Prodigal Son – Part Three
Today was a great day.
I got to lead worship with my sister, Helen, today at Church at Bethany. I haven’t gotten to see her in 2 years and have really looked forward to her weeklong visit for quite some time now.
Our Sunday Setlist:
- God With Us – Bart Millard
- All We Need – Charlie Hall
- Indescribable – Laura Story
- Heart of Worship – Matt Redman
- My All In All – Nichole Nordeman Version
- We Will Worship You – Carlos Whittaker
- From The Inside Out – Joel Houston
Today’s set was pretty fun not only having Helen with me, but also having Charlotte on keys and Mark on drums. It was a good matching set to go with the sermon today.
Matt continued our series “Finding Our Way Back To God” and we finished Part Two of Jessica’s Story. Please watch the second part of Jessica’s story below:
So… question:
When will it be YOUR turn to come home?
Worship Confessional – 02.14.10
Today is Valentine’s Day.
If you’ve followed me for the last few years, you know how little I’ve cared for this fake holiday most of my life… but I have to say, this year I feel different. I finally am beginning to understand what LOVE really means and unconditional love feels like. It’s been a journey. One I plan on trekking the rest of my life.
Of course Valentine’s Day landed on a Sunday this year. Why not, right?
Today’s worship service was about OUR impact in the world. Our Sunday Setlist:
- God With Us – Bart Millard
- God of Wonders – Marc Byrd & Steve Hindalong
- How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
- Our Great God – Mac Powell & Fernando Ortega
- Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle
- Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) – Chris Tomlin
Matt talked about Matthew 26 most of the time. He even played Brian and my Proposal Video to make a point about love. He ended the sermon with the parable of the talents. As he was reading these verses, he handed out envelopes with different amounts of Church! at Bethany’s money to each and EVERY adult attender present. Matt put feet to his message. He challenged us to double, triple, quadruple what he gave us within seven weeks… by EASTER.
I’ll write more about that in a post later this week because I LOVE this concept and want to put more time into what I have to say about it.
Highs: Today’s service felt full and purposeful. There’s nothing worse than “just another Sunday” and today DEFINITELY didn’t feel like that. The music portion went well… mostly because it felt like everyone was really participating and worshiping God together. Everything felt much more connected this week… and that’s always a plus. The best part was getting to talk to so many different and new attenders after the service. It’s all about connection and sometimes I miss out on that because I’m so busy tearing down.
Lows: Aside from thinking about my sweet friend, Alli, all morning, I’m just feeling a little off… tired really. My monitor kept cutting in and out so I just unplugged it after the first song. It’s about time we unpack the trailer and do a full inventory of our gear. It’s probably also time to either repair or dispose of some of our broken equipment. Just thinking about that makes me tired too.
Now… to you. TWO QUESTIONS:
1. How was YOUR Sunday (link if you must)?
2. What do YOU think of Valentine’s Day?
Worship Confessional – 02.07.10
It’s been awhile.
I’m not sure why, but I haven’t been in the “mood” to write Worship Confessionals for the last month. Things have been going well… but I’ve just been really focusing in on my family after church on Sundays and Mondays. Then… like most things… I just forget.
Well… I’m refocused now. So, here goes:
Today went well.
Matt spoke on Impacting our Community and really pushed for small group involvement. It’s great that we go to to church and even participate in serving on Sunday mornings… but church (in the New Testament) was about community… and that happens when connection happens on a “smaller” level.
I think Matt was worried about offending people, and maybe he did… I hope not… but my take is that it’s always our job to speak God’s truth and the receivers job on how they let it affect them.
I hope more people get involved with small groups and grow in their relationship with Christ because of it.
Our Sunday Setlist:
- King of Glory – Chris Tomlin
- Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
- All Creatures of Our God and King – St. Francis of Assisi
- Take Me To The Cross – Dave Lubben
- From The Inside Out – Joel Houston
- Glory To God Forever – Steve Fee & Vicky Beeching
Highs:
We were set up and ready to go 30 minutes before church started. That’s always a plus to not feel rushed going INTO service. Matt also asked one of the prayer warriors of our church to step it up and lead us in prayer EVERY Sunday morning. This sounds bad, but because we’re a mobile church, sometimes, we skip the team prayer because we are LITERALLY setting up and sound-checking UP TO the minute people start walking in. Prayer becomes an afterthought. This is why Matt put Brian B. in charge of prayer. We’ll be more consistent in something we believe is VITAL to the health and purpose of our services.
During the service, it was obvious many were participating through singing and worshiping. This is my favorite part of being a part of a church. Corporate worship. Listening to everyone lift up their voices in declaration of who God is. THIS… is something I will NEVER grow tired of.
Lows:
I don’t feel as if I chose the best response song (#4 – Take Me To The Cross”) post sermon. Usually the connection between the sermon and the song tie in a lot better. I’m not saying that it didn’t connect at all because it did, but I think a better response song would have been Remedy by David Crowder. Also, I felt distracted this morning. Not by anything in particular… just didn’t feel 100%.
Overall… I felt today went pretty well though.
Here are some questions I have for you:
Ready? GO!
Worship Confessional – 11.22.09
We started our new series today called “Faithwerks”.
Our topic today was on how to raise our children to follow Christ… and how we shouldn’t just let the church take care of our children’s faith, just like we shouldn’t leave it to the schools to make sure our children are educated.
These children have been entrusted to our care by God… entrusted to ME so I shouldn’t just hand off my responsibilities to different organizations, though they WILL help me.
Definitely a challenged my thinking. That’s good.
Today’s Sunday Setlist:
- Beautiful One – Tim Hughes
- You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
- O Praise Him – David Crowder
- Till I See You – Joel Houston
- Heart of Worship – Matt Redman
- Mighty To Save – Reuben Morgan
- Hosanna – Brooke Fraser
During the response time, I shared how I have always sung “Till I See You” as a lullaby to my boys. They both know and recognize the tune.
The other day, we had a “windstorm” of sorts. I think they were 50 mph winds. The next day, Chance and I had a conversation that went something like this:
C: “Mommy… last night I heard God talking.”
Me: “Really? What did He say?”
C: “I don’t know. His voice was in the storm outside! That’s how I knew I was safe.”
Our children are listening.
Worship Confessional – 11.01.09
Last week, we started the Hostage Series at Church at Bethany by focusing on WORRY.
To be completely honest, I knew I would struggle with this series. I’m kind of a hostage to myself. I worry about everything… even over the silliest things that really don’t need to be worried about.
This week, God spoke right to my heart… BITTERNESS.
What really hit home was when Matt said this:
Bitter people…
… tend to justify bitterness
… tend to be overly critical
… secretly celebrate the misfortune of others
… tend to write-off groups of people
… fail to recognize the bitterness in the mirror
I am guilty of all of these things.
There have been times I thought I had gotten rid of my bitterness because I “weeded” by cutting it off at the stem. But because I never FULLY dealt with ME, it always came back. My bitterness is deeply rooted. I’m not sure where my bitterness came from… but at this point, it really doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I can NOT stay bitter anymore. I have a husband and two sons that deserve more than just my reserves. The only way to kill the root of bitterness is WITH forgiveness. Forgiveness towards people who have hurt me… and forgiveness to myself for hurting myself AND others. How dare I hold forgiveness from people and even myself when God has sacrificially forgiven me?
“… forgiveness meant that God is for giving, and that we are here for giving too, and that to withhold love or blessings is to be completely delusional.” ~ Anne Lamott
I’m thankful for the blood of Jesus. I’m thankful for another day. And I’m thankful for the opportunities to change old broken relationships for the better.
Today’s Sunday Setlist was:
- Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin
- King of Glory – Chris Tomlin
- Nothing But The Blood – Robert Lowry
- O The Blood – Hillsong
- Revelation Song – Jennie Riddle
- You Alone – David Crowder
- You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
Highlights: I love a fuller band sound. I love daylight savings for that extra hour. I love how our church pulls together for a common purpose. I love how real Matt Payne is willing to be. I love when the act of worshiping is made easier because you don’t have to worry about the logistics. Today was a great day.
Lowlights: Though I’m not sick, my throat is fighting me on that. Time to give my vocal cords some TLC, I think.
How was YOUR Sunday? Link away.
Worship Confessional – 10.11.09
I really love Sundays.
I’m not sure why… But I think it may be because I’m no longer hiding in my secrets and I’m truly experiencing the love and grace from a church body. It’s pretty awesome.
This morning, Matt talked about community… our church. How we’re like fish, living in a fishbowl… safe in our church walls, but GOD has created us to be “fish”. We’re not supposed to live in an aquarium, all pretty, perfect, trapped and bound for death. We should be in the river… LIVING. Yes, it may be more dangerous… we may get hurt out there… but that’s where God intended us to be. The LIGHT in the DARKNESS.
What an amazing opportunity and privilege if we chose to live the way we were purposed!
Our Sunday Setlist this morning was:
- Beautiful One – Tim Hughes
- Evermore – Joel Houston
- Enough – Chris Tomlin
- Cry In My Heart – Starfield
- Healer – Mike Gugliamucci
- Mighty To Save – Reuben Morgan
Highlights: We set up in less than an hour which gave me some time to really chat with people before the service. And it’s pretty amazing how the conversations now are “below surface” conversations. I LOVE THAT!!! We’re talking about REAL things. I didn’t sleep very well last night (nothing new there) so I was VERY pleased that my voice didn’t give out on me.
Lowlights: Our family has been fighting a bug. It came home with Chance from school and we’re all trying not to get sick… but alas… we are ALL sick. Please pray for our family’s health… and that we don’t get the swine flu because that would be lamesauce.
Worship Confessional – 08.23.09
Today was our “church meeting” day… so we only got to lead 3 songs at the top of the set.
Here was the Sunday Setlist:
- I Want To Know You – SonicFlood
- You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
- Hosanna – Brooke Fraser
Highlights: I had Crystal with me this Sunday so I had her leading with me. It was fun singing with her up front since we NEVER get to do that. We also had a pretty good turn-out for a summer service. My guess is because it was a church meeting day, we had more show up than usual. Either that or the FREE food we advertised for DURING the church meeting. It’s a toss up, really.
Lowlights: Still can’t figure out how to balance my own personal issues (expectations, preparation, being a mom, connections with other church goers, etc.) BEFORE the service. The set-up wasn’t all that difficult this morning, but I felt pretty attacked spiritually during the whole thing. I was impatient, graceless and quick tempered. I felt like I was fighting that ALL morning… but like normal, by the time the service started, all that disappeared. I wish I could somehow funnel all that into “the pocket” BEFORE the service, DURING set-up. Something to work towards, right?
Worship Confessional – 08.02.09
Wow… really… I haven’t posted anything on my blog for a week?
Lame.
It’s not because nothing happened. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. A lot has happened. Lots of good and bad. I’ll post a separate post for all that in a bit here.
Anyway… on with today’s Sunday Setlist:
- My Future Decided
- Point of Difference
- Indescribable
- You Are For Me
- Revelation Song
- Take Me To The Cross
- Desert Song
Highlights: Today set was pretty fun. Mostly because I had Aaron and Nick joining me. I love having a fuller band. It’s amazing how much those two add being just ONE instrument each. We had a bunch of new attenders today too. That’s always a plus.
Lowlights: Our band didn’t have time to practice this week so we WINGED it in hopes that our playing together for years would kick in. The first half went really well, but the second half, though it was “fine”, didn’t ever feel like we ever got “in the pocket”. We also didn’t set up quick enough and so didn’t get a good enough soundcheck.
There you go… short and sweet 
Worship Confessional – 07.05.09
Today’s service was really fun.
We merged with Somerset. They’re Pastor is on vacation so Matt was invited to speak. Since we’re so close in proximity… AND we actually have our office space IN their church… we combined both church bodies this morning and worshiped together.
Our Sunday Setlist this morning:
- Holy Is The Lord -Chris Tomlin
- All Creatures of Our God and King – Francis of Assisi
- God of Wonders – Marc Byrd & Steve Hindalong
- Healer – Mike Guglielmucci
- Revelation Song – Jennie Riddle
- Grace Like Rain – Todd Agnew
- Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
Highlights: It was a total blast playing and singing with Aaron, Nick and Mark. Also… because we were at Somerset, we set up on Thursday night when we practice. All we did this morning was show up, plug in, warm up and VOILA! Like butta!!! I was really cool to worship with another church body. This is SUCH a rare privilege. Seriously awesome! Some of the transitions we as the band came up were seriously rad. There’s nothing better than a RAD transition from one song to the next. I also liked seeing Nick and Aaron sitting the same way… in their own pews. Don’t know why… but this was a highlight too.
Lowlights: Holiday weekends always mean a smaller attendance. Today was no different. People were claiming their independence from church! HA! Another low… Feeling like I still had gunpowder in my throat and sinuses from the fireworks last night. Really… that’s about it. Well… obviously, I missed some musical cues… but that’s a normal daily occurrence… so whatever. It was a great day!
And now… I’m leaving you with the live recording of our transition between Grace Like Rain & Desert Song. Actually… I’ll leave you ALL of Desert Song, in case you want to hear it. Just ignore the end when we somehow derailed a bit and weren’t really playing together anymore. Oops!
Finally… I leave you with this.
My son is a rockstar!
Hope you had a great Independence Day/Weekend!
How was your Sunday? Link your posts if you have one!
Worship Confessional – 05.03.09
Today was another Clayville Freakshow Sunday.
Matt was in Chicago so Brian spoke on how we view Jesus as a “Middle Class” Jesus… when he’s SO much more than that.
Our Sunday Setlist:
- Majestic – Lincoln Brewster
- O Worship The King – Chris Tomlin Version
- King of Glory – Chris Tomlin
- Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman
- The Stand – Joel Houston
- Give Us Clean Hands – Charlie Hall
- Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
Today was a tough day to lead. My heart was heavy but I felt so free and connected to God. Freedom always costs something… and mine was Christ on the cross. I will never stop being humbled by how MY sins put Christ on that cross… but I am SO thankful. Today was one of those days.
Highlights: Doing MINISTRY with my husband. I really like it when he speaks… not that I don’t like Matt, but there’s something about living ministry side-by-side with my husband. God met me RIGHT where I was… which was in a pretty deep hole, but he STILL met me there. God is SO good. The practical stuff??? We had no technical difficulties. Any day we are technical-difficulty-free at a church plant is a good day
Lowlights: Having to lead worship when I felt so low. Sometimes, Satan comes at me like a starving spider monkey… and I’m the banana… so I have no arms to defend myself. There’s my word picture for you. However, even in the “low” of it all, I could bless His name. After all, He calls us to worship just as we are… so I just led in that. Another low, attendance was pretty light today. But that was it.
So, there’s my confession today. I’m a Worship Pastor, and I do NOT have it all together. However, God is good all the time… even when I’m not good. Even when I want to stay in bed. Even when I don’t feel like I even deserve to call out His name.
But BLESSED BE YOUR NAME when I’m found in the dessert place, when I walk through the wilderness… BLESSED BE YOUR NAME!
When you’re in the dessert, do you find yourself calling out to God, or do you just wallow in it?
Exponential Conference 2009 – Day 1
Today was our first day at the Exponential Conference. It wasn’t even a full day today and I ALREADY feel refreshed and refueled. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way and it couldn’t come at a better time.
Already warning you… this will be a longer post since I’m just decompressing and inserting some of the notes from today. This is probably not a post for all of you, but I know some of you would love to read the my notes. To make it easier, I’ll just bullet point everything. If you have any questions, just post them down in the comments and I’ll try my best to go into more detail.
Anyway… here goes, starting with the main session with Erwin McManus.
- We end up using all our sincerest energies creating a space for Christians… not the unconnected.
- We only like people that are just like us. We magnetize towards people like us, so our church ends up looking like… me. What we need to do is draw towards people UNLIKE ourselves.
- We need to LOVE. Love covers a multitude of irrelevance.
- We need to be a city of others. We need to do this first space well. The God-fearing greeks need to outnumber the Jews.
- It’s not that people aren’t searching – it’s just that they don’t know who to have a conversation with, who they can trust.
- Jesus died to call us to live our most heroic life for eternity.
- The Marketplace needs a gospel that makes sense. Not a watered down gospel.
- The moment you create a space for Dionysus, you will lose your space in the “first space”. Jesus is looking for people who will have the guts to forsake the Martha, Mary’s and Luke and live with such intense courage for a world like Dionysus.
- The difference we make is not for the Christians, but for the lost.
Breakout Session #1 – Dave Ferguson
- New churches:
- Grow 23 times faster than existing churches
- 3-4 times the number of conversions as do older churches
- Like geese, people can fly 75% longer if they fly in a flock.
- Apostolic Leadership:
- Ephesians 4:11-12
- Apostolic leaders see the future more clearly than others
- Apostolic leaders empower others to create new communities of faith
- Apostolic leaders embed ideology (theology / philosophy)
- Apostolic leaders guard ideology (theology / philosophy)
- Apostolic leaders creates a tension between the new & established environment, edge & center, going & staying, lost & found… always values the new, edge, going & lost.
- Apostolic leaders usually sends their best people out to start new things.
- Shared Dream
- Acts 1:8
- Dream: a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches.
- Values: reproducing, relationships, residencies, resources
- Gospel of Jesus
- This must be the core of every movement.
- Genuine Community
- TRUST.
- Four Credibilities: Integrity, Intent, Capabilities, Results
- Rapid Reproduction
- Reproducing Leaders who starts a Reproducing Church that begins a Reproducing Network.
Breakout Session #3 – Gary Lamb and Scott Hodge
Gary Lamb:
- It’s much easier to compromise about your vision than it is to be mean about it.
- It is NOT easy to be mean… but you gotta be confident on what God has called you to do. Don’t compromise on that.
- If you can’t be mean about your calling… then you weren’t called.
- We have glorified church planting… it’s not for everyone.
- There’s a Judas at every table and he’s close enough to kiss you.
- There’s a difference between being mean and being mean about the vision.
Scott Hodge
- We’re not a church trying to reach the needs of a Christian culture… we’re reaching the unchurched people.
- If you try to meet the needs of EVERYONE, you will be a confused church.
- When people come to you and want to add or change the vision, ask this of yourself: “Have I not been clear?”
- There is a disconnect between how people view Christ and the people who are representing Him.
- Replanting a church – Know you’ll lose people, but don’t take it personally.
- Let’s be gracious when people leave your church. You may not be the right church for them.
- It’s impossible to have a change in the church if you don’t have the change within you.
- 3 questions you need to ask:
- Who has God called us to reach?
- What is it going to take?
- Are we willing to pay the price?
So… those are my notes. Hope they make some sense to you… but you know how notes go – they’re mostly what resonated with me
Some really great things happened today, like watching my sister, Renee, dance with Urban Poets as an opener for the main session for Erwin McManus. Then, getting to go to dinner with Justin and Trisha Davis. But those are just as great of events so I’ll post separate posts about those
Jenni on Skype: jclayville 
