Possible Names For My Future Children
February 15th, 2009
1. Darth Vader Melick (boy)
2. Hokey Pokey Melick (girl)
3. Mechew Mebite Melick (boy/girl)
4. Wendy Arby Melick (girl)
4. Girl Girl Melick (boy/girl)
5. Friendly Smith Melick (boy/girl)
6. N00b Pwner Melick (boy)
7. Mary Christmas Melick (girl)
Backstreet’s Back, Alright
December 27th, 2008
So here I am again, internet. I’ve left you high and dry for a while, and for that you have my apologies. You deserve better.
Working at Rock Bridge has been nothing short of amazing so far. I literally cannot believe that I’ve been working there for five months now. I’ve met tons of people and am starting to remember some of their names. The Student Ministry has had a great first half of the year, and even cooler things are being planned for the next. One of our biggest focuses is getting more kids involved serving in the church and the community. Taking ownership of their faith and church is key.
I’m currently in Ohio with my family for Christmas. They came down to Dalton to visit for a few days and it was good to show them around. In a few days I’ll hop on an airplane to Nashville where I’ll be picked up by my lovely gf and spend some quality time with her.
My good friend Kirkwood will be leaving the country soon for “Eastern Asia.” You can follow his travels at the link provided, and he would also appreciate any and all prayers.
Merry Christmas friends. My New Year’s Resolution is to post more frequently. Peace and Love to you all.
Movin’ on up
September 3rd, 2008
I write this post to you, my loyal readers, from an armchair in my new residence. Tonight will be my third night sleeping/living here. It’s a great feeling, being in my own place. The amount and quality of furniture that I’ve been given by people from the church is amazing. My cup overfloweth, one might say, if one were speaking in KJV-latin…which is like pig-latin but classier.
I have a good feeling about my life lately. This year so far had been basically one big cloud of uncertainty and it was frustrating to not know where God wanted me or what I should be doing. So it’s good to be where I know I’m supposed to be now, and to have some some semblance of stability.
I recently completed my first month of work at Rock Bridge and got my first paycheck….that was another amazing feeling. Student Ministry has our first service in the new building (Stage 123) this Sunday and it’s going to be grrrreat.
[Stage 123 photos]
[Note to self: put more pictures in future blogs]
I haven’t written any music or songs in a while and it makes me a little sad whenever I think about that fact. Maybe I got burned out writing stuff for school all the time during my last semester. Hopefully that will wear off soon.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I got an iPhone. No big deal. And also I take credit for starting a Twitter revolution in Dalton, GA.
Later n00bz….
This one’s for you, Matt
August 7th, 2008
So I completed my first week at RBCC with the student ministry and it’s been wonderful so far. It’s still sort of sinking in that I have a job and that I go to work everyday and get to do the things I do. I’m very excited for the upcoming year with everything we have planned and are in the process of planning. It’s going to be cooler than a room full of ice-cubes.
I’ve also spent a lot of time looking at apartments and houses to rent recently. Every day I get closer and closer to being an actual, real-life, adult-ish person. After crossing off several apartments in which the stench of mold was so strong that I couldn’t breathe, I’ve found several places that seem livable. So hopefully I’ll be able to move into my own place sometime in the near future. Not that I don’t love living in Matt and Beth’s guest room (which I’ve affectionately named the Bat Cave), because I do. But, as the old saying goes, fish and house guests stink after three days.
In other news I’ve also recently received my brand new MacBook Pro, courtesy of Rock Bridge Community Church, on which I’m typing this very post. It is beautiful and shiny and probably worth more than my car, which isn’t saying much, but I’ll say it anyway.
That’s all for now…thanks for stopping by amigos and amigas. And if you’re wondering what the title of this post is about, it’s because Matt Evans has been continuously pestering me that I need to update my blog for about a week now. So here it is, enjoy!
The Times They Are A-Changin’
July 27th, 2008
Well, internets, the rumors are true. I have a job.
The past week has been quite a whirlwind of activity. I’ve logged quite a few hours in my trusty 1990 Geo Prizm, driving between Nashville and Dalton, Georgia. I’ve met loads and loads of amazing people in Dalton at Rock Bridge Community Church, and I’ve remembered most of their names. After much discussion and prayer they offered me a job working with and leading worship for the student ministry. Needless to say, I took the job, and I am very excited to start working there this Tuesday. Some very kind folks helped me move all of my stuff down from Nashville on Saturday, and Matt and Beth Evans are very graciously letting me stay at their house until I can find my own place. There’s a lot more to say, but for now just let it be known that I am feeling very blessed to be here, and I am very excited for what the future holds for me here.
Post #3 (for lack of a better title…)
July 14th, 2008
Hello again, World Wide Web. A few things of note have happened since we last met:
-I got to spend a week with my family in Ohio over the 4th of July. It reminded me again of how blessed I am to have the family that I do. I led worship for the English Ministry at CKPC while I was home, and the Melick family had a great Independence Day celebration, complete with the pledge of allegiance, patriotic singing loud enough to bother the neighbors, a cook-out, and lots of exploding things.
-I led worship yesterday at Coopertown Community Church, filling in for a friend. The power went out after the third song, which gave the rest of the service a very different dynamic as it was pretty dark and we had no sound system. I’ve thought about doing a worship service like this (without any sort of amplification) before, and some of the most meaningful musical/worship experiences I’ve had have been very simple gatherings where you sit in a circle and can hear everyone’s individual voices. The performance aspect of worship in those situations was almost entirely gone, and it created more of a sense of communal worship. So anyway, we kept going and did worship acoustic after we found some flashlights and such, and I really enjoyed it. I was also amazed at how easy it was to hear the speaker, despite the fact that it was quite a large room and he barely even raised his voice. I guess this was because there was no AC blowing or other background noise, and people have a remarkable ability to be quiet when they want to.
-I got to see Paper Route’s EP release show on Saturday. It was one of the best shows I’ve been to in quite a while, and their EP is truly a work of art. If you happen to have three dollars I can’t think of a single reason why you shouldn’t purchase it on iTunes. They’re about to go on tour opening for Paramore and Phantom Planet, so check them out now so you can say you knew them before the MTV crowd.
-I have a job interview this weekend that I am very excited/hopeful about. Details to come…..
I found this video the other day of a guy named Matt who was sponsored by Stride gum to travel around the world and record himself dancing. Strange concept, but it’s surprisingly moving and uplifting.
Between Jobs
June 21st, 2008
Currently I am, well, unemployed. As glamorous as one might imagine a life with no responsibilities to be, free of the 9 to 5 grindstone, it’s more depressing than anything else. I had a good chat with my friend Kirtwood today, and he told me how he had heard from several different sources that the year after graduating college is often a pretty awful year. From my first month after graduating I can say that I would agree with this idea. I think the reason for this is that one goes from having a structured goal (graduating) with clear steps to accomplish that goal (going to class, doing homework, etc.) to a life where there is often no clear goal, and even when there is a clear goal there’s usually not a clear way of accomplishing it.
The truth is that while I sometimes think I know what I want and what kind of job or career I would like, I often doubt my convictions and wonder if I’m aiming myself down a job path that could leave me miserable for years of my life. I want to use my life to do something worthwhile, and I want to use the gifts I believe myself to have (in music and elsewhere) to serve God and to make life better for other people. I feel as if the decisions I’m making now are quite possibly the most important decisions I’ve ever made and ever will make, concerning the direction my life goes in. So I do my best, and pray and trust that God will lead me where I need to be.
In other news, I am very much enjoying Coldplay’s new album, Viva la Vida. Cheers to Brian Eno, Chris Martin, and the rest of the gang.
Hello Internet
June 13th, 2008
My name John Melick. This is the first post on my new site/blog, johnmelick.com.
It is still somewhat under construction, but stay tuned and soon you will see it transformed from a lowly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Many thanks to David Cintron for his generous help.