worship confessional 1

worship confessional 1 – there it is! And just to show that we ain’t scared:

05.27.07
All We Need is You
My Savior My God
On Our Side
Everlasting God
Word of God Speak

05.20.07 (Bluegrass/Acoustic Band)
I’ve Always Loved You
I Saw the Light
Not to Us
Everlasting God
I Exalt Thee
I Love You Lord
I’ll Fly Away

05.13.07
How to Save a Life
The Time has Come
Not to Use
Father Let Me Dedicate
Your Love is Deep

05.06.07 (cool date huh?)
All we Need is You
You Never Let Go
I Stand in Awe of the Presence (How Marvelous)
How Great is Our God
Word of God Speak

04.29.07
All Creatures of Our God and King
Ready Now
Everlasting God
Enough

04.22.07
All we Need is You
Everlasting God
Blessed be Your Name
Jesus Paid it All
Word of God Speak

04.15.07
Blessed be Your Name
Everlasting God
How Great is our God
You Never Let Go
Sing to the King

04.08.07 (Easter – also the week we started using PlanningCenterOnline)
Let God Arise
Jesus Paid it All
You Are my King
Christ the Lord is Risen Today (re-arrangement by Alex McLean)
Sing to the King

DCB Animated

New Artist: Matt Kearney

If you have not heard Matt Kearney yet you need to! He toured with John Mayer and Sheryl Crow last summer and will soon be opening for Kelly Clarkson. His music has been featured on TV shows Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill. He has been described as a mix of Chris Martin (Coldplay) and Beck. His music is great and lyrics are insightful. I like the song “Won’t Back Down” :

Hallelujah ripped through my veins
I heard the hammer drop
My blood in the rain
Hallelujah came like a train
When all is lost
All is left to gain

If you want to read more about him there is a great article on ccmonline.
Also, you can visit his website www.mattkearney.com
Itunes has his album for only $7.99!

I ain’t scared of Dancing

Well I may not dance (per se), but I am man enough to admit that I have a new favorite show: So You Think You Can Dance. I am thoroughly addicted after 2 nights. I pretty much thought that my TV watching life was over after last week. No more LOST, 24, The Office, American Idol, Survivor – what’s left? I know, that’s exactly what I was thinking! Until we watched this season of “So You Think You Can Dance” – these people are amazing! Tonight’s episode was the best – there was a robot dancing guy who has scoliosis; he was the best dang robot dancer I have EVER seen (and I have seen a lot!). So I have a new favorite show, a new reason to set my DVR, and a new way to waste an hour in the evening.

We’re watching “The Next Best Thing” as well – and I laughed pretty hard.

Leading Worship: What does success look like?

So I have been thinking about this over the past couple weeks (and forgive me, but this is mainly for worship leaders, musicians, ministry leaders, etc.), but what are your expectations for a worship service? I think this may be one of the most profound questions we can ask each other, because your answer will reflect what you value in what expectations you put on your teams and your church.

Many worship leaders talk about how they just want to see people “get it”, or “really worship”; some say they want to “see God move”, or “have people cry out”, “be delivered”; some wish that “people would just sing”, or “lift their hands”, and on and on it goes. When you have a great weekend at church – what does that mean? Was the church “getting it”? Was “God moving”? What does success look like?

Here is a little check list that I came up with (so of course it is right) to help get things in order before you define a successful worship service:

• What is the Vision of your church?
  Begin by taking into consideration that each church’s vision for what the purpose of a weekend service varies. Find out what it is – this should come from your lead pastor, or the core values of the church. Write it down, memorize it, stew on it, pray about it, and let it become a part of you. If you don’t do this, you will never be successful because in your heart you will be struggling against the very core of what God is doing in the church.
• What is the Vision of your personal ministry?
  What has God placed in your heart? Where do you thrive? What keeps you awake at night and drives you all week long? And here is the clincher: does this line up with the core vision of your church (or potential church!). If they don’t line up, or come very, very close then you have three choices:
  1. Ask God to change your heart (and He will, trust me)
  2. Find a new place to serve/work
  3. Waste years of your life in constant conflict trying to convince God that you are right

  That’s it, as far as I am concerned right now – those are your choices…

• What are your gifts?
  What areas has God gifted you in? What are you capable of? Are you great at that soft heart warming worship or are you an arranger that puts together parts and harmonies and choirs, or do you just rock? Are you a songwriter, a people person, introverted, easily offended, creative, a leader, a leader of leaders, a multiplier (discipler), immature, confident, etc. Find out what areas God has gifted you – designed you for and take advantage of them. This is not to say that you can’t achieve and strive to be more gifted in areas, or maybe God will chose to use someone with less talent to do a great thing. But for the most part, people excel when they operate in their giftedness.And here is a free tip: ask others about your areas of giftedness & talent – tell them to be brutally honest. We are way to into ourselves to be honest…

Mix those three components together:
Church Vision + My Vision + My Gifting = (determines) Ministry Style

Now check this out:

• Ministry Style A + Great Execution = Success A
• Ministry Style B + Great Execution = Success B
• Ministry Style C + Great Execution = Success C

Does this make sense? Our Vision (what God has placed in our heart) + Our Gifts (what God has placed in our minds) determines our style of Ministry, which meets certain needs in our communities; not every need – thus the need for many styles to fulfill many needs. And of course at the end of the day the same basic need is met: connecting people with a loving and just God. That is success – how we get there is the big question and what we deal with week in and week out. I’ll share my restaurant theory of church sometime soon…

So again, what does success look like to you in your ministry?

Next: I answer my own question…

I don’t know what to say…

Amazing Grace

Praise the Lord, I saw the Light!

Well, we did it. 4 acoustic guitars, a mandolin, bass & drums, plus 3-part harmony. It was an acoustic week to remember – I think it was like bluegrass-acoustic-power-speed metal. It was Eagles reunion at Life Church minus the Eagles. As soon as we broke into “I saw the Light”, people were stoked, clapping, singing & dancing – there is something about this music that makes you smile. As Karl so beautifully put it, “I was getting sad when we were playing ‘I’ll Fly Away’ during second service because I knew it would be the last time we would be playing it”. It was a blast, so much fun, and so much work, but totally worth it to share the joy that God has put in our hearts through music. It was a good day. Thanks to Rob, Eric, Gene, Rich, Karl, & Jen for their talent and great attitudes! Here is the set list:

I’ve Always Loved You – Third Day
I Saw the Light – Hank Williams
Not to Us – Chris Tomlin
Everlasting God – Brenton Brown
We Exalt Thee – Pete Sanchez
I Love You Lord – Laurie Klein
I’ll Fly Away – Albert E Brumley

Passion: Hope for the Hokies

Passion is at it again – talk about staying relevant and offering something that could really speak to people in their time of need. They have released an album called “Hope for the Hokies: Songs of Restoration and Hope”. It’s a free download – check out the heart of passion and download the album here.

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Worship Leading Essentials

The guys over at www.worshippl.us have put up a “Worship Leading Essentials” list with some really great links and articles. I am making my way through them as we speak, but it looks right on. The first one deals with Life Journaling, which I have just started this year, and while consistency is the key, I have been really encouraged by it and it is becoming a habit that I don’t want to break. Check it out here and leave some comments on what you think.

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Worship Leader: Candi Pearson-Shelton

If you were into 722 or Passion in the earlier days, you might remember Candi Pearson (now Pearson-Shelton). She was, and continues to be an incredible worship leader, and amazing vocalist. Where’d she go? Well she has been busy in California – check this article out at CCM. It’s a great read to catch up with her and also an encouragement to any worship leader who wants to make a name for themselves to remember who we should be trying to promote.

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