Prodigal Son – Part Two
Our Sunday Setlist was:
- Glory to God – Steve Fee & Vicky Beeching
- O Worship The King – Chris Tomlin Version
- King of Glory – Chris Tomlin
- Hallelujah – Tenth Avenue North (Response)
- We Will Worship You – Carlos Whittaker, Jason Ingram & Mia Fieldes
- Mighty To Save – Reuben Morgan
Despite one new song (Carlos’) and another “newer” song, it felt as though people were really singing out, worshiping together and praising the One who made this all to be. I was also extremely pleased with how the music pieces fit in well with the sermon.
Today, at Church at Bethany, we continued Part Two of our series, “Finding Your Way Back To God” (CLICK HERE for last weeks’ story). Matt’s talk today was titled, “This Isn’t What I Want” and it featured my good friend, Mikey, who finally got to share her story with our church.
Mikey has always been the “good girl” so when her life started to unravel, to her own doing, she was unequipped to handle it.
She ran.
She hid.
She ignored it.
Then… she found her place of safety. Watch the first part of her story below:
Mikey is in a COMPLETELY different place in her life now. Her realization that she DIDN’T have to live a life she didn’t want overruled the lies that told her that she was doomed to the consequences of her choices. Truth spoke loud and clear. She lives not only with integrity and strong conviction now, but she lives in search of REAL LIFE accountability. She repented of her mistakes, turned 180* from them and willingly chose to start over… which is more difficult to do than to just SAY to do.
I’m SO proud of her for sharing her story so boldly. I know it was one of the scariest things she’s ever done… but she did it anyway, in hopes that she can help even ONE person find their way back to God.
So how about you?
What in YOUR life do you NOT WANT?
And when are YOU gonna start over?
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 – 12.20.09
I had the privilege of helping lead worship at Table Rock Fellowship (TRF) yesterday with Brent and Tammy Hodge.
Our SUNDAY SETLIST was:
- Joy To The World – Third Day
- Comfort & Joy – LifeChurch Version
- O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – LifeChurch Version
- God With Us – MercyMe
- Carol Medley (Away In A Manger, O Little Town, Silent Night)
- The First Noel – Ali Matthews Version
- Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground) – Chris Tomlin
I LOVED this set! It was so fun to play and sing with such a seriously talented band.
Our worship band: Brent was on keys and lead vocals. Tam was on vocals. Jim Durham was on electric 1. Jim’s 13 year-old daughter, Missy, was on bass. Al Dinardi was on electric guitar 2. Sandy Ficca was our rockout drummer… and I was on acoustic guitar and vocals.
Brent ended up recording the fourth/last service, which in all honesty, was our weakest service. I think by then, we were all just pretty tired and our voices had HAD it. Whichever way… I’ll still post a couple of recordings for y’all.
My favorite song this weekend was our second song, Comfort and Joy (click on the link to hear our live recording) which is LifeChurch’s rocked out version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. It made me want to dance.
Then… they let me sing Ali Matthews version of The First Noel (click on the link to hear) for communion.
I really love Christmas carols.
What’s your FAVORITE Christmas carol?
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 – 11.08.09
Today’s Sunday Setlist:
- Indescribable – Chris Tomlin
- Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman
- How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
- Healer – Mike Guglielmucci
- Give Us Clean Hands – Charlie Hall
- From The Inside Out – Joel Houston
- 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?
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 – 10.18.09
Today started out being just a bit… off.
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:
- You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
- All We Need – Charlie Hall
- O Praise Him – David Crowder
- Lead Me To The Cross – Brooke Fraser
- Grace Like Rain – Todd Agnew
- From the Inside Out – Joel Houston
- 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?
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.
God of Vengeance
For Lifegroup Online, we’re reading “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning.
This stuck out:
The God of the legalistic Christian, on the other hand, is often unpredictable, erratic, and capable of all manner of prejudices. When we view God this way, we feel compelled to engage in some sort of magic to appease Him. Sunday worship becomes a superstitious insurance policy against His whims. This God expects people to be perfect and to be in perpetual control of their feelings and thoughts. When broken people with this concept of God fail — as inevitably they must — they usually expect punishment. So, they persevere in religious practices as they struggle to maintain a hollow image of a perfect self. The struggle itself is exhausting. The legalists can never live up to the expectations they project on God.
~~”Magnificent Monotony” (Chapter 2)
Worship Chicks
Tami Hoban, founder of WorshipChicks, asked me to guest post for their 8th entry this week.
You can find it HERE.
Drop a comment… let me know your thoughts!
Worship Confessional – 09.13.09
Today was such an awesome day!
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:
- Evermore – Joel Houston
- Meet With Me – Lamont Hiebert
- Jesus Paid It All – Kristian Stanfill Version
- I Worship You – Generation Unleashed
- The Stand – Joel Houston
- 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.
Worship Confessional – 08.30.09
Yesterday’s worship service felt like a satisfying breath of fresh air after months of treading water.
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:
- All We Need – Charlie Hall
- Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
- How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
- Mighty To Save – Reuben Morgan
- Our Great God – Mac Powell & Fernando Ortega
- Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle
- 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.
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 – 08.09.09
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.
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:
- Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin
- Point of Difference – Joel Houston
- Glory – Reuben Morgan
- Cry In My Heart – Starfield
- Take Me To The Cross – Dave Lubben
- Hungry (Falling On My Knees) – Kathryn Scott
- 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 – 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 – 07.19.09
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:
- You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
- Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman
- How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
- Cry In My Heart – Starfield
- Revelation Song – Jennie Riddle
- We Fall Down – Chris Tomlin
- 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…
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 – 06.28.09
Today was our second week of our Renegade Joy Series, focusing in on Philippians 2:12-30.
Matt talked about our tendencies to complain as humans. We all have something to complain about… but God calls us to live in JOY. I am SO guilty of this. Not the “living in joy” part… the complaining part… in case you were confused. I really spend WAY more time talking about the negatives in my life than the all the amazing blessings that surround me. I guess that just come easier for me as a pessimist. Obviously, this is something I really need to work on.
The whole set this morning was just me and my beautiful Larrivee. It would have been fine if I didn’t feel like poopy. Our whole family is sick right now. Not just a common cold, but the whole “my-throat-is-on-FIRE!” kind. Before I got to church for set up, I think I coughed up about 5 pounds of phlegm. My voice was super crackalicious… BUT I also had that weird, kinda awesome sick “sexy-Phoebe-voice” (sorry if you never watched Friends)… so it worked.
The Sunday Setlist this morning:
- Not To Us – Chris Tomlin
- Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin
- Hosanna – Brooke Fraser
- Stars – Switchfoot
- Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle
- Till I See You – Joel Houston
- Revelation Song – Jennie Riddle
We used “Stars” as the special response piece. Had to play around a bit to change an upbeat, full-band song into a slower, one person, acoustic, “think-about-your-daily-lives” version. Here’s the live, house-mix recording from this morning (besides a couple of times where I obviously had some breath support issues and *maybe* forgot how to play the guitar… it’s not all that bad for being live).
Highlights from this morning: It was really good to have Brian back at church with me… even though he WAS sick. It also seemed like my voice and guitar were EQ’d really well. Felt like “butta”! The set-up was RIDICULOUSLY fast. We were done, like, 45 minutes before service started… which means we were done 45 minutes quicker than usual. Felt like all the music totally connected with the sermon. I LOVE when that happens. Well… I guess that’s what happens when the speaker picks the “Special” piece. HA!
Lowlights from this morning: Leading while I’m sick is definitely not fun. I want to give my best, and I felt like I didn’t have much to give physically… but God’s Spirit works through me anyway. Thank God, for that!!! Our speaker mic is also giving us some trouble. You could probably hear the “fuzzy” in Matt’s voice at the beginning of the recording. It’s not consistent. It’s happened one other time than today. I need to figure out a way to fix that. Hmmm…
I can’t really say too much negative about today. Church went really, REALLY well.
The best part? Chance’s Sunday School lesson. Check it out:
What did YOU do today? (link to your post, if you’d like)
Worship Confessional – 05.24.09
Today has been an amazingly emotional teeter-totering day.
Most of me is still in shock about Scott, and though time feels like it’s standing still… it’s not and we have to continue moving… so we do.
As most of you know… the better part of this week has been mostly due to the Hodge Lodge and Crystal being here. Crystal was our speaker – her sermon title: “Women Don’t Look At Porn”. You can hear it HERE.
I also had Brent, Tammy and Kass help in leading worship with me. Best part of my weekend was worshiping with my good friends.
Our Sunday Setlist:
- You’ll Come – Brooke Fraser
- Meet With Me – Lamont Hiebert
- How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
- By Your Side – Tenth Avenue North (special sung by Brent & Kass)
- Healer – Mike Gugliamucci
- Nothing But The Blood – Hymn-Matt Redman Version
- Lead Me To The Cross – Brooke Fraser
Brent and Kass sang “By Your Side” to wrap up Crystal’s talk… and it was so perfect!
The service went really well. We didn’t hide that we were all emotionally raw from this weekends devastating news. We were real about it… which is what made the service so great. It was obvious that all we wanted to do was worship in our hurt. God is good… even in times like these when we don’t understand what He’s doing behind the curtain.
My sister, Helen, wrote me an email this morning. Here’s a quote from it:
“When difficult, seemingly pointless things happen, we have the tendency to forget that God is there. Furthermore, we sometimes believe that Jesus is the enemy — responsible for the pain we are experiencing. I’m not saying this as a self-fulfilling prophecy, but these are particularly volatile times when Satan attempts to shake our faith and what we know. It’s always best to beware of that, and to constantly fill one another with Truth.”
So much wisdom from my baby sister.
Please keep covering the Resnick Family in prayer.
How was YOUR Memorial Day Sunday?
Worship Confessional – 05.17.09
I’m gonna have to make this short and sweet.
We came back from Seattle late last night and so now I’m trying to catch up on some chores before the next week begins.
Today’s Sunday Setlist:
- Not To Us – Chris Tomlin
- Open The Eyes of My Heart – Paul Baloche
- Indescribable – Laura Story
- To The Ends of the Earth – Joel Houston
- Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin
- I Worship You – Generation Unleashed
- You Are My World – Darlene Zschech
Highlights: I had Rebecca leading alongside me today. I haven’t had the chance to sing with her for months, so that was a nice treat. Two guitars and two vocals today. Simple simple. Today was also just a really good day. Everything felt right… that’s a blessing. We started 5 minutes late and ended RIGHT ON TIME. Awesome!!!
Lowlights: I’m not really sure why the left side of the screen is cut off. It just about drives me nuts that the visuals aren’t perfectly centered because the margins are off. We’ve tried everything with the settings and nothing seems to be helping. Boo hiss!!! All this means is I have to plan carefully in our lyrics and talk graphics so that the words don’t go all the way to the edges.
We’re in the Suburban Legends Series right now.
Today’s talk was on a how to raise kids… not just happy kids… but HOW to raise them with Biblical principles. I really enjoyed it.
As a parent, it encouraged me that I was doing some things right… on the other hand, it also reinforced that I need to tighten up in some areas of discipline for my kids. Mostly in my intentionality of breathing God’s Word into their lives.
So… you’re turn:
What was the best thing your parents did for you when you were a kid?
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?
Worship Confessional – 04.26.09
I feel a bit out of it.
As most of you know, we were in Florida all week for the Exponential Conference. It was good to get away… why does it always feel like you need a vacation from your vacation.
Anyway… we were gone from Monday through late Saturday, so we headed into Sunday morning like dizzy spider-monkeys… but all of us were SUPER renewed in our focus and purpose… so I guess we were dizzy spider-monkeys with focus and purpose.
Here are some pictures of what it looks like BEFORE set up:
And here it is DURING service:
Not the greatest photos since it was with my iPhone, but you get the point.
Here was our Sunday Setlist:
- Glory – Reuben Morgan
- Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
- Meet With Me – Lamont Hiebert
- Befriended – Matt Redman
- Healer – Mike Gugliamucci
- Mighty To Save – Morgan & Fielding
Highlights: well… obviously, Matt & I were coming off of a high from our week at Exponential so we were pretty “on” with the speaking and music. Brian even said that it felt like one of our strongest weeks there. That’s a plus. But my favorite part of the morning was stepping back off the mic during “Mighty To Save” and hearing the church sing out to God. That never gets old.
Also… we got set-up quickly. Probably because it was just me and guitar this past week (I could schedule a practice since I was gone, so it was easier just to do the “one-woman-show” deal). I didn’t feel rushed into our morning.
Lowlights: My past sins were weighing heavily on my shoulders that morning. It was a struggle to allow God to remind me that I am forgiven and loved. Satan was REALLY trying to take me down by reminding me of how unworthy I am.
I can’t wait for the day I will no longer feel guilt for my past, but for now, I am SO grateful for the glimpse of grace in my life. That’s where my worship to God comes from… desperation and desire for resolve in my life.
Where does your cry of worship come from?
Worship Confessional – 04.05.09
PALM SUNDAY… woot woot!
I don’t know why I started it that way… I just did
So, I decided to do a VIDEO worship confessional this week since I haven’t done one in SO long. Lucky you… or not.
Here goes (if you’re reading this in a RSS, you’ll have to actually go to MY SITE to see it):
The Sunday Setlist:
- Evermore – Joel Houston
- Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
- Lead Me To The Cross -Brooke Fraser
- To The Ends of the Earth – Joel Houston/Marty Sampson
- Healer – Mike Gugliomucci Guglielmucci (thx David)
Worship Confessional – 03.29.09
Spring Break really brings the attendance down. I don’t remember ever missing church when I was little… and since I’ve been in ministry, it’s rare that I miss a weekend. Totally foreign concept to me, I guess.
Anyhoo… all that to say that the numbers were down today. No biggie.
Our Sunday Setlist today:
- Glory – Reuben Morgan
- O Praise Him – David Crowder
- Our Great God – Mac Powell & Fernando Ortega
- Healer – Mike Gugliomucci
- Amazing Grace – Traditional Hymn
- (into) Grace Like Rain – Todd Agnew
High Points: I really liked our transition from Amazing Grace into Grace Like Rain. We just use a synth pad as the only instrument during Amazing Grace, then bring the guitar in once we get to Grace Like Rain.
Also, our set up today was pretty much AMAZING!!! We got done pretty quickly and had time to run almost every song (at least partially). I felt GREAT about it.
Everyone else seemed to feel great this morning too… since no one seemed to want to stop chatting in the first song. I’ve always lovingly called the first song at church the “throw-away” song. You know… the song you plan mostly as a “WELCOME” kind of a song. Upbeat, inviting, friendly. However, it usually helps bring everyone’s attention in and prep them FOR worship.
Not today. This leads to my low point (which is really not that low):
Trying to lead while the majority of the church participants are chatting is difficult. That’s all.
Jenni on Skype: jclayville 
