A worship resource created by Chris Tomlin and a team of worship leaders

The following is a excerpt from the WORSHIP THEME section of FQWORSHIP.com. Take time today to stand amazed in Him.

Amazed / Amazing

DEFINITION
1. surprised and filled with astonishment 2. inspiring or invoking a sense of wonder and awe.

INSIGHT
So many times in the New Testament, the authors of the gospels describe the effect that Jesus had on people as “amazing”. In seven different chapters, Matthew described the people as “amazed by His teachings” and “amazed by his works”. Mark, Luke, and John used the same word, “amazed”, to describe similar encounters between Jesus and the people of Jerusalem. Many people were amazed. For some of them, this was the first step of faith in accepting Jesus as the Christ- their Savior.

It is not a secret that when faced with God and His character, we cannot help but be amazed by Him. John Newton wrote about his experience of encountering God in the well-known song, “Amazing Grace”. Newton was a captain of a slave ship that carried slaves from Africa to America. He did this work for many years before being confronted by the Holy Spirit. Newton made a decision to turn his back on his sin and invited Christ to be His Lord and Savior. He describes his experience in the words of his song:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!

That saved a wretch like me-

I once was lost, but now I’m found

Was blind but now I see.

-John Newton (1772)

***Interesting Fact: The first recording of Amazing Grace was in 1922!

WORSHIP THE AMAZING GOD
Just being in your presence leaves us in amazement, God. Knowing You and learning more about You leads us to even greater depths of worship. You are the source of goodness and joy and the fact that You desire for us to experience You amazes us. You are amazing, God!

Pretty cool video.  Check it out!

“If you mistake for your own merits what are really God’s gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous.  The Devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above those of a chimpanzee.”

“God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.”

CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

Delay pedals – Updated to include the entire article!

The second type of pedal I want to focus on is the delay pedal. In my opinion, the two most important types of pedals to have in worship is an overdrive and a delay, so if you’re just starting out, a delay is a good place to start. Delay pedals simply take the original signal from the guitar and delay it so that it sounds like an echo. Sounds simple enough, but like most types of pedals, the choices of delay pedals are almost limitless, and there are several categories of delays as well. We’ll talk about two:
Electro-Harmonix Memory Man

Analog

This includes pedals like the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, a classic analog delay (one of my favorites) that is probably known best for its prominence in the sound of The Edge from U2, especially the early days. In the simplest terms, an analog delay pedal is a “lo-fi” echo, and are known for their warmth and fullness of sound. This means that they don’t replicate the sound exactly, but distort and trail off like you would expect a natural echo to. Most analog delays don’t incorporate functions like tap tempos or presets, which can make them problematic for players that only want to use one delay pedal and need versatility. They can be relatively expensive (about $315 for a new Memory Man), which represents a problem for the player on a budget. That being said, these pedals can be some of the best sounding pedals you will ever own, as long as you are willing to deal with a little lack of versatility.

Boss DD-7

Digital

A popular digital delay is the now-discontinued Boss DD-5, or its new counterpart the DD-7. These delays can exactly replicate your signal, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re looking for. One of the biggest complaints about digital delays is the lack of warmth, but can provide much more functionality with tap tempos, presets, and modelers (“modeling” after several types of delays).

When I refer to a “tap tempo”, I am speaking of the ability to “tap” in your tempo to the pedal and therefore change the tempo of the echo.

Some delays to consider (Analog and Digital):
- Electro-Harmonix Memory Man – As stated before, this is one of my favorites in terms of sound, but the lack of a tap tempo is a big minus for me. The modulation on this pedal almost makes the price tag worth it by itself. ($319)
- Boss DD-20 and Line 6 DL4 – These two pedals are very similar and very popular. Both are digital delay modelers, which means they have the ability to model different types of delays, as well as having presets (3 on the DL4, 4 on the DD-20) which makes both of these pedals very versatile. The DL4 comes with an onboard tap tempo, while the DD-20 has the ability for wiring an external tap tempo switch in (The DD-20 has the ability for an onboard tap tempo, but the preset switch has to double as the tap, which lacks in practicality for on-the-fly tapping). (DL4 – $250, DD-20 – $220, Boss FS-5U – $30)
- Boss DD-5 and DD-7 – These are considered an almost necessity amongst many guitar players I know. They have very limited modeling capabilities, don’t have any presets, but they are more compact than the DD-20, also have plug-ins for external tap tempos, and are great for just getting the job done. (The DD-5 has been discontinued but you can still see them on eBay sometimes, DD-7 – $170)
- TC-Electronic Nova Delay – This pedal is the only delay I use right now, because it does everything I need it to do, including acting like two different delays at once! It’s an all-digital delay with up to 9 presets plus a manual mode that can be changed on-the-fly via footswitch, 3 types of modulation, and the ability to stack delays within itself (adding delays together = subdivision). For example, instead of having to choose whether I’m going to run a quarter-note delay or dotted eighth-note delay, I can actually run both at the same time. Worth the price tag to me at exactly the same amount for the DL4 or DD-20 with the footswitch, takes up less room on the board, and has more functionality. ($250)

There’s a ton of delays out there, but as always, take advice from guitar players who have done the homework and spent (wasted) the money already. BUT, that doesn’t mean you have to be like everyone else!

Always remember why/what/who you’re playing for,

Tyler
tyler@fqworship.com

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