Tag Archive - church plant

Our Church Trailer…

… got tagged a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s what we did with it:

You can see the final results HERE on Matt Payne’s blog.

When was the last time you turned LEMONS into LEMONADE?

Worship Confessional – 08.09.09

Confessional is one day late… but better late than never, right?

Worship was a pretty fun experience for me yesterday. We set up pretty quickly and just had two acoustic guitars… Mark & me.

Church@Bethany

For a summer service, the turn out was pretty impressive. I’d like to think it was because they came to see me, but let’s be honest… they don’t even know who I am. In fact… a cute elderly woman came in, in her Sunday’s best, with her blue Sunday bonnet on. That’s when I knew, I’d offend her… even though it was just us two and our guitars.

In the first half of the service, she stood outside where the music wasn’t as loud. The second half, she sang along… but had her fingers in her ears. It was awesome. She chose to worship, even though the style of music was not what she preferred. What a trooper!

Here was our Sunday Setlist:

  1. Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin
  2. Point of Difference – Joel Houston
  3. Glory – Reuben Morgan
  4. Cry In My Heart – Starfield
  5. Take Me To The Cross – Dave Lubben
  6. Hungry (Falling On My Knees) – Kathryn Scott
  7. From The Inside Out – Joel Houston

First, can I say it’s pretty much a miracle that Brooke Fraser didn’t make it on the list this week.  I think I overuse her.  I can’t help it though.  She’s so awesome!

Highlights:  Quick set up, fun worshipful set, great attendance.  I enjoyed the lady with the blue bonnet, though she didn’t enjoy my style of music.  I also got to talk to a new visitor who was, get this, CHINESE!  She introduced herself when I noticed she sounded a lot like my Mom.  I asked her if she was Chinese.  She said, “yes” and then I asked if she spoke Cantonese.  RIGHT AGAIN.  She said she thought I was Korean. *shrugs*  I actually got to chat with her in Chinese for a few minutes.  My Mom would have been proud.

Lowlights: I feel like I’m SO unapproachable prior to service… and even after.  Brian and I got to go on a date last night and we talked about why Sundays were so hard for us.  We figured it out.  Satan attacks HARD on Sundays.  At least he does me.  Every little thing is more difficult on Sundays: getting the kids out of the house, prepping my heart to lead (this is when every uncertainty and reminder of how I shouldn’t be on the platform comes up), getting food (I can’t really eat before I lead, which means no breakfast, which means I’m STARVING by lunch and usually grumpy), then wrestling kids down for naps.  The rest of the day feels like we’re just trying to catch up from THAT morning.  I’m not sure how to overcome this battle… but I would so covet your prayers on Saturday evenings and Sundays if you ever think of us.  Satan attacks those are doing a good work in His Kingdom… so I guess I should feel purpose with that logic.  But I really wouldn’t mind him BACKING HIS JUNK UP every once in awhile.

Next weekend, I’ll be in La Grande with my family celebrating Grandma Peggy’s 85th birthday.  I’ve married into the most amazing family and it’s never been more clear how important these people are to me.  Dan & Georgene Rice were kind enough to offer to cover for me at Church! at Bethany this coming Sunday.  What a treat for our little church plant!

So tell me… how was your Sunday? Link away!

Worship Confessional – 07.19.09

TheRealOT-Logo

Matt started our new series “The Real OT” today. We’re going back and giving the Old Testament some love.

I LOVE the Old Testament, because I get to see how God used some messed up people… I mean, REALLY messed up people to do His amazing work.  He used sinners: murderers, adulterers, prostitutes, outcasts… pretty much everything I am (no… I haven’t physically murdered anyone, but I have many times in my mind… so that counts).  Seeing God use all the people we as “CHRISTIANS” avoid helps me see, contrary to my own built-in beliefs, that I am worthy to do His work.

This really gives me hope.

Instead of wallowing in the past and kicking myself over and over for what I’ve done (and can’t UN-do), I need to get up, wash my face and say: “To hell with Satan and his deceiving lies!  Today, is a new day.  TODAY, I have the opportunity to make it RIGHT!”  Because, the greatest tragedy is not the sins we commit, but the life we fail to fulfill.

Today’s Sunday Setlist was:

  1. You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
  2. Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman
  3. How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
  4. Cry In My Heart – Starfield
  5. Revelation Song – Jennie Riddle
  6. We Fall Down – Chris Tomlin
  7. From The Inside Out – Joel Houston

Highlights of the Day: I felt like the set went really well today.  Lots of voices raised in worship together… that’s always  positive for me.  One of my favorite songs ever is “Cry of My Heart” from the first Starfield album.  I used it as our “response song”, but had everyone join in the second time around.  Great words (I’ve provided the mp3 of the song below in case you’ve never heard it).  This morning was also a phenomenon because we got all set up with 30 minutes extra on the clock.  WOW!  However, the best part of the morning was getting to snuggle with Brian in the “tech booth” during the sermon.

Lowlights of the Day: I was overseeing the graphics part of the sermon and for some reason, I just couldn’t get it together today.  I kept hitting the wrong slide or was late.  Probably because I was Twittering at the same time.  :/  oh well.

How was your Sunday? Link away…

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