"Jam" Session.

Jimmy Jam (center). Audio Engineering Society Convention 2013. (Photo credit: Ramon Zuniga)

Forget what happened long ago! Don't think about the past. I am creating something new. There it is! Do you see it? I have put roads in deserts, streams in thirsty lands. (Isaiah 43:18-19)


This year I attended the Audio Engineering Society convention. I could not afford the All-Access registration, but was able to get a free badge for the exhibits and a few other events. One of those events was a keynote address by Jimmy Jam. Though his business partner Terry Lewis was not there, Jimmy Jam shared both their hearts concerning the intersection of songwriting, recording, engineering, and producing.

In the 1980's, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were in Minneapolis earning less than $200 per week and spending their own money to fly to Los Angeles on weekends, bunking at a friend's home and recording tracks in the bathroom (the only room in the home with good acoustics). Their early work, often hailed as "innovative", was often done with minimal equipment under less than optimal conditions. They did their best with what they had. One day, though, "the new" appeared. Their work garnered public notice. The early days of limitation vanished. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis became as well-known as the artists whose works they produced.

Fast-forward thirty years: Jimmy Jam, who has every right to rest in his accomplishments of the past, spoke of the importance of seeing "the new" of today. There are new songs to write, new tracks to record, new technologies to learn. He said, "See which way the wind is blowing today, and adjust your sails accordingly." In other words, Embrace the new. Navigate the new. Strong winds may be blowing, but you will learn to make your way through them. Don't be afraid.

In reflecting on this keynote, I was reminded of Pastor Richie's sermon. God has said, "Look! I am doing something new. Do you see it?" Our pastor shared with us a wonderful phrase: We serve a God who makes the impossible possible. A God who can take a Casio keyboard, bathroom acoustics, and a young man's love for the recording arts, and turn the mix into a stellar career. A God who can surpass the great things He did for us in the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s and 2000s, and astound us with the amazing new things He is doing today. Our God is awesome.

Today, let's take time to thank God for the new things He is doing in the life of His church... and the new things He is doing for us as individuals.