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"Worship is man's full reason for existence. Worship is why we are born and why we are born again." A.W. Tozer

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Sunday Setlist - 09.26.10


Week #114 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, September 26th.

- Glorified
- How Great Thou Art
- Glory to God Forever
- All Creatures of Our God and King
- My Savior My God
- Holy is the Lord

Another great morning of worship. We also did something today that we don't normally do; we did a walk-in song. We did Glorified by Jared Anderson. I gotta hand it to my team. They do such a great job with new music. I had no intention of doing this song yet. I brought it to them at rehearsal, because I knew I wanted to do it at some point sometime soon. However, they did such a great job with it, they requested to do it this morning. And a great job they did with it. It's also such a great song. Looking forward to really introducing it to our congregation soon.

To check out what others are doing in their services and learn more about what Sunday Setlists is all about, check out TheWorshipCommunity.com at http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/sunday-setlists-114/

Thursday, September 23, 2010

All About Worship Retreat


Coming up on May 19-21, 2011 at Grace Church in Overland Park, KS is the All About Worship Retreat! This will be the second year for the retreat, put on by the guys of AllAboutWorship.com, Wisdom Moon and Ben Abu Saada. They are a great resource for worship leaders with podcasts, videos, blog posts, and reviews. If you're involved with worship ministry, I would highly recommend that you check them out.

This would include their retreat. I had the chance to attend last year and what a great time it was. This is not your typical conference. It is a small group of people, about 60, gathered to learn and worship, but also have a time to be refreshed. Last year we were able to sit under teaching led by Dwayne Moore of Next Level Worship. He wrote a great study on worship called Pure Praise. We were also led in worship and got to spend time with Michael Farren of Pocket Full of Rocks, Jared Anderson, Darrell Evans, and Tommy Walker. We were able to spend some time with a lot of great people and build some friendships. You can check out my recaps of each day here; day 1, day 2, and day 3.

This coming year has another great line-up of artists that will be at the retreat. Michael Farren will be back again, as well as the rest of the band of Pocket Full of Rocks. Joining him will be Brenton Brown and Sarah Reeves. You can register by clicking below. There is limited space so register early and by October 1st for the best pricing.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Sunday Setlist - 09.19.10


Week #113 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, September 19th.

- Hosanna
- Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King
- Here I Am to Worship
- We Fall Down
- New Doxology

What a great morning of worship. I really love the volunteers on the worship team that I get to work with every week. Praying for one of my volunteers as he leaves for UC Davis today. He has been a great asset to the team. He's been a part of the worship team since before I was there and for the last two and a half years, he's been up there pretty much every week. His main instrument is piano, but when we needed a bass player he decided to learn it. He did and became a great bass player. It's been a joy to serve with him and I wish him the best at college. We've got a real need on the worship team now, as I could really use another piano and bass player now. I know God will provide and for now we'll do the best with what we have.

To check out what others are doing in their services and learn more about what Sunday Setlists is all about, check out TheWorshipCommunity.com at http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/sunday-setlists-113/

Monday, September 13, 2010

Be Compassionate by Warren Wiersbe

Be Compassionate was a great book. It's a part of Warren Wiersbe's "BE" commentary series. This is the first book of that series that I have read. It is a commentary on Luke 1-13. I first heard of and was exposed to Warren Wiersbe in college and really enjoyed his writing. I've read other commentaries out there and this by far in my mind is one of the better ways I've seen one written. I felt as if I was sitting in a service listening to a sermon series on Luke 1-13. It's not so much that every verse is highlighted, but the important parts are and the context is there. He does a fantastic job of continuing the theme of how Christ lived a life full of compassion throughout the entire book. Warren Wiersbe is a great man of God that has definitely spent his whole life in the Word and it shows. He has a great understanding of it and knows how to explain it. I'm sure this book will turn in to a great resource to be pulled off the shelf time and time again. Makes me want to get as much of the rest of the "BE" series as I can. This is an updated version from the earlier printings and what is also great about this one is the study questions at the end of each chapter, great for personal study or small group discussions. I did not focus a lot of time on those for this reading and review, but it will most likely be something that I will go back through and complete at a later time.

Special thanks to The B & B Media Group, Inc. and David C. Cook for providing this complimentary book to read and review. You can purchase the book here on amazon.com.

Sunday Setlist - 09.12.10


Week #112 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, September 12th.

- Everlasting God
- Your Name
- Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Travis Cottrell version)
- Enough

Another wonderful morning with the family of God at Bethel. We're still in chapter 11 of Hebrews in the midst of our Hebrews series and today we talked about Joshua and Rahab. The story of Rahab still amazes me. Here's this woman who was a prostitute that hid the spies Joshua sent out and is also included in the genealogy of our Lord, Jesus Christ. A wonderful picture of the love of a Father to all people, no matter what we have done in the past. He love us and will use us in ways we may not understand, but His ways are not our ways and His thoughts, higher than ours. Truly amazing! It was also nice to have my parents there too. They are visiting from Ohio for the next week. I pray that God touched the hearts of those that were there. For some reason, personally I was very distracted. I'm not even sure what about, just wasn't completely focused, so I hope that wasn't a distraction to people.

To check out what others are doing in their services and learn more about what Sunday Setlists is all about, check out TheWorshipCommunity.com at http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/sunday-setlists-112/

Friday, September 10, 2010

Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

Max Lucado has written another great book with Outlive Your Life. I have really enjoyed reading his books and I love the way he writes. The writing is so solid, but I love the way he takes creative liberties with his stories and illustrations. He is a fantastic writer and his heart for it definitely comes through. He's passionate and wants to share that with his readers.

The sub-title for this book is "You Were Made to Make a Difference." A calling that is so applicable today just as it was for the first century church. Max takes the premise of this book from the opening chapters in the book of Acts. It was a time when the church exploded and were completely radical in their faith. I don't think it's any coincidence that I have been hearing messages and seeing other books being written on this topic. In the opening chapter of this book, Max tells a fable of a captain who lands on a group of islands and witnesses two very different qualities of life. He asks someone on the island where the quality of life is better, why it is so much better, and this guy responds, "Father Benjamin." The captains asks the guy to take him to where he lives, so takes him to all these places, but has yet to see him. The captain finally asks if he can talk to Father Benjamin, and the guy responds, no, because he has been dead for some time. The captain is confused, but then the guy says, you didn't ask about his death, but about where he lives, so they showed the captain that. It was because of how he lived that all these people had life. He had made a difference. Living your life to make a difference is not selfish, but a life of service.
"These are difficult days in our world's history. 1.75 billion people are desperately poor, natural disasters are gouging entire nations, and economic uncertainty still reigns across the globe. But you and I have been given an opportunity to make a big difference. What if we did? What if we rocked the world with hope? Infiltrated all corners with God's love and life? We are created by a great God to do great works. He invites us to outlive our lives, not just in heaven, but here on earth. Let's live our lives in such a way that the world will be glad we did."
We are called to live and be like Christ. Jesus Christ lived his life in a way that made a difference for everyone else. So why shouldn't we try to do the same. Now obviously we can't become a savior, but we can still make a difference, even if it ends up affecting just one person. We were being the church. This book was a challenge to me and I'm sure one that I will be reading quite often as a reminder.

Special thanks to Thomas Nelson and BookSneeze for providing this complimentary book to read and review. You can purchase the book here on amazon.com.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Sunday Setlist - 09.05.10


Week #111 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, September 5th.

- Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
- Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
- Mighty to Save
- Shout to the Lord

I was away this past Sunday, but had one of my worship team members lead. He's done it for me in the past and always does a great job. I'm very thankful to have some people that can take the lead in my absence.

I was in Leavenworth, Kansas (outside Kansas City) this past weekend for a memorial service for my wife's grandmother. It was a tough weekend, but also a sweet weekend with a lot of family celebrating the life of Grace Thengvall (10.17.19-8.25.10). While there we had the opportunity to worship with the family of High Prairie Church. This is the church that my wife's grandparents, aunt, and uncle attend. A nice, small, country church with a lot of great people. The day of the memorial service they provided lunch for us. All I could think of was a great picture of the church being the church. It was a great Sunday morning as well. One of their young adults was leaving for Lebanon to teach english as a school there. It was a morning of commissioning her to go out and share Jesus with others. The pastor brought a message on that same idea, from Matthew 28.19. Here is the setlist from High Prairie Church.

- All Hail King Jesus
- We've A Story to Tell to the Nations
- Doxology
- Send the Light
- People Need the Lord

To check out what others are doing in their services and learn more about what Sunday Setlists is all about, check out TheWorshipCommunity.com at http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/sunday-setlists-111/