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Author Archives: Craig Colson

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5 Tips for Great Music at an XLT

By | September 18, 2012
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In the past few weeks I have had the pleasure to be a part of two XLT worship events. The first was at my own parish as we kicked off a new Semester, and the other was hosted by the Diocese of Phoenix and Life Teen International. If you are not familiar with XLT, it is a Praise and Worship event that begins with high-energy music followed by a powerful talk and concluding with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It’s amazing to see young people drawn to the Eucharist through this powerful means of fellowship, prayer and thanksgiving.

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The Importance of Music on Retreats

By | July 31, 2012
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We are bombarded with noise, technology, and day-to-day craziness, so it’s essential to take a step back and refresh and renew ourselves . . . to just to be in God’s presence and learn more about Him.

If you haven’t already, now is a great time to start thinking about your next retreat. Maybe your parish has never done a retreat and you have been considering having your first one, or maybe your parish has done tons of retreats in the past. Whichever the case, here are a few tips that can help you to have a successful retreat.

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Music from the 2012 Catholic Youth Ministry Training Convention

By | June 19, 2012
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Last week over 500 Priests, Youth Ministers, Core Team members, and Musicians traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona for the Catholic Youth Ministry Training Convention. It was truly a blessed time to pray, worship, and laugh together as we celebrated this year’s theme of Radiant Joy. One of the most meaningful things for me was to see and hear God’s people from all over the world come together and unite in our common prayer together as we celebrated our highest form of prayer, the Mass. One

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Gear and God: Is There Room for Both in Your Life?

By | May 29, 2012
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So what’s wrong with our obsession with gear? Well, maybe nothing if we are buying these items to serve God in our ministries and get the best possible sound for our praise of God. But, if I have to be honest, there have been several times in my own life when the gear has consumed me and I began to lose my focus. Is our goal to have the biggest or best mixing console out of all the musicians we know or is our goal to make great music and serve God through it?

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Preparing for Holy Week

By | March 29, 2012
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Rejoice! We’re getting so close to the greatest celebrations of our Church: Holy Week and Easter! For me, and many others that work in the Church, this is definitely the busiest time of the year. From practicing with music groups to putting scripts together, right down to making sure the cleaning people will be straightening and cleaning the Church in between the Holy Day Masses. There is so much to do. Some of you reading this might just be responsible for the Sunrise Teen Mass at your parish

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Music From the 2012 Winter Training Conference

By | February 27, 2012

The 2012 Life Teen Training Conference just wrapped up in Indialantic, Florida at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church. What an amazing group of Priests, Youth Ministers, CORE Members and Musicians who came from all over the United States and Canada to go deeper into their understanding of Youth Ministry and our Lord. The view from the parish and the hotel was truly inspiring, seeing God’s wonderful beauty each morning as the sun rose over the crashing waves. I really like my job! I had the privilege

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These 40 Days of Lenten Music

By | February 14, 2012

In just over a week we enter into the sacred season of Lent. Forty days of fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and a call in this “Year of Faith” proclaimed by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to strengthen our faith and to help strengthen the faith of others. So what will change? In our own lives, will we just give up the same thing we gave up last year again or will we really take the time to reflect upon those things that lead us away from Christ? Will we truly seek to put those things aside and

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How to Get Your Teens to Sing at Mass

By | January 23, 2012
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One of the keys to inviting people to sing is simply that – to invite. Don’t scold the congregation and don’t show your frustration and start saying how you come here week after week to lead them in song and no one sings! This is the wrong approach! Simply invite and affirm them. Remind them that our role at the Liturgy is to practice full, active, conscious, participation as Vatican II tells us. Tell them that it sounds so beautiful to hear their voices singing God’s praise together.

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How Can I Be a Better Music Minister in 2012?

By | January 5, 2012
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2012 is here! If we look back on 2011 I think we can all say it was a busy year. Most of us spent this last year preparing for the implementation of the New Roman Missal that we received on November 27th of 2011. Now that the Missal has been implemented and our Christmas preparation has come to an end, we can focus on the things that we may need to change in our personal lives or our ministries.

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The Final Countdown to the Roman Missal

By | November 7, 2011

Well there is a countdown going on today and it has nothing to do with 80’s rock bands, but everything to do with the third edition of the Roman Missal. We are only 19 days away from this new translation of the current Sacramentary we use at Mass. So here’s the question … are you ready?! I hope the answer is: “Yes!” If you are worried that you may have forgotten something, let’s start with the obvious.