benthomasonline

2011 was quite a year… so much fantastic music (for a more detailed look at that, be sure to see my post called “Crack for Music Addicts: The Joys and Dangers of Music Subscription“).  In order to not overwhelm you, I’ve kept my list to my top 15 albums of the year, plus of handful … Continue reading »

Sometime in mid-2005, shortly after the release of The Recovery, I recall saying something to my wife that compared being a singer-songwriter in the suburbs to some sort of sadomasochistic extreme-sport wilderness survival challenge.  The kind where someone abandons you in near-arctic Northern Canada with nothing but a pair of galoshes and a carving knife.   … Continue reading »

We are all divided into two camps of people: Those that enjoy Christmas-themed music and those that hate it.  For the later camp, there’s probably little I can say to convince you there is actually a world of Christmas music that exists out there beyond the musak they pipe through the speakers at Kmart for … Continue reading »

Every leader knows the feeling:  Your manager joins a traveling circus and quits your company.  The lead actor in your play bites her tongue off in a Chinese restaurant.  Your quarterback is at home hugging the toilet. Its called “The Gap“. Every team gets gaps and every leader has to deal with them. At The … Continue reading »

It was late October, 2010. Our team was gathered on a late Tuesday morning, just like the Tuesday morning before, and the Tuesday morning before that. Our weekly worship planning meetings took place immediately following an hour-plus long full staff meeting, and usually around 11:30 a.m. the caffeine and empty carbs from breakfast would vanish … Continue reading »