. Now let's add in that we were playing in the large ballroom at the Holiday Inn to about 200 people or so... which means I was playing HARD!!! I was hitting the drums as hard as I could...
My take on Steve Swanson. He's a genuine gentleman. Often times you encounter someone with his history as a worship leader and you'll also encounter arrogance. This was not the case with Steve. He was a phenominal keyboard player, but in spite of all his talent he was very humble. The first night we had scheduled to be there for 5PM to allow us to practice with Steve and learn his songs, but Steve was late getting into town and didn't get to the room until 5:45... Even being crunched for time, having only listened in brief to his songs (we got cd's Monday... but no song sheets/music) he took the time to get all of our names... and not only that he learned our names right then. We practiced through some of his songs and we struggled. We just didn't know them. At the very last second he asked us what we did know from his binder... we told him and then we started the worship set on a familiar song and went from there... We didn't do a single song that we had practiced. LOL It was great. It became a running joke with us about "Let's go practice the songs we're not going to play tonight..." HA! At the end of each set I'd come off the stage completely soaked. Aparently, someone couldn't get the AC settings right. We spent most of the sessions just adlibbing and playing off each other and following Steve from one song to another. There was one night though that we ended up playing 2 songs for and hour. Pretty funny, except that one of those songs had a rocking drum beat and i was exhausted. Steve was a great director also. You'd be in the middle of a song transition and he'd change his mind and look over at the band and with his hands make a "G" and scream/whisper GEEE... We'd all just jump aboard and follow. The best part is that I have cd's of all 7 worship sessions and the recordings are surprisingly not bad considering they camefrom a raw output on the sound board. All in all it was a great experience working with Steve Swanson and I hope to be able to play drums for him again. We weren't actually registered to attend the conference though we were able to stay for 3 of the messages. 2 with Patricia King and 1 with Paul Kieth Davis. They were both great speakers and carried great messages. I would like to have been able to stay for more of the sessions. There's some information on all 3 of these folk just below. Hey!!! leave me a comment this time you slackers!!!
Through worship, prayer, and teaching, Steve leads the congregation into a worship experience of deeper intimacy and freedom with God. The worship services are a time of seeking the Lord in the fullness of joy, and basking in the beauty of holiness. As an act of worship, Steve and Lisa bring to life the powerful illustration of God's destiny for each individual in the body of Christ with the "Potter's vessel." Steve's giftings are, prophetic song, music, and teaching. Lisa's giftings are, prophetic dance, art, and teaching. Together Steve and Lisa have been Commisioned to train up a new generation of worshippers who express their calling in worship.
Patricia King is a passionate, prophetic personality who is the host of
Extreme Prophetic Television. She has had over 25 years of background as a Christian minister in conference speaking, prophetic service, church leadership, and television & radio appearances. Patricia is an author of books, booklets and manuals and has produced many informative resources through the medias of tapes, videos, CD's and DVD's. Her reputation in the Christian community is world renowned. You will find her to be sincere, genuine, generous, honest, real, "cutting edge" along with controversial.
Paul Kieth Davis- He has spent many years in an extensive study highlighting the ministry of revelation and power exemplified throughout the church ages with an emphasis on the 20th century church. His hearts desire is to see the full restoration of Biblical Apostolic ministry manifested through the Spirit of Truth residing in God’s people expressing salvation, healing and deliverance to the Glory of God and His Christ. He has a unique gift for imparting prophetic understanding of times and seasons with a message of preparation and expectancy for the Lord's Empowering Presence.
My take on Steve Swanson. He's a genuine gentleman. Often times you encounter someone with his history as a worship leader and you'll also encounter arrogance. This was not the case with Steve. He was a phenominal keyboard player, but in spite of all his talent he was very humble. The first night we had scheduled to be there for 5PM to allow us to practice with Steve and learn his songs, but Steve was late getting into town and didn't get to the room until 5:45... Even being crunched for time, having only listened in brief to his songs (we got cd's Monday... but no song sheets/music) he took the time to get all of our names... and not only that he learned our names right then. We practiced through some of his songs and we struggled. We just didn't know them. At the very last second he asked us what we did know from his binder... we told him and then we started the worship set on a familiar song and went from there... We didn't do a single song that we had practiced. LOL It was great. It became a running joke with us about "Let's go practice the songs we're not going to play tonight..." HA! At the end of each set I'd come off the stage completely soaked. Aparently, someone couldn't get the AC settings right. We spent most of the sessions just adlibbing and playing off each other and following Steve from one song to another. There was one night though that we ended up playing 2 songs for and hour. Pretty funny, except that one of those songs had a rocking drum beat and i was exhausted. Steve was a great director also. You'd be in the middle of a song transition and he'd change his mind and look over at the band and with his hands make a "G" and scream/whisper GEEE... We'd all just jump aboard and follow. The best part is that I have cd's of all 7 worship sessions and the recordings are surprisingly not bad considering they camefrom a raw output on the sound board. All in all it was a great experience working with Steve Swanson and I hope to be able to play drums for him again. We weren't actually registered to attend the conference though we were able to stay for 3 of the messages. 2 with Patricia King and 1 with Paul Kieth Davis. They were both great speakers and carried great messages. I would like to have been able to stay for more of the sessions. There's some information on all 3 of these folk just below. Hey!!! leave me a comment this time you slackers!!!
Through worship, prayer, and teaching, Steve leads the congregation into a worship experience of deeper intimacy and freedom with God. The worship services are a time of seeking the Lord in the fullness of joy, and basking in the beauty of holiness. As an act of worship, Steve and Lisa bring to life the powerful illustration of God's destiny for each individual in the body of Christ with the "Potter's vessel." Steve's giftings are, prophetic song, music, and teaching. Lisa's giftings are, prophetic dance, art, and teaching. Together Steve and Lisa have been Commisioned to train up a new generation of worshippers who express their calling in worship.Patricia King is a passionate, prophetic personality who is the host of
Extreme Prophetic Television. She has had over 25 years of background as a Christian minister in conference speaking, prophetic service, church leadership, and television & radio appearances. Patricia is an author of books, booklets and manuals and has produced many informative resources through the medias of tapes, videos, CD's and DVD's. Her reputation in the Christian community is world renowned. You will find her to be sincere, genuine, generous, honest, real, "cutting edge" along with controversial.
Paul Kieth Davis- He has spent many years in an extensive study highlighting the ministry of revelation and power exemplified throughout the church ages with an emphasis on the 20th century church. His hearts desire is to see the full restoration of Biblical Apostolic ministry manifested through the Spirit of Truth residing in God’s people expressing salvation, healing and deliverance to the Glory of God and His Christ. He has a unique gift for imparting prophetic understanding of times and seasons with a message of preparation and expectancy for the Lord's Empowering Presence.
posted by Patrick J. Mehaffey at 3:44 PM
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