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Worship Confessional: 04.03.11

April 3, 2011 in Church Planting, Faith, Ministry, Paseo, Worship, Worship Confessional with 9 Comments

Today was the opposite of last week. Today was a GREAT day!

Our Sunday Setlist was:

1. Sing to the King – Chris Tomlin
2. Everything Glorious – David Crowder Band
3. Give Me Jesus – Fernando Ortega
4. Enough – Chris Tomlin

And our worship band was small, acoustic, sweet and extremely effective.
It was just Patrick and Justin with their acoustic guitars.

Curtis ran sound and sweet Ethan ran ProPresenter (told you I’d start introducing you to my team members).

By the way… don’t let Curtis’ innocent-like smile fool you. In his spare time, he likes to twitter prank his own wife. Naughty! Curtis also happens to be our drummer extraordinaire here at Paseo.

Sam Guzman, who is KNOWN for never saying anything negative about anyone, also shared his story via video:

Greg talked about being a community of peacemakers, based off of James 3. CLICK HERE for the podcast. You can also subscribe to our podcasts here on iTunes HERE.

I am happy and relieved to report there were NO panty shows today. Praise Jesus!

Highs:

* Both Patrick & Justin had obstacles from this past week (Patrick was really sick and could only eat pudding and jello for the last 8 days and Justin spent the majority of his week inhaling cement dust because he was building houses in Mexico) and yet, they sang beautifully and led with humility.
* This was a tough message for Greg, yet he spoke boldly and authentically revealing his own trials with this subject (seriously, you gotta listen to the podcast).
* We were set up and ready to go 15 minutes before we had to start. THAT’S a miracle and an amazing blessing.
* Both gatherings were again packed.

Lows:

* Not sure why, but we struggled a bit with the projector today. Nothing we couldn’t overcome… but frustrating during set-up nonetheless.

That is seriously my only low. How awesome is that?

So… your turn. How was YOUR Sunday?

Worship Confessional: 2.20.11

February 23, 2011 in Church Planting, Ministry, Music, Paseo, Worship, Worship Confessional with 1 Comment

My last Worship Confessional I wrote was last May. Let’s see if I remember how to do this thing…

Last Sunday was a blast. Actually… the first Sunday I led was two Sundays ago. It was an acoustic set with three guitars (Justin Kirklin, Sammy Gutierrez & myself). But it’s been a week… and I was on a writing strike, so I’m not gonna go back to describe that set except that it was RAD! It’s always fun bringing it down to just the acoustics.

Ok… last Sunday:

The Team:
Guitars: Patrick Leong & me
Bass: Michelle Gutierrez
Keys: Vanessa Williams
Drums: Curtis Williams

Our Set:
1. Beautiful One (Jeremy Camp Version) – Tim Hughes
2. Famous One – Chris Tomlin
3. My Glorious -Martin Smith
Sermon: Forgotten Ways – Sacrifice
4. Speak To Me – Dave Lubben
5. All For Love – Mia Fields

During “Speak To Me”, Greg set it up so that we could personally pray for the people of Paseo. Instead of an alter call, he asked those who wanted prayer to stand. The staff and elder team then went to them and prayed over them. They met them where THEY were. Then… one of my highs was seeing those who were just prayed for lean over and pray for someone else. THAT’S CHURCH RIGHT THERE!

We pulled out pretty old songs for this last weeks set. But what was fun was seeing people sing, eyes closed and hands lifted up. Some even danced. They sang because they knew the words. Their hearts remembered another time in their spiritual walk. Their souls could sing the praises of their Maker.

For me, there’s nothing better than hearing voices singing upward together all because I’ve helped coordinate a downbeat and a common key to start in. There’s nothing more humbling than helping usher His people to worship at the foot of His Throne.

It’s good to be back.

How about you? How was your Sunday experience?

Paseo in El Paso (Part One)

October 14, 2010 in Church Planting, Faith, Ministry, Paseo, Worship with 30 Comments

Brian and I have been processing our trip down to El Paso this last week (plus). The main reason for going down was to candidate for the Worship Pastor position at Paseo Christian Church.

We had been down to El Paso before for our friends’ wedding (they were stationed at Fort Bliss at the time of their wedding)… but that was 8 years ago. The first thing we noticed when we landed was that El Paso had grown quite a bit since we last visited. That’s always a fun thing to see.

Greg (the lead pastor at Paseo) was there to pick us up at the airport and took us straight to his house where he and his beautiful wife, Jill, hosted us for the next five days. Bless their hearts.

The next five days were a whirlwind.

Church members toured us all over El Paso (as well as parts of New Mexico). We spent one-on-one time with MULTIPLE couples. Many invited us into their home for a delicious home cooked meal while others treated us to some of their favorite El Paso restaurants. I led a full band of people I barely knew but immediately fell in deep, deep LIKE with. We rocked out in band practice and then I led beside them on the platform the next day. And MAN oh MAN are they a seriously talented bunch of musicians.

Playing with this team humbled me and drove a desire within me to be better than I currently am. Being a part of leading Paseo into worship that Sunday morning reminded me of some of my favorite days leading at Sunset for students. I remember looking out and seeing their innocence as they cried out to God in anthem song. I remember feeling like I wasn’t alone but part of something WAY bigger than I could ever imagine. I remember feeling so small, yet I belonged.

This time I looked out and saw honest, authentic, broken, seeking and worshipful men and women singing their hearts out, hands lifted, faces raised, eyes closed. The feeling was familiar… but oh so different. I wasn’t leading anymore. I was being invited into a worship experience. Paseo was warmly inviting me to worship our great and powerful God WITH them.

Oh how I’ve missed feeling like I’m part of a body.

The next two days didn’t slow down much. We met TONS more people, drove down into the very poor areas (the projects), met some of the homeless people Steve works with, saw some of the different projects/organizations Paseo has partnered with and helped out with, watched Steve speak Spanish to a few Mexicans, realized I wasted 6 years taking French, realized I needed to learn Spanish, wished for a superpower in which I could steal Steve’s magnificent Spanish speaking skills, discovered I was ridiculous, saw a graffiti’d plant (seriously… it was amazing), had dinner with the entire Paseo Elder Team & Staff, shared our story, and attended the weekly staff meeting (which I’m proud to say I successfully STOPPED myself from derailing. thankyou!)

WOW RUN ON SENTENCE… moving on…

Even while we were on the plane headed down to El Paso, I truly thought the possibility of the Clayville Clan ending up in the desert was a long shot. The only reason Brian and I even agreed to go was because we both heard God separately say to us that He wanted us to see what was there. And when we hear God… we obey. Little did I know our trip down there would change how I saw everything.

We returned home with a pit in our stomach.

I was about to see how very selfish I really was…

(to be continued)

Worship Confessional: 05.09.10 – Mother’s Day

May 9, 2010 in Faith, Family, Motherhood, Worship, Worship Confessional with 13 Comments

Today’s Sunday Setlist:

  1. Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
  2. God of Wonders – Marc Byrd & Steve Hindalong
  3. Rain It Down – Carlos Whittaker
  4. SPECIAL: Your Hands – JJ Heller
  5. My All In All – Dennis Jernigan
  6. The Stand – Joel Houston

Mother’s Day is a day of emotions.

For Hallmark, it’s a money maker. Cards talk of Happiness, Pride, Gratefulness, Gladness, Hugs, Thankfulness and all the years of hard work mother’s have put into raising their babies to become amazing adults.

For many others, today marks a day of pain, sorrow, isolation, reluctance, loneliness, sadness, hurt and abandonment.

If you’ve been here awhile you’ll know Brian and I struggled with infertility for half our marriage. With miscarriages outnumbering our current total number of children, Mother’s Day is still a rough day for me. I LOVE my children. I look at every day I have with them as a gift. But I will NEVER forget our babies who are now with Jesus.

Mother’s Day also reminds me of my own non-existent relationship with my own mother. Even before she disowned me due to my biggest mistake ever, I remember struggling on Mother’s Day… wishing for a REAL relationship with my mother. All this to say, “Happy Mother’s Day” isn’t always a happy day.

However… I’m fortunate to say my story doesn’t end here. My mother-in-law, Linda, has not only adopted me into her family as a daughter-in-law, but has invested prayers and unconditional love into my life. In the past year, after I came out about having an affair on her youngest son, she did the opposite of my own blood mother. She dropped her pride, personal agenda and bitterness and chose to embrace me. Even in the simplest choices of this past years’ Birthday and Christmas cards… she’s chose cards that said “To My DAUGHTER” instead of “Daughter-In-Law”.

Today is an ode to my Mother-in-Law… who has shown me what unconditional love means. She’s walked hand-in-hand with me working through life, praying through tears, and celebrating through mile-markers.

I know I’m not the only one with this type of story out there. In our service today, Matt talked about our Dependance on God through life. Rebecca and I sang “Your Hands” in response to the message… for all those who have unanswered prayers, who have pain, are weary, broken, lost, and hurt. We sang that in the midst of all that, we never leave God’s hands.

I’ve decided to include it (direct housemixed recording) to this post:

Your Hands (click to listen).

It’s a beautiful song that speaks volumes to me.

So… what are a few words that would describe how you feel right now?

Exponential – Day Two:Part One

April 21, 2010 in Church Planting, Faith, Ministry, Worship with 0 Comments

Sorry if these notes are a bit scattered, but it’s what I took down during the day.

Speaker: Ken Blanchard

  1. Leadership: from direction to coaching
  2. Can’t teach people to change from the outside.
  3. Jesus wants to give us a heart attack… from the inside.
  4. Did you come to serve or BE served?
  5. QUESTION: ARE YOU A GOOD STEWARD???
  6. Servant leader: when you get constructive criticism, say “thank you”.
  7. Your position is on LOAN!
  8. Be a shepherd… go after the ONE.
  9. Be as SERVANT first… and a LEADER second.
  10. Servant Leadership:
  11. (1) Set the vision & direction (Jesus first, others second, me third)
  12. If you mention Jesus, he does all the marketing and all the work.
  13. (2) Serving = implementation.
  14. Serve, cheerlead, support, HANDS.
  15. “we can do it, you can help” vs. “YOU can do it, WE can help!”
  16. Habits
  17. Eternal life is not all that attractive to people who’s life isn’t working out right now.
  18. Anytime you’re not feeling joy, peace or righteousness, you’re detached from the vine.
  19. SOLITUDE
  20. PRAYER
  21. STUDY the scriptures.
  22. SUPPORT GROUP
  23. Do not forget the unconditional love of the Lord. Your performance is not greater.

——————————–

Speaker: Matt Chandler

  1. 2 Corinthians 3:18…
  2. Working for Jesus gets replaced by being WITH Jesus.
  3. Transformed from one degree of glory into another degree of glory by beholding Jesus.
  4. Constantly preach the gospel to yourself. It’s not an “entry point”
  5. Judgement: Your righteousness is a stench to God outside of Jesus Christ.
  6. Romans 15:13
  7. Jesus told his disciples the Holy Spirit will remind them of everything… but when he gets to the communion table, he says, “REMEMBER THIS!”
  8. God’s plan wasn’t only Israel… it was the ends of the earth.
  9. HE has reconciled us to the Creator God.
  10. Don’t just teach them about Jesus… but teach them to OBEY God’s commandments.
  11. Mistakes today are made because we forget God was at work LONG before Luther and Calvin showed up… and long before YOU.
  12. We have been invited in!
  13. Have a respect for what has been handed to you… and a sense of responsibility for what you will be handing off.
  14. The Church doesn’t need to be saved. It needs people to preach out of a pure heart.
  15. Be faithful, let Him transform us… not gadgets.
  16. Christ first… then His mission.
  17. My calling is NOT better than Jesus Christ.

——————————————

Building Worship Ministry from the Ground Up
Speaker: Mark Deymaz

  1. Ethnic diversity and financial diversity.
  2. If your church is going to make it in 10 years, you better be a diverse church.
  3. First thing: THIS SHOULD HUMBLE US. Humble ourselves.
  4. Humility is a conscious church.
  5. Everyone in your church should be uncomfortable… and that makes them comfortable.
  6. 1-The right theology of music: It’s not about you… your style of music.
  7. Align the church with Christ vision… not with YOUR vision.
  8. Go ahead and be an Acts 2 church, but you’re not done till you’re an Acts 11 church.
  9. You begin with the right attitude and the right perspective.
  10. How do you teach that to your team and others?
  11. It’s not about the food… it’s about the family.
  12. Phillipians 2 – “Thank God I have a seat at this table!”
  13. 2-Practically: SAVE MONEY
  14. Authentic worship is not about the hype… it’s all about the heart.
  15. Assimilation: THEY change to fit into you.
  16. Accommodation: YOU changing to include.
  17. Revelation 7
  18. If the kingdom of God isn’t segregated, why is the church?

Worship Confessional -Easter 2010 Edition

April 4, 2010 in Church Planting, Faith, Ministry, Music, Worship, Worship Confessional with 6 Comments

HAPPY EASTER!!! He is Risen!

Today’s Sunday Setlist was:

  1. Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin
  2. Rain It Down – Carlos Whittaker
  3. How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
  4. O The Blood – Hillsong version
  5. Nothing But The Blood – Robert Lowry
  6. Hosanna – Brooke Fraser

I don’t know why we don’t bring our camera to church more often. We document just about everything else in our lives. Anyway… took some photos this morning:

I was just making my way through the crowds saying “Hi” when Brian took this.


During the worship service.

And to prove how short I am when everyone stands to worship. I know, I know… go ahead… crack a joke in the comments section. The best one gets a prize… of… a HUGE SMACK IN THE FACE! Yeah… ninja that!

Anyway… I digress. Back to church service stuff.

Part of being a church plant means you have to set up church from scratch every Sunday.  I like to call it “Church-in-a-Box” because we LITERALLY build church out of boxes EVERY WEEK. We don’t get luxury items like a baptismal because of the set-up time, not to mention the crazy high cost of one.

Well… thanks to my friends (and church attenders), Sean & Faye Whitacre… today was the first time in Church! at Bethany history that we had our OWN baptismal in our service. Well… let me clarify, we’ve had baptisms… but always at other locations. The Whitacre’s built our baptismal basically from scratch and did an AMAZING job at it. Check it out!

We had seven baptisms today:

  1. Dave Blauer
  2. Nate Blauer
  3. Bethany Gibbs-Blauer
  4. Diana Graalum
  5. Alex Graalum
  6. Kristian Thackery
  7. Jensen Thackery

I’ve posted pictures below of some shots Brian got.

We also “closed-up-shop” for our church’s IMPACT Offering Challenge today. Our total today ended at $5,500. That’s over 5 times what we handed out 7 weeks ago. Though we didn’t make our goal of $7,500, we’re still EXTREMELY pleased at how this turned out. If you feel you’d like to contribute to our IMPACT, I’m going to keep the donate link (in the right column of this blogpost) open for a couple more weeks. Please feel free to give if you feel led.

How was YOUR Easter?
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