Sunday morning was everything fun!

Our Sunday Setlist was:

1. Death In His Grave – John Mark McMillan
2. How He Loves – John Mark McMillan
3. Awesome God (Chorus Only) – Rich Mullins
4. Revelation Song – Jennie Riddle
5. From The Inside Out – Joel Houston

Our Team:
Me – Worship Leader/Acoustic Guitar
Patrick Leong – Acoustic Guitar/Vocals
Vanessa Williams – Keys/Vocals
Sammy Gutierrez – Electric Guitar
Michelle Gutierrez – Bass Guitar
Curtis Williams – Drum
David Robertson – Sound
Ethan Hunt – Graphics/Visuals

Other than the set being really worshipful, dynamic and just plain fun… I feel like both gatherings went extremely well. How do I gage that? Of course by the lack of hiccups and overall smoothness of all transitions as well as the technicality and musicianship of the worship band… but mostly, I feel like the message was not only grasped, but people were challenged by it.

Greg talked about pausing in life… Sabbath. This is something that is SO applicable to all of us, especially in this “go-go-go” culture. I know I can always be better at observing Sabbath. I know I’m way better at creating boundaries and making sure I have family time now vs. before… but I still have a tendency to push to do more when I can. That can get unhealthy real quick.

Today was a good reminder to stop and take the moment. To hear Greg’s message, CLICK HERE to hear it on iTunes.

Also, I thought I’d include the recorded house-mix of how we did “How He Loves” into “Awesome God” in case you were interested. You can ignore all the times I flub the words… or chords CLICK HERE for that.

Now your turn. How was YOUR Sunday?

If you’re in the Portland area, and are planning on getting a tree for Christmas this year… please consider purchasing it from us.  Your money will go to those in greater need.  There’s no BETTER way to get a Christmas tree this year!

Below is the press release I pulled from Matt’s blogsite.

PRESS RELEASE

Church! at Bethany, a 3-year old church that meets at the Stoller Middle School, is selling Christmas Trees For Kids.

100% of the proceeds will go to help children.  50% will go to the Beaverton School District Homeless Student Fund and 50% will go to Children of the Nations, which is a Seattle based organization that works in Africa to care for orphaned children.

The sale will take place at 16260 NW Bronson Rd Beaverton, on November 28th, 29th and December 5th, 6th, 12th, and 13th

Hours of operation are Saturdays 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  Sundays 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Trees are available starting at $25.

Donations are accepted and can be made online here!

Check out our Facebook Page and invite your friends!

1. Indescribable – Chris Tomlin
2. Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman
3. How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
4. Healer – Mike Guglielmucci
5. Give Us Clean Hands – Charlie Hall
6. From The Inside Out – Joel Houston
7. Hosanna -Brooke Fraser

I received this forward from my father-in-law today:

THE BUZZARD:
If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

THE BAT:
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

THE BUMBLEBEE:
A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom.. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

I don’t usually do the “email forward” thing, but this one connected with our current “Hostage” series.  Today, Matt talked about “Addictions” and how we are ALL addicted to something.  Not everyone is addicted to something as “big” as alcohol, sex or porn… but I am POSITIVE we all have addictions that pulls us away from God.  And if you’re that ONE person that says you DON’T have an addiction, then you are in some serious denial, friend.

Maybe our addiction is…
… control.
… our kids.
… for acceptance.
… Starbucks.

I’m pretty sure I can raise my hand to all of those.

During the in-between, when my affair was over and before I told Brian, I felt completely trapped.  I really didn’t think I had a way out.  It was one of two things.  Either tell Brian everything and LOSE everything… or keep it all till death.  That was it.  I had NO clue that God’s plan for me and my marriage would be restoration.  I never bothered looking UP to see my way out.

This morning, Matt said:  ”When you tell your secrets of addiction, don’t just tell 90%… share the final 10 too!”

You see… I did EXACTLY that.  When I came out, I didn’t tell the full truth.  I only shared 90% of it.  There are a lot of reasons I did that.
I thought I was protecting Brian.
I didn’t want to hurt him more.
I still wanted to protect the other man.
I was scared.

But the most REAL reason is this: I was still protecting my addiction… ME.

For some strange reason, I really believed I could do a better job protecting myself than God could… when in actuality, what I really needed was to STOP trying to “save” myself and just look up… where FREEDOM is openly available.

I wish I looked up sooner… because freedom is sweet. But I guess it all doesn’t matter, because I am tasting freedom now.

Sorrow looks back,
Worry looks around,
But faith looks up!

Are you tasting freedom? or are you still looking down?

I’m still processing what happened this morning to get me so rattled.  I can’t put my finger on it necessarily, but Sunday mornings have always just been THAT morning.  The morning that’s more challenging than the rest.  It often feels like everything is against me.

Here’s our typical Sunday:
Get awaken by kids
Change kids’ diapers
Make breakfast for kids
Coax kids into eating breakfast
Threaten bodily harm if they don’t eat their breakfast
Dress kids
Dress them again after they’ve undressed themselves
Load guitars, drum kits, a laptop, chord charts, a diaper bag in the car
Load kids in the car (rather… WRESTLE them)
Get IN the car
Get out of the car to grab things we’ve forgotten to do unnecessary wrestling
Get in the car… again
Breathe

By the time we start the car, Brian and I want to just call it a day.  At this point, we haven’t even started to help set up church yet.  These are the confessions of a Worship Pastor of a church plant who has two kids under school age and does “church-in-a-box” every week at a local middle school.

Today… I was just tired.

But you know what’s amazing?  By the time 10:30am hit and service began… everything was smooth like BUTTA, and I again remembered why I love doing what I do.

Our Sunday Setlist at Church at Bethany this morning was:

1. You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
2. All We Need – Charlie Hall
3. O Praise Him – David Crowder
4. Lead Me To The Cross – Brooke Fraser
5. Grace Like Rain – Todd Agnew
6. From the Inside Out – Joel Houston
7. Hosanna – Brooke Fraser

Highlights:  Having my old high school friend, Sarah Jean, and her daughter, Mikaelyn, visiting from Seattle.  It’s really awesome to see where 13 years takes all of us in our life stories… and how greatly different we both are after all this time, in a really amazing ways.  Also, every time I get to play with Aaron Soule is a good day.  That guy is funny.

Lowlights:  Everything I mentioned above.

How was YOUR worship experience?

Not only was it the first day to our new series: The Story of Everything… but Matt decided we should change stuff up. Just for fun.

We moved ALL of the music worship portion to the front end of the service. In other words, we didn’t have a “response time”. We sang 6 songs up front with a break for announcements after the first two songs (we usually do announcements at the VERY END of the service).

Here was our Sunday Setlist:

1. Evermore – Joel Houston
2. Meet With Me – Lamont Hiebert
3. Jesus Paid It All – Kristian Stanfill Version
4. I Worship You – Generation  Unleashed
5. The Stand – Joel Houston
6. Shout to the Lord – Darlene Zschech

It was really fun to mix things up, but I have to say the best part was actually having an opportunity to take 6 songs worth of time to get to a place of connection with our Creator.

After “Jesus Paid It All”, I read Psalm 5 with no musical background.  In the silence, there was nothing but the words David wrote how many years ago.  I love how he so perfectly put into words the very cry of my heart.  It was really a privilege to just sit and soak in God’s words… a whole chapter…

During “The Stand”, I asked the church to raise their arms high in surrender.  It’s SO awkward to do it when you feel like you’re the only one, but the reality is sometimes it takes us PHYSICALLY lifting up our arms in order for our hearts to follow.  It’s amazing how freeing it is to throw caution to the wind and just worship Him in reckless abandon.

Highlights: There was a woman in the room who “came home” after a long time being away.  Her story is one of being completely broken.  She, like many of us, chose a route she thought would be better and not only hurt others in the process, but really lost herself.  Today… she came home.  She came home to a gracious, loving, forgiving husband and a church family who is just glad to see her come home.  But best of all, she came home to a God who was waiting for her to let Him love her.  She bawled during most of the service.  The cry that you can’t control… I call it the “ugly cry”… yet, something about her tears were SO beautiful.  SHE IS BEAUTIFUL… and completely restored in her humility.  Today, she was baptized.  Her past is gone… her journey begins today.

I SO can relate to her story.  I, too, have gone astray.  I, too, have thought my way was better that His.  I, too, have hurt the one’s I love more than I ever intended and WAY more than they ever deserved.  Yet God is good!  He waited for me.  He waited for me to come home.  In exchange for my debts and humility, He has restored me COMPLETELY and will continue to refine me into who He has called me to be.

There IS hope, my friends.  There IS redemption.  I promise!

This is the only highlight that matters.  I have NO lowlights in today’s Worship Confessional.

How was YOUR Sunday?

I’ve mentioned in the past posts that I struggle with feeling ready to lead in the services due to the amount of set up and family “chaos” I have with me on Sunday mornings.  It’s just part of being a part of a church plant.  However, yesterday, I dropped  Crystal off at the airport 1.5 hours before we showed up for church set up.  I had 45 minutes in the car just to myself after I dropped her off.  I chose to keep the radio off and just pray and sing.

By the time I got to the church, my heart was in a totally different place than on a regular Sunday morning when Brian and I are trying to herd our babies out of the house.  I had already connected with God, so I was TOTALLY prepared to help others connect.  I don’t know how it went for the rest of the congregation, but overall, I felt like it all just clicked… the set up, the worship, the fellowship time… all of it.  I was so thankful.

Here’s the Sunday Setlist:

1. All We Need – Charlie Hall
2. Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
3. How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
4. Mighty To Save – Reuben Morgan
5. Our Great God – Mac Powell & Fernando Ortega
6. Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle
7. Till I See You – Joel Houston & Jadwin Gillies

Highlights:  Definitely having a REAL and rare quiet time alone in the car prior to the service… having my heart in the right place.  I’ll have to figure out how to do something like that every Sunday morning (obviously not that extended, but just some alone time).  I think EVERYONE showed up to set up yesterday morning to help set up, because we got started late due to the school being locked up when we got there, but we STILL got set up within 15-20 minutes.  This NEVER happens.  We sound checked and got everything up and going a good 45 minutes before doors opened… so all of the set-up crew sat around with VooDoo donuts and just got to fellowship.  My kids were also in great, behaving moods.  That always helps.

We had NO technical issues and a pretty full house.  We had to pull out MORE chairs during the service to accommodate all the newcomers.  Brian leaned over at one point in the service and said, “I think we’ve hit some kind of strange momentum during summer the last month!”  We’ll take it.  I love that people in the Bethany area are just WALKING to church to check it out… and what’s better is that some are staying.

Lowlights:  I cant say there’s much.  It was the last day of our series “The Real OT”… kinda sad about that cuz I actually really liked this series.  I LOVE the Old Testament though.  Also, at one point during the sermon, it got pretty noisy with babies crying/fussing.  We don’t have a nursery through the summer and it’s been pretty good till yesterday.  I felt for the parents trying to calm their child and miss part of the sermon.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the kids fussing… that’s just real life… it happens.  I feel for the flustered parent who’s struggling with feeling self-conscious about their flailing child and missing out on their experience.  I just want to help serve them.  We’ll get back to having a nursery in September.

So… how was YOUR Sunday?