petersen

It’s an honor to have Studio La Fabrique in France, and Mix With the Masters using my photo of Eddie Kramer for the upcoming seminar in April.

See more of my photos of Eddie Kramer of my other post at:
http://brianapetersen.com/2011/06/eddie-kramer-with-mpx-for-waves/

http://www.mixwiththemasters.com/KRAMER.html
MIX with the MASTERS 2012 – Exceptional One-Week Music Production Seminars

We are glad to announce that recording engineers, producers and mixers JOE CHICCARELLI, EDDIE KRAMER and AL SCHMITT will each conduct a week-long seminar in April 2012 in Studio La Fabrique (www.studioslafabrique.com) in Saint-Rémy de Provence, France.

During each session, a series of workshops will be held ranging from production and mixing techniques to career advices. The guest speakers will be working with the attendees to produce, record and mix a song with a band as well as working on the participants’ projects.
Guests are provided with accommodation and meals and stay in the residential part of La Fabrique mansion for 7 days.
They will be able to utilize the great facilities the house has to offer including the swimming pool, the fitness center and the gardens.

For more information or to submit an application, visit:
http://www.mixwiththemasters.com
YouTube – MixWithTheMASTERS’s Channel

EDDIE KRAMER is an audio engineer and producer who has worked with, among others, Led Zeppelin, Triumph, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Spooky Tooth, Peter Frampton, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, Anthrax, Carly Simon, Loudness, and Robin Trower.

KRAMER joined Olympic Sound Studios in London, where he engineered albums for acts including Traffic, Small Faces, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, for whom Kramer engineered every album from Are You Experienced to The Cry of Love. After Hendrix’s death he co-produced War Heroes, Rainbow Bridge and Hendrix in the West.

In 1968, KRAMER moved to New York to work at the Record Plant, engineering Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland LP and also worked with Vanilla Fudge, Joe Cocker and NRBQ. Working independently from 1969, Kramer engineered Led Zeppelin II – the first of five albums he engineered for the band.

EDDIE KRAMER was director of engineering at Electric Lady Studios from 1970-1974, producing the posthumous Hendrix records, as well as albums by Carly Simon, Sha Na Na, Jobriath and Peter Frampton. While there he engineered albums for artists as diverse as Dionne Warwick and David Bowie.

He produced and engineered Buddy Guy’s Slippin’ In (1995), which received a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Record and a W.C. Handy Blues Foundation Album of the Year award.

In 2010, KRAMER produced and engineered a single for the Claire Stahlecker Band called “Never Stop Lovin’ You”.
EDDIE KRAMER will conduct a MIX With The MASTERS masterclass from April 11th until April 17th, 2012.

Eddie Kramer’s official website: http://eddiekramer.net/

You can read more here: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/671012-mix-masters-2012-joe-chiccarelli-eddie-kramer-al-schmitt.html

Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Kiss, David Bowie
Any producer is only as good as the music he helps create. By this standard, Eddie Kramer must be regarded as a legend. In the course of a production and engineering career that has spanned 30 years, Kramer has been behind the boards for the biggest names in music – The Rolling Stones, Traffic, Peter Frampton, Carly Simon, Joe Cocker, Johnny Winter, David Bowie, The Beatles and Bad Company, just to name a few. But he is perhaps best known for three long-term associations in which he not only helped create some of the most important music of the rock era, but also set standards for rock production that set him aside as a true innovator. His work with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss produced music which continues to influence rock musicians and producers today.

Born in South Africa, Eddie studied classical piano, cello and violin at the prestigious South African college of Music. At a young age, his interest switched from classical to jazz. He moved to England at 19, where he recorded local jazz groups in a home-based studio and installed hi-fi equipment as a hobby. In 1964, he joined Pye Studios, and recorded a variety of artists including Sammy Davis Jr., Petula Clark, and The Kinks, demonstrating a versatility, which Eddie possesses to this day.

In 1965, Kramer established the sophisticated KPS Studios, which, despite its rudimentary 2-track recording capability, gained such a reputation that in less than a year they were bought out by Regent Sound. They enlisted Kramer to oversee construction of their new four-track studio.

Getting “Experienced”

Kramer’s next stop was Olympic Sound studios where he developed a fantastic reputation among the bands of the time – Small Faces, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix, among others. His association with Hendrix was the most powerful one, and the one that lasted the longest. Kramer engineered every Hendrix album from “Are You Experienced” to “Cry of Love,” and after Hendrix’s death co-produced the posthumous releases “War Heroes,” “Rainbow Bridge” and “Hendrix in the West.”

In 1968, Kramer came to work at the Record Plant in NYC, engineering Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland” LP, and also worked with Vanilla Fudge, Joe Cocker, and NRBQ. In 1969, Kramer went independent, producing Johnny Winter’s first LP and engineering Led Zeppelin II, acknowledged by fans and critics alike as perhaps that bands most influential work. This led to work on five albums with the band, half of their overall output. This pairing provided some historic moments. As Eddie tells of one particular session, “Zep II was mixed over a two day period in New York, and at one point there was bleed-through of a previously recorded vocal in the recording of “Whole Lotta Love.” It was the middle part where Robert (Plant) screams “Wo-man. You need it.” Since we couldn’t re-record at that point, I just threw some echo on it to see how it would sound and Jimmy (Page) said “Great! Just leave it.”

Woodstock

Soon afterwards, Kramer was recruited to record the Woodstock festival for both the album and the movie. “I arrived at dawn and was struck by the sight of the sun rising over what appeared to be the stage. The show was scheduled to start by lunchtime. That panic pretty much set the tone for the entire concert. All of us in the crew had Vitamin B shots, so that we would be able to stay up for three days. The whole thing was recorded under the most primitive of conditions, but we got it done,” says Kramer. “Woodstock was 3 days of hell and drugs”.

Woodstock established Kramer as one of the most important live music producers of the rock era, starting a series of artists recorded live which would ultimately include Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, John Mayall, The Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, David Bowie, Derek and The Dominoes, and others.

Electric Lady Studios

Hendrix quickly hired Kramer to build a state of the art studio. After 13 months and a million dollars, Electric Lady Studios was complete, and Kramer served as its Director of Engineering from 1970 – 1974. During this time, in addition to producing the posthumous Hendrix records, Kramer produced records by Carly Simon, Sha Na Na and Peter Frampton, and engineered albums for artists as diverse as Dionne Warwick and Lena Horne, David Bowie’s “Live at the Spectrum” and “Young Americans,” featuring “Fame” with John Lennon, and Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” and “Physical Graffiti,” among others.

In 1975, Kramer left Electric Lady Studios to work with the No. 1 band in America at the time and produced “Kiss Alive.” In addition to producing “Rock and Roll Over,” “Love Gun,” “Alive II” and “Double Platinum” for Kiss, Kramer worked on Ace Frehley’s first solo record, Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same” (the album and the movie), Peter Frampton’s historic “Frampton Comes Alive” LP, and The Rolling Stones “Love Ya Live,” three of the most popular live albums of the rock era. In the last three decades, Kramer has produced countless bands from Anthrax, Motley Crue, and Twisted Sister to Buddy Guy, Sting and Carlos Santana. He produced the Hendrix tribute album, “Stone Free,” for Warner Bros., which features tracks from artists such as: The Cure, Eric Clapton, The Spin Doctors, Seal/Jeff Beck, Slash/Paul Rodgers, and others. The album has generated approximately $1,000,000 in charitable funds which have been donated to the United Negro College Fund as musical scholarships to The Berklee School of Music, Julliard School of Music, and The Dance Theatre of Harlem. Since 1997, he has remastered all of the Jimi Hendrix albums from the original master tapes for Experience Hendrix/MCA. Eddie won a Grammy in 2002 for his work with Carlos Santana and Michelle Branch on the single, “The Game of Love.” Eddie has also worked with Lauren Hill on her new album.

Eddie’s photographs may be viewed at www.kramerarchives.com.

Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=3385#ixzz1Qmoxf8yK

2011 Senior Recital of Trevor Gomes at Biola

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen.
© 2010 Brian Petersen

Trevor Gomes recording sessions. Engineered by Brian Petersen.

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses regarding this image.
© 2010 Brian Petersen

Jack Joseph Puig is among the most sought-after producers and mixing engineers in the music industry.

Jack Joseph Puig is world-renowned as a producer, mixer, and engineer, blending the sounds of the past three decades to create a unique contemporary aural tapestry. As one of the industry’s most in-demand engineers, Puig has manned the controls for a veritable who’s who of major artists.

Recently, Jack Joseph Puig collaborated with Waves on The JJP Analog Legends, which features four precision-modeled plugins based on rare gear from his own studio. Here are some photos of a recent session with Jack as he explains the front and back end of the plugins.

Check out his plugins
http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=7306
Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=2327#ixzz17TnrjKyH

About JJP Analog Legends

JJP Analog Legends is the result of an ongoing Waves research and development project that has lasted over 3 years.

Fairchild compressors are among the very rarest pieces of recording gear; it’s rumored that less than 50 were originally manufactured. One of the first things we discovered when testing Fairchilds is that each model sounds different. In fact, even within the same stereo module, each channel can sound and behave differently! Only a few fortunate studios in the world have multiple units, with the opportunity to compare the subtle differences between them. And so, our quest for the best sounding Fairchild led us to producer/mixing engineer Jack Joseph Puig, well-known in audio circles for his enviable collection of hard-to-find gear.

Jack loaned us his very best sounding unit, and we painstakingly analyzed and modeled its every attribute, replicating its sound and behavior to the point where the software was virtually indistinguishable from hardware. Jack was an indispensable part of the development process, greatly assisting the Waves team by testing and fine tuning the software models of his hardware, as well as contributing an extensive library of his personal presets.

So when you fire up the PuigChild, it’s almost as if you were working together with Jack Joseph Puig in Ocean Way studios. Better yet, it’s as if he loaned you a Fairchild. And not just any Fairchild; his BEST Fairchild.

Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=7665#ixzz17TpKxhKD

Among his clients:
The Rolling Stones, U2, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Fergie, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Klaxons, Panic At The Disco, Weezer, Counting Crows, Pussycat Dolls, Goo Goo Dolls, The Black Crowes, Switchfoot, No Doubt, Mary J. Blige, and more.

Puig has produced hits for the Verve Pipe (“Freshmen”) and The Black Crows (“Good Friday”), among others. Calling Ocean Way his home, Puig has spent time both as an engineer and as a producer and sees the duality as a plus when dealing with today’s Top 40 rock acts, many of whom ask him to mix their albums as well. He has also mixed albums for Hole, Collective Soul, Green Day, Mick Jagger, Lisa Loeb, and others.

Puig’s Picks

The vintage hardware modeled in the JJP Analog Legends are among the rarest, most coveted pieces in the audio world. The PuigChild 660, PuigChild 670, PuigTec EQP-1A, and PuigTec MEQ-5 are based on these acclaimed units.

About Fairchild: Among gear aficionados, the stereo Fairchild 670 is considered the most coveted of all compressors, not only because of its pristine sound, but also its rarity and price: 670s routinely go for tens of thousands of dollars on the vintage market. (They originally cost less than $1000.) With 20 vacuum tubes and 4 hand-wired transformers in a hefty 6 rack-space chassis, these hard-to-find units weigh in at a robust 65 lbs.

Designed by Estonian-born Rein Narma in the early 1950s, both the stereo 670 and its mono counterpart the Fairchild 660 use single push-pull amplification stages with extremely high control voltages. Both variable-mu limiters are unique in that they use tubes for gain reduction as well as amplification. Compression takes place directly in the audio path, rather than being routed to a separate circuit.

Prior to the 660 and 670, Narma’s Gotham Audio Developments had built consoles and components for such luminaries as Rudy Van Gelder and Les Paul. Shortly after Paul asked Narma to build a limiter, Sherman Fairchild caught wind of the project, licensed the design, and hired Narma to come onboard as the company’s chief engineer. After his stint at Fairchild, Narma relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and became vice president of Ampex, pioneers of multitrack recording equipment.
About Pultec

Custom-engineered and built by hand, the original Pultecs have long been a top choice of leading recording and mastering engineers. Pultecs are renowned for their ability to accentuate individual frequency ranges without significantly altering other frequencies.
In 1951, Gene Shenk and Ollie Summerland of Pulse Techniques Inc. introduced the first passive program equalizer, the EQP-1. Using equalization circuit designs licensed from Western Electric, the initial Pultecs suffered the gain insertion losses typical of passive filters. So, they added a gain makeup stage, using a push-pull design with multiple vacuum tubes. The result is the classic we’ve come to know as the EQP-1A.

Conceived and created for broadband equalization, the EQP-1A features four low boost/cut frequencies, three high-cut frequencies and seven HF boost points, along with a bandwidth control for shaping the high boost curve. The EQP-1A and the MEQ-5 together comprise one of the best known equalization chains in audio history.

More about Jack Joseph Puig

Jack Joseph Puig is a Grammy Award-winning music engineer and producer with a long track record of successful productions, beginning with the mid 1990′s production of Tonic. Following this breakout success, Puig went on to work with Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes,^[1] John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Green Day, The Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxons, Panic at the Disco, Stone Temple Pilots, U2, and many others. Puig has shared Grammy Awards with The Goo Goo Dolls, Sheryl Crow, Vanessa Carlton, John Mayer, Fergie (Black Eyed Peas), U2, and No Doubt. In 2006 Jack Joseph Puig became a E.V.P. atInterscope-Geffen-A&M Records. He has signed Klaxons and Charlotte Sometimes. As a A&R man he works with Shirley Manson, Ashlee Simpson, Klaxons, Charlotte Sometimes, The Counting Crows, Puddle of Mudd, and The Like.

Prior to his mainstream music production successes Puig rose to prominence as an engineer in the Contemporary Christian music scene of the mid-eighties. He worked mainly on Myrrh Record releases. He engineered for Christian acts sych as Amy Grant and Russ Taff. Some of the records he engineered were Grammy-award winning works such as Grant’s landmark 1985 LP Unguarded.

Partial discography

• Semisonic – Feeling Strangely Fine (1998) m
• Robbie Williams – I’ve Been Expecting You (1998) p/m
• John Hiatt – Stolen Moments (2005) e/m
• Bette Midler – Some People’s Lives (1990) m
• Jellyfish – Bellybutton (1990) e/p
• Bette Midler – For the Boys (soundtrack) (1991) m
• Jellyfish – Spilt Milk (1993) e/p/m
• The Grays – Ro Sham Bo (1994) p
• The Black Crowes – Amorica (1994) e/p/m
• Tonic – Lemon Parade (1996) e/p/m
• Weezer – Pinkerton (1996) e/m
• The Black Crowes – Three Snakes & One Charm (1996) e/p/m
• Talk Show – Talk Show (1997) m
• Big Wreck – In Loving Memory Of… (1997) m
• Hole – Celebrity Skin (1998) m
• Goo Goo Dolls – Dizzy Up The Girl (1998) p/m
• Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider (1999) p/m
• Stone Temple Pilots – Revolution (1999) m
• The Counting Crows – This Desert Life (1999) m
• Beck – Nicotine & Gravy (1999) m
• No Doubt – Return of Saturn (2000) m
• Green Day – Warning (2000) m
• Collective Soul – Blender (2000) m
• Five For Fighting – Easy Tonight (2000) p/m
• Shelby Lynne – Bridget Jones’ Diary, original soundtrack (2001) m
• Tricky – Blowback (2001) m
• Remy Zero – The Golden Hum (2001) e/p/m
• The Rolling Stones – 40 Licks (2002) m
• Phantom Planet – The Guest (2002) m
• Sheryl Crow – C’mon C’mon (2002) m
• Vanessa Carlton – Be Not Nobody (2002) m
• Vanessa Carlton – A Thousand Miles (2002) m
• The Counting Crows – Hard Candy (2002) m
• Switchfoot – The Beautiful Letdown (2003) m
• Stereomud – Every Given Moment (2003) m
• The Ataris – So Long, Astoria (2003) m
• Stereophonics – You Gotta Go There to Come Back (2003) m
• John Mayer – Heavier Things (2003) e/p/m
• No Doubt – The Singles: 1992-2003 (2003) m
• 311 – Greatest Hits ’93-’03 (2004) m
• Sum 41 – Killer Queen(2005) e/p/m
• Aqualung – Strange and Beautiful (2005) m
• Son Volt – Retrospective 1995-2000 (2005) m
• Black Eyed Peas – Monkey Business (2005) m
• The Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang (2005) m
• The Rolling Stones – Biggest Mistake (2005) m
• The Pussycat Dolls – PCD (2005) m
• Mary J. Blige – The Breakthrough (2005) m
• John Hiatt – Chronicles (2005) e/m
• Goo Goo Dolls – Let Love In (2006) m
• Dashboard Confessional – Dusk and Summer (2006) m
• Fergie – The Dutchess (2006) m
• The Academy Is – Santi (2007) m
• Macy Gray – Big (2007) m
• U2 – Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur (2007) p/m
• Lifehouse – Who We Are (2007) m
• Queen Latifah – Trav’lin’ Light(2007) m
• Puddle of Mudd – Psycho (2007) p/m
• Klaxons – Golden Skans radio remix (2007) m
• Eric Clapton – Complete Clapton (2007) m
• Panic at the Disco – Nine in the Afternoon (2007) m
• Charlotte Sometimes– Waves and the Both of Us (2008) p/m
• Jack Savoretti - Harder Than Easy (2009) m
• Kylie Morgan (country artist) 2010

From a photo session for Waves by Brian Petersen with Tony Maserati in Studio D at the Village Recorder in West L.A.

The man behind the sound of the Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Puff Daddy, Beyoncé, Usher, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Jason Mraz, Macy Grey, Mary J, Blige, Rob Thomas, Sting, David Bowie, Tupac Shakur, Ricky Martin, Notorious B.I.G.

Read more: http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=8873#ixzz13PWelf3l
Visit Tony’s site at http://tonymaserati.com/

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses regarding this image. © 2010 Brian Petersen

About Tony Maserati

Widely regarded as the principal architect of the legendary New York Sound, Tony Maserati is one of the world’s most respected mixing engineers. In a dazzling career with countless hit records for superstars ranging from Sting and David Bowie to Macy Gray and Alicia Keys, Tony has done more than simply make the songs sound great. He has played a major role in redefining the aesthetics of R&B, hip-hop, and pop.

After completing his studies at Berklee’s program for production and engineering, Maserati got his start at the legendary Sigma Sound Studios in New York during the mid-’80s, hooking up with early rap legends like Heavy D and Brand Nubian. Working closely with Bad Boy Entertainment’s roster of heavyweight talent—including Mary J Blige, Faith Evans, Notorius B.I.G. and Lil Kim—he helped create what became known as the sound of New York hip hop. It wasn’t long before he was leaving his mark on smash pop hits including Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs”, Marc Anthony’s “I Need to Know”, and R. Kelly’s “I Wish”.

Today, as an active producer / mixing engineer as well as instructor at Tisch School of the Arts / New York University, Tony mentors up-and-coming engineers and artists. He’s won two Grammy® awards, one for Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” and one for Sergio Mendes’s Timeless, and is the recipient of a 2006 TEC Award. He is an active member of The Recording Academy, and this year received his seventh Grammy nomination, for Jason Mraz’s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.

Maserati says “I’ve been using Waves from the beginning. From dynamics and EQs to special effects, most of the tracks I’ve mixed have Waves on them. Waves did an amazing job turning my personal processing chains into custom plug-ins.”

Selected Discography

• Marc Anthony: “I Need To Know”
• James Brown: JB (Best of the Best)
• Mariah Carey: “Honey,” “The Roof”
• Destiny’s Child: “Survivor,” “Bootylicious”
• R. Kelly: “Like a Real Freak,” “TP-2″
• Jennifer Lopez: “Play,” “Ain’t It Funny,” “I’m Real”
• Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera: “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely”
• Maxwell: “Fortunate”
• Mýa: “Best of Me”
• Notorious B.I.G.: “Mo Money Mo Problems”
• Puff Daddy: “Been Around the World”
• The Simpsons: The Yellow Album
• Jessica Simpson: “Sweet Kisses”
• Tupac: “Changes”
• Vitamin C: “I Know What Boys Like”
• Anouk: “Hotel New York” Album
• Jason Mraz: “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.”

Hills in the Grapevine area off the 5 freeway in California.

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses regarding this image.
© 2010 Brian Petersen

Full size at
www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/1581106295/in/set-72157594222886667/

This shot was taken from the Alabama Hills overlooking the Owens Valley and the White Mountains.

This was my first nature shooting expedition with my new Canon 50D using a Sigma fisheye 17mm film lens.

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Download the full size image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/3166104976

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com

After each scene during a 2003 Good Friday service a dancer would appear to extinguish one of the remaining candles on stage. Eventually all of the lights were dimmed and the audience left the church in a quiet and dark mood to replicate the feeling of the the first Good Friday when Jesus died for the sins of the world. Three days later Jesus physically rose from the dead in what we now celebrate as Easter.

All mankind has sinned against God and Jesus paid the sin debt for everyone on the cross. It is promised in God’s word that all who trust in Jesus through faith by declaring him as Lord of their life will live forever. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3.16

From a Good Friday service at Bethany Church in Long Beach, CA. This image was taken in the dark from the sound booth about 80 feet away on an old school digital camera that stored its media on floppy discs.

See all the images from this Good Friday and Easter Service
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/358771736
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/447911870
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/2281098872
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/2280308549

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com

Stain glass background image taken during a Friday morning worship chapel at Bethany School in Long Beach.

See this image used as a text background in a worship setting here
www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/408047945/

I came across this text while preparing for a prayer time with some friends. Not only is the message incredible, but I like the resulting image as the light shines from above on the textured paper.

The Crying Need of the Hour

So the truth is reaffirmed: God has given us prayer because Jesus has given us a mission. We are on this earth to press back the forces of darkness, and we are given access to headquarters by prayer to advance this cause. When we try to turn it into a civilian intercom to increase our conveniences, it stops working, and our faith begins to falter. We have so domesticated prayer that for many of us it is no longer what it was designed to be-a wartime walkie-talkie for the accomplishment of Christ’s mission.

We simply must seek for ourselves and for our people a wartime mentality. Otherwise the biblical teaching about the urgency of prayer and the vigilance of prayer and the watching in prayer and the perseverance of prayer and the danger of abandoning prayer will make no sense and find no resonance in our hearts. Until we feel the desperation of a bombing raid or the thrill of a new strategic offensive for the gospel, we will not pray in the spirit of Jesus.

The crying need of the hour is to put the churches on a wartime footing. Mission leaders are crying out, "Where is the church’s concept of militancy, of a mighty army willing to suffer, moving ahead with exultant determination to take the world by storm? Where is the risk-taking, the launching out on God alone?" The answer is that it has been swallowed up in a peacetime mentality.

We are a "third soil century." In the parable of the soils, Jesus says that the seed is the Word. He sows his urgent Word of kingdom power. But instead of taking it up as our sword (or bearing fruit), we "are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19).

This is why Paul says that all of life is war—-every moment. Before we can even engage in the mission of the church, we have to fight against the "the deceitfulness of riches" and "desires for other things." We must fight to cherish the kingdom above all "other things"-that is our first and most constant battle. That is the fight of faith. Then, when we have some experience in that basic battle, we join the fight to commend the kingdom to all the nations.

Let The Nations Be Glad! by John Piper
The Supremacy of God In Missions through Prayer: page 51
www.desiringgod.org/

=-=-=-=-=
Here is the text from the Prayer Time

Team Missions Prayer

:: Confession of Sin and Burdens / Repentance

Personal Prayer and Silence
Ask the Lord to search your heart for any areas of sin
Confess any sin (1 John 1.9, James 5:16)
Bring your burdens to the Lord in prayer (1 Pet 5:7)
Ask the Lord to give you an open heart
Ask for the Spirit to lead you and the group in prayer for the glory of God (John 14)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1.9 NIV

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7.14 NIV

:: Worship by Praising God

Group Worship with Singing and Prayer
God alone is worthy of our praise!
Begin in prayer with thanksgiving
Rejoice in the Lord!
Praise God for all the blessings He has provided for us
Thank God for our salvation and the new life we have through the blood of Jesus Christ

In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Rev. 5.12 NIV

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100.1-3 NIV

Prayer for the Team and Ministry

Group Prayer for the Ministry
Bring team needs before the Lord (Phil 4.6-7)
Pray for team unity in serving together with different gifts and roles, yet one body (1 Cor 1:10)
Pray that our team would be prepared for the ministry to the best of our abilities but continually rely on Christ’s strength while we are there.
Pray for divine appointments; pray that the Holy Spirit would direct us in ever move for the sake of the salvation of the souls of his people in the world
Ask for financial provision through the support process
Pray for the health and safety of our team
Pray for boldness of speech in proclaiming the gospel (Eph. 6.19-20)
Pray that we will utilize the power from the Holy Spirit to withstand trials and temptations

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4.6-7 NIV

Prayers for the field

Prayer for the growth and strength of Christian churches and missionaries
Pray that God would raise up nationals to evangelize their own people
Pray for the health of the missionaries being under severe strain and burden for the work
Ask the Lord to send ministers into the nations for the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Mat 9:37-38)

Helpful Bible Verses

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole 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 saints, 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. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Eph. 3.14 – 21

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4:16

Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened". Matthew 7:7-8

2 Thessalonians 3:1, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” The word runs and triumphs by means of prayer.

Matt. 26.41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Ephesians 6:19, “[Pray] for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” Paul’s boldness in the gospel came from God by the prayers of simple Christian believers.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 1.9-14

Acts 1.14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Col. 4.12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

Romans 15:30, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.” The wrestling of Paul to be faithful in all his sufferings was sustained by a wrestling in prayer by the brothers in Rome.

Acts 2.42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Colossians 4:3, “Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.” Open doors for the spread of the gospel come in answer to prayer. Therefore, in the life of Paul it is plain that prayer is God’s way of gospel victory.

Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name. Daniel 9.17-19

This image and text is also viewable at my flickr page here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/485984140/

Taken in the hills of Romania on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Download the full size image on my flickr page

Jina (Hungarian: Zsinna) is a commune in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania, in the Cindrel Mountains, 40 km west of the county capital Sibiu, in the Mărginimea Sibiului ethnographic area.

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses regarding this image.
© 2010 Brian Petersen