Sunday's Music - September 6, 2015

I wanted to share the music plans for this coming Sunday at our church fellowship, Summit Crossing Limestone (and I added some stuff at the end).

For a quick-start, here’s a Spotify playlist for those who have the app:http://spoti.fi/1JUgi0R

And here’s a YouTube playlist: http://bit.ly/1i2KWPH

Here are the songs:

- Desert Song (Hillsong Worship)
– Our God is Faithful (UMobile Worship)
– How Deep the Father’s Love for Us (Christy Nockels)
– How He Loves (David Crowder Band)
– From the Day (I Am They)

I come from a church-culture background of singing and playing hymns. As some of you may remember, in the 90s, “choruses” edged their way in as the thing to sing. At least, they became the thing to sing for some churches. In many fellowships, though, music style quickly became a source of contention; believers argued vehemently and often quite viciously about which kind of song was the best kind of song for corporate worship.

It seems the lyrics weren’t theologically deep enough, or maybe they were too archaic. One group thought the music was too simplistic, but for some it was confusingly complex. And then there was the pivotal issue of “raise mine Ebenezer” vs. “All things are possible! All things are possible! All things are possible! All things are possible! (Repeat 3x)”.

And in all this confusion the Gospel was (and in many places still is), unimaginably sadly, lost. A totally unique vehicle that the Maker of the universe ordained for us to use to worship Him and loudly declare our thanks and praise — music — had become a source of divisiveness.

May that never be so among the people whom Jesus has brought to life. We have the mind-boggling privilege of being children of God. Do we really want to reduce that?

It’s my perpetual prayer that our corporate opportunities to sing to our Father together will be Gospel-centric; not focused on ourselves in any way.

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Sunday's Music - August 23, 2015

Yikes. It's been over a year since my last visit here. I thought I'd dust off the cobwebs and dive in with something I wrote to our church fellowship this evening. This coming Sunday I'll get to lead music with a talented group of musicians and singers. This is a post about what we'll be singing together
.

A scant few synonyms of the word "furious" might be "passionate," "unrestrained," or "fierce." The ones I typically think of, though, are more like "angry" or "enraged." (And I'm sure many of you think about cars and stunts.) I have to say that I haven't often thought of our Father's love for us as "furious."

Interestingly, though, that's one of the very reasons I so easily embraced our first song for this coming Sunday. It made me consider in a new way how how deeply God loves us. He is a love so passionate that He cannot be resisted. God's love for us will relentlessly persist in spite of our worst failures (and sometimes, it seems, in spite of our most proficient efforts).

And that's just the FIRST song.

The second song, "Look What God Has Done," has become a new favorite. I'll paste some lyrics below our song list for this coming Sunday...

• Furious (Bethel Church with Jeremy Riddle)
• Look What God Has Done (Ghost Ship)
• Come to Me (Village Church with Lauren Chandler)
• Like Incense / Sometimes By Step (Hillsong Worship)
• All My Fountains (Chris Tomlin)

(And here's a playlist for Spotify users: http://spoti.fi/1PoUoHk )

Here are some lyrics from "Look What God Has Done":

Look what God has done: He redeemed us with His blood.
We were lost and dead in sin. He came for us.
Look what God has done: He adopted us in Love;
We were orphans without hope, now His children.

Who are we that He would save us?
Who are we that He would send us?

To God be glory, through Christ our Savior's Church
Through all generations.
To God be glory, through Christ our Savior's work
Forever and ever.

Look at Jesus Christ: He redeems His precious bride.
By His costly sacrifice, we're invited.
See the wisdom of His ways in the mystery of grace;
Every age and every race, we're united.

Do you see where this song directs our focus? What if we spent every day remembering that focus and actively modeling it? When I consider how I tend to inadvertently (and, to be real, sometimes intentionally) look down on other people, and then remember that Jesus never had the same disdain for me, I'm utterly shocked at my own arrogance.

Who am I that He would save me? Who am I that He would send me?

Look what God has done!

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Clawing God's Leg With a Song

Our house is home to three animals (four if you count Hershey the outdoor Lab) and four humans. As far as the indoor animals go, Buddy the Christmas Puppy and Molly the Needy are brother and sister puppies, and Jesse the Homeowner is their 20-pound cat friend.

When I arrive home after having been gone for any length of time, there are some reactions that I know to expect, each based on the personality of the animal in question:

Buddy the Christmas Puppy will bark off and on for about 15 seconds (all the while acting like he's so happy he's going to have a heart attack), and then he'll run to get the closest chew-toy -- either a rubber bone or a sock -- and bring it to me and begin growling, to tell me that I should try to take it away from him. He keeps that up for too long. This is the way he shows that he's happy I'm home.

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Regaining Amazement

On Saturday afternoon I posted this tweet:

If we saw, say, lanternfish every day, do you suppose we'd become unmoved by God's creativity the way we seem to [be] with "common" things?

Maybe a lanternfish wasn't the best animal for me to have used. Lanternfish look weirdly scary. But what about a giraffe or an aardvark or a star nosed mole? (Have a look here for some really interesting-looking creatures, but don't do it while you're eating.) Are dogs not amazing, or have we simply grown so used to seeing them that we don't even think of them as incredible products of God's ineffably creative mind?

It's unfortunately normal for familiarity to dull our amazement at things which truly are amazing. But when everything in our lives begins with, ends with, and finds its definition and fulfillment in our Creator, we're daily given the privilege of seeing our world through lenses of awe. Whether we open our front door to pouring rain or a spectacular sunrise, it won't be at all unusual for us to simply stare in astonished, speechless worship of Almighty God.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.
- Psalm 19:1-4 (NLT)

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waking the dawn

I love this Psalm, but it's rare that I put it into action, even though I'm generally a morning person:

My heart is confident in you, O God;
     no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!
Wake up, lyre and harp!
     I will wake the dawn with my song.
I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
     I will sing your praises among the nations.
- Psalm 108:1-3 (NLT)

Do you ever wake up and have one-on-one time with God and wind up singing to Him?

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final sunday setlist

This will be my last entry in the Sunday Setlist blog carnival for the foreseeable future. (By the way, here is my favorite original Sunday Setlists graphic, I think. I may do a gallery of the various graphics I've made up for Sunday Setlists.)

As you may have read in a previous post, our family is embarking on a path that we've prayed over and read in the Word about for a very long time. Many call it "organic church." This doesn't mean that we're elitist or feel like we're superior to or smarter or more holy than anyone. It does mean that we're following the path that God has laid out for us.

Over the years God has surrounded me and my wife with so many amazing friends that it's... ah... amazing. Sunday night, April 25 was my last service as Worship Pastor at Wall Highway, and we had a fantastic (and very long) music gathering.

Many old friends and former team members were able to be there, and that was a truly huge blessing. I can't do enough to express my thanks to long-time friends and current team members, as well as those who've moved on to other church fellowships.

Below is our song list, in roughly the sets that we did the songs in. Not many are up-to-the-minute "hit singles," but that's okay. These are songs that we've come to love over the years as vehicles of praise and of worship. This was about two hours' worth of music, and I could've easily played longer. (By the way, I think I get some kind of commission if you purchase one of these MP3s after clicking on its link. I'm just sayin'... Links go to Amazon.com MP3 downloads.)

Today is the Day (Lincoln Brewster)
Because of Your Love (Paul Baloche)
Sing for Joy (Lamont Hiebert)

Higher Ground (traditional)
Friend of God (Israel Houghton)
Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble? (Delirious?)

Glory to the Lord (Don Moen)
Let the Praises Ring (Lincoln Brewster)
Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing) (Brian Doerksen)
Revelation Song (various) (link goes to the Kari Jobe version)

Everlasting God (Lincoln Brewster version, sort of)
You Shine (Brian Doerksen)

Down to the River to Pray (Alison Krauss)
When It's All Been Said and Done (Don Moen)

Glory to God Forever (Fee)
It's Time for the Reign of God (Brian Doerksen)
Hosanna (Paul Baloche) (looks like this MP3 may be free...?)
We Fall Down (Passion)

Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King (Gateway Worship)
He Reigns (Newsboys)
Days of Elijah (Robin Mark)

We Will Hold On (Paul Baloche)
God is Good All the Time (Don Moen)
You Never Let Go (Matt Redman)

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easter sunday 2010 music

We planned four services for Sunday morning -- two simultaneous services in the sanctuary and the gym at 9:00 and likewise at 10:45. My wife Callie I led the first service in the gym with me playing acoustic guitar and one of our dummer/percussionists, David Plunk, on congas, in which an ailing power amp forced us to shut the sound system down and move to the floor so that everyone could hear and sing more freely than if we were on the stage without amplification. This was a nice way to do it; I've grown to be less and less a fan of a person or group on stage, separated, spotlighted, and physically above the congregation of people. That arrangement seems to me to fundamentally fly in the face of the idea that "we are not there to entertain."

My friend and extraordinary vocalist Josh Wilhoit ably led both sanctuary services, the second of which I joined playing acoustic and singing tenor since there were enough seats available to accommodate all those who attended, without having to have a second service in the gym. The same songs were sung in all services.

• Christ Arose (key of A) - Public Domain, Traditional - honestly, this is my least favorite resurrection-themed song. However, we sang the chorus, beginning slowly and building into a powerful chorus of voices singing, "Hallelujah! Christ arose!" It was beautiful, uplifting, and focused our attention on the One for whom we were there. This was the first time I've loved singing this song -- it actually sounded the way I heard it in my head when I originally planned it for the service (an all-too-rare event).
• Revelation Song (key of D) - Jennie Lee Riddle, CCLI Song# 4447960, popularized by Kari Jobe - describes Revelation 5:11-12; the ultimate look at who Jesus is. An amazing musical description of the glory of Lamb Who was slain.
• Glorious (key of C) - by Brenton Brown and Paul Baloche, CCLI Song# 5548521, from Paul Baloche's newest album, Glorious. This is the third song from this CD that we've used for congregational singing. Sorta like Fee's albums in their musical accessibility.
• Before the Throne of God Above (key of D) - Charitie Lees Bancroft, Vikki Cook, CCLI Song# 2306412 - the version we do is from Spin360's volume 45 (links to MP3 audio clip), which is one of those musical arrangements which amazingly compliments the words of this phenomenal song. Unfortunately it's not available at Amazon.com or iTunes as far as I know.
• Because He Lives (key of G) - Bill and Gloria Gaither, CCLI Song# 16880 - this song, a favorite of many older people (and possibly some younger ones as well) was in the gym but not in the sanctuary service.
• Arise (key of E) - Don Moen and Paul Baloche, CCLI Song# 4032337 - the word "Arise" in this song is not used in reference to the resurrection of Christ, but in reference to God "arising" among His people as we sing to Him. Another one of those songs which has music that perfectly compliments the lyrics - more rare than you'd think.

It's always a privilege to join with those who sing and play out of the overflow of the worship they've brought with them to the assembly of believers.

This post is part of The Worship Community's Sunday Setlists (week 89), a really cool vehicle through which musicians and leaders can share the songs that their fellowships are singing from week to week.

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preparing our hearts?

I sometimes consider the idea that solos and corporately-sung music of worship and praise in a meeting of Christ-followers have the primary function of preparing our hearts to hear the Word. I've heard this stated and repeated moderately often over the years as I've led music in Church meetings.

I'm not sure I find any Biblical support for it.

Surely this isn't a bad idea, though, is it? I mean, anything that focuses us on Christ is automatically good (or has seriously good elements). And Biblically, we read about David playing his harp for Saul, and as a result evil spirits stopped persecuting Saul. Remember, however, that David played music for a specific purpose -- to calm Saul down. It was not corporate worship time.

But doesn't this view of corporate singing take something intended for God and transform it into a self-serving vehicle? Rather than being able to say, "Here we are, Lord. We're not here for any benefit to us, but for Yours alone," we give oursleves a platform by which to judge whether or not that day's music at an acceptable level. Acceptable to whom? Well, us/me, of course! It's got to prepare my heart. If the scheduled order of service gets us to the sermon time and I'm not ready to hear the Word, then something was obviously amiss during the "worship set." This perspective transforms potential corporate worship into a highly individualized feeling.

To be sure, if the drums or bass or guitar are punishingly loud, it's probably going to squelch any potential the music has for a beneficial purpose. Similarly, if we always sing only songs that are generic and could be sung to a person of the opposite sex and still "work" (which is how modern Christian music is often unfairly painted with a broad brush), we're missing the point, as well.

Worshipping God absolutely prepares us to hear from the Lord -- I will not argue against that -- and He often speaks to us in the middle of our expressions of worship. I would argue that this is a side benefit to God's people rather than something that should be a goal.

What's your reason(s) for participating in singing with the Church?

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sunday's music - february 7, 2010

On Friday at one of our area schools, the unthinkable happened. A 9th grade student lost his life after having been shot by another student.

Today we opened the service with reflection on that, asking our people to pray for the family of the victim, the shooter, and the students, teachers and all who have been impacted by this. We made several adjustments to the service for this purpose, including the opening song...

God of This City (Boyd | Bleakley | Jordan | McCann | Kernaghan | Comfort) - I didn't ask anyone to stand for this song, but before we'd gotten very far into the song, people began to stand and lift their hands in worship as they sang. What a simple but powerful song, and absolutely perfect for this day.

It Is Well With My Soul (Spafford | Bliss, traditional) - A song that perfectly fit what we all needed to sing today. "Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, 'It is well, it is well with my soul."

Shout to the North (Smith) - An old favorite. It's incredibly encouraging to the body of Christ.

Because He Lives (Gaither) - This song is embraced by so many people, young and old. It focuses on Christ as our hope.

We Will Hold On (Baloche) - We introduced this song, from Paul Baloche's latest CD, two weeks ago. I strongly urge you to buy this CD! Deceptively simple but deep lyrics. For instance, "We'll be tested by the blessings; with all the comforts of the world surrounding, we will not forget the Savior. We will hold one [to Your love]."

I truly did not want to stop playing or singing.

Ending the worship service, I had the tremendous privilege of baptizing Andy, my close friend and brother in Christ. This made my day.

What a fantastic morning!

This post is part of TheWorshipCommunity.com's Sunday Setlists blog carnival, the brainchild of Fred McKinnon. Most links above (the titles of the songs) go to ChristianBook.com's or Amazon.com's MP3 downloads or NetHymnal.org song pages.

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sunday's music - january 24, 2010

It has been a long time since I did a Sunday Setlists post, which is now hosted bt TheWorshipCommunity.com.. Too long. My time seems to have been partitioned in ways that don't work too well with blogging. Didn't want to miss this Sunday, though.

- We Will Hold On (Paul Baloche) - key of A - This is off of Paul Baloche's new CD, Glorious. I love when I listen to a new song and instantly think, "Wow, we've got to sing that one!" This was one of those songs. I can't recommend it enough. I have a couple of favorite lyric phrases:

We'll be tested by the blessing,
With all the comforts of the world surrounding.
We will not forget the Savior;
We will hold on.

And the second half of the chorus:

When the battle rages on,
When we fail to overcome,
In our weakness, Jesus, You make us strong,
We will hold on to Your love.

Open the Eyes of My Heart (Paul Baloche) - key of E - Maybe you've heard this one before? I actually listened to the original recording (or one of them) this week. I'd forgotten what it sounded like.

Holy, Holy, Holy (Reginald Heber | John Dykes) - key of E - In the older hymnals this was actually in the key of E. Nowadays it's in D most of the time, for good reason. Pretty high. The link goes to a simple version by Hillsong.

Desert Song (Brooke Fraser) - key of D - First time we've done this song, This was intended to be a solo piece (a one-shot), but I'm going to put this one into congregational rotation. Beautiful song.

New Doxology (Thomas Ken | Thomas Miller) - key of G - Excellent new verses and a new chorus, from Gateway Worship's Wake Up the World album..

Thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of worshipping with the believers at Wall Highway today!

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sunday's music - november 1, 2009

It's been quite some time since I participated in Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlists Blog Carnival. It's good to be back!

I'd laid out the music for today's service a while back, long before I got the sermon topic and outline from our senior pastor. It was extra cool that he happened to be speaking on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and the focus of the music was the return of Christ and the beauty and awe of His holiness. Here's our list of music:

• Sing to the King (Charles Horne/Billy Foote) - key of E - It was Jan Owen who introduced me to this song several years ago. It's based on a hymn that was written in 1910, though the melody is completely different.
• Before the Throne of God Above (Charitie Bancroft) - key of D - I'd never known it, but this one was written 'way back in 1865, and apparently was first sung with the tune to "Sweet Hour of Prayer". The modern musical rendition is quite different, and in my opinion, delivers a far, far more accurate "feeling" than the older tune. You've really got to listen to this clip of the SPIN 360 version of this song from volume 45. Unbelievably powerful.
• Holy, Holy, Holy (traditional) - key of D - All about God. What better to sing about? This song paints fantastic visual imagery of God's holiness.
• Sanctuary (John Thompson/Randy Scruggs) - key of D/E - Continuing with the theme of God's throne, this song was a reminder that we are the body of Christ, and until the new Heaven and new Earth, we are His living place. (I didn't want to say "dwelling place")
• Glory to God Forever (Steve Fee/Vicky Beeching) - key of G - Not sure why I've waited so long for us to introduce this song. Sinple and with a slightly repetitive chorus, it doesn't bother me to repeat the words "Glory to God forever!" a bunch of times. (We should have played this one in the key of A, by the way. B, the original key, is slightly too high for large group singing and G was too low.) The link for this song goes to Amazom.com's $0.99 MP3 download. I encourage you to begin using this song as a vehicle for corporate worship.

The choir closed with a song with a Southern Gospel feel: "God Says You're Gonna Make It". Similar underlying theme to the congregational songs, with a tighter focus on standing firm because of the hope that we have.

It's an amazing privilege to be able to sing in worship to our Creator with those who know Him. It's always a huge prayer that those people who don't know Him but still attend services would respond as the Spirit draws them.

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Sunday's Music - July 26, 2009

It's a big week for Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlists "blog carnival"! This is the one-year anniversary, and it's proven to be a fantastic way for those in music leadership to share what's going on in their church fellowships. Great work, Fred! Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of it!

In an effort to get this posted Monday, I'm going to forego links. You probably won't need them for this post, anyhow.

We had a group (William Clayton and the Redeemed -- I highly recommend them) scheduled to play for the PM service, so I scheduled them to play a couple of songs in each morning service. Over the weekend I felt that I needed to pull a song out of our already-shortened list. I wanted to allow the group and Pastor Lee ample time during the service.

It was a head-to-head between "Mighty to Save" (Hillsong) and "Jesus Saves" (the traditional hymn). Personally, I wanted to do "Mighty to Save," but for some reason after I'd prayed quite a bit, I had no doubt that we needed to sing "Jesus Saves", so that's what we did. Here's our music from Sunday:

- Happy Day - Fee
- Jesus Saves - traditional
- Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) - traditional/Chris Tomlin

Then William Clayton and the Redeemed led two songs (one in the second service) of massively celebratory praise. I can't begin to explain it with words. I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive in the days leading up to Sunday, because our membership is white by a massive percentage. I love black Gospel music, but wasn't sure that our people would embrace it as much as I do. My apprehension was totally unfounded. Those guys let it go! It was huge. What a morning!

I can't remember the last time I so freely celebrated God. It was unbelievably good to be with the Church yesterday.

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The Assembly of the Saints? (Part 1)

Although large majorities of the public claim to be "deeply spiritual" and say that their religious faith is "very important" in their life, only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life. As alarming as that finding was, its significance was magnified by research showing that on average pastors believe that 70% of the adults in their congregation consider their relationship with God to be their highest priority in life.
- From "Barna Lists the 12 Most Significant Religious Findings," December 20, 2006 (emphasis mine)

"As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." (Proverbs 27:17, NLT) I really want to get input from you on where I'm going with this. I've used way too many words in this post, and I still think that I'm not communicating my point well. Your grace is appreciated, along with the understanding that I'll certainly have to clarify some things.

In the field behind our house are cows, visually reminding me that it's odd that a creature which attracts so many flies and has generally disgusting behaviors is not only edible, but delicious. If I had the responsibility of feeding these animals and they'd eaten all the grass, I'd probably give them hay, store-bought feed, or something similar. Now, imagine a totally unlikely scenario: that monkeys also lived in the pasture with the cows, and the electric fence (however improbable) kept them there. I could give this weird mix of animals all the hay I could buy, but monkeys, while they eat a variety of things -- fruit, flowers, insects, etc. -- would likely not eat the hay or cattle feed. They're different creatures with different habits, habitats, and dietary needs.

Over the past few months I've been studying the Word, looking at the modern Church, and how the two compare, and I've been seeing this sort of dichotomy. A chunk of my responsibility is focused on our weekend gatherings -- the Bible describes these as meetings of the saints/believers -- and within that responsibility is to shepherd, teach, and lead these people in "worship." The most obvious means of doing that as it relates to my task is through music.

There is little doubt that a song can be used by God to pierce the heart of non-believer, and Scripture supports the idea that a non-believer can be in the assembly of the saints and be impacted and changed by the Holy Spirit through what happens there.

However, one of my struggles comes when I realize that, like the improbable scenario with cows and monkeys, on Sundays the church in general sees a large group of people, probably half of whom don't revere God and don't know Christ personally*, who meet together in one room, and we "feed" them all the same stuff. I'm not talking about the preaching of the Word in this case. For now I'm just talking about the songs we sing.

While some non-believers could give thanks to God as they've seen Him work, and believe He exists but don't have a relationship with Him, someone who doesn't know or love God can't "worship" Him. That's a non sequitur. Songs that believers could sing with a heart of thanks to God are songs that are often irrelevant to a non-believer, or might even focus the non-believer on something other than God.

For instance, if I knew without any doubt that I were meeting for worship with 100 completely sold-out followers of Christ -- not "perfect" people, but ones who are desperate to know Him more deeply every moment -- I would have little problem singing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" as a song of thanks to God. But what about singing that same song in a "worship service" crowded with people who don't know Christ? It directly communicates that our country is great, end of story. Non-believers can immediately identify with that, but they can't identify with the concept that God is to be intimately and corporately praised and adored, and that is the stated purpose of our worship meetings.

To be sure, of all places to live on the earth, Americans are blessed and privileged beyond measure. Let there be no doubt that I am grateful to the core for those who have fought and died for us, and those who continue to do so. We live in the best country in the world, without a doubt.

This all makes these weekends (like July 4) tough for me. Our purpose in meeting with the believers is to worship our Creator; the Giver of all good things. That will naturally be the focus of someone who loves Christ, but that simply cannot be the focus of someone who cares nothing about Him. (I believe a counter-argument would be that everyone already knows we're there to worship God; it's a church service, for Pete's sake! But have you ever thought about what we communicate to those with no concept of what it means to worship God or to sacrifice our desires and possessions for His sake?)

Yes, absolutely -- let's get together as Americans to sing these kinds songs and remind one another of the heroes who have selflessly sacrificed, and to show our national pride. Let's blow a little bit of our money on fireworks (while observing safety precautions) and wear red, white, and blue. But when we're together for worship of the one true God, we need to keep in mind that we've set up our whole system of worship meetings to include people -- maybe even a majority of them -- who don't love God (and that doesn't just include "seeker-sensitive" fellowships). I'm not being condescending or graceless; I'm stating what is apparently fact. If we've set our own table, shouldn't we be serving the correct food?

I use the above examples of patriotic music only because they bring the issue into the most stark focus for me. I wonder if anyone else sees the same problems I see.

1. Do you believe I'm being completely AR? (that link goes to a definition...)
2. Do you agree with the premise that a whopping number of non-believers meets with the Church?
3. Is it a good thing for believers and non-believers to get together and find common ground in a worship service apart from worshipping God?
4. If so, do we see applicable Biblical examples?

*"Half" seems to be a conservative estimate sometimes attributed to Billy Graham. Here is a good article by the Barna group on the subject, and here is a startling one.

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Sunday's Music - June 28, 2009

Welcome to Wall Highway's entry into Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlists, week 49.

Our team today:
Nelson Lusk (my son!) on drums
Anna on keyboard and piano
Cameron on bass
Callie on vocals
Jordan on vocals
Phillip on vocals

Eric on acoustic guitar
Me on electric guitar and vocals

Today, I think the thing that stuck out most to me was not the music, but the message that our senior pastor, Lee Singley brought. I'm going to be posting a link to the podcast as soon as it's up. It was aimed right at the heart of the Church; no holds barred. Just what was needed.

Here's the worship team and choir contribution to corporate worship at Wall Highway today. I intentionally shortened the music service to allow Pastor Lee a little more time than usual, but the music still ran almost the same length as usual. Not sure how that happened. I was glad we weren't watching the clock today.

Worthy of Praises (Lynn Deshazo) - key of D - We've done this one for three Sundays to teach it to the congregation. Have a look at Revelation 4 and then sing this song. Beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King (Robert Robinson / Thomas Miller, as played by Gateway Worship) - key of D

At this point in the service our Jr. High pastor, Josh Harris, welcomed everyone. One of the announcements he made was for a play we're doing in September and having auditions for next week. Here's the promo video we showed today.

Your Grace Is Enough (Matt Maher) - key of E - In retrospect, I wish we'd played/sung this one in G. The key of E is widely singable, but I think that the energy of having it three half-steps higher would have allowed the message and emotion of the lyrics to come through more powerfully.

How Great is Our God / How Great Thou Art (Chris Tomlin / Stuart K Hine) - key of G - for so long I was against using this combo of songs, simply because everyone did it. Kinda narrow-minded of me. These two songs are so powerful because they allow us to speak about the creative power and majesty of the God who allows us to serve Him.

I left the services today extremely uplifted; it was one of those mornings where God rewarded our worship and love for Him by touching us in return.

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Sunday's Music - June 14, 2009

It's my pleasure to be able to share with you what we sang at Wall Highway this morning. 46 weeks ago Fred McKinnon kicked off a great way for those who lead music to be able to share what they're doing at their different fellowships. This is part of that continuing venture -- Sunday Setlists, week 47.

Our team today:
Dave on drums
Ryan on keyboard and piano
George on bass
Jessi on vocals
Jordan on vocals
Donnie on electric guitar
Me on acoustic guitar and vocals

Glory to the Lord (Lynn Deshazo) - key of C#m/Dm - If you don't know this slightly older song, you've really got to hit the link and buy it for a measley $0.99. I was at a concert when Don Moen played this song and it smacked me in the face, becoming one of my favorite corporate worship/praise songs ever, and it still is. I remember getting home from that concert and hunting the song down, finding it, and wondering why in the world anyone would write a piano-based song in C#m. Also, as I recall, years ago this was the first song in which we had a guitar solo at Wall Highway.

Let the Praises Ring (Lincoln Brewster) - key of E - It's been a while since we sang this one. Too long.

It's Time for the Reign of God (Brian Doerksen / Steve Mitchinson) - key of E - Week three of this song that I "discovered" by looking at Randy Neufeld's Sunday Setlists a few months ago. We'll be using this one in regular rotation now that it's become very familiar. Powerful song!

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (traditional) - key of G - This song contrasted our punyness with the majesty of God. It's the miraculous part -- the God we'd just sung about carries out His work here by using people. We are amazingly privileged. I mentioned Psalm 27 before we sang this song: "The LORD is my light and my salvation -- so why should I be afraid?"

Not to Us (Chris Tomlin / Jesse Reeves) - key of A - I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that this song, too, is a favorite. But it is (I must have a few thousand favorites). If you haven't looked at these lyrics in a while, it's high time to do so.

Worthy of Praises (Lynn Deshazo) - key of D - Lynn Deshazo writes some of the most powerful songs out there. We played this one for the first time when we presented the Don Moen musical "Thank You, Lord" last year. We sang it as a Sanctuary Choir special today but we'll be putting it into regular rotation now. Unfortunately we had to do it without the pan flute-sounding instrument. Boooo!

SIDE NOTE: A few weeks ago I was extremely bummed, alarmed, and disappointed that people spontaneously stood for "God Bless the USA", when I rarely seemed to see the same reverence and awe for God during services. However, it dawned on me today (really, it's rather idiotic of me) that I never give our people a chance to sit during the music! They can't spontaneously stand! D'oh! I had them seated in the middle of the services today, and in neither service did they remain that way. It was beautiful!

FULL DISCLOSURE: In the early service, my voice went south long before the music was over. I've had a serious sinus infection type of condition since Friday. After we sat down in the first service, I posted this on Twitter: "Tweeting while @harrisjoshua is preaching from John 6. My voice is shot! Praying it wasn't a distraction during the music for this service." I was called down by a fellow Christ-loving tweep who chastised me for twittering during a service. She said that it might push people away from Christ. I disagree, particularly given the content of my tweet, but I understand what she's saying.

By the way, Josh was in the middle of his visual illustration using sardines and crackers. I was paying attention.

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Shocking Confessions

I found this video last week while I was hunting other things. Blogger Mike Silliman has hit the nail on the head with this video. I showed it to our team in a meeting last week and it brought knowing laughter. It's hard to know whether this is acting or the real stuff.

Confessions from Mike Silliman on Vimeo.

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Worship Team Meeting

I was resource hunting yesterday and stumbled upon a skit by blogger Paul Wilkinson.

The play is entitled Worship Team Meeting and is "an attempt to answer the question, 'Was worship always this complicated?'" It centers around Asaph approaching David before the Sabbath and talking about the upcoming music. Previews:

ASAPH: But surely, the Spirit of the Lord only reveals [the songs for the Sabbath] to you as we are at worship. How can we know this now?

DAVID: Actually, I’ve been giving that some thought and it occurred to me that if the Spirit of God can inspire us as we worship Him, truly He can not also inspire us to choose those songs a few days ahead?


And another...


DAVID: What if we do [“Moses’ Song of Triumph” from Exodus] before the time of worship has actually begun? As people are gathering. A sort of pre-service song.

ASAPH: To what end?

DAVID: Just to help people get in the mood for worship.

ASAPH: ”Get in the mood?”

DAVID: Hey, I’m King. We’ll try this.


Hilarious, but stingingly convicting.

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Sunday's Music - May 31, 2009

Wow. I'm really behind on digging into my co-laborers' Sunday Setlists lately. Seems like I've either been busy or studying on a personal quest that I hope to be blogging about soon. I will remedy that tomorrow after getting some sun! Monday is my off-day. You guys will be working and I'll be soaking up rays. Heh heh...

That being said, here's what Sunday saw at Wall Highway.

Our team today:
John on drums
David on congas and percussion
Anna on keyboard and piano
George on bass
Christy (visit her blog here) on vocals
Callie (my lovely wife) on vocals
Josh on acoustic guitar and vocals
Me on electric guitar and vocals

We had slightly longer music time today, and I hope that we didn't leave Pastor Lee Singley too little time. I don't believe we did, because he hit the nail squarely on the head in the three minutes we left him. :-) Actually, we did well on time. We went for about 30 minutes.

The Pre-Teen choir opened the service with Stephen Curtis Chapman's Dive (my daughter had the solo on verse 2! Check out her blog here) and Audio Adrenaline's Big House. Fantastic group of kids, and great direction by director Doug!

It's Time for the Reign of God (Brian Doerksen / Steve Mitchinson) - key of E - Week two of this new song. The congregation seems to "own" this song as much as I do. Very powerful and energizing song about the kingdom of God and the purpose of the Church.

Lord, Reign in Me (Brenton Brown) - key of A - A personal favorite because of the lyrics. I always wonder if the melody is too simple, though, to communicate the sincerity of the words. Does that make any sense?

You Are God Alone (Not a God) (Billy Foote) - key of A/B - Not sure I can elaborate on this one past what the words say. Phenomenal.

I Stand Amazed in the Presence (Traditional) - key of E - In reflection of the songs we'd sung to this point, we closed our congregational music with the chorus to this hymn. I rather regret that we didn't sing the first verse and the fourth verse, in particular.

Your Grace Still Amazes Me (Connie Harrington / Shawn Craig) - key of C - The Sanctuary Choir special music; Christy had the first verse with Josh backing her up. The choir did an unbelievable (in a good way) job technically, and their worship was contagious.

During the offering, our drama team, UpStage, headed by @jejily (Twitter user name) and Susan, presented an original choreographed interpretive movement piece to Nicole Nordiman's Holy. Beautiful! Kaitlyn, a recently-graduated senior, was the vocalist.

It was a great day! And if Dr. Robby Newton gives me permission, I hope to post the slides from his teaching in the PM service: "Evangelism 2.0 - Why Your Friends Aren't Into Your Faith". Sobering stuff. And @dasnoopy (Twitter user name) led music in the PM. He is definitely a natural; he's a worshipper off stage and he's a great vocalist (and one of our drummers).

This is, once again, part of the inimitable Fred McKinnon's brainchild, Sunday Setlists. This is week 45!

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Sunday's Music - May 24, 2009

Always interested in your feedback on new Sunday Setlists banners. This week's is a take-off on my Twitter page theme. Fred McKinnon is using one of them this week at the Mother of All Sunday Setlists Posts! Woo! I feel slightly famous.

I was excited and a little apprehensive about Sunday's music. We introduced a new (to us) song that I found thanks to Randy Neufeld's blog -- "It's Time for the Reign of God". Powerful song; incredible lyrics and a tune that is instantly and intuitively singable. But we did "We're Marching to Zion", which I've loved as we've sort of resurrected it over the past year, but I think it's time to pull it out of rotation for a while. I felt like it might be getting less worshipful and more old by now.

Here's music from our Sunday services at Wall Highway:

God Bless the USA (Lee Greenwood) - key of Db - Yes, key of Db (every guitarist's favorite key, I'm sure). I took it to Thursday night's rehearsal in Eb, but for the sake of the soloist's range (the singer was Kaitlyn -- wonderful voice!) we dropped it a whole step. Kaitlyn's dad Steve played trumpet on the song.

I still question my wisdom in including this song in a worship service. I am very deliberate about not praising a country in a meeting where we're focusing on God the Father. People stood to their feet in both services near the end of the song. While it's done on occasion, it's rare that people stand in reverence to God during a song (usually that's because I've already got them standing). That didn't give me a warm fuzzy.

It's Time for the Reign of God (Brian Doerksen / Steve Mitchinson) - key of E - if you lead music at your fellowship of believers and you're not using this song, it needs to be the next one you bring in.

We're Marching to Zion (Isaac Watts / Robert Lowry) - key of E - Like I mentioned above, I love this song, but I believe it's time to retire it. I was super-energized about it when we revitalized it a year or so ago.

I Exalt Thee (Pete Sanchez) - key of E - A time-honored chorus, with good reason. Simple words that immediately enable believers to speak/sing to God from a position of lowliness. (Link goes to a phenomenal piano arrangement.)

I Need You More (Lindell Cooley / Bruce Haynes) - key of D/E - This was the first time we'd sung this one at Wall Highway. Similar to I Exalt Thee, its lyrics offer a simple and accessible corporate prayer.

I played electric guitar yesterday in services for the first time (as far as I can remember). Loved it! I'm not a lead player, but that's not what was called for yesterday. Played my Ibanez Talman (mine's like this, only it's black). Bought it used for $200. One of the best investments I've made other than a Gibson Les Paul Studio the year they came out (new for $600 -- sold it for the same, unfortunately, and wish I still had it).

This is, once again, part of the inimitable Fred McKinnon's brainchild, Sunday Setlists. This is week 44!

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Sunday's Music - May 17, 2009

Today was Graduates' Day at Wall Highway. I made the mistake of telling a couple of people during the week that "the seniors will be leading the music," and the response was typically something like, "So all hymns?"

If you're a friend of mine and I've been at a service like this when you graduated, please forgive me when I say that today was, hands down, the best service of its kind I've ever participated in. The best way to describe it is to say that it honored our graduates but it entirely showcased God. And I mean "showcased" in the sense of "tremendously glorified".

My fellow servant Jake Woods (and soon-to-be-summer intern) led the music, playing electric (he didn't use his Flying V today) with Sarah T. on vocals and acoustic, Zack N. on drums (I didn't even know he played, and he was phenomenal!), and the lone non-senior, Cameron D., on bass.

(Jake has a blog, so I think it's kosher to reveal his last name)

When I looked at the order of service, which the seniors and teachers planned, I made a mental note that it looked a little fragmented. That is, there was a lot going on; start-and-stop, things like that. I'm not one who thinks that we have to have a smooth, perfect script for "worship" to happen, but I thought that today might be distractingly choppy. I was wrong. It was incredible to be there.

This post is really about music, but I have to commend the seniors. In each service a senior stood on stage, with a screen behind them showing about 30 Scripture references, and for four minutes, people in the congregation were asked to randomly call out a reference, and the senior would say the verse (Megan C in the first service and Sarah T in the second). It was amazing. This is truly what it means to hide God's Word in our hearts; to write His commands on the doorposts of our hearts. I was shamed at myself and proud of those girls. I can't help thinking that hundreds of others had the same reaction, too.

On to the music; short song list today.

He Reigns (Peter Furler / Steve Taylor) - key of E - I remember the first Sunday we did this one. I'd recently started leading and was paranoid that this song would be over the top and I'd be fired. :-)

Not To Us (Chris Tomlin) - key of A - An all-time favorite. Not many songs directly describe why in the world we live, breathe, sing, etc. like this one does.

Take Me In (Dave Browning) - key of E - In how many posts can I legally say the phrase "one of my favorites"? Interesting fact: though this song was made popular by Kutless a few years ago on their "Strong Tower" CD, it's actually a relatively ancient song as far as contemporary music goes. It was written in 1987!

Sarah T sang the commitment/response song. I'd forgotten about this one...

Came to My Rescue (Marty Sampson / Joel Davies / Dylan Thomas) - key of C - A beautiful, awe-inspiring prayer.

Interested in knowing how your Sunday went! Today's post is part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlists Blog Carnival. This is week 43.

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