Fall Retreats (men's & women's)

Hey y'all,
The Men's and Women's retreats are coming up! Men's is in three weeks (Sept.28-30) and the women's is two weeks later (Oct 12-14). Get signed up now if you haven't yet! Cost is $150 and it's due on Monday at the latest (for the men).

Here's a little promo video!


- Jason

How Deep How Wide

In July, my wife was ordained as a pastor! The following text was the preaching text for the worship service:

Ephesians 3:14-19 TNIV
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

What a beautiful passage! So, I ended up writing a song for Sara's ordination. It's called "How Deep How Wide"

Music at Mars

Mars Hill Bible Church is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The pastor's name is Rob Bell. If you've ever seen a Nooma video, then you'll know who Rob Bell is. The music they do at Mars Hill is pretty fun and not unlike what we do at Saint Matthew. You can check out the Music at Mars Myspace page and get a nice sample of the music.

The songs they've got playing on the page are:
"Let it Rise", "I Want Jesus To Walk With Me", "You Are" and my personal favorite, "Changed." Enjoy!

Music Updated! Wonderful Concert!

Hey everyone. Music is ready on the website
www.saintmatthew.org/wma/band
if you need password info, e-mail directly.

AND -

WOW, we had a great time on Sunday night at the concert. Keenan and I had tons of fun playing and singing together. We shared half a dozen original tunes as well as some brand new songs from Hillsong. It really was a wonderful, worshipful night. Praise God.

It was all recorded and I'll be mixing stuff down. The recording process was fun and it opens the door to more recording that we could be doing as a worship team. People get ready!

Bendickson / Boswell Concert | 7pm | Aug 26

You are invited to a free concert at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church
in Walnut Creek this Sunday night, 7pm.

Featuring
Jason Bendickson
Worship Leader at Saint Matthew
&
Keenan Boswell
former organist at Saint Matthew and Julliard Student.

Keenan Boswell, an amazingly gifted young man who has played the organ at Saint Matthew for the last few years and is now a student at Julliard, has been cutting his teeth writing some tunes for worship. He’ll play piano and organ and Jason Bendickson, worship leader at Saint Matthew, will be accompanying him on guitar and will also share some original compositions. It should be a great and fun evening of new music, and a few good ‘ol sing-a-long stand-bys.

Who: Jason Bendickson & Keenan Boswell
What: Free concert
When: April 26th, 7pm
Where: Saint Matthew Lutheran Church map
Why: Why not?

Hope to see you there!

Song from Sunday - BBQ Tomorrow

The recording of "The River is Here" turned out well. I hope y'all had as much fun as I did on Sunday. It's a real blessing to be able to do music in worship with so many fine folks!

Tomorrow evening at 7pm, folks from the Saint Matthew Worship Team are invited to gather at Marisa Barley's House here in Walnut Creek MAP for a little BBQ as we look towards the end of summer and the beginning of a new program year at Saint Matthew.

See you then!
Jason

Typical MuteMath

The Christian band Earthsuit was burned like a phoenix and what emerged from the ashes was Mute Math. Great, fun video for their song "Typical." Enjoy!

check 'em out at www.mutemath.com