Everlasting Arms OFFERING OF THE MONTH

Greetings & welcome to our "Offering of the Month" page!

"And behold, the Lord spoketh to me saying, 'Before the last
sabbath of the month, thou shalt upload not less than one new
work of thine own hands, as an offering unto thy brethren,
so that the Lord shall be glorified.'"
-EJ 12:6

What is the "Offering of the Month"?

It's a new paradigm for sharing our music with you. :-)
In a nutshell, we're making it available as free mp3 downloads in the form of a "monthly offering".

Why are you doing this?

There are a number of reasons. :-)

The main reason is that I (EJ) have spent a lot of time in prayer about this over the past year seeking the Lord's will and have come to the conclusion that this is what the Lord wants me to do with my music.

While Everlasting Arms was originally intended to be a "profitable venture", I've never been able to reconcile the dichotomy between the clear calling and mandate I've felt from the Lord for a long time that my music should be a ministry, and the idea that I should profit from it. The Lord has always provided well for my family via my full-time job, even in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, something for which I'm truly grateful.

After years of good intentions about getting Everlasting Arms' music off the ground, my family, church, and job have always come first, frankly leaving very little precious *time* for what it would take to make Everlasting Arms' music everything I feel it could and should be.

As any musician or recording artist can attest, seeing a full CD project to completion is an extremely time-consuming process, involving writing, arranging, recording, mixing, mastering, artwork, layout, lyrics, printing, pressing, copyrighting, UPC codes, publishing, royalties, and all kinds of decisions to be made, both creative and mundane, many of which have little to do with the music, including the promotion that inevitably must ensue, which is something I have little talent for and certainly no time for.

I'm just a musician. ;-)
I'd love to be able to stick to the writing, recording and mixing parts of the process.

Unfortunately, the "CD process" also leaves very little (if any) time for any musical projects outside of the task at hand, and I'm often "side-tracked" by small one-shot musical endeavors, both in church and out of church -- which is what initially got me thinking...

After 30+ years of making music, I've got a boatload of eclectic musical material that could be placed in any number of "buckets", some of which are awfully small buckets. Most of this music is "valid" to my ears and deserves an audience, yet none would mesh within the context of a CD project; certainly many of them would never fit within the framework of Everlasting Arms, or even a real "Eddie J Solo" CD. In fact, my wife Kirsten suggested that I call this endeavor "Eddie J and Friends" because there have been so many collaborations over the years with so many different talented musicians. :-)

Giving each piece of music its own "spotlight" once a month will allow each to be considered on its own merits. This will also allow me (or Pastor Jim) to describe in detail each month what it is you're listening to, which is something that probably couldn't be done in the liner notes of a proper CD release.

Before I move on, I do wish to be clear on one issue:
I greatly respect anyone who can make a living solely from music and I certainly believe that they should be supported financially, even if their music is primarily a ministry. The decision I'm making is a highly personal one and something I've wrestled with for a long, long time. It should not be considered a judgement of any sorts on music ministers who are worthy of our support.

Why monthly? Anything special about that?

Nothing special, no. But it accomplishes two things, both personal:

1. It will allow me to break up my many musical projects into small and achievable goals.
2. It will force a deadline on me. ;-)

Given your time constraints and the fact that it's been nearly a decade since Everlasting Arms' first CD,
are you really going to come out with something new every month?

Good question. ;-)
I will certainly try my best.
If anything, I do have quite a backlog of material to fall back on.
But if I'm late once in a while, it's free, right? ;-)

Seriously, there is a tremendous difference time-wise between what it takes to bring forth a fully-completed and polished recording, and a very good acceptable and fun demo-quality recording of the same material.

What kind of music should I expect to hear every month?

Oh dear, it could be anything from a fully-completed and polished recording, to a live recording, to a demo, to a jam session. There may be multiple offerings some months. My "vision", if one can call it that, is to try to offer at least one "finished" track (short of mastering) per month, along with a "bonus curio" of sorts. The recording quality will vary greatly, but hopefully, it's all fun. The songs could range in length from a minute to over 20 minutes.

The first offering (January 2007) is a fully-completed/realized 12-minute Christmas song with three movements.

Is the material copyrighted? Can I share this music with other people?

All of the music is copyrighted either by us or whoever wrote it (whether it's a collaboration or written entirely by someone else.) If it's not ours, we got permission to share it with others via this site. Feel free to share it with others, preferrably by referring them to this site! We'd also greatly prefer it if you share all the "liner notes" and/or lyric/comments we offer each month so as to give the listener some context. Of course, you may not sell the material or profit from it.

If you wish to sing any of these songs in your church, we have printed choir arrangements with the piano parts & chord charts available for a few of them. We could also provide kerioke-type tracks if you wish.

If you wish to play any of these tracks on any radio stations (over the internet or over the airwaves), feel free, that would be wonderful. We'd really appreciate it if at all possible if you could let us know when & where the song(s) may air.

If for any reason (in the case of some silly demos & the like) we prefer this not be done, we'll make it clear that month. Otherwise, feel free & many thanks!

Is Everlasting Arms still selling CDs? If so, why?

Yes, we are.
To offer the CD for free wouldn't be fair to all those over the years who have paid for it (though we have admitedly given away quite a few). Also, when it comes to the CPR discs, we have an obligation to our brothers & sisters on the compilation not to undermine their work, especially since we all entered into a good faith agreement to all offer the CDs at the same price on the web. In addition to these considerations, the fact is that Everlasting Arms is a legal partnership that pays taxes. The IRS kind of sees us as more than just a ministry. ;-)

Besides, there are many advantages to keeping the legal business intact, especially since the long-range plans have always included publishing other artists besides ourselves.

Will Everlasting Arms be releasing any new CDs for sale in the future?

That is still the plan, yes.
In fact, some of the "monthly offerings" will be demos, or final mixes of material that we intend to put on a future CD. "On Broken Wings" very much continues to be a work-in-progress. Also, work continues on the full-length version of "Rapture". God willing, both could see a 2008 release. At the very least, I hope to make demos of them as a "work in progress" available periodically throughout the year. :-)

What's with this question & answer format?
Aren't you just asking yourself questions & answering them?

D'OH! Actually, the few people I've shared this "monthly offering" idea with have asked me these questions, and I found myself answering them multiple times. Besides, I think it's more fun to read it this way than just a long essay. Next question... ;-)

I forgot to check in last month. Can I still download it?

We intend to archive as much as our ISP will allow.
Click here to access the archives

What if I like some of these songs?
Can I get them on a CD?

We'll be happy to make custom CDRs of any/all material of your choosing.
Certainly CDs sound better than mp3s.
Click here to email us a request.

We would ask for a suggested $10 donation to cover shipping & media, but wouldn't require it.
We might consider adding an option for this on the Store Page in the future if we receive enough requests for it. We might even consider mastering & releasing a "Best Of The Monthlies" compilation CD at the end of each year. Not sure where this is going. We're still making it up as we go along...

Thanks for asking. Oh wait, you're me... never mind...

Is there anything else you want to tell me that I'm not asking about?

Yes.

Er, what do you want to tell me?

THANK YOU, for reading & for listening.
Also, we welcome any/all constructive feedback/criticism.

God bless,

Thank you.

You're welcome. :-)

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