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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

Friday, July 29, 2011

Sunday Setlist - 07.31.11


Week #158 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, July 31st.

- Lord I Lift Your Name On High by Rick Founds
- Forever by Chris Tomlin
- Who Am I by Casting Crowns (special music)

Wow, what a morning... our sound check/run-through couldn't have gone worse. It had nothing to do with the music but all with our in-ear monitors. Nothing was working right. By the time the service started things still weren't perfect but we made it through. Definitely gonna have some work to do in the sanctuary to get things worked out. One thing that was fun this morning was that since one of my worship team members was leading, I got the chance to just play bass this morning. I don't get to do it a lot any more, so it was nice just to just play and not have to worry about anything else. Definitely needed that after running around like a chicken with head cut off all morning.

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-158/

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Sunday Setlist - 07.24.11


Week #157 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, July 24th.

- Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee by Charlie Hall
- I Am Yours by Michael Neale
- Glorified by Jared Anderson
- Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin

What an interesting morning. We were having all kinds of sound issues. Most likely most of them were because we had to pull apart our system for the outdoor service last weekend and just need to get things dialed back in correctly. Then some time during the announcement time between the first and second songs, the battery in my guitar went out. Of course I didn't know until I went to start the second song. Luckily I am thankful to have a great team, and even though they didn't hear my guitar they everyone kept going. It ended up going just fine for the next two songs. Then during the message I was able to get the battery changed and we were back to normal for the last song. Hopefully we can get the sound stuff dialed in for next Sunday and we'll be good to go.

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-157/

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Sunday Setlist - 07.17.11


Week #156 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, July 17th.

- Open the Eyes of My Heart by Paul Baloche
- Mighty to Save by Hillsong
- Happy Day by Tim Hughes
- The Lord Reigns by Gateway Worship

This past Sunday was our 4th Annual Outdoor Service. We wanted to do something different and it's also become an outreach event as well. It's a lot of fun doing the service outdoors. It sure is a ton of work though with making sure the tents get set up, getting staging, and then getting all the sound gear set up. And that's just before the service, then we have tear everything down again and get everything re-connected in the sanctuary. By the time I left on Sunday, I had been at the church 11 hours. I'm just glad we don't do it more than once a year. We start the service a little later and then we do a big BBQ afterwards. This year we also had a rib cook-off contest. I had the privilege of being a judge! Then we had some water slides, a jump house, kiddie pools, and a slip-n-slide for some fun after the BBQ. The worship team sounded great. Being outdoors we don't have to worry as much about volume so we can really let loose a little bit. I also picked mostly up-tempo songs to help with that. All in all it was a really great time and I'm glad that we do it.

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-156/

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Sunday Setlist - 07.10.11


Week #155 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, July 10th.

- Everlasting God by Brenton Brown
- All Creatures of Our God and King by David Crowder
- How Great Thou Art by Paul Baloche
- Chosen Generation by Chris Tomlin

Another good morning of worship! The team did great and the congregation seemed to connect with the songs this morning. It's been great to add Chosen Generation to the rotation of songs; such a great song!

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-155/

Friday, July 8, 2011

Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman

Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus Christ by Kyle Idleman is a book that will cause you to heavily evaluate your own life and truly figure out where you stand in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Are you truly a follower or are you a fan (an enthusiastic admirer)? He begins with a passage of scripture from Matthew 7 where Jesus talks about a day when everyone will stand before God and some that were confident in their standing with Him will hear, “I never knew you. Away from me.” A sobering thought and not one that I want to hear on that day. Throughout the rest of the book, Idleman works on helping us diagnose whether we are a fan or a follower. He breaks up the book into three sections; Part 1: Fan or Follower? An Honest Diagnosis, Part 2: An Invitation to Follow, and Part 3: Following Jesus. Wherever. Whenever. Whatever. Part 1 is all about us defining where our relationship with God is. Idleman takes us to the Gospels and uses the examples of the people that Jesus came in contact with as case studies for us to study. Then at that point we have to ask ourselves whether we are a fan or a follower. Part 2 is causing us to look at where we are in light of the Gospel. The chapter that got to me the most is on totally surrendering yourself to God. So often we try to keep a hold of things, but the only way to truly becoming a completely committed follower of Jesus is to completely surrender ourselves to Him. This is something that I struggle with, but having read this book and especially that chapter, it’s something that I now understand and am working towards. As we get into Part 3, we realize the demand it takes to be a follower. There is no break. To be a follower, it’s a decision to follow wherever, whenever, and whatever He decides. This isn’t something to be taken lightly, but our eternity is at stake. Don’t forget about those in Matthew chapter 7 that heard words from God they thought they would never hear because they were “certain” that they were followers.

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

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Sunday Setlist - 07.03.11


Week #154 of Sunday Setlists. Here is our setlist for Sunday, July 3rd.

- God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood
- My Country, 'Tis of Thee
- America the Beautiful
- I Am Free by Ross Parsley
- Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) by Chris Tomlin
- How Deep the Father's Love For Us by Stuart Townend
- Jesus Paid It All by Kristian Stanfill
- Your Grace Is Enough by Chris Tomlin

We had such a great service this past Sunday. Our pastor was on vacation so the elders planned the service and it was made into a patriotic and communion service. The way the two were blended was perfect. We spent time praising God and thanking Him for the freedoms we have in this country and then went into sharing about the freedoms that we have in Christ Jesus because of what He did on the cross. It was the perfect way to blend the holiday weekend with the sacrament of communion. We had a lot of music which was a nice change and the team did great with all of it.



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-154/

The Greener Grass Conspiracy by Stephen Altrogge

I'm very glad that I had the pleasure of reading Stephen Altrogge's new book The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence. The content of this book is absolutely fantastic and I believe very relevant to our time. I also found it very relevant to my life. Altrogge begins the book with this statement, "I've never believed in conspiracies." He then goes on to say, "Then I discovered that I was part of a conspiracy...it's a conspiracy between the world, my heart, and Satan to steal my happiness. These three are plotting and scheming together to make me perpetually discontent." There is so much vying for our attention that we continually play the "if only" game. He says at the very beginning that he’s not writing it as someone that is content but as someone that is still battling in this area. He wants us to fight with him, and I for one want to join in that fight. As I continued to read page after page, I saw so much of me and what I struggle with. This book has made me stop and think about where I need to go to find the contentment that I long for. Altrogge continues to point us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is where we need to go. He writes this,
“The Gospel of Christ is the fountainhead of contentment. In the gospel we have access to infinite blessings. But if we don’t drink often we will always be thirsty.”
If we lose sight of the fact that contentment comes only from God we’re always going to be searching for it in something or someone else, and that will never quench that thirst. Until Jesus Christ comes again and takes us home to heaven, we’re always going to struggle with this. We can continue to find contentment in Christ, but there is always going to be a struggle and a pull for us to be discontent and search for contentment in all the wrong places. Altrogge leaves us with hope though. We have hope in the Gospel of Christ now, but we also have the hope of heaven for when Christ comes back or we go to heaven to be with Him forever. He concludes his book by pointing us to heaven, “When we’re in heaven, the battle will be over. Contentment will not be a struggle. Peace, pleasure, and joy will take the day. This is my hope. I haven’t yet learned to be content in all circumstances, but I’m fighting. I’m fighting because I know this isn’t my home. I was made for Jesus, and I was made for heaven. And so were you. But until that day we need to fight.”

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

Friday, July 1, 2011

Books Read: January - June 2011

Welcome to the fourth installment of posts regarding books that I have read lately. The first post was on books read in 2009, the second post was on books read in January - June of 2010, and the third post was on books read in July - December of 2010. So here are the books that I've read from January through June of this year:

Slave by John MacArthur *
Jesus in the Present Tense by Warren Wiersbe *
Soul Print by Mark Batterson *
The Purpose of Man by A.W. Tozer
Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic *
Delirious by Martin Smith *
Meet Mrs. Smith by Anna Smith *
Death by Love by Mark Driscoll *
Awakening by Stovall Weems *
God: As He Longs for You to See Him by Chip Ingram
Lucky by Glenn Packiam *
Handle With Prayer by Charles Stanley *
Unleashed by Erwin McManus *
Radical Together by David Platt *
Jump by Efrem Smith *
The Greener Grass Conspiracy by Stephen Altrogge *
Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman *
Revise Us Again by Frank Viola *

What are you reading? Leave me a comment with your recommendations!

Special thanks to BookSneeze/Thomas Nelson, Blogging for Books/WaterBrook Multnomah, The B & B Media Group/David C. Cook, Crossway, Zondervan and amazon.com/Vine Program for providing some of these books to read and review (marked by a *).