Vacation Progress

A great week of rejuvenating with the family. Built a new studio desk, not painted yet, but I will throw some photos up this weekend once it is all hooked up again. The plan is to finish the vocals on a song this weekend!! Should be fun.

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Google: Cliff Cline

Over the years I have had a few people track me down by "googling" me. In those days I was somewhere on the list, but certainly the whole list. Times have changed it seems, (link) as I now make up 2 and a half pages strong, and I certainly don't pay anyone to get me to the top. That being said, how many Cliff Cline's are there out there?

The other humourous thing of course, is I think I am mainly famous to myself (and my kids, they haven't grasped my place in this world yet). At the end of the day I guess if I ever get metioned somewhere I will be easy to find, at least on the web.

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If There Were No Building

If there wasn't a church building, a "service", a sermon, a kids program, would you be a Christian? Would you take on discipling your kids, your neighbors, your friends?

Would you be lost? Or would you drop to your knees and really find God?

Hopefully the latter.

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The Creative Process

Unfortunately I haven't really arrived at a place where I can easily record and edit the process I go through recording, but this is a cool look at a lot of the things I do. the iPad thing at the end is amazing, I definitely am not that tech'd up.

Leading Worship at Forestview and the Next Level

Yesterday morning was a delight. It feels like it has been a while since I led music anywhere, including my home church Forestview, and I was very excited to get to it yesterday. Played with a new drummer who was amazing, and the rest of team was great as well. I don't know how to describe a great worship morning, but I definitely felt spiritually fulfilled in my role, put it that way.

 

There is still a part of me that longs for the next level though. Longs for more abandon from everybody in the house. My MO is to lead by example and leave it all on the floor, yesterday was no exception, and the air conditioning wasn't exactly super cool, so I was drenched - kind of funny. But there is a huge part of me that longs to see the majority in the house in that same boat. Corporate worship is our chance, our chance to emote, to search, and to become more in the process. I am surprised that more people don't need that, don't crave that next level. One could make the argument that we all emote differently, but ultimately I disagree. Passionate people are labeled passionate because on some scale they at least hit the minimum of "passion".

 

This is one thing I know.The next level is being more passionate about what happens when we give praise to God, than anything else in those moments.

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The Process

Sometimes we fail....

I have been aggressively pursuing finishing several things at once this past two months, and although progress has been made on most fronts, I have not delivered, and I am sorry.

Several things have gone well, more songs loaded to iTunes and CD Baby, progress in production and more blogging, and a new single from Buried Thoughts to radio (much tracking to be done) but I have not the finished production I desired for new material.

So where from here? A renewed commitment to keep working. I spoke with a music director from radio today and put it simply. I am like most Canadian musicians, doing it for the love, and hoping the incremental work will one day build into something of significance.

It s a process of love, and although delayed, I am still on it, and will soldier on!!

More soon, I promise.

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Church Leadership

This is a re-post from several years ago. Although I might have written slightly differently today, I still fully agree with the point...especially the thought that we are not called to use our gift of leadership to become excellent leaders, but rather to fulfill the mandate of the church with passion. Too many leaders are flexing their leadership chops with little positive effect towards the the mission of the church. Lots of scripture to back up the premise: (original link here: Church Leadership)

 

I have heard it said that: 

 "I believe the local church is the hope of the world and its future rests primarily in the hands of its leaders."

No matter how hard I try I can't see how that as a statement would honour God. To me the hope of the world is Jesus Christ, and the future of Christ and His church rests in the hands of God the Father. I understand that Romans 12:8 (or a portion therein) talks about leading with diligence, but I would posit that is referring to people who are gifted in an area, say like teaching or playing in worship, and are also gifted to lead in that area. I do not think it is referring to the gift of diligently leading in leadership. Within your gift, lead with diligence. Serve God and be used by Him to create His prevailing church with the gifts He has bestowed on you for the edification of the body. Perhaps this is splitting hairs, but I think that is putting the emPHAsis back on the correct sylLAble. My biggest struggle with this is that I love the heart of the quote and the quotee. It makes no sense that the church today would not operate organizationally with excellence, in fact it certainly honours God to do so. I simply think that the primary message of the church ought to be the message of the cross and the fact that Jesus Christ is our hope, not that the church is the hope of the world.

Psalm 25:3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame,

Psalm 25:5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long

Psalm 25:21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

Psalm 31:24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD .

Psalm 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Psalm 71:5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD , my confidence since my youth.

Psalm 119:74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.

Matthew 12:21 In his name the nations will put their hope."[ 12:21 Isaiah 42:1­4]

Romans 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[ 5:2 Or let us] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

Colossians 1:23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

I think you get my point. By the way, I did not find a scripture yet that says or intimates that the hope of the world rest in church leaders. There are plenty that put their hope in the true head of the church, Jesus Christ.

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Studio, Radio, Tour

Now that sounds like a process doesn't it!! Really I am just giving updates.

Last night in the studio was great, my eldest daughter put down her
tracks like a pro. Her comment was, "but Dad I want to sing more, I
like singing in the studio". I had to break it to her that when you
basically lay it down in one take it is actually better than repeating
over and over....besides it was bedtime!!

As I mentioned earlier I just released "One Night" to radio. It looks
like it is getting some listens so I will get back to you when it
starts getting played more. Joy 1250 in Oakville was WAY ahead of the
curve, but let's see what happens now that it is officially out to
Canada.

I need to update the appearances page on the site, but I will be back
in Windsor this fall on labour day weekend leading worship at Heritage
Park Alliance. I may be adding some dates around that so stay tuned.

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Ship It...Sorry Seth

Well I have been pushing myself greatly to get these latest bits of
content out to you on time (June 30) but I fear now it will be the
second week of July before it is all done. The actually work has been
slow but rewarding as I really like how the songs are coming. I am
also ready to produce the podcast but I just have to do it. I know I
have to get something out by June 30, I think it will be the podcast.
Look for it by Wednesday......

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A Great Night In The Studio

So I was able to record two of my three girls last night and it was a
blast. They sound great and were amazingly cute. They are going to be
studio naturals!! Can't wait to share the tune.

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Buried Thoughts Going to Radio / More Recording

I believe I have intimated that Buried Thoughts would be going to
radio in Canada soon and it did go out last week, so, please give your
local station a call and ask for the single "One Night" off the Buried
Thoughts CD, or alternatively email in.

Tonight should be interesting as I will be recording my girls for one
of the three songs I am supposed to have ready for the end of June. I
will let you know how it goes tomorrow!

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Churches Wandering Aimlessly (Church Leadership Part 2)

I am overwhelmed by the number of conversations I have had recently
about struggling or failing churches, right close to me. The "uniting"
theme has been a lack of direction or vision. It doesn't seem that
there was a lack of trying or ideas, but I have been shocked by how
different leaders or leadership are grasping at almost anything trying
to regain a foundation to a struggling congregation.

I truly believe that many churches are losing their way so fast it
might be too late for many of them to ever recover. Proverbs 28:19
addresses the issue of a lack of vision clearly, but I think the
majority of us our interpreting this passage incorrectly. There are
two things to consider:
1. Don't stop reading at the semicolon, because it is after this
punctuation mark that the clarity of what the vision should be is
given: the Bible. Happy is he who follows the teachings of God.
2. Don't let anyone tell you that vision means a man made idea of any
sort. Fire any pastor/leader who claims God has uniquely gifted them
with a vision for a community or congregation, telling you there is a
program, or a property, a method, or an answer in his or her head.
Vision here is best translated by the second half of the verse. With
"God's revelation", given to us through the Bible, we will not wander
or perish spiritually, we will have direction and find the answers to
life.

We have a book that has proven itself a gift from God, a gift that
unleashes it's power when we practice it in our daily lives. It is
unleashed through, acts of love, kindness and mercy. It points us to
Jesus Christ, who speaks through the Holy Spirit, which in the end
re-unites us with God our Creator if we believe and have faith in what
Jesus did and who He is.

The Great Commission reiterates the truth in Proverbs 28:19 with a
directive. In essence the orthodoxy of Proverbs becomes orthopraxy in
Matthew. I am begging the church, which is you if you are a Christian,
stop chasing waterfalls and start chasing God through the teachings of
Christ and the Bible and while doing so - live it!

Proverbs 28:19

New International Version (©1984)
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but
blessed is he who keeps the law.

New Living Translation (©2007)
When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever
obeys the law is joyful.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but
blessed is he who keeps the law.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he
who keeps the law.

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Buried Thoughts on iTunes and CD Baby

On Content:

Buried Thoughts is now available for download on iTunes as well as CD Baby. It should also be released to Christian radio in Canada this week. I will keep you posted in case you are interested and able in emailing or calling your local station to support the song. FYI, the first single is "One Night" which is the first song on the player when you open my site.

 

New Content:

Last night was a great night of getting some vocals down on song number two. I am incredibly excited about how it is coming together. I am also excited about the story behind the song which will be revealed with it in a couple of short weeks.

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So You Had A Bad Day

For whatever reason I really like that song of a couple of years ago. We all have bad days. For me I often find that bad days are about me. How I have been treated (rightly or wrongly), what didn't go my way or as I planned. I also find it is about what I expected as reward, money, sales whatever. For me the last couple of years have represented huge accomplishment without matching reward. Kind of have had that bad day feeling quite a bit.

 

But what do you do with that? I try and fight it. At the end of any day there are two things that are true. Life isn't always fair, and what we did with what we are given matters. I write songs to try and inspire, or push people into a better day. I volunteer in church situations to help propel my belief that the best way to live is within the reality of the teachings of Christ under girded by the faith that the assertions of His deity are true. I work at a children's charity everyday because I believe that pragmatically, actually helping children eat and live is one of our highest honours and calls as a human family.

 

I suppose we always hope for more for ourselves at some level. It is pretty hard to turn "self" off, but everyday it needs to not be about me. There are thoughts that need expressing, good deeds that need doing, and a bigger picture of making the world a better place that must be achieved incrementally. To use a Biblically example that is still helping me through my bad days, I am still sewing, and watering, and fertilizing, the harvest comes in the fall.

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Sweating It

If I have a fault, it is that I dream big, perhaps bigger than I am able to accomplish. But this I will do, I will ship what I have promised to ship by the end of this month in some shape or form. I am incredibly happy with how song two is shaping up for the 3 song EP, and now I need to start producing song 3.

 

I also have a podcast and webisode of some sort to deliver. Things are going to start rolling out soon. Stay tuned!

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How Do You Do?

I have been reading infrequently a couple of magazines for a few years now, Success and Fast Company. One of the things that I have recently re-discovered is a simple trait of successful people....doing the simple things that lead to success are easy not to do.

I remember when I was in the finance business, one of the things that stuck out to me at learning conferences was that the successful financial planners were not necessarily smarter in finance than most of us who had gone through similar training, they simply gutted out doing some simple but challenging tasks. Cold calls, answering angry calls, constantly making contact with clients, it wasn't rocket science, but most people just don't do the simple but difficult things it takes to succeed. When I started doing those things I began to succeed.

It's funny, in music I have actually resisted doing many of the things that others do that allow them to succeed. I am going to change that. What about you? What things should you be doing? Simple but difficult things, in your relationships, in your spiritual life, in your job, that would cause you to be more successful? Know this, this blog represents where I am today, I am passionate about looking back on this time from a vantage point in the future that will prove this writing useful, to me, and hopefully to you too!

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And Now A Word From Our Sponsor...

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Greedy for Good

I guess I understand greed intellectually, but I don't understand how it is that more people with the power to actually change things for the better aren't "greedier" for a world that looks more like the good pictured in this video.

Posted via web from Cliff Cline

How Do You Spread the Word?

I recently read a post by Seth Godin where he talked about asking for referrals. One of his thoughts was if you have to ask for referrals then perhaps you don't deserve them. I completely agree that one's goal as they go out into the world and create and do work is to do work worth talking about. I do think that sometimes however, people don't realize how much they can help by mentioning, hitting a like button on Facebook, forwarding (not in that chain email way) something they do like. So I thought I would humbly ask for, well a referral:)

 

If you like this blog, let someone know. If you like my new CD, Buried Thoughts (this link to CD Baby download), send on the link. I am committed to continuing to create content, both on this blog and musically, which I hope adds value consistently to those that read/listen.

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It Is Still About God

Ahh. Today I led worship at my "home church". Two services, 7 extra hours of work this week unpaid to pull it off (as it was for everyone with me), and I feel fulfilled.

I didn't achieve all that I dream of artistically, but I shipped with several others the extra 10%. In the words of Seth Godin, we shipped. Why? Because of God, for God, to God.

I wrote a song years ago called "But to God", and it captures this sentiment (you can find it on itunes). At the end of the day, today was great, because it was about God.

Peace.

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