Worship Confessional, July 18, 2010

This post is part of Sunday Set List over on The Worship Community Blog. It's where worship leaders all over the world share their Sunday experiences.

I was away today on vacation (1 day only)  I had previously scheduled the week to be away with a family member--but plans changed and I was here.  My friend, Rich Smith, was already scheduled to be here and couldn't reschedule.  So-we took the day off.  First time not leading since Feb. 5--I guess I can take a Sunday off.

Here is his set-list for the day:

Great In Power (Fragar)
Majestic (Brewster)
Blessed Assurance (Hymn)
Welcome/Announcements--we announced today that we will have a candidate in view of a call as Sr. Pastor on Aug. 1
Love Lifted Me (Hymn)
I See You (Mullins)
Be The Centre
Message--Becoming A Healthy Church: Generosity (Dave Bilderback)
Glory To God (Beeching/Fee)

Worship Confessional, May 23, 2010

This post is part of Sunday Set List over on The Worship Community Blog.

Another Sunday... and I sit here looking back and looking forward.   I've said in recent post how the Month of May has seemed like an endless promotion for this or that (missions here, VBS, Camps, graduates, moms, babies dedicated, shoes collected, dinners, testimonies, business meetings, departures, etc).  Maybe it's just the musician in me, but for me worship (the act of the, the engagement in and the appreciation of the function of) has taken a back seat this month to all of the business of church.

We have continually shortened our worship portion in order to accomodate all of these special events this month.  Sitting there this morning the thought came to me that it's going to take a while to get back into the groove of worship (meaning really engaging in worship ) in the coming months and that won't be easy with people beginning to leave for vacations.  I guess for summer it will be a sensitivity how to get people back in the mindset of participating in worship.

I understand that when the church gathers that information must be communicated about group life, but hear me when I say that at some point "everyone's announcement that is urgent and necessary" becomes more dialogue to ourselves about ourselves and not about God.  Worship is for and to God.  I'm afraid that we've lost that meaning.

Bless The Lord (Laura Story)--I've been wanting to sing this song for a while.  We opened by reading Psalm 103 and I hope that people will remember that little chorus this week "Bless the Lord O My soul--all that's in me bless his name"

Indescribable (Laura Story)--Another Laura Story song.  My bass player said "Hey, it's a Laura Story Sunday" :)   We love this song.

Welcome/Announcements

Recognition of our Interim Teaching Pastor--Ed Ethridge.  This was Ed's last day with us as he heads back to the Metroplex to be interim at another church closer to home.

Missions Moment--Australia --Sarah Carpenter, member of our praise team is leaving in July for Hillsong Leadership College in Sydney.  Sarah shared not only about Hillsong but about the spiritual condition of Australia.  We also prayed for one of our students leaving for Kenya this week.

Recognition of Senior Class---Prayer time for these graduates.

Offering

Immortal Invisible (Laura Story)  -Cut due to time

From The Inside Out (Joel Houston)

Morning Message-- What To Say On A New Day-Ed Ethridge

Here and Now (Paul Baloche/Benton Brown)

Next Sunday we begin our summer series BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH.

Ronnie--Not Your Typical Church Member?

As we begin this journey on BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH it's good to sometimes laugh at things and think "oh, my goodness, we're not like that" (and we're not totally like RONNIE) But if we are honest with ourselves there is a little bit of Ronnie in each of us.

Our expectations of CHURCH LIFE have been set from our upbringing, our experiences, our education and our culture.  Could any one of these be a reason that "RONNIE" is the way he is?   Could that be true of us too?

So--laugh with (not at Ronnie) because truth be told RONNIE lives within all of us.

What Is A Healthy Church?

Macchia's book is an excellent starting point on church health. It's so practical and I love that each chapter ends with a prayer embodying the essence of that chapter in a couple of sentences.

Our focus this summer will be on "BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH" which begs the question "What is a healthy church?" It's a question that not only faces FBC Snyder, but the larger church in general.

This year I finish up my 23rd year in ministry and to be honest with you every church that I have served has had issues with church health. They varied in degrees, but all struggled with manifestations of poor health (lack of vitality, growth, discipline, vision, etc)but often they were masked by circumstances and events that somehow pointed in another direction.

I'm excited that we're going to tackle these issues. No, it won't be easy but it will be necessary to look under the hood and understand our church and THE CHURCH and do our part of being a healthy body. We've got many things planned to help us in these areas. I'll be blogging about a lot of this so get ready.

What do you think makes a healthy church?

Focusing On A Healthy Church

This Summer we'll be focusing on BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH and I thought I'd list some of the resources we'll be using.


What Is a Healthy Church?






Becoming a Healthy Church: Ten Traits of a Vital Ministry


It's going to be a busy and interesting summer as we tackle this subject.

Worship Confessional, May 16, 2010

I'm pre-posting this since I will be in the final performance of SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY at The Ritz this afternoon when this comes up.

This post is part of Sunday Set Lists over on The Worship Community blog. It's where worship leaders exchange their orders of worship for the day and dialogue about worship.

Set List

This is a short day of music because of a special testimony and other things. Seems like May is the busiest month (Mother's Day, Graduates, Memorial Day, VBS Sign up, dinners, etc) I hate that we don't have more time for worship during this month. But, it is what it is.

HAPPY DAY (Hughes) Second week on this one. I'm running into lots of churches that are singing this right now.

Welcome/Announcements/ Offering

Offertory Music -Judy Brown

Testimony

HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING (Tomlin) Brought this one back. It's been about 6 months since we sang it.

Morning Message- Ed Ethridge

HERE AND NOW (Baloche/Brown) Our commitment song for the month.

How was your Sunday?

Worship Confessional, May 9, 2010

This post is part of Sunday Set Lists over on The Worship Community Blog.

I'm preposting this because when the set lists come out I'll be in the middle of our third show at The Ritz.

Set List

Happy Day (Hughes) We were suppose to do this last week--but because of Media Shout failure--we postponed it until today.

Welcome/Greeting/Mother's Day/Baby Dedication---what else can we do on this day?

Pass It On (Walker)---another fave and thought it worked well with Mother's Day and Baby Dedication.

My Inheritance (Freeman) We debuted this one a couple of weeks ago and came back to it today. Again--thought it fit with the theme of legacy and children

Morning Message--Ed Ethridge (our interim pastor will only be with us 2 more weeks) Ed has been a good steady voice for us since November. We will miss him.

Here and Now (Balcohe/Brown)---keeping our new song going--this is our third week for this one and I think they're catching on to it!

Worship Confessional, May 2, 2010

This post is part of Sunday Set List over on The Worship Community Blog. Check it out. Worship pastors post their set lists each Sunday and discussions take place about worship.

Set List

Worship with Children's Worship Arts ( Word of God, I Know That I Know, All To You)--we've used the materials by Kathie Hill Music for Worship Arts. They are great as they include music education materials as well as crafts and worship arts themes.

Happy Day (Hughes)--Love this song and I've been wanting to do it for a year or more. It will be in our rotation for the coming weeks.

O Happy Day (Spiritual)---so, I decided to throw in the old "Spiritual" ( I guess it was my Glee influence for the week)

Welcome/Announcements/Mission Focus---Taylor, my daughter, shared about her Compassion child in Ethiopia since that was our country of Focus this week.

Pass It On (Walker)---great song that we introduced last year.

How Marvelous (I Stand Amazed) (Tomlin)---great old hymn with some new chords

Morning Message--Ed Ethridge

Here and Now (Baloche/Brown)--2nd week on this one and I love it even more. I had people tell me this week that they sang this song all Sunday afternoon. Great!

How was your Sunday?

So-- I feel like I need to post an update on this service. I had already preposted this blog post because I was going to be in rehearsal this afternoon.

What actually happened...

MEDIA SHOUT crashed on us 20 minutes before the service. It absolutely would not find the script for the day.. so I had to punt

We had a our Children's Worship Arts Kids singing... so we did our best with them.( They sang three songs) I then went to O HAPPY DAY (something I could easily teach) and then because we were in G--I landed on LORD I LIFT YOUR NAME ON HIGH (because of it's familiarity) It worked

Interview with my daughter Taylor about her Compassion Child in Ethiopia went well (we have someone interested in sponsoring a child)

Then because of time (taken from trying to get things going) we went straight to HOW MARVELOUS which people knew.

Message--by this time I was frazzled.... but there's always a reason

Ended with HERE and NOW and it was easily taught because of it's repetition.

What songs do you lean on when you have to PUNT?

Songs That My Church Loves...Matt Maher

Of all the recent artist that I have introduced to my church, none come more highly regarded than Matt Maher. I have had the chance to meet Matt on several trips to Nashville and each time I come away with a deeper appreciation of his artistry and his heart of worship.

When Matt sings a song there is a depth and richness to it that you just can't find in contemporary Christian worship. He is a thinker and has pondered the deep mysteries of God and expresses his own walk through his songs. I think that's why our congregation loves these songs.

We sang "Christ Is Risen" for Easter and for 4 weeks afterwards and I can't tell you how much the affirmation and message of Easter resounded for those weeks following. It was good to sing it over and over again.

Your Grace Is Enough

Christ Is Risen

Sing Over Your Children

Great Things

Songs That My Church Loves...Chris Tomlin

If anyone has shaped the form and style of current Christian worship, it has been Chris Tomlin. I would say that a good 50% or more of our current songs that we sing have a Chris Tomlin influence if not 100% contribution on his part.

Chris' songs have come up through the ages (from those who have known him through youth years now into adult years) and you can certainly see the maturity in his writing and styles now.

I find that Chris' songs (while incredibly high for the average congregation!) call for the worshiper to engage with the heart of God in worship. They are passionate and thoughtful expressions about our God.

How Great Is Our God ( I heard this song before it was released in 2004 and I knew immediately that it was going to be a hit--simple and beautiful. This one will be around for ages)

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

Enough

We Fall Down

Made To Worship

The Wonderful Cross

Songs That My Church Loves...Travis Cottrell

On any given Sunday if you were to check in on our worship, more than likely you would find a Travis Cottrell song ( or a song that Travis has done on a worship album) I hold Travis in the highest esteem as a worship leader and musician. If there's anyone I look up to--it's Travis.

What I appreciate, (and I think our folks appreciate) about Travis music is : 1) Heart---there are just some things about Travis' songs that have a heart of worship 2) Musical---every song has a memorable melody or theological line.

We've used his songs over and over again. I don't think we'll ever abandon them.

Jesus Saves

Alive Forever Amen

Search Me, Know Me ( I've used this one on a Walk To Emmaus before--perfect!)

Songs That My Church Loves...Tommy Walker

Continuing in the series "SONGS THAT MY CHURCH LOVES" I can say without a doubt that we love Tommy Walker and his songs. They form some of the most passionate songs that we sing in worship and no matter how much or how often we sing them they seem to just have a life of their own and a freshness each time that we sing them. Here are some of our favorites.

I Have A Hope

Pass It On

Do It Lord

That's Why We Praise Him

He Knows My Name

Sing A New Song!

There are a couple of new songs coming up in the rotation for worship here at FBC Snyder. This Sunday we'll start learning HERE AND NOW (Baloche/Brown)from the Greater Song Album. I think it's a great response song

Another song we'll be learning is MY INHERITANCE (Freeman) which I've heard on the Song Discovery disc and then on Travis Cottrell's JESUS SAVES album. It's a great song.


I've really tried to be intentional with our new songs. We've gone from singing about 90-100 songs to about 60 or more songs. That's still a lot, but I'm finding that by intentionally repeating and placing songs in the rotation that people are digging into them in worship. It's great now to bring back a song and hear the people really grasp it in worship. That's what it's all about--singing a new song (not just new but a fresh expression of praise) to the Lord.

What new songs are you singing?

Top 10 Songs For 2009--FBC Snyder

So, it's that time of the year again where you look back at what you planned and what actually happened. Yesterday (20th) was the last Sunday in 2009 I'll lead (I'm off for my birthday next week).

It's interesting to look back at the list of songs that you planned. So many of them were given to us to use in a season that we had no idea that we would be going through (loss of Senior Pastor and staff) and looking back at this list makes me thankful that the Lord gives the songs in those seasons.

Here they are. Let me know which one was your favorite.

#10 I Will Sing of My Redeemer (You Set Me Free) (Travis Cottrell) We love the combination of the old hymn and a new chorus. This one was a winner!

#9 How Great Thou Art (Baloche) This arrangement is fresh and new. We still love HGTA!

#8 Here I Am To Worship--still a favorite

#7 Grace Greater Than Our Sin (Rich Smith) My friend Rich has done a great "Calypso"type of arrangement of this old hymn. Our congregation loves it and sings it loud.

#6 Today Is The Day

#5 To God Be The Glory (Rich Smith)

#4 The Stand

#3 Mighty To Save

#2 Jesus Saves (Travis Cottrell) A simple song that I heard back in February at Recreate would magically spark the true meaning of Christmas --way back in October when I introduced it. It all made sense yesterday when member of the church came up to me with tears in her eyes. She said " Of all the songs this year, this one is my favorite!"

#1 Big Enough God (Jenny Riddle) A song simply chosen for a series in Jonah would lead us in a time of transition and confusion. Thanks Jenny for these amazing words.

What were your top songs in 2009?

So Long Layne

By now many of you have heard the news that our Youth Minister, Layne Scott, has resigned and will be departing next weekend to start his duties as a Coach/Teacher in Corsicana. With his departure, that leaves me as the lone staff member of the the team that came together in 2005.

Layne has been my partner in crime since I arrived here in 2005. We've spent 3 staff retreats, 3 mission trips and one Catalyst trip together and have had a blast with all of them.

I'll remember:

• Trip to Guatemala (where these pics are from)
• Trip to Catalyst and a Saturday game at Georgia Tech.
• Staff meetings where we would exchange texts
• His knowledge of the latest "rap" music (which I don't know.
• The latest ROB and BIG episodes.
• His rescue of Daniel in Mexico as he was in a deep sleep walk at night
• Runs to Chicken E for a Dr. Pepper (Easy ice)
• Lunch at Mrs. Kathy's for Chicken Spaghetti (that will change your life)

Layne is the age my nephew Joseph would have been had he lived (Joseph passed away in 1986) and so there would be times I would look at him and say "this is what it would have been like with Joseph". In a way that has been kinda cool.

I'll miss the easy talks and the laughs that we had (many times at his expense