Bart Blair

A Man Called Bart (by Bartley Sawatsky)

Cleaning up my office this morning and I ran across the lyrics of what could possibly be the best song ever written about me. Actually, it's the only song ever written about me!

Back in December, Grace Community Church held a going-away tribute for my family. Bartley Sawatsky, Grace's lead pastor and my great pal and ministry partner of the last dozen years, blessed us with a singing performance of a song he'd written. Unfortunately, I do not have a video of the moment, but I do have a copy of the lyrics.  Here they are:

A Man Called Bart

First name Bart. Last name Blair
A boatload of heart. A thimble full of hair
Came to Ontario, had the world on its knees
Traded it all for a microphone and nineteen G's

[Chorus]
Bart, not so smart. But you took the part
You took the part 
Bart, not so smart. But you took the part

Bart, he could play, and Bart, he could sing
Tell you the truth, he could do most everything
Bartley had to smile, his choice looked so shrewd
A perfect cover for his own ineptitude

Bart made some friends, like the Wheelers and the Stanleys
He knew he was loved, but felt none the more manly
He started chasing girls in the manliest way-
A 10-day free trial on the Christian Cafe

Met a gal named Lisa and Bart was on the take
She sang like and angel, bit better still - she could bake!
They hardly hear the wedding bells before the ultrasound
Lisa, she was pregnant, but Bart gained 25 pounds!

[Chorus]
Bart, drop that tart. You're headed off the chart
Off the chart
Bart, drop that tart. You're headed off the chart

Bart and Lisa loved their daughter...sweet Sarah-lynn
But Bart's dream of a baseball start wasn't happenin'
Had a son named Silas, and then E-pha-rum
Gotta come form Texas to think of names that dumb :)

But Bart's brains were fine, in fact, way above par-
When he came to Grace, couldn't even play the guitar
He learned it fast and soon amassed some fans that were keen
But the love went up in smoke with the fog machine

Bart's karma at mens' retreats, well it wasn't so good
Started back when he lost all of the men in the woods
But the men of Grace take the goods with the bads
Took advantage of a paintball game to shoot Bart in the [nads]

[Chorus]
Bart,ooh that smarts. But please don't lose heart
Please don't lose heart
Bart,ooh that smarts. But please don't lose heart

So soon Bart decides that he wants to lose some weight
Forever Fit is the answer, and soon he's feeling great
Could have been the poster child, applauded and cheered
But by the time of the photo shoot, he had done disappeared

Just a popsicle stick with a beard...

And now Bart is taking his last at bat
Uprooting the family and moving to Medicine Hat
Mississauga's loss will be Alberta's gain
Tradin' in a Bartley for an Oliver-Shane

[Chorus]
Bart, have a heart, please don't go away
Don't go away
Bart, have a heart, please don't go away
Don't go away 
Bart, have a heart, please don't go away
Don't go away 
Bart, have a heart, please don't go away 

Make Us Strong

The church where I serve (Grace Community) has been going through some growing pains over the last few years. God has blessed us richly in many areas, but we have sometimes had challenges in keeping up with the speed of church and the speed of life. The end result has been that we feel like we've been treading water for some time and are looking to God for a resurgence of the Holy Spirit's visible activity and leadership to move us into the next phase of our existence as a church community. 

As I have meditated and prayed over these things the last few days, I have written a song which I will teach to the church this upcoming weekend.  Here are the lyrics:

Make Us Strong

Make us strong. Bring Your church to the brink
Power from living water, we drink
Age to age for the victory we pray
Love has led us from dark into day

Make us strong, firm foundation of stone
We will follow to places unknown
Gathered here at the feet of the King
Hear our voices, together we sing

Hallelujah! Holy! Holy!
Hallelujah! Holy! Holy!

Pour out Your power and pour out Your grace
Let us swim in the presence of Christ in this place
Lift up our heads, now. And lift up our hearts
Bind us together and use all our parts
Make us strong in You, Lord
Make us strong
Make us strong in You, Lord
Make us strong

Make us strong as we speak of our faith
Make us sure of our words when we pray
Never doubting the truth that we know
Bearing fruit from the seeds that we sow

Make us strong, Holy Spirit of Fire
To honour You now is our only desire
Giving praises to Jesus, the King
Hear our voices, together we sing

Hallelujah! Holy! Holy!
Hallelujah! Holy! Holy!

Pour out Your power and pour out Your grace
Let us swim in the presence of Christ in this place
Lift up our heads, now. And lift up our hearts
Bid us together and use all our parts
Make us strong in You, Lord
Make us strong
Make us strong in You, Lord
Make us strong

Christmas Tunes

Did you know you can download some of my Christmas music on iTunes?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hallelujah-glory/id5021645

You Are My Friend

You Are My Friend from Grace Church on Vimeo.

New Tunes Coming Soon!

It started in August 2008 and was finally completed this week!  My first full-length solo CD, With the Breath in My Lungs is ready to go! 

The CD is available online for $10.89 + shipping.

Visit my VIRB page for a preview of some of the tracks and a free mp3 download!

Top 8 Additions to My iPod

Simple Times - Joshua Radin

 Gossip in the Grain - Ray LaMontagne

Once (Soundtrack) - Glen Hansard

 Daylight is Coming  - Remedy Drive

Viva La Vida - Coldplay

On The Blue - Joel Auge





 
I Will Go - Starfield

Kicking Stones - Johnny Reid

A New Christmas Song

We're doing a Christmas teaching series at Grace called "3 Gifts You Can Use."  I wrote a song as a theme for the series.  You can donwload it from the Grace blog.  CHECK IT OUT.

SiTunes

Silas is six years old.  I have to keep reminding myself of that.  For the last few weeks he has been asking me for an iPod.  Apparently, there are a couple of boys in his class at school (yes, that's First Grade) who have iPods.

It seems odd to me that boys that young would have iPods.  I remember getting my first Walkman cassette player (actually, it was a Sony knock-off).  I was in the 7th grade.  But I guess times are changing.  The proliferation of technology has really changed the world.  And this new generation of young people are really going to have a different life experience than those of us who grew up in the 70's or 80's (or any prior generation, for that matter).

Anyway, with no intention of buying Silas and iPod, I remembered that I had an old mp3 player in my desk drawer, no longer in use.  The manufacturer never developed a Vista driver for it, so I can't use it on either of my PCs or my Mac.

The unit already had a wide range of music on it, so I pulled it out, charged it up and deleted a whole whack of stuff I didn't care for Silas to be listening to.  I left, for him, a ton of worship music, some movie soundtracks, some jazz, some classical and all the Beatles and U2.

For the last few days Silas and Ephraim (who is only 4) have wandered around the house, earbuds in place, listening to their own music.  It's been fun to watch them.  I would say that 90% of their listening time is to the tracks from the various Star Wars movies, as performed by the Prague Philharmonic.

It will be interesting to see how my boys' lives are influenced by the music they listen to.  If you want to know what influenced me, check out these posts from a year ago where I reflected on the albums that I recall as being my favorites while growing up.  You might be surprised:

10 Albums That Shaped My Life (Part 1)
10 Albums That Shaped My Life (Part 2)

Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Challenge

The Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC) has an open contest for selecting a new theme song for its show "Hockey Night in Canada."  HNIC is a deep part of the Canadian culture and the contest is bound to attract countless entries.  An added bonus is a $100,000 prize for the winning theme!

You can listen to my three entries below.  Follow the link to the CBC website to give my songs a rating and help me win!

Rocky Night in Canada

Sticks Ahoy!

Rejoice (It's Hockey Night) 

Songs That Rock The House (of God)

About three weeks ago we introduced a new worship song at Grace called Reign In Us, written and recorded by our fellow Canadian worship artists, Starfield.  Lyrically, the song ties in very well with the teaching series we've been doing; Church of the Perfect Storm.

At the conclusion of our worship time at church this morning, I concluded (along with my bandmates) that this song has, very quickly, become something special for our corporate worship at Grace.  We're going through a very interesting transition period as a church as we conclude ten years of ministry in Mississauga and begin looking forward to the possibility of having a full-time ministry centre out of which to be God's light in this community. (Currently, we rent a school for our weekend services.)

In my 6 1/2 years leading worship at Grace, there have been few songs that I can say have actually connected with the heart of the local church body, as a whole.  Certainly, some songs connect with some people for varying reasons.  I get e-mails once in a while from someone in the church who has found that a specific song that we have in our repertoire has helped (or is helping) them deal with certain issues in their lives.  But this song, Reign In Us, seems to becoming more than that.  It's a rally cry; an anthem for this current generation at Grace Community Church.

Click over to Starfield's MySpace page and check out the song.